Ouch! Wisdom tooth knocks Belbin-Agosto from Grand Prix skate final

Last year, it was his back injury.

This year, it is her wisdom tooth.

The result is the same:  ice dancers Tanith Belbin and her partner, Ben Agosto, are out of the Grand Prix Final in figure skating.

And could they miss the U.S. Championships from Jan. 22-24 as well?  That seems unlikely.

Under U.S. Figure Skating rules, the five-time national champions still could -- and would -- be selected for the 2010 Olympic team even if they miss the U.S. Championships, provided they show fitness before February's Winter Games.

Agosto's injury kept them from competing at nationals a year ago, but they still were selected for the world team and wound up with a silver medal at the world championships. They also won silver at the 2006 Olympics.

The couple withdrew from next week's GP Final in Tokyo after Belbin needed surgery today for an infected wisdom tooth.  According to a USFS statement, Belbin's oral surgeon advised her to avoid strenuous activity for at least a week.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, shown after winning gold at Skate America on Nov. 14, are sidelined by her tooth problem. Credit: Getty Images / Matthew Stockman

Human Zambonis, home cooking, Zhang's agony, Nagasu's appeal, Kwan's impressive new life: A figure skating Q&A [Updated]

Questions first, answers second, now that the six regular-season Grand Prix figure skating events are over:

1.  Who would win an Ultimate Splat-Down between the two falling angels, reigning U.S. champion Alissa Czisny and 2007-08 European champion Carolina Kostner?

The Zamboni operator, for Czisny and Kostner would clean so much of the ice with their bottoms the resurfacing job would be much easier.

Czisny, no surprise, rendered meaningless her excellent short program at Skate Canada by falling twice  and getting credit for just three triple jumps (one given a negative grade of execution) in the free skate. She fell once and had credit for just three triples in her other GP free skate, at Cup of Russia.

Kostner fell once in the short program and once in the long program at Paris, once in the long program in China.  That picked up, as it where, from her dismal effort in the free skate at 2009 worlds, when Kostner fell once and did one clean triple jump.

The sad irony in this is both women are among the most elegant skaters in the world when they stay upright.

USA Swimming honors stars

So what about the swimmers?

Oh, them.

It wasn't ALL about the soon-to-be-banned bodysuits in 2009. That's only the way it seemed this past year, especially at the World Championships in Rome in which 43 world records went down.

Swimming grabbed plenty of headlines this year, not something usually happening in a non-Olympic year.

On Sunday night, USA Swimming honored its stars with a swank event, the Golden Goggle Awards, at the Beverly Hilton. Here are some of the winners, and a couple of quotes, via USA Swimming.

Male Swimmer of the Year: Ryan Lochte.

Female Swimmer of the Year: Rebecca Soni.

Male Race of the Year: Michael Phelps, 100-meter butterfly, at Worlds.

Coach of the Year: Eddie Reese.

Female Race of the Year: Ariana Kukors, 200 individual medley, at Worlds.

By the numbers, Alissa Czisny's short program adds up to excellence

In the for-what-it's-worth department, a few points of reference about the personal-best score reigning U.S. champion Alissa Czisny racked up in today's short program at Skate Canada in Kitchener:

1. Skate Canada is the last of the six regular-season Grand Prix events, and Czisny's short-program total, 63.52, has been topped by just two other women on the circuit this season: Yuna Kim of South Korea (76.08 in Paris, 76.28 in Lake Placid) and Joannie Rochette of Canada (70.0 today to beat Czisny.)

2. It bettered Czisny's previous personal best, which came in 2005, by a whopping 5.98 points.

3. And although Czisny's artistry is considered her strength, her technical score, 36.60, has been topped this season by just Kim (43.80 and 44), Rochette (38.40) and Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. (37.40 in China).

What does that mean?

Despite the effort to create a system that seeks to standardize scores, each judging panel looks at things differently, so comparisons are tricky.

But the good thing is the Skate Canada judging did not appear overly generous (except for Rochette, the homie), so Czisny's scores seem a fair measure of her performance.

The bad thing is Czisny previously has been unable to do back-to-back strong performances (for evidence, check the 2009 U.S. Championships), so there will be a lot of breath held during Saturday's four-minute free skate -- especially because Czisny always seems to lose it at just about the point (2 3/4 minutes) a short program would have ended.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Alissa Czisny reacts to her high scores in the short program at Skate Canada. Credit: Paul Chiasson / Associated Press)

Belbin looks like an Olympic medalist. But we say the winner is . . .

(Judge for yourself whether ice dancer Tanith Belbin gets style points for this.)

A few figure skating observations as the Grand Prix series heads into its last event before the Dec. 4-5 final in Tokyo:

*Over dinner Sunday night in Lake Placid, five reporters who will be covering figure skating at the 2010 Olympics agreed to hazard predictions on the Winter Games medals.

I decided to come up with an aggregate of our picks by assigning five points for a prediction of gold, three for silver, one for bronze.

I know the whole thing is very unscientific, but the point here is simply to have some fun.

The results showed: no man getting votes from all five of us; Yuna Kim of South Korea being unanimous for gold; wide difference of opinion on the other women's medals; and compelling unpredictability in three of the four disciplines.

Feathers flying, gender bending ... only in figure skating

Ten things I have learned after three days at Skate America:

1. Vera Wang designed the costume that reigning world champion Evan Lysacek is wearing while performing his short program to Stravinsky's "Firebird.'' Lysacek was skeptical about the feathers Wang hung from the gloved wrists when he first saw them, but now thinks of them as a good fit with the Stravinsky piece. "Stravinsky is sort of a bizarre artist,'' Lysacek said. "The accent of the feathers adds to that.''

2. Bizarre hand coverings are hardly unusual in men's figure skating. Russia's Alexei Urmanov, the 1994 Olympic champion, was known for costumes that often included outlandish gloves. Three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir, for whom outlandish is de rigueur, wore a glove he named Camille while skating his 2006 Olympic short program, in honor of composer Camille Saint-Saens, because Weir was performing to "The Swan'' from Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals."

Stephen Colbert endorsement has fast effect on U.S. Speedskating coffers

The deal all but fell into U.S. Speedskating's lap.

And it quickly has made the sport's athletes feel more confident they won't be lapped by the competition in this Olympic year for financial reasons.

I'm talking about the fundraising arrangement between the Colbert Report and the speedskating federation, making the Colbert Nation the official sponsor of U.S. Speedskating.

It was announced Nov. 2 on the show, barely a week after the U.S. media -- me among them -- reported that the collapse of Dutch bank DSB had left a $300,000 hole in the federation's budget with the 2010 Winter Olympics on the horizon.  (The deficit actually was bigger, as DSB's contract gave U.S. Speedskating $350,000 in cash, of which $50,000 went directly to athletes and $300,000 to federation programs.)

Host Stephen Colbert told viewers to send donations to U.S. Speedskating through www.colbertnation.com. He promoted the effort again last Thursday with an appearance by 2006 Olympic speedskating champion Joey Cheek, who played along with a Colbert riff about lambasting Canada for its decision to limit U.S. athletes' training time on the 2010 Vancouver oval.  The segment (below) ended with cheers of "U-Ice-A!''

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
On Notice/Dead to Me - Canadian Iceholes
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

To gain long-term clout, U.S. needs longer term for Olympic boss

Larry Probst needs to be the U.S. Olympic Committee chairman for at least eight years.

That is the only way to begin addressing issues highlighted in postmortems after the dismal failures of the last two U.S. bids to host a Summer Olympics.

1.  The United States has no clout in the Olympic world.

2.  The U.S. Olympic Committee leadership has changed so frequently in the past decade it has developed none of the relationships to create such clout.

The current situation:

The United States has ZERO presidents of international federations with sports still on the Olympic program.

And ZERO places on the 15-member executive board of the International Olympic Committee.

And just two IOC members -- compared, for instance, with five each for Italy and for Switzerland.  Neither U.S. member -- Anita DeFrantz nor Jim Easton -- is considered a major player in the IOC.

Sasha Cohen out of Skate America; Emily Hughes in [Updated]

Sasha Cohen is out of this week's Skate America with tendinitis.

It is the second Grand Prix event this fall from which the 2006 Olympic silver medalist has withdrawn because of the problem in her right calf.

This time, the withdrawal casts significant doubt on whether she can make a successful comeback after three seasons away from Olympic-style skating.

She will replaced at Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y., by Emily Hughes, who finished seventh at the 2006 Olympics as an eleventh-hour replacement for an injured Michelle Kwan.

[Updated at 10:17a.m. Hughes, 20, who is taking a year off from Harvard University to train full time, missed the last two U.S. Championships with injuries. She has finished two years at Harvard.

By virtue of her 2006 Olympic medal, Cohen is an automatic qualifier for January's U.S. Championships, at which U.S. Figure Skating will pick its two women's singles entrants for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Hughes now will also receive a bye to nationals because the final qualifying event, Eastern Sectionals, begins just three days after Skate America.  She finished second in last month's North Atlantic Regionals, her first competition in a year.]

-- Philip Hersh

Team Canada beats U.S., 5-1, for women's Four Nations hockey title

Canada scored five straight goals to overcome a first-period deficit and defeat the U.S. women's national hockey team, 5-1, in the championship game of the Four Nations Cup in Tikkurila, Finland.

Jocelyne Lamoureux of Grand Forks, N.D., scored the only goal for the U.S., which had won its previous four major tournaments -- the 2008 World Championships, 2008 Four Nations Cup, the 2009 World Championships and 2009 Hockey Canada Cup.

Canada scored three times on the power play today to win its first tournament since the 2007 Four Nations Cup.

The U.S. and Canadian women's teams are expected to be among the medal contenders at the Vancouver Olympics in February.

Team USA will resume its pre-Olympic preparation on the Qwest Tour on Nov. 22 in Durham, N.H., against the Hockey East All-Stars.

-- Helene Elliott

U.S. women's hockey team to play Canada for Four Nations Cup

The U.S. women's hockey team will play Canada on Saturday for the 2009 Women's Four Nations Cup.

The tournament, which began on Wednesday and is taking place in Finland, brought together the top four women's hockey teams in the world -- the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden -- and is the last international women's hockey tournament before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in February.

In today's match, the final one in the preliminary round, the U.S. beat Canada 3-2 behind Natalie Darwitz, who had a goal, Hilary Knight, who tallied a goal and an assist, and Meghan Duggan, who scored the game-winning goal late in the second period after an assist from Kelli Stack. 

Team USA finished first in the preliminary round standings with a perfect 3-0-0-0 record.

Also Friday, Sweden beat Finland 2-1 with an overtime goal; they will play for third place Saturday.

The Americans are the defending champions after beating Canada in a penalty shootout last year. Saturday's championship is at 8 a.m. PST. USAhockey.com will have a live webcast of the game.

-- Debbie Goffa

A hundred days until the Vancouver Games is just another day to Evan Lysacek

While Olympic organizers marked the 100-days-out point before the Vancouver Games, world figure skating champion Evan Lysacek on Wednesday did what he’ll do with 99 days left, 98 days, and just about every other day before the Olympics.

 He trained long and hard, skating powerfully through a morning practice session at the Toyota Sports Center.

Although a surprise blizzard delayed his return from last week’s Cup of China competition in Beijing, he was on the ice Wednesday as usual, sharing the surface with Italy’s Carolina Kostner, 2008 U.S. champion Mirai Nagasu, Bebe Liang and others. Afterward, he pondered whether 100 days is a long time or a short time to wait for what looms as the biggest moment of his career.

“Both. I have mixed feelings,” said Lysacek, who pulled up from third after the short program to finish second at the Cup of China behind Japan’s Nobunari Oda.

San Jose to host 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

The 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships will take place in San Jose, the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. announced today. The nationals will be held at the HP Pavilion on Jan. 22-29, 2012.

San Jose also hosted the nationals in 1996 when Michelle Kwan won the first of her nine championships.

The 2010 nationals and Olympic trials will be held in Spokane, Wash., in January.

-- Austin Knoblauch

Dates set for announcements of men's Olympic hockey rosters

Circle the dates on your calendars.  The International Ice Hockey Federation today announced the dates that teams participating in the Vancouver Olympics will announce their 23-man rosters.

In alphabetical order, the list is:

Belarus: Dec. 23
Canada: Dec. 31
Czech Republic: Dec. 30
Finland: Dec. 30
Germany: Dec. 30
Latvia: Dec. 29
Norway: Dec. 29
Russia: Dec. 25
Switzerland: Dec. 30
Slovakia: Dec. 29
Sweden: Dec. 27
U.S.: Jan. 1 (during NHL Winter Classic)

Each team can name 20 skaters plus three goaltenders. There will be no taxi squads.

The last day to change the roster will be Feb. 15, when members of the directorate -- the mucky-mucks in charge of the tournament -- will meet on the eve of the first men's game.

Here's the men's Olympic schedule.

In honor of today being the 100-days-out point before the Games, the IIHF unveiled a new hockey page on its website with links to Olympic hockey rules, trivia and other information.

-- Helene Elliott

U.S. men's Olympic hockey team to be announced Jan. 1; U.S. women win Four Nations Cup opener

The 23-man roster for the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team will be announced Jan. 1 during the NHL's Winter Classic game at Fenway Park.

The announcement of the team that will compete at the Vancouver Games in Canada will be made during NBC's national telecast of the Philadelphia Flyers playing the Boston Bruins on a temporary rink set up in the middle of Fenway Park.

"It’s terrific to have partners like NBC and the NHL,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey, in a news release. "I think by announcing our men’s Olympic team as part of the broadcast of the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, we all feel like it will add to the pageantry of what is sure to be a spectacular event."

The men's hockey tournament at Vancouver will begin Feb. 16 and will end with the gold medal game Feb. 28.

The U.S. women, who have most of their team in place and will make only a few cuts before Vancouver, continued their Olympic preparation by defeating host nation Finland, 4-0, in the first game of the Four Nations Cup.

Goaltender Molly Schaus of Natick, Mass., got the shutout by stopping 15 shots. The U.S. women took 52 shots and got goals from Monique Lamoreux, Erika Lawler,Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej and Hilary Knight.

-- Helene Elliott

Jennifer Kirk blog: U.S. women must hope a weak beginning turns into a strong ending

Jennifer Kirk, who won the 2000 world junior figure skating championship, finished third at the U.S. championships in 2004 and fourth in 2005, will write a weekly blog for The Times providing insights into the skating world during the months leading into the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Since retiring from figure skating in 2005, Kirk, 25, has been working on obtaining a college degree in broadcast journalism and has spent the last few months blogging about skating at Trueslant.com/jenniferkirk.

Americans Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu came to the weekend’s Cup of China event with high hopes. Facing a relatively weak field, both had a reasonable shot at medaling. 

It was shocking, then, when the ladies’ podium was void of an American flag. After dealing with their respective struggles in Beijing, Flatt and Nagasu were left with disappointment and empty hands heading home from their first Grand Prix event of this Olympic season.

What’s most significant about the weekend’s event isn’t that Flatt and Nagasu left a relatively mid-level Grand Prix event without a medal, but rather what it means for the larger hopes for American ladies’ figure skating.

Without a clear standout star among the American women, to some degree, the hopes of an Olympic medal rests in the hands of a relatively unpredictable group of young women who have yet to establish themselves as consistent threats for international medals. 

This week’s Cup of China served as a microcosm of this predicament. That said, it’s important to note that although the Cup of China was a disappointment, Flatt and Nagasu have the ability to rebound from the weekend’s setbacks and revive American ladies’ skating. But it will take some work.

Olympic flame arrives in Canada in advance of Vancouver Games

The Olympic flame completed its journey from Greece and landed in Canada early this morning. The first two torchbearers were two-time speed-skating gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan and triathlete Simon Whitfield, who won gold for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Games and silver at Beijing in 2008.

They handed it off to rower Silke Laumann, a three-time Olympic medalist, and diver Alexandre Despatie, a two-time medalist and the first Canadian man to win an Olympic diving medal.

The Vancouver Olympic website has a nifty section about the torch relay, with an interactive map, videos and stories on some of the 12,000 folks who will carry the torch across the country and back in time for the Feb. 12 Opening Ceremony. 

Among the higher-profile torchbearers: NHL standout Sidney Crosby, who is scheduled to carry the flame in his home province of Nova Scotia on Nov. 18. Crosby was left off Canada's Olympic team for the 2006 Turin Games but that won't happen this time.

-- Helene Elliott

USOC boss vows transparency. Maybe even in CEO search?

There were two noteworthy aspects to the United States Olympic Committee's announcement Thursday of the nine-member search and selection committee charged with finding a new USOC chief executive by the end of the year.

One is the committee, as previously promised by USOC board Chairman Larry Probst, includes representatives of every USOC constituent group, including two members of the Athletes Advisory Committee.

The other is that it does not include any of the U.S. sports federation (NGB) leaders who have been publicly critical of the current USOC leadership --  Probst and acting CEO Stephanie Streeter.

But there are valid reasons for not having the two most outspoken NGB leaders, Steve Penny (gymnastics) and Skip Gilbert (triathlon).

Since Penny's name has been bandied about as a candidate for CEO, it makes sense that he would not be on a search committee.  Gilbert was not interested in the role. And the NGBs backed the choice of USA Hockey boss Dave Ogrean -- a former USOC deputy marketing director -- as their representative in the search process, for which the USOC announced Thursday it has hired Spencer Stuart as its search firm.

And the search committee does include the one USOC board member, Mike Plant, willing to be loyal opposition -- both to the previous chairman, Peter Ueberroth, whose ideas had been essentially rubber-stamped by a board full of Ueberroth appointees, as well as to Probst.

Penny and Gilbert were, however, among several NGB leaders who met with Probst on Tuesday at his office near San Francisco. Probst also had a private meeting with Gilbert, who recently had called for him to resign as chairman. The feeling that emerged, sources said, is that Probst does not bear grudges.

During the general meeting,  Probst let all the NBG leaders candidly air their grievances and suggestions. A key one was that the new CEO needs real familiarity with the world of sports (and preferably the Olympic movement) to avoid a long learning curve. Whether Probst agrees remains to be seen.

Streeter and two of her three immediate CEO predecessors, Lloyd Ward and Norm Blake, all came from corporate backgrounds, were unsuited for the USOC post and spent little time in the job.

Maybe that is why the USOC won't a) pay the search firm until 18 months after the CEO is in place and b) retained the right to set the amount of the payment.  If the result is another short-term stiff, the USOC should stiff Spencer Stuart, selected from nine search firm candidates.

The search committee can recommend one or more CEO candidates to the board.

Probst reiterated to the NGB leaders what he had told the media when Streeter announced Oct. 7 she did not want to be considered for the permanent post:  That he now is willing to devote full time to the chairman's job and that he is in it for the long haul, which presumably means his four-year term that ends after the 2012 Summer Olympics. 

The most significant promise Probst made at the Tuesday meeting was for more transparency in the USOC board's activities, a move NGB leaders have been advocating for the last three years.  That will include having NGB leaders among  outside observers at the board meetings and publishing minutes of the meetings.

Now everyone interested can only hope the board doesn't sidestep that scrutiny by going into executive session to discuss everything.  I want to know what they ordered for lunch.

--Philip Hersh

Olympic all-around champions Mary Lou Retton (left) and Carly Patterson, with USA Gymnastics Chief Executive Steve Penny, a potential candidate to lead the USOC.  Photo: USA Gymnastics.

Countless hours of coverage in NBC's 2010 Olympic countdown [Updated]

Want to know why the International Olympic Committee immediately backed NBC when it became angry over the prospect of a U.S. Olympic Network?

Yes, the $5.7-billion NBC paid for U.S. broadcast rights to the Summer and Winter games from 2000 through 2012 had something to do with it. So when NBC was angry the U.S. Olympic Committee did not cut a deal with its "mini'' Olympic network, Universal Sports, the IOC told the USOC to cease and desist on the launch of its own planned network for the immediate future.

But there is another reason why the IOC loves its U.S. rights-holder, and that will start to be evident Nov. 4 when NBC launches its "Countdown to Vancouver,'' 100 days before the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Games.

The IOC wants to drum up interest in both the next Olympic Games and the idea of the Olympics.

Never has a U.S. broadcaster committed to an effort of the scope that NBC has planned to promote both its own upcoming Olympic coverage and the Olympics in general.

Using all its broadcast platforms, including NBC, Universal Sports, MSNBC, CNBC and the Weather Channel, NBC will air more than 1,250 hours of pre-Olympic winter sports competition, plus a variety of other Olympic-related segments beginning with the Nov. 4 "Today" show.

That night there will also be a prime-time Olympic segment across all the networks featuring U.S. Olympic champions Shaun White (snowboard) and Apolo Anton Ohno (short track speedskating) and the designated star-to-be of the 2010 Winter Games, alpine skier Lindsey Vonn.

[Updated 4:45 p.m. Tuesday] Expect NBC to give Vonn the Michael Phelps treatment as she goes after medals in several events. The difference is skiing is so much less predictable than swimming that no one would dare suggest Vonn should win multiple gold medals, even if she is the favorite in downhill, Super-G and combined. (An earlier version of this article said: The difference is skiing is no much less predictable than swimming that no one would dare suggest Vonn should win multiple gold medals, even if she is the favorite in downhill, Super-G and combined.)

The things Vonn can't control, like wind gusts that might hit during her run but affect none of the other skiers (which is entirely possible), mean her superior ability can be negated. That's just the inherent injustice of the sport, which is why skiers chant the mantra that the season-long World Cup is a better reflection of an athlete's prowess.

Vonn opened the 2009-10 World Cup season last Saturday with a solid ninth in giant slalom, her weakest event.

You can see plenty of Vonn on the NBC pre-Olympic event coverage, since it will broadcast (on NBC Sports, Universal Sports and Universalsports.com), the entire World Cup seasons of alpine skiing, long and short track speedskating, snowboard, bobsled and luge plus some events in freestyle skiing, ski jumping and cross-country skiing; the figure skating Grand Prix series; and the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Beginning Dec. 1, Universal Sports will have a "Countdown to Vancouver'' show every night (5 p.m. Pacific).

And if that's not enough for Olympic and winter sports junkies, nbcolympics.com will be up and running Nov. 4. 

And I will be frequently blogging about things Winter Olympic as well.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Lindsey Vonn figures to be the star of NBC's enormous pre-Olympic and Olympic coverage this winter. Credit: Thomas Vonn  

Jennifer Kirk: Plushenko must be reckoned with

Jennifer Kirk, who won the 2000 world junior figure skating championship, finished third at the U.S. championships in 2004 and fourth in 2005, will write a weekly blog for The Times providing insights into the skating world during the final months leading into the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Since retiring from figure skating in 2005, Kirk, 25, has been working on obtaining a college degree in broadcast journalism and has spent the last few months blogging about skating at Trueslant.com/jenniferkirk.

When reigning Olympic gold medalist Evgeni Plushenko announced his plans to compete this season following a 3½-year hiatus from the competitive arena, most were initially skeptical about the success of his return. Would he be in competitive form? Was he going to be able to adapt to the various changes in the judging system? Would he regain his standing as the No. 1 male skater in the world?

Last weekend Plushenko answered those questions.

Winning his first and only Grand Prix event of the season, Plushenko kicked off his return to competitive skating with a bang. Skating a squeaky-clean long program and commanding the ice in Moscow, he picked up exactly where he left off in 2006. Not only did Plushenko take the gold, but he crushed the competition, winning by 25 points over Takahiko Kozuka of Japan.

What was most impressive about Plushenko’s skating in Moscow was his unwavering confidence. Though  his victory dance after the completion of his long program could be perceived as cocky by some, this blend of cockiness and confidence proved to be the reigning Olympic champion’s winning ingredient. Plushenko seems incredibly committed to his quest of winning a second Olympic crown, and after two events of the Grand Prix series he’s the front-runner heading into the Games.