Showdown On Olympic Ice
Gold Medalists, Others Weigh In On Women's Figure Skating Final
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Play CBS Video Video Olympic Figure Skating Preview Only On The Web: Tracy Smith reports from Torino, Italy, where the focus will be on figure skaters Sasha Cohen, Emily Hughes and Kimmie Meissner as they vie for the gold medal.
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Video Medalists On Olympic Skating The Olympic competition is heating up as the women's figure skating free program gets under way. Hannah Storm speaks with two former gold medalists to get their analysis.
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Sasha Cohen of the United States performs her routine during the Women's Short Program in Figure Skating at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006. (AP)
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Figure skating gold medalists Tara Lipinski (left) and Katarina Witt, on The Early Show Thursday (CBS/The Early Show)
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Timeline Torino Games Schedule Check out when all the events of the XXth Olympic Winter Games will be held.
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Interactive Torino Medals Table See which nations fared the best at the XX Olympic Winter Games.
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Photo Essay Images From Torino The latest pictures from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.
But 1984 and '88 figure skating gold medalist Katarina Witt, told Storm, "I don't think they should make a big deal out of it. She is great, in great shape. She's physically right there. If she mentally needed a day off, she should take a day off. This one-day practice is not going to do anything except give her some rest to think and to enjoy what's going on and just to go ahead and do her job."
Dorothy Hamill, who won figure skating gold in 1976, told Smith the gold is Cohen's to lose.
"What's not to love?" about Cohen, Hamill asks. "She's a ballerina she's an athlete. She's mature and she's just, pointed toes and straight back, and spins like a top and jumps beautifully, and some of her choreography is so difficult, people don't even know. So if she skates well, it could be hers. So it's gonna be a great competition. I'm excited."
Lipinski and Witt agree with Swift that Cohen and Slutskaya have the inside track.
"I think, in an Olympic event, anything can happen," Lipinski says. "And the long program is really the show. …(But) I really do believe it's going to be between Sasha and Irina.
"You look at Irina, she's a powerhouse. You look at her jumps, they are technically perfect. I used to be terrified of her. And you look at Sasha, and she's such a performer. So they have two very different qualities, and they're two great girls. So I am kind of roosting for both of them."
Witt agrees that, "Anything is possible. But truthfully, my heart goes to both. But a little more maybe to Irina, because it would be a great ending of her career and I want then Sasha to stay in for four more years so we can enjoy her skating."
Editor's note: Katarina Witt is the author of the new book, "Only With Passion." To read an excerpt, click here.
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