THE WAY THINGS WORK OUT (Chapter 169)

They started Tuesday on the mountain, with their skiing-fan friends, to watch the men's Super Giant Slalom. Another chance for Alan Zimmer and the Austrian champ, Ingo Buell, to battle it out.

"As long as we don't have any more pesky Canadians getting in the way," Otto joked.

They didn't. Ingo Buell skied excellently. However, three skiers later, Alan Zimmer skied the Super G of his life, beating Buell by a full half-second. When all was said and done, Zimmer had won his first Olympic gold medal. The Austrians good-naturedly grumbled-and celebrated with Warren and Sophie. Buell took the silver.

That night, on the ice, was the men's short program.

Sophia and Warren sat in the stands with a very nervous Kristin. "I think I'm more nervous than Tom is," Kristin confessed with a giggle. "God, I so want him to skate well."

"He will," Warren assured her. "He's ready for this."

He skated fairly early, and did skate well. He was perfectly clean, and skated with verve and flair. He took the early lead.

However, looming in the later groups was the three-time World Champion, Lavrenti Bladanikov. He was one of the last skaters to skate. Tom was still in the lead when he took the ice.

Everything started out well. He did a fine spin, and some choreography. Then he took off into his combination-the quadruple toe-triple toe. He went up into the quad, landed-and put a hand down.

"Yes!" Kristin hissed softly. Then looked chagrined. "Jeez, it's not nice to root against people." 

"It's only natural," Warren laughed.

Bladanikov completed the rest of his program without error, but blowing the combination was a huge mistake. That was an automatic .5 deduction on the technical mark.

However, his presentation marks were so high that he still managed to finish the short program in third place. That kept him in contention, because anyone in the top three would win the gold if they won the long program.

"What a gift," Sophia snorted.

"Of course. He's the three-time defending world champ and he's Russian. Two things that move him right to the front of the gift-getting line," Warren said.

Tom wasn't upset, though, when they talked to him afterwards. "I expected them to somehow keep him in the top three. The big thing is, though, I have momentum."

"That's the spirit," Warren told him.


The next day, Wednesday, after a morning practice, Warren and Sophia headed off to the luge run.

It was the second day of the women's luge. Warren wanted to come and watch Marta, the Estonian luger who carried their flag in the Opening Ceremonies that Warren had chatted with.  Sophia and Warren got there, and checked out the scoreboard-after the first two runs, Marta was in third, behind two German lugers.

They found a place near the luge run-and were surprised to see Marta walking along side, working out the kinks in her muscles. "Warren! You came!"

"Sure did. We love all these sports, anyhow." He introduced Marta to Sophia. 

"This is great! I love the Olympics, you get to meet so many people," Marta grinned. "I'm going to be watching you guys skate, too, but there's a reason for that. There's an Estonian dance team. They have no shot," she laughed, "but the female of the team is a girl I've been friends with for years."

"Inga Taalsen," Sophia smiled. "We've met her-she's a sweetie."

"They're great, she and her partner. Like you said, they have no chance-top 15 would be a coup-but they love to skate," Warren said. 

"I'm gonna love telling her that the Olympic Gold Medallists came to watch me luge."

"Don't count those chickens, we haven't won anything yet," Warren warned.

"She says you're a shoo-in," Marta teased. "Anyhow, got to go slide. Thanks for coming!"

Sophia looked at Warren for a minute, bemused. "You flirt with every girl in the world, don't you?"

"I wasn't flirting!"

"Oh, sure you weren't," she teased.

"I was not. Her boyfriend's a biathlete. They shoot guns while on skis-do I look stupid to you?"

Sophia cracked up.

Marta ended up moving up to second over the last two runs, winning the silver medal.


The next day, Thursday, Sophia and Warren watched some more skiing, hung around the village, and then headed to the rink for the men's long program.

Kristin was still nervous. "I think I'm more nervous, because he's definitely got a shot," she said. 

The rest of the skaters skated first. Tom was the second-to-last to skate, and Bladanikov the last. So, they just watched and chatted through the rest of the skaters. 

Then Tom took the ice. Skating the program that Warren and Sophia had choreographed for him, he was wonderful. He hit every jump cleanly and sold the program wonderfully. 

Then came Bladanikov. His first jumping pass was the same combination, quadruple toe-triple toe, that he had put a hand down in the short program. He didn't put a hand down this time-but he did, ever so slightly, two-foot the landing. The rest of the program was clean as a whistle.

That little two-foot was all it took. Tom beat him by one-tenth of a point in the technical mark on every judge's card, and that was the difference. By a 6-3 split, Tom became the Olympic champion.

And, when the results were posted, you could've heard Kristin's scream in Montreal!

Afterwards, talking with the rest of the American team, Sophia said the same thing that she had said after the pairs' competition: "American sweep! American sweep!"

"Not only that, it's a Kelleher choreography sweep," Andrea teased.

"Well, the only person that can beat Liz is Allison," Tom pointed out. "So, Sophia, that whole American sweep thing? That's all up to you two!"

"PRESSURE!" Warren shouted, to laughter all around.


Friday began the ice dancing. The Quickstep original dance was the first phase.

Amy and Ryan skated very early, and very well. Their marks were probably a little low, but that was a function of how early they skated. Courtney and Evan skated shortly thereafter, and were just behind their American teammates.

The first of the contenders to skate were the British team, Brenneman and Watts, and they skated lights-out. They'd had a good quickstep all season, but here they really nailed it. The ovation was rapturous and the marks were very high.

Sophia and Warren were next up, and skated their Scott Joplin program perfectly. It was fun and upbeat and got another thunderous ovation. However, when the marks came up, they had been beaten by the Brits by the slightest of margins.

The Canadians, Damphier and Gaudler, the defending World Champions, had a few problems, which dropped them down to third. The Russians were in fourth.


Saturday was the second original dance, the rock and roll. Sophia and Warren knew their Ramones program was as difficult as it gets. They knew that, if they skated it clean, it was unbeatable.

They skated it clean. In fact, they nailed it as perfectly as they ever had before. Even with all the rest of the contenders still to skate, they got a few sixes on the technical mark.

Brenneman and Watts skated well, but not nearly well enough to challenge Sophia and Warren. The Russians were decent, but finished behind the Brits. The Canadians skated fantastically in front of the home-country crowd, and finished second.

Going into the final phase, the free dance, Sophia and Warren had a clear lead. The Brits were in second and the Canadians third.  However, it was so close that any of the top three teams could win if they won the free dance. The Russians were fourth. Amy and Ryan, and Courtney and Evan were tied for fifth.


Sunday was an off-day. Sophia and Warren relaxed, saw some other events, and hung out. They were ready for the free dance Monday night.






