Word: skates
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Even the "experts" screwed up. Anne Henning, gold medal winner in 1972's speed skating, said that for a skater to do well in the 500 meter event, she would have to skate the first 100 meters in 10.8 seconds or less. But the first skater did an 11.7, and Henning said "Great time, great time!" And then there was anchorman Jim McKay's flub of the final hockey score, calling it 6-1 when two minutes before we'd seen Steve Jensen of the US close...
...surprisingly, the drill before a panel of judges can be excruciatingly tense. Take the demands of the paragraph loop, for instance. The maneuver begins with the competitor pushing off, moving backward on the outside edge of the right skate. In that position, moving slowly, the skater traces half a circle leading into a loop, gliding out to complete a full circle. He then changes to the inside blade edge and carves a second circle and loop...
Both circles must be the same size (about 5 or 6 ft. in diameter), they must be lined up together, and the loops must be on the same axis. And with all that, the job has only begun. Back at the beginning, the skater shifts to the left skate and goes over the same pattern (still skating backward), this time starting on the inside and changing to the outside edge. The exercise is repeated three times on each foot. The ultimate goal-a single, thin track left...
...FIGURE SKATING Four events: women, men, pairs and dance. In pairs, the couple can skate apart, overhead lifts legal. In dance, skaters must be together, overhead lifts not permitted. In all four competitions, scoring divided into three parts: compulsory figures (30%), short program of compulsory skating (20%), long program of free skating (50%). In compulsory figures, skaters are judged by form. In short and long program, by form, appearance and musicality...
...women's competition, Dorothy Hamill and Diane de Leeuw will skate for the gold medal. In pairs, there should be no contest. Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev, a Russian duo, have won every major pairs title in recent years, and with good reason. Skating in synchronous movements and precise combinations, they mesh like the gears in a Swiss watch. Beyond form, they skate to their music with exquisite choreography and complete the most pyrotechnic maneuvers with consummate grace. They started skating together when Rodnina's original partner, Alexsei Ulanov, left her to marry another skater. Though married themselves...