Olympians to perform at Stars on Ice

Wait a minute. Isn't figure skating supposed to be friendly and pretty?

The typically collegial international figure skating community has suffered some tumultuous times of late. The vote-swapping fracas at the Olympics started it. Since then, a splinter group tried to form a new governing body only to be quashed last week during the World Championships in Washington.

At those championships an interim judging system was installed and almost immediately condemned as unfair. About that time, the credibility of the man responsible for installing the system, International Skating Union President Ottavio Cinquanta, a former speed skater, was questioned by a host of former Olympic skaters.

But while the amateurs bicker, the pros are skating forward, presently in the Smuck er's Stars on Ice at the DeSoto Civic Center Saturday.

The 17th edition of Stars on Ice is focusing on pairs more than ever before, and coincidentally pits - make that, teams - the very tandems involved in the melee last winter in Salt Lake City.

Currently co-reigning Olympic Champions, Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, (the slighted pair) and Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze are all in their rookie seasons as pros skating for Stars on Ice, and have apparently put last year's ordeal in Utah behind them.

"Everybody's made this out to be that this was about us, that we're competitors," Sale said. "We're all people. We're friends. We socialize."

"People want to believe that we fight, but it's not true," said Sikharulidze. Ber ezhnaya added, "That was months ago. We're doing this now."

And what they're doing is a bit different from what you might have seen during the Olympic broadcasts.

"It's more of a production," Jamie Sale said.

The music is more contemporary and the jumps and choreography aren't intended to impress any judges, only the fans. Hence, there's usually a lot more excitement because skaters are more apt to try things they wouldn't on the world stage at the Olympics.

Also making their pro debut are the 2000-2002 United States Champions, Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, while back for their fifth year are three-time U.S. Champions and 1998 World Silver Medalists Jenni Meno and Todd Sand.

Zimmerman and Ina pulled bronze medals in last year's Worlds in Nagano, Japan.

Figure skating fans shouldn't worry that the production's been overrun with pairs; the show still features stars including Olympic and World Champion singles skaters Katarina Witt, Alexei Yagudin and Kurt Browning.