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EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
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Unity and patriotic pride
Figure skater Michael Weiss is a two-time U.S. national champion. In 1999, he became the first skater to land a quadruple toe loop in world championship competition. Now, the 24-year-old Fairfax, Va., native is training for the 2002 Olympic Games. Check out Weiss' diary on CNNSI.com as he prepares for Salt Lake.
October 12, 2001 The Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, were a successful start to my Olympic season. Placing second to the current world champion (Evgeni Plushenko) and beating the three-time world champion (Alexei Yagudin) was exactly what I needed to regain my confidence after an injury plagued season last year! My high spirits were soon crushed the morning after I returned home on American Airlines Flight 11 from Sydney to Los Angeles on Sept. 10. My itinerary took me safely home to Washington, D.C. Flight 11 continued on to Boston. We all know the devastation that took place the next morning on Sept. 11. That morning, minutes before taking my daughter to her first day of preschool, my wife and I stood dumbfounded as we realized that less than 24 hours earlier, I was on the very same plane that was now burning inside of the World Trade Center. I do not want to dwell on the tragedies of Sept. 11, but I do want to point out that our country is the greatest in the world. If the terrorists attempt was to divide this country, they failed miserably. All they did was unite us like never before! Our unity and patriotic pride to endure was never more apparent than at the skating tribute I participated in at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 5. It was a dedication to the 1961 World Figure Skating Team that died in a plane crash. The show became an event that honored not only the figure skating team, but also the men and women who were lost last month as well. It was a cast that included all of the icons of our sport past and present -- Michelle Kwan, Dick Button, Tara Lapinski and Brian Boitano just to name a few. The show began with Scott Hamilton leading the cast of skaters in a lap around the rink waving the American flag high. It was a night filled with emotion and inspiration. The skating show's most emotional moment was the performance of Joanna Glick. She is a young skater who lost her brother on United Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Skating to Sarah McLachlan's I Will Remember You, she dedicated her performance to her brother Jeremy. Her brother was a hero of the truest sense. He risked his own life in an attempt to overtake the highjackers, and saved the lives of possibly thousands of other innocent people. After the skating tribute in New York, I went back to work and continue my quest for the Olympic medal. I am currently getting ready for my first skating competition of the Grand Prix Series. Skate America will be held in Colorado Springs at the end of October. It will be important for me to continue my successful start to this skating season and try to build on my confidence from the Goodwill Games. I am very excited to be healthy and "back on track" this year ... and anxious to keep the ball rolling through each competition! I'll let you know how things go!
-- Michael
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