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Jamie Sale & David PelletierEkaterina GordeevaScott HamiltonOksana BaiulKristi YamaguchiTara LipinskiMichelle KwanNancy KerriganBrian BoitanoElena Berehznaya & Anton SikharulidzeSarah Hughes   THE SKATE STOCKINGClick on the image for more information or go to www.skatestocking.com   |  GOLDEN GIRL WEARS IT WELL...
March 4, 2002. Gold Medal winner Sarah Hughes has been a busy little Champion since the close of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Not only is Sarah about to grace the Wheaties box, but she has been given the key to the city of Great Neck, New York, and this morning she rang the starting bell at the New York Stock Exchange.Where does an Olympic Champion go from here? Her next big goal is to score 1500 on her upcoming SAT's. FRENCH ICE DANCE CHAMPIONS TURN PRO...March 1, 2002. Gwendal Peizerat and Marina Anissina, the French pair who won the ice dancing gold medal at the Salt Lake City Olympics, retired Friday from amateur competition. After obtaining a gold medal, they no longer feel the need to compete in an eligible status and withdrew from the 2002 World Championships in Nagano, Japan. For more information go to Olympic ice dance champions retire from amateur competition (Slam)KWAN IS NOT THROWING IN THE TOWEL YET...March 1, 2002. Michelle Kwan has announced that she is not ready to change her eligible status just yet. While she jokes about going to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy and trying for a complete "set" of Olympic medals, she makes no promises that she will continue to compete until then. For now, she is taking skating one year at a time and continuing to compete while it is "still fun". She will be in Nagano for the 2002 World Championships and will begin touring with Champions On Ice in April.SARAH HUGHES TO APPEAR ON WHEATIES BOX... February 28, 2002. Sarah Hughes will be the latest athlete to be immortalized on a Wheaties box since the tradition began back in 1934. The Sarah Hughes box will be available nationwide beginning next month. Press Release. NO REMATCH FOR PAIRS AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS...February 28, 2002. For skating fans who had hoped to see a rematch between the co-gold medal winners at the Olympics...you've been denied. It's been announced that Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada will not be attending the competition in Nagano. An issued statment said,"They are disappointed they will not compete but feel they have not had the opportunity to train properly given the events of the last two weeks." The statement added: "They have not decided at this point whether they will remain eligible for next year's events."The Canadian pair have been offered a meriad of endorsements and skating tours. Looks like they may take their gold medal and cash it in for green. TODD ELDREDGE JOINS TARGET STARS ON ICE...
February 22, 2002. It's a Pro's life for Todd. After three less than successful Olympic tries for Eldredge, he has decided to hang up his eligible status and join the Professional circuit. It was announced Friday that the World Champion and six-time National Champion will join the Stars On Ice 2001-2002 cast. He will join the show beginning Tuesday, February 26th at the Mark of the Quad Cities in Moline, IL, and remain through the season's final tour date, Saturday, April 20th in Portland, ME. "I very much look forward to this new and exciting chapter in my skating career." said Todd. "Performing in Target Stars on Ice is a wonderful opportunity, one that will not only provide me with the chance to work with the world's top skaters, directors, choreographers and designers, but will allow me to grow as an artist and as an entertainer." Good luck Todd!
 Yamaguchi's Last Year With Stars On Ice...11/30/2001. Another Star ready to fall from the Stars On Ice cast list...what is to become of this popular ice show? Just one season after the show lost Olympic Champion and Stars co-creator, Scott Hamilton, Yamaguchi announces that yes this will probably be her last year with the show.Stars On Ice has seen many of it's favored performers come and go and come back again. But since the 1998 Olympics, the show seems to have suffered the greatest losses. Rosalyn Sumners, Elena Bechke (Leaving skating partner and ex-husband Denis Petrov to skate alone), Katia Gordeeva (it is unclear whether she will return from her "break" as she has already missed two seasons with the birth of her daughter "Liza"), and Scott Hamilton. With Yamaguchi set to leave, one wonders how the show will fare without it's key attractions. It is obvious that the producers of the show and IMG are worried too. They've been running an offer on their website of a free Stars On Ice magnetic frame for filling out a survey. In the questionaire guests are asked to pick who they would like Stars On Ice to try and hire for upcoming tours. Ekaterina Gordeeva is on that list as well as current medal hopefuls for the 2002 Olympics such as Michelle Kwan, Sarah Hughes, Maria Butryskaya, Alexei Yagudin, Berehznaya & Sikharulidze, Zhen & Xao, etc. The show has a long track record of snagging Olympic Champions who are ready to turn professional coming off their medal wins. Until then, Stars has brought back 1984 & 88 Olympic Champion and former Stars cast member, Katarina Witt, to help fill in the gaps. Let's just hope that Kurt Browning isn't next! |
| THE GIRLS TAKE SPILLS...11/18/2001 - Trophee Lalique. Butryskaya wins again after a Ladies long program competition frought with falls. In first place after the short program, she captured the win after the long program despite falling. In fact, all the women suffered falls in the long program. Sarah Hughes coming off her win over Michelle Kwan at Skate Canada took second place and American Sasha Cohen slid into third place.Alexei Yagudin from Russia took first place over Todd Eldredge winning his fifth straight gold medal at Trophee Lalique. Eldredge, who wowed the crowd with fancy footwork and his famous spinning technique, just could not deliver the quad. In fact, he did not even try. Elena Berehznaya and Anton Sikharulidze won first place in their first appearance this season. Despite serious injury during training, they showed no sign of weakness. A fall on a lift left Sikhaurlidze with a large gash and stitches in his arm while Berehznaya suffered a bruised shoulder and back. Americans Ino and Zimmerman took home second place and the French team of Annibol and Bernadais settled for third place in their home city. SPARKASSEN CUP... 11/11/2001 - Maria Butyrskaya and Evgeny Pluschenko of Russia win their first Grand Prix event of the season skating solid programs. Angela Nikodinov of the US, was nervous before the competition even began. It was her first event without coach Elena Tcherkasskaia. Tcherkasskaia, who was suffering the effects of pancreatic cancer, returned to Moscow, Russia for treatment. In her place, long time friend and Olympic pairs champion, Irina Rodnina was in Germany to lend Nikodinov support. Despite her nerves, Nikodinov skated a strong short program. Her long program, skated to the ballet, Giselle, was a bit shakier bringing her a third place win.
Sadly, Nikodinov learned that her coach died on Monday November 12th due to complications of her illness. Tcherkasskaia, a coach to several elite skaters, spent 22 years as a prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. Nikodinov has been coached by her since leaving Richard Callahan (Tara Lipinski's former coach). Under Tcherkasskaia's tutelage, Nikodinov completely transformed herself, sliming down her body and improving her artistry. After a stellar last season, her hopes have been high for this Olympic year. One has to wonder how the sudden tragedy will affect her so close to the Olympics. SARAH STEPS UP AFTER KWAN TAKES A FALL... 11/04/2001 - The 2001 Skate Canada competition held in Saskatchewan, proved to be a very exciting event...especially for 16-year-old Sarah Hughes. The New York native from Great Neck, beat Michelle Kwan for the first time in her young career by snatching first place at Skate Canada on Saturday night. Most of the attention had been placed on the show down between Kwan and her chief rival, Irina Slutskaya, from Russia. No one predicted that the ambitious fireball from New York would rebound from her loss at Skate America to triumph over both top skaters.Slutskaya finished with the highest score for the long program bringing her up to second place over Michelle Kwan. Kwan who fell in both her short and long programs came away with third place. Her lowest placing at a competition since 1996. Hughes is still surprised and very pleased by her first time win over Michelle Kwan. Alexei Yagudin from Russia won the Men's competition landing two quad toe loop jumps in combination. He was followed by Canada's Elvis Stojko in second, and USA's Todd Eldredge in third. THEY'RE OFF...(Skate America) 
Skate America in Colorado kicked off the 2002 Olympic Season. The competition was a chance to see skaters after the summer break and get a look at new Olympic programs. Excitement abounded as 17 year-old Sasha Cohen became the first woman to attempt a quadruple jump in competition. While she performed several in practice successfully, she popped it into a single during her long program. The big buzz at the competition? Michelle Kwan fired long time coach Frank Carroll and choreographer Lori Nichol. Both were major contributors in Kwan's silver medal win in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. All wondered how such a drastic change would affect the skater. Though her performance was a little shaky and she flubbed the landing of one triple jump in the long program, she finished in first place. Can she maintain the same independent confidence all the way to Salt Lake? Only time will tell.
  BUTTON IS BACK...
Where's Dick button? That was the question on skating fans' minds during the 2000/2001 season. Button, the veteran skating champion known for his witty and expert commentary on ABC Sports, was absent for most of last season. After taking a nasty spill on the ice during the filming of a piece for the US Nationals, Button fractured his skull and spent the rest of the season recouperating. He returns for the 2001/2002 season to the delight of fans who felt watching the competitions on TV were not the same without him. Welcome back! CONGRATULATIONS!Two-time Olympic gold medalist, Ekaterina Gordeeva, and 1998 Men's Olympic gold medalist, Ilia Kulik, welcomed daughter Elizaveta into the world on June 15, 2001. This is the second child for Gordeeva who with late husband and partner, Sergei Grinkov, gave birth to daughter, Daria, in September 1992. Elizaveta is the first child for Kulik who became involved with Gordeeva after joining the cast of Stars On Ice in 1998. Kulik is rejoining the SOI cast for the 2001/2002 season while Gordeeva is taking some well deserved time off. Her first scheduled performance back on the ice will be in Brian Boitano's Holiday Special due to air on January 1, 2002. (Check the figure skating TV schedule for time and network.)Page 1, 2 |
