BAD NEWS: I just heard that Ina & Dungjen did withdraw because of the injury Jason suffered in practice today. This is very unfortunate because they were favored to win the bronze.

Now for the fun stuff. This morning Katia was scheduled to make an appearance at the Ice Plaza. The exact time was not clear so I ended up arriving almost 2 hours early. That meant that I missed a lot of the ladies qualifying. We were watching for her to appear and actually saw her walking down the sidewalk into the tented area. She passed right by us. I was sort of shocked but said "Hi, Katia" she said "Hi" back! I got some great close up pictures of her when she was standing on the stairs waiting. As soon as I got some pictures I ran across the street because Michelle's qualifying group was on right then! I got there just in time to see her take the ice for warm-up. BTW, they were selling her new book "Letter to Daria" and her perfume "Katia" at the Ice Plaza.

Elena Sokolova skated very well and as you may know is in 3rd place in group A. I saw Viktor today and got his autograph. I also talked to him for a short while, I really like his accent! He was mobbed all day it seemed, poor guy. Michelle was to be the 3rd skater but after the first skater she was out ready to take the ice?? The girl from Norway (who was to be 2nd) didn't show up and they gave her 2 minutes but she never came out. The announcer said that due to equipment failure she was forced to withdraw. That's so sad! Michelle seemed prepared for this and was not phased in the least. She was perfect and landed everything including the 3l which she doubled in her run-through yesterday. Her landing on it was a little weak but no big deal. Her scores were 5.7-5.8/5.9 (technical/presentation). the 5.7's were from Germany and Finland. We all roared with excitement and she smiled big as she left the ice. She also waved at people in the crowd when she was waiting for her marks.

I saw Robin Cousins in the British (I guess) announce booth. Irina was next and almost crashed into boards at the end of her 3z 2t. She put a hand down on the 3l but landed everything else well and of course had great spins. She is in 2nd place with marks of 5.5-5.7/5.5-5.8.

Tonia skated earlier, had a few problems including at least 1 fall but is in fourth in group A. I saw Frank Carroll come sit close to where I was and I went and sat next to him, got his autograph and chatted with him for a while about music. He seems very knowledgeable about music and didn't appear to mind me talking to him at all. Later he had lots of autograph seekers.

Maria skated in group B and did very well. She is in first place in that group (no surprise) and only had one botched jump, she stepped out of the 3l. Silvia Fontana (ITA) had an OK skate but smiled afterwards and hugged all the kids giving her flowers. She seems like a very lovely person. Anna Rechnio who is very exciting skated awesome and I believe stayed in 2nd place behind Maria. The crowd has really latched on to her, in part because she is a complete skater. The highest jumps I've seen, great presentation and flair and good spins. Definitely watch for her (she's the Nicole look alike) Her marks were 5.3-5.6/5.4-5-7. It is very fun to see a skater that no one has ever heard of be so great! Tanja didn't do so well and is in 6th in her group, I think. Frank Carroll clapped for her (I didn't see him clap for anyone else) Marks 4.9-5.3/5.3-5.7.

I ran into Elena Bereznaia and Oksana Kazakova in the hotel and got their pictures! I later saw Anton and got his autograph. I also saw Christopher Dean! and Jill Trenary walking down the sidewalk but I missed meeting them. I'll try again tomorrow for sure. This is really getting out of hand because I feel like I am so lucky! Everywhere I go I run into all these famous people!!!! I saw Marina Anissina board the shuttle so I know she's here now. I also saw Maria & Irina in the mall and Irina was carrying a Victoria's Secret bag. She was also smiling!! WOW! I got a picture of Meno & Sand in the mall too.

We then cruised back to the Ice Plaza to see Kurt Browning (I LOVE Kurt Browning!) He was so adorable and funny the whole time he was there. I saw him talking to some people before hand and got a picture. He then came out and talked to us for a while (it was extremely crowded) He said things like "Thanks to Reidell for helping to put this on" and "I bet you are all going through Elvis withdrawal, Let's all observe a moment of silence for him!!!" When he skated onto the ice there were 8 girl skaters with flags that he skated in between. He said he'd never had such a nice entrance before. Almost as good as Scotty's receptions with Stars on Ice! He joked around a little and asked how many people were from Canada (some) England (none) Germany (none) "Oh yeah, Katarina Witt's not competing anymore"! He said the he was sorry but that he had to warm up and he didn't want to do it alone so he went over and got 4 of the girls and asked them to skate with him. He even held one's hand and pretended to be a pairs team with her. It was so cute and the girls were thrilled (who wouldn't be). He was playing with the crowd the whole time during warm-up including pretending to crash into the boards smiling for picture takers, etc. He then skated to Antares. Even on the small yucky ice he landed many triples. The crowd whooped and hollered the whole time. He took a long time to come out to sign autographs and we decided to leave because the line was so long we didn't think we'd even get to him before he had to leave (45 min. of signing was all)

By the time Kurt was done the ladies qualifying was over and the only thing left to see was Free Dance practice. I read that Katia was signing autographs at Target in a suburb about 20 minutes away and decided to go. I got there and the line wrapped around the whole store almost. She looked very tired but still looked very beautiful up close and I'm thrilled I got to see her.

I checked out the dancers but no one good was there. I saw Judy Blumberg there checking them out. I left after a few minutes to come home and write this exciting report. Katia, Kurt, Christopher, Jill, Elena, Oksana, Viktor, Robin & Meno & Sand all in one day. What will tomorrow hold?