Figure skating: 'It's slippery. It's life'
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-04 11:19

Sasha Cohen, Irina Slutskaya and Evgeni Plushenko are back. A Russian couple is the heavy favorite in pairs yet again. Judging is in the spotlight. And Michelle Kwan is making one last run at gold. If the story lines for the Turin Olympics sound familiar, well, many are.

Sasha Cohen performs in the Marshalls US Figure Skating Challenge in Boston, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005. [AP]

But figure skating is anything but predictable, and the only certainty is that someone will come along to shake things up.

"You never know what can happen," Slutskaya said. "It's ice. It's slippery. It's life."

So let's get everyone's favorite Olympic soap opera going.

Kwan has gone to the last two Olympics as the gold-medal favorite, only to find herself beaten by a fellow American who skated with the joy and abandon that was once her trademark. She has a silver from Nagano and a bronze from Salt Lake City, and she stuck it out these last four years in hopes of finally completing her set with that elusive gold.

But the five-time world champion isn't the favorite this year. She didn't even seal her spot on the plane to Turin until Friday.

"I've been in all situations before, the underdog, then favorite," Kwan said. "I have a lot to work on, and I'm going to try my very best to skate from the heart."

Given a medical bye onto the U.S. team two weeks ago because of a groin injury, the 25-year-old skated her long and short programs for a five-person monitoring committee Friday in Los Angeles to prove she was fit and healthy enough to compete.

"If she's healthy and able to compete, she's definitely one of the strongest to compete for the United States at the Olympics," Cohen said.

But not the strongest. That's Cohen, who finally lived up to all of her considerable potential with her first national title this month.

She's always been a dazzling mix of beauty, grace and athleticism, but she lacked the resolve that transforms elite athletes into champions. She was second to Kwan four times at nationals, and she botched her chance at a medal in Salt Lake City with a shaky free skate.

After spending 2 1/2 years on the East Coast, though, Cohen found herself when she returned to Southern California and longtime coach John Nicks.

"I definitely want to feel like there's no regrets, that I've put in every ounce of training that I could," she said. "I want to skate amazing. I want an Olympic gold medal. It's been a dream of mine.

"It's not about anyone else," she added, "it's about me and what I want to get done there."

If Slutskaya is at her best, though, it might not be about anybody but the Russian.

Though Slutskaya was bitterly disappointed to finish second to Sarah Hughes in Salt Lake City, these last four years have given her a new perspective. Her mother suffers from kidney disease, and it's Irina who drives her to dialysis. Plus, Slutskaya was sidelined by a heart ailment for much of the 2003-04 season, and she still takes medication that leaves her tired and achy.

Yet she's been virtually unbeatable the last two seasons. She won her record seventh European title earlier this month, breaking a mark she'd shared with Olympic champions Sonja Henie and Katarina Witt.

Her only loss since the 2004 worlds was at the Grand Prix final, and the skater who beat her, Japan's Mao Asada, is too young for Turin.

"After I was second in the Olympics and won the worlds, I used to think, `Do I need to skate more? Do I need to work hard? Because I'm just tired,'" said Slutskaya, who will be 27 on Feb. 9. "When I got sick, oh my God, I want to skate because I feel I can skate.

"It was a good lesson for me. A life lesson."

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto know something about second chances. The ice dancers are favorites to win a medal in Turin and finally end the United States' 30-year Olympic drought. But it wasn't long ago that the couple wondered if they'd even get to go to Turin.

The Canadian-born Belbin wasn't due to get her citizenship until 2007 — a year too late for Turin. But Congress stepped in, passing a law that allows her and other immigrants to take advantage of recent changes that speed up the naturalization process.

"I think we're looking at these Olympics as just the icing on the cake," said Belbin, who was sworn in Dec. 31. "We want to live it up and take in everything that the Olympics has to offer."

When Plushenko is healthy, he's in a class by himself. He's added two more world titles since finishing second to fellow Russian Alexei Yagudin in Salt Lake City, and he won his fifth European crown in a rout last week. Despite barely being able to breathe for the last 1 1/2 minutes of his free skate because of the flu, he beat reigning world champion Stephane Lambiel by more than 16 points.

"Against him I can't make any errors," Lambiel said.

Who can? While the U.S. men are struggling to master their quads, the three-time world champion pulls off the most difficult jump combinations with ease. He's unmatched when it comes to artistry.

The only thing that can slow him is his own body. He had to drop out of last year's worlds with a groin injury that later required surgery, and said he nearly skipped Europeans because of the flu.

He's expected to be healthy in time for Turin, though, which means Lambiel, France's Brian Joubert, Canadian Jeff Buttle and American Evan Lysacek are probably fighting for silver and bronze.

Though Lysacek finished second to three-time champ Johnny Weir at nationals, he's considered a better shot for a medal. He was the bronze medalist at last year's worlds, and was the only American man to qualify for the Grand Prix final before withdrawing with an injury.

"Our theory (so far this year) was play it safe and be consistent," said Lysacek, who is coached by the renowned Frank Carroll. "But Frank's been warning me and saying, `There's going to be a time during the season when you have to take a risk. You're not going to get anything out of the Olympic Games if you don't take a risk.

"I think if I do my best and I have a quad in the program, I have just as good a shot for gold as anyone else."

Weir is as artistic as they come, and he'd be a shoo-in if they gave gold medals for personality. But he needs some serious technical upgrades if he's going to get anywhere close to the podium.

"I can contend with Lambiel and Buttle. Perhaps not Plushenko, but I'm not gunning for Plushenko," Weir said. "I think just a medal at the Olympics would be phenomenal."

A Russian or Soviet couple has won the pairs title at every Olympics dating to 1964, and that streak isn't likely to end this year. Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin have won the last two world championships, and haven't lost in competition since December 2003.

Americans haven't won a pairs medal since 1988, and that isn't likely to change, either. Though Rena Inoue and John Baldwin have some neat tricks — they're the only couple to land a throw triple axel — a top-10 finish would be solid.