Jeremy Abbott Is More Awesome Than All Of Us

Now that the Olympic men's figure skating short program has aired both live and in primetime yesterday, I'm assuming that everyone that wanted to see it has seen it. And if you haven't seen it... well, you missed something out of the Twilight Zone. I swear, it was incredibly fitting that I made popcorn right as it was starting. (Yes, that was at around 8 a.m. MT, but when you have breakfast at 5 a.m., three hours later is definitely snack time. Don't judge.)

The craziness began right at the start of the second group of skaters, as four-time Olympic medalist Evgeni Plushenko landed a jump awkwardly in his warm-up and immediately grabbed his back. He was the first skater in that group set to perform and, instead of skating out to center ice, he skated over to the judges. Next thing you knew, he'd withdrawn due to injury and was taking a goodbye bow, his Olympic (and skating) career officially done. What?! He'd been having some issues since the team event long program, but I still felt like I'd been clubbed over the head with a frying pan. Complete and utter shock. In all my years of Olympics-watching, nothing like that has ever happened.

via

But anyway. This post is not being written so I can talk about Plushenko, but just... I'm still shocked. Moving on.

After that, we were all lulled into a false sense of security, assuming that there's no way anything else shocking could happen. I mean, one shocker like that is rare enough, but two? Nah. No way.

And then Jeremy Abbott took the ice.

If you haven't been following U.S. or Olympic figure skating, here's the dealio: Jeremy won U.S. nationals in 2010 (ahead of future Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek, no less) to make the Olympic team, but had a disaster of a short program and finished ninth overall. He finished second at nationals to make the Olympic team for 2014 and, in the team event, had another bad short program to finish seventh out of 10. The hope going into the individual event was that he'd gotten his nerves out and could now skate cleanly. In his own words, he'd now already gotten his Olympic disaster out of the way.

Well, homeboy fell on his first jumping pass in his individual short program. And not just any run-of-the-mill fall, either. I'm talking total wipe-out, right on his hip, careening into the boards, and not immediately getting up. He was down, and he was clearly very badly hurt.

via Yahoo images

I was, first of all, very afraid for him, and I also assumed that was it. Can you medically withdraw in the middle of your program? I don't even know, but that's what I thought would happen. He'd hobble over to the judges and tearfully bow out.

But no. Oh, no. After an agonizing 10 or 15 seconds that felt like it took an hour, Jeremy collected himself, stood up and continued his program. According to good ol' commentators Johnny Weir (literally just typed "Weird" instead of Weir, hahaha. #freudianslip) and Tara Lipinski informed us that, despite his significant time down on the ice, he hadn't missed any of his program's required elements (i.e. jumps, spins, etc.), just some choreography. So he caught up with his music and kept going. I was so nervous as he approached his second jumping pass, I was about ready to vomit... but lo and behold, he landed it. And he landed every other jump he executed.

He was like a different person! Before his program, he was taking deep breaths and visibly trying to get himself mentally ready. But after his fall, you could see in his eyes that he was pissed and determined and ready to raise some hell. And he did.

And guys, I cannot even tell you how completely overwhelmed I was. The amount of respect I have for this guy is unreal. It was so inspiring to see him fight back from what could've (or, really, should've) been utter devastation. This is his last Olympics and he wasn't going to just let it end like that.

It should be a lesson to us all: our flops should never be death knells. Jeremy Abbott went hip-first into the ice and face-first into the boards at the Olympics and got up and finished with his head held high. Didn't accomplish what you wanted to? Well, bummer. Brush the snow off your pants and hit that triple lutz-triple toe combination because, damnit, you can!

As Jeremy was waiting for his scores, I think it was Tara that said, "It may not've been the Olympic moment he'd been hoping for, but he inadvertently created an Olympic moment." Heck yes, he did.

(And then he returned for his long program today and delivered like a CHAMP. Ended his final Olympics on the most positive of notes. I may or may not have gotten a little misty-eyed. You go, Jeremy.)

Blogtober(ish) Day 31: Kristi Yamaguchi

Yesterday was awesome. It was full of awesome costumes, games, pumpkin decorating, sugary deliciousness and some Twitter fame, and it deserves a blog post all its own (which it shall get!). So I skipped home from work, all ready to hunker down and finish off Blogtober with a bang, and then I discovered... THE INTERNET WAS DOWN. AGAIN. For the second time in ONE WEEK! Except this time, I'm 99% sure it wasn't because of scheduled maintenance. >.<

It's one thing to stay up until 2 a.m. to blog on a Saturday night, but Thursday night? With work the next morning? After staying up far too late the two previous nights? Uh, fat chance. I passed out at about 9 while watching DVDs of 1980 Olympic hockey (!!!!!!), woke up at 11 to see if the internet was working, and crawled into bed when I realized it wasn't. So much for that "going out with a bang" thing. I'm SO MAD that the ONE DAY in Blogtober that I failed to post was the FINAL DAY and it was because of TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. I was sooo looking forward to being finished yesterday! As much as I've adored this month and the feedback I've gotten on it, I'm in desperate need of a few days off. Seriously, how do some bloggers post every day ad nauseum?! No wonder so many blogs I follow are getting rethought or revamped or are on hiatus! Sheesh. Take a break, folks!

But anyway, I truly didn't want to start this final fan letter off with a two-paragraph annoyed rant. Because if there's one person in the world that meeting would more or less complete my life, it's this person right here.

I'm pretty sure I fell in love with Kristi when she portrayed Jasmine in Aladdin on Ice. (Hey, I was four years old. Don't judge! :P) Eighteen years later, that four-year-old still makes herself known every now and then; Kristi was hanging out with Jim Craig earlier this week and I literally don't know how I contained my excitement. Pretty sure I didn't, to be honest.

But enough of my childhood fangirling for now!

Kristi started skating when she was a kid as therapy for her club feet. She began as both a singles and a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo (another childhood favorite of mine!); they won the U.S. junior title in 1986 and 1988, and the U.S. senior title in 1989 and 1990. Separately, Kristi won the U.S. junior title in '88, and Rudy won the world junior title in '87. They did better as a team because they were both accomplished singles skaters, jumping and spinning in opposite directions and doing side-by-side triple flip jumps (which is more difficult than side-by-side jumps done by top pairs teams today). But in 1990, Kristi decided she wanted to focus on singles skating. (Don't feel too bad for Rudy, though. He won the U.S. championship and bronze at Worlds in 1996).

As a singles skater, Kristi won three straight silver medals at the U.S. Championships ('89-'91), and then gold in 1992. She won gold at the World Championships in '91 and '92; in 1991, she, Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding became the first national ladies team to have its members sweep the podium. Kristi won gold at the 1992 Olympics... on the exact day of my first birthday. It's destiny. DESTINY, I tell you!

Kristi is the awesomest. She won Dancing with the Stars in 2008 (side note: OMG how was it that long ago?!?!?!?!), has worked as a skating broadcast analyst, is still pretty heavily involved with the USOC, and started the Always Dream Foundation that provides "funding for after school programs, computers, back-to-school clothes for underprivileged children, and summer camps for kids with disabilities."

But she etched herself into my heart forever in 1996, when I wrote her a fan letter and she wrote back. :) She sent an autographed picture that's still displayed in my room, but she also actually responded to my letter.

I was five and my hero was writing back to me. Life was great, dude.

It's kind of funny; I left Kristi for last this month because she was my first and greatest favorite, but I didn't even think about how appropriate it would be to end my month of fan letters with the Olympian that I actually wrote a fan letter to. Perfect. :)

And with that, Blogtober is officially FINITO! *throws confetti*

Blogtober Day 28: Michelle Kwan

True story: my first Olympic memory involves Michelle Kwan and bitter anger. It was the night before my seventh birthday, Tara Lipinski was screaming her annoying head off after beating Michelle for the gold medal, and I was SO STINKING MAD. I'm still not entirely over that, to be honest. *grumbles*

Essentially, Michelle achieved everything a figure skater could possibly achieve except winning Olympic gold. She won five World Championships (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2003), tying her for most wins by an American. She has won nine U.S. Championships (1996, 1998–2005), tying the record for most wins; her eight consecutive titles is a U.S. record, as is her streak of 12 consecutive medals. She is the only woman in figure skating history to reclaim the World title three times (1998, 2000, 2003). In her career, she received a total of 57 6.0s (perfect scores) from her at nationals and worlds. At the U.S. Championships alone, she holds the record for most 6.0s. And, since figure skating is no longer scored on the 6.0 scale, nobody will ever overtake her.

And then, of course, is the Olympic silver medal from 1998 and the Olympic bronze medal from 2002.

Can you say flawless?

Michelle the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, and is widely regarded as one of the best figure skaters of all time. She was on top of the figure skating world for over a decade, which is kiiiiiind of ridiculous. She's also one of the most beloved American athletes, uh, ever.

She's MICHELLE FREAKING KWAN, that's why you should care!

*drops mic*

Blogtober Day 22: Peggy Fleming

You want to know how well-planned this month's bloggy endeavor was? There are six figure skaters on my list of people to write fan letters to; two were done in the first half of the month, and four were left for the final week and a half. Hah, whoops?

The Grenoble 1968 Olympics were the first ever to be televised in color. Clearly someone saw Peggy's ballin' chartreuse skating dress and was like, "AMERICA MUST BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THIS IN ALL ITS GLORY!" Boom, color broadcasts.

Peggy started skating when she was nine, and it didn't take long for everything to get flipped on its head. In 1961, when she was 12, her coach (along with the rest of the U.S. figure skating national team) was killed in a plane crash on the way to the 1961 World Championships. After the tragedy, she was coached by the legendary Carlo Fassi and went on to win five U.S. titles, three World titles and Olympic gold in 1968 before retiring.

In 1993, Peggy was named the third most popular athlete in America (behind Mary Lou Retton and fellow skater Dorothy Hamill), which kind of boggles my mind because the Dream Team was a thing in 1992. In 1998, Peggy was diagnosed with breast cancer, but it was caught early and she underwent surgery. She's now in remission and a huge breast cancer activist. She and her husband own and operate a winery, and the profits from one of their wines go to charities that support breast cancer research.

She's been a figure skating commentator for over 20 years now, and she was in Blades of Glory as a judge. Yes.

The plane crash that killed Peggy's coach wiped out the entire top level of U.S. figure skating. Think about it; these were the skaters and coaches going to the world championships, and suddenly they were all gone. Peggy came up in a skating world that was basically a vacuum. 1964 was the first Olympics in 12 years that had no American on the ladies' figure skating podium. When she won Olympic gold, it signaled America's return to figure skating dominance; an American lady won a figure skating medal in every Olympics until 2010.

But Peggy's gold medal meant even more to America as a whole, as it was the only gold medal won by Team USA at the winter Olympics in 1968. I can't even comprehend that.

You rock that chartreuse dress, girl!

Blogtober Day 20: Scott Hamilton

As I'm writing this post while watching Skate America (and keeping an eye on my fantasy skating team...), this is only fitting.

The better question is, why ISN'T Scott Hamilton awesome?

When Scott was a kid, he contracted a mysterious disease that caused him to stop growing. The condition eventually corrected itself, and he eventually grew to 5'4" -- as a fellow member of the short person club, I dig it.

In 1980, he placed third at the U.S. Championships to qualify for the Olympic team; he was voted to carry the American flag in the opening ceremony, and subsequently placed fifth. From 1981-1984, he won each U.S. Championship and each World Championship, and then he won Olympic gold in 1984. After winning worlds that year he retired, then co-founded, co-produced and starred in Stars on Ice until 2001 (perfect timing for me to obsess over it when I was a kid. But for real, though). He was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1990.

He could also do backflips on ice, and frequently did, which is really why little Darci liked him so much. It was AWESOME!

(And right now [literally, right this second], I'm listening to him as a commentator while I'm sitting in the Olympic Training Center. My life has very bizarrely come full circle.)

Scott suffered from testicular cancer in 1997 and discovered he had a benign brain tumor in 2004 (that was surgically removed in 2010). He (obviously) survived everything and is still killin' it. He was also the Make-A-Wish Foundation's first ever Celebrity Wish Granter of the Year. And, basically, he just makes you want to smile when he speaks.

Scott Hamilton: proving that big (and awesome) things come in small packages since 1980. :)