Sasha, Shizuka, and Irina

(Sounds kind of like an international law firm. “Sasha, Shizuka and Irina, how can I direct your call?”)

Anyway – about last night I couldn’t say it better than Alex does.

What a night!! I actually was rooting for Irina Slutskaya – I’ve always liked her – but I think the best woman won. I also was so impressed with Sasha Cohen’s lack of excuses afterwards: “I just couldn’t get up over my feet in those jumps … they weren’t where I wanted them to be.” She was happy with her medal because after those two falls she didn’t think she would get any medal. I know she is notorious for being a harsh critic of herself, a rigid perfectionist – so I’m sure it’s gotta hurt that she messed up – but I was so so impressed with how she rallied after those two major falls and came up with a great performance. Everything was perfect after those two debacles – and so often you see the opposite happen. A skater messes up early on, and then they get in a weird head-space, and everything disintegrates – they give up – you can almost see them give up. Not so Sasha. Good for her. She can be proud of that at least.

Only one person can win – yet I think all three of the skaters on the podium last night are winners – in terms of attitude, ability, and determination. It could have gone ANY way … any three of those women could have gotten the gold. It was up for grabs – which made last night so exciting, so gripping. It wasn’t like the male skaters where it was pretty much a done deal that the Russian would get it. This was a close fight – the two “favorites” needed to skate perfectly in order to win – and they did not. I literally GASPED when Sasha fell the first time – and gasped again when she fell again … and then watched, in astonishment, as she skated perfectly through the rest of her program. With a huge smile on her face after her triples, with grace, with power … Amazing.

My heart aches a bit for Irina. She is 27. No more Olympics for her, probably. She is an incredible skater, a true athlete – I love the speed she gets, I love her power, her fearlessness –

Dick Button said last night, “There’s a wildness in her skating …” and he meant it as a compliment. I agree. She just TOSSES herself into the air – no fear, no caution. I love to watch her just GO. So I’m sorry she got the bronze – her face on the podium said it all. She was not a sore loser, not at all, but this is a long-held personal dream that she now needs to let go of.

And I was thrilled for Shizuka Arakawa, gold medalist. First of all, Japan has been sucking in these Olympics – no medals yet. She is the first person from her country to win a medal in 2006. So there’s THAT. Even if she got silver or bronze, it would have been meaningful. But she is also the first person from Japan to ever win a medal in figure skating. I mean- this is just huge. I was thrilled for her.

She skated perfectly – she did everything she needed to do. To my novice eyes, she doesn’t have the power or the excitement of Cohen or Slutskaya – but Arakawa knew that she needed her program to be CLEAN with NO MISTAKES – She didn’t set out to re-invent the sport, she set out to win. Or maybe she just set out to do her own personal best – knowing how close the race was, and knowing that she had a slim slim chance of an upset.

Her face when she found out she won brought tears to my eyes. What a lovely girl. Sitting there surrounded by her coaches, her people … her mouth just dropped open in stunned disbelief. I won??? What????

This is one of the reasons I love the Olympics. When stuff like this happens. Especially now with this new scoring system which, I swear, I could recite in my sleep – they remind us of it so much. But there is no such thing as a “favorite” – well, not really. I mean, obviously, there are some skaters who seem set up to win – because of their talent, experience, etc. – but when you get right down to it – the medal is up for the best one to win. Sasha and Irina were the “emotional favorites”. They got all the press coming into this event. Well – with Hughes and Kimmy as well. Arakawa wasn’t on the radar at all – at least not like those girls were.

But she skated the best. You just never know what will happen – and last night, I think was the best example of that. (Actually, the free-style skiing – which scared the shit out of me – was the same thing. Han Xiopeng won – over the other guys everyone kept talking about – “Speedy” Peterson and his Hurricane, etc – I got a bit sick of the Hurricane Hype, gotta say it – I mean, it was phenomenal, don’t get me wrong … but the hype was a bit much. Just STOP. I know you guys want me to keep watching, so i see the Hurricane, and I WILL KEEP WATCHING TO SEE THE HURRICANE – STOP REMINDING ME ABOUT IT AD NAUSEUM. Ahem. But Xiopeng won – the first Olympic gold medal for China on snow – just so so cool – his FACE when he saw he won – and being carried around in the air afterwards – What an event!!! And what an upset there was there as well! Awesome!!)

May the best athlete win.

Congratulations to all three medalists in women’s figure skating – you did your sport proud last night.

And to Sasha – you blew me away, yet again. Your mental toughness was a sight to behold. Congrats!!