----- Original Message -----
From: "Vashty Hawkins" <vhawkins@...>


>
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> S
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> P
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> O
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> I
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> .......
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> 1. Yagudin
> 2. Stojko
> 3. Eldredge
> 4. Liu
> 5. Sandhu :-(
>
> Not the best skated mens event ever. Yagudin and Elvis deserve to be 1-2.
> Both had falls on their 3axels, but skated strongly.
>
> Now for the bad news (sigh) ...
>
> Emanuel had a frustratingly poor time of it out there; he took a hard
> splat on the quad, and then seemed to phone in the rest of his performance
> from that point on, losing his focus totally and popping three jumps
> (Hazel, was it three? I was too busy sitting there groaning with my head
> in my hands :-)).

Through my groans I did notice that he singled 3 axels and 1 lutz after
falling on the quad toe. I felt so confident for him when I looked into his
eyes as he took his opening pose, but as I watched him approach the quad, I
knew that he'd miss and that this was going to be a mess.

He rallied a little bit towards the end of the program
> with a triple flip/triple toe (again, I'm going on memory so if I'm wrong
> please correct me) but by that point it was too little too late.

What he did land was a triple flip in the middle of the single axels and
later a triple loop-triple toe and a triple salchow. Even his flying spin
was effected.

I'm
> surprised at how quickly he "gave up", because one of the things I was
> noticing last season was that even with mistakes he would keep fighting
> until the end.

He was fighting in that he tried the axel 3 times, but each time he waited
too long on the take off (too far aound the circle) and singled. I guess
that he still doesn't understand how to solve the axel problem.

Disappointing; I'm sure he must feel pretty crappy right
> now, hopefully he'll give himself a kick in the pants and work on getting
> ready for his next event -- he's GOT to do two clean back-to-back
> performances (or three in the case of qualifying rounds) if he wants to be
> in the top 5.

He was smiling in the Kiss 'n Cry at the end....people were applauding him
in spite of the less the stellar program. I just hope he gets mad enough so
that this stops happening.
>
> We'll see - he has soooooo much talent, and I find his skating unique and
> irresistable. But he is emotionally fragile IMO, and almost not cut out
> for the sometimes harsh atmosphere of competition. I wish the best for him
> though, and hope that this can be a wakeup call.
>
> Alright, enough of being philosophical for one night :-)
>
On the positive side, he hasn't used up those 2 great back to back
performances...he's saving them for the Olympics!!!

Hazel