!http://www.universitychic.com/files/skate.jpg!

*Shizuka Arakawa of Japan wins Olympic Gold in women’s figure skating.* I actually used to be a competitive figure skater, _(but only on a _very_ local level, and only ever completing double jumps)_ , so I have a big interest in women’s figure skating in the Olympics. I was actually still wanting Michelle Kwan to tough it out and compete. She actually might have been able to squeeze onto the podium with Sasha and Irina’s mistakes. But with Kwan out of the picture, I was really behind Cohen.

Unfortunately, Sasha had a really bad warm-up _(including an akward split fall on a triple loop)_ and she fell on her first jump, the triple lutz, which was supposed to be a three-jump combination. She also touched down both hands on her triple flip _(many people are calling it a fall…it was not)_. Favorite to win, Irina Slutskaya, shocked me when she doubled a jump and then fell on her triple loop. I still thought her performance was good enough for Silver, but Sasha’s spirals and choreography trumped Irina, who ended up with the Bronze medal. Americans, Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes, who replaced Kwan at the last minute, finished sixth and seventh.