Canadian Skaters Thrive As Others Struggle At Figure Skating World Championships
Life in Canada is good. Not only do our neighbors to the north have access to runaway plows and ample supplies of maple syrup, but at this year’s world figure skating championships, their two female skaters claimed spots on the medal podium, placing second and third behind predicted winner Evgenia M...
The World's Best Figure Skater Is About To Win Gold Skating To Audio From Sept. 11
When 2016 world champion Evgenia Medvedeva skates close to the boards to begin her footwork sequence across the ice in Helsinki, the music will cut away and you’ll hear something you might remember if you were alive and sentient on Sept. 11, 2001: The voice of George W. Bush announcing that two plan...
The American Cup Was A Competition In Search Of A Story
Back in 2013, the American Cup marked the senior debut of Simone Biles. Though she didn’t win the meet—the title went to Katelyn Ohashi, who had been a junior superstar—it was evident that Biles was about to become a force in U.S. women’s gymnastics. Even if no one watching could’ve predicted just h...
Report: Court Records Show How Little USA Gymnastics Did To Stop Sexual Abuse
A Georgia judge released today thousands of pages of administrative files showing how USA Gymnastics handled reports of sexual abuse by coaches, with some not banned “until years after they were convicted of crimes against children,” according to the Indianapolis Star. The files were released due to...
For 20 Years, Gymnasts Said Their Doctor Was Sexually Abusing Them—And Nothing Happened
Nineteen-ninety-six was the year the U.S. women’s gymnastics team first won team gold at the Olympics. It was also the first year that Larry Nassar acted as the team doctor at an Olympic Games. And according to Irvine-based attorney John Manly, who represents dozens of plaintiffs in a civil suit aga...
Anxious About The World's Most Dominant Gymnast? Blame It On Rio.
A year and a half ago, Simone Biles was a last-minute substitute at the 2013 American Cup. There she placed second behind 2011 junior national champion Katelyn Ohashi after losing an early lead with a fall from the beam. At that meet, Biles couldn't win with a fall. But at this weekend's nationa...
Has Figure Skating Maxed Out In Difficulty?
At the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, American Evan Lysacek won the men's singles figure skating gold medal without a single quadruple jump, while Russia's Evgeni Plushenko, who did have a quad in his program, took home silver. Four years later, this sort of scenario never materialized: Every top ...
Sister Lift: Confessions Of A Former Pairs Skater
Every four years, Chris Schleicher experiences PTSD. His trigger? The Winter Olympics....
The Real Reason Ashley Wagner Made The U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team
On Sunday, U.S. Figure Skating gave the final spot on its three-member women's Olympic team to Ashley Wagner, even though she had fallen twice the previous day during an "embarrassing" skate at the national championships in Boston. The other selections were Gracie Gold, the newly crowned national ch...