LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- Five months before the U.S. hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" Olympic performance transformed a sheet of ice into a sports icon, 65 figure skaters tested their skills and built their dreams in an international competition that became known as Skate America.
For Scott Hamilton, it marked his first international gold medal. For Peter and Kitty Carruthers, it boosted their fledgling career as a pairs team after a rocky start. For Lisa-Marie Allen, the win was one of the few times she stood higher on the podium than some better-known women.
The only U.S. event on the six-stop Grand Prix circuit, Skate America gives fans here a chance to see competitors fine-tuning their programs before the national championships in January select the team going to the Winter Games.
"Skate America is very important to us. You want to represent your country and have U.S. skaters on top of the podium," said Bel Air's Kimmie Meissner, the 2007 winner who is sidelined with a knee injury this season. "You can feel the crowd pulling for you and wanting you to do an awesome performance."
This was supposed to be the event at which 2006 Olympic silver medalist Sasha Cohen showed she had shaken off the rust after three years spent on acting projects and ice shows. But injuries continue to hobble her - this time tendinitis in her right calf - forcing her to withdraw Monday and increasing doubts she'll be at nationals to continue her quest for a third Olympic appearance.
As Skate America marks its 30th anniversary this week, Olympic puzzles remain for U.S. Figure Skating leading up to the 2010 Vancouver Games: Is reigning world champion Evan Lysacek ready to add Olympic gold to his resume? Do ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto have the formula to improve on their 2006 silver medal? Can any woman derail South Korea's Kim Yu-Na on her way to the gold medal?
The same types of questions existed in September 1979 before the start of competition.
"If we had been in a high school yearbook with a 'most likely to succeed' and 'least likely to succeed,' we would have been much closer to least likely," said Peter Carruthers, remembering the start of the season. "We were so green. ... Nothing was working. We were trying hard, but nothing was going particularly well."
Hamilton recalled "all kinds of training issues" tied to the fact that the 1980 Olympics and the rink at the Olympic Field House were still works in progress. "The lights wouldn't work. The music wouldn't come on. It was dark. It was cold."
