Sylvia Goes For The Gold (Complete)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sylvia was excited and nervous at the same time. She had worked hard to perfect a combination that she thought would give her an advantage in the competition. It was a double axel, triple toe loop combination. It was very difficult to pull off but she had finally managed to do it creditably so Andrew said that she could include it in her program.

When the competition began Sylvia had Andrew to thank for driving her so hard. Competition was fierce, just as he had said it would be. She was competing against the world's best skaters and they were just as dedicated to winning as she was. The short program had taken place in which most of the skaters were eliminated. Lilly Lavern was disappointed when her final score was not enough to move her on to the free skating program and downright angry when Sylvia, despite a slight, almost in detectable, wobble on one of her landings, took third place and moved on. She had been able to add in a double axel flawlessly executed. Lilly herself had put on a flawless performance netting her a high score for her technical performance, what she didn't realize is that her propensity for perfection made her performance cold and mechanical losing her vital points when it came to her presentation. She also lost points for her costume; the train was too long and kept getting tangled between her legs. Though it never caused her to fall it made her short program comical which didn't go with her serious choice of music.

Sylvia was conscious of the fact that she needed a perfect skate to win the gold in the ladies singles. She also knew that she could not afford anymore mishaps. She was surprised that she had placed as high as she had. She did not realize that she had become a favorite because of her presentation and choreography as well as her skill. She managed to totally enrapt her audience with her moves. She made them feel her emotion and live in the moment.

By the time it was Sylvia's turn in the free skate she knew that she was going to have to give the performance of her life. The scores were tight so she would need something really spectacular to take the gold. She decided, without saying anything to Andrew, to incorporate a triple axel into her program. Unbeknownst to him she had been working on it and had successfully completed it several times in practice. If she managed to land that jump she would incorporate a triple axel, triple toe loop jump combination. Very few women have ever achieved a triple axel in competition let alone a triple axel, triple toe loop jump combination. If she could successfully incorporate it into her program she just might win.

Andrew watched from the sidelines as Sylvia began and was pleased with her performance until he saw her make a slight change. He frowned wondering what she was doing, then gasped as he realized what she was about to attempt. When she completed the triple axel without mishap he was ecstatic, but she was going to hear about it when it was over. But that was not the last surprise she had up her sleeve. He couldn't believe it when she ended her program with a triple axel, triple toe loop jump combination, and managed to land it successfully. The crowd went wild with applause. He watched as she finished then curtsied to her audience, completely captive to their approbation. The silly kid probably didn't realize that she could have lost it all, still might. There was more to figure skating than pleasing an audience.

The Judges looked to see if Sylvia had completed the prescribed elements, her grade of execution, whether she included all the program components, whether she correctly linked her footwork, her performance and execution, the composition and choreography as well as her interpretation and timing. This included her skating skills: such as the use of her edges and her turns, whether she flowed smoothly over the ice surface, her speed and acceleration, the amount of ice coverage, if she had clean and controlled curves, and incorporated multi-directional skating. They would also make deductions if she had both blades on the ice too much, for music violations, and costume and prop violations. Then the Referee could deduct for time violations, interruption in excess and costume failures. Andrew couldn't honestly say how she did because he was busy holding his breath, praying that she completed her program without hurting herself.