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Transgender figure skater can’t skate CLICK ABOVE ARTICLE LINK FOR THE WEIRD VIDEO A 59 year-old male Finnish farmer took up skating at age 50, declared himself transgender, and performed yesterday under the female name Minna-Maaria at the opening of the European Figure Skating Championship. Finland was proud to announce that they would be including the world’s “first trans figure skater” at the proceedings, only to discover Markku could not skate.

BREAKING: Finland has introduced the world's first transgender national figure skater They fall down in the first 45 seconds and no one is allowed to act like anything at all happened

In the span of a week, three American-born athletes of Chinese descent have been thrust into the spotlight at the Beijing Winter Olympics -- to very different reactions in China. All three were trained in the United States and are only a few years apart in age, but their paths diverged on the way to the Games: freestyle skier Eileen Gu and figure skater Zhu Yi chose to compete for China, while Nathan Chen, another figure skater, opted for Team USA. The young athletes have found themselves embroiled in deteriorating US-China relations, during one of the most divisive, tightly controlled...

The youngest of the U.S. women's single competitors, 16-year-old Alysa Liu, was raised by a single father from Sichuan Province, who had participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests that were violently suppressed by the Chinese government. He fled to the U.S., where he became an attorney in California's Bay Area. Among the biggest stars of the U.S. figure skating team is 22-year-old Nathan Chen, who has won three straight world championships. While Chen was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, his mother hails from Beijing, and he remembers his family taking him to the Chinese capital as...

Karen Chen was strong in the women's free skate for the United States in the figure skating team event, finishing fourth to lock up the silver medal.

Barring a minor miracle, three Russian teenagers would have battled it out for the podium places: 16-year-old Alena Kostornaia and a pair of 15-year-olds, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova. The trio have revolutionized figure skating. What makes them so good? Well, owing to their remarkable jumps, they maximize the technical points on offer. Trusova and Shcherbakova have both mastered skating’s holy grail: the quad, an exhaustive element – and up until recently an unheard-of feat for ladies, which is four full rotations in the air. However, there are concerns. First, rather than a skating competition for women, are we now...

Lucinda Martha Ruh (born 13 July 1979) is a three time Swiss National Champion figure skater, reknowned for her outstanding spinning ability. In April 2003, Ruh set a Guinness world record for the most continuous spins (115) on one foot. She was the fastest spinner on ice ever, clocking at six rotations a second. She has also created over twenty different new spin positions now required performed at competitions. From 2000 to 2006, she toured with Stars On Ice, Champions on Ice, and numerous other world wide tours. Lucinda Ruh - 1999 World Championships - Gliere Harp Concerto

A former pairs champion took his own life Friday, just one day after he was suspended by U.S. Figure Skating. [snip] Coughlin was suspended Thursday by U.S. Figure Skating and U.S. Center for SafeSport. USA Today reported a “matter concerning him” was presented to SafeSport. The details were not immediately disclosed. In December, SafeSport restricted his participation in the sport before the “interim suspension” was announced. He was temporarily suspended from “participating in any capacity, in any activity or competition authorized or organized by USFS or the U.S. Olympic Committee,” USA Today reported.

Denis Ten, a Kazakh Olympic medal-winning figure skater, was stabbed to death Thursday in Almaty, the country’s largest city. He was 25. Ten was stabbed in the right thigh by two men who tried to steal his car’s mirrors, according to news agency Kazinform. He won bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics in the men’s singles competition and was just the fourth Kazakh athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal. Ten was rushed to the hospital, remaining in critical condition until he died from his injuries three hours later.

Bradie Tennell fell. Mirai Nagasu fell. Karen Chen had to put her hand down on the ice to stop herself from falling. Three American skaters. Three errors they likely won’t be able to recover from here at the Olympics short program Wednesday. “I’m mad,” said Nagasu, who is ninth place. “I’m upset.” “I am not going to lie, I am pretty disappointed in myself,” said Chen, who is in 10th. “We’re all human,” said Tennell, who is in 11th. “We make mistakes.” The United States hasn’t won a medal in ladies’ figure skating since 2006, when Sasha Cohen took silver....

After some thought, Adam Rippon has decided to decline the offer of becoming an NBC correspondent for the remainder of the Olympic games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Earlier today, it was announced that the figure skater, who has become a prominent highlight of these games, was going to have his hand at commentary. However, he has decided to turn down the offer after he realized he would have to give up his Olympic standing and credential for the position. By joining NBC as a correspondent, he wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the closing ceremony. “I am so flattered that...

The 2018 Winter Olympics have arrived and the spotlight isn't only on the athletes. The world is keeping a close eye on the skills, performance, and fashion of announcers, too, and on day one of competitions when people wanted a hot new Olympics meme Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski volunteered as tribute. The professional figured skaters showed up looking like announcers for The Hunger Games and Twitter was shook. The two got their hair did and busted out their best maroon sequins numbers for the big night. It was straight up Caesar Flickerman and Effie Trinket in that arena. Josh...

BATTLE GROUND, Wash. —Tonya Harding’s name isn’t Tonya Harding anymore. “My name is Tonya Price,” she said, when she saw me taking notes. In 2010, she had just returned home to Washington from Los Angeles,(snip) She was having drinks with a friend when she spotted one Joe Price, a heating and air-conditioning worker, on the karaoke stage. He was singing “Great Balls of Fire.” “I’m going, damn, he’s got beautiful eyes,” she said. “I mean the eyes are the center to your soul, O.K.? You might have a nice butt, but I want to see the eyes.” Within weeks she...

The two-time national champion Nathan Chen, the veteran Adam Rippon and the rising star Vincent Zhou have been selected to represent the United States at the Pyeongchang Olympics next month. A U.S. Figure Skating Committee on Sunday chose the 2016 United States champion Rippon, who came in fourth at the national figure skating championships on Saturday night, instead of the second-place finisher, Ross Miner. The committee takes into consideration a number of criteria, including overall performance for the season. It will be the first Olympics for all three. Rippon’s inclusion at Miner’s expense isn’t unprecedented; the committee has made such...

With a nearly perfect free skate on Friday, the rising star Bradie Tennell won her first national title and almost certainly earned a spot on the American team for next month’s Olympics.

1988 is when she crashed: “It was nonstop work. The money was rolling in. You have a lot of people relying on you. But I get it, I signed up for the job so follow through – I just couldn’t, I couldn’t follow through. And, I tried to take my life.” Babilonia hit rock bottom. “Once I was getting my stomach pumped, a little light went on saying, ‘You have a voice and you’re allowed to use it. So, girl, use it,’ ” she said. It’s an emotional subject for Babilonia, and some things are still too difficult to discuss....

Johnny Weir and Victor Voronov have decided to call it quits, the figure skating commentator announced on Twitter. "It is with great sadness that I announce that my husband and I are no longer together. My heart hurts, and I wish him well," he wrote yesterday. Even though this relationship didn't work out, Weir, 29, let his fans know he hasn't given up on love. "No matter what, I am a cheerleader of love and partnership and creation. I am sad yet I am thankful that I was loved and that I could love," he added. Voronov added that he...

Change.org, a website that hosts public petitions, crashed Friday morning after a flood of users signed a petition to investigate a controversial Olympic figure skating result. Russia's Adelina Sotnikova won the gold medal in an upset over South Korea's Yuna Kim. After the event, a Change.org petition called "Open Investigation into Judging Decisions of Women's Figure Skating and Demand Rejudgement at the Sochi Olympics" was started by a user named "Justice Seeker." It went viral in a way the website had never seen before. "The petition gained 700,000-plus signatures in just six hours and is sending traffic to our site...

Kim Yuna waves to crowds while wearing her rosary ring in New York City, May 4, 2010. Credit: Jemal Countess/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images for Time Inc. Washington D.C., Feb 16, 2014 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholic Olympian and international skating superstar Kim Yuna is a role model not only of dedication and athleticism but also an example of how to live the faith publicly, a fan says.   Seminarian for the Archdiocese of Detroit and blog writer Evan Pham told CNA on Feb. 11 that he was struck by Kim's simple act of praying on ice during the 2010...