ice skating stars

i have always been fascinated with ice skating. i am amazed how the skaters can do turns, jumps and lifts on the ice. i've watched alissa czisny win in skate canada and was hoping to see her on the olympic team. she did not make it, but the US team is fielding sasha cohen, kimmie meissner and now, emily hughes (replacing michelle kwan who had to drop out). i am looking forward to seeing them skate against the best in the world like irina slutskaya.

one sport that i started having interest in is short track. it's such a fast and exciting event, you wouldn't even know who's going to win up until the last millisecond, when all these skaters cross the finish line. aside from that, another thing that held my attention was 1000m bronze medal winner apolo anton ohno (he's still going to skate for the 500m and the relay). he's talented, determined and cute! hehehe! :)

two of my other favorite athletes now are tanith belbin and ben agosto who have just won the silver medals in ice dancing. i've seen them skate multiple times and they're really great to watch. not only are they really athletic and talented, you can see that they have a fondness for each other that goes beyond the ice (i thought they were romantically involved and was surprised to learn that they are not). this being their first olympics, i think they did a superb job. for sure they'll have more success and more medals in the future.


taken by elsa/getty images