Just when the judges gave us hope, they took it away again. As if there
was any real doubt P&P won the free, although 2 judges had K&O first. P&P
were skating 3rd in the final group, after Fusar Poli and Margaglio and
Lobacheva and Averbuch. Annisina and Peizerat were after P&P, and K&O were
last to go.

Personally, I didn't like the Italians, although at least it was a dance.
L&A skated to Jesus Christ Superstarm with him actually dressed as Jesus,
little ropey headband and all. It does not take much to guess what my
reaction to the get-up was. She had a lovely deep wine dress on, it really
suited her. The program was interesting, although as Nicky Slater, who was
doing commentary said, it was more of an exhibition than a dance.

A&P were really good. I've seen very little ice dance, but this really
stood out. SOme of the lifts were really innovative,especially where she
was lifting him! Of all the medallists, they were my favourites.

Now K&O and P&P....K&O were full of passion, but none of it seemed to reach
me. Loved the bit with the scarf at the end. I thought they were a little
hard done by. P&P, I have said it before, I hate this routine, I really do.
They didn't really seem to be on tonight, especially towards the end. They
nearly tripped over each other at least twice that I saw. They skated 3rd
from the end, but still managed to get 4 6.0s for presentation (including
the Russian and Italian judges....I'm not saying a THING!) Angelika was
really upset, nearly in tears walking out of Kiss and Cry, and she seemed
close to it on the podium.

For me, my favourite dance of the whole shebang were the Germans, Winkler
and Lohse. They skated to Romeo and Juliet in this black netty type of
material, and as the commentators pointed out to us, you could literally
see through his trousers. I mean that. Not that it's a bad view mind you,
but still...

The rather nice view was slightly obscured though when he fell near the
end. He looked sickened coming off, and when the marks came, she just burst
into tears. They ended up in 9th, but Steven Cousins, who did a guest
commentary later on (more later) said that the Germans were told exactly
where they had to finish to get to go to Nagano, and for them it was 10th.
As it was they were 9th, and they were afraid they'd drop. Because they
skated at the end of the group. the cameras stayed on them, so we got to
see the joy the relief and the tears in full. It was really touching, and I
hope you guys get to see at least some of it. If not, it's worth trying to
catch it at Nagano just for the costume (sorry, but it is!) It's also nice
to see the two of them comforting each other, they seem to have a real
bond. The first thing she did when the music stopped was hug him, I don't
think she even held the ending pose. They look like they get along well,
and I think they can do really great things.

As a final word about the dance, Moniotte and Lavenchy ended up 7th with
their Riverdance. I personally think it's not a patch on B&K. They seem to
skate too slowly, and I really think thay they skate through the music big
time. As for the costumes.....they're this really light sky blue, in
gradients, kind of like Katya Gordeeva's dress went at the Sergei tribute.
They both have leggings, she has wisps of material instead of a skirt, all
of which I can handle, even if the word overkill comes to mind. What I
dislike are these little flags of material that they both have attached to
the chest area. They are obviously trying to portray the river itself, but
the flags (for want of a better word) just fly all over the place and
totally disrupt the line. They have got to go.

Ladies sp - I only saw highlights. Tanya Swezczenko is in the lead. She was
great. When Eurosport re-showed it, it was after the free dance, and they
had Steven Cousins in the box with them. That's when he made the comment
about the Germans. On Tanja, he said that he andshe were on the same plane,
in that they've both had a bad couple of years. He liked her program,
especailly her lutz, he said it's the highest he's seen in the ladies. He
also commented that it's nice to see the full package - "nice dress, nice
music, nice skating, good interpretation" He also said that he had felt
good all week in practice, and was disappointed with not doing the 3A3toe
combination, because he's done them in practice. But he has landed the quad
sal, (BBC showed a practice tape last night, and it is a beauty) and he
thought about doing it, but after he doubled that triple toe, he thought it
was better to do a clean program, rather than take the risk. About the
concept, he had wanted to do a character routine, and thought of everything
possible. One was James Bond, which he says has been done but never by a
Brit, so it could be different. However one day he was driving home, and it
was windy, and that's when it hit him - Gone with the Wind. He says it's
corny, but it really happened like that! Eurosport have a habit of getting
Steven to sit in for a little while during major competitions, and he does
a good job. If he ever decides to go into it as a career, he'll be in high
demand. (Dream team, him and Scott Hamilton - I did say dream!) One other
thing is that he mentioned he was just going to train the combinations and
the quad, which is something Robin Cousins said he was going to have to do
(I heard Robin say that earlier in the day, Steve didn't mention Robin at
all.) Robin quoted something Carlo Fassi used to tell him - " You have 2
choices - You stand up on the triple combination or you fall down on the
triple combination. What is not an option is the double combination" Words
to live by.......