Word: skater
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...gasping solitary climb up a snowy hillside or in the sharp swoosh of a perilous slide down a bobsled track. Sometimes there's no sound but the wind as the ski jumper silently soars above the trees. Even inside the arenas, spectators will hold their breaths as a figure skater winds up for her triple-triple jump. Still, the winter silences are made to be broken: by the downhiller cracking out of the gate, the grunting speed skater leaning into the finish line, the crowd erupting when the ice princess sticks her triple-triple. All that winter music is about...
...protect their longtime hold on Nordic events from the Russian, Ukrainian and Czech skiers hot on their heels. Austrian ski great Hermann Maier will attempt to complete his miraculous comeback from a near fatal motorcycle crash in 2001 by adding to his two Olympic gold medals. German speed skater Anni Friesinger will face a strong field of U.S. and Canadian racers. Japanese ski jumpers, Korean short-track speedsters and even the British curling team are vying for a medal or two. As for that final gold-medal match in hockey, North Americans would like to see a U.S.-Canada showdown...
...attention. Its new scoring system, inaugurated in the 2004 season, will be used in an Olympic competition for the first time. Designed to force judges to back up their subjective scores in a more quantitative way, the revised system is not perfect, but support is growing. "It empowers the skater to participate in the result in a way she never has before," says 1984 Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton. "It is a step in the right direction...
...like a puppy and watched in awe as Cohen deftly defused question after question from reporters about not skating up to her potential and always competing in Kwan's shadow. It was a crash course for the teenager in accepting the baggage that comes with being an Olympic-caliber skater. Even if Meissner is not as polished as Cohen or Kwan--"Sometimes I can't believe the dumb things I say"--her candor makes her a refreshing addition to the women's squad...
That focus doesn't always apply, of course, to practice sessions. During her first warm-up at a major international event a few years ago at the junior level, where skaters like Slutskaya were competing as seniors, Meissner was so starstruck, "she couldn't land a jump for two days," says Gregory. After the skater pulled herself together, she realized that if she wanted a ticket to Torino, she needed to master some mighty moves. "She got to see some of the Japanese skaters doing quad jumps and triple Axels, and it got her motivated," Gregory says...