|
Aussies
love Olympic spirit They came halfway around the world for this, their chance to compete on Olympic ice. One came out of semi-retirement, the other struggles even to walk. But Australian skaters Miriam Manzano and Joanne Carter were not going to pass up the opportunity to compete here at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. As the Olympic test event for figure skating, Four Continents offered athletes the chance to skate on Olympic ice, at the Olympic venues, to feel the Olympic excitement. And these two Aussies made the difficult trek to Salt Lake City because they know about Olympic spirit. They've felt it, tasted it and found it suits them. Carter, a five-time Australian ladies champion, contemplated quitting the sport last year after enduring an unsuccessful operation for a chronic knee injury. Watching her walk, it is easy to see why she could be tempted to hang up her skates -- her knee, though she tries to hide it, looks like it can barely support her slight frame. Her limp is noticeable. "The Olympics is probably the only thing that has kept me going through the injury," she said. "To experience another Olympics, whether in 2002 or 2006. Lots of people have told me that the easiest thing to do would be to give up. But Nagano is stuck in my memory." Carter's 12th place finish at the 1998 Nagano Games was the highest ever by an Australian skater, though the modest 20-year-old hesitated to divulge the information. She lives in the present, she said, and right now she has to find a way to skate through the pain to get another Olympic experience. "That girl is one of the toughest competitors I've ever seen," Manzano whispered, glancing at Carter. "She's amazing." Manzano should know, having competed with Carter for a spot on the Nagano team. When she was chosen as an alternate, Manzano admitted her devastation. "It was quite difficult," she said, her soft voice dipping even lower. "After that, I took a little break, to find out what I wanted to do in life, and in skating." Her "little break" turned into over a year away from the sport. She took an administrative job at the attorney general's office in Canberra and did a little soul searching. Last April, her soul told her, her place was on the ice. "Skating is what I love," she said. "I've always loved it -- the grace of the sport, and the fluidity. It was like magic. The first time I stepped out on the ice, I just knew. It was not like anything I'd ever experienced. "After Nagano, I took a step back. But skating never really left my heart. I took a break, but I did it knowing that I'd come back. I was just waiting for the right time." For Manzano and Carter, the right time is right now. After feeling the Olympic buzz in Nagano and Sydney, both ladies have re-committed to the rigors of training. "Representing your country, at that level, is what every athlete dreams of," Carter said. "To have had that experience, and that feeling, it's something you can't get rid of." And so they came to Salt Lake City, having fought their own battles and beaten back pain and disappointment, again in search of that Olympic feeling. "It was such a buzz flying into the city," Manzano said. "Knowing this was what I'd been training for, so hard for so long. It gave me goosebumps." Manzano and Carter had a tough short program Thursday night, finishing 14th and 15th, respectively. The ladies competition concludes Saturday. |
||
|
||
