U.S.'s relationship with Russia still on thin ice

SALT LAKE CITY - In men's international skating, sides are still chosen along lines drawn during the Cold War.

The Soviet bloc vs. the United States.

In the days leading up tonight's Olympic men's short program at the Salt Lake Ice Center, the struggle for global supremacy was clearly wearing on both sides.

Alexei Yagudin, the three-time World champion and co-favorite with former training partner now bitter rival Evgeni Plushenko, is feeling the burden of being expected to extend the three-Olympics winning streak by skaters from the former Soviet Union.

"It's unbelievably hard to be the hunted," Yagudin said Monday. "It's not just two of us. That's the Olympics. You know it's way easier to try and get to first place than to try and keep it."

The Americans, meanwhile, have grown irritated by questions about the Soviet bloc's dominance, which also includes victories in the past four world championships. Since Brian Boitano's 1988 sweep of the Olympic and World titles, the U.S. team has won just one world title, Todd Eldredge's 1996 victory, and hasn't finished any higher than fourth in the past two Olympics.

"Favorites," said U.S. skater Michael Weiss of the Russians. "That's all they are. Favorites."

"I don't know where this persona is coming from that they're unbeatable," said Frank Carroll, coach of U.S. skater Timothy Goebel. "I'm amazed by (these) statements that the Russians are so good.

"I don't think Yagudin was so good in Skate America a year ago against (U.S. champion) Todd (Eldredge). The Russians do fail," Carroll said. "A lot of the time they completely run out of gas. They're wonderfully artistic in spurts, but they're no great marathon skaters as far as getting through a long program all the way well.

"So they have their flaws and they have their weaknesses."

But international judges have rarely shared Carroll's artistic vision. More often than not, judges from Eastern bloc countries continue to vote together. This tendency has led to the Soviet/ Russian dominance, Carroll and other American skaters and coaches maintained.

Carroll said the way Russians and Americans view skating is totally different, "So it's a controversy."

A controversy that shows no sign of going away.

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