Over the Edge, March 10-24 2010 Page 3 Skating of Olympic proportions Stephanie McCullough Managing editor | was lucky enough to attend an Olympic event, extremely fortunate that it was an event | absolutely adore, and positively blessed that it gave me so much to talk about. Please ven- ture on to learn of my experience. And please submit a story, albeit less lengthy and child- ish than mine, to Over the Edge for our next issue! There aren’t many publications left to get your thoughts heard! The first competition for Pairs Figure Skating was called the short programme, and fol- lowing it the skaters then go on to the Free Skate which has other elements. The Gold Medal for Canada came in the Ice Dance Competition, which for differentiation purposes, does not allow jumps. As my mother (an avid figure skater critique and long-time fan) has mentioned before, figure skating isn’t purely a string of technical moves done well. Rather, it combines artistry, charm, engagement, fluidity, and skill all to round out a performance. This combats the ex- tremely talented Evan Plushenko’s statement that figure skating should have a quad and not focus on the beauty in it. He’s a sore loser, boo-hoo. In addition to the fight between artistry and technical elements we overlook the music selection. Poor music can ruin a routine be- cause the skaters appear to instinctively follow a path on the ice with a jump etc. added in. In this event, the music must be classical with an absence of lyrics. The “innovative” version of a Linkin Park song wasn’t setting the mood for me; | guess | lost out. The most interesting thing about this event live is how all the skaters get prepared be- cause we were, you could say, behind the scenes, which | loved! They bring three to four pairs out and they have their warm-up time and then they start a round. While the skaters are waiting in the little booth area for their scores, the next couple is warming up again. Lest we forget skating is very hard; jumping, spinning, throwing and hard landings require warm muscles. It became common for the warming-up pair to try some crowd engagement and you can sometimes hear the crowd cheering before the scores are produced because the next couple is hot-dogging on the ice and stealing attention. My favourite technical requirement in the short programme was the Twist Lift. | love it for a variety of reasons, especially since it truly is a pair element; it cannot be done alone. The man throws his female partner up in the air and she must spin and then be caught, sounds easy right? Well, the man really can take this move to the next level by bringing his hands down so she is centrifugally suspended in the air, as well increasing the danger aspect by throwing her higher. As she comes back down they pseudo-embrace and this whole move just oozes pairs figure skating to me. Where else would you ever see this done? This move doesn’t normally end in a drop or fall, so it purely depends on the partner’s mutually-de- pendant effort as opposed to axels done together. The difference between a good Twist Lift and an amazing Twist Lift can buy you the adoration of the crowd. Please see picture above or Google it yourself. It seems the colour of your outfit can also set you off into a good audience acceptance. Early on favourites, Estonia, came out in bright yellow and the crowd lapped it up, whereas other pairs in white weren’t well received. Perhaps the white blends into the ice? When it comes to choreography plus execution, China started us off so well it was staggering. The scores came in so high that no one for the rest of the competition could touch them, good thing that there are several events before medals. Really, a score of above 75 when other fantastic couples are getting top marks at 65 is putrid. Judging reminds me why | hate skat- Another One Bites The Dust Kali Flick General office assistant Like the majority of adolescent relationships, my latest has come to an end. No one is to blame, no one is guilty, and it just didn’t work. Why? Fun and new every day. What's not to love? Well it could be the fact that there were compatibility issues. Opposites attract; true. But does it stick? After this last experience | vote no, opposites do not stick. In general, breakups happen because the two simply can't find happiness together. Either one or the other realizes that they aren't a perfect match and they decide that it's time to move on. Often they move on emotionally long before they move on physically. Aloofness, coldness, a tendency to start arguments are all signs of someone beginning to pull away. Relationships must be about getting your needs met - at least on some level. Now as this particular relationship ended by my call | am not having really any trouble dealing. It was sadly dealt with personally before my partner was informed. Now he is going to lots of confusing emotional steps in grieving over us as an item. The horrible part is he is missing the “let go” stage. This is becoming more irritating every day. There seems to be a bargaining process in which my former half thinks should be taking place. | don’t believe that you can barter aspects of a relationship in order for it to work. Yes, every relationship takes work and effort to remain stable, healthy, and happy; but it is ridicu- lous to change to make it work. Now, in the sense of letting go - once the decision is made that it’s over, it’s over. This goes for both guys and girls. | want space right now, why are you still calling and texting continually? This move is only pushing me farther away. How come you don’t see this? If you are on the receiving end a break up, try to be rational. | know this can be hard, we have all been in this position, but rationality is best for all involved. In many situations, it's okay to be friends, but if talking to them keeps you from moving on with your life and find- ing someone new, then you have to bite the bullet. Also, drunk phone calls and texting are most definitely a faux pas. Take this time to find out more about what you like to do and what makes you happy. It's important to be emotionally available when trying to move on to perhaps someone new. Don't hold onto the past because you no longer have control over it and don't be afraid of the future because you never know what might happen. Live your life to its fullest potential, and enjoy the ride! an regards to execution, a lot of the girls fell early on. From what we saw the order was based on world rankings moving from the 30’s to the best-ranked couples in the world so we began with low expectations. Regardless of this fact, | was quickly giving up on professional skaters, | mean how can they ALL not land their jumps? They made into the Olympics Dagnabbit! Bringing us back to my issues with Judging (I'm sure I'm not alone in this) there were some couples who came out where you could just not look away, they were so enthralling. France was one of them. They were genuine love and talent on the ice, a story behind them. | guess you could simply deduce them as a crowd favourite, but isn’t skating more than just landing some jumps and using the full area of ice? France should have gotten higher scores is all I'm saying. At this point when their score came back | actually yelled out “WHAT A CROCK!” and I'm sure the people surrounding us in the stands agreed with me; they were breathtaking. A lot of the news surrounding figure skating this Olympic season were the costumes. The clown outfit, the space-age, and the tribal, just to mention a few all came with some outside-of-the-box thinking and themes. | didn’t mind them, although | think that the girl should always wear a skirt. One feature people didn’t bring up were some of the cut-outs and super revealing costumes. Yes, their bodies are still covered by flesh-toned fabric, but it’s pretty slutty, gnome sayin? My Opa just about fainted at the chest cut-out worn by our very own Dube. | guess that means my wedding gown will side with traditional features. All in all, China was good — just not 20 points-better-than-other-good-skaters-good. Canada did well and they got a great response. Acceptable judging as well for them, therefore no riots en- sued. With respect to the Olympics, I’d like people to hear a bit of non-media insight. | was in Van- couver for a week and | was apart of the mobs of people quite often with all the bussing, tubing, walking and getting lost. The majority of my extended family lives in Vancouver so | have no opin- ion on the housing situation, but Transportation and Environment were two polar-opposite ele- ments that require some discussion. Transportation was the pits. You are told with your tickets to bus to the events, use the tube and everything is set up for easy travel. We could not be more mis- taken. After having three full busses pass us by on the way to Pacific Coliseum we gave up and tried to hail a cab. Finally got in cab, went to event. We then waited at the designated cab area to go home, to no avail. We proceeded to walk about 10 blocks up busy Vancouver streets at night (my aunt, her two young daughters and myself) looking for a cab and the cab we find then informs us he DOES NOT go to cab waiting areas because patrons will mob the cab. Thanks VANOC for planning this whole thing, you failed. As for the other times using public transportation in Vancou- ver, it was chaos. There are guides everywhere, which was nice, but the lineups to get on a tube were apparent... since when is there supposed to be a line? Crowd control | guess happened, but it wasn’t fun. The most positive aspect of the Games for me was definitely the environment. It was so uniform, you knew Vancouver loved being apart of the games and since Vancouver is happy, we might as well be happy too right? Canada being a multi-cultural nation was well represented, politeness was apparent though not well received of course, and the Olympics theme was beau- tifully planned and executed. It didn’t seem like Vancouver, it seemed like Vancouver 2010. Budget oe Self Storage “Your Space Pluce” PP NEE NW \" ~ The exams will som be fineheid, > Nar yon need th Sine yin ~ possessions tor the simumey. cs STUDENT SPECIAL 25% OFF March w September mary months as you prepay. 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