LA Times关于BA周四接受测试的详细报道。
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-skate28-2009feb28,0,5437019.story
目前出战世锦赛与否还不是板上钉钉的。虽然BA上周四成功地通过了小范围的测试,他们还要在3月12日接受一次更大规模的‘期末考试’。主考将由国际裁判组成,通过考试才能去LA。但BA非常有信心会在期末考出好成绩。
下面摘录了他们的谈话部分,Tanith说这次挫折对他们备战世锦赛产生了前所未有的激励作用。他们会让裁判看到自己不但已经完全恢复了比赛状态,而且水平比赛季初有了进一步提高。这将是他们准备得最充分的一次世锦赛。
Tanith还特别对DW的第一个全美冠军表示祝贺,她说能看到他们顶住压力,以优异的表现实现自己的理想,让她深感欣慰。她坚信BA, DW和SB将为美国赢得奥运冰舞的3个名额。
Agosto's back injury forced ice dancers to miss U.S. event, but they perform before a panel of judges to show their fitness.
By Helene Elliott
February 28, 2009
Ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, the Turin Olympic silver medalists and five-time U.S. champions, have cleared the first hurdle standing between them and a confirmed berth at the World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles.
Belbin and Agosto had to withdraw from this year's U.S. championships because he had a back injury. They petitioned for a place on the World team and were granted that wish with the provision that they prove their fitness before the competition, which begins March 22.
Belbin said by phone Friday the duo had performed for a panel of judges Thursday at their rink in Aston, Pa., and had no difficulties. She said they will perform again March 12 for a larger group that will include members of U.S. Figure Skating's international committee, and she's confident the final decision will affirm their readiness to compete at Staples Center.
"We'll definitely be there, absolutely," she said. "We've been training hard. If anything, this injury and this setback have given us a lot of fight. Ben pushed through it and we're more invigorated than we'd be without it, even."
She said they had no problems with their performance Thursday and that Agosto emerged in good physical shape. The judges, she said, wanted "to make sure we're still all in one piece and we certainly are.
"We've been doing run-throughs for a few weeks now so we're actually ahead of schedule in terms of what the doctors predicted that Ben's recovery would be," she added. "So they were able to see us not only recovered but improved from the last time they saw us."
"I'm just really happy that they were able to take on that pressure and to step up and grab what they were looking for. It's always good to see somebody get what they were after," Belbin said of Davis and White.
"Between Meryl and Charlie and ourselves and Evan [Bates] and Emily [Samuelson] I think we have a good chance of retaining three teams.
"I'm really proud of the progress ice dancing has made in the United States. It hasn't been just this year -- it's been the last several years. But this year in particular I think all the teams have been really standing out and I'm happy to be part of that."
A strong and healthy part of that.
"A few weeks ago, if there was anything that we had to hold back on it was the time we spent" on the ice," Belbin said. "For the past few weeks we've been on the ice for a regular amount of hours and training hard. We anticipate being even more prepared than we have ever been for worlds."
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