Skater Weir Reaches a Turning Point
To Quad or Not May Well Determine Medal Standings

By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 16, 2006

TURIN, Italy, Feb. 15 -- Priscilla Hill has been with U.S. figure skater Johnny Weir since he began skating 10 years ago. She says she can tell whether he will fall before he takes off on a jump. Out and about town, she carries a silver blue Fendi tote he gave her as a gift. For the long program Thursday, she will carry the mink purse he presented her for Christmas. Weir's mother, Patti, calls Hill "family."

Hill believes she can read Weir like a sheet of music, yet she shrugs her shoulders when asked whether he will attempt a quadruple jump in Thursday's long program, a tactical move that could solidify his precarious position in second place behind the dominant Russian Evgeni Plushenko or -- if it went awry -- kick him down in the standings behind Switzerland's Stephane Lambiel, in third, or Frenchman Brian Joubert, who is fourth.

"There's no decision," she said after Wednesday's morning training.

Weir hit three out of four quads at a strong practice in which he did not fall or put a hand down on any of the nearly two dozen jumps he tried. He two-footed the landing of the quad he missed. He opened up on one triple axel, meaning he did not get around for three rotations.

Hill rated Weir's quads on par with those that Plushenko executed, and said she wished Weir would try one in competition. Weir, however, declared after the short program he wouldn't insert a quadruple jump into his long unless his execution in practice was perfect.

"He has to decide whether he wants to do it," she said. "He's such a perfectionist. He wants to make sure he can do it really easily. To me, I would, but I don't know about him."

Weir seemed to be leaning toward adding the quad Wednesday morning.

"It's been going really well, so I don't see why I won't try it, but there's still one more practice before the event so we'll see how it goes there," he said in a release from U.S. Figure Skating Association.

The decision could be critical.

Though the new judging system installed after the 2002 Olympics has reduced the emphasis on the quadruple jump -- some skaters have argued that it should be worth more points than it is -- it remains a powerful weapon in a close competition, and it could mean the difference Thursday between a silver medal and fourth place. Though many, Weir included, believe Plushenko has all but wrapped up the gold with his 10.66-point lead, Weir stands just .96 ahead of Lambiel, the reigning world champion, and 2.23 ahead of Joubert, a former European champion.

The judges showed they preferred Weir artistically to Lambiel and Joubert, but despite skating a mistake-free program, Weir barely edged both with his technical marks. Lambiel turned a triple axel into a double. Joubert did a quadruple-double jump combination instead of a quadruple-triple.

Weir's technical score was 40.99. Lambiel achieved 40.61 and Joubert, 40.59.

For a sense of the impact a quad can have, consider that Weir's triple-triple combination had a base value of 10 points. Lambiel's quadruple-triple was worth 13. But that's just the starting point. Judges can increase or decrease the score by three points depending on the quality of the execution, and a fall warrants an additional minus-1 off of the total score. In the short program, Weir got 11 points for his nicely executed triple-triple. Lambiel's quad-triple was not so pretty; so instead of a possible 13, he earned 12.43.

The bottom line: A fall on a quad usually nets fewer points than a decent triple, but even a shaky quad can provide a big point boost.

Lambiel, the reigning world champion, and Joubert, a former European champion, plan to bring out their quads Thursday. Both are planning to attempt two.

"I'm going to fight," Lambiel said Tuesday night. "I did one double axel and it was a big mistake. I'll check what's wrong and in the free I will have to be perfect in every jump, in every spin."

Lambiel, recovering from a strained knee, was not perfect in practice Wednesday. He fell hard attempting a quad jump while beginning a run-through of his free skate. None of the top men skated his entire program.

Weir pulled this long program out of the back of his closet for this Olympics. Dissatisfied with his free skate at the mid-January U.S. championships, he ditched it in favor of a favorite program from last year. However, he and Hill have upgraded it substantially to better accommodate the new judging system, and Weir has not used it in competition since last March.

"I'm not really nervous yet, but I think by tonight I'll be a little jittery, a little nervous about competing," Weir said. "I just want to have a good time out there. I had no real expectations coming in, and now, sitting in second, that's incredible, but I'm not expecting anything to happen in the free that I can't control."

Men's Long Program Top 10 Skaters (Scores from short program) 1. Evgeni Plushenko, Russia (90.66) 2. Johnny Weir, U.S. (80.00) 3. Stephane Lambiel, Switzerland (79.04) 4. Brian Joubert, France (77.77) 5. Daisuke Takahashi, Japan (73.77) 6. Jeffrey Buttle, Canada (73.29) 7. Emanuel Sandhu, Canada (69.75) 8. Matthew Savoie, U.S. (69.15) 9. Gehoerghie Chiper, Romania (67.66) 10. Evan Lysacek, U.S. (67.55) Skate order (Final group) Plushenko Lambiel Weir Buttle Joubert Takahashi On TV NBC, 8 p.m.- midnight