Pairs skating field filled with great stories
Comebacks, recoveries, new countries and old rivals featured in Vancouver
Last Updated: Sunday, February 14, 2010 | 12:48 PM ET
By Malcolm Kelly, CBC Sports
Canada's Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison practice their routine on the ice at Vancouver this week. (J. David Ake/Associated Press) As bookends go, these are a couple of collector's items.
When the pairs short program in Olympic figure skating begins late Sunday afternoon in Vancouver, the favourites, such as they are in a really deep field, will be out first and last.
Off the top it's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo (personal best 214.25), who were twice world champions and bronze medallists at the Torino Games four years ago. They are back after a two-season retirement for one more kick at the can.
Last in the spotlight will be former Russian Aliona Savchenko, now skating for Germany, and her partner Robin Szolkowy (211.72), two-time defending world champions and a definite gold medal threat.
And the 18 pairs in between? They offer enough story lines to keep writers going for much longer than it will take to finish the competition on Monday.
They include:
- Canada's Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison, the latter famous for whacking the former in the face with his skate while they were performing side-by-side camel spins at Four Continents in 2007. After 80 stitches and plastic surgery for Dubé, they came back the following season to take third at the worlds in 2008. It was a seventh last year. (192.78.)
- Yuko Kavaguti, who was born in Japan but now skates for Russia, and partner Alexander Smirnov beat Savchenko and Szolkowy at the recent European championships and were third at the 2009 worlds (213.15).
- China's Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang, who wowed 'em at the Torino Games by taking silver despite her falling hard on a quad throw Salchow — an incident that sprained Dan's knee. They are four-time medallists at the worlds. (197.82).
- Qing Pang and Jian Tong, also of China, fourth at the last worlds and second at the Grand Prix final in Tokyo. China's "other" pair can win a medal. (201.86).
- Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay are Canada's second entry, making their first Olympic trip and are back healthy after missing all of last season when Anabelle broke her ankle. (164.67).
If Dubé and Davison are to sneak in for a medal in Vancouver, they will need to score over 200 points while grabbing the judge's attention.
And they have the long program to do it, throwing down a skate to Marvin Hamlisch's theme from one of the great teary movies of all time — The Way We Were. Judges have been known to get emotional over it.
There's a story there, certainly, as the music and words ("…misty, water-coloured memories, of the way we were…") remind the couple of what they've been through.
"I'm thankful it happened,'' Davison said of the terrible injury. "I'm thankful it gives us more of a reason, more of a purpose to being here, rather than just being athletes who are doing well.
"It's part of our story — we've been through things that not too many other athletes have really experienced, and that makes being here that much more special."
There are a number of the pairs couples who likely feel the same way.
