Flamboyant French Skater Predicting Elvis Will Be King

Elvis Stojko will win the Olympic men’s figure skating gold medal, Todd Eldredge will fold in the clutch and Ilia Kulik’s only chance is a change of costume, and fast.

So says Philippe Candeloro, the flamboyant French skater who’s probably out of the running for the gold medal Saturday but never out of piquant opinions about the state of his sport and the curious cast of characters that has turned play-acting on ice into prime-time ratings bullion.

“My opinion for this Olympics is that Elvis should be the winner,” Candeloro said after completing his short program Thursday night, a performance that left him fifth in the overall standings.

“It’s just logical. Any time you have a three-time world champion in the Olympics, he has to be Olympic champion.”

Candeloro, a veteran of international figure skating, ought to know better than that.

Nothing in international figure skating is logical.

Still, Candeloro logically builds his case.

“I know of only one skater who can do the quad followed by a triple jump in combination,” he said. “That’s Elvis Stojko.

“If you do a quad and nothing else, it’s a bull . . . program. Elvis, he can do a quad-triple.

“I know Todd can do a quad in practice. I know Kulik can do a quad in practice. Maybe [Alexei] Yagudin will have to take a risk and do a quad-triple.

“But Elvis has more experience. More than anybody else I know.”

Stojko begins Saturday’s medal-deciding long program in second place, behind Kulik and just ahead of Eldredge, based on results of the short program. If any of the top three wins the long program, that skater will be gold medalist. The judges have already expressed their preference for Kulik, bizarre costuming and all, but Candeloro is less impressed.

“His was not the best program I have seen at the Olympics,” Candeloro said. “It depends if he changes his costume or not. I think there is so much pressure skating at the Olympics, and everybody doesn’t like his costume.”

That would be the hideous yellow and black outfit Kulik wore while winning the Champions Series Final in December. Eyewitness descriptions of this travesty have ranged from “skinny bumblebee” to “crushed banana gone bad” to “vinyl giraffe” to “New York taxi cab running into a cow.”

Kulik’s coach, Tatiana Tarasova, defends the costume, a seemingly impossible task. Yellow is the color of freedom, Tarasova explains, and in this outfit, Kulik portrays a “man walking in New York and the sun hits him.”

Candeloro shook his head.

“He cannot wear the yellow,” Candeloro said.

As for Eldredge, Candeloro fears an attack of center-stage knock-knees.

“I am afraid for Todd,” he said. “Because when he has big pressure, I have seen Todd miss his program. I have seen him like that one or two times before. And there is big pressure when you are skating for the Olympic title.”

And what of Candeloro’s chances?

The judges are not particularly fond of the Frenchman’s unorthodox--i.e., entertaining--program, making it difficult for him to make a Saturday night charge for anything prettier than a bronze medal.

“Me, I stay with my style,” Candeloro said with a shrug. “I don’t care what the judges want. I pay for that [in the short program]. But that’s life.”