St. Louis – One man uses drug metaphors and wears costumes resembling fowl. Another balances his sport with prepping for law school, which should come in handy when his eccentric teammate’s mouth gets him in trouble, as it has already. The third man was the third-best skater in the world last year, yet no one knows him.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is your 2006 Winter Olympics men’s figure skating team. If Johnny Weir, Matt Savoie and Evan Lysacek don’t represent a changing of the guard in men’s figure skating, they at least represent three fresh public faces in an Olympic year.
The trio took the top three spots in Saturday’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships to earn Olympic berths, with Weir winning his third straight national title and Lysacek taking second.
As they came in, two Olympic veterans unceremoniously went out. Timothy Goebel, the defending Olympic bronze medalist, cut short a news conference in tears after a disastrous long program dumped him to seventh. Then Michael Weiss, skating last and needing a solid but not great program to make his third Olympic team, blew one jump and finished fourth.
That left center stage, once again, to Weir, whose stage in the coming weeks will widen with his mouth. Shortly after his news conference began, it was off and running.
“My mom’s getting drunk already,” he said.
Weir, 21, became the first man to win three straight U.S. titles since Brian Boitano 18 years ago. It was a title Weir said he had focused on more than the Olympic berth, but once the ticket to Turin arrived, he transformed into starry-eyed kid.
“This is something I have dreamt about and always wanted throughout my short career,” Weir said. “There are no words to really express the difference in emotion. It’s something so new. It’s just pride. I get to represent my country and walk in the opening ceremonies and do all these things I’d see on TV … ”
With Weir holding an 83.28-77.55 lead over Weiss after Thursday’s short program, he would have had to really blow it to lose the title. His hand hit the ice on one triple axel, but he otherwise skated a clean if not spectacular program for a score of 142.06 and a total of 225.34.
“The mistakes I made weren’t because I had trouble with that jump or that element,” Weir said. ” … I realized everything I could accomplish in those four minutes and 40 seconds. It got to me a little bit. I was scared to death.”
Weir is making the United States Figure Skating Association scared, too. His reference to Colorado Springs skater Ryan Bradley’s “Zorba” music as a “vodka shots, let’s-snort-coke kind of thing” drew a meeting Friday from USFSA executive director David Raith.
“They have their interests to uphold and I have mine, and when people have different agendas, they often clash,” Weir said. “They have spoken to me and I can understand, because there are young people who watch this sport and they don’t want to offend anyone who might give money to the federation.
“They reprimand me, and that’s the end of it. I let it go in one ear and I think about it before I say things. Like I won’t make any drug references today. Today.”
He won by .93 over Lysacek, the 20-year-old defending Worlds bronze medalist. Lysacek blew one jump, which cost him first, but said the release of pressure was massive.
“I’ve been strangely calm all week,” Lysacek said. “It kind of hit me five minutes before what was on the line and all the work that was on the line. That was difficult, because Johnny had skated really well. But when I had finished, I knew what he and Matt and every other guy had been through. It’s such a pressure-filled week and pressure-filled season before the Olympics, there’s just that feeling of being done.”
Savoie, 25, is the unknown. He has made two world championship teams but never had finished higher than third in nationals. He was graduating from Illinois with a master’s in urban planning and hopes to attend Cornell law school.
He said he had the best long program of his life for the day’s top score of 149.86. He edged Weiss, who turned one triple axel into a single, a loss of about seven points in the new scoring system.
While Weiss, 29, left unsure of his future, Goebel had long ago announced he would retire after the Olympics. He didn’t make it. He turned a triple axel into a single and double-footed his trademark quad.
“I just wasted four years of my life,” Goebel said through tears. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
U.S. figure skating team
WOMEN
Michelle Kwan
Nine-time U.S. champion gets Olympic spot despite her injury.
Sasha Cohen
Finally crowned national champion Saturday night.
Kimmie Meissner
Her risk-taking with two triple-triple combinations and seven triples altogether was rewarded.
MEN
Johnny Weir
Endearingly quirky, not afraid to wear unusual costumes.
Evan Lysacek
Energy and winsomeness on ice reflect his happy-go-lucky personality.
Matthew Savoie
Surprise entrant, he reversed four-year slump with terrific free skate at nationals.
PAIRS
Rena Inoue and John Baldwin
Executed the first triple axel throw in pairs history.
Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem
Made Games in just their third season together.
DANCE
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto
First American dancers with strong shot at Olympic podium in two decades.
Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov
Don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize her. She’s now a brunette.
Jamie Silverstein and Ryan O’Meara
Surprise Olympians after surging to third overall after second place in free dance.
