With family safe, Dungjen and Sato deal with their skaters' uncertainty

No U.S. figure skating coaches are more sensitive to the situation in Japan than Yuka Sato and her husband, Jason Dungjen.

Sato was a world champion for Japan. Her father, Nobuo, and mother, Kumiko, coach some of Japan's leading skaters, including reigning world champion Mao Asada. 

First things first: Dungjen said by telephone Monday afternoon that his wife's parents are fine, as are all the members of Sato's family, although some of their friends had to be evacuated from the areas near Sendai where there is a risk of radiation from a damaged nuclear plant.

Sato told the Detroit Free Press that her mother was in Toyota City, about 300 miles from the earthquake epicenter, and her father was in Tokyo when the quake hit.

Now that they are sure their loved ones are safe, Dungjen and his wife can deal with their other concern: What kind of training program to devise for the skaters they coach who were headed to Japan for upcoming competitions?

"The worst thing right now is the uncertainty,'' Dungjen said.

Alissa Czisny, the reigning U.S. woman's champion, was headed for the world championships next week in Tokyo. Jeremy Abbott, the 2009-2010 U.S. men's champion, was going to the World Team Trophy competition April 14-17 in Yokohama.

Philip Hersh: Ottavio Cinquanta says International Skating Union must decide fate of world championships within 'three or four days'

International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta says there must be a decision on the future of the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships within "the next three or four days.''

The ISU announced Monday the worlds would not take place in Tokyo as scheduled next week because of safety concerns as a result of the earthquake-related devastation in Japan.  In its statement, the ISU said postponement or cancellation were under consideration.

Speaking to me exclusively by telephone from his home in Italy, Cinquanta said any thoughts of having the event at an alternate site must take into consideration "respect for the Japanese [and the fact that] it is not easy to move the championships.''

Cinquanta told me the issue was not whether Japanese skating officials would consider it disrespectful to move an event they had spent so much time and money planning before knowing whether it might be possible to hold it in Tokyo sometime soon.

"This is the World Figure Skating Championships, not the Japanese Figure Skating Championship,'' Cinquanta said.  "[But] I must take into consideration respect for the Japanese no matter what we do.''

Cinquanta said he would make a personal choice on the best course of action but the ISU Council would ultimately decide the fate of the championships.  He expected to speak with council members by Tuesday.

Cinquanta said he has had no discussions yet about specific alternate sites.

The best possibility for an alternate site would be China or South Korea, because their governments likely would cover all or some of the costs.

The South Koreans might see taking over at the 11th hour as a goodwill gesture that could help Pyeongchang's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.  The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2018 host this summer.

A spokesperson for Skate Canada told me the figure skating championships would not be moved to Canada, which is to host the 2013 worlds in London, Ontario.

U.S. Figure Skating officials have told me there has been no discussion so far of moving the championships to the United States.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Ottavio Cinquanta speaks during a press conference Saturday. Credit: Uwe Lein / Associated Press

Cho wins 500, joins Reutter as world short track leader

For the first time in 35 years, the United States has the overall leaders going into the final day of the World Short Track Speedskating Championship.

Simon Cho of Laurel, Md., moved into the men's lead by winning the 500 meters Saturday in Sheffield, England.  At 19, in his first world championships, Cho became the youngest U.S. skater to win a world gold medal.

"I'm surprised, excited, enthusiatic, exhausted and proud to represent the United States,'' Cho said via telephone as he rode back from the rink to the team hotel.

Katherine Reutter of Champaign, Ill., maintained her lead in the overall standings after failing to make the 500-meter final by a couple inches Saturday.

Reutter, who won the 1,500 on Friday, was in second for four of the five laps in the semifinal before China's Li Jianrou beat her to the finish by seven thousandths of a second.  Only the top two advanced.

Katherine Reutter, Shani Davis strike gold for U.S. speedskating

Here's the long and short of it:

This was a golden day for the biggest current U.S. star in each of speedskating's two disciplines, long and short track.

For Shani Davis, it was more of the same.  The 1,000-meter gold in the World Single Distances Championships at Inzell, Germany, was the third of Davis' career at that distance and sixth overall in the long track meet. 

For Katherine Reutter, it was a first.  And the 1,500-meter gold she won in Sheffield, England, also was the first by a U.S. woman at the World Short Track Championships since Bonnie Blair a quarter century ago. 

That both Reutter and Blair are from Champaign, Ill., has inevitably led to comparisons, and Reutter does not shy from being likened to one of her sport's legendary athletes, even if Blair is better known for her long track exploits.

"It's kind of funny how people are comparing me to Bonnie -- not that it isn't deserved pretty much,'' Reutter said via telephone from England.

Davis, a Chicagoan, keeps adding to his deserved status as one of the legendary athletes in the sport.

He now has won two Olympic gold medals and the three single distance titles in the 1,000.  Friday, despite a big slip on one turn, he clocked 1 minute 8.45 seconds to beat Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands by .22.

"It was a great step in the right direction from the day before,'' Davis said in a statement from U.S. Speedskating.

Thursday, Davis had missed a fourth title at 1,500 by just four-hundredths of a second. 

"After an objective evaluation last night on the 1,500, Shani was able to execute some of the things he had been missing in his skating,'' U.S. Coach Ryan Shimabukuro said.  "You really got to see Shani skating like himself today.''

Reutter wound up skating the 1,500 exactly the opposite of how she planned.

Lysacek still riding whirlwind of golden fame

I caught up with Evan Lysacek when the Olympic figure skating champion blew into Chicago for a couple days to promote the March 12 Stars on Ice appearance at Rosemont's Allstate Arena.

This was your one-size-fits-all promotion, what touring figure skaters have been doing for years. Blow into a city, skate with some kids, do print and TV interviews to sell tickets for the ice show coming soon to a local arena.

He put on hockey skates to join a couple of dozen kids on the synthetic ice of the Skating in the Sky rink on the 94th floor of the John Hancock building. After that and an autograph session, Lysacek went to the building's roof for a photo shoot.

The dizzying heights of fame.

Here is Evan's Top 10 list of things the Olympic gold medal allowed him to experience.

--Philip Hersh

Photo: Evan Lysacek at opening night of Disney On Ice's "Princess Wishes" at Madison Square Garden on January 21. Credit: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Image

Philip Hersh: Women ski jumpers take foggy leap of faith toward Olympics

The fog in Oslo, Norway was so thick Friday that spectators at the bottom of the windswept ski-jump hill at the World Nordic Ski Championships could see little more than the moment the women athletes skied through the finish area.

Now those athletes can only hope the International Olympic Committee will see what happened under those conditions as clear evidence their event should be in the 2014 Olympics.

IOC member Gian-Franco Kasper of Switzerland, president of the International Ski Federation, said after Friday's event he was "90 percent optimistic'' women's ski jumping would be on the program for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

That decision should be made in late March or early April.

The IOC denied that opportunity to women jumpers at the 2010 Games for reasons that had more to do with the fog of sexism that still pervades the Olympic old boys club than any of the reasons it raised for keeping the women jumpers out.

The IOC said jumping had problems about quality of competition, number of competitors and numbers of nations involved, no matter that sports like women's (and even men's) bobsled and women's luge already were in the Olympics despite some of the same issues.

Four Continents skate doesn't boost U.S. slim medal chances for worlds

So what did the Four Continents Championships reveal about U.S. chances at next month's World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo?

Precious little more than what I already knew after last month's U.S. Championships, and that wasn't good.

The results from the Taipei meet that ended Saturday only reinforced my feeling that ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White will be the lone U.S. medalists at worlds.  Davis and White took Four Continents gold in a walkover after reigning world and Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada withdrew after winning the short dance because Virtue had a thigh injury.

I'll make a few more observations, now that I have had time to look at some of the Four Continents video posted by the dedicated fans on the newsgroup Figure Skating Universe. 

Those fans snagged the video from Asian television networks, since there was not even live Internet coverage of the event in the United States.   Shame on U.S. Figure Skating for not spending the pittance it would have cost to get Four Continents live feed rights for its own web property, icenetwork.com.

The top finishers of every event at U.S. nationals but men's singles went to Four Continents, where the opposition included many of the leading skaters from China, Japan and Canada -- but none from Europe, which has its own championships.

Women's singles had the best field, including two skaters with world titles (Miki Ando and Mao Asada of Japan), three with U.S. titles (Mirai Nagasu, Rachael Flatt, Alissa Czisny)  and the reigning Canadian champion (Cynthia Phaneuf).  So I'm confining my comments to that event.

Both Ando and Asada skated impressively and deserved the top two places, although Ando's utter emotionlessness in the free skate was in jarring discord with the romanticism, intensity and passion of her music, Grieg's "A Minor Piano Concerto."

Reigning world champion Asada showed she has recaptured her jumping skills after a decision to rework technique under a new coach had turned the Grand Prix portion of her season into a messy exercise.  Not only that, but Asada's feathery footwork sequence in the long program perfectly captured the essence of her music, Lizst's "Dreams of Love."

Nagasu, who finished third, made it abundantly clear she is the best U.S. woman skater, her third place at nationals notwithstanding. 

How Nagasu must rue the brain cramps on two no-brainer elements at the end of the free skate at nationals, a spin she botched so thoroughly it was worth zero points on the scoresheet and a double-axel jump so poorly executed it earned just 2.63.

Philip Hersh: World gold burnishing Ligety's place in U.S. ski annals

 

Ted Ligety joined a select club Friday.

He now is one of only a half-dozen U.S. alpine skiers to have won gold medals at both the Olympics and World Championships.

Ligety's victory in the giant slalom at the 2011 worlds in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, added his name to a list that includes Bode Miller, Phil Mahre, Lindsey Vonn, Picabo Street and Barbara Cochran.

(Technically, Gretchen Fraser and Andrea Mead Lawrence were doublers as well, but they earned both in one fell swoop, when Olympic medals also counted as world medals.)

Ligety's Olympic triumph came in the combined at the 2006 Winter Games.

He was more impressed by the world title because it came at a point when he had a reputation of success to defend.

I wrote last month how Ligety has been quietly been putting together one of the more impressive records in U.S. ski history, including the 2008 and 2010 World Cup season titles in giant slalom and a bronze medal at the 2009 worlds in the event.  To read that story, click here.

"The Olympic gold medal in combined and winning a world championship are very different,'' Ligety said Friday.  "The Olympics are bigger and I was the surprise victor in that event, so I didn't have the pressure on me to perform.

"But being able to perform when you're supposed to win is far more difficult than just putting it on the line like I did at the [2006] Olympics. To be able to put down two good runs and win is that much more special."

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Ted Ligety' Credit: Odd Andersen / Getty Images

 

Philip Hersh: In summing up Lance Armstrong (again), the parts make a discomfiting whole

Lance Armstrong announcing his allegedly definitive retirement has the feeling of a "Dog Bites Man" story.

After all, Armstrong already said before finishing 65th in last month's Tour Down Under in Australia he would no longer race internationally. So it was hardly a surprise when he told the Associated Press early Tuesday that he would no longer race, period.

I guess I have to take Armstrong at his word about the retirement, no matter how hard it is for me to take his word about anything, especially his relentless denials of having used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

My long-held general skepticism about Armstrong was increased six years ago, when I was in France covering the final days of what was to have been his retirement after winning a seventh Tour de France.  He would come back and ride the Tour twice more, finishing third in 2009 and 23rd last year.

Armstrong is, of course, hardly the only athlete to change his mind about quitting: Exhibit A, Michael Jordan, another person with a Nike-magnified gloss whose competitive drive was boundless.

And, yes, I used the word "exhibit," on purpose, since that could be a key term in the next phase of Armstrong's cycling-related life, if a federal grand jury indicts him in a case that would center on whether he doped.

For now though, the issue is whether it is any easier to sum up Armstrong at 39 than it was when he was 33.

It is tempting simply to cut and paste the 1,750 words I wrote for the final Sunday of what Armstrong said was his final Tour de France in 2005, a Chicago Tribune story headlined, "Lance Armstrong; last step into history.''

Then as now, Armstrong was both the most inspirational while controversial superstar athlete the United States ever produced.

Beginning in 1999, he made the U.S. public think spinning your wheels fast and for days on end was worth paying attention to.

The latest on Lindsey Vonn: She pulls out of final worlds events

Skier Lindsey Vonn has decided to let discretion be the better part of valor.

Vonn said today on her Facebook page she will skip the final three events at the World Championships to get over the lingering effects of a Feb. 2 concussion.

In the past two days, Vonn has faced questions from the European media over whether her injury was real since she still was skiing -- and winning silver in Sunday's downhill.  Even Maria Riesch, Vonn's leading rival and longtime friend, chimed in on the subject in general terms.

"It's kind of hard to talk about not feeling well when you're winning medals," Riesch said after winning two world bronze medals while skiing with the flu.

Then there were questions from the U.S. media over whether she were taking too big a risk by racing with a head injury.  She answered several Sunday, as noted in my previous blog entry, which you can read by clicking here.

The upshot is Vonn is taking time to rest.  She said she has been unable to focus for an entire race, a dangerous situation for someone traveling 70 miles per hour on a couple sticks.

"My hope is that I will be healthy and fresh when the World Cup tour resumes at the end of the month in Are, Sweden,'' she said in the Facebook entry.

The last three races at worlds include Vonn's weakest individual events, slalom and giant slalom, plus the insignificant team event.  Vonn had hoped most to race the giant slalom even though, ironically, it was a crash in giant slalom training that had led to the concussion.

For video of that crash, click here.

It was just one of several racing or training accidents for Vonn this season.  Among them: a crash in downhill training in late January that led to a sprained the medial collateral ligament of her left knee; and a spectacular near wipeout with no consequences other than some lost time at a Lake Louise race in December.

"I have had an unusual amount of crashes or near crashes this year, (but) most of the injuries so far have been really manageable,'' Vonn said Sunday. "This head injury seems to be one of the toughest I've faced because it's not about fighting through it.''

Yet she kept trying, which seemed foolhardy for a skier with nothing left to prove, given the danger another bump on the head could cause someone still recovering from a concussion, even if she knew a CT scan had shown no major injuries.

Vonn said Sunday that after the ski team's medical staff cleared her to race, the decision remained hers, and her competitive stubbornness took over.

That's another way of saying she is hard-headed. Something knocked sense into her over the past 24 hours.

You may have to be a little crazy to be a ski racer, but there are limits.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Lindsey Vonn crashes into the netting in the first run of the giant slalom at the 2010 Olympics. She broke the little finger of her right hand. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Philip Hersh: Winning again, Katherine Reutter nears historic skate titles

A month before the 2010 Olympics, Katherine Reutter's coach told me the Champaign, Ill., athlete had been "the most improved skater in the world'' over the previous three years.

"The next time [2014 Olympics], Katherine may be unbeatable,'' Jae Su Chun said.

Reutter, 22, appears to be getting to that point even sooner.

She now is the top-ranked short track speedskater in the world overall and leads the World Cup season standings in both the 1,000 and 1,500 meters with just one meet to go.  No U.S. woman has ever won a season title on the short track circuit.

Sunday, she won the 1,000 meters at the World Cup meet in Moscow.  It was her second win of the season at that distance.

Reutter, who earned silver and bronze medals at the 2010 OIympics, also has won three of the four 1,500s she has raced, including Saturday's in Moscow. "To go from where I was to where I am now is a huge accomplishment,'' Reutter said a year ago.

She was 68th in the world in 2007, ninth in 2008, 10th in 2009, third last year.

When I did a long interview with Reutter a year ago, she wasn't shy about expressing her desire to be even more than a champion.

"I want to be the best there ever was in this sport,'' she said. "It's not about winning a gold medal but getting so good I can dominate a race every time.''

Sunday, when Simon Cho of Upper Marlboro, Md., won the 500, and Travis Jayner of Midland, Mich., got bronze in the 1,000, Reutter wanted to talk more about the performance of the U.S. team than her own. (Jayner also won silver in Saturday's 1,500.)

"Being part of this team the past week has been an absolute pleasure and privilege,'' she said. "Seeing how we are all progressing throughout the season ... we are in a great place heading into next weekend [the final World Cup meet] and the [March] World Championships.

"I hope for the first team we can continue to peak all season long.''

Reutter had hip surgery last spring. By November, when the World Cup season began, she had regained winning form.

Her victories at the start of the season got an asterisk because the turmoil-ridden South Korean team, traditional world leaders in short track, did not compete in those World Cup meets. But there were Koreans among the medalists in Moscow -- the silver and bronze medalists behind Reutter.

--Philip Hersh

Photo: Katherine Reutter celebrating her 2010 Olympic silver medal. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)