Can you win an Olympic medal in figure skating these days without the quad?
Jeffrey Buttle has everything in his arsenal except figure skating's nuclear weapon, a secure four-rotation jump.
Kurt Browning, who landed the first quad in competition 18 years ago, and Elvis Stojko, who perfected it, have taken it to previous Olympics with less than outstanding results.
Buttle has managed to put himself on the podium again and again without being able to count on the big jump.
Not that he might not find it when it matters most.
"This whole season I've been training with the thought that if I go there and skate clean with the quad I can stand on the top of the podium. I'm going in there with that as my goal,'' he said after winning his second consecutive Canadian title in Ottawa.
After a 22-year streak of Canada winning at least one medal at the World Figure Skating Championships came to an end the year before in Dortmund, Germany, Buttle came back with a silver last year in Moscow. He won silver again at this year's Grand Prix final, his second consecutive second-place finish at that event.
He even has the claim to fame of being the only Canadian on the Turin team to medal in every event he's entered in the past two years.
Event Schedule
Tues. Feb 14
Short program
Thurs. Feb 16
Free skate
Previous Games
