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Post by deedeelocks on Jan 30, 2006 14:48:16 GMT 1
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Post by MzEmma on Jan 30, 2006 18:11:46 GMT 1
This is the first article. I was in hurry but I managed to write it.Sorry for the mistakes in advance!
A hope for Torino: Tomas Verner
The only czech skater who will representate the Winter Olympic Games in Torino, nineteen year old Tomas Verner, will experience the atmosphere under the five rings for the first time in his life. He managed to win an important qualification, which secures him the attendance.
„ I was nervous, because the interval between non-qualifying places wasn´t that big,“ comments the sportsman from Èeské Budìjovice about the Karl Schafer Memorial.“ I was happy with my skate, however there is always something to improve“.
This young czech skater already knows, what it is to be in the top 10 in Europe. In 2004 he ended on the same 10th place at the European Championship as this year. Though he was 7th after the SP.“I find this 10th place dissapointing. I had a bad day,“ complains Vlasta Koprivova´s student.
Tomas Verner has been after Petr Barn the second czech who is able to jump the quad toeloop. However he hasn´t managed to perform it during a competition. „I was succesful with this jump during my practices. I am happy, that I have included it to a competition. Once I have to make it!“ says the fighter from Pisek, who first put his skates on when was five years old.
Verner´s another oportunity to show himslef between skaters, where quad is an obviousity, will be in Torino. On the 14th and the 16th we will see, how he will manage to fight against the best figure skaters. Maybe our young man will not only surprise himself, but also his rivals!
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Post by deedeelocks on Jan 30, 2006 19:00:54 GMT 1
thanks for translating article no.1 mzemma! I do hope everything works out well for Tomas in Torino! and that he will surprise all the world I know he's capable of it
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Post by Katis on Jan 30, 2006 23:10:24 GMT 1
another one Verner will be in Torino like a single soldier in the field Czech figure skating can praise Tomas Verner. Without him in Torino it would fall flat. After the last season full of health problems, 19year old single skater found his form in the right time and in the autumn he qualified in the last possible competition for the games under the five rings. He, alone, forms the smallest part of the czech team, other sports have at least two competitors. Trainee of Vlasta Koprivova has already earlier told that he would like to embellish his career with an olympic medal, but before Torino he hasn’t headed up for it yet. Recently on the European Championships in Lyon he has finished at the end of elite ten. Perhaps he is able to reach the same in Torino, although the rivals from overseas and Asia arrive, but only if he doesn’t damage it with three falls as in Lyon and he sells for a high price what he can. „I must jump everything. I have a good condition and I lasted out with strenght till the end,“ he came off with a lesson from Lyon for Torino. He arms for the Olympics much like Petr Barna 14years ago in Prague skating hall in Havlickovy sady. His predecessor conquered a bronze in Albertville. Since then our pirouettes are still awiting for medal. Torino will most likely see battles for 4sets of medals among russian athletes and the rest of the world. The superpower from Eastern Europe showed its preparation for Olympics this month at Europeans. Here they got six medals including all four golds (Slutskaya, Plushenko, Totmianina/Marinin, Navka/Kostomarov). Figure skating has come into Olympics program already in 1924 in Chamonix, but then without the ice-dance competition. They came only 52years later in Innsbruck. Beside Barna, medals for then Czechoslovakia gained also Karol Divín (1960,silver), Hana Maskova (1968,bronze), Ondrej Nepela (1972,gold) and Jozef Sabovcik (1984,bronze).
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Post by Sunshine Lizzie on Feb 1, 2006 15:04:07 GMT 1
This is an old article, written right before Worlds 2005 in Moscow
Note - At the actual competition, Tomas did not move up from his qualification group.Tomas VernerHe will not only represent us (the Czech Republic) on-ice in Moscow, but will also join Petr Vichnar (sports commentator) in commentating the performances of his fellow competitors. We met up with him at the end of February, on the day of his departure. He has just gotten back from an injury which has caused him to miss a large part of the season. - How has he been preparing for Worlds? "Mr. Vichnar has taught me how to act behind the microphone." "I have not yet resumed my full training , but I am already in a good form and now I can only improve it. All parts of my programs are finished and now I have to concentrate on polishing them, I have to run them through over and over again to get a feeling for the music. The injury is thankfully not causeing me problems anymore and I feel perfectly fine on ice. Today I am flying to Stuttgart for a competition to get used to the atmosphere. I don´t want to get it full-blast for the first time after my injury at Worlds. I don´t feel that brave." - What are your ambitions for Worlds? "I don´t want to reveal that, I ´don´t like saying things like this beforehand. But I am definitely going to fight for an Olympic spot. It is my main goal for this year´s Worlds." - You will also be commentating. It won´t be for this first time, will it? "I have already had the honor. I was very intimidated my first time in the studio. I didn´t even know how to properly talk into the microphone. Usually I talk to people face-to-face and in a studio it´s a completely different contact. Luckily Mr. Vichnar is such a professional that it only took him a few moments to teach me. I don´t mean that he made a professional out of me as well, but at least I now have a idea of how to act around the microphone." - What does it feel like to be commentating your fellow competitors´ performances from the studio? "The "studio commentating" is mostly a bit sad for me because one feels his own performance to be flawless and is looking at the mistakes of others and always feels sad that at that precise moment he cannot be there on-ice and compete with them. But of course this is an illusion because in reality I also make mistakes. Overall, when I am commentatting, I feel like I would rather be on the ice."
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Post by Sunshine Lizzie on Feb 1, 2006 15:40:31 GMT 1
Verner finished 10th, Plushenko won Czech figure skater Tomas Verner finished tenth at the European Championships in Lyon, France. Three falls in the LP caused him to drop from the seventh place he earned after the SP. The favorized Russian Evgeni Plushenko won the competition, placing above the Swiss World Champion Stéphane Lambiel and the host country´s competitor Brian Joubert. Verner tried to jump the quad toeloop for the first time in competition, unfortunatelly he had trouble on the landing. "I have no idea what went wrong, because I land it without any problems in training, even here I did. But nevertheless I am happy to have finally added it (in the LP) and that it was counted as a quad," said he on-air on Czech TV. After the fall, the 19-year-old competitor did not jump any of the two planned combinations and unfortunatelly he also fell on his second 3A and his 3Lo. "I did want to do a combination, but every time I messed up the first jump, so it didn´t work out," commentates-he his not-so-good LP performance. Towards the end he tried to improve his image in the SLSS, but it did not pass without a slight hesitation, here as well. Overall, he dropped to tenth place, thus ending up with the same result as in 2004. "Back then I considered (the result) a success, but this year I must admitt being dissapointed, I was hoping for more. But at least I made the Top 10, so next year we will have two spots," said Verner. In three weeks the Olympic Games await him, the only Czech figure skating competitor. "Today´s result should be a good lesson for me, so it should have only positive consequences for me," adds-he with a smile. Although Plushenko was sick right before the competition and his presence in Lyon was thus unsure, he beat his opponenets by a mile, still being in a class of his own. Only a 3Sal was missing in his LP, otherwise he executed a complete repertoire of the hardest jumps, including the quad toe. He even did a triple combination - 3A-3T-3L and his unique interpretation of "The Godfather" music, which earned him a standing ovation. The reigning World Champion Lambiel landed (contrary to his SP) a 3A and this successful opening led him on through his LP. He landed two quads, one of them in combination and landed also all his triples (wiht a slight hesitation on the 3Lz). He could not contain his excitement and tripped on his ending step sequence, this resulting in a fall. (Note - huh? he fell? i think he only tripped..twice ) Even so the 20-year-old Swiss rejoiced from a silver medal later on. Though skating in front of the home crowd, Joubert, second after the SP, did not shine. His opening 4T looked great, but somehow he still fell on the landing. His two 3A were also insecure and his program lacked difficult transition components. This resulted in his overall third place and a bronze medal.
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Post by Sunshine Lizzie on Feb 1, 2006 16:35:56 GMT 1
Olympic Chronicles - Figure Skating
Karol Divín, Ondrej Nepela, Jozef Sabovèík, Petr Barna - a lot of you can guess that today´s olympic chronicles will talk about figure skating. In a somewhat broader time span Tomas Verner, the only Czech figure skating Olympics participant, will try to measure up to his famous countrymen. Only of course at this moment he is only beginning his (senior) career.
Never before has our country had so few (figure skating) representants. It´s suprising, because engraved in the Czech (and Czechoslovakian) figure skating chronicles are many more names than just those of Olympic medalists mentioned in the article´s head. To name just a few - the Romanovi siblings, Hana Mašková, Kovaøíková/Novotný...Unfortunately, pairs, dance couples and even ladies are slowly becoming extinct in our country, for that the attention of the Czech figure skating audience will focus mainly on the men´s category. Tomáš Verner, though still young, is no newcomer. He already sports two 10-place European finishes. At the last Euros (in Lyon), he even executed a quad toe. His first attempt ended with a fall, nevertheless, Verner is ready to jump it again in Torino. Only then can he hope for a good overall result.
"I am training to be in the top 15, maybe even higher. Of course my personal ambitions are higher, I probably shouldn´t be making this public, but one doesn´t reach his ambitions on first try. But I am definitely not attending the Olympics to end 24th after SP, only barely making the LP. I just want to do my best and show the world what I am capable of."
The important LP will take place on Thursday, February 16.
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Post by Sunshine Lizzie on Feb 1, 2006 16:59:28 GMT 1
and now I am waiting for the karma to start coming
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Post by MzEmma on Feb 1, 2006 17:01:11 GMT 1
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Post by Katis on Feb 1, 2006 18:18:31 GMT 1
another article I found www.radio.cz/cz/clanek/75280The figure skater Tomas Verner is going to his first Olympic GamesThe only Czech Olympic hope at coming Olympic Games in Torino will be Tomas Verner. Last year he managed (unlike his colleagues) to win the Olympic qualification in Stadthalle in Vienna and he is going to his first Olympics. For the 19year old guy from Pisek it will be the actual peak of his career. Tomas Verner is undoubtedly our biggest talent over the last years. Although that in figure skating he hasn’t managed to make his mark at judges (huh? he didn’t?) but to Torino he doesn’t go as a loser. „I’m full of expectations. Everybody says that it is a different competition than I’ve seen until now like Worlds or Euros. Anyway I will try to skate to get into first 15. “ The placement won‘t the most important thing that is he going to think about before the entrance on the Olympic ice. „For me, as a younger skater is very important to have steadier performances and difficulty i my programs. The judges will be able to count on me in the future like a skater that can show difficult elements. When I manage this they will look at me like at the russian skaters or similarly.“ The difficulty of his program could be embellished by a quadruple toeloop that he showed for the first time at Euros in Lyon, though there still with a mistake. „Concerning a quadruple jump, at Olympics it has naturally its place much like at euros and I will be doing everything to do it without a fall.“ The experts say that he is a complex skater whose main weapon are the jumps. But he is modestly silent about his qualities and speaks about his weaknesses. „Earlier it were the spins but I have improved them now! But I still feel my biggest weakness that I don’t go to the ice with such big self-confidence as the others. But now i have trained a lot, I placed a quad in my program and that has boosted my ego. I placed myself among the better skaters and I’m glad for that.“ Verner is at his youth still a unrefined skating diamond so understandably he looks up to legends. His idols are two completely different russian skaters that don’t feel an extreme love to each other. „When I started skating in the international field I found as an example Evgeni Plushenko who I have been meeting quite often at Euros. Another idol is a different Alexei Yagudin. I had the honour to speak to him and get to know him as a real person. I asked him for a few professional advices. He reached so far and that has encouraged me, because even the best ones are not the gods. they are normal people like us and so I hope that I once could reach the same as them.“ Between the athletes there are not always ideal relationships but at majority it doesn’t cross the common lines. „At competitions it is of course different than outside. There everyone must concentrate on his own things and not look around. I can’t lose my attention only because someone wants to shake my hand because than I wouldn’t show much on the ice. Otherwise there is more friendship than envy or hate. Of course on ice there in some rivalry but that is necessary. it will be there always.“ Figure skating, if we don’t count professional exhibitions, is not really a sport with which a person could earn his living. But the Czech skater doesn’t complain. „It is a fact that with figure skating one can’t make his living. It is not like football or hockey. For me it is a pleasure, I fell in love with it and for me it is the most important. “ Verner started with skating when he was five years old. Now he competed three times at worlds and european championships. But still he stands on the beginning of his career and he hasn’t many reasons to think about what he will do after he finishes with active skating. In spite he already at least generally thought about it. „I have thought about it before. Now I rather concentrate, so that I can study beside the skating. If I enjoy it I may stay at it as a coach. Because i am not very patient i would have to train older skaters. I don’t know how would I be able to deal with small kids. Although I like kids, I can’t understand how they can’t manage what I find so easy. So we will see how everything will work up.“ Tomas Verner has surely a potential to simulate his predecessors Sabovcik and Barna. The following years will give the answer if he manages that. The successful Olympic premiere could be the first step.
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Post by deedeelocks on Feb 1, 2006 18:50:46 GMT 1
that's a great article katis! thanks!! what about 2010 I still feel this too somewhere... (but Tomas it's so not neccessary because you are so great and you can dü it! ) I hope so! seriously, if Tomas would land all his jumps including quad triple and such, he could defenitely challenge all the top guys now, even beat them! his program choreo is out of this world! this combined with some cool jump arsenal...woah! (of course I am biased but ok ) awwww! but he's so great with kids!
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Post by Sunshine Lizzie on Feb 1, 2006 19:43:37 GMT 1
thanks, Katis! that´s a really cute article Anyway, have you noticed how the interest in FS and Tomas has dramatically risen since Lyon? (in the Czech media)... FINALLY!
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Post by Katis on Feb 1, 2006 22:15:05 GMT 1
LOL, I did and it IS great! I wonder how will it look like when Tomas shows a completely clean programs and he gets higher! (hopefully even better!) what about 2010 sorry, that was a bit unclean translation - they ment his peak for now (of course!)
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Post by MzEmma on Feb 2, 2006 13:04:28 GMT 1
I have also found some bit on the www.czechskating.org/... Our skaters on the Olympics Games in Torino: As you all know, the Games will start in a few days. The Czech republic will be represented by Tomas Verner in the men category. On February 7 he will fly away together with his personal coach Vlasta Koprivova. They should return home on the 21th .
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Post by Sunshine Lizzie on Feb 2, 2006 13:07:01 GMT 1
well, there you have your answer, Dee
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