Super cute, Jeffy Buttle wins bronze for Canada. Be still my heart.
Super cute, Jeffy Buttle wins bronze for Canada. Be still my heart.
Faggot factor and Jeff BUTTle? Too cute!Originally Posted by Doug
Johnny Weir livens up staid sport of men's figure skating
BY TOM REED
Knight Ridder Newspapers
TURIN, Italy - An Olympic mixed zone is where good quotes go to die.
It's an area often located in the bowels of a venue featuring sweaty athletes fresh from competition and weary reporters fenced in like dairy cattle. The exchange is usually brief and unremarkable.
That is, unless, the competitor is a male figure skater wearing a sequined swan costume accented by a single orange glove representing a beak. Say hello to Johnny Weir - and goodbye to the trail of audio cliches.
"It's over, it's done, it's Valentine's Day and I can go buy myself a rose and some chocolate," said Weir, who's in second place behind gold-medal favorite Russian Evgeni Plushenko after Tuesday night's short program
Weir executed a triple axel, triple lutz, triple toe loop, triple flip and a flying sit spin in a solid two-minute, 45-second routine.
He was just loosening up.
In a 12-minute mixed zone improv, Weir touched on the following subjects: Russian culture. Mopping his Olympic village floor. Rhinestones. The chances of motherhood for a Chinese skater who fell Monday night. A police mug shot of Nick Nolte.
Just your typical Eric Wedge fodder 90 minutes before an Indians game.
"I'd say Plushenko is very modern Russia," Weir said of his competition's skating style. "Plushenko is Russia, circa now, and I'm maybe (Mikhail) Baryshnikov era as far as dancing influence."
The Winter Games stage can be cruel and cold. The flamboyant 20-year Quarryville, Pa., native proved he belonged at least for one night. While Bode Miller was missing gates in the mountains, America's second-most outspoken Olympian fluidly weaved his way through a clean run on the Palavela arena ice.
Weir did not attempt a quadruple toe loop - he has never tried one in competition - and said he won't decide whether to add it to his long program until Thursday morning.
"I could wake up and feel like Nick Nolte's mug shot, and in that case there's no quad," Weir said.
Weir is as much a genuine article as the black and silver swan suit he calls "Camille." He is talented. He is insightful. He is funny. He is just what figure skating needs. Weir is a whoopie cushion placed on the Queen Mum's royal throne.
He makes the uptight figure skating community nervous every time he opens his mouth. And that's a good thing. The skater who called himself "princessy" upon his arrival at the Olympic Village a week ago renewed his grievances with the hired help.
"It's drab and it's dirty, no matter how many times I mop the floor," Weir said. "I mopped it and it's still dirty."
You would almost feel insulted if it wasn't coming from the same guy who thinks his butt looks big in his rhinestoned and sequined costume.
His levity and grace might make help men's figure skating shake its JV image. This sport revolves around the women. The number of empty seats Tuesday night were another example of it.
A budding rivalry between Weir and Plushenko, 23, certainly would increase interest. The athletic Russian was impressive again. Plushenko tallied a 90.66 points from judges, while Weir earned an 80.00. If Weir is going to catch the former world champion, he might have to unveil his quad and hope for a pedestrian performance from Plushenko.
"Ninety points in one program is wild," Weir said. "... If he falls three times maybe, just maybe someone can squeeze by."
Weir did not limit his skating commentary to the men's field. He said he was in awe of the courageous performance of Zhang Dan, who rallied from a nasty spill to win a silver medal in Monday's pairs long program.
Of course, a garden-variety compliment would not suffice.
"That girl, I would buy her diamonds if I could afford it," Weir said. " It seemed like the type of fall that could render someone unable to have children. It looked like it hurt that much."
Then again, Zhang wasn't on her hands and knees mopping all day.
It's tough work being Johnny Weir. It's nice to know he's up to the task.
What ever.
Any of them can park their bling on my night stand any time! I'd even give Victor a mercy-f***. Ginger calls me the Mother Tessy of mercy-f***s so, WTH? I guess that means I'm not a rice queen either, BCG. Just a queen; anything to broaden the playing field.
The other Canadian got a chance to show his stuff tonight and Shawn rocked! I predict both on the podium in 2010--And (Predictable) screams, "It was fixed!"
I heard Wier wanted to use ostrich fans, a la Sally Rand, but settled for the glove. It reminded me of the time I tried that in number dance class: Dying Swan....Dead Duck...The hook...Swan Song.
Sounds like a fun interview. Good for him. How long ago was it Tim Currie helped break that ice?
Somehow I have the ladies downhill recorded., which I have to admit, I find more exciting. Britain was in the lead for about 30 seconds. Roll on Sunday and the SuperG ... and then there's the Scottish (dinner) ladies and their stones.
Drexel Engineering Professor Will Represent Thailand Team and Compete in 2006 Winter Olympics
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 2006--Forty-seven-year-old Drexel University Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Prawat Nagvajara will compete in the Winter Olympics. A native of Bangkok, Thailand--a country where the average yearly temperature hovers in the 80s--Nagvajara will represent his homeland in cross-country skiing at the 2006 games. He is the sole representative of Thailand. He is Team Thailand. He will carry his country's flag during the opening ceremony.
It wasn't always a dream for Nagvajara to compete in the Olympics. In fact, he had never skied until his college years in the U.S. What's most intriguing about the oldest Winter Olympian to compete in an endurance sport is his motivation to compete in the Olympics and represent his country. After seeing the devastation the tsunami caused in Thailand, Nagvajara felt an obligation to participate in the 2006 games to raise his homeland's morale.
With his competition date approaching, Nagvajara says he feels ready after an average of 14-15 hours of training weekly. His trainer has focused on endurance training to ensure that Nagvajara will finish the race in good time. His primary goal as one of the oldest competitors in the Winter Olympiad is to reach the finish line in under an hour. "For average athletes like me, it's a dream just to be able to compete in the Olympics," he said.
Nagvajara will tackle the Turin slopes on February 17. His wife, Gena Nagvajara, and their two children, six-year-old Nathan and three-year-old Ty, are with Nagvajara in Italy.
At Drexel, Nagvajara teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in electrical and computer engineering, while conducting research on high-performance computing for electrical power grids.
Thailand's lone entry completes 15km race
Turin _ Prawat Nagvajara, Thailand's sole competitor at the Turin 2006 Winter Games, finished 97th in the men's 15km cross country skiing classical event yesterday. Prawat, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering from Drexel University in Pennsylvania, crossed the line in one hour and 7:19.9 mins _ more than 20 minutes behind winner Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia who timed 38:01.3 mins.
But at least the Thai, who hadn't seen snow until he was 17-years-old, did better than athletes Oliver Kraas of South Africa and Lithuania's Aleksej Novoselkij, who both did not finish.
''The snow accumulated on the wax and my skis were stuck,'' Prawat said after the race.
''I had to stop and take away the snow.''
''These things happen. I am just happy to be here. It is the best experience even though it was difficult,''
It was Prawat's second and likely last Olympics, having competed in the previous Games in Salt Lake City.
He is still the only Thai athlete to have participated in the Winter Olympic Games.
The 47-year-old professor said before the Torino Games that he would keep the Olympic dream alive in his home country by working to start a short-track speed-skating programme.
''I won't let the fire die down,'' he said.
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