Day Five at the 2003 World Figure Skating Championships Championships

March 25, 2003

Report and photographs by Marie L. Hughes

It's hard to believe I've been in D.C. for only five days now and that in four days the competition will be over.

Last night we left off with the creation of the World Skating Federation and this morning I hopped onto the Internet first thing to see what people were saying. By the time I left for the Championships, only two people had really weighed in on the WSF, one wanting us to join forces immediately and another calling for caution and taking a wait and see attitude. I left for the Metro Station wondering if our movement was going to fall apart at the seams and had almost an hour stuck in traffic to agitate about what is happening to our sport.

Eventually I got to the church where I found a group of excited, committed volunteers all primed for action and chomping at the bit to help out. We set to work putting the stickers on the brochures to fix our protest information. It was nice to see Renee again after meeting her at Oakland Stars on Ice in January and the pastor of the church we are using was very friendly and accommodating to us. Having this room is going to make a big difference.

Just a few hours later and we were done. Not only do 5000 brochures now have the correct day for the protest, but also the stickers actually make the protest information stand out. We couldn't have done a better job of creating them if we'd actually planned it this way.

The next volunteer opportunity is today at 6pm when we're meeting in front of the MCI Center Metro Station to hand those puppies out to whoever will take them. If we actually have any left by the time the Pairs Long program starts, we'll meet there at 6pm tomorrow and do it again for the Mens Long.

After slapping on labels for three hours, we went to the arena to see the Compulsory Dances or the Ladies practice depending on what floated our boat. Of course, I went to the CDs. On the way in, a security guard asked me for a button! As you know from previous reports, the security personnel have been very curious about our movement. She can't wear it while working, of course, but she was incensed that Zhang and Zhang got 4s after their fine Short Program the night before and wanted to express herself. (They were good last night. I wonder if they saw my sign.)

Later on, I ran into a woman on the concourse that had a pin but not a button. I offered her a button and buttons to the two other women standing next to her who had credentials. One of them told me she couldn't take one because she is a judge and she was told if she was seen aligning herself with us, she wouldn't get her next judging appointment!

I guess it's a good thing I didn't decide to trial judge after I went to that Judges School two years ago. I'd probably be in trouble now too.

Speaking of trouble, when I got back to my seat, I realized that Drobiazko and Vanagas had seated themselves in our section. So I gave them, and their agent, a button. Vanagas seemed surprised to see it and unaware of our movement, but Margarita gave me the impression she'd heard of us and was just waiting for someone to give her a button. So I'm glad I got up the nerve to do it.

However, before I could ask them for an interview, the security guard came over and THREW THEM OUT! He said they couldn't sit in our section because they didn't have a ticket. Everyone was outraged and tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen and after that he gave me a hard time about showing my ticket every time I came back to my seat after running a SkateFAIR errand.

I have to admit none of us were outraged when that same guard came up and tried to tell Speedy he couldn't sit in the VIP section.

One of the advantages of sitting near the VIP section that Cinquanta has staked out for his own is that we get to see history made. Last night we saw him being interviewed by Christine Brennan asking him to comment on the creation of the WSF and today we saw someone from the USFSA deliver him a copy of their statement about the WSF, which is now on the web site.

Fans with No Secret Judging buttons are going up to him and talking to him too. One of them asked him how he was doing and he said, "Better today than yesterday but not as good as I'll be in two years." We figure he must have been talking about Code of Points and assuming in two years it will be the method used to judge all figure skating competitions, but it took us a while to figure that out.

I think Cinquanta needs to go to Naomi for PR training because he sure hasn't mastered the art of the sound bite.

Speaking of Naomi, while she was in the line to get through the security checkpoint, she struck up a conversation with a fellow in line about the formation of the WSF. The protest came up and he said, "Some dumb jerk told the press that only 100 people are going to show up." Naomi told him "That would be me."

Not that anyone could consider Naomi a dumb jerk. After all, even the WSF complimented SkateFAIR on our PR efforts and how we made something out of nothing in such a short time. That never would have happened without her and the rest of the PR committee.

I am so proud of SkateFAIR. I know that this new organization (the WSF) has been forming for a while now and that everyone in skating is fed up so maybe all this would have happened anyway. But I truly believe that having the fans organize has made a difference and contributed to people being willing to speak out.

Really, what SkateFAIR has done and is doing is unprecedented. Two months ago we didn't even exist and now we have a web site and a PR effort both of which have been complimented by the WSF - a group with far more money and big names behind it than ours - as being professional and amazing.