I just watched the most amazing figure skating finals ever!
Don't read any further, if you plan to watch it. And please, do watch it. I doubt the Olympics this year will get any more moving and dramatic than this.
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First of all, there were 2 great Chinese pairs who had excellent but not completely flawless performances. One of these two Chinese pairs actually had a very serious accident last year so they could only start practicing for a short time. Further, these former world champions were only 5th place after the short programm. In the end, they came in third due to a not completely technically flawless but incredibly moving performance. The other Chinese pair came in fourth.
Then there there was the famous Russian pair who had a very serious accident in 2002 in the US. Well, what these two Russians did was simply figure skating at its best. The obvious consequence was gold.
However, the most amazing pair of them all was a Chinese pair that were the last to appear on ice (2nd place after the short programme). In order to keep their chances on gold, they had to try the 4-times Axel. It would have been a world premiere. The pair tried the move 30 seconds after the start. In order to achieve a four times spin, she was thrown extremly high. However, she fell and I thought she broke bones and tore several muscles. She was forced into a leg split, which looked extremely painful. BUT after a few painful mintues, quite a few tears, they actually continued. Absolutely shocking. They did an magnificent programme and once finished, the entire audience was going wild. The Chinese pair was in tears - the woman probably because of pain. When they returned from the ice, she fell into her coach's arms with tears and the first words being "I'm sorry". They won silver.
