Denney/Coughlin备战2013-2014赛季(为奥运多次更换节目)

美国双人滑组合Denney/Coughlin 近日接受icenetwork.com的采访，谈到了他们备战奥运的一些情况：



其中要点包括：
Coughlin受伤手术后开始了奥运赛季的备战。Denney/Coughlin的团队在春季时曾去加拿大的魁北克找编舞Julie Marcotte为他们打造了两套全新节目（短节目《真假公主》，自由滑《卡萨布兰卡》）。尽管他们非常喜欢这两套节目，但是通过和教练，裁判以及家人的讨论后认为在伤病复出后不适合挑战两套全新节目，于是他们决定继续使用上赛季的自由滑《剧院幽灵》，并做出了一些的修改。在六月份他们参加了Broadmoor Open 比赛，赛后裁判交流时表示，希望他们的短节目能更有爆发力一些，于是他们找到了Christopher Dean 为他们打造了全新的短节目《托斯卡》。

之后，带着《托斯卡》和《剧院幽灵》他们参加了 Colorado Championships 比赛，比赛中他们短节目获得了67.05分，自由滑132.51分，199.56的总分是他们的一个新高。此外1992年冬奥会银牌得主Paul Wylie也对他们进行了一些指导，而在技术方面他们在托举，螺旋线等环节也下了较大的功夫。他们新赛季将首先参加在美国盐湖城举办的B级赛U.S. International Figure Skating Classic


访谈原文：

Denney, Coughlin have luck, village on their side
Revamped programs unleash power; Dean, Marcotte, Wylie are all aboard
By Lynn Rutherford, special to icenetwork.com

(08/13/2013) - These days, it takes a village to create the perfect (or near-perfect) figure skating program.
Coaches lay the technical groundwork. Choreographers select music and moves that present skaters to best advantage, while judges and technical experts impart wisdom. Trainers keep bodies humming; mentors build confidence.

Luckily for Caydee Denney and John Coughlin, all of the above were ready and able to pitch in this spring.

"Someone is looking out for us," Coughlin, 27, said. "Too many positive things have been happening."

It didn't feel that way last December, when Coughlin underwent hip surgery to repair a torn left labrum. The Colorado Springs-based skaters, who won two bronze medals in the 2012 Grand Prix Series, were unable to defend their U.S. title. Then, despite Coughlin's vigorous physical therapy at the Olympic Training Center (OTC), they had to sit out the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships.

"We tried to get ready in time for worlds, but considering John's health and the well-being of his hip, there was only so much we could do," Denney, 20, said. "We didn't want to rush back too quickly."

"Our ultimate goal is the Olympics," Coughlin said. "We scheduled the surgery when we did so that I could recover in plenty of time for this season. If I had rushed back, all the work I put into rehab could have been for naught."

Coughlin returned to the ice the day after the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in late January, but it took months to regain full strength. The break from competition gave them extra time to decide on music and choreography for the Olympic season.

Good thing, because that turned into a journey.

"We went to Julie Marcotte in Quebec this spring, and she gave us two beautiful programs," Coughlin said. (Marcotte created a short program to the soundtrack of the 1997 animated feature Anastasia, and a free skate to music from Casablanca.)

"Her work is outstanding. We loved the programs, but I was still getting back to full strength," he continued. "We had an honest conversation with our coach (Dalilah Sappenfield), judges and family members, and decided it was ambitious to get two new programs so soon after such a traumatic injury. Throughout the process, Julie was an incredible person to work with."

Denney and Coughlin felt the tug of Phantom of the Opera, last season's free skate. Choreographed by Pasquale Camerlengo, the program was only performed in international competition three times.

"We decided to latch on to something familiar and visited Julie again to refresh the Phantom program and give it the intricacies that will make it stand out," Coughlin said. "We like what Julie had done to bring new character and life to Phantom. She helped unleash the powerful style we want in our skating."

"We never really finished the Phantom program the way we wanted," Sappenfield said. "We changed some music, so the ending is stronger. I created a new carry lift, which I wanted to do last year."

Judges who saw the program during the Broadmoor Open in late June liked it so much, they wanted to see similarly explosive power in the pair's short program.

"Their message was, 'Don't depart from your bread and butter in an Olympic year. You're powerful skaters with big tricks; set that off with powerful music,'" Coughlin said.

"Everyone loved the choreography; it was more about the feeling of the music," Sappenfield said. "The judges wanted to see power right off the bat."

In the end, the skaters decided melodrama from Puccini suited them better than lighter fare.

"The judges wanted music that would let us skate more free, and that led us to Tosca," Coughlin said. "Obviously, choreography is not interchangeable. Luckily, Christopher Dean was in town."

The 1984 Olympic ice dance champion (with Jayne Torvill) and star of Dancing on Ice resides much of the year in England but lives in Colorado Springs. He lent his formidable talents to the Tosca short.

"The beginning of the program is iconic Christopher Dean," Coughlin said. "It's dramatic, with breathtaking lifts and tricks."

"There are dance lifts in both programs," he continued. "The choreographers are dancers at heart. If you're not twirling and creating an intricate picture, you're not working hard enough."

Sappenfield especially valued Dean's artistic input.

"It's good for the kids to have a male figure that solely focuses on the components," she said. "To see those things from a male point of view is different. ... He enforces those little details that are so important."

Denney and Coughlin displayed both programs during the Colorado Championships earlier this month. Judges were enthusiastic, awarding 67.05 points for the short, 132.51 for the free and 199.56 total, the highest score the pair has ever achieved.

"We were lucky to get in contact with judges early this season," Coughlin said. "Just a few months ago, we were on the road to recovery. We happened upon Julie, and then Christopher Dean was in the rink when we needed help.

"Both of them were willing to do what they could for the greater good of the team. You can't say that about all choreographers. They are very passionate people, perfectionists about their work. Julie was so willing to take our feedback and appreciate our inner struggle."

Paul Wylie, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist, has also been on hand, lending support as a mentor.

"Paul was here for a few weeks this summer, and he will be coming back," Sappenfield said. "He had a great motivational session with all of my skaters, speaking about his own experiences and giving them a lot of good ideas on how to work through things, especially during the Olympic year."

"We've enjoyed it very much," Denney said. "It has been an honor working with people to prepare for the season."

As for their technical elements, it's been back to basics with Sappenfield at Colorado Springs' World Arena.

"We have a new carry lift in the free skate and it's set well to the music," Denney said. "It's a fun lift to perform. We've worked hard on the death spiral; it's improved quite a bit. Now we're working hard on the programs, to have them grow."

"If anyone ever asks me what my greatest accomplishment was as a coach, I'm going to say the death spiral," Sappenfield said. "The back inside and back outside [death spirals] were not great for her. We've really gone back and learned it, and it's a good element for them now. We hope for Level 4 this year."

Next stop is U.S. Figure Skating's Champs Camp later this month. From there, it's the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Salt Lake City in September, before Skate America in October.

"We always ask for a senior B to test our programs out before an international panel and gain feedback before our first Grand Prix," Coughlin said. "It's also an opportunity to earn ISU ranking points, which affect your start order at worlds and other competitions.

"To gain all that, without the stress on the body of international travel, is amazing. The schedule is ideal for us. We're traveling a little less, and that lets us maximize our training time, so we're lucky there, too."