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It has been 12 years since the World Championships were last here in 2000; a competition I have not forgotten, nor have the journalists and photographers, it seems, who were here also and remind me regularly of that fateful competition. Fateful at least for me. After arriving here in March of 2000, like most competitions the media were on their own to get to their hotels. I was on a flight with my friend Danny Kwan and tried to sweet talk him into a ride into town, but no luck there. The bus into the center of town, though, is rather convenient, and I ended up at the main bus station with a pile of luggage. Before the trip I had been warned that Nice was (and still is) a rat's nest of pickpockets and petty thieves working for the mafia, and to be on guard at all times. I found out the hard way it was true. Turning my back a few times to locate a taxi stand, two small cases on my pile of luggage were snatched. They got my computer, all my film and half my camera gear. At the time I totalled it up at about $7000 of equipment. Also gone were computer files and notes not backed up at home that were gone forever, including the manuscript of a book I was working on at the time with no backup either. Later that night a "good Samaritan" showed up at my hotel with an empty small suitcase and my passport which he said he "found." How nice of the mafia to return my passport so I could get home at the end of the competition, but how they figured out where I was staying I can't begin to guess! As for my ticket, back in those ancient times it meant a trip back to the airport and a fee to get a new ticket issued. Fortunately I had enough equipment left over that I could shoot the competition and only had to buy replacement film. Another photographer at the competition had all their equipment stolen from out of the photo area at the arena, probably by one of the workers in the building, and had to buy replacement gear to do her work. Twelve years later I still remember the smell of marijuana coming from the service areas of the arena, the broken step where I twisted my ankle (which still hasn't been replaced twelve years later), and the women using the men's toilets as I'm standing there doing my business. I vowed then I would never come back here for a competition, but here we are again anyway. Second time's a charm, packing lean and mean, and glued to my equipment. There are others too who will remember their experiences at the 2000 Championships less than fondly. On might even call the 2000 Championships cursed. The 2000 Championships were originally to be held in Brisbane, Australia, but after the 1999 Championships they were taken away because the host broadcaster was unable to provide the required world feed, and the problem proved unsolvable. The French Federation stepped in and offered to host the 2000 Championships, six months out. Elena Berezhnaya & Anton Sikharulidze arrived at the Championships but were not allowed to skate when it was learned that Berezhnaya had tested positive for pseudoephedrine taken in an over the counter cold medication. The team was disqualified and lost their European gold medal they had won two months earlier. In practice before the free dance, Albena Denkova was injured when American skater Peter Tchernyshev's blade slashed her leg severing two tendons and a muscle. She spent a week in hospital in Nice, and after a long recovery was able to return to competition the next season. According to Wikipedia, after she asked U.S. Figure Skating if Tchernyshev had insurance to help cover her medical expenses Denkova and Staviski's invitation to compete at the 2000 Skate America was withdrawn. The day before the pairs free skating, French pair skater Stephane Bernadis responded to a knock on his hotel room door. As he partially opened the door an intruder reached in and slashed him on the left arm with a razor blade or similar cutting tool. It resulted in a long but mostly superficial wound that required eight stitches. Following the attack, security was beefed-up at the competition and bodyguards that had been assigned to the French skaters from the start of the competition were more attentive in their efforts. Inexplicably, Bernadis' bodyguard was in another room one floor below the skater at the time of the attack. It is was ironic that in 1998 French Federation president Didier Gailhaguet complained about security at the World Championships in Minneapolis, remarking that "we know that anything can happen in the U.S.", only to have a serious breach of security in his own event. By the end of the competition the assailant had not been identified or caught, and never was. Finally, during the long program competition the Ukrainian pair team of Yulia Olbertas & Dmitry Palamarchuk took a spectacular fall in the last lift of their program with only 20 seconds left to go. Palamarchuck caught a heel moving backwards in a full lift. He went down hard and Olbertas landed on him. He lay on the ice twitching for what seemed like forever until the "medical" staff came out. Without bothering to check him for a neck or back injury they hoisted him up on his feet and dragged him off the ice with a dazed look on his face - unable to even support his own weight. Upon exiting the ice he passed out and was taken to the hospital where he was treated for a concussion. This year we are all hoping for a more smoothly running competition. "We made some mistakes last time," said Didier Gaihaguet, "mainly because of the rush. This is an expensive city to hold the event. It involves an output of $10 million." Miscellaneous facts and figures for these championships 219 skaters from 55 ISU member countries are entered in the Championships.
Four skaters celebrate their birthdays during the Championships:
There are four brother and sister teams competing in Nice:
There is one husband and wife team competing in Nice:
Three skaters come back to Nice after competing here in 2000:
Three reigning World Champions are back to defend their titles here in Nice:
Several former World Champions are also competing:
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Copyright 2012 by George S. Rossano