Inoue and Baldwin Make the Risk Pay Off
by Laura Fawcett |
| Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images Sport |
2006 Olympic Winter Games Photos, News and Blogs
(2/11/06) - Rena Inoue & John Baldwin had a plan.
Faced with the prospect of finishing outside the top 10 as they did at the 2005 World Championships, the two-time U.S. champions decided to go for broke. Already the first team to ever perform the throw triple Axel, which they did in the 2006 U.S. Championships free skate, Inoue and Baldwin decided to add the high-scoring element to their Olympic short program as well.
It was a high-risk situation which potentially could put them in medal position or leave them out in the cold. The strategy paid off.
Inoue and Baldwin skated the short program of their careers at the moment it mattered most – the pairs short program at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games Saturday night.. They scored a personal best 61.27 points, including 8.64 points alone for the Axel. They had the second-highest technical element score of the night and are in sixth place heading into Monday's free skate. Their highest finish at the World Championships was 10th in 2003 and 2004.
“It just happened to be just the way we wanted – just the way we pictured that we wanted to do out there,” Inoue said. “This is a fantastic feeling. As a matter of fact he threw me really, really well so it was a little easier to control up in the air and land. It's really (about) teamwork, and I'm really happy. Our coach worked hard to put everything together for us. We're very proud of ourselves, but we do really appreciate our coach's job too.”
Baldwin said coach Peter Oppegard helped put him in a state of mind to perform well. In fact, Baldwin added that when he was envisioning the program yesterday it brought a tear to his eye.
“He (Oppegard) went over the program with me,” Baldwin said. “He kind of put me in a meditative state. Before I even went out on the ice today I knew how we would skate, so I knew the outcome before we even skated.”
The performance was a turnaround from practice this week, where they were having trouble with the throw triple Axel. But as Baldwin said, practice doesn't really matter, competition does. And landing the throw will always be part of history.
“That is our goal – to leave a mark on the sport,” he said. “How we're going to be remembered by that throw triple Axel - that will be forever. When we leave the sport we can always tell people, ‘that was because of us.' Maybe we pushed the sport and made people try throw triple Axels and throw quads in the future.”
There are less than nine points separating the top eight pairs. The top five places are held by Russian and Chinese pairs, led by two-time defending World champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia. Skating in the final group, Totmianina and Marinin were a commanding presence in the short program, combining ease of technical elements with beauty and flow.
“We feel a lot of pressure all the time,” Marinin said. “We have passed through good and bad things together. This is a good beginning for us. We worked on doing a clean performance. We finally did it.”
World bronze medalists Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang of China are in second. The pair's double twist soared parallel to the ice, and Hao's personality in particular shone through with the joy of the performance.
“I am very happy,” Hao said. “We did our best. We skated really, really well. The thing that makes us so strong is that we feel very good together. We enjoy the level of competition here because it's very strong.”
Right behind Zhang and Zhang are teammates Qing Pang and Jian Tong, and 2002 Olympic bronze medalists Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao.
Shen and Zhao have been closely monitored by their coaches and the media at this event. Zhao tore his Achilles tendon in the late summer of 2005 and just started trying triple jumps in late January. His jump landings were spotty all week in practice, but it was Shen who had problems in the short program when she put her hand down on the side-by-side triple toes.
The former World champions are one of the most beloved pairs teams in the world, and it was inspiring to see them back on the ice even if their elements were not up to their usual standard.
“I think we didn't skate that well,” Shen said. “We had a problem dancing. But we are satisfied.”
Pang and Tong's only significant mistake was a loss of unison on their side-by-side spins.
Hinzmann and Parchem Enjoy the Moment
U.S. pairs Marcy Hinzmann & Aaron Parchem have no illusions about winning a medal in Torino, but they are interested in making the most out of the experience.
“We are both thrilled and honored to be here,” Hinzmann said. “This is so fun and so cool. Before we went out I said to Aaron, ‘Let's enjoy this; this is our dream.' It's about being here and connecting to the audience.”
Parchem fell on the side-by-side triple toes, but otherwise their program was clean and contained a soft elegance to it. They were certainly well-received by the audience, which include more than 25 of their family members.
“I can't put it into words what it feels like,” Hinzmann said. “We've all watched the Olympics; we all know what it's about. But being out there feeling the crowd – their energy, the anticipation of all the skating – it's just fantastic, and it's a feeling I'll never forget.
Hinzmann and Parchem are in 13th place with 49.58.
