OBLIGATORY SKATING POST

Anyone who knows me knows that I love skating. For Christmas we got a DVR so now we can record all this stuff and not have to stay up until midnight. Last night it came in handy. I just finished watching the pairs free skate this morning and I'm still sniffling. Did you see that performance by the Chinese pair? If not, let me tell you what happened. They were in second place going into the free skate. The Russians had just skated a flawless but cautious program. The Chinese pair came onto the ice ready to attempt to land the first ever throw quadruple jump in history. It's the first element in their program. He throws her into the air and she opens up and falls on her knee, twisting it and crashing into the boards. She gets up but doubles over in pain. They stop their program and go over to their coach. After a few tense moments they go back on the ice and complete their program! I'm such a sap. I was crying throughout the whole thing. It was truly inspiring. They did so well that they won the silver medal!

I'm looking forward to the rest of the skating competition even though Michelle Kwan has withdrawn. I wish her the best and in the back of my mind I'm hoping she'll get healthy and continue to compete until 2010. It's a long shot but I can dream. The men's short program is tonight and the women don't start until next week. Best wishes to all the US teams. And congratulations to the US pair, Rena Inoue and John Baldwin who landed the first throw triple axel in Olympic history. They ended up coming in 7th overall but they made history.