By Sara Kaplow (April 9, 2003)

I was beginning to believe that the MCI Center was my second home. Was it possible that section 215, row A, seat 15 literally had my name on it? Or maybe it just seemed that way since I spent every evening that week in that same seat. 
 

Don’t worry, I’ll explain. You see, the World Figure Skating Championships (hereafter referred to as worlds), were held two weeks ago downtown at the MCI Center, which, for my family and I, was a big event. You see, I’ve been figure skating since I was about 8 years old, and worlds are the biggest annual event in figure skating. So naturally, I had all event tickets, courtesy of my older sister, who flew in from Chicago especially for the event.  That is why I remained in that seat for four hours straight seven days in a row (and let me tell you, it hurt). Despite the fact that so many top skaters retired after the Olympics last year, and that the top Russian skater was not attending, the worlds still promised to be a great event. Michelle Kwan was there to defend her title, and Sarah Hughes, despite getting into Harvard, had yet to prove that her Olympic title was not a fluke. And hoping to medal for the first time at worlds was Sasha Cohen, who had been on fire for the early part of the season.

The three ladies medalists, (l-r) Elena Sokolova,  Michelle Kwan, and Fumie Suguri wave to the press  after accepting their medals. (Photo by Sara Kaplow)

As far as the men went, Michael Weiss was the hometown hero, but not quite the favorite to win. Evgeny Plushenko, who has won just about every event since Olympic champ Alexei Yagudin stopped competing, was hoping to repeat as champion. American Timothy Goebel, the "quad king," was coming off a season in which he won the bronze medal at his first Olympics and was hoping to medal again at worlds.  Going into the event, I knew practically nothing about pairs or dance. Both sets of Olympic gold medallists in pairs had retired after the games, so the gold was wide open. I’ll admit that even now I don’t know much about dance, except that Shaye-Lynn Bourne and Viktor Kratz, Canadians, were competing at their last event and hoped to be the first North Americans to ever win a dance title at worlds.  Monday evening was pairs, which was exciting only in that it also included the opening ceremony. The fans all booed for the head of the International Skating Union, who had instituted a new judging system, which was highly criticized. Actually, he was booed at the beginning of every event, often repeatedly.

American skater Timothy Goebel  takes a bow before taking the podium to receive his silver medal.  (Photo by Sara Kaplow)

Tuesday was the beginning of the men’s competition, the second biggest event. I had missed the men’s competition at the Olympics, so I was really looking forword to the event, particularly since I can remember the party that the Washington Figure Skating Club had for Michael Weiss when he went to the worlds for the first time. Now they were in what was essentially his hometown, and he was going into the event fairly confident. Unfortunately, despite starting his program perfectly, he fell on his last required jump, leaving him far from the position he would have liked.

Timothy Goebel skated flawlessly and ended up in second place. Evgeny Plushenko was first after the short program, in which skaters have to perform certain required elements. The more exciting event was still to come; the long program, which counts for 50% of the final placement (the short program counts for 30%, with the qualifying round filling in the final 20). 
 

The next night was the pairs long program, which was absolutely stunning. Chinese skaters Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, the reigning world champs pulled off a stunning four minute program, reminiscent of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, two time Olympians and possibly the greatest pairs team ever. The program was absolutely breathtaking, and technically perfect, despite a knee injury which almost kept them from competing at all. I have never seen anyone get so high off the ice as these two were able to; Shen was at least 5 feet in the air. There was no real question over who was going to win the event, as evidenced by the roar from the crowd which started with a minute left in their program and did not stop until the next couple was on the ice. It was a remarkable event, despite my initial thoughts that it would be a boring competition.

Pairs gold medalists Shen and Zhao wave to the crowd  before the medals ceremony. (Photo by Sara Kaplow)

The men took the ice the next night for their long program, which was probably the most disappointing event of the entire week. Despite Goebel's perfect program, which displayed his increased artistic ability, Plushenko won out with his failing arms and huge jumps. For the record (and I'm just a little bitter), Goebel landed two quadruple jumps and seven triples, while Plushenko landed only one quadruple and five triples. Even Dick Button, the famous skater turned skating commentator, was disappointed in the results. 

Since I did not attend any of the ice dancing events, I can't really go into detail about those. I did hear from my mother and my sister that despite the fact that ice dance is the least popular division of figure skating, that it was a memorable event. Bourne and Kratz did in fact win the gold medal, a perfect way to end a career and finally ousting the Russians from the top spot. 

The planners of the competition skillfully scheduled the most popular event in figure skating, the ladies singles, for the end of the week, mostly so that they could be televised live on ABC and ESPN. The short program, however, was in the middle of the day on Friday, and my parents generously allowed me to miss two classes to go down and watch. All I really remember about the short program was that it ended pretty much the way it should have; Michelle Kwan was in first, and that's all I cared about. Sarah Hughes was rather unjustly put into ninth place, but that was due mostly to her horrendous skate in the qualifying round. The Washington Post displayed four horrible pictures of her bobbling on the front of the sports section, an act that I think was not only mean hearted but also ridiculously unnecessary.

The final competition was the ladies free skate, which also proved to be the most exciting, not only for me, but I think for the entire audience. I was fortunate enough to get to watch from box seats (courtesy of my grandparents and their generous friends). What an event. Sarah Hughes skated well enough to move up to sixth place overall, a respectable finish, particularly considering she has not skated much this season. Sasha Cohen, the American who was in fourth place going into the long program, fell (as usual) and landed in fourth place for the second year in a row. Russian up-and-comer Elena Sokolova, who won the hearts of the crowd with her smile, skated beautifully and ended up in second. Fumie Suguri, a personal favorite of my family, won the bronze with a beautiful but slightly flawed performance (I have yet to see her skate a clean long program).

The highlight of the night, as usual, was Michelle Kwan's program, which came rather early in the last group of skaters. I have been watching Kwan skate since her first nationals about 10 years ago, and I have never seen her skate with this much joy or personal enjoyment. Everything that she was lacking in the 1998 Olympics she had that night. She was also technically perfect, which certainly helped, but it was the amazing heart with which she skated which made her the best skater of the evening, and therefore the best skater in the world. Again, the crowd began clapping with about a minute left in the program, and didn't stop. For the first time in a long while, Kwan looked like she was having fun while she skated, pumping her fist in celebration in the midst of her expressive and difficult footwork at the end of her program. 

She received two perfect 6.0s for artistry, which were well deserved. In interviews, which I watched upon my immediate arrival home, the normally composed and reserved Kwan was positively giddy. While I do not think that this program is the best one she has ever done, her performance of it was by far the most incredible I have seen her skate. If only she could get it together at the Olympics…

Overall the event was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. I got to see many of my favorite skaters, and Kwan won the gold (for the fifth time, by the way). Despite the fact that I am now overly sleep deprived and overworked, I truly believe that it was worth everything I sacrificed for it (my coaches and teachers may not agree, but they weren't there). I will never forget my week spent completely immersed in a sport that I sorely needed to love again.