Rachael Flatt of the United States competes in the Ladies Short Program Figure Skating on day 12 of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at Pacific Coliseum on February 23, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada.
Flatt poised to make her move. VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Beneath the pink designer dress, hidden by the blinding sequins, obscured by the sparkling smile, are two bulging discs in Rachael Flatt’s lower back. She doesn’t talk about it much, and it doesn’t keep her from a rigorous practice and competition schedule. And it also, in a bizarre way, helps explain why the 1.
Del Mar roots has a reasonable shot at an Olympic medal from the free program tonight at the Pacific Coliseum: She’s still in the mix after the short program, in fifth place with 6. We’ve talked about wanting to get a medal and get on the podium,” Tom Zakrajsek, Flatt’s coach, said yesterday.
But if you focus on that prize too much, sometimes you don’t get it.”Flatt’s strategy is simple. She hangs around in the short program, then makes her move in the 4- minute free program. It is a plan born less from design than necessity. The short program mandates skaters perform eight “required elements,” one of which is a layback or sideways- leaning spin — the sport’s iconic maneuver of a woman arching her back with her arms held softly aloft. Just the thought makes Flatt cringe. It is the move that most irritates her back. There are four levels of layback spins, and Flatt performs just a level 2 because it puts the least amount of stress on her discs.
Flatt finishes 7th; Ladies' FS: Rachael Flatt. Rachael Flatt short program '09 Worlds: Rachael Flatt; 2009 Worlds. 2010 Winter Olympics Women’s Figure Skating Short Program Start List. Women’s Figure Skating Short Program Start List.
But its base value is a mere 1. In Tuesday’s short program, Flatt received 2. Only two other skaters in the 3. The sad thing is, she had a layback to die for (before the injury),” Zakrajsek said. We just try to make it the best layback we can. We try to milk the points as much as we can, then just wait for the free program.”The free program, where there is no such requirement.
USA's Rachael Flatt performs her short program during the women's figure skating competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Tuesday, Feb.
Flatt was in third place after the short program at the U. S. Championships last month in Spokane, Wash.
Http:// http:// http://rapidshare.com/files/356419907/Rachael. Rachael Flatt (24 years old). OLYMPICS: Figure Skating-Ladies Short Program. Rachael Flatt, the 17-year-old. Olympics Flatt Is the Picture of Efficiency. She reappeared here a few days before Tuesday’s short program. Flatt is an A student at Cheyenne Mountain High School. Rachael Flatt, Stanford, CA. 2010 Olympian & 2010 US Ladies Figure Skating Champion. I am so excited about my short program. I'm off to practice now. Rachael Flatt of the United States competes in the Ladies Free. Miki Ando of Japan competes in the Ladies Short Program Figure Skating on day 12 of the 2010. Access Invades The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Her Olympic dreams over, Sasha Cohen stuck around to watch Mirai Nagasu and Rachael Flatt. When she rocked her short program.
She included two level- 4 spins that don’t aggravate her back and easily won the free program to finish first overall by a whopping 1. South Korea’s Kim Yu- na, the short program leader with a world- record 7. It was to Flatt, at Skate. America in November in Lake Placid, N. Y. Flatt will need a similar effort, plus some help, to reach the podium tonight and prevent the U. S. Kim and Japan’s Mao Asada figure to battle for the gold, leaving Canada’s Joannie Rochette, Japan’s Miki Ando, American Mirai Nagasu and Flatt jockeying for the bronze.
It is probably Rochette’s medal to lose, given her short program score (7. Pacific Coliseum after her mother’s sudden death Sunday. Rochette remained calm on the ice Tuesday night, bursting into tears only when she hugged her coach afterward.“She skated kind of like a computer,” Canadian teammate Cynthia Phaneuf said.
That’s how she needed to skate — she can’t be distracted by emotions.”Even if Rochette is not at her best, there exists the potential for sympathy marks in a sport that is not known for objectivity. Judges read newspapers and watch TV; they notice a crowd standing and cheering before the music stops; they’re human, too.
Flatt will combat that with an uncanny consistency and ability to deliver in the clutch. Flatt did not speak with reporters after her morning training session yesterday, but Zakrajsek addressed her mental state here.“She was all smiles (Tuesday),” Zakrajsek said. When I got on the bus with her to go the arena, she was smiling. When she did her warm- up, she was smiling. Just smiles, smiles, smiles.”.