European cowboy skaters

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There’s something about male European figure skaters and cowboy costumes.

Italy’s Samuel Contesti came out Thursday night wearing a brown suede vest and a gun belt — we’re really hoping he didn’t have a couple of Colt .45s in his pockets. He was wearing a necklace though. Most cowboys skip the jewelry. His music was ‘Once Upon a Time in the West,’ and when Contesti finished, it would have been cool to see him ride off into the sunset on Traveler, the USC horse, just for fun.

At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, a Danish male figure skater did a qualification program to some sort of western techno-pop music, and he wore pink leather chaps and a yellow vest. It was, to say the least, an odd combination. My recollection is that he didn’t make it out of qualifying.

—Diane Pucin