It's a Small World

By MIKE PENNER

Feb. 20, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NAGANO, Japan — Ageism has reared its hair-sprayed, pony-tailed head at this Olympic women’s figure skating competition, where turning 21 has become a career-threatening medical condition and anything shy of SAT exam-taking age is considered the very window of gold-medal opportunity.

The 1998 Olympics “ladies” figure skating champion, to be anointed Friday, will be too young to vote, too young to pledge a sorority, too young to celebrate her title with anything harder than club soda.

Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski are not only two girls doing women’s work, they are doing it so much better than the legal adults in the field, the gold and silver medals may come attached to friendship bracelets this year.

Kwan and Lipinski are dominating their first Olympic competition as teenagers, but the really frightening thing to consider is how old they will be when they try to repeat in 2002.

Kwan will be 21, finally old enough for champagne.

Lipinski will be 19, possibly tall enough by then to see over her stuffed animal collection.

Will they win again . . . or will they be the ones blinking back tears in the mixed zone, wondering why the judges have it in for them while some 80-pound tyke from Ukraine bounds away with all the 5.9 marks?

Judging from the judging at Wednesday’s short program, there are actually two competitions going on at once inside White Ring arena.

There is the Gold Medal Division, open only to tiny teens with the aerodynamic dimensions of hummingbirds, able to glide and jump and spin and fly to the speed and height preferences of the International Skating Union.

And there is the Golden Oldies Division, comprising former Olympians, former world medalists and former European champions--aged 21 to 26--who have no real chance for the top prize but are invited along anyway to help pad out the evening’s entertainment, like old-timers’ games held before the Dodgers host the Giants.

Surya Bonaly, the 24-year-old five-time European champion from France, and Lu Chen, the 21-year-old 1995 world champion from China, felt the sting of the judges’ crackback against the aged Wednesday.

Both skated cleanly and pleasantly. Bonaly landed the only triple-triple combination of the evening and Chen was so moved by her graceful, elegant performance that she began weeping at center ice as the crowd roared its approval.

Then came the judges’ scores, and both skaters had more reason to cry.

For required elements, Bonaly received only one mark higher than 5.3, with the American judge tagging her with a 5.0. Chen fared just as poorly--receiving a 4.9 grade from the Australian judge and no score higher than 5.6.

Then, for artistic presentation, Bonaly’s marks wandered from 4.9--the Australian judge again--to 5.7, with Chen being hit with two more grades of 5.3.

Bonaly’s coach, Uschi Keszler, couldn’t believe the marks.

“She did everything,” Keszler said. “She landed a triple toe-triple toe combination--a very difficult combination. She had beautiful spins.

“When I look at a performance, I tend to go for the audience reaction instead of the marks. And the audience loved her.”

Asked if she could explain her low scores, Bonaly shrugged and said, “Because I’m French and they prefer other ones? I don’t know. . . .

“After 10 years, I am used to it. I’m tired of crying, crying, crying.”

Chen was at a loss when questioned about her grades.

“I don’t know. Don’t ask me,” she said. “I think I skated a good program--that’s what is most important. I think I showed everyone, ‘I’m back.’ ”

The double-edged sword of being a veteran international female figure skater is that all that valuable experience comes at a price. The years add curves and pounds and hammer away at knee and ankle joints.

Chen hurt her foot shortly after placing second to Kwan at the 1996 world championships and plummeted from medal contention, all but vanishing the last two years.

Bonaly ruptured her Achilles’ tendon in May 1996, sat out most of 1997 and was still so out of shape at last month’s European championships that she ran out of gas midway through her long program--doing little more than gliding across the ice for the last two minutes.

Likewise, Maria Butyrskaya of Russia, third place after the short program, is 25 and full-figured, virtually dwarfing the 4-foot-10, 82-pound Lipinski.

She is an attractive skater, but her larger frame limits her flow across the ice and the altitude of her jumps. When Butyrskaya dragged her second foot on her first jump Wednesday--the triple lutz--her technical scores were knocked down to the 5.3 to 5.6 range.

With younger, smaller and lighter bodies, Kwan and Lipinski look more at ease on the ice, their footwork and their jumps less labored.

At her best, as she was at last month’s U.S. championships, Kwan says she feels as if she’s “flying” over the ice. Lipinski, not as graceful, flits across the surface like a water bug, her speed in moving from element to element impressive from a judge’s viewpoint.

Thursday, members of both camps talked about the skate-off for the gold medal, which has been roundly handicapped as Kwan’s to lose.

Lipinski has beaten Kwan only once in a long program--or rather, Kwan beat herself--when Lipinski won the 1997 U.S. title in Nashville last February. That was the night when the once-unflappable Kwan transformed into the proverbial deer in the headlights, falling three times during her long program and opening the door for Lipinski to skate off with the championship.

Since then, Kwan is undefeated in head-to-head long programs with Lipinski--going 3-0 through the 1997 world championships, last October’s Skate America and last month’s nationals.

“People say that Michelle has to make a mistake for Tara to win,” says Lipinski’s coach, Richard Callaghan, “but who knows whether that’s true? Who knows what will happen?”

Kwan won Wednesday’s short program--outpolling Lipinski on the judges’ scorecards, 8-1--but Callaghan maintains the spread should have been smaller, based on Lipinski’s technical prowess.

“I think the technical marks for Tara’s program could have been higher,” Callaghan said. “Her speed was superior.”

Kwan’s coach, Frank Carroll, acknowledged that his skater, almost overrun by a siege of pre-skate butterflies, skated more deliberately than he would have liked.

“There’s a little more energy, a little more strength, a little more freedom she needs to put into it,” Carroll said.

“[But] in the short program, you want to just go from element to element, and she did that. I’m delighted with her attitude. She’s very up and very bubbly, everything I would want her to be.”

Well, not everything, not quite yet.

Kwan is four minutes away from becoming an Olympic gold medalist, which would be a first in Carroll’s 38-year coaching career.

If Kwan skates cleanly Friday, it’s hers. But Carroll, at this juncture, is taking no chances.

“I will tell you that when I get to this point, I start praying a lot,” Carroll said. “Yesterday, I went to a Catholic church and I went to the [Zenkoji] temple.

“I made peace with my own god and the local god.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Lineup

The start list for the women’s free program for ice skating:

1. Alisa Drei, Finland

2. Mojca Kopac, Slovenia

3. Marta Andrade, Spain

4. Julia Lautowa, Austria

5. Julia Sebestyen, Hungary

6. Shirene Human, South Africa

7. Shizuka Arakawa, Japan

8. Yulia Lavrenchuk, Ukraine

9. Lenka Kulovana, Czech Republic

10. Nicole Bobek, United States

11. Yulia Vorobieva, Azerbaijan

12. Anna Rechnio, Poland

13. Tatyana Malinina, Uzbekistan

14. Vanessa Gusmeroli, France

15. Elena Liashenko, Ukraine

16. Yelena Sokolova, Russia

17. Laetitia Hubert, France

18. Joanne Carter, Australia

19. Michelle Kwan, United States

20. Irina Slutskaya, Russia

21. Lu Chen, China

22. Surya Bonaly, France

23. Tara Lipinski, United States

24. Maria Butyrskaya, Russia

Past Champions

MEN

1908 Ulrich Salchow, Sweden

1920 Gillis Grafstrom, Sweden

1924 Gillis Grafstrom, Sweden

1928 Gillis Grafstrom, Sweden

1932 Karl Schaefer, Austria

1936 Karl Schaefer, Austria

1948 Dick Button, United States

1952 Dick Button, United States

1956 Hayes Jenkins, United States

1960 David W. Jenkins, United States

1964 Manfred Schnelldorfer, Germany

1968 Wolfgang Schwartz, Austria

1972 Ondrej Nepela, Czechoslovakia

1976 John Curry, Britain

1980 Robin Cousins, Britain

1984 Scott Hamilton, United States

1988 Brian Boitano, United States

1992 Viktor Petrenko, Unified

1994 Alexei Urmanov, Russia

1998 Ilia Kulik, Russia

WOMEN

1908 Madge Syers, Britain

1920 Magda Julin, Sweden

1924 Herma von Szabo-Plank, Austria

1928 Sonja Henie, Norway

1932 Sonja Henie, Norway

1936 Sonja Henie, Norway

1948 Barbara Ann Scott, Canada

1952 Jeanette Altwegg, Britain

1956 Tenley Albright, United States

1960 Carol Heiss, United States

1964 Sjourkje Dijkstra, Holland

1968 Peggy Fleming, United States

1972 Beatrix Schuba, Austria

1976 Dorothy Hamill, United States

1980 Anett Potzsch, Germany

1984 Katarina Witt, East Germany

1988 Katarina Witt, East Germany

1992 Kristi Yamaguchi, United States

1994 Oksana Baiul, Ukraine

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

MICHELLE KWAN

Music: “Lyra Angelica” (composed by William Alwyn, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra).

Time of Elements:

0:32--Triple lutz.

1:10--Triple loop.

1:17--Flying camel spin.

1:44--Triple flip/double toe loop.

2:24--Double axel.

2:36--Spiral sequence.

2:54--Triple salchow.

3:00--Layback spin.

(3:08--Music change)

3:10--Footwork sequence.

3:30--Triple flip.

3:40--Combination spin.

4:02--End.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TARA LIPINSKI

Music: “The Rainbow” (composed by Carl Davis, performed by the Graunke Symphony Orchestra) and “Scenes of Summer Festival” (composed by Le Holdridge, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra).

Time of elements:

0:15--Layback spin.

0:36--Double axel.

(0:43--Music change.)

0:51--Triple flip.

1:15--Triple lutz/double toe loop.

1:29--Camel combination spin.

1:42--Footwork sequence.

(1:57--Music change).

2:40--Triple loop/triple loop.

2:50--Spin combination.

3:16--Triple flip.

3:24--Spiral.

3:54--Triple toe/half loop/triple salchow.

4:08--End.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WOMEN’S FIGURE SKATINGJUDGING The nine judges assign each skater two scores from 0 to 6 points, one for technical merit and one for artistic impression. Also, each judge ranks the skaters according to the points awarded. The numerical equivalents for each place (1 for first, 2 for second, etc.) are called ordinals or place numbers. If one skater receives a majority of first-place votes, that person is ranked first. If no one receives a majority, then the second-place votes are added to the first-place votes. If there is still a tie, the person with the lowest ordinal total is ranked first:

HOW THEY STAND

Factored Placements

1. Michelle Kwan, Lake Arrowhead: 0.5

2. Tara Lipinski, Sugar Land, Texas: 1.0

3. Maria Butyrskaya, Russia: 1.5

4. Lu Chen, China: 2.0

5. Irina Slutskaya, Russia: 2.5

6. Surya Bonaly, France: 3.0

7. Elena Liashenko, Ukraine: 3.5

8. Vanessa Gusmeroli, France: 4.0

9. Tatyana Malinina, Uzbekistan: 4.5

10. Yelena Sokolava, Russia: 5.0