TURIN, Italy – It’s finally time for the main event of these Olympics.
Enough skiing, speed skating and curling – it’s time for the pixies on ice.
The women’s figure skating competition begins tonight with the short program, and with it comes a jolt of energy into these lackluster Games where the stars, ratings and ambiance have stunk.
This is the event that brings Americans to their TV sets every four years.
This is what makes millions of little girls dream of some day skating across the ice with grace and style.
Simply put, for America, this is the Olympics.
Long after you can’t differentiate Bode Miller from Barney Miller, the image of Thursday night’s gold medal winner will resonate.
With American skiers slipping and sulking, and the U.S. hockey players bumbling, the women’s figure skaters have a chance to save these Games for the United States.
“The ladies’ event, I think for the United States, is the one they look most forward to,” NBC analyst and Olympic gold winner Scott Hamilton said. “It’s always the anchor event in the Games.”
After Thursday’s free skate, Sasha Cohen, Kimmie Meissner or Great Neck’s Emily Hughes may have their names added to the lineage of Peggy, Dorothy, Kristi, Tara and Sarah.
A U.S. skater has made the podium in this event in every Olympics since 1968, with three of the last four gold medalists coming from the United States.
With Michelle Kwan home nursing her groin injury, America will get to know Cohen, Meissner and Hughes.
They will also see Russia’s Irina Slutskaya, the 2002 silver medalist, who enters tonight as a clear favorite.
“Maybe somebody is thinking I’m a favorite, but it’s the Olympic Games and you never know who can win because it’s a competition,” Slutskaya said earlier this month.
Cohen is the most accomplished of the three American skaters, but it is 17-year-old Hughes who really has a chance to steal the show.
The experts are not giving the Long Island girl much of a chance. They say she’s too inexperienced. She’s not as talented as her sister, 2002 gold medal winner Sarah Hughes.
But Emily’s not listening to the doubters. After finishing third in last month’s nationals, she feels as if she’s skating her best.
“Even from last year to this year I feel like I’ve improved my skating and I feel much more comfortable on the ice,” she said.
“I think that last year, being at junior worlds and getting a medal there, helped me with my confidence level. It helped me realize I can do a clean program and just try and put out a good program every time I go out, or at least put out a program that’s better than the last.
“So right now, I’m just going to try and beat my personal best.”
If she does that, Hughes could go from prom to primetime.
The undercard is over. The main event is finally here.
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Ice princesses
Here’s a look at some of the top names in the women’s figure skating competition, which begins today:
SASHA COHEN
Age: 21
Hometown: Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Olympic experience: 4th in 2002
Fun fact: Real name is Alexandra
Odds to win gold medal: 3-1
EMILY HUGHES
Age: 17
Hometown: Great Neck, N.Y.
Olympic experience: None
Fun fact: Started skating at age 3
Odds to win gold medal: 40-1
KIMMIE MEISSNER
Age: 16
Hometown: Bel Air, Md.
Olympic experience: None
Fun fact: Only second American woman to land triple axel
Odds to win gold medal: 20-1
IRINA SLUTSKAYA
Age: 27
Hometown: Moscow, Russia
Olympic experience: Silver medal in 2002; 5th in 1998
Fun fact: Manhattan designer Tania Bass designed her dress
Odds to win gold medal: Even
SHIZUKA ARAKAWA
Age: 24
Hometown: Sendai, Japan
Olympic experience: 13th in 1998
Fun fact: At 5-foot-6, one of the tallest female skaters
Odds to win gold medal: 10-1
