Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey Into the Secret World of Figure SkatingFigure skating is the most beautiful and mysterious of all sports. When the skaters are on the ice, every twitch of a muscle and every slip of a skate blade is visible for the world to see. InInside Edge, Christine Brennan chronicles--for the first time--a season on the skating circuit, intimately portraying the lives, on and off the ice, of the sport's current and upcoming stars. Woven into the narrative are stories of figure skating luminaries past, present, and future--including Peggy Fleming, Katarina Witt, Brian Boitano, Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul, Michelle Kwan, Rudy Galindo, and Tara Lipinski. Revealing the backstage conflicts high-profile figure skaters face, and the ambition that drives them, Brennan also tells the stories of their families, of improbable rises to the top, and of wasted talents. If skaters are perfect, they can become international heroes. But if they fall, if they miss a three-revolution jump on a quarter-inch blade of steel, the despair is theirs alone. This is their life on the edge, where decades of training culminate in little more than four crucial minutes on the ice. There is no other sport like it. There is no other story like theirs. The figure skaters gathered slowly in the mahogany-paneled lobby of the majestic Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid, New York, flashing no smiles, barely saying a word. The collection of gregarious entertainers had been reduced to silent, wide-eyed stares. The crackling wood in the fireplace made the room's only noise. They had met in hotel lobbies in fancy street clothes hundreds of times in the past, but never for an event as devastating as this. On a cold night in late November 1995, they were to travel through snowswept Adirondack mountain roads to a nearby funeral home for a private wake for Sergei Grinkov, their colleague and friend who died of a massive heart attack during a skating practice the day before. |
Contents
Go Out and Tell a Story | 171 |
ALMOST THERE | 181 |
NATIONALS | 227 |
Copyright | |
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Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey Into the Secret World of Figure Skating Christine Brennan No preview available - 1996 |
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American arena asked athletes began Bonaly Bowman Brian Boitano Burg Callaghan Carroll champion coach competition Deanie Tew DiGregorio double axel dress Eldredge event Fassi figure skating figure-skating finished five Galindo Games girl going Gordeeva happened Janet Lynn Jenni Tew Joel Tew judges junior ladies knew Kohout Kristi Yamaguchi Kwan's landed Leaver Lipinski long program looked male skaters men's Michael Michelle Kwan mother moved Nancy Kerrigan national championships never Nicole Bobek night Noyes Oksana Baiul Olympic gold medal Olympic gold medalist Orser parents Paul Wylie Peggy Fleming performance Petrenko practice professional rink Scotvold short program sport Stars on Ice Sumners Sun Valley Sydne talk Tara thing thought told Tonya Harding Torvill and Dean tour triple axel triple jumps triple lutz triple toe loop USFSA Vogel watch week Weisiger Weiss women world championships