Ladies Figure Skating- Short Program. February 23, 2010

Yu-Na Kim

Guest Blogger, Keri
I'm watching the repeat of this on TV right now and they called it the premier event of the Winter Olympics, and although, I'd say that's hockey, I would say it was pretty amazing.
I'd had the best time at my practice events, so was really excited when actual program tickets became available. I know almost nothing about Figure Skating, but thanks to Sonia, who is a big fan, and our handy dandy AXEL radio which is a $20 lifesaver if you are planning on going to a skating event. It's basically a venue only radio that has experts offering informative and often hilarious commentary, and information about the competitors, and scoring.
We hadn't been there very long before we ran in to our first celebrity. Sonia spotted her in the bathroom, and got all fangirl. "Oh my god! You're Tracy Wilson, 1988 Olympic Bronze Medalist in Ice Dance!!!" (Side note, Tracy is on NBC right now explaining technical details)
Tracy Wilson

It was the first event I've been to that I felt had a truly international crowd attending. There were large contingents of fans from all corners of the globe, but of course, the most rabid were there to see Queen Kim Yu-Na.

The second largest contingent was Japanese, there to support second place (after the short) contender Mao Asada. As our AXEL radio informed us, every person in Japan was watching at that moment.
Mao Asada

The biggest support of all was for Joannie Rochette. Everyone, from every country exploded when Joannie hit the ice. It was very emotional for us, and I'm sure, overwhelming for her. For those of you who don't know, Joannie lost her mother suddenly to a heart attach only three days ago.
Joannie Rochette

Her performance was nearly flawless. A career best, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Canada's other contender also put in performance to be proud of earning her a rank of 14th after the short program.
Cynthia Phaneuf

Ice Dancing and Ladies Figure Skating Practice - February 21, 2010 at the Pacific Colesium.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada

This is Keri again, with another guest post.

This morning, I went to another figure skating practice. This time it was Ice Dancing and Ladies programs. I enjoyed my first practice session so much, that I jumped at the chance to see another. This time it was Ice Dancing Original Dance, and Ladies Figure Skating.
Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin from Russia
When we arrived we were treated to the last two groups of Ice Dancing Pairs. They included all the top teams. We were smarter this time, and actually did a bit of homework beforehand so we knew who the top teams were! As the competition was tonight, the Ice Dancers were all in costume, but like last time, they didn't do complete performances.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White from the USA
It was really exciting to actually watch the performances tonight. It was good to get confirmation that the performances we liked best were actually the best.
Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder from France

Following Ice Dancing, the Ladies took to the ice. We were only able to watch two groups before we were kicked out of the venue, but luckily for us it included the top ranked skater in the world, Kim Yu-Na of Korea.
Kim Yu-Na of Korea

You'll notice in this photo that off to the right of the frame are a row of cameramen that appeared out of nowhere. The line of cameras followed her every move and moved in unison as she moved. It was really quite strange.
Rachel Flatt