Word: hamilton
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...revive his confidence by imagining himself as Sylvester Stallone preparing for the big bout in Rocky. He even made the film's sound track his skating music. Now he prepared for one last fight. "I'm going to go out and at least show them that if [Hamilton's] going to beat me, he's going to feel it. I've worked my whole life to be in this position, and I'm not backing down...
...last person who would wish that fate on Santee was Hamilton. He recalled Santee's inspired charge at the National Championships and hoped for a repeat: "I want David to be at his best. It would be an empty title if everybody didn't skate his best...
...they both committed errors. Hamilton, wheeling around the ice in a simple stroking move, pushed too hard, slipped and fell. Because it was a simple move, he was not penalized severely, though he did not know that at the time. He snapped his fingers in surprisingly good-natured dismay, like a man who had just dropped his keys, not his chances at a world championship. Hamilton later said that he had become so excited by the crowd response after he completed his most difficult triple jump that he told himself, " 'Okay, here we go.' I was really wanting...
Until last week, Hamilton had usually finished behind Santee, and the view from the top led to a reminiscence: "I remember my first competition in my home town of Bowling Green, Ohio. David did three single axels in a row, and I was following him around trying to see how he did it. He was in intermediate, and I was in subjuvenile class. They invented a class for me, and I still finished second...
Santee, who had just announced that he would now consider retirement, laughed at the memory. The smiles died when Hamilton added: "If David retired, I'd be devastated. It wouldn't be the Nationals, it wouldn't be the Worlds if David were gone. I'd be sad." So would the figure-skating world, which has profited from their courage and tenacity as much as Hamilton and Santee have thrived on their rivalry. -By B.J. Phillips, Reported by Jamie Murphy/Hartford