So I told Michelle to go on without me, went and changed some money and popped in the cyber café.

When I came out of the cyber café though, it seemed as if the heavens had opened! I had to call one of those very expensive taxis to take me to the arena.

Drank tea in the deserted Sofitel for a bit, then made my way over to the arena for the last couple of groups.

Well, I am not a general fan of Ladies Skating, but the final two groups made me change my mind. Michelle, Irina, Sarah, Jen Robinson and Maria were totally fantastic! We left the arena shaking our heads and saying: ‘Who knew?’ LOL.

The Free Dance was approaching and I needed a glass of wine to steady my nerves (any excuse), then we left for the arena.

While we were waiting for the event to start, I heard ‘Shaaaaron!’ I looked around to see 2 girls from the T&D list…Tara and Rebecca! We agreed to meet at the Sofitel later.

We watched all those damn Free Dances, first up were the Brits and their ABBA medley. Michelle turned to me and said: ‘And these are your National Champions?’ LOL, we had been talking to Gary Shortland (former British Champion and an extremely nice guy) on Thursday night and I promised Michelle a tape of British Nationals to prove that Gary and Charlotte do indeed rule.

During the warm up for the second group, Michelle commented that the Italian girl, Frederica Faeilla was being quite scary and intimidating out there on the ice. I had to agree, then those Blader Looks of death kicked in and during their first lift, Luciano Milo injured himself and was unable to continue with the competition. Coincidence? Evil Powers? You decide. ;)

The third group offered some great skating in the form of Dubreil and Lauzon, Silverstein and Pekarek, Delobel and Schoenfelder (Michelle doesn’t like that program), Semenovich and Kostomarov (Fabulous I Luuurve the ‘rap’ thing!) and the Hugentoblers. The atmosphere in the arena was building up as more people arrived and the countdown towards the final group was getting closer.

Grunshina and Goncharov were first to skate in the penultimate group and I was quite amused to see Povilas Vanagas stood near the Kiss and Cry watching their performance of ‘Spente La Stelle’. He didn’t look too overwhelmed. LOL

Denkova and Staviski were missing, much to my annoyance. Their free dance is great this season! I have it on tape from NHK Trophy and we had seen them practice it on Wednesday and they looked great. Accidents do happen I guess, but was it the ‘Blader Evil Powers’ again? With D&S out, Dubreil and Lauzon were a shoo in for a top 10 place.

Winkler and Lohse got the crowd going with ‘Time goes Millennium’. Lang and Tschernyshev deserved better marks in my opinion, although he is a lot better than her.

I ran out to the restrooms before Nowak and Kolasinski’s marks went up, the queues were at their very worst that night. I also felt an attack of nerves so smoked two cigarettes in quick succession, then made my way back to my seat.

On the way back, I vowed that I was never attending another World Championships again (I know…LOL). The prospect of being sat at home watching live on Eurosport instead with a bottle of wine, several cigarettes to smoke during the last group and the telephone/internet to distract me seemed very attractive at that moment.

So out came the final warm up group and the crowd went crazy. Standing ovations and Mexican waves all around! Unbelievable atmosphere, I can only compare it to being at a stadium rock concert, but more intense.

Marina and Gwendal were the first to skate and the crowd hadn’t really quietened down for the first few bars of ‘Carmina Burana’. At one point they started clapping along, I turned to Michelle and said: ‘ This is not music to be clapped along with!!’ I was so nervous, it was silly. Though not as nervous as Gwendal looked of course, I’ve never seen him look so bad. The only impressions that I was left with of that Free Dance was that they had skated it a lot more cautiously and with less speed than they had done all season. But who cares? They were clean! I had visions of them bombing terribly and the relief was immense.

The technical marks were lower than they had been all season, reflecting the bobble on a lift that Gwendal made, but as I noticed when I got home and watched my tapes, they skated it with a lot more ‘intensity’ than they had done all season, thus reflecting in the 4 perfect 6.0s.

Nerves still jangling, out came Fusar Poli and Margaglio; I love this team and think they very well may be Olympic Champions in 2002. I just wasn’t ready for them to win this particular year, plus the thought of what the crowd may have done was quite scary.

They skated with attack and speed, kudos to them after all that had gone on before. Maurizio made a small error on a dance spin, but other than that it was wonderful to see that program live again. We gave them a standing ovation, as did about half of the rest of the audience. The marks went up and they were second. The celebrations in the crowd were beginning.

After all this drama, we then had to watch Lobacheva and Averbukh do ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. Hmm no comment.

Drobiasko and Vanagas came out and skated a beautiful; near flawless performance of ‘Spente La Stelle’ They also got quite the standing ovation. The crowd was just as happy about their bronze medal, Oh, happy days. Feel the Lurve!!

Chait and Sakhnovski were last to go. I love this program, although it is a bit of a ‘Man in the Iron Mask’ rip off. Sergei just throws some great shapes! Personally, I thought they should have been 4th, ahead of L&A. But you can’t have everything I guess.

So that was the end of the competition, the medal ceremony was fantastic. The crowd were having a good old singsong and on the victory lap of the skaters after they posed for photographs they decided to do a bit of impromptu ‘partner swapping’. Maurizio started it off by skating off with Marina and the rest followed suit with Gwendal taking Margarita and Povilas skating off with Barbara.

So that was that, the main event for me was over and done with. We headed over to the Sofitel, which was packed.

OK whom did we mingle with? Gary Shortland came over and we talked with him for a long time, he and I did a bit of an ‘ABBA dance’ too! LOL! Kati Winkler was very sweet and posed for a picture twice when someone got in the way of the first one.

Gwendal was rushed through, still in his ‘Carmina’ costume with his bodyguard. We just thought that we wouldn’t get to see him. Marina more or less did the same thing, but did chat to a few people.

I spoke with Dubreuil and Lauzon and told them I was a new fan. They were VERY nice people. :)

Soo… after all this skater spotting, the bar eventually cleared and Fran, Emma, Tara, Rebecca, Michelle and myself sat about chatting for ages.

At about 2am we were thinking of leaving and then Gwendal walked into the bar, looking about 40 years younger than he had done earlier on that night.

He walked over to us and stood there with his arms outstretched so a lot of us grabbed a hug opportunity LOL! I was amazed to see Michelle stood there, lovingly gazing at him as he chatted.

Me, in a totally stupid way to act blasé, said: “ So what are you performing in the exhibitions then?”

Gwendal says: 'Oh we're not in the exhibition'

Me: 'What?'

G: 'Yes, is ISU problem, big one'

Me: 'Bullshit!' (Laughing).... OMG I said 'bullshit' to Gwendal!!

Gwendal then adopts that deadly straight face again and keeps up with it, by this time several other people were looking quite worried as well.

Then he eventually laughs and shows his watch, the date was April 1. 'April Fool!' he laughs loudly.

Hahaha Gwendal…arse!!!

So then he’s all lovely and stuff, can I gush too much? LOL. Then he poses for some pictures.

So we left, phoned Hilary on the way back to gush. Got back to hotel at 3.30am (ish?). Poor night porter, I couldn’t sleep so had to have a beer from the hotel bar before bed.

Cheers!

I arrived just as dance practice was finishing actually. Heard D&V's music playing and went down in time to only see one team skate (Chait & whatshisname I think), but heard from Carina, Jessica, Ulirike and Rachel that the Bulgarians had been in a collision with Petr Tchernyshev and that Albena Denkova had been taken for stitches in her leg. They were pretty certain that she wouldn't be skating that evening. Afterwards when we were waiting around for something (not sure what that something was) Ben (whom Sharon has mentioned before) came over and said that he was positive that Denkova and partner would have to withdraw (he'd been standing right there when the accident happened). Which is too bad, their free dance in practice looked very cool.

I was absolutely shocked to find that the ladies didn't suck! Even the first couple of groups were pretty good. I was a little surprised to see Mikkeline Kierkegard (sp?) listed as skating in the final flight, but then remembered about the unbalanced qualifying groups. At any rate, Sharon showed up before too long, and was not happy as she had to take a taxi since it had started to rain sometime between the time I arrived and the time she set out to come.

Jennifer skated wonderfully, although I was a little disappointed that she two footed her lutz in the program since she'd just landed a gorgeous combination landed on one foot about 30 seconds before the warm up ended. No big deal though. She skated wonderfully and that's what she was aiming for. I think what she needs to do for next season (now that she's got the jumps, presentation, and spins down pat) is work on speed, that I think will elevate her even more in the standings. Afterwards I went running down the steps to throw the smurfs I'd transported all the way from Ottawa to give to her, and luckily the wrapping I had them in held up. I was a little concerned that I'd throw them and it would split open and there would be smurfs all over the ice. Happily that didn't happen.

At any rate, as Sharon already said the ladies were fantastic and surprise, surprise we were both amazed at how well everyone skated. I was absolutely thrilled to see Maria skate so well and hence was very pleased that she was put first after the short program. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not a Michelle Kwan fan, and so I wasn't outraged, or shocked that she was where she was after the SP. I did however feel that Sarah Hughes should have been placed higher than she was...I adored her short program, and in fact it actually brought tears to my eyes (which is becoming more and more common these days, perhaps I'm just a big sap?!?). I know she cheats her lutz, but I just liked her program more, you know?

Ok, after the women were done, we were both pleasantly surprised and we headed over to the Sofitel (now that's shock isn't it?) for a drink to calm Sharon's nerves before the free dance. I went off to call my mom and was talking to her when Jennifer arrived and was waiting in line for the telephone. After I got off I spoke with her for a couple of minutes and wished her good luck etc... Nice girl (Actually I've always thought so).

After our drinks we went back over and watched the dances. Ohmygod!!! (this should sum up the entire night, but it really doesn't LOL) The Brits started it off with ABBA. I love ABBA as much as the next person but really...for a free dance?!? Where the hell was the spanishy guitar piece choreographed by Tarasova that I'd heard so much about? Hmm...quite obviously left behind at British Nationals. Shame really. At the end of their program I turned to Sharon and said "Those are your national champions??".

On the warm up I noticed that the Italians Fiaella and Milo (sp?) were being very umm...'in your face'ish and I didn't like it one bit. Decided then and there that I wasn't going to like their free dance no matter what they skated to. LOL Guess what happened? He went over on his ankle and couldn't skate. She did not look happy with him, and wandered around in her skates for quite a while hoping they'd be able to skate (or so I was told by Tara and Rebecca who were on that side of the rink and could see backstage) Wing and Lowe were good, although their music is edgy or something and gets on my nerves. I do like the program though, and they skated it well. Dubreuil and Lauzon were very good too, and because of D&S's withdrawal they managed to jump up into the top 10.

The rest of the teams really didn't matter much to me. There were a few that stuck out at me that were really cool, but to be honest, I couldn't tell you who they were now. Europeans mostly whom I've never seen before and probably won't get to see again till Vancouver. Oh, Semenovich and Kostamarov were quite good too. Not sure about the music...but it certainly did stand out.

So, the final flight...eek!!! I was feeling so much tension, it was totally unbelievable. I can't even imagine what I would have felt like had B&K been there too! At any rate, Carmina Burana was fantastic. Sharon says they were cautious...whatever! LOL I'd only seen it once all season so I couldn't judge. Loved it though. Paid close attention to the marks so that I'd be able to tell who won after FP&M skated. They were very good too, but a little sloppy I thought. The program was better in person than on TV, but I didn't fall in love with it the way I did with some of the others. Marks came up, Sharon was having a fit...I looked and went...no, don't think so. Presentation marks...nope, A&P win.

L&A next..umm...ok, enough with the recycled programs already. I'm thinking they need to get as far away from Linichuk as they possibly can. shellybean's advice for the elite skaters in the world, when you don't seem to be moving up in the rankings, CHANGE COACHES!!! Isn't that brilliant of me? LOL

D&V were right after and eek, they were fantastic. I think they may have had the best free dance of the night as far as skating quality and intensity goes. I was chewing my nails when the marks came up and was absolutely thrilled when I decided that they'd won the bronze. However I did wait for the 'official' result before I screamed (ala Tara at the 98 Olympics) in celebration.

C&S were next, and I just don't see why everyone seems to like them. They're slow, painfully at times, and their program was a total rip off of MITIM set to Elvis' music. It didn't make for a very good combination. At any rate, Sharon luurves them so I try to keep my negative comments to myself! :)

Medal ceremony was fantastic. Gwendal sang along with the anthem and looked all teary, Marina looked smug. Lots of hugs all around, esp Rita and Povilas, but then out of all of them I think they were probably the most thrilled to be where they were, after all the other two teams knew that they'd be there, D&V still had to prove themselves after the CD's and OD since they were still placed behind L&A at that point.

Back to the Sofitel. The American skaters were having a party, and half the bar was 'reserved' for them, but that's ok, we stood near the door (for a while) and managed to catch all the skaters going in and out. Sue one of the ladies I met there from Minnesota was taking pictures with skaters and asked me to take one of her and Jamie Sale. So, she hands me this totally complicated camera and says all you do is focus and hit the button. I say umm...ok, just the button? She says yes. At which point Jamie reaches over and says "But first you take off the lens cap" OOPS!!! :)

I was talking to Fran quite a bit, and also mingling with Sharon and her new best bud Gary Shortland, and before I knew it (was drinking beer in celebration!) I was dizzy and needed to sit down. LOL Next I knew, in came Gwendal and walked right over to say hello. Sweet guy, his cell phone kept ringing (Someone said, "You with your phone, you're always on that thing! Even in the press conference" He says, "Well it wouldn't do for them to get the answering machine of the World Champion!"), and then some girls came in and propositioned him in French. Someone asked for a translation because he was being rather flirty and they were being rather coy, but I didn't speak up, I was trying to hear what they were saying! LOL At any rate, I took a picture of Sharon, Fran and Gwendal together, and then Sharon asked him what he and Marina were going to skate in the exhibitions. Gwendal said, "Oh, we're not skating" Sharon says, "Bullshit!" He says, "No, we're not" I say (in a rather dubious tone) "Ok then Gwendal, tell us why you're not skating" He says, "Big problems with the ISU, we had a disagreement, and we're not skating" Sharon, Fran, Emma and the rest of the A&P girls were very freaked out by this point and he upon seeing the stricken looks on their faces looks at his watch and says (now suddenly smiling and laughing) "April 1st...April Fools!"

His bodyguard tried to get him a drink but was told the bar was closed, they were nice however and did give him some apricot juice. I listened to what the bodyguard told him when he handed it to him and it was something to the effect of "They're closed, all they'd give me is juice". So, Emma asks if he'll pose for a picture and he says yes but he has to go, so they ask someone standing nearby who is a professional photographer and she says "Yes, in just a minute" and someone pipes up and says "No rush, he's only the World Champion" Which got her attention and she came over and snapped two photos for us. Gwendal went off and we were all kicked out of the bar.