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My
first exposure to ice skating was seeing the Ice Capades as a small child
with my grandmother. But like
many, I became a true figure-skating fan during the first televised winter
Olympics, when Peggy Fleming glided onto Grenoble ice in 1968 and mesmerized
the world with her grace, beauty, and chartreuse costume. As years
went by, I watched all the televised skating competitions and shows. I
watched the Tonya-Nancy debacle in horror, but reveled in the explosion of TV
skating events spawned by the publicity. I enjoyed live performances of Scott Hamilton's Stars on Ice and
the awe-inspiring Brian Boitano in Champions on Ice. But I had never
even THOUGHT of attending a figure-skating competition; that
was for DIE-HARDS.
Then
last September I ran across a website advertising tours to the 2001 World
Championships in Vancouver, only a hop and a skip away from my home in San
Jose, Ca. I had recently retired and was looking for interesting travel
opportunities: why not? I thought. This Worlds immediately precedes an
Olympic year and the competition should be pretty hot!
I
could never have imagined the sheer
thrill of watching IN PERSON all those beautiful, skilled, and dedicated athletes pouring
their hearts onto the ice, and the camaraderie of joining 17,000 other
admirers in the experience: the collective breath-holding each time a
skater launched a jump, the "Ohhhh" and applause when it was landed successfully
(or the gasp when it was not); the cheers for the skaters, the boos for the
judges; and
the enthusiastic if sometimes combative armchair-quarterback discussions
among surrounding fans. Even my husband Mike enjoyed himself somewhat
(although he has already said, "Next time you go alone.").
Here,
then, is my pictorial valentine to the
awesome athletes who thrilled and entertained us, to my fellow Spec-Skaters who
became my instant friends, and to the city of Vancouver -- a fabulous
host.
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