womens' shorts (no, not panties)

At this 25th Winter Olympics in Milan, there were 29 women competing in the Shorts Program, all hoping for Figure Skating medals.

I was able to see watch an even dozen perform in the segment aired here in the United States today.

As good fortune would have it, that meant I was treated to 8 of the top 10!

That was just the luck of the draw for the skating order with the Americans... but it meant I saw the top three contenders!

One of those in the lead - Alysa Liu - was even on the USA team!

She placed third with her Short program, scoring 76.59 points.

I absolutely loved all the fringe on her outfit, flowing in the breeze of her incredibly fast skating!!!

Her score was less than 0.7 lower than that of Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.

Her outfit was quite stunning, with the blue fade and the long gloves!

She definitely earned that 2nd place for the Short program!

But the most impressive of the three was the not-quite 18-year-old skater who skated in the 18th place in the line-up.

Does it seem that I'm attempting to draw some correlation between age and skate order?

Well, I do enjoy playing with numbers!

This young woman resembled one of the many school girls in Okinawa, riding the bus with me over in Kadena Circle - such a good memory!

Ami Nakai of Japan will be 18 tomorrow... and tonight, with 78.71, she placed first in the Short program!

Right place, right time, for her and for me!

What a way to start my two hours of Olympics!

I wouldn't see any more of the top skates for well over an hour.

Alysa Liu was 24th in the order and Kaori Sakamoto was 27th.

The woman who placed 4th in the Short program was the very last skater.

She was Mone Chiba, of Japan, and I am absolutely sure her song choice was meant as an inside joke.

Why else would she use Donna Summer's "Last Dance"??? 

Then again, maybe that was another right place, right time gibe from the Universe for me!

A little something to make up for all the falls out there, starting with the second skater I saw.

Madeline Schizas, of Canada, wore a perfect costume for her dance to "The Lion King"... but then she fell, and fell again.

She ended up with a score of 55.38, in 25th place.

She will not go on for the Free Skate in this competition.

The 19-year-old from Kazakhstan will be, as her score of 68.47 netted her the 12th place in this Short program.

That means Sofiia Samodelkina will be getting a shot at an Olympic medal.

So will Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone, who scored 68.97, skating to "Send In The Clowns" and doing admirably at it.

She's one place higher than Sofia.

However, Amber Glenn of the USA is one place lower than Sofia and only scored 67.39 on the ice.

Not even Madonna's "Like A Prayer" could save her after missed jumps and two falls.

It's truly a wonder she didn't place farther down than 13.

The other skater for the USA, and the other one part of that trio of Blade Angels, is Isabeau Levito.

She made it to 8th place after her Short program, with 70.04 points.

That's still almost two points less than Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia scored.

And it's less than the Belgium skater, Leona Hendrickx, by almost one point.

What it all comes down to is this: only those women who dare to throw some triples into their routine - and to successfully land them - are making it to the podium.

I'll be sure to tune in on Thursday!

(smile!)