A Handshake Away From the Spotlight

This was the skating you remember.

This was the twirls on the pond, the leaps over the snow, the daring, the joy.

Four days after staggering into the Olympics unshaven and with scandal on its breath, figure skating emerged Thursday in a clean shirt and smile.

As impossible as it once seemed, they held a men’s long program without controversy, without allegations, without shame.

There was a winner who kissed the ice and wept during the scores.

There was a runner-up who skipped and posed and laughed.

There was a kid who became the first Olympic skater to complete three quadruple jumps, yet still finished third, yet didn’t complain once.

There were thousands who cheered every skater, for every move, embracing the Russians as tightly as the Americans, as warmly as the Canadians.

And there was a handshake.

Perhaps it could all be explained by this handshake.

Maybe you didn’t see it. These days, people don’t look for that sort of thing in figure skating unless the hands are changing money for votes that are being swapped.

It didn’t involve Russian winner Alexei Yagudin, or Russian runner-up Evgeni Plushenko, or third-place finisher Timothy Goebel of HealthSouth Training Center.

The hands were older, more calloused.

One belonged to American Todd Eldredge.

The other belonged to Canadian Elvis Stojko.

Eldredge, 30, was leaving the ice after his third and final Olympics.

Stojko, 29, was entering the ice for his fourth and final Olympics.

Usually competitors in this situation quickly skate past each other.

But this time, Stojko stopped. Eldredge stopped. They clasped hands. They shared a glance.

The only two male skaters recognized by casual skating fans were realizing the importance of the moment.

Said Eldredge later: “We’ve been together 12 years. There’s a lot there.”

Said Stojko: “We’ve been through the same ups and downs. We understand.”

What they both understood Thursday is what everyone has forgotten during the few brutal days of the pairs judging controversy.

“There is a big cloud hanging over the games, but skating is not about that, the Olympics are not about that,” Stojko said. “Yeah, I thought our Canadian pairs team outskated the Russian team, but I had tears in my eyes during both performances.

“Everybody’s focus has become so much on results, everybody is forgetting to appreciate the effort of someone just doing their best.”

So the two “old” guys started Thursday’s drama by doing just that.

Yagudin became the first male skater in Olympic history to receive more than two perfect 6.0 scores, as he received four perfect scores for presentation.

Yet nobody grabbed the moment and the crowd like Eldredge.

Plushenko, in a funky matador outfit with flowing blond hair, revealed a toughness that pushed him from fourth place to second.

Yet nobody showed more soul than Stojko.

“Lot of these young skaters, they get on the wave, ride it to the top, then find something else to do,” Stojko. “There’s something special in hanging in there when the wave hits bottom, and riding it until it ends.”

Thursday’s ride began with Eldredge, America’s annual big-event disappointment who started the night in ninth place.

He opened his program by attempting his elusive quad, just moments after hitting it in warmups.

It eluded him again.

But he didn’t stop skating and finished with a rousing, spinning performance that would have earned him a medal four years ago in Nagano, and moved him up to sixth place here.

“Whatever you say, give him credit for putting it all on the line and going for it,” said his coach, Richard Callaghan.

The fans agreed, giving him a lingering, standing ovation under which he stood with a dazed smile.

“Maybe the most important thing is not to win a medal,” said Eldredge, who never won one. “Maybe the most important thing is to enjoy myself, and tonight, I did that.”

Next up, Stojko, who has struggled physically as Eldredge has struggled mentally. His various injuries have prevented him from remaining the same skater that has won two Olympic silver medals.

“But I still did those two quads right away,” he said with a laugh. “I’m proud that I’m here.”

The quads were sharp, but his trademark martial arts moves weren’t. He dropped from seventh to eighth place.

But the crowd thanked him anyway, with an ovation that sounded like a loud goodbye.

After which, Stojko scored a 6.0 for insight.

“People forget, this sport is bigger than all of us,” he said. “You will eventually drop out, somebody will take your place, and the sport will continue.

“The important thing is to do the most with the time you have here. Make a difference with that time. That’s what it’s all about.”

Before Eldredge and Stojko skated Thursday, two fans in the stands held up adjoining signs.

Drug Test the Athletes. Polygraph the Judges.

By the time they had finished, if only for this night, if only for as long as that handshake, the signs had disappeared.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com