The Girl Can’t Help It; She’s 15

While the figure skating world debates the fairness of excluding 15-year-old Japanese sensation Mao Asada from the Turin Olympics, defending world champion Irina Slutskaya sees the issue as clear-cut.

“If she don’t have her age, she can’t compete,” Slutskaya said last week during a telephone interview from her home in Moscow. “She can compete in the next Olympic Games.

“She is a good jumper, but she is still young, a young girl, and she is skating like a young girl.”

International Skating Union rules state that skaters competing at the Olympics must have turned 15 by July 1 of the year preceding the Games. Asada, a ninth-grader in Nagoya, turned 15 on Sept. 25.

The provision was established for medical reasons, on the theory that skaters who can’t compete at the Olympics won’t practice as hard and will incur fewer injuries. But Asada was allowed to compete on the Grand Prix circuit, where she finished second to Slutskaya at the Cup of China and defeated two-time world silver medalist Sasha Cohen of Corona del Mar in Paris to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.

Slutskaya, who will be 27 the day before the Games begin, lost the Grand Prix Final to Asada, which could explain her bias. But she has a point in that her program component scores -- for skating skills, transitions, performance/execution, choreography and interpretation -- were higher than Asada’s in the short program but Asada earned a higher technical element score because of her remarkable jumping.

In the long program, Slutskaya had better scores in every program component except choreography but Asada prevailed on the technical element scores and won by eight points.

“It’s really hard to put us together,” Slutskaya said. “She is jumping, just a junior skater. You can be a good jumper, but you must be a woman, too. She really is not.”

Without Asada on the scene, and with injuries muddying the prospects of Cohen and five-time world champion Michelle Kwan of Manhattan Beach, Slutskaya appears to be the Turin favorite. She finished second at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City behind Sarah Hughes, who won’t defend her title.

“It will be exciting to go in there,” said Slutskaya, who in 1996 became the first Russian woman to win the European championship and finished fifth at the 1998 Nagano Games. “No other competition can be the same. The Olympic atmosphere is not like any other.”

Slutskaya said she missed Kwan’s friendship and competitive push this season. “I was waiting for her in China but she was injured. I was so sad,” Slutskaya said. “She is a great competitor and I look forward to seeing her soon.”

Slutskaya, who trains in Moscow and has been coached by Zhanna Gromova since she was 6, said she was “so happy” with her season, which included two trips to Japan and one to China. That would test anyone’s stamina -- and hers has been depleted by vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels that can impair blood flow.

She’s scheduled to compete twice before Turin: at the Russian championships this week in Kazan, about 500 miles east of Moscow, and the European championships, Jan. 16-22 in Lyon, France. “The Russian championships is a really tough competition for me,” she said. “I’m always a little bit nervous.

“I’m a little bit tired, and I hope to take a rest after the Russian championships.”

Whining, Not Winning

Being a free spirit is one thing. Bode Miller seems to be turning into a boor.

Miller, last season’s overall World Cup ski champion, told reporters in Europe he will “quit the tour” if the International Ski Federation doesn’t rescind the fine it imposed against him for refusing to hand over his ski boots for measurement after a slalom run at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, last week.

“It makes no sense. I want nothing to do with these people and the way they run the tour,” he said. “It’s the same with the drug testing.”

Miller previously said doping rules should be eased because athletes know if their bodies can handle substances that are considered dangerous or performance-enhancing.

Last season, he said he might not compete in the Olympics because he abhorred the trappings of celebrity but later signed with Nike as a signature endorser.

Miller was fined 999 Swiss Francs, about $762, for declining to let ski federation officials measure the thickness of his boot soles. He contended that in theory, he could have tampered with the boots after he took them off and before he was asked to submit the boots for testing. The fine remains in place.

Here and There

Winners of the men’s and women’s moguls and aerials competitions at Friday’s U.S. Olympic freestyle ski trials will win Turin nominations. Jeremy Bloom of Loveland, Colo., the 2005 world championships overall champion, is likely to face his toughest competition from 2005 moguls world championships gold medalist Nate Roberts of Park City, Utah.

Among the women, Hannah Kearney of Norwich, Vt., the 2005 moguls world champion, will vie for a berth against 2002 Olympic silver medalist Shannon Bahrke of Tahoe City, Calif., and two-time U.S. champion Jillian Vogtli of Ellicottville, N.Y.

In the aerial events, 2002 silver medalist Joe Pack of Park City and 1998 gold medalist Eric Bergoust of Missoula, Mont., will compete against 2005 World Cup champion Jeret Peterson of Boise, Idaho, whose hurricane jump -- three flips with five twists -- is considered the most difficult in the sport.

Runners have two final chances to get a personalized bib for the March 19 L.A. Marathon. They can register by Saturday at www.lamarathon.com, or at the Walk/Run/Swim event on New Year’s Day at the Santa Monica pier.

UCLA sophomore Tasha Schwikert, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team and an alternate in 2004, underwent surgery on her right shoulder Monday that’s expected to idle her for two to three months. Schwikert is the NCAA and Pacific 10 Conference all-around champion and was a first-team All-American in her debut season with the Bruins.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Looking ahead

* Monday through Wednesday at Kazan, Russia: Russian figure skating championships. The competition will determine who makes the powerful Russian team for the Turin Games. Evgeni Plushenko is the defending and five-time men’s champion; Irina Slutskaya is the defending champion and four-time women’s winner.

* Tuesday at Bloomington, Minn.: Announcement of the U.S. women’s Olympic hockey roster. Team USA finished second to Canada at Salt Lake City after winning the inaugural women’s tournament at Nagano in 1998. Team USA will play Canada on Friday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

* Wednesday, at Lienz, Austria: Women’s Alpine World Cup giant slalom and slalom. The giant slalom points leader is Janica Kostelic of Croatia; the slalom leader is Anja Paerson of Sweden. The overall World Cup points leader is Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria, with Kostelic 10 points behind. The top-ranked American is Lindsey Kildow, in fifth place.

* Thursday, at Oberstdorf, Germany: World Cup ski jumping. The World Cup points leader is Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic, with Janne Ahonen of Finland 117 points behind.

* Thursday, at Bormio, Italy: Men’s Alpine World Cup downhill. Fritz Strobl of Austria is the downhill points leader, with Michael Walchhofer of Austria second. The overall leader is Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who’s eight points ahead of Bode Miller of Bretton Woods, N.H.

* Friday, at Steamboat Springs, Colo: U.S. Olympic team trials for freestyle skiing. Wild-card berths will be awarded to the winners of the men’s and women’s moguls and men’s and women’s aerials.

* Friday, at Oberhof, Germany: Nordic Combined World Cup event. Hannu Manninen of Finland is the points leader. Todd Lodwick of the U.S. ranks 10th.