Love me Some Johnny!

Have you been watching the Olympics?  I've only seen what's been on the morning news shows while on the treadmill at the gym.  I was shocked when I saw Evgeni Plushenko's face onscreen.  Four Olympics!  Unheard of in figure skating, the demands of all those triples, not to mention quads in the mens event is devastating to the human body.  Don't believe me?  Ask Tara Lipinsky about her hips sometime.  Better yet, ask Evgeni about his back.  He had to withdraw due to what he thought was his plastic disc in his back cracking when he landed a jump in the warm-up.  I kid you not.

But, I'm not really here to talk about Evgeni.  I will take a moment to rant about what has happened to the sport of figure skating since the implementation of the new scoring system.  If they were going to take everything beautiful out of the sport why did they just not make it like all the other sports and do away with the music completely?  It's painful to watch them out there struggling to contort themselves into awkward positions and execute slow ungainly spins all in the name of more points for increased difficulty.  I do like the increased amount of footwork, but there is so much focus on intervening stepwork that there isn't time for much expression besides the aimless flailing of arms. Figure skating is supposed to be difficult and yet beautiful, whether due to its explosive raw power or elegant lines. And most of all I always felt it should interpret the music chosen.  Now all the programs look exactly the same and the music matters not at all so if you're watching you might as well put it on mute, it might work better that way.  I stopped watching after the last Olympics, it just broke my heart.

Ladies long program in 1996, Michelle Kwan at Trophee Lalique.  She's got artistry down to her fintertips, literally, not to mention her shoulders and even eye movements.

But, on to the topic at hand.  Tell me, how is it possible not to love Johnny Weir?



He's changed little since the last Olympics - he's always been a slave to the fashion statement, on or off the ice.  I loved his TV show "Be Good Johnny Weir" detailing his journey to make it to the 2010 Olympics.

 

Don't know all about Johnny?  Watch the video and get to know him. (He's a fan of the artistry of Michelle Kwan and Evgeni Plushenko too!)

After watching the video I have a sneaky suspicion nonconformist, dive-into-your-passions-Johnny might be an INTJ.  What do you think?

Johnny also spoke out on CNN about the anti-gay law in Russia and the presence of LGBT Olympians in Sochi.  Johnny Weir, fighting for human rights just by not being afraid to be himself.