Word: skater
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Hughes didn't just skate flawlessly. She became the first woman to land two triple-triple jump combinations--the triple Salchow-triple loop and the triple toe-triple loop--in one program. Even more impressive, she is the first skater to fight her way from fourth after the short program to first overall. "It was my greatest skate ever, and it was great that it could happen in my Olympic long program," she says...
...fact, it's unlikely to happen again. No other skater--in women, men, pairs or ice dancing--has ever made up so much ground at the Olympics. Too much has to happen. Given the contorted mathematics that is the skating judging system, it was not enough for Hughes to win the long program, which she did handily. Kwan, the initial leader, also had to finish third. So it was the final skater, Slutskaya, who would determine all. Barring a once-in-a-lifetime score of her own--unlikely, since her program was not as well constructed as Hughes'--her performance...
Slutskaya, who immediately followed Kwan, has in the past been too rattled to pull off a winning program in the American champion's wake. Normally a powerful, fast skater who achieves hang time with her jumps, she couldn't dazzle the Olympic judges enough to overtake Hughes. But her performance to Tosca was enough to surpass Kwan, who double-footed a landing on an early jump and then struggled to maintain her confidence in the rest of the program, falling on the later triple flip. "It just wasn't my night," said Kwan again and again. "I don't know...
...thrilled me to see that the figure skater gracing your cover was New York's own Sarah Hughes [OLYMPIC PREVIEW, Feb. 11]. I attended the 1999 World Championships in Helsinki and saw the then 13-year-old Hughes mesmerize the crowd with her performance. She is a gracious yet tough competitor and a great role model. BONNIE HOLZER New York City...
Hughes is a very talented skater, but she has not yet developed the beauty and grace that Michelle Kwan has. And she has certainly not developed the ability to control what she says to the press. Her comment that Kwan is "just another competitor" was ludicrous. Remarks like that will not endear her to skating fans. Hughes has to show she has class as well as talent. LANA EDWARDS Delray Beach...