2002 Olympic Winter Games

Ice Dance

Compulsory Dance, 15 February
Orignal Dance, 17 February
Free Dance, 18 February

The ice dance event began under intense scrutiny with the skating of the two compulsory dances.  Nevertheless, even with the extensive publicity connecting ice dancing with the pairs judging controversy and despite this being a "sold-out" event, the arena was never more than two-thirds full and by the end was more than half-empty.   As in all the previous skating sessions here, many spectators arrived late; and in this case, many more did not stay through to the end, perhaps overcome by the mind-numbing repetition or the 5 hour marathon nature of the competition.

To the relief of the ISU no doubt, nothing out of the ordinary happened in the judging of the two dances.  It was your typical compulsory dance competition, with none of the placements closely split, and 22 of the 24 couples placing identically in the two dances.  The only drama was the American team of Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernychev battling furiously with Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon for 11th place.  The two couples split the two dances between them and ended up tied.

After the skating of these two dances one has to wonder why the French judges/officials were concerned enough about the ice dance result to try and give their team a surreptitious boost.  Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat won both dances on near unanimous decisions and seem to have a lock on the gold medal.  The 2001 World Champions, Barbara Fusar Poli & Maurizio Margaglio were an unimpressive third, and appear doomed so far as the gold medal is concerned.  The French couple only has to hold off the Russian husband and wife couple of Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbuck who placed second in both CDs.

Canadians Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz are sitting in fourth, but could still move up to a medal if the Italians have as lackluster performances in the OD and Free Dance as they did at the Grand Prix Final.   Also now apparently out of the running are Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas.  Sitting in fifth place after the CDs, they have little chance of moving up two places for the bronze.  That just doesn't happen in ice dancing.

Americans Lang & Tchernyshev will have to fight to hold on to 11th place.  The best they can now hope for here is to move up to tenth if the Ukrainians falter, but they are also at risk of dropping a place or two against the Poles.  The couple missed all of their international competitions this season other than the recent Four Continents Championships, but at U.S. Nationals they said they were not concerned they have not been seen by the international judges since last year.  Maybe they should be concerned now.

Lang was quoted in the media as saying “We know we’re as strong as the top five teams.  We have to wait our turn. It’s painful sometimes, but we are going to stick it out. We’re patient enough to wait for that moment.”   They may have a long wait.  They have been mired in roughly tenth place for several years now and it is unlikely enough couples ahead of them will expire fast enough to allow them to move up.

Beata Handra & Charles Sinek placed 20th, pretty much where pundits expected they would prior to the Games.

Looking at the spread in the ordinals over the three dances skated thus far, the consensus seems to have converged on having the Russian couple of Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh end up with he silver medal.  Having missed most of the season due to injury, the couple seemed thrilled with their placement by the look of their reaction in Kiss and Cry after the OD.   Eight of the nine judges palced them second or third, while the judge from Poland placed them first and awarded a mark of 6.0 for the second mark.

The reigning World Champions, Barbara Fusar Poli & Maurizio Margaglio, remained in third place despite the efforts of the Italian judge who has propped up their marks throughout the competition.  The nearly fell at one point in the program and their side-by-side step sequence was sloppy and out of unison.

Canadians Shae-Lynn  Bourne & Victor Kraatz and Lithuanians Margarita Dorbiazko & Povilas Vanagas both had good skates, better then the Italians many thought, but politics is not on their side in this event.

While the judges seem unwilling to move the couples around among the top skaters, below tenth place they shuffled the deck a little bit.

Americans Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev skated a strong dynamic program to seize undisputed control of eleventh place.  Now they can set their sights on he Ukrainian team in an attempt to move up to the all important tenth place.

The second French team of Isabel Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder gave up two places in the OD, the result of a major fall by Schoenfelder in their side-by-side step sequence.

Federica Faiella & Massimo Scali, the second Italian team here moved up one place with a lively entertaining dance.

Americans Beata Handra & Charles Sinek got killed in the OD and lost two placed compared to their CD results.

French dancers Marina Anissina & Gwendal Peizerat held off the Russian couple of Irina Lobacheva & Ilia Averbukh to win the free dance and the gold medal on a five-four decision of the panel.

The French couple skated first in the last warmup group.  Their Liberty themed routine was well skated and received strong presentation marks.  Their performance was well ahead of the subsequent skaters in the group, until Lobacheva & Averbukh who skated last.

Skating to a harpsichord arrangement of To Everything There is a Season, Lobacheva & Averbukh skated a difficult program program with speed and passion, in contrast to the slower, almost ponderous routine, presented by Anissina & Peizerat.  Six of the nine judges placed the Russian couple ahead on technical merit but the presentation mark carried the day for the French couple.

Second to skate in the last warmup, Margarita Drobiazko & Povilas Vanagas gave a very passionate and dramatic performance of their free dance, but they were long out of the running for a medal here after the compulsory dances.  Only the Lithuanian judge ranked their performance medal worthy, placing them third.

Next to skate were Barbara Fusar Poli & Maurizio Margaglio.   Their I will Survive routine started out slow and sloppy and at 1 minute 32 seconds Margaglio did a face plant into the ice on a diagonal foot work sequence.   The couple quickly recovered and the second half of the routine was fast and lively.  At the end of the routine Fusar Poli erupted in tears, and then again in Kiss and Cry.  She did not appear at the post event press conference.  Despite the fall the couple held third place for the bronze medal.

With the fall by the Italians, Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz had a glimmer of hope to move up one place for a medal.  Their Michael Jackson medley was decently skated, except for a fall going into their closing movement were the couple ended up laid out on the ice.  The couple remained in fourth place on a six-three split of the panel in favor of the Italians.

The American team of Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev gave a good performance of the Parisian Walkways routine but remained in eleventh place.   The routine was changed slightly after U.S. Nationals to correct some illegal separations and an illegal carry.

The second U.S. team of Beata Handra & Charles Sinek slipped slipped another place in the free dance and dropped to 23rd in the free dance to 23rd overall.   Sinek has been battling a lung infection throughout the competition.  Their Samson and Delilah routine was entertaining and well skated but lacked difficulty in the step compared to most every other team here.

Referee:  Alexander Gorshkov

          J1:  Eugenia Gasiorowska  LTU
          J2:  Irina Nechkina  AZE
          J3:  Yuri Balkov  UKR
          J4:  Ingrid Charlotte Wolter  GER
          J5:  Evgenia Karnolska  BUL

Asst. Ref.:  Ann Shaw

          J6:  Alla Shekhovtsova  RUS
          J7:  Roland Wehinger  SUI
          J8:  Katalin Alpern  ISR
          J9:  Halina Gordon-Poltorak  POL

Compulsory Dance 1

Place

Referee:  Alexander Gorshkov

          J1:  Alla Shekhovtsova  RUS
          J2:  Yuri Balkov  UKR
          J3:  Walter Zuccaro  ITA
          J4:  Katalin Alpern  ISR
          J5:  Evgenia Karnolska  BUL

Asst. Ref.:  Ann Shaw

          J6:  Irina Nechkina  AZE
          J7:  Halina Gordon-Poltorak  POL
          J8:  Roland Wehinger  SUI
          J9:  Ingrid Charlotte Wolter  GER

Compulsory Dance 2

Referee:  Alexander Gorshkov

          J1:  Halina Gordon-Poltorak  POL
          J2:  Walter Zuccaro  ITA
          J3:  Eugenia Gasiorowska  LTU
          J4:  Roland Wehinger  SUI
          J5:  Irina Nechkina  AZE

Asst. Ref.:  Ann Shaw

          J6:  Katalin Alpern  ISR
          J7:  Ingrid Charlotte Wolter  GER
          J8:  Evgenia Karnolska  BUL
          J9:  Alla Shekhovtsova  RUS

Original Dance

Place

Referee:  Alexander Gorshkov

          J1:  Alla Shekhovtsova  RUS
          J2:  Roland Wehinger  SUI
          J3:  Eugenia Gasiorowska  LTU
          J4:  Ingrid Charlotte Wolter  GER
          J5:  Walter Zuccaro  ITA

Asst. Ref.:  Ann Shaw

          J6:  Irina Nechkina  AZE
          J7:  Evgenia Karnolska  BUL
          J8:  Yuri Balkov  UKR
          J9:  Halina Gordon-Poltorak  POL

Free Dance