Saddest Day in Skating - oh my

[MsHypocrisy]

Subject: Re: Saddest Event in Skating ( was Re: Dante's Prayer)
From: tm...@aol.com (Tmoms)
Date: 1998/06/10
Newsgroups: rec.sport.skating.ice.figure

Kate,
I'm sorry if I misjudged your honest question! I'm new here and it is hard to
keep track of everyone and to distinguish between a polemic, a personal attack
and a genuine discussion!

The words I used were "shocking" and "sad". I was devastated when the plane
went down, and I cried; when Sergei Grinkov died (when I heard it first, from a
child at the rink, I completely disbelieved it), I was upset for a month! But
those are the kinds of things you ask God to help you accept; you don't get
angry, except in the sense of grieving, you don't feel mistrust unless you are
willing to challenge God!!! I'm not.

I am trying to say that I lost my trust of the judges, of the authorities in
skating, when the Gold medal was given to Lipinski. I was able to take
everything else about that kid in stride, pretty much, but giving her skating's
highest honor, putting her in the company of Carol Heiss (I don't remmeber
Albright at all), Peggy Fleming, Kristi Yamagucci, Oxana Baiul etc. was really
upsetting to me, because of her skating and solely because of her skating At
the same time, since I believe Michelle Kwan deserves to be in that company,
and since Michelle did not falter, it was doubly hard to accept. In fact, I
can accept TL has the medal, but I cannot (not "will not", but "cannot"), put
her in the company of such great skaters, in their time, who made such great
contributions to the sport. To me, the gold represents only a reward for
accomplishment, itis not an end in and of itself.

Tmoms