Master's Miko 2000/ Paris, France
First of all, let me say that there is nothing like seeing the skaters perform their pro-grams live!!! The atmosphere is unbelievable, the skating itself looks different than on TV - even the music sounds different!!!
This competition was a bit more "informal" than most - the Kiss & Cry area for ex-ample: There were seats for all the skaters of the russian and the french team, and there was no border between that area and the ice, so the skaters just stepped onto the ice wherever they wanted when it was their turn. Also, the warm-up rounds were a nice mix - most of the time there were single skaters warming up at the same time as the pair skaters or ice dancers!!! Basically, everybody just warmed up when they felt like it, some more often than others.
Much to my shame I have to admit that I didn't follow the happenings ON the ice all that closely, due to the fact that I was way too busy watching Alexei OFF the ice most of the time. My seat was right next to the Kiss & Cry, on the side that the seats of the russian team were on, meaning that I sat just a few meters away from Alexei for the entire duration of the competition.
Believe me when I say that THAT is a liiiiiiittle bit distracting, LOL!!!
And it was so cute watching him talk to the other skaters (and making funny faces every once in a while), doing his stretching and a "dry" run-through of Tosca, scribbling notes on a piece of paper - hell, it was even cute watching him tie/untie his skates, LOL!!!
About his programs: He did Nutcracker for the short program, and except for a bad landing on the second jump of the combination he did just fine. The speed he gets going into those jumps is amazing - you don't really see that on TV!!! Also, his ska-ting is even more beautiful (and powerful) when you see it live!!!
For the free skate he did Tosca.
In the warm-up for that program he fell hard on his leg on one of the jumps - it looked like it must have hurt! He still skated almost clean through a slightly different version of Tosca (his hand went down once, that was all if I remember it correctly). At the end of the program, though, right the second the music stopped, he stumbled and fell to his knees, and he stayed down for a few seconds - I don't know if that had anything to do with his fall in the warm-up before, but it might have.
Alexei won the competition of the men, but the overall winner of the MM was the french team, although both teams had 860 points in the end. Apparently the judges felt that the russian skaters had made more mistakes, but I think the fact that the competition was held in France might have played a part as well!?!
Regardless of who won - it was a great competition, and it was wonderful to actually be there, feel the atmosphere, and see all those skaters LIVE!!!
After the competition was over we went over to the hotel, where we grabbed a table at the wine bar and sat down. We didn't know what was going to happen, but we ho-ped that we would get a chance to meet Alexei, and to give him all the gifts, cards and messages.
Alexei came back to the hotel some time after the comp was over, and he went straight upstairs, but he came back down soon after to have dinner in the restaurant. The bar and the restaurant were in the same area, so he had to pass us to get there (or back to the elevators). Of course we didn't want to keep him from having dinner, so we said nothing when he passed by.
We just waited for him to come back, and when he did, we just called his name, and he came right over. He looked very tired and exhausted, but he was very nice and sweet nevertheless. We told him that we were from his fanclub, and that we had lots of stuff for him, and he smiled. We handed everything over to him, including a very special bottle of champagne. Special because we had put a new label over the origi-nal one. They were basically identical, except that the new label said "AYagudin - World Champion '98, '99 and '00" in addition to everything else.
Katarina had printed that label out before coming to Paris, and judging from his face when he saw it (after I had pointed out to him that he should take a close look at it), it had been a splendid idea!!! He looked really surprised, LOL!!!
Alexei also signed some of our MM programs ("with love and best wishes.Thanks a lot for your help"), and we took a few group pictures with him in the middle. He asked Sharon and me where we wanted to take the pics, and we said that anywhere would be fine, but Alexei just looked around and said "Over there" and went over to the middle of the lobby, where there were some palm trees. Soooo cute!!!
So now we have palm trees in the background, which really does look good.
After taking the pics we said thank you, and Alexei went to talk to some people. He came back to gather all the things he had gotten from us, and then went up to his room.
The next day started rather quiet. Sharon and I were staying at the skater's hotel, but the others weren't. We had decided to meet in the lobby of our hotel at 1 PM, and up until then we didn't really do much (I guess we were a bit tired, LOL).
We got some lunch, stayed in the hotel room for a while, and then all sat down in the lobby. After a while we saw Alexei with Maxim Marinin (russian pair skater) in the lobby, and they left together. I don't think Alexei even noticed us sitting there, LOL!
But life is funny sometimes! Shortly after they had left, we decided to go shopping at a store we had been to the day before. Now, Paris is a big city, but you know how the saying goes: "The world is small"!!!
Halfway to the store we saw Alexei and Maxim coming towards us from the opposite direction. Alexei looked a bit startled, but he said "Hi", and so did we.
We each went our own separate way after that, but it was still weird!
Katarina, Ida, Clara and I went over to the arena for the Gala around 8 PM that eve-ning. Anne and Sharon had VIP tickets, so they had left earlier on.
This time, the four of us had seats right next to each other, and we didn't go unno-ticed. I mean, just think, four crazy girls cheering for the russian skaters inmidst lots of french people who were mostly just cheering for the french skaters!!!
Alexei did a wonderful new exhibition program to the music of "We are the champi-ons"!!! He skated clean through the entire program, and it was just beautiful to see!
He wore a black costume that had lots of flags on it, and halfway through the pro-gram he pulled an olympic flag out!
Like the night before, we went to the wine bar after the Gala was over. Sharon and Anne went to the cocktail party after the Gala, and the rest of us just waited for them at the hotel. I can't tell what happened at that party, because I wasn't there, and eit-her Anne or Sharon will do it anyways. So you'll just have to read their reports for that, LOL!!! But they came back to the hotel around 1 AM (I can't tell you the exact time because I don't remember). Alexei got back shortly after them.
He was in a really good mood (well, who wouldn't be after THAT skate), and he signed autographs and took pics with everyone who was in the lobby, before taking the elevator up to his room.
Then the unbelievable happened - we were invited to the skater's party at a nearby restaurant by some of the french skaters. Of course we didn't hesitate, and went with them. Most of the french and all of the russian skaters were there, and everybody seemed to be having a great time. We were simply accepted as part of the group, which was really nice. Since we had been invited by the french, we kept mostly to them, talking in a funny mixture of french and english, LOL!!!
Alexei seemed very relaxed and happy, and he was smiling or laughing everytime I saw him - which unfortunately wasn't very often.
We left the restaurant about 2 hours after we had gotten there, and went back to the hotel.
Basically, that is all!!! The rest of the story would be about the six of us talking all night, getting no sleep, and looking like we'd been run over twice the next morning, LOL!!!
So, that's it from me. I hope I was able to give you some idea of what the MM was like.
Take care, Valeska
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Just keep smiling ... :)
