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U.S. Pairs Discuss Olympic Plans

by Laura Fawcett

John Baldwin loves his new hat.

Read about Rena Inoue's Experiences With Lung Cancer ...

(2/7/06) - Rena Inoue & John Baldwin announced today that they are adding the throw triple Axel to their short program this Saturday at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Inoue and Baldwin, along with teammates Marcy Hinzmann & Aaron Parchem, spoke to the press Tuesday in the Sala 500 press conference room of the Main Media Center in Torino, Italy.

The two-time U.S. pairs champions landed the throw triple Axel for the first time at the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and are the only team in history to ever land it. The base value of a throw triple Axel is 7.5 points in the new judging system, and the potential to earn those points is incentive for the pair to try the risky move.

Inoue said she felt comfortable enough with the throw triple Axel in August 2005 to originally add it to their free skate.

“I wanted to do something special, something no one else could do,” Inoue said. “We finally did it in the nationals. We definitely had our moment there. I just knew I could do it.”

This is the third Olympics for Inoue, who competed for Japan in the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games. Baldwin is competing in his first Olympics after a long and bittersweet career as a singles skater. He competed in his 20th U.S. Championships last month.

“My 20th nationals - I never thought I'd reach that milestone,” he said. “I wouldn't have continued skating if it wasn't for Rena. I had moved on from the sport in 2000.”

Hinzmann and Parchem are also competing in the Olympics for the first time and say it still sometimes doesn't feel real. The pair has come a long way in the last year; she had surgery for a torn ACL in January 2005 and was off the ice until mid-May.

“Last year at this time, I was sitting on a couch and I didn't really know if I could ever perform again,” she said. “Everything came back really quickly. I was surprised how easy it was for me to get back on the ice again. Luckily I have come back all the way.”

Marcy Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem

A summer of hard training paid off with a bronze medal at the Nebelhorn Trophy in September and then a fifth-place finish at Smart Ones Skate America in October. That finish in Atlantic City was a “coming out” for the team after they finished second in the short program behind Chinese favorites Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang. They finished sixth in the free skate but took away a fountain of knowledge about the new judging system and how they needed to improve their levels.

“Every figure skater will agree that after each competition you're making changes,” Hinzmann said about the new system. “You have to become very adaptable in skating now because you're getting constant feedback from judges, which is a good thing. You're constantly trying to up your points so you can get the highest base value possible.”

The two teams help kick off the figure skating events Saturday night at the Palavela with the short program.