The Great Skate Catch-Up: 5 Happenings from The Past Few Weeks (Plus 1 More About “Yu”-Know-Who)

And suddenly, here we are into September already. It’s less than eight weeks until the ISU Grand Prix series kicks off in Nagoya, Japan… and sadly, much of the focus over the past 10 days has been on a falling out that has stirred up enough press to make Lindsay Lohan jealous. To that end (one can only hope), here is the latest chapter in the saga-- an article about Kim Yu-Na relocating to another Toronto rink, the one that is home to her short program choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne.

But enough of that for now… here are five more stories from the skating world, some more high-profile than others, worth a look:

· Here we have an article about Evgeny Plushenko indicating he’s done… he didn’t appeal the ISU ban placed on him earlier this summer, so… buh-bye.

· And then over here we have an article quoting his wife (among others) indicating he’ll be back, and alluding to some “secret” plan to get him competing in Sochi. Which one do YOU believe? (or do you care at this point?)

· How did Mirai Nagasu spend her summer vacation? Nursing a stress fracture, among other things. This IceNetwork article will fill you in.

· Color me shocked, but a while back, Inoue and Baldwin pulled out of their lone GP assignment for the new season. Want to know what U.S. team has been chosen as their replacement? Click this link.

· And finally, this article in the August 2010 Chicago Magazine apparently featured everyone’s favorite Rocky skater (and 1981 World Silver Medalist) David Santee, as the Best Figure Skating Coach in the Chicago area. As I may have mentioned here before, I grew up in the Chicago suburbs just as Santee did, and always kind of quietly rooted for him to somehow defeat Scott Hamilton in the early 80s (even though he never really did.. He is now the director of skating at Oakton Ice Arena in Park Ridge, and as I understand it has been involved in the careers of at least a couple of U.S. up-and-comers, one being current Junior Champion Agnes Zawadzki. I knew most of this prior to the article… but who knew Chicago Magazine promoted figure skating coaches? Awesome.

And in case any of you are unsure who this Santee guy is, take a look at this for the Clip of the Day…