Hand in hand

Spokane skating fans gave one last standing ovation to the stars of the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Then the skaters lined up at center ice and gave one back at the Exhibition of Champions finale before a sellout crowd of 10,393 at the Spokane Arena on Sunday afternoon.

The symbiosis between the city and the sport came to an end after eight days. Most of the remaining skaters and coaches are on their way out of town while fans return to their normal lives.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself,” one attendee said in a concession line Saturday. All-event ticket holders were able to watch live skating almost 24/7, between practices and competitions.

On Sunday night, ABC/ESPN television crews were dismantling portable sets and loading truckloads of equipment. Meanwhile, Convention Center crews were taking out a temporary rink while those at the Arena were reconfiguring it for Wednesday night’s Spokane Chiefs game.

“We have to be ready to play hockey on Wednesday – and we will be,” said Kevin Twohig of the Public Facilities District. “I have a lot of confidence in our ops (operations) crew.”

The event was the end of a five-year process for the organizing committee, essentially beginning with the attendance-record-setting Skate America event in 2002. The group then put together a successful bid for the U.S. nationals and broke its attendance mark by a wide margin.

Spokane is now the only city simultaneously to hold the ticket sales record for Skate America and nationals (154,893 tickets sold).

“We’ve been absolutely thrilled; all our expectations have been surpassed,” said Lindsay DeWall of the sponsoring United States Figure Skating Association. “We can’t say enough good things about Spokane. …

“This event has definitely set the bar for championships to come. They’ve raised the bar pretty high for other host cities.”

The sites for nationals in 2008 (St. Paul, Minn.) and 2009 (Cleveland) have been awarded. “We’ll see where we go next,” said DeWall of the selection process for 2010, which will likely wrap up by this fall.

Visitors to the Arena concourse last week were able to purchase travel packages to next year’s event, the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles, or the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

The Canadian vendor selling the packages said most were sold to visitors, but that local residents bought a good percentage of them.

Athletes, visiting broadcasters, and traveling skating junkies all praised the city for making the event work: from the shuttle system to the secondary venue at the Convention Center, and everything between.

“People were welcoming since we walked in the door, from the Davenport, to the airport, everybody,” said Paul Harvath, the sport’s iconic photographer. “It’s just been phenomenally receptive.”

Harvath has been to every nationals since 1981 and gave this one high marks.

“The overall event organization, I had no issues, which is very unusual,” he said. “The crowds have been great, the skating’s been really, really good, and I’m really happy for Spokane.”

Skating commentator Dick Button told the audience this has been one of the best events in the last 50 years. Button and his colleagues at ABC/ESPN filmed Sunday’s event for later edited broadcast.

Many participants also praised the knowledge and enthusiasm of the Spokane fans, who even did The Wave on Saturday night.

Harvath said he’d seen that only a few times before at nationals.

“It’s been a while, but I did participate. I had to participate,” he said with a guilty laugh.

The Exhibition of Champions is a tradition at the championships and features all the novice and junior champions, along with the top finishers in the senior disciplines.

It is a rare day for these athletes: no four-hour practices, no watchful judges, no pressure. Most skaters said they were exhausted but enjoyed performing for the fans.

In a mostly white jumpsuit reminiscent of that worn by Elvis, former three-time defending champion Johnny Weir bounced back from the disappointment of losing his national crown by skating to “Imagine” by John Lennon. He received a standing ovation, one of a handful on Sunday.

“It was nice. It gives me chills,” said Weir. “It’s just been an emotional rollercoaster this week, from very high to very low… To have that as my last performance in Spokane and to have that kind of reaction from the audience was great.

“Spokane has been amazing.”