At the Olympics, the US figure skating team is overseen by five main officials, a team leader, two assistant team leaders, a doctor and physiotherapist who are supposed to share responsibilities and at least one is to be present for every practice, event, press conference, drug test and so on for every single athlete. As a precursor to my event and the support I could expect to receive from my own team, not one team official showed up to my final official practice that night. Not one.
--sundancechannel.com, SUNfiltered, "Johnny Weir looks back at the Olympics: Fortius Altius Maximus," June 27th, 2010
This kinda broke my heart when I read it in his book. Or, not so much broke my heart as much as majorly pissed me off. The idea that no one in charge would should up to ANY figure skater's practice is just ridiculous, highly unprofessional, and like a slap in the face to said skater, be it Johnny or anyone else. It's over now so it's not like it can be changed, so I won't bother continuing to rant about it, but I continue to be pissed in general about USFS attitude toward Johnny. I don't care if you don't like how he dresses or how he acts. What matters is how he SKATES! Politics should NOT play the role in figure skating, or any sport for that matter, that it does. It's just wrong and totally unfair. But as they say, life isn't fair, which is rather disheartening. *sigh* It kills me to think that Johnny could go out there and pour his soul out onto the ice in Sochi and give a gold medal worthy performance, and possibly STILL not win just because of some stupid political game. Now THAT'S something to be heartbroken over.
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