Just recently, in late November, our Ms. Maria Butyrskaya skated in
"Ice Wars 9" representing "Team World." She replaced Oksana Baiul and
traveled all the way from Russia to the north eastern U.S. to compete
in her very first Professional competition. She was great! The
competition aired in America during prime time on Saturday, November
30th, 2002 on the CBS network. In the technical program, Maria skated
to "Ave Maria" and as always was a stunning vision as she wore her
blonde hair pinned-up, (it's longer now) and had on a pink long
sleeve elegant outfit. She landed a clean triple toe-loop/double toe-
loop combination and a clean triple loop. Then she three turned out
of a double axel :(, but the audience applauded furiously as she did
her signature spiral across the ice, (she's more flexible than ever!)
She helped give "Team World" the lead going into the artisic
program. "Team World" consisted of Maria, Surya Bonaly, Kurt Browning
and Ilia Kulik. "Team USA" was composed of Scott Hamilton, Nicole
Bobek, Tara Lipinski and Brian Boitano. In the artistic program,
Masha went head-to-head with the '98 Olympic Gold Medalist, Tara
Lipinski. Lipinski wore lavendar and skated to Josh Groveman (the
young opera singer guy, I don't think I got his last name right) and
Tara had a fall on the triple toe-loop. Then Maria skated to
Shakira's "Eyes Like Yours." Masha wore tight blue pants and bore her
mid-driff in a shiny silver top. Maria started off with the same jump
that Lipinski fell on, the triple toe-loop she landed it confidently
and awesomely, but then Maria a fall of her own a the triple loop.
Maria had some provocative choreography. When the marks were
announced after both Maria and Tara skated, Maria was preffered by
the judges 5 to 2 out of 7. Maria won, individually among the women,
but officially, it was only the team scores that mattered and "Team
World" ended up loosing to "Team USA" after a GREAT come-back
performance by Scott Hamiltion in the artistic program. Maria is
making a name for herself in the Pro's! Also, from what I understand,
Maria is a Figure Skating Sports Commentator for NTVR: The National
Television Network of Russia and she's covering the Grand Prix
Events. Maria is STILL the REINGING European Champion and skating
great in the pros! So, even though her Olympic Elegible career didn't
end on a high note, her life and her skating aren't over and she's
still GREAT and gaining NEW fans! DON'T FORGET ABOUT MARIA
BUTYRSKAYA!!!!She's still around and doing WELL!! Much love!
BYE!!!! :)