A case of heart

Today, Valentine's Day, is as good a day as any to talk about the elusive quality we refer to as "heart." And while I hate the fact that practically every discussion in America is reduced to a sports metaphor, this is, after all, the Winter Olympics, and nowhere can we find more heart than in the field of figure skating.

Heart is courage, but it is more than that. It is acting in spite of fear, putting aside negative thoughts, and believing in oneself, no matter what. We have seen this quality over and over in figure skating. In Scott Hamilton, who, as a physically handicapped child, stopped growing altogether, but began skating and went on to become a figure skating legend. In Nancy Kerrigan, who survived an attack by a thug and went on to skate only one-tenth of a point short of an Olympic gold medal.

Yesterday, amazingly, we saw it in every pair who won a medal. Gold medalists Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia had scores so high, they blew away the rest of the competition. Their road to the Olympics was rough. In late 2004, Totmianina fell on her face during a one-hand lift at Skate America. She sustained a concussion. She does not remember the fall, but Marinin remembers it only too well, and that was evident yesterday when he became tentative during lifts in the pair's free skate program. Nevertheless, the pair took home another figure skating gold medal for Russia.

The bronze-winning pair from China (who also took the bronze in Salt Lake City), Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, also arrived at the Olympics with quite a story. Last August, Zhao injured his Achilles tendon, putting him out for the season. Though he has not been feeling pain in his foot, he says some of his power has gone, and it was evident in his skating in both the short proram and the free skate. Nevertheless, the pair wound up on the podium.

But it was the silver medalists who will never be forgotten. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China, shortly after they began their free skate program, attempted something that had never been done before--a throw quadruple Salchow. Zhang Dan flew fifteen feet into the air, made two and a half revolutions, then fell to the ice, where she cracked her left knee, and the rest of her landed against the wall. In tears with pain and disappointment, Zhang Dan had to be helped off the ice by Zhang Hao. It looked as though she would not be able to walk, much less skate. Then, a few moments later, after a consult with a trainer, she and her partner returned to the ice and proceeded to skate a program of great skill and artistry, which included a triple twist. Zhang Dan had a less than perfect landing on her last jump, but other than that, she skated as though she had never taken an injury break.

It was an amazing Olympic moment, one which will be talked about for years to come. Not only did Zhang Dan show enormous heart in returning to the ice, but so did Zhang Hao, who had to continue lifting and tossing his partner. Zhang Dan had her knee bandaged for the medals ceremony, which NBC, damn them, did not show.