Podium Training: The Ladies Competition

Let's be honest here, there are 7 women we need to disucss. And that's being generous. More realistically, based on technical ability and planned content, the real conversation everyone is having is whether the young spudnik Julia Lipnitskaia has what it takes to dethrown the Queen of Figure Skating... Kim Yu-Na.

Arguably the biggest female athlete/celebrity in Asia, 'Queen Yuna', as she's known to her tribe, selects competitions to actually skate it with the same discretion and obviously planted coy "what is your intention" attitude as Hilary Clinton. Skating last year in only two competitions, the first a small "techinically will qualify you for the World Championships" if you hit a certain score, in Germany, and the other being the actual World Championships, where she literally destroyed the field by 20 pts.

Cut to the Grand Prix circuit that began in September. The 1st year senior, considered 3rd at best, in a field stocked with talent, surprised most audiences with hauntingly honest intrepretation of the music and two of the six contested Grand Prix Cups.

It is no surprise in the sport of figure skating that the Olympics LOVE to see young phenoms rip the coveted crown away from the perceived champion. surpass their ability, shock the judges and viewers at home alike, and mak