From: cs431109@umbc5.umbc.edu (cs431109)
Subject: Re: 1992 World Pro Championships from Landover, MD
Organization: Univ. of MD, Baltimore County
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 02:27:46 GMT

In article <1992Dec13.192758.22544@leland.Stanford.EDU> iceskate@leland.Stanford.EDU ( Lin) writes:
>the pairs result was a surprise to me though.  I thought that 
>Mishkutienok and Dmitriev would have gotten at least 2nd.
>

All of the skaters in all categories skated nearly flawless(1 fall or less)
or prefectly, except for Petrenko's poor entry in the technical portion. 
So the only thing left to distinguish one performance from another was
content, style, etc -- which is always subjective. Mishkutenok and Dmitriev
skated as well as ever, but their pitfall of the night came in the technical
program. There were one or two spots where they were not in unison, and
the judges apparently noticed. Also, their program (sorry, didn't 
recognize the music) consisted of quite a few of Natalia's pretzel
imitation poses -- beautiful, awe inspiring, and breathtaking, but
too many IMHO. Bechke/Petrov had more traditional difficult tricks in
their program than M/D, and the crowd and judges agreed. I thought
Bechke/Petrov were better in the technical perf. than Gordeeva and
Grinkov. G&G did have a flaw, and some of the judges were apparently
not watching since they received a few tens to get a 49.5 compared to
B&P's 49.3.  M&D only got a 48.9.  

In the pairs artistic portion, G&G blew the competition away with a perfect
50 for an excellent piece.  B&P were close to perfect with a 49.8. But
M&D's piece once again consisted of too many pretzel imitations. I could
easily watch them skate over and over and over, so they're pieces were
definately enjoyable. But in comparison to the other two, they just weren't
as traditional.

I was disappointed in the pairs competition overall because 1. I didn't
recognize most of the music 2. all the pairs skated the same style as
they always do, and 3. I missed the sensuous/riviting/romantic(pick one)
performances of Underhill and Martini. U&M always had a presence on the
ice. You could sense the crowd taking a deep breath in anticipation as
soon as they stepped onto the ice, the same with Boitano, Wylie, and 
Yamaguchi. But none of these pairs, with the possible exception of G&G, have
that kind of presence yet.

This competition is different than anything I've seen on TV. A lot of times
I'll see skaters on TV and wonder what on earth caused the judges to
give them such poor marks. But seeing the live performance in person is
completely different than watching it on TV. For example, Petrenko wore
a fancy shirt during his aritistic number. Very nice, very glamorous,
very shiny, and very distracting. I found myself watching the shimering
shirt that seemed to change colors as he moved, rather than watching his
skating. I know it won't look quite that bad on TV. Bestemianova and
Bukin are experts in picking distracting costumes. And the music choices
definately set a mood in the audience. The pairs started the competition,
and they all had classical-type music which makes for a boring skating
piece unless you're G&G. There was just no diversity or uniqueness. It was 
like they were just doing a bunch of tricks on the ice, and whoever did 
the best tricks won. Yes I like watching the tricks, but it's hard to 
pick a winner. 

I guess my point is that when you watch this competition on TV, you may 
indeed wonder why M&D place third (and why Bestemianova and Bukin
placed second). But watching the skaters live, one right after the other 
with no commercials and no ridiculous commentary (like "and they 
nailed it!") lets you more clearly compare the performances. In this case, 
M&D definately placed third.

While it's still fresh in my mind, I'll make a few more comments:

Biellmann -- Denise skated to I think a David Foster piece and an acapello
song that I didn't recognize. She interpreted the acapello piece quite
well. Denise was a surprise. I know she and I don't have many CD's in
common in our collections, but she chose excellent music for a change.
The scores for the acapello number ranged from 9.7 to 10 which is
very confusing, considering the audience really loved the piece. I
thought it was a 50 for sure. 

Yamaguchi -- One of Kristi's numbers was the one she does in the Discover
Card show, the one in the camisol and red pants. The other number, the
technical number, contained a number of effortless triples. I didn't
recognize the music in either case. Kristi was the clear and undisputable
winner of the night.

Wylie -- skated to This is the Moment and JFK. He had a little trouble
in the technical piece, but the JFK number was perfect. He definately
has a chance to take the pro crown away from Boitano in the future.

Boitano -- Grofe's Grand Canyon suite and the Pavarotti number. Brian
did his usual fantastic triples, including the triple axle and Tano triple.
During the warm up, he touched his hand down on the ice doing the triple
axle. The spot where he did it was right in front of me. The next few times
he skated past the spot, I could tell he was looking at it and wondering
why he had trouble. But he had no trouble during the competition. By the
way, in some 15 live performances of his that I have seen, including
the warm ups for this competition, that's the first time I've seen him
falter. He is truely amazing. And as good as he looks on TV, his jumps
are tremendously more impressive in person. I swear he looks like he's
five feet off the ground.

Well, that's enough of my comments. Let's see some others! And please
add comments after you see the show on TV in January.

Mary :-)

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