Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Elvis faces uphill battle
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Team Sun
SALT LAKE CITY -- Elvis Stojko took the phrase "dressing for success" to another dimension yesterday.
Skating's Terminator took to the Delta Center ice with a T-shirt that read on the back: "I'm not scared. I'm tough. I'm an animal. I'll eat you if I have to. NO FEAR."
An intimidation tactic? Not quite. Stojko explained the T-shirt simply happened to be the top one in the drawer.
TECHNICAL
Still, the three-time world champion is feeling pretty fine these days. His health is as good as it has been in years and he has two programs that are jam-packed with huge technical tricks, perhaps even a never-performed quad lutz.
What more could a skater want?
Well, perhaps two fewer Russians in the field.
The highly anticipated men's singles competition begins today with two clear favourites, Evgeny Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin of Russia, and a slew of skaters who definitely could stir the pot on the medal podium -- another Russian, Alexander Abt, Stojko, Americans Todd Eldredge and Timothy Goebel, and Japan's Takeshi Honda.
Plushenko, the defending world champion, and Yagudin -- like Stojko, a winner of three world titles -- are the clear favourites. The Russians are young, 19 and 21 respectively, and bring to the fold programs that are as heavy on the artistry as they are technically.
Nobody, however, is ready to hand out the medals yet.
"We never know," Yagudin said yesterday, after the men's short program practice. "Everybody expected Elvis (to win) Lillehammer (1994), but Alexei Urmanov became Olympic champion. And everybody expected Kurt Browning to be Olympic champion, but he never even got on the podium."
Without meaning to, Yagudin reminded Canadians attending practice yesterday that Canada has had problems winning Olympic titles in men's singles. Canada has won 10 men's singles titles at the worlds, but never one at the Olympics.
Stojko, who is competing in his fourth Olympics, won silver in both 1994 and 1998. The difference between the past Games in Nagano and this one -- the Richmond Hill skater was expected to win four years ago.
This time around, he's not expected to win. And maybe that's just the ticket. Low expectations, less pressure. Stojko certainly considers himself a gold-medal contender.
"The top eight guys are good," Stojko said. "It's that simple. And whoever does their thing on the day is going to take home the gold, silver and bronze."
Yagudin, who was not healthy last year when he lost the world title to Plushenko, was sharp in practice yesterday.
"At the worlds last year I was about 74 or 75 kilograms. Now I'm 69. I'm in better shape and ready to do a lot of quads," he said.
Meanwhile, the other Canadian in the competition, Emanuel Sandhu, had another one of his Twilight Zone practices yesterday. Sandhu, 21, seemed to be lost and even left the ice for a while to work on his skates.
2002 Games Figure Skating Coverage
