This is a draft of an article that appeared in the hard copy Australian magazine OzSkater
in the October 2009 edition. The final article may have been edited prior to publication.
Aussies valiant attempt to qualify for Olympic Games
by J. Barry Mittan
Australia's hopes for figure skating representation at the 2010 Olympic Games were dashed at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy as none of the skaters qualified for the Games, the first time since 1972 that Australia has been shut out of the figure skating competition at the Olympics.
After a strong showing of 25th at the 2009 World Championships and with five places available for only seven teams competing, Danielle O'Brien and Gregory Merriman were almost certain to win a place in ice dancing. But Merriman was stricken with chest pains the day before the competition and rushed to the hospital with pericarditis, a viral infection of the heart muscle, which kept him hospitalized until after the competition ended. He will require months of rest to recover but is expected to avoid permanent heart damage.
Gold in the ice dancing event went to Americans, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, while Alexandra and Roman Zaretski of Israel won the silver and Katherine Copely and Deividas Stagniunas of Lithuania won the bronze. The Olympic spots in ice dancing were won by teams from China, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, and Hungary.
Ladies champion Cheltzie Lee was also considered a strong candidate to make the Olympic team. She scored 42.34 in her short program, only slightly below her previous personal best of 43.96, but below the 45.87 she scored the next week at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Dresden, Germany. Her score put her in 13th place going into the long program and eighth among the hopefuls. Georgia gave back one spot during the Nebelhorn Trophy and with Switzerland expected to give back another ladies spots, there would have been eight places available.
Nerves got to Lee in the free skate as she scored only 70.80 points, 16th in the free, to fall to 15th overall after falling on both a double Axel and a triple Lutz and receiving negative GOEs on other elements. Her scores were well below her personal bests of 79.92 for the free skate and 123.88 total and left her in tenth place among those fighting for spots. If she had equaled her personal best, she would have qualified easily.
U. S. ladies champion Alissa Czisny repeated as the ladies gold medalist, followed by Finland's Kiira Korpi and China's Yan Liu. The Olympic spots for ladies went to Austria, Belgium, China, Hungary, Israel, Slovenia and Spain. Lee is now the third alternate.
Kevin McNamara was never in contention among the men, placing 31st in the short, 30th in the long, and 31st overall out of 32 men with 104.79 points, 12 below his personal best.
Two-time world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland returned to competitive skating by winning the gold medal over Russia's Ivan Tretiakov and Czech Michal Brezina. The remaining Olympic spots for men went to Austria, Finland, Germany, North Korea, Romania, and Switzerland.
No Australian pairs competed for the four available Olympic spots, which went to couples from Estonia, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland. Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won their fourth gold at the Nebelhorn. The silver went to Ukraine's Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov, while Canada's Abanelle Langlois and Cody Hay, who missed last season due to injury, took the bronze.
