Tuesday,
January 08, 2002
Local skater bides his time
By Gary Estwick
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati native Robert Shmalo is looking forward to making the U.S.
Olympic figure skating team, just not this year.
Don't get Shmalo wrong. If he and partner Kimberly Navarro finish
in the top two in the dance competition starting Wednesday at the
2002 nationals in Los Angeles, they'll be eager and ready to compete
in the Olympics next month in Salt Lake City. Shmalo and his partner
finished sixth in the nationals last year. So Shmalo expects this
competition to be more about preparing for the 2006 Olympics in Torino,
Italy.
So there's not much pressure on either skater.
“We're going out there to put on a good show for the fans,”
Shmalo said. “And we hope the judges enjoy our routine as much
as we do.”
Shmalo, who now lives in New York but still performs under his Cincinnati
club's name (Queen City Figure Skating Club), hopes their performance
this week will help judges remember them in future competitions.
“Having a good show is important because so much of what judges
look at is subjective,” he said. “So every time you're in
front of them, you want to have a good performance and put that bug
in their ear.”
