As you might know, I live in Pohang, the southeast side of South Korea. To go to Goyang where the rink is located it takes 5 hours by bus.
So I couldn't go to watch the competition except friday. Well, I was able to choose saturday or sunday but I preferred friday, because of the events. The two finals were held on friday: Men's free skating and Ice dancing free dance. :-O
The ice dancing event started at 3 P.M., so I had to get my bus by 8 A.M.. However on thursday I had come home late and I decided not to sleep a while. I took the first bus departing 6:40, and there was only me in the bus! I fell asleep immediately, and a lady got on the bus at the next stop. (This bus makes only 3 stops, except rest stops.) It was wierd a little, but it was comfortable anyway; I took off my shoes, push my backrest back enough and got a good sleep.
The bus arrived at the Hwajung(Goyang) terminal at noon. From the terminal, it can be made on foot to go to the rink(Took at most 20 minutes on foot). I had enough free time to eat lunch and buy something for cheering. Then I went to the rink and met some members of the forum. After a short resurfacing, the first event started on time.
I really hoped to see Virtue&Moir with my own eyes for a long time. And they were just good. Their OD was not so fantastic as they showed in this year's national event, but I prefer their FD in 4CC than the national. Tessa's pink costume perfectly fit on her, but in my opinion skyblue costume was more suitable for their program. And Scott! I love his expression! He became better and better from when I saw him for the first time! After their FD, all members of our party had the same opinion; The Moir boy finally became a man of expression. Their lift was a little uneasy, but the twizzle and the step sequences were excellent(Even though there were also some mistakes). Once again, I love their expression-especially Scott!!!
What made me surprised is the final couple:Jennifer Wester and Daniil Barantsev. It's ture that they had a gap compared with V&M or D&W. However their skating skill and mood were nice. In fact, Daniil was far better than Jennifer. I made a profile summary about the competitiors of 4CC, and it said that Danill was a junior world champion in the 2000/2001 season, when he was still in Russia. Well, Russia had lost another talented again. Anyway, they seemed merry in spite of disparity in their ability.
Second, the freeskating of the men's single.
To tell the truth, I cannot remember almost all of what I watched. When I watched the final competitor-Daisuke Takahashi, the memory blew away. He was the best. He was the only man who made me give a standing ovation without notice. I could not realize my standing until the paper put on my knees fell down and hit my foot. You might already know that he got the new world record: he deserved to it with his free skating(I will not make any comment with the short program; I didn't see it with my own eyes, and after going on the competition, I realized that watching on the monitor and on the ground are different).
Jeffrey Buttle was excellent even though I prefer the former costume. :) He was the most favored man; I was sitting behind his fans, and when his performance finished, all of them stood up and shouted his name(might be his name, but in fact I couldn't recognize:D ) and threw flowers and gifts. It was a kind of funny scene, but I could understand them. He was so sweet and his performance was extremely moderate and graceful, without losting the mannish mood.
Evan Lysacek-He was tall, he was handsome, and his program was good. But in his free skating he seemed not being motivated highly enough after he failed his first quad. Hope to see him more powered in the World, for I love his steps in the free skating program as well as his short. His short program performance in 4CC was told one of the best performance in the whole men's program(Some of the audiences said that it was the best of the short programs, even exceeding Jeff and Daisuke who made great performance).
Jeremy Abbott-Two thumbs up! d(-_-)b He made a very powerful and emotional move. I think I witnessed his step-up moment. After the performance he seemed very touched with his own work and tremendous cheering, profer price for the work.
And Shawn Sawyer-In fact, I am his fan. I have been fond of his work since I saw him in this year's COC. I made a banner of him and raised it when he bowed to my direction, screaming his name.(Shawn, did you see it? Did you hear my voice?:D)His one spiral was terrific!! Even though he missed some jumps, his performance was one of the best for me. His spiral and presentation was much better than I thought watching on my monitor. It was a pity not to be able to see his clean program, for his first 3-3 was so clear and nice.
The audiences were so passionate in both events. They cheered for all competitors, whenever they did clean program or not, and gave a superb ovation to who showed excellent performance. I hope the skaters had good feelings for the 4CC and korean audiences, so they want to come this nation again.
The last sentences of this long article must be this: The figure skating competition is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool!!!!!!! I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope to see other events. :D
p.s.
I really hoped to see you in 4CC, Patrick...:(
But good luck with your world championship!!! You CAN do it!!!
