Wednesday, February 20, 2002
Great skate for Robinson
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- There was nothing comical about Jennifer Robinson's short program last night, even if the music was written by Alfred Newman.
Then again, the Mad magazine guy is Alfred E. Neuman.
Anyway, Windsor native Robinson, competing in her first Olympics despite having won five national titles, proved last night in the short program that she has the goods to score, at the very least, a top-10 program.
Skating Newman's Street Scene, Robinson landed all her required elements, including a triple lutz/double toe combo, triple flip and double axel, to finish an impressive eighth. And that is a huge relief as the pressure on Canadian women at Olympic Games in recent years has been enormous, largely because Canada hasn't won an Olympic medal since Elizabeth Manley in 1988.
"I'm thrilled to death. Thrilled, thrilled, thrilled," said Robinson, who trains at the Mariposa club in Barrie under the tutelage of Michelle and Doug Leigh. "It feels great that I was up there with the top of the world and skated clean."
Robinson copped good scores for technical merit, as high as 5.4, and presentation marks as high as 5.6. One judge however, Finland's Pekka Leskinen, laid an egg on her performance, slapping the Canadian with a 5.0 for presentation and a scandalous 4.8 for technical.
"Maybe he thinks my skirt's too long, I don't know," said Robinson, whose best performance on the world stage was an eighth at the 2000 worlds in Nice, France.
Robinson, 25, hopes to nail her first triple-triple jump combination in the free skate tomorrow, a salchow/loop. That would be a big step forward for the personable skater.
In any event, she's having a ball at these Games.
"It has been so much fun," she said. "We had our picture taken, my whole family, with Mario Lemieux, and Eric Lindros, and Catriona Le May Doan ... it's awesome, it's just fantastically awesome."
BRIEFLY:
American skater Todd Eldredge, the 1996 world champion, is expected to announce his retirement today.
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
