Word: skater
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...first riddle: What comes first, a figure skater's performance or reputation? Put another way, Are judges chicken to have egg on their faces? During the long and short programs, they put great weight on the reputation of a contestant. A neophyte skater may turn in a string of leaps and spins more dazzling than Katarina Witt's smile and still get lower marks than the reigning queen of the rink. The practice cuts across political affiliations. A Soviet judge will give a prominent American higher marks than a fledgling Russian who skates a comparable program. And vice versa...
Canada's Fitness and Sport Minister, former Skater Otto Jelinek, apparently agreed, and asked O.C.O. to "cease and desist" from harassing small companies that were clearly not hurting the licensing efforts. O.C.O. has taken added lumps over public suspicions that it is elitist -- giving sponsors & preferential treatment on tickets and accommodations, being more interested in playing host to such visiting royalty as Norway's King Olav, Spain's Juan Carlos and Monaco's Prince Rainier than it is in the people of the host city. "I hope the Games do show a profit," says Reg Brown, 44, a rancher outside...
Common wisdom among skaters holds that it is harder to defend as world champion than to come from behind. Adding to the pressure, Canada's Olympic dreams rest heavily on Penetanguishene's favorite son (that's in Ontario). But Orser seems to relish his position. "I'm in the driver's seat going in," he says, "so all eyes and expectations will be on me. That's the way I want it to be." Other than Boitano, the only tough competition is likely to come from Alexander Fadeev, the Soviet skater who won the 1985 world title and has placed...
...black. But she seems to regard her race as the merest coincidence. When she hears the term role model, she cringes. "I never felt I had to have a role model," she says. "It was like, 'O.K., I want to be a doctor, and I want to be a skater, and I'm going to.' I didn't think I had to see a black woman do this to believe it's possible." Her burgeoning mail tells her that in spite of herself, she has been an inspiration to young black women and is about to become a nationwide...
...plans to reclaim the women' s skating gold for the U. S. But she will have to take it away from East Germany' s enchanting Katarina Witt. -- Two Brians: Orser of Canada and Boitano of the U. S. are pretty good friends and the very best of the men skaters. -- Red, White and Dreams: A picture essay offers a look at American competitors from world- record speed skaters to a luger and a biathlete with chances at a first U. S. medal. -- Super- Z: Switzerland' s Pirmin Zurbriggen, the top World Cup skier, is a slashing, aggressive all- event star...