Grishuk and Platov

NAGANO, Japan - This time, would-be starlet Pasha Grishuk was subdued. There was little talk of auditions of any sort, whether it was her trying to find a movie career or a boyfriend. The only time Grishuk showed any of her attention-grabbing side was when a Russian reporter addressed her by her given name, Oksana.

``Excuse me,'' she said, ``I am Pasha.''

The adopted name perfectly fits the queen of an Olympic event that is part farce, part entertainment and completely impossible to evaluate by any fixed standards. The judges give marks, of course, but their scores are based part on politics and part on personal preference.

Few would argue with the quality of the skating that made Grishuk, 25, and Platov, 30, the first couple to win consecutive Olympic ice dance titles. They are native Ukrainians who skate for Russia and train in Marlborough, Mass.

Russians Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov were second, with French couple Marina Anissina (a Russian expatriate) and Gwendal Peizerat, third. U.S. champions Elizabeth Punsand Jerod Swallow were seventh.

Russian skaters now have swept the gold medals in the first three of four figure skating events at the 1998 Olympics. That continues a remarkable record of success for a sports program some felt would fall apart when the Soviet Union did.

Since that nation dissolved into 15 separate countries in 1991, former Soviet skaters have won 10 of the 11 Olympic figure skating medals, eight by Russians and two by Ukrainians. The only exception was 1992 Olympic women's champion Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States.

It is left to U.S. skaters Michelle Kwan or Tara Lipinski to prevent a second straight sweep of the gold medals by ex-Soviets.

The Grishuk-Platov victory carried another distinction. It made their coach, Tatiana Tarasova, the first ever to have dance and singles champions in any Olympics, let alone the same Olympics.

Tarasova, who also coaches men's gold medalist Ilia Kulik, is the first to have two champions in the same Olympics since Carlo Fassi in 1976 with Dorothy Hamill and John Curry.

``It's unbelievable how she can do freestyle (singles) and dance,'' Grishuk said of Tarasova, who also had coached two Olympic champions in pairs. ``They are completely different.''

``Singles is my dream,'' Tarasova said before Kulik's victory.

Dance has become a nightmare for the International Skating Union.

Its presence in the Olympics inevitably leads to more stories about rigged judging than about the skating itself.

``Dance is misguided to the point where it is its own worst enemy,'' said 1980 Olympic singles champion Robin Cousins of Great Britain.

It doesn't take long for the skaters to catch on to the idiocy of their discipline. Even Charles Butler, the 18-year-old from Kalamazoo, understood how things worked when he called his 21st-place performance with 15-year-old partner Jessica Joseph an exhibition.

Joseph and Butler's flip-flop with French team Dominique Deniaud and Martial Jaffredo for the 20th and 21st places was the only position change of the 24 couples caused by the free dance scores. The top nine places did not change after the compulsory dance section of the three-phase event.

``Ice dance is not sport,'' said Natalia Dubova, the Russian coach who trains fourth-place Canadians Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Dubova, who knows all about such things from her days as a Soviet coach, found herself complaining about deals among the five coaches from former Soviet Bloc countries. Bourne simply dismissed her event as a joke after losing the bronze medal because of a fifth place in one compulsory dance.

``We skated so well, it's stupid,'' Bourne said. ``You just laugh at it and get past it.''

Grishuk and Platov, skating to memorial music for the 39 people who died in a 1985 soccer stadium riot, impressed with the number of twizzles (dance spins) she did as well as their remarkable ability to keep all their footwork in perfect unison. That didn't move Dubova.

``All of us remember how Torvill and Dean improved our sport,'' she said, referring to 1984 Olympic champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Great Britain. ``I always ask what Grishuk and Platov have done. They don't improve the sport.''

But they get the last laugh - and the gold medals.