Word: skaters
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When figure skater Sasha Cohen decided to buy her first house, she picked an idyllic abode in Laguna Beach, Calif. With views of the Pacific Ocean on one side and rolling canyons on the other, it was the perfect location for the élite-level skater to repair to as she prepared for her second Olympic Games. There was only one problem. When the rains came, Cohen learned that the beauty and charm of the house hid a major flaw: it had been built on a shaky foundation and was in danger of sliding away...
...attention. Its new scoring system, inaugurated in the 2004 season, will be used in an Olympic competition for the first time. Designed to force judges to back up their subjective scores in a more quantitative way, the revised system is not perfect, but support is growing. "It empowers the skater to participate in the result in a way she never has before," says 1984 Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton. "It is a step in the right direction...
...like a puppy and watched in awe as Cohen deftly defused question after question from reporters about not skating up to her potential and always competing in Kwan's shadow. It was a crash course for the teenager in accepting the baggage that comes with being an Olympic-caliber skater. Even if Meissner is not as polished as Cohen or Kwan--"Sometimes I can't believe the dumb things I say"--her candor makes her a refreshing addition to the women's squad...
...lawyer who happened to be a speed-skating official and suggested that her son try the sport. Within two years, Davis was winning regional titles. Now 6 ft. 2 in., he propels himself with long, powerful strides to the forefront of the long-track events, in which two skaters race next to each other but against the clock. This winter, defying speed-skating convention, Davis tried to become the first skater to compete in both long-track and the more roller-derby-like short-track events at the same Olympics, but he fell just short of making the short-track...
...standoff between Davis and the skating establishment widened a bit in December when the skater, who had already qualified for the long-track events, skipped those trials, even after officials had rescheduled them to accommodate his short-track attempt. But there is an upside to the ongoing feud. "If people make him angry," says Davis' mom, "he has a tendency to really perform well...