Written By: Cortney

Salt Lake City, Utah February 2002, this was the first time the Olympics were going to be held in the USA since Atlanta in 1996.  I got to experience Atlanta, but sadly Salt Lake is too far away. :(  I remember seeing the commercials for the events, and the ice skating one that I saw was always about Jamie and David.  I had a very good feeling about them taking home the gold, little did I know the drama was yet to come.

February 9, 2002 - The start of the pairs event.  I was never so excited about watch the Olympics then I was this year.  I really got into watching ice skating back in 1994, and learned to skate right before those Olympics.  I was 12 years old, and at the time, Nancy Kerrigan and Tanya Harding were big news.  I really don't remember much about the first night, but I remember asking myself if Jamie and David's fall at the end of the program was real.  My mom was for sure it was, but I saw in pictures that they weren't suppose to fall!  But I got a good chuckle out of it.

2 days later on February 11, America was marking the 5 month anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, while the pairs event was getting ready to be decided by the long program.  The top 3 going in were the Russian's, Canadian's and the Chinese During the final warm-ups, Jamie and the Russian skater, Anton had a scary collision, and that was the first thing that was televised when they came on to air finals.  I first thought they weren't skating, but I was happy when they reported that both Jamie and Anton were alright. I watched as Elena and Anton made their small mistakes and thought, all Jamie and David had to do was skate cleanly and the gold was their's.  That is exactly what they did!  I was so excited!  When the marks came up for the first set, I was like these are good, GET ON WITH IT!  Then the second marks came up and all the sudden you hear the crowd booing and I looked down and saw current position 2nd!  I was so mad that I stomped up and down the hallway and in my room.  Our next door neighbors called to make sure everything was alright.  I was like what is going on, switch!  Then I realized it was never going to change, and I was heart broken for both Jamie and David.  They skated the best performance of their lives, and yet some of the judges felt it was the silver performance.  The Russian's didn't have the golden performance, Jamie and David did.  But what can you do, you aren't one of the judges. Continued Home