GP Assignments Are Out... and Add Shen/Zhao To Its List of "Retired" Competitors

Just had to let y’all know about a couple of developments that occurred over the weekend:

The GP assignments for the 2009-10 season have been posted online; this article at USFS summarizes the US involvement, but also includes the link to the ISU’s site (which gives a more thorough rundown). I want to study these a little closer myself, after which I’ll post about what I see as the best matchups—I did something similar last year for those who were following back then…

And then, just like last year, we’ll get a rash of “surprise” retirements over the summer that will obliterate half of said best matchups.

Just kidding. (I hope…)

Oh, and just when you thought they’d all been announced—one more “comeback” is in the works as the thrice World Champs and twice Olympic bronze medalists Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao appear to be returning to the hunt for that elusive Olympic pairs gold…

Read about it here.

This is a tough one to grumble at for me, as I feel the void left behind from their absence as much as any fan. But Zhang/Zhang and Pang/Tong surely are saying 哦，来吧！somewhere… and justifiably so.

(哦，来吧！Is Google’s simplified Chinese translation of “Oh, COME ON!”)

For the Clip of the Day I went with Shen/Zhao's 2002 Olympic SP, though with THREE Olympics under their belts already, any number of performances could have been chosen...