jump her signature triple axel and from then on the marbles poured onto the ice she failed to hit her required combination jump and ended up in 16th placeshe looked like a zombie as she left the rink staring blankly ahead i cant comprehend any of this she saidshe was right there is perhaps no way to explain why she cracked at the same time it may be just as inexplicable to pinpoint why skaters like kim yuna of south korea the defending olympic champion and gold were able to hold up under the pressure while others like russias yulia lipnitskaya could not she wiped out on one of her triple jumps the poor girl tumbled onto the ice as if she were the worlds clumsiest 15yearold milliseconds after she had appeared to be the most graceful one lipnitskaya one of the favorites said she hadnt been nervous even though thousands of fans in the arena had been waving russian flags and chanting her first name yooleeah before she skated but the devastated look on her face told a different storynobody but another olympic skater can understand what its like to perform at a winter games said jeremy abbott the fourtime united states national champion abbott in his third olympics crashed on a quadruple jump during his short program last week then careened like a rag doll into the boards he lay there for more than 10 seconds before rising to finish his program but finished 12th over all four years after he was a disappointing ninth in vancouver he later snapped at a reporter who asked him if he had yet again choked under the olympic pressureif you think thats not hard then youre a damn idiot he barked among other comments that cannot be repeated hereitalys carolina kostner who is in third after wednesdays short program can relate she is also a lovely skater filled with emotion but for the past two olympics she has failed to stay on her feetshe said that as she stood at center ice on wednesday she was scared out of her mind but she was able to beat back the demons of her olympic failures she did it with a prayer as the song ave maria echoed throughout the arena making it feel as if the building had turned into a cathedralkostner glided through her performance ethereal in a white dress that sparkled under the bright lights her smile flashed even brighter she was proud to be virtually flawless for a changenow all she has to do is replicate her performance in the free skate on thursday in a program that is more than 60 percent longer than the short programwell see what her nerves and her legs have to say about that