| | Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - - When Todd Eldredge came crashing
to the ice in Nagano, Japan, his dream of winning an Olympic medal
seemed to shatter simultaneously.
The five-time U.S. champion and 1996 world champion appeared to
be lagging in the evolution of men's skating as quadruple jumps
became the norm, rather than the exception, and young talent
appeared poised to take center ice.
Nearly three years after his disappointing fourth-place finish
in the 1998 Winter Games, Eldredge has resumed his Olympic push
with renewed confidence and a quad to call his own.
His bid to represent the United States in the 2002 Games in Salt
Lake City begins in earnest Thursday at Skate America 2000, the
first of six international events in the Grand Prix series.
"I don't feel like I have accomplished what I would like to
accomplish at the Olympics yet," Eldredge said during a
teleconference from his home in Detroit last week.
"I have accomplished pretty much everything else along the way,
but as far as the Olympics, I haven't had the great performance or
the good performance that I'd like to have."
At 29, Eldredge is among the older skaters eyeing Salt Lake
City, but he has proved willing to learn new tricks after falling
while attempting a standard triple jump in Nagano.
Long known for his artistry, Eldredge added a quadruple axel
that gives him an element of athleticism absent from previous
years. He landed the quad for the first time in competition at the
Masters of Figure Skating in Boise, Idaho, two weeks ago.
"It's always been in the plan to do it. It just hadn't happened
yet," he said. "When it happened in Boise, that was great."
The quad, which will be part of Eldredge's long and short
programs at Skate America, has become a necessity in the men's
competition, but Eldredge said it should not be the determining
factor of a skater's success.
"If they are doing two quads, do they have the rest of the
package they need?" he said. "They need the good spins, the good
footwork, the great artistry. That's what goes into a program. It's
not how many quads you can do."
Joining the Quad Squad helped Eldredge win the long program in
Boise, and he was invited to participate in Skate America after
reigning U.S. champion Michael Weiss withdrew because of an ankle
injury.
With five titles in Colorado Springs, Eldredge has made Skate
America one of his favorite events. It will also serve as a
barometer as he returns to a full schedule necessary for Olympic
eligibility.
"It's always great when you can skate internationally in your
home country," Eldredge said. "It's kind of a good test of where
you stand and what you need to work on by the time our national
championships or the world championships roll around."
Among the featured men's skaters are current and three-time
world champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia and Timothy Goebel of the
United States.
Eldredge defeated Yagudin in Boise and figures to battle Goebel
and Weiss for a spot on the U.S. roster at Salt Lake.
"From watching the world championships and knowing what they
guys have been doing the last couple years, I know what training I
need to do and what my programs need to be to be competitive with
those guys," Eldredge said. | |
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