Word: slutskaya
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Since Hughes was the first of the medal contenders to skate, she didn't know exactly what she had done. Or that her program would weather assaults from Sasha Cohen, favorite Michelle Kwan and Russia's Irina Slutskaya to stand, at the end of the evening, as worthy of Olympic gold. As she came off the ice, none of that mattered. "Going in, I didn't think I had a chance for gold, let alone a medal, given who was skating here," Hughes says. "So I didn't hold back...
Sarah Hughes' performance was the pinnacle of a figure-skating competition tarnished by a judging scandal in the pairs competition that resulted in two gold-medal awards. It also had to withstand a protest by a cranky Russian Olympic federation demanding gold for Slutskaya and threatening to leave the Games over assorted alleged judging improprieties. Hughes refocused attention on the outstanding performances these Olympics offered across a menu of winter sports, before crowds that were full and festive despite an unprecedented level of security...
...skated on brilliantly, portraying Bizet's Carmen, her performance lacked the energy of Hughes' routine. She and Hughes will surely be fighting for honors for years. Kwan clearly lacked magic, skating with little speed and tumbling clumsily and uncharacteristically doing a triple flip halfway through her program. The powerful Slutskaya didn't fall but stumbled several times...
...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 would decide whether Kwan or Hughes would become champion. If Slutskaya finished ahead of Kwan in the long program, which is worth...
...DOES IT BEST Last year Irina Slutskaya, right, landed an unprecedented triple-triple-double. The Russian powerhouse and American medal contenders Sarah Hughes and Sasha Cohen all perform more difficult combinations than perennial favorite Michelle Kwan, who is planning a triple toe-triple toe. Hughes plans to launch two triple-triple combinations in her long program...