Johnny Weir 2004-2008 competition transcripts (Youtube)
Okay, these are as close as I could get - I don't know who's doing the commentary aside from Dick Button, so anyone else is listed as a number where applicable. If you know who's the other commentator(s), let me know and I'll change them! There are a few places where it doesn't sound like either/any of the commentators are speaking, so either they're not listed as DB/# or listed as announcer (same goes - let me know who it is and I'll change it!).
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Johnny Weir 2004 US Nationals Long Program
It's in Johnny Weir's hands, the 19-year-old originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Now he's in Newark, Delaware. The 2001 World Junior Champ, on his fourth trip to Nationals.
Dick Button: And he has to sustain the technical merit through the program. If he can do that, and not flake out it will be a major step forward for him.
1: Opening combination, triple axel-triple toe.
DB: That was a beauty! Wonderful posture. Wonderful style and position. And he has planned a quad. He'll be the only skater in this competition to have done it if he does it. Here it is. Triple salchow, he replaced it. Playing it safe.
1: Triple axel again.
DB: That's as steady and as solid as you can find, anywhere. There's a change in that position to a bent-leg free position.
1: Johnny Weir's very much trying to make amends for what happened last year in the free skate. He was in second place. A number of things happened to him. He got his blade stuck between the ice and the wall, he fell into the board, he fell again. The referee allowed him to restart his program and then a fall created an injury and he had to withdraw.
DB: Triple lutz-triple toe. Wow! I'm gonna tell you this is one heck of a competition. Triple flip. Circular footwork. That costume by the way is a series of icecicles, which explains why, what the intent is with Dr. Zhivago, the motion picture. Triple loop jump. Straight line footwork. Not as inventive as I think he is able to do, but what technique there has been in this program, these moves in the field at the end, running trees. Into a final combination. Steady, centered spins, cannonball position, and a catch-foot with wonderful wonderful style in it. Well, well. Oh, brother. (laughs)
1: He grew up watching skating on tv. One winter his parents bought him a pair of used ice skates, he went out on a frozen pond near his home in Lancaster Pennsylvania and now it looks like he's gonna be the National Champion. We'll wait to see what the judges think though. Michael Weiss, he's applauding that performance from Johnny Weir. Back with his marks, in a moment.
Back live at the State Farm US Figure skating championships, Johnny Weir brough ‘em out of their seats. He's never medaled at the US Nationals. He may win the gold medal. Michael Weiss has the lead right now.
DB: But he should be very proud of the fact that he skated well and these marks show how well Johnny Weir did. Oh, brother, look at that, the guy had done eight triples, he had another one planned and he left it out at the very last part of the program. You know, that's the ability to change your mindand think through-A perfect 6! He deserved it. He deserved it.
1: With Priscilla Hill in the Kiss & Cry enjoying the fact that seven of the nine judges put him in first. Johnny Weir has just won the National Championship.
Johnny Weir 2005 US Nationals LP
1: So it's Goebbel, Savoie, and Weiss. Your top three, remember there are three spots for men at the world championships in Moscow, and usually, in fact, almost always. It's the top three at Nationals. There's a committee that selects them, but uh, that's the way it'll go. Weir.
DB: Look at the time he takes, taking his place on the ice. It seems like all the skaters are doing that now, it's almost like it's the operation of the day.
1: You've got two minutes to do it and, that's the in thing these days, I think you're right, to take as much time as possible. What a comeback for Weir last year, winning the national title after literally hitting the wall in Dallas the year before and having an awful time of it.
How good has his year been? The major events for the top names in the world are the Grand Prix series events. He won two of them, came in second in another one, losing only to Evgeni Plushenko, the World Champion. But he is coming back from a foot injury that took him out of the Grand Prix Final.
DB: He is athletically graceful beyond belief. He's like a greyhound almost, the way he moves into his jumps with extaordinary ease. Notice how he picks up his legs, the free foot on the back crossovers.
1: Not just a performance, but a statement.
DB: One of the best performances I've ever seen. And certainly one of the best that he's done. He has absolutely every quality. He's on the line with the music, there's his personality, his skating style, long and stretched out, and it grows on you. It leads to an endless impact. Wonderful.
1: Goebbels the leader, but maybe not for long. Johnny Weir what a performance.
DB: D on't forget, you have Evan Lysas-Lysacek still to come. The youngster trying to medal for the first time here at Nationals
1: Back live at the State Farm US Championships, and Johnny Weir, you can say it Nick, is one of the best, in the world, at this point.
DB: Look at this triple axel-triple toe loop and the way he eases up into the air, just smooth like a gazelle going up, and just I mean just really superb. Eight triples he landed, the most you can do with no quad. And watch this, how he steps up into that and the perfect stretched turned legs at the landing, and the straight-out landing, not curled in. And another straight line footwork. He has a wonderful extra quality with it, I mean it's really just magnificent. He had a little bobble right there and I think it upset him and the rest of this, another one, right there, that was not his best performance for a straight line. But he's awfully good.
1: Remember the 9 6.0s that Belbin and Augusto got in the free dance, they're giving those out, and this is the last year most likely for that system, the last year.
DB: Those are wonderful marks, 5.8 and 5.9, they tell you exactly what it was, he did not leave it on the practice ice, he did not make a mistake. And the 6.0s are a real credit to the quality of elegance of his skating. I'm very happy for him.
ANN: 5 6.0s for Johnny Weir. There's your new leader.
Johnny Weir 2006 US Nationals Short Program
Kurt Browning: So Savoie falls, but is able to make up ground elsewhere, and in the top spot right now. And our next competitor
KB: There's the headliner, the man who's captured the title the past two seasons. 21-year-old Johnny Weir. He became one of the top skaters, really, in the world, with his performances the last couple of years, but this season, Dick has not been a great one for him, he came in seventh at Skate Canada and injured his left ankle, he was out for a while and did win a bronze at Cup of Russia, but he's trying to get back on track at the right time
DB: You know, it's interesting to look at his right hand. He's wearing a red glove on it and that represents the head of a swan. The rest of-- the music, by the way, for example, is original music for a great creation of a dying swan choreographed originally for Pavlova. Usually done by a very dramatic and exciting female. He takes it into the male role.
KB: One of the most interesting personalities in the sport. He's already won the award for the best press conference here this week.
DB: Right.
KB: Let's see if he can nail this triple axel and go for his third US title. Perfect. Skating around like there's no one else in the building and nothin' else on his mind. Wow. There's some pieces of music that you have got to be an amazing skater to skate to, and I think that he's made the right choice, cause he rises to the challenge. Ballet reference at the end of a beautiful piece of footwork.
KB: I guess in the old system, that would have been a 6?
DB: And a very interesting, very interesting--he didn't take the role which is normally one of a dying swan, it's usually done by a very...uh, eh, eh. Wow! I mean I am impressed because this role is such an iconic role from anything, being a very aggressive dancing of the Maya Plisetskaya of Europe, of the great Russian tradition to Pavlova and he plays it not only as a male swan but as a female swan, lyrically and beautifully, a wonderful combination of lyric skating. Road less travelled is one that Johnny Weir goes down often.
KB: Priscilla Hill, his long-time coach. And Dick, when you go Matt Savoie and Johnny Weir back to back, it isn't your average pedestrian jump-fest.
DB: Oh, it is not at all. You know, it's the quality of skating that counts, the way you get from one end of the rink to the other that is the most beautiful. We all marvel at great quadruple jumps and those are essential for the sporting aspect of this, but it's the music and the beauty of skating that stands, that takes it out of the realm of being just pure sport.
KB: We're going to take a look at Johnny's triple axel. He starts his program, like I said this music needs everything to be smooth, well look at that landing. And there's something about the way that he checks out of his jumps. Well, you can't see his arms in this shot. But everything is looking relaxed, everything's looking like this, well, like a swan in water. Seriously.
KB: One of the reasons why he's the best, probably, is that he gets points everywhere he goes. The sit-spin, as Dick often says, totally centered, perfect positions, you can see everything cleanly. Changing to an inside edge that the new system is asking for, variation of position. A difficult position, holds it and looking cool the whole way. Well, I'm not sure about the red glove.
DB: The red glove represents the head of the swan.
KB: I know, but he didn't use it very much.
DB: No, not at all, not at all.
KB: So I was wondering why was it there.
DB: You talked about him looking cool, and not seemingly feeling the pressure, but the outburst at the end, the emotion that was pent up coming out after his program, you know he felt the pressure of not having a typical year this year, due in part, to injuries, but...(laughs)...as Brian Boitano watches from the stands.
KB: Scott Hamilton's here too.
DB: That's right, last Olympic gold medalist in the US. Watching here in St. Louis. Now the marks. 72.51. That's what he'll need to lead. 43.60 very good for technical elements. 39.64 for the old artistic mark, now called program components. And it gets a wow from Johnny Weir as it did from Dick Clark. Solid lead for Johnny Weir and well beyond his personal best at this point under the new system. Weir, Savoie, Ryan Bradley the top three so far here in the men's short program.
2006 US Nationals Long Program
KB: Johnny likes to do things at his own pace, his own way, and he's making us wait. And typical. That triple sow perfectly on the music. As will be almost every single step of this program.
DB: Oh, look at how he changed that into almost a combination, not quite, but...
KB: Yeah, I think that was a little clever creation on Johnny's part.
DB: Look at how he lifts up one leg. That's called caressing the ice.
KB: Wow, and he sure caressed the ice on those two landings, showing another triple-triple combination. In complete control here tonight.
KB: Unlike Ryan Bradley, who went out and grabbed the audience by the throat and said LOOK AT ME, Johnny's a very internal skater, and sometimes, internal skaters kind of lose the audience. He's landing these jumps beautifully, but he's not, I think, getting this crowd.
DB: I think part of that is due to the music, don't you? I don't find this music sweeping with highs and lows, highs and lows...
KB: And yet, look at these great jumps.
DB: They're wonderful. But that's sort of like repetition of the same element. It's not, it's not coming from the -- at least we don't see it coming from the heart.
KB: Why, he's just a fantastic skater, we've got to get pretty picky if we're going to find anything wrong with it.
DB: One of the things is I think he's changed this program as he's doing it tonight, holding things, taken out things, and switched them around.
KB: I don't know what program he did, but it has nothing to do with the jump sheet they gave us. Wow. Good, but not triumphant. The crowd getting to their feet, but I think it's out of respect for his talent, it wasn't out of respect for what's happening tonight on the ice. I'm, I'm worried that when he goes to the Olympics he's going to skate that great, like he did tonight, and not create the moment that he needs to be the Olympic champion.
Waiting for his marks. And the way I counted it, he had four combinations, and you're only allowed to do three, so we'll see if they give him credit.
DB: What that means is you simply don't get marks for --
KB: Right.
DB: And remember Evgeni Plushenko losing to a [someone] one year because of that under the new system.
KB: Under the new system you have to be a good skater and a good mathematician.
DB: Uh-huh. But also he changed this program while he was doing it. He, he, this was not the program he did in practice, or that he had given in as part of the jump sheet that tells you what he's doing.
KB: It is enough, Dick, to take the lead over Savoie, but he did not get credit for that last combination?
Johnny Weir 2006 Olympics short program
1: At least he’s not alone on the ice.
DB: You know actually he doesn’t really utilize the story very much. The story is of a swan that’s been shot and is dying and it’s nothing to do with Swan Lake, and it’s quite an intriguing story. It was one of the great great performances by Pavlova and Maya Plisetskaya, and one of the, I mean really outstanding moments in dance, and I think he plays it quite plainly and simply.
1: First time competing on Olympic ice. Every day he’s been more and more comfortable with it, but the adrenaline can really take over. His first jump is very difficult, a triple axel. Beautiful! Combination triple lutz into triple toe.
3: Uh.
DB: The thing to watch there is the ease with which he does it, the smoothness, the quality of skating.
3: Johnny has an ideal physique for a figure skater. A beautiful softness. Everything he does is so naturally fluid.
1: Nice variation of steps on this circular sequence. You get the sense while watching him practice that if you tell him he can’t do something, he will very casually prove you wrong. Triple flip. Uuuahh, and he hangs onto the landing there.
DB: Look at the flexibility, the centering, the sitting position.
1: His final element, a combinatin spin. Camel to an outside edge sit spin. Beautiful effort by Johnny Weir. Clean short program, well done.
3: It was a beautiful and an intelligent performance. Step by step. He thought it through and still he had the freedom to skate with inspiration.
1: He’s just so calm. Olympic pressure for the very first time, he steps forward into this triple axel. Look at the height, the coverage of the ice, and an easy landing. Very casual. Combination triple lutz, he picks right here, vaults into the air, one two three rotations, he’ll reach back, triple toe loop, one two three rotations. One foot landing beautifully presented.
DB: And Evgeni Plushenko, the favorite to win the gold medal who was the second man to skate tonight still watching from the stands in the lead. And Johnny hoping to put a little pressure on him. And here come Johnny’s scores. Technical mark first. And 40.99, 39.01 for program components. That gives him a total of 80, an even 80 and puts him in second place behind Plushenko. Johnny Weir, a successful Olympic debut, as he skates a solid program that takes him into second place.
Johnny Weir 2007 Nationals Short Program
Comentator 1: So here's the man who's won this title the past 3 years. He would be the first 4-time winner since Brian Boitano back in the eighties. 22-year old Johnny Weir set to go. He says he's worked harder in the time period from that Grand Prix Final, remember the injury, the withdrawal, the hip. Said he's worked harder in this time period than ever before. And he's ready.
Comentator DB: I think what he's done is that he's decided that this is an Olymic competition and that training, technique, and performance under pressure comes first, and all the artistry and the creative elements come second. And that should be the way it is for him tonight.
1: Well, the second half of the double billing here in the men's event doesn't even have to try to be artistic, he just is. And he's been nailing this triple axel all week in practice…just like that.
DB: He's always had great, great jumps. The problem is that he's not been as well trained and as well competetive as he is tonight.
1: Very clean. He's here to fight.
DB: The whole program is more serious.
1: More masculine.
DB: Stronger, much tigher…
1: One jump left. Footwork sequence into a triple flip.
DB: Even the beat of the music is strong, powerful, and that's the kind of skating that he's been showing this year, much moreso than in the past from him, before, somewhat more frivolous or creative or with less power underneath them.
1: Moving across the ice with this footwork sequence, that's like old school I would call it, before the old - the new system was put in, making great time across the ice. Most of the skaters taking a long time to get the elements in. Johnny chose speed. Once spin left, and we've got a clean short program.
DB: You know, that was, that was a very complete program. He landed his jumps, there were no mistakes. It kind of lacked a little bit of fire. It didn't have the speed that he normally has. Everything was good, and he'll get wonderful points for it. But it didn't have his-it's not that it…
1: I'm behind you a hundred percent….but he's just so good.
DB: Oh wonderful!
1: That he can, he can get away with it. Do you think the fact that the season really hasn't been what he expected, then he had the injury, comes back here, pressure on himself, he just wanted to get through this short program…
DB: Yes, absolutely.The point is with all of this is that you've gotta be up at such a high level that when you're not quite at your peak you can still drop, and still be the best. And that's the important thing that he's been looking for, and what he's achieved tonight.
1: and the point being mission accomplished for both of these skaters, now the judges have to split them.
DB: Now look at this triple axel, watch this, arms, as he lifts up with the free leg there, beautiful stretch, beautiful, beautiful…eh, you know, revolutions. Terrific.
1: Combination combing up. Triple lutz. What you can't see is the flow, coming out of the second jump, there you go, one two three revolutions triple toe, and he makes it look easy.
DB: Now one of the things that he's always had is good entrances into these movements. These are called transitions. That's a very quick turn into a triple flip, not the highest one I've ever seen him do, but good revolution and clean and steady out.
1: The straight line footwork was absolutely fantastic. It was fast, and it was moving, and it was probably the emotional highlight of this program. I think you're right, Dick, I think that both Evan and Johnny wanted to get this thing done cleanly.
DB: Relief, maybe a little vindication at the end of this one.
Lysacek: Relieved, very relieved.
Announcer: Meanwhile, Evan Lysacek. Looking kind of relaxed backstage, but uh, he'll be looking very closely at the numbers that we'll see in just a moment for Johnny Weir.
DB: Weir has never lost to him at the National level. So. See what the judges think.
1: I think that it's going to be close. Pretty much a tie.
DB: The point is that they're both good, and they both gave fine performances, and they'll come out close together, and it'll still come down to the final program.
1: But remember, it's all about the numbers, and not the placements as you head to the free skate. So 78.14, that's in second place, but guess what, it's less than a point behind Evan Lysacek.
But what might be interesting is that this could be a breakthrough for Evan, like mentally, it doesn't matter how much he beat him, he still beat him.
Johnny Weir 2008 Nationals short program
DB: Johnny Weir, who's come to St. Paul to get his title back. His reign as three-time US Champion three times in a row ended last year by Evan Lysacek. And last year it seemed he'd lost the spark for skating. Maybe a hangover from that disastrous Olympics. You remember at the Olympics he finished second in the short program but then after an uninspired and disastrous free skate fell all the way down to fifth place overall. He says he's refocused now, he's had a great Grand Prix season. His short program will not include a quad jump, but he is planning a quad for his free skate. Refocused, rededicated, and here, intending to get his title back. This short program meant to honor Russia, the country he loves so much. It's a Russian love story about a sailor who chooses duty over love and dies for that decision. Johnny Weir, short program.
1: And just the look in his eyes is completely different than what I've seen over the last couple years, he's focused, he seems very comfortable on the ice, and this short program is well within his reach. He opens with a triple lutz-triple toe-nothing to it. His program is front-loaded with jumps. The next is the most difficult in this program, a triple axel, forward takeoff, three and a half revolutions, beautifully landed.
3(f): He's meant business all week. He may be a flamboyant character, but in fact, his skating is pure. Beautiful edge quality, soft soft landings.
1: Straight line footwork sequence. The steps, the edges, brackets, turns, toes, use all your body to get as many points out of these seconds as possible. But the focus that he's displaying in the short program is something that I'm not used to seeing from him.
DB: And Johnny Weir brings them to their feet in St. Paul.
3: Well, the idea with the short program is get the job done, and that's exactly what Johnny's done. It was a calculated performance, perhaps a little bit slow with speed, but yet he got it done. And he got every little checkmark in each of the little boxes. Now his combination is an easier one than we'll be seeing.
1: But you don't get extra points for doing it wrong. Yeah. The quality was there on everything. Some of those things were maybe a little slower than we're used to, but the positions were there, and he got all the others in.
3: You know it's gorgeous. Really great.
1: Great effort. We always knew that he knew how to skate, but does he know how to compete. And I think he just showed that he can learn how to compete.
3: It was a smart performance.
1: Triple lutz here look at the height, the rotation, beautiful air position, great backward landing with speed and look he steps right up into it, beautiful backward position with speed and flow. You get extra points for that called Grade of Execution. Triple axel again. Look at the focus in his eyes, forward takeoff, one, two, three, look how easy this is.
3: The landings are so perfect.
DB: And here come the scores for Johnny Weir. A little Russian in there. Total score 83.40, which is a personal best in a short program for Johnny Weir. Johnny Weir throws down a personal best to the rest of the men here after the short program.
Johnny Weir 2008 Nationals long program
DB: But he said he was refocused, he wanted his title back. In first place after the short program with a personal best, will he try the quad. He's attempted it three times in competition and never landed it cleanly.
1: If he has the quad, it'll be right here…he went for it!! Slightly two-footed landing, he'll get the credit for the quadruple rotation but it'll be a little off from the Grade of Execution similar to Evan Lysacek. That was so gutsy.
3: Triple axel-triple toe loop. Beautifully done.
1: Another triple axel!
3: He means business. The music is an original composition for him. It's called Love is War. It's about good and evil, and there's a broken heart of his costume on the front. So many layers to Johnny Weir.
1: Last jump in this program, a triple fliiip, and he hangs onto it, a little turn out at the end. Watching Johnny throughout the years, you sense him skating above the ice. This is the first time that I've sensed him skating into the ice. Total command of what he's doing. Confident. Relaxed
3: Trained.
1: Trained. Focused. And what an effort to put up against Evan Lysacek, the reigning champion. This is going to be really interesting to see what marks he's able to pull out, component scores. He's done everything he possibly can.
DB: And the emotion flooding through Evan Lysacek backstage. It's in the hand of the judges. You said, after the short program that he was learning to compete. Has he ever.
1: And it was always your question, you know, just how focused he was on the competition. You know, you knew he was a good skater, but this was just extraordinary.
3: To see his talent so developed now in every area.
1: He did everything he came here to do. Now it's out of his hands, but man.
3: He has the artistic spirit but he trained as an athlete. And it shows, and he's earned this. He's earned this.
1: That's how it's done. Close the show, throw it down. Did the quad. He's making a statement here.
3: And here's how he started the program, just so agressively, beautiful quad, ever so slight two foot landing, but he kept that level of performance from beginning to end. Gorgeous triple axel. Perfect technique. Soft landing, right into a triple toe loop, the thing about Johnny is his edge quality. The way he moves about the ice. And of course, his passion.
1: Yeah, just another day at the office. Right Johnny? Just another day at the office. It means so much. Only once a year you get to compete for a national championship.
DB: Lysacek watching the monitor backstage with his coach Frank Carroll.
3: What a great fight, for both of them. What a great competition.
1: Again, you know what Evan can do is extraordinary. You know, the last thing we saw was Johnny Weir, this could be really close.
DB: You predicted it.
1: Ahh, I have no idea. Johnny again did everything he could but it's going to interesting.
DB: The judges, taking their time. He needs 161.38 a personal best to win. 161.37
1: Oh-ho-ho-ho man.
3: My goodness!
1: What do we have, what do we have here?
DB: 244.77. That's a.
1: It's a tie.
DB: It says second place there, but it's a tie.
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Johnny Weir 2004 US Nationals Long Program
It's in Johnny Weir's hands, the 19-year-old originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Now he's in Newark, Delaware. The 2001 World Junior Champ, on his fourth trip to Nationals.
Dick Button: And he has to sustain the technical merit through the program. If he can do that, and not flake out it will be a major step forward for him.
1: Opening combination, triple axel-triple toe.
DB: That was a beauty! Wonderful posture. Wonderful style and position. And he has planned a quad. He'll be the only skater in this competition to have done it if he does it. Here it is. Triple salchow, he replaced it. Playing it safe.
1: Triple axel again.
DB: That's as steady and as solid as you can find, anywhere. There's a change in that position to a bent-leg free position.
1: Johnny Weir's very much trying to make amends for what happened last year in the free skate. He was in second place. A number of things happened to him. He got his blade stuck between the ice and the wall, he fell into the board, he fell again. The referee allowed him to restart his program and then a fall created an injury and he had to withdraw.
DB: Triple lutz-triple toe. Wow! I'm gonna tell you this is one heck of a competition. Triple flip. Circular footwork. That costume by the way is a series of icecicles, which explains why, what the intent is with Dr. Zhivago, the motion picture. Triple loop jump. Straight line footwork. Not as inventive as I think he is able to do, but what technique there has been in this program, these moves in the field at the end, running trees. Into a final combination. Steady, centered spins, cannonball position, and a catch-foot with wonderful wonderful style in it. Well, well. Oh, brother. (laughs)
1: He grew up watching skating on tv. One winter his parents bought him a pair of used ice skates, he went out on a frozen pond near his home in Lancaster Pennsylvania and now it looks like he's gonna be the National Champion. We'll wait to see what the judges think though. Michael Weiss, he's applauding that performance from Johnny Weir. Back with his marks, in a moment.
Back live at the State Farm US Figure skating championships, Johnny Weir brough ‘em out of their seats. He's never medaled at the US Nationals. He may win the gold medal. Michael Weiss has the lead right now.
DB: But he should be very proud of the fact that he skated well and these marks show how well Johnny Weir did. Oh, brother, look at that, the guy had done eight triples, he had another one planned and he left it out at the very last part of the program. You know, that's the ability to change your mindand think through-A perfect 6! He deserved it. He deserved it.
1: With Priscilla Hill in the Kiss & Cry enjoying the fact that seven of the nine judges put him in first. Johnny Weir has just won the National Championship.
Johnny Weir 2005 US Nationals LP
1: So it's Goebbel, Savoie, and Weiss. Your top three, remember there are three spots for men at the world championships in Moscow, and usually, in fact, almost always. It's the top three at Nationals. There's a committee that selects them, but uh, that's the way it'll go. Weir.
DB: Look at the time he takes, taking his place on the ice. It seems like all the skaters are doing that now, it's almost like it's the operation of the day.
1: You've got two minutes to do it and, that's the in thing these days, I think you're right, to take as much time as possible. What a comeback for Weir last year, winning the national title after literally hitting the wall in Dallas the year before and having an awful time of it.
How good has his year been? The major events for the top names in the world are the Grand Prix series events. He won two of them, came in second in another one, losing only to Evgeni Plushenko, the World Champion. But he is coming back from a foot injury that took him out of the Grand Prix Final.
DB: He is athletically graceful beyond belief. He's like a greyhound almost, the way he moves into his jumps with extaordinary ease. Notice how he picks up his legs, the free foot on the back crossovers.
1: Not just a performance, but a statement.
DB: One of the best performances I've ever seen. And certainly one of the best that he's done. He has absolutely every quality. He's on the line with the music, there's his personality, his skating style, long and stretched out, and it grows on you. It leads to an endless impact. Wonderful.
1: Goebbels the leader, but maybe not for long. Johnny Weir what a performance.
DB: D on't forget, you have Evan Lysas-Lysacek still to come. The youngster trying to medal for the first time here at Nationals
1: Back live at the State Farm US Championships, and Johnny Weir, you can say it Nick, is one of the best, in the world, at this point.
DB: Look at this triple axel-triple toe loop and the way he eases up into the air, just smooth like a gazelle going up, and just I mean just really superb. Eight triples he landed, the most you can do with no quad. And watch this, how he steps up into that and the perfect stretched turned legs at the landing, and the straight-out landing, not curled in. And another straight line footwork. He has a wonderful extra quality with it, I mean it's really just magnificent. He had a little bobble right there and I think it upset him and the rest of this, another one, right there, that was not his best performance for a straight line. But he's awfully good.
1: Remember the 9 6.0s that Belbin and Augusto got in the free dance, they're giving those out, and this is the last year most likely for that system, the last year.
DB: Those are wonderful marks, 5.8 and 5.9, they tell you exactly what it was, he did not leave it on the practice ice, he did not make a mistake. And the 6.0s are a real credit to the quality of elegance of his skating. I'm very happy for him.
ANN: 5 6.0s for Johnny Weir. There's your new leader.
Johnny Weir 2006 US Nationals Short Program
Kurt Browning: So Savoie falls, but is able to make up ground elsewhere, and in the top spot right now. And our next competitor
KB: There's the headliner, the man who's captured the title the past two seasons. 21-year-old Johnny Weir. He became one of the top skaters, really, in the world, with his performances the last couple of years, but this season, Dick has not been a great one for him, he came in seventh at Skate Canada and injured his left ankle, he was out for a while and did win a bronze at Cup of Russia, but he's trying to get back on track at the right time
DB: You know, it's interesting to look at his right hand. He's wearing a red glove on it and that represents the head of a swan. The rest of-- the music, by the way, for example, is original music for a great creation of a dying swan choreographed originally for Pavlova. Usually done by a very dramatic and exciting female. He takes it into the male role.
KB: One of the most interesting personalities in the sport. He's already won the award for the best press conference here this week.
DB: Right.
KB: Let's see if he can nail this triple axel and go for his third US title. Perfect. Skating around like there's no one else in the building and nothin' else on his mind. Wow. There's some pieces of music that you have got to be an amazing skater to skate to, and I think that he's made the right choice, cause he rises to the challenge. Ballet reference at the end of a beautiful piece of footwork.
KB: I guess in the old system, that would have been a 6?
DB: And a very interesting, very interesting--he didn't take the role which is normally one of a dying swan, it's usually done by a very...uh, eh, eh. Wow! I mean I am impressed because this role is such an iconic role from anything, being a very aggressive dancing of the Maya Plisetskaya of Europe, of the great Russian tradition to Pavlova and he plays it not only as a male swan but as a female swan, lyrically and beautifully, a wonderful combination of lyric skating. Road less travelled is one that Johnny Weir goes down often.
KB: Priscilla Hill, his long-time coach. And Dick, when you go Matt Savoie and Johnny Weir back to back, it isn't your average pedestrian jump-fest.
DB: Oh, it is not at all. You know, it's the quality of skating that counts, the way you get from one end of the rink to the other that is the most beautiful. We all marvel at great quadruple jumps and those are essential for the sporting aspect of this, but it's the music and the beauty of skating that stands, that takes it out of the realm of being just pure sport.
KB: We're going to take a look at Johnny's triple axel. He starts his program, like I said this music needs everything to be smooth, well look at that landing. And there's something about the way that he checks out of his jumps. Well, you can't see his arms in this shot. But everything is looking relaxed, everything's looking like this, well, like a swan in water. Seriously.
KB: One of the reasons why he's the best, probably, is that he gets points everywhere he goes. The sit-spin, as Dick often says, totally centered, perfect positions, you can see everything cleanly. Changing to an inside edge that the new system is asking for, variation of position. A difficult position, holds it and looking cool the whole way. Well, I'm not sure about the red glove.
DB: The red glove represents the head of the swan.
KB: I know, but he didn't use it very much.
DB: No, not at all, not at all.
KB: So I was wondering why was it there.
DB: You talked about him looking cool, and not seemingly feeling the pressure, but the outburst at the end, the emotion that was pent up coming out after his program, you know he felt the pressure of not having a typical year this year, due in part, to injuries, but...(laughs)...as Brian Boitano watches from the stands.
KB: Scott Hamilton's here too.
DB: That's right, last Olympic gold medalist in the US. Watching here in St. Louis. Now the marks. 72.51. That's what he'll need to lead. 43.60 very good for technical elements. 39.64 for the old artistic mark, now called program components. And it gets a wow from Johnny Weir as it did from Dick Clark. Solid lead for Johnny Weir and well beyond his personal best at this point under the new system. Weir, Savoie, Ryan Bradley the top three so far here in the men's short program.
2006 US Nationals Long Program
KB: Johnny likes to do things at his own pace, his own way, and he's making us wait. And typical. That triple sow perfectly on the music. As will be almost every single step of this program.
DB: Oh, look at how he changed that into almost a combination, not quite, but...
KB: Yeah, I think that was a little clever creation on Johnny's part.
DB: Look at how he lifts up one leg. That's called caressing the ice.
KB: Wow, and he sure caressed the ice on those two landings, showing another triple-triple combination. In complete control here tonight.
KB: Unlike Ryan Bradley, who went out and grabbed the audience by the throat and said LOOK AT ME, Johnny's a very internal skater, and sometimes, internal skaters kind of lose the audience. He's landing these jumps beautifully, but he's not, I think, getting this crowd.
DB: I think part of that is due to the music, don't you? I don't find this music sweeping with highs and lows, highs and lows...
KB: And yet, look at these great jumps.
DB: They're wonderful. But that's sort of like repetition of the same element. It's not, it's not coming from the -- at least we don't see it coming from the heart.
KB: Why, he's just a fantastic skater, we've got to get pretty picky if we're going to find anything wrong with it.
DB: One of the things is I think he's changed this program as he's doing it tonight, holding things, taken out things, and switched them around.
KB: I don't know what program he did, but it has nothing to do with the jump sheet they gave us. Wow. Good, but not triumphant. The crowd getting to their feet, but I think it's out of respect for his talent, it wasn't out of respect for what's happening tonight on the ice. I'm, I'm worried that when he goes to the Olympics he's going to skate that great, like he did tonight, and not create the moment that he needs to be the Olympic champion.
Waiting for his marks. And the way I counted it, he had four combinations, and you're only allowed to do three, so we'll see if they give him credit.
DB: What that means is you simply don't get marks for --
KB: Right.
DB: And remember Evgeni Plushenko losing to a [someone] one year because of that under the new system.
KB: Under the new system you have to be a good skater and a good mathematician.
DB: Uh-huh. But also he changed this program while he was doing it. He, he, this was not the program he did in practice, or that he had given in as part of the jump sheet that tells you what he's doing.
KB: It is enough, Dick, to take the lead over Savoie, but he did not get credit for that last combination?
Johnny Weir 2006 Olympics short program
1: At least he’s not alone on the ice.
DB: You know actually he doesn’t really utilize the story very much. The story is of a swan that’s been shot and is dying and it’s nothing to do with Swan Lake, and it’s quite an intriguing story. It was one of the great great performances by Pavlova and Maya Plisetskaya, and one of the, I mean really outstanding moments in dance, and I think he plays it quite plainly and simply.
1: First time competing on Olympic ice. Every day he’s been more and more comfortable with it, but the adrenaline can really take over. His first jump is very difficult, a triple axel. Beautiful! Combination triple lutz into triple toe.
3: Uh.
DB: The thing to watch there is the ease with which he does it, the smoothness, the quality of skating.
3: Johnny has an ideal physique for a figure skater. A beautiful softness. Everything he does is so naturally fluid.
1: Nice variation of steps on this circular sequence. You get the sense while watching him practice that if you tell him he can’t do something, he will very casually prove you wrong. Triple flip. Uuuahh, and he hangs onto the landing there.
DB: Look at the flexibility, the centering, the sitting position.
1: His final element, a combinatin spin. Camel to an outside edge sit spin. Beautiful effort by Johnny Weir. Clean short program, well done.
3: It was a beautiful and an intelligent performance. Step by step. He thought it through and still he had the freedom to skate with inspiration.
1: He’s just so calm. Olympic pressure for the very first time, he steps forward into this triple axel. Look at the height, the coverage of the ice, and an easy landing. Very casual. Combination triple lutz, he picks right here, vaults into the air, one two three rotations, he’ll reach back, triple toe loop, one two three rotations. One foot landing beautifully presented.
DB: And Evgeni Plushenko, the favorite to win the gold medal who was the second man to skate tonight still watching from the stands in the lead. And Johnny hoping to put a little pressure on him. And here come Johnny’s scores. Technical mark first. And 40.99, 39.01 for program components. That gives him a total of 80, an even 80 and puts him in second place behind Plushenko. Johnny Weir, a successful Olympic debut, as he skates a solid program that takes him into second place.
Johnny Weir 2007 Nationals Short Program
Comentator 1: So here's the man who's won this title the past 3 years. He would be the first 4-time winner since Brian Boitano back in the eighties. 22-year old Johnny Weir set to go. He says he's worked harder in the time period from that Grand Prix Final, remember the injury, the withdrawal, the hip. Said he's worked harder in this time period than ever before. And he's ready.
Comentator DB: I think what he's done is that he's decided that this is an Olymic competition and that training, technique, and performance under pressure comes first, and all the artistry and the creative elements come second. And that should be the way it is for him tonight.
1: Well, the second half of the double billing here in the men's event doesn't even have to try to be artistic, he just is. And he's been nailing this triple axel all week in practice…just like that.
DB: He's always had great, great jumps. The problem is that he's not been as well trained and as well competetive as he is tonight.
1: Very clean. He's here to fight.
DB: The whole program is more serious.
1: More masculine.
DB: Stronger, much tigher…
1: One jump left. Footwork sequence into a triple flip.
DB: Even the beat of the music is strong, powerful, and that's the kind of skating that he's been showing this year, much moreso than in the past from him, before, somewhat more frivolous or creative or with less power underneath them.
1: Moving across the ice with this footwork sequence, that's like old school I would call it, before the old - the new system was put in, making great time across the ice. Most of the skaters taking a long time to get the elements in. Johnny chose speed. Once spin left, and we've got a clean short program.
DB: You know, that was, that was a very complete program. He landed his jumps, there were no mistakes. It kind of lacked a little bit of fire. It didn't have the speed that he normally has. Everything was good, and he'll get wonderful points for it. But it didn't have his-it's not that it…
1: I'm behind you a hundred percent….but he's just so good.
DB: Oh wonderful!
1: That he can, he can get away with it. Do you think the fact that the season really hasn't been what he expected, then he had the injury, comes back here, pressure on himself, he just wanted to get through this short program…
DB: Yes, absolutely.The point is with all of this is that you've gotta be up at such a high level that when you're not quite at your peak you can still drop, and still be the best. And that's the important thing that he's been looking for, and what he's achieved tonight.
1: and the point being mission accomplished for both of these skaters, now the judges have to split them.
DB: Now look at this triple axel, watch this, arms, as he lifts up with the free leg there, beautiful stretch, beautiful, beautiful…eh, you know, revolutions. Terrific.
1: Combination combing up. Triple lutz. What you can't see is the flow, coming out of the second jump, there you go, one two three revolutions triple toe, and he makes it look easy.
DB: Now one of the things that he's always had is good entrances into these movements. These are called transitions. That's a very quick turn into a triple flip, not the highest one I've ever seen him do, but good revolution and clean and steady out.
1: The straight line footwork was absolutely fantastic. It was fast, and it was moving, and it was probably the emotional highlight of this program. I think you're right, Dick, I think that both Evan and Johnny wanted to get this thing done cleanly.
DB: Relief, maybe a little vindication at the end of this one.
Lysacek: Relieved, very relieved.
Announcer: Meanwhile, Evan Lysacek. Looking kind of relaxed backstage, but uh, he'll be looking very closely at the numbers that we'll see in just a moment for Johnny Weir.
DB: Weir has never lost to him at the National level. So. See what the judges think.
1: I think that it's going to be close. Pretty much a tie.
DB: The point is that they're both good, and they both gave fine performances, and they'll come out close together, and it'll still come down to the final program.
1: But remember, it's all about the numbers, and not the placements as you head to the free skate. So 78.14, that's in second place, but guess what, it's less than a point behind Evan Lysacek.
But what might be interesting is that this could be a breakthrough for Evan, like mentally, it doesn't matter how much he beat him, he still beat him.
Johnny Weir 2008 Nationals short program
DB: Johnny Weir, who's come to St. Paul to get his title back. His reign as three-time US Champion three times in a row ended last year by Evan Lysacek. And last year it seemed he'd lost the spark for skating. Maybe a hangover from that disastrous Olympics. You remember at the Olympics he finished second in the short program but then after an uninspired and disastrous free skate fell all the way down to fifth place overall. He says he's refocused now, he's had a great Grand Prix season. His short program will not include a quad jump, but he is planning a quad for his free skate. Refocused, rededicated, and here, intending to get his title back. This short program meant to honor Russia, the country he loves so much. It's a Russian love story about a sailor who chooses duty over love and dies for that decision. Johnny Weir, short program.
1: And just the look in his eyes is completely different than what I've seen over the last couple years, he's focused, he seems very comfortable on the ice, and this short program is well within his reach. He opens with a triple lutz-triple toe-nothing to it. His program is front-loaded with jumps. The next is the most difficult in this program, a triple axel, forward takeoff, three and a half revolutions, beautifully landed.
3(f): He's meant business all week. He may be a flamboyant character, but in fact, his skating is pure. Beautiful edge quality, soft soft landings.
1: Straight line footwork sequence. The steps, the edges, brackets, turns, toes, use all your body to get as many points out of these seconds as possible. But the focus that he's displaying in the short program is something that I'm not used to seeing from him.
DB: And Johnny Weir brings them to their feet in St. Paul.
3: Well, the idea with the short program is get the job done, and that's exactly what Johnny's done. It was a calculated performance, perhaps a little bit slow with speed, but yet he got it done. And he got every little checkmark in each of the little boxes. Now his combination is an easier one than we'll be seeing.
1: But you don't get extra points for doing it wrong. Yeah. The quality was there on everything. Some of those things were maybe a little slower than we're used to, but the positions were there, and he got all the others in.
3: You know it's gorgeous. Really great.
1: Great effort. We always knew that he knew how to skate, but does he know how to compete. And I think he just showed that he can learn how to compete.
3: It was a smart performance.
1: Triple lutz here look at the height, the rotation, beautiful air position, great backward landing with speed and look he steps right up into it, beautiful backward position with speed and flow. You get extra points for that called Grade of Execution. Triple axel again. Look at the focus in his eyes, forward takeoff, one, two, three, look how easy this is.
3: The landings are so perfect.
DB: And here come the scores for Johnny Weir. A little Russian in there. Total score 83.40, which is a personal best in a short program for Johnny Weir. Johnny Weir throws down a personal best to the rest of the men here after the short program.
Johnny Weir 2008 Nationals long program
DB: But he said he was refocused, he wanted his title back. In first place after the short program with a personal best, will he try the quad. He's attempted it three times in competition and never landed it cleanly.
1: If he has the quad, it'll be right here…he went for it!! Slightly two-footed landing, he'll get the credit for the quadruple rotation but it'll be a little off from the Grade of Execution similar to Evan Lysacek. That was so gutsy.
3: Triple axel-triple toe loop. Beautifully done.
1: Another triple axel!
3: He means business. The music is an original composition for him. It's called Love is War. It's about good and evil, and there's a broken heart of his costume on the front. So many layers to Johnny Weir.
1: Last jump in this program, a triple fliiip, and he hangs onto it, a little turn out at the end. Watching Johnny throughout the years, you sense him skating above the ice. This is the first time that I've sensed him skating into the ice. Total command of what he's doing. Confident. Relaxed
3: Trained.
1: Trained. Focused. And what an effort to put up against Evan Lysacek, the reigning champion. This is going to be really interesting to see what marks he's able to pull out, component scores. He's done everything he possibly can.
DB: And the emotion flooding through Evan Lysacek backstage. It's in the hand of the judges. You said, after the short program that he was learning to compete. Has he ever.
1: And it was always your question, you know, just how focused he was on the competition. You know, you knew he was a good skater, but this was just extraordinary.
3: To see his talent so developed now in every area.
1: He did everything he came here to do. Now it's out of his hands, but man.
3: He has the artistic spirit but he trained as an athlete. And it shows, and he's earned this. He's earned this.
1: That's how it's done. Close the show, throw it down. Did the quad. He's making a statement here.
3: And here's how he started the program, just so agressively, beautiful quad, ever so slight two foot landing, but he kept that level of performance from beginning to end. Gorgeous triple axel. Perfect technique. Soft landing, right into a triple toe loop, the thing about Johnny is his edge quality. The way he moves about the ice. And of course, his passion.
1: Yeah, just another day at the office. Right Johnny? Just another day at the office. It means so much. Only once a year you get to compete for a national championship.
DB: Lysacek watching the monitor backstage with his coach Frank Carroll.
3: What a great fight, for both of them. What a great competition.
1: Again, you know what Evan can do is extraordinary. You know, the last thing we saw was Johnny Weir, this could be really close.
DB: You predicted it.
1: Ahh, I have no idea. Johnny again did everything he could but it's going to interesting.
DB: The judges, taking their time. He needs 161.38 a personal best to win. 161.37
1: Oh-ho-ho-ho man.
3: My goodness!
1: What do we have, what do we have here?
DB: 244.77. That's a.
1: It's a tie.
DB: It says second place there, but it's a tie.