Grace, you are really a sport...
All you have told is very interesting so far...
I am going to repeat the question of the last message..
Have you got pictures with them????

Oh, Grace, dear - your analysis is what I personally want

P.S. Have u done your laundry?

As one might imagine, I don't really have much to say about disciplines other than dance. I'm gonna try and cover it anyway, though. Let's see, pairs. Well, none of them were all that terrifying, which is good. Generally when there are that many pairs in an event, some of them are just downright scary to watch. Not so in Tokyo, in fact, the only time I cringed and/or covered my face at all was when Jess and Bryce did their side-by-side spins-- luckily, they were a lot farther apart in the freeskate. I hadn't seen them skate since a summer competition a few years ago, and they're such a solid team. I really liked a lot of their transitions, especially into their death spirals. I was totally thrilled to be able to see Shen & Zhao again, and they were fabulous. I still can't believe they're the same team that showed up 10 years ago and couldn't do anything but lifts. Savchenko/Szolkowy, whom I also love, were really good in the short, but unfortunately not so great in the long. Ah well. Oh, I know the really memorable thing from pairs. Volosozhar/Morozov's long was INCREDIBLE. I don't think I've ever seen them skate that well before. Hell, I've rarely seen anyone skate that well. They came and sat by us for the rest of the competition, and their reaction to where they ended up was very funny. It was pretty much a cross between and

The Swedish team is very promising. If they'd skated clean, they would have ended up much higher.

Petrova/Tikhonov's short was just sad, and same for the Siudeks, but it was most heartbreaking to see the Siudeks go out the way they did after he got hurt on warmup. Dorota was just crying and crying... it was so depressing, and I'm sure also for the teams who train with them in Montreal. At least they got a medal at Euros in Warsaw.

One thing that was more noticeable in the pairs than in any other event, I think, was that a lot of people got really sick in Tokyo and somehow it seemed to be more pairs than anything else-- maybe because they competed first, so they were more heavily stressed earlier on and had less time to adjust? I mean, technically the compulsory dance is first, but at least then they have a day off. I dunno, but it seemed like a lot of people in pairs had the flu, and it really killed a lot of their performances. People just did not look perky. Brooke Castile? Craig Buntin? Dan Zhang? I'm looking at you.

If people have specific questions about pairs, I'll definitely try to answer them, I just can't think of anything very specific to say. I had no argument with the results at all, everyone seemed to me to be pretty fairly placed. Oh wait, except for last. I know they have throw triples, but there just is not a worse pairs team out there right now internationally than Kemp/King from Great Britain. Throw triples notwithstanding, everything else they do is so weak and their basic skating is so poor that I find it scandalous that they ever finish anywhere but last. That is all.

WoW!!!
It's great to read reports or opinions with all the know you have on technicalities! Thanks, Grace!

Thank you, Grace, for your report!

I didn't know she had hurt her foot (or anything else). Good thing they have some time off now.

Elfaria wrote:

Journalists asked them a lot of questions. And some that I remember concerned Bulgarian figure skating development. Albena said that in Bulgaria there was nowhere to train professionally, and there was nobody to turn for help. That is why she is going to start very formal communication with different institutions in order to build a large multifunctional ice rink and make foreign coaches come to Bulgaria and teach little kids.

I'm sure she is thinking of quite high level people, but that? Is something I'd drop everything to do in about 10 seconds.

Seriously, I envy her the opportunity, as frustrating and difficult as it's likely to be. She must have soooooo many ideas of things she'd like to try, and how she'd like to set things up, and building a system is going to be incredibly exciting (and tiring and exasperating and maddening and all the rest). But still, it would be so amazing to be part of building things almost from scratch.

Hi, I'm Vanya, I'm very regular at the Bulgarian forum, and I've been browsing quite often your site, but I haven't written anything so far. Nice to find here such a lovely international group of D and M fans. As for Albena's foot - yes, she stepped in a hole just before the FD, so her ankle was bruised and swollen and as far as I know - it still is. The doctors have insisted on giving her 7 painkilling shots in the ankle, but she said no - allthough I can't quite get it why she refused, but this is the story, told by the newspapers.

And Maxim also said that they have the strenght and the desire to compete more, but they first want to get a rest and then take a desicion. Some medias, covering the press conference is that they most probably will skip the next year, and return until the OG...i just so hope it is true....
R.Bakalova also said their program was the most competitive one, and some others was more looking like exhibition(i am pretty sure she was talking about "At Last" )
And also Albena said that she is sorry, but she is still a little bit inadequate from the great joy of the gold medals.. She said that she will have to organize some things about the upcoming 2 competitions in Sofia( i know one will be the JWC, but i don't have no idea what the other will be)

Dear girls! Thank you so much for the information!!!!!!