Worlds-2007

Although Denkova & Staviski have said many times they will not be competing next season, Staviski refused to say this was their last compulsory. He said, "We will take a break but we won’t necessarily be stopping competition."
Denkova seemed more certain they would retire. She said, "Even if this isn’t the last compulsory of our career, it is the last compulsory of the season and already that makes us happy. It’s a relief not to have to do the compulsory anymore."

They have not conceded that their time at the top is over. "Ice dancing has ceased to be a sport when once you are first, you stay first as long as you skate clean. The results change. We like that this is now possible."

When asked about how they dealt with taking bronze at the recent European championships, behind the French winners and the Russian runners-up, when they had expected and thought they had skated well enough to take the gold, Staviski said he did not think about that event. "Why should we think of that event? We think, instead, about our world title."

Pointing to the large bag of furry toys the fans had tossed to them on the ice, Denkova said, "You can see how much the Japanese fans love us."

http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/worlds%2007d.htm

Elfaria wrote:

[color=indigo]I feel that Albena is for retiring... and Max is for continuing...

so, the things are 50/50

All Three U.S. Dance Teams in Top 10 After Original Dance
by Laura Fawcett






Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto
Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP

2007 World Championships News, Results and Photos
(
3/22/07) - All three American ice dancing teams are in the top 10 after Thursday's original dance at the 2007 World Championships. Using the international judging system to their advantages, Team USA racked up level fours on every element to stake its claim as one of the strongest overall teams in the worlds.
Reigning World bronze medalist Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, fifth after the compulsory dance, gained ground on the leaders by collecting the highest technical elements score of the competition. They trail leaders Albena Denkova & Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria by half a point (99.52-99.02).
Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon of Canada, leaders after the compulsory dance, were third in the original and are now second overall (99.50).
Belbin laughed that the key to their success today might have been running into the boards – which she did just a few seconds into the program. She had to put her hands on the board to keep from hitting it with her feet, but the incident was not part of any of the required elements.
“We didn't actually have [an original dance] practice in this arena before and it doesn't have hockey lines like the other arena,” Belbin said. “I think we just started our beginning too close to the boards. I'm staring at Ben the entire opening, and I don't look away from him. So by the time I stepped forward to see where I was, it was too late. But I recovered all right. The rest of the program could have gone better had I not been disappointed and distracted by that little bobble.”
Belbin and Agosto completed the trifecta started by Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov by earning all level fours.
“We were really excited to see that we finally got all level fours, which we haven't been able to capture the footwork,” Agosto said. “Running into the boards, maybe that adds a level .. a new element.”
Belbin also revealed that she's had a rough couple of weeks. During a rhumba practice she fell over Agosto and landed on her elbow, which subsequently cracked her rib. Then, she developed food poisoning right before their pre-Worlds monitoring session.
Meryl Davis & Charlie White moved up two places to eighth overall with another one of Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva's technically packed programs. Their youth was reflected in the lower program component scores, and both Davis and White know that working more on passion is in their future.
“We just need to mature a little bit,” Davis said.
Her partner agreed.





Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski
Photo by Toru Yamanaka/AFP
“Now that we have the technical, we really want to focus just on speed and a lot of relating to each other,” White said.
While Belbin and Agosto had the highest technical score, Davis and White weren't far behind, with the fourth-best technical score. Not surprisingly, the third Shpilband-Zoueva team, Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, had the third-highest technical score. Davis and White's original dance score was a personal best (55.82).
Skating earlier in the day, Gregory and Petukhov's score of 53.15 held up well for the rest of the event, and they also moved up a spot to 10th overall. They are about 2 and a half points out of of ninth place.
This is their first competition since the U.S. Championships, as an injury to Petukhov forced them to withdraw from Four Continents.
“I don't think it (the injury) affected the training, but it was definitely more challenging,” Petukhov said. “You never like when something hurts.”
“Always when you have an injury it's always mentally challenging, it kind of breaks your schedule,” Gregory added. “You get so set in your mind for what you need to do, and when it's altered because of a thing like an injury.”

Defending World champions Denkova and Staviski are in first after a powerful and passionate program. The team, which has already announced plans to retire, changed their music after the European Championships.
“It is still the same piece, but it is played by a violin player, Vasilev,” Denkova said. He played it especially for us during a show, and we felt really wonderful with this music [so] we decided to take it for the World Championships. Obviously, it brought us luck!”

Compulsory dance leaders Dubreuil and Lauzon were third in the original dance after having a tiny bit of trouble on their twizzle sequence. The glitch resulted in a zero grade of execution, which was enough to put them third in the close competition.
The dance competition concludes Friday afternoon.

http://www.eurosport.com/figureskating/world-championships/2007/sport_sto1124870.shtml

http://topsport.ibox.bg/news/id_226320608

For people who do not understand Bulgarian...

Maxim has said what he would do when they finish skating He speaks as if they have already decided to stop competing

Albena says that OD was their favourite dance, and that they do not think about marks, points and judges - they want only to give pleasure to the audience! So CLASSY!

And Maxim does not look like David Bekham! Maxim is A LOT MORE SEXY AND HANDSOME!!!

aline wrote:

Thank you for the article !
maxim is funny saying : "It's nice they think I look like David Beckham, Thank you very much. If only I could get as much money as Beckham that would be great!"

He should skate for that amount of money, shouldn't he? I mean, their skating worth millions anyway. So they might as well just give the money to them!!

about their OD:

Quote :

“The audience responded really well to us on the ice. We tried not to think of the elements and the placement, but of the emotions of the Argentine Tango”, Denkova told the press. “People always say “Skate like it’s your last competition.” For us it is actually our last competition, so we don’t need to pretend. We’re just skating for ourselves and the public. We just want to dance!” Staviski explained.

Article In french: http://www.20minutes.fr/article/147596/20070323-Mondiaux-de-patinage-les-Bulgares-Denkova-Staviski-remportent-la-danse-les-Francais-4e.php

Quote :

Pour leurs adieux à la compétition, les Bulgares ont patiné sans pression et sans faire de faute. Albena Denkova, une ancienne gymnaste passée à la danse sur glace avec Maxim Staviski en 1996, va désormais se consacrer pleinement à sa fonction de présidente de la Fédération bulgare de patinage.
"C'est merveilleux d'avoir une deuxième médaille d'or. Nous avons été très forts pendant cette compétition, aux entraînements comme dans nos programmes. C'est merveilleux d'arrêter devant un tel public", a déclaré la patineuse.
Son partenaire a offert son bouquet de fleurs à Marie-France Dubreuil et a remercié ses adversaires "d'avoir été si forts": "cela nous a poussés à être meilleurs".

A very nice Canadian article It has some really good quotes in it. Not as good as the Beckham quote but still...

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070323.wsptskate23/GSStory/GlobeSportsOther/home

A little translation

For their Last competiton, the bulgarians skated without mistakes. Albena Denkova, who was a gymnaster before an ice dancer, can now be the president of the bulgarian skating federation full time.
"It's wonderful to have a 2nd gold medal. We were very strong in this competiton, during the practices and the programs. to stop in front of this public " said the skater.
Her partner gave his bunch of flowers to Marie-France Dubreuil and thanked his adversaries "for having been so strong": "that pushed us to be better".

Figure skating: Bulgarians' intricate swirls win ice dance title
The Associated Press
Published: March 23, 2007

TOKYO: Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria won their second consecutive ice dance title Friday at the World Figure Skating Championships, while the women's short program started with a strong effort by Kim Yu Na of South Korea.

The Bulgarian pair, skating together in a competitive event possibly for the last time, had a score of 201.61 points, topping the Canadians Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon with 200.46. Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto of the United States were third with 195.43 points.

Denkova and Staviski, in white, took the gold with a free dance program to a modern arrangement of Mozart's Requiem. At the end, Denkova was balanced on Staviski's knees in a routine full of intricate spins and rotations.

"It is probably our last competition," Denkova said. "We were thinking about it that this could be our last year. We cannot say 100 percent, but I think so." Staviski said: "It's enough. I want a life. But she is the president of the federation."

The Canadians' free dance to a throaty version of "At Last" by Etta James was a more relaxed skate.


"It was a lot more pressure last year," Dubreuil said. "The worlds were in Canada and it was the first time we were going back to Canada since our accident at Torino." Dubreuil was hurt when she was dropped heavily on her hip in the Olympics in Turin, resulting in the pair's withdrawal.

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France were fourth, with Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia fifth.

Belbin and Agosto finished fourth in their free dance to "Amelie." Belbin lost her balance on a twizzle — a one-foot spin — nearly bumping into Agosto.

"I can't believe I missed my twizzle. I never do that," she said. "I felt relieved we finished, but disappointed."

Kim, the Grand Prix champion who is skating with a sore back, scored 71.95 points as she skated to the sound track music "Moulin Rouge" in a routine full of unusual entries and exits of jumps and spins that earned bonus points. Mike Ando of Japan was second with 67.98.

The two favorites, the defending champion Kimmie Meissner and the local star Mao Asada, were fourth and fifth, respectively. The women's competition runs through the weekend.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/23/sports/skate.php

So who wants to stay?! Albena or Maxim?!
I understand them...they want a life. I want that too, for them!!