ADAM RIPPON: In his own words
(December 2007)
Besides winning two medals this season, I think my favorite moment in my JGP season so far is making it to the Final. Only 8 skaters of the hundreds that competed qualify. It's such a huge honor.
Favorite place as an international competitor? I don't know if I have a favorite. When you go to all of these places, you really only get to see your hotel room, the rink, and a few restaurants. I haven't had the chance yet to really "see" a lot of the places I have been. I do however have good memories from the competitions.
Training in Japan [in mid-to-late November] was very cool. We trained at Chukyo University (the University and club of the Asada sisters and Miki Ando). It's a rink only for figure skating. It's so beautiful. When I get home I'll be sure to put pictures on my website of the rink.
Coming to Italy from Japan: It really is an amazing story. I came to Japan with two carry-on bags, one being 25 kg., and the other being 13 kg. I was leaving Japan with my friend and ice dancer, Nora Hoffmann, for Paris where we would catch different connecting flights. We handed our tickets to the woman at the counter, she read them over and became very nervous. We waited for a few minutes and I finally said, "I'm going to Milan, she's not." The woman right away began to relax. I guess because she thought we didn't know we heading to different places. Nora's bag goes on the weight station. It's fine. I put the first bag on the scale and it's 25 kg. The woman's eyes become big again. I put the second bag on the scale and her eyes get even bigger. The woman at the counter calls over another woman and she tells me that, yes, I am allowed to have two bags, but their total mass can only be equaled to 25 kg. and no more. Now my eyes are big. I asked the woman what I should do because I can't leave my things sitting in the airport, I need them. They call over another woman, and she said, "Your bags are too heavy." I said, "Yes, I know, what can I do?" They call over another lady, talk for a couple minutes and then finally the new woman comes over to me and asks if I have a credit card. I told her I did (my mom just gave it to me before I left if there was an emergency) but asked how much was she going to charge me for being over-weight. She was speechless and then just called over another lady. This new lady comes over and writes a number on a piece of paper, 100,100 YEN, which is about US $900. I said, "Whoa, there's no way I can give you my credit card! I don't have that much money!" The woman is silent for about 5 minutes. Another woman come over to me and asks, "Are you from the US?" I replied, "Yes, I flew out of Newark." She answers back, "Oh, well, since you're from the US you didn't know this rule. You can just go through." I was so relieved, but the whole thing took almost 1 1/2 hours. Nora and I rushed through security and made our flight just in time. It's not really a horror story, but it's a funny one.
I'm staying here right now in Milan, Italy, before the JGP Final while my coach, Nikolai [Morozov], is at NHK Trophy. I am training with Valter Rizzo and his dance team, Isabella Pajardi and Stefano Caruso, who also will be competing at the Final. For the past week I have been skating in Zanica and Sesto San Giovanni. It's so beautiful and everyone here is so inviting. When you're downtown, it's so cool. Everything around you is so old and important, but at the same time, things have changed so much from when they were built and they aren't used for the same things anymore. It's very hard to explain, because you get the feeling that it's old, but it's new. It also doesn't hurt that the food is amazing. It's fresh, tastes great, and is all of my favorites. One of the things I like most about being in Italy is that I won't suffer from jet lag when I arrive in Poland.
My goal for the JGP Final is to skate 2 solid programs. I hope that if I can do this I will place well. I'm sorry I don't have anything more exciting to say, haha. We (everyone in the group) do all the same triples, with the exception of 2 or 3 that have the triple axel planned, so it really depends on how everyone skates. Going into an event like this, it's hard to focus on the other skaters because everyone in the group is so strong, so for me, it's best to think about what I have to do to skate well.
My program layout for the Final is the same it's been all season. I feel very comfortable with it so Nikolai and I decided not to change it. The only thing we did change were a few connecting steps to help improve the program, along with a couple of steps from the footwork sequences.
I am working very seriously on the triple axel right now. I hope to be able to include it in my free program later this season. I feel that the jump is getting better every day and that it will be competition ready soon.
