2015 Grand Prix Figure Skating Final, Team Paradise/Wikipedia Synchronized figure skaters must have a lot of patience. There was hope synchro might be included in the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, but it didn't happen. As the 2010 Vancouver Games inched closer, another carrot was dangled and then chopped up. In 2014, a glimmer... Continue Reading →
Heather Kemkaran was three years old when she first stepped onto an outdoor rink. Her neighbour, Mr. Black, in the small town of Strathclair, Manitoba - northwest of the City of Brandon - offered to teach Kemkaran and her brother to skate. Kemkaran’s dad agreed and made an outdoor rink. Little did the Kemkaran family... Continue Reading →
It seems some skaters had their ticket pre-punched to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, courtesy of their friendly figure skating federation. Which begs the question: why bother to hold a national championship when the federation has already determined who they want on their Olympic team? For the sake of ruining mascara and innocent Kleenex, skating federations... Continue Reading →
I almost miss compulsory figures. Those horrible, former mandatory double-bubbles of trouble. Or three circles for a serpentine. Scratching out figure eights for up to four hours a week was not my idea of a good time. However, when we skated patch, our arena was so quiet you should hear a skate rivet drop. The... Continue Reading →
Even 20 years later, there’s still an appetite for the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan saga. On Jan. 6, 1994, it seemed only the lives of Kerrigan and Harding where changed. It’s a lesson to never underestimate Tonya Harding. Harding was well-documented train-wreck. Her wardrobe malfunction at the 1993 U.S. Nationals and her skate issues at 1993... Continue Reading →
Banned substances keep finding their way into the bodies of top-level athletes whether through accidental ingestion or on-purpose injection. The ISU released their Anti-Doping Procedures for this season. I don’t believe their sanctions are strict enough. Major League Baseball bans a two-time offender while under the ISU, a second infraction might garner a four-year suspension.... Continue Reading →
What makes a good skating movie? From the vast catalogue of titles out there: just about anything. And you would think with the vast catalogue of titles to research, a screenwriter might say, “Hmm, maybe this should be accurate.” Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy an unbelievable and unrealistic skating movie, because unless it’s a... Continue Reading →
Did you hear? Patrick Chan fell four times at the Japan Open earlier this month and placed last? Blog upon blog have dumped on Chan since his result, and Twitter wasn’t too kind either. With Chan going into the Skate Canada Invitational as the two-time defending champion, no doubt the Japan Open is weighing on... Continue Reading →
This morning my heart literally skipped a beat.As I watched the morning news, I put my head down for a mere second to scoop up some cereal, only to hear my husband ask, did you see that? I snapped my head up just as the headline ticker passed with enough information to comprehend: Barbara Ann... Continue Reading →
Midori Ito made her debut at the adult worlds this June. The 1989 World Figure Skating Champion, who made history by landing the first triple Axel in world competition, competed in the ISU Adult Figure Skating Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. Ito finished second to Jan Calnan in the Masters Elite II level. While there were... Continue Reading →
The winds passed like a Chinook over the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Amateurs turned professional, allowing new faces to emerge, such as American sweetheart Jill Trenary, pair strongholds Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler, and Canada’s Cowboy Kurt Browning. I started to document their progress - and skaters at the local level. Collecting newspaper clippings... Continue Reading →
On a clear day in Arborg, Manitoba, I’d have my pick of CBC, CTV, CKND (Global), and MTN. However, most days, it was CBC programming, which explains my love for Degrassi Junior High. CBC showed memorable movies back then, such as Love and Hate - The Story of Colin and Joanne Thatcher and Loyalties. And for... Continue Reading →
Remember the kid who was whined when you would beat then at Sorry or Life, or even Chinese Checkers? Accusations of theft, high-jinx, deception or illusion would surface. They say things like “you didn’t deserve to win” and “you looked at my cards.” And you, being the good sport, just bite your tongue and walk... Continue Reading →
On YouTube, I found a program skated by Ludmila Belousove and Oleg Protopopov. They skated under the name the Protopopovs, and were brilliant pairs skaters in the 1960s. I first heard of them when I read Toller Cranston’s book, Ice Cream, where he counts down, in his opinion, the top figure skaters that revolutionized figure... Continue Reading →
Before International Skating Union phased them out in 1990, compulsory figures were an integral part of figure skating. For those who are not familiar with figures, they were patterns on the ice that resemble figure eights, hence the name. Figure skaters would spend hours honing their figures, meticulously looping around these circles. But they were... Continue Reading →
Skating Scene 