The men’s is the deepest figure skating field at the Vancouver Games, and last night’s short programs showed why. Less than a point now separates Russia’s Yevgeny Plushenko, America’s Evan Lysacek (our Olympic Stud of the Day), and Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi going into Thursday’s medal-deciding free skate (8 p.m., NBC). Let’s take a closer look:
• While defending gold medalist Plushenko’s performance was obviously good, I’m obsessed with the package NBC ran on him before it. I’m pretty sure the editor of it is using it as an audition reel for the fourth Bourne film. (Yevgeny did his interview driving the fast car he bought when he missed the risk of competitive figure skating.) I’m surprised they didn’t try to get him to say, “I must break you,” because clearly, we’re supposed to hate him as much as we did Ivan Drago. In fact, I was waiting for Rocky IV‘s “Training Montage” score to start. Or, the Jaws theme. The music was so ominous, at one point, there was the sound of lightning! He likes that he strikes fear in the eyes of his opponents. He’s a villain… but he’s still a figure skater. Points to him for the cocky swashbuckling after his skate (pictured, far left). Deduction though for the poorly-matched skin-tone dickie.
• Because of the sideburns and the collar on his costume, I kept thinking Takahashi (pictured, center) was going to be skating to Elvis. He didn’t, but in the immortal words of Sandra Bezic, “That was hot!”. (Watch.) He’s got the jumps, the personality, the ability to pull off an incredibly busy top half of a costume, and an interesting backstory. Not the knee injury, but this from his NBC bio: “Began skating because his parents thought he cried too much as a child.” I want him to medal and I want him to bawl!
• The self-destruction of heavage-loving, studly Clay Aiken-looking US champ Jeremy Abbott was painful to watch. (Did you notice that even the Olympic worker with him afterward as he did an interview had tears in her eyes?). But really, what is more humiliating: singling your quad, doubling your axel, and eliciting the “Ugh” from Scott Hamilton, or sitting in 15th, one step below Italy’s overalls wearing hottie Samuel Contesti (pictured, right). Canadians really are the nicest people on Earth, clapping along to his hillbilly/hobo blues number even though he was dressed like an extra in the opening scene of The Jerk. He was worst-dressed, right? Or does someone want to argue in favor of Belgium’s Kevin van der Perren, who borrowed the Cobra Kai’s skeleton Halloween costumes from The Karate Kid and added sequins? (Watch.) Confession: I love Johnny Weir’s attitude (ending with a “take this” kiss), but I hated the tassel even if he rocked it and it looked good in slo-mo. He sits in sixth. I will say that Weir is the only one who truly pulls off the gloved look. What is up with all the gloves? Sure, they have a dramatic effect, but if you’re not as passionate as Lysacek was, it just draws attention to the fact. Another confession: Evan’s costume kind of annoys me, too. His long, lean frame looks stunning on the ice, but even in all black, his torso is too busy: sequins, feathers, velvet, sheer. I wouldn’t lose the feather cuffs though: They build a little nest for his face when he holds it in his hands, as he did when he took an emotional knee after his personal best program last night.
• Skater’s skater Stephane Lambiel (5th) caught my eye at the opening ceremony for his polished performance as Switzerland’s flag bearer, and after seeing the Torino silver medalist’s joyous “Wilhelm Tell” skate, it makes perfect sense. When you have Scott Hamilton calling your footwork “insane,” you know it’s something special. And if he’d asked me to marry him a second after completing that end combination spin, I would’ve said yes. Speaking of spins, this would also be a good time to note that combination spins look badass when performed to Jimi Hendrix. Nicely done, Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka (8th).
• I’m beginning to feel bad for every Canadian athlete. The weight is on their shoulders, none more so than 19-year-old Patrick Chan, who’s trying to bring the country its first gold in men’s. (Pause for fellow fans of Kurt Browning to remember his Olympic disappointments. And yes, Sandra, we could totally tell he’d choreographed the footwork sequence for Canada’s Vaughn Chipeur, who, side note, has great hair.) If Chan hadn’t gotten that one point deduction for finishing after his music, he would’ve been in sixth instead of Weir and made the final group for the free skate. He wanted a challenging Olympics. Here’s hoping he still gets a happy ending with a clean program that would make his late 90-year-old first coach proud.
• Lastly, we have to thank Czech Republic’s 19-year-old Michal Brezina (9th). Not for skating to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” — I groaned, but technically my toe was tapping. But for his youth, which made Scott Hamilton so bitter. Watching him breeze through his footwork, Hamilton shouted, ”That’s really hard! That’s really hard!” For Scott’s sake, one of the teens better lose steam at the end of his free skate Thursday and struggle through his straight line. Fingers crossed it’s not Brezina, because I imagine he’d be fun to hang with in the Olympic village. I’d insist the coach in the red glasses tag along.
Your turn. What did you think of the short programs? Who will take gold: Plushenko, Lysacek, or Takahashi?
More Olympics coverage:
PopWatch on Ice: Shen and Zhao win pairs gold following collective gasp
PopWatch on Ice: Good music, bad costumes, and questionable scoring in the pairs’ short programs
Scott Hamilton: The 5 most memorable Olympic figure skating falls
Scott Hamilton: The 5 times I was a little too excited in the broadcast booth
Scott Hamilton: The 5 programs I would have skated
Olympic Stud of Day 4: Seth Wescott
Olympic Stud of Day 3: Canadian men’s moguls gold medalist Alexandre Bilodeau
Olympic Stud of Day 2: U.S. speed skater Apolo Ohno
Olympic Stud of Day 1: U.S. curler Chris Plys
Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony: Best and Worst
Photo credit: Plushenko: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images; Takahashi: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images; Contesti: UPI/Brian Kersey/Landov
The Free Skate isn’t until Thursday night.
We play a drinking game during the men’s skating events. You take a drink every time a gay man takes the ice. We’re usually all passed out about 35 minutes into the event.
One year we tried taking a drink whenever a straight guy took the ice. Five hours later we were sober and bored.
I like to take a shot every time a douchebag comments on an EW blog post. Look at that, I’m already drinking…
AK, you’re going to need a liver transplant if you go that route.
Ha! Good one, AK. No matter how straight or gay any of those men are, they are all in prime physical condition and could, I’m certain, kick the homophobic daylights out of you!
It’s so funny that you think you can tell who’s gay and who’s not, Roddddderick – And anyone who is so obsessed with this is no doubt sitting on some repressed feelings – ya know what I’m saying….?
Pickle-smoochers unite and bash Roddderick!
Blah blah blah. Such a hillbilly/backwoods/trailer park trash comment. I’m not even going to mention that most male figure skaters are actually straight (check out backstories of all the skaters and you’ll see). Nah..what’s the point? Just go back to living in your mobile home with your sister..who happens to also be your Mom.
I think I’m in love! Evan was AH-MA-ZING!! I pray he wins the gold medal.
I couldn’t help but think of Adam Ant when I saw Takahashi’s ‘do and sideburns. Great skater, though.
Worst-dressed – most definitely Contesti and his overalls.
The top 3 are practically tied. I can’t wait for tomorrow night!
I don’t get what Evan did that was better than Johnny to put him four places ahead of him. Johnny’s routine was perfect too. And what the hell is the deal with the five o’clock shadow on these men. It’s the olympics. Shave!
My husband shaved 2 hours before our wedding and has 5 o’clock shadow in all the pictures. It happens.
if you go onto vancouver2010.com and go onto the skating link for results you can expand the skaters details and it will show you all the marks including the grade of execution and base mark for all their programs.
I agree with SLB. They totally underscored Weir.
Definitely Weir was underscored. Stupid judges.
I liked Weir better but Lysacek had more difficulty, thus more points. It suckkks
last night was awesooooome!!!
Oh, Jeremy.
What about the French skater who went first? His back story was amazing (abandoned as a baby on the streets of some Brazilian city, adopted by a French family), he skated really well, and he is ADORABLE. I’m only 10 years older than him, but I really wanted to pinch his cheeks he was just so darn cute.
In my ideal (completely biased) world, Lysacek would win gold, Takahashi silver, and either Weir or Lambiel the bronze.
He was so fun to watch and yes, I wanted to pinch his cheeks, too.
I’m soo glad someone brought him up! I thought he was wonderful! He skated beautifully! His story is heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, to see him overcome such crazy odds is really inspiring. He obviously won’t medal here, but I can’t wait to see him in Sochi in 4 years, he could really be a force to be reckoned with.
I also loved that I could tell he was French from the moment he took the ice. The future is bright now with Chan, him, and the Japanese men.
I believe his name is Florent. Definitely a star in the making.
Yevgeny Plushenko is A FORCE!!!
I hate his skating style. So he can land a quad – who cares? He has no style or grace and I hope to god he falls multiple times during his free skate.
Me too. He flails about too much. You have to have a balance between power, control, and grace.
I love that Dick Button was having a hard time saying anything nice about him after he was shown the intro package when Plushenko said he wanted to be a back-to-back gold medalist “just like Dick Button.”
ita. I hate him! He may be talented, but his terrible personality makes his skating unwatchable to me (and I have felt this way since he came on the scene in 98). Unfortunately, he is not one known to self-deconstruct, so I’m hoping for three perfect programs so at least I feel they ALL could have won gold, even if they don’t.
Also, I’m HAPPY emphasis on the quad has waned. It wrecks your body–just wrecks you. Your hips, your knees. I think it’s awful to give it more points and for skaters to feel superior if they can do one. Not to mention it doesn’t add to artistry (often detracts from it with a stumble/fall) and is difficult to tell from a triple in the moment. Triples are enough for me.
Plushenko = Emanuel Sandu of Canada. They both have attitude problems and should not represent the skating world in any way.
Absolutely. Johnny Weir, for all his faults (there were sloppy moments, I’ll admit) has a grace and elegance that Plushenko simply can’t touch. Weir is actually fun to watch beginning to end. Plushenko just gives you a two second adrenaline rush when he’s flying through the air. Weir jumps sometimes rock too though!
Dick Button was actually criticizing his skating in an interview. Button talked about how smoothly Evan and Takahashi land their jumps and Pleshenko lands with a crash “like a sledgehammer”.
I didn’t need NBC to paint him as a villain. The dude has always been arrogant, and I think the quad and the last decade’s emphasis on jumps rather than artistry are the reasons why this sport is losing fans. I really want someone to give this jumping hack a beatdown in the finals.
He told the CTV interviewer that if you don’t do a quad, you’re not a man. David Pelletier the commentator seemed like he wanted to find him and kick his a** personally.
And I’m pretty sure Pelletier COULD kick his @ss. I hope they film it if he does.
Agreed Pelletier is huge and his commentary is absolutely hilarious, he definitely doesn’t hold back his opinions which is awesome.
I LOVE PLUSHENKO! I hated him during the Salt Lake games, but since then I’ve found his “villain” persona to be endearing. Also, he’s an amazing skater, and I have to have a bit of respect for skaters who “come out of retirement” to prove everyone wrong. GAH! I love him!
Did you say a HORSE!
Sorry. Can’t stand him.
Plushenko is a villan indeed! He was trash talking to Evan about how he did not do a quad in his routine and then mocked his answer in an interview! And how he whined about the skating order beforehand… A real champion wouldn’t resort to those kind of tactics to win a competition!
I agree, he’s a total a@@. I saw an interview with him on CTV in Canada after his skate, and he looked bored silly, and was complaining that he was hungry. I think if he can come out of retirement, Elvis Stojko should as well. These new rules for points is making it boring. Bring back Elvis to light a fire.
I liked Alexei Yagudin (2002 gold medalist) better. Yagudin always seemed to be a much nicer, friendlier guy. Pleshenko is arrogant, ungracious and unfriendly.
It’s Patrick Chan, not Chen.
I love that Plushenko is all about talking about his enemies. I was just waiting for the “I crush you” line. That said, his performance gave me chills. Both he and Lysacek were utterly remarkable and I’m excited to see them battle it out on Thursday.
As for Johnny Weir and his pink tassel, I’m with you (kinda), Mandi. If the music had been either more rock or glam, I think we would have loved it, though. (Was I the only one thinking his outfit and attitude cried out for some AFI tunes?)
Anyone know the music the Japanese skated to? (the cutie with the side burns and fluffy hair *swoon*) I say it was Joe Satriani.
I know the other skater did Jimi Hendrix.
Takahashi skated to “Eye” by Coba.
Thanks! I liked the music
Say what you will about a tassel, Johnny’s performance was better than Lambiel’s and Oda from Japan. He completed all elements without being messy and with flair.
Florent Amodio from France hopefully has a HUGE career in front of him because he was spectacular.
Not a Johnny fan, but I agree that he did a spectacular job last night.
did it bother anyone else that Johnny wasn’t included in that training video w/ Eric and Jeremy and that Bob Costas didn’t discuss his performance in the wrap-up???
Yes, Cari, I also thought that was odd and unfair. Makes me root for Johnny all the more!
I did notice that Weir wasn’t mentioned a lot whenever the Men’s Figure Skating events were being announced, yet they bring up Lysacek and Abbott and Ivan Drago…oops I mean Plushenko.
I thought Weir did a great job, but especially Lambiel was doing a much more difficult program. Look at the scoring breakdown on the Olympics page. Lambiel also gets extra points for doing clearly harder footwork and dramatically better spins. I would have placed Weir exactly where he is. Right behind Lambiel. Though, maybe a point higher.
Lambiel’s spins are insane- the speed is breathtaking!
Go Lysacek!
His spins were crazy fast…a beautiful thing to watch!
I agree–and even my husband said “wow!” aloud!
Props to the guy, for sure! I would’ve gotten a major headache and probably fall down from the dizziness.
Lambiel is an incredibly beautiful skater. My goodness. His footwork is fantastic. And his spins are out of this world. If he had landed that quad-triple combo he would be about a point behind Plushenko and have a much better chance at a medal. I thought he was clearly the best pure skater on the ice. Beautiful!
Even though Chan had his problems, his footwork sequences are miles ahead of everyone else.
They did a good job of hyping everything up. And the athletes brought their A games last night. The only skater I missed was the French guy at the beginning, but I saw everyone else. I’m actually rooting for Plushenko to win again. And “Wow!” at the Quad *_*
I was heartbroken for Jeremy Abbott last night when he missed those jumps. (In a totally unrelated aside, I think that he looks more like AI’s John “Red” Stevens than Clay Aiken.) I really want Plushenko not to even medal, but so many of the other top contenders made mistakes that it will be tough to knock him out of contention entirely. I do hope that Lysacek and Takahashi both beat Plushenko in the LP. I also felt for Patrick Chan, as he’s carrying a lot of pressure. I hope that he can do well in the LP and do better in Sochi in 4 years.
I wasn’t loving the dirty-looking overalls that Contesti wore, but maybe he’s just being practical and wanted something that he could wear in real life, if, you know, he needed to go feed some pigs or something. Vera Wang designed Evan’s costume, and while the feathers were an unlikely yet effective touch, I agree that the rest was just too busy.
We are in complete agreement! Poor Jeremy.
I’m resigned to the fact that Plushenko will most likely win, but I’m rooting for Takahashi to give us an Olympic miracle!
Takahashi totally rocked it. I hope he wins. Plushenko’s footwork and spins were dreadful!
LOVE how you are doing these columns! I look forward to reading them each morning!