vanity fair photo shoot
remember that access hollywood interview with dorothy hamill where johnny had his chest painted with the olympic rings? vanity fair posted the pictures from that shoot along with info on 40 olympic athletes. here are the people relevant to our interests:
JOHNNY WEIR
Age: 25.
Country: U.S.A.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: Sixth.
Fur-tastic drama: “I wore a small tuft of fur on my costume at our Olympic qualification competition, and I started to hear lots of grumblings from anti-fur activists, and then the things people were saying slowly started to get more and more terrible and I started to get threatened, and ultimately a price was put on my head by an activist for anyone who wanted to hurt me.”
Fur-get about it: “The controversy has definitely died down since I’ve been here ... I got standing ovations for both of my performances, and that’s a beautiful thing. People can forget about whatever controversy is surrounding Johnny Weir and just focus on what I do.”
Post-Olympic plans: “I have the world championships in Italy, and then I’m going to take a vacation to Mongolia because I want to ride a yak. And after that, I’ll go to Moscow and see some friends, and after that I’m going to go lay on a beach for a little while, and then maybe continue skating, but if not, I want a career in fashion.”
EVAN LYSACEK
Age: 24.
Country: U.S.A.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: First.
Style points: He rolled into his photo shoot wearing Dior boots and an Hermès belt (oh, and his gold medal).
Best thing about the Olympics: “The stories. Obviously the athletes and the events and the competitions are the bones of the Olympics, but the stories and the triumphs and the victories are the soul of it, and so to be just one of those stories and those victories is something I’ll never forget.”
JEREMY ABBOTT
Age: 24.
Country: U.S.A.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: Ninth.
Have you seen any other competitions? “I had tickets to the U.S.A.-Canada hockey game, but I didn’t go. I went to watch ice dancing instead.”
You know how many Canadians would have died for your hockey ticket? “Yeah, but I’m not really into hockey, and I wanted to go support my friends.”
ALEXANDER SMIRNOV
Age: 25.
Country: Russia.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Fourth.
What kind of music is popular in Russia? “Michael Jackson this year.”
Do you want us to turn on some M.J. for the photo shoot? “No.”
YUKO KAVAGUTI
Age: 28.
Country: Russia.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Fourth.
On the crowd support: “There were so many people!”
On preparing for the world championships in Italy: “There is still a lot of work to do.”
MICHAEL BREZINA
Age: 19.
Country: Czech Republic.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: 10th.
On traveling to the Olympics: “I have so much luggage. The Czech team’s bag is like that”-he separates his arms as wide as they can go-“and mine is like this”-he lifts his arms to his waist.
On the Vancouver party scene: “They had a party last night, but I had to go to bed. I practice every day!”
TONG JIAN
Age: 30.
Country: China.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Second.
Girlfriend: Pang Qing. Yes, the smiley pair who have been skating together for 17 years just announced that they are also a couple.
PANG QING
Age: 30.
Country: China.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Second.
Boyfriend: Tong Jian.
FEDERICA FAIELLA
Age: 29.
Country: Italy.
Sport: Ice dancing.
Placed: Fifth.
On being the pair’s unofficial Olympic spokesperson: “Massimo keeps saying, ‘Ask Federica, ask Federica!’”
Über-staffed: “We have four coaches. Sometimes there are up to 10 people at the rink telling us what to do.”
MASSIMO SCALI
Age: 30.
Country: Italy.
Sport: Ice dancing.
Placed: Fifth.
Possible job change: “I want to be a public relater in New York City nightlife.”
You mean do public relations? “Yes, public relations! But I still need to work on my English a little bit, I think.”
The tattoo on his finger: “I got it when I left Italy and moved to the United States. It’s two roads separating in different directions.”
sauce
JOHNNY WEIR
Age: 25.
Country: U.S.A.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: Sixth.
Fur-tastic drama: “I wore a small tuft of fur on my costume at our Olympic qualification competition, and I started to hear lots of grumblings from anti-fur activists, and then the things people were saying slowly started to get more and more terrible and I started to get threatened, and ultimately a price was put on my head by an activist for anyone who wanted to hurt me.”
Fur-get about it: “The controversy has definitely died down since I’ve been here ... I got standing ovations for both of my performances, and that’s a beautiful thing. People can forget about whatever controversy is surrounding Johnny Weir and just focus on what I do.”
Post-Olympic plans: “I have the world championships in Italy, and then I’m going to take a vacation to Mongolia because I want to ride a yak. And after that, I’ll go to Moscow and see some friends, and after that I’m going to go lay on a beach for a little while, and then maybe continue skating, but if not, I want a career in fashion.”
EVAN LYSACEK
Age: 24.
Country: U.S.A.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: First.
Style points: He rolled into his photo shoot wearing Dior boots and an Hermès belt (oh, and his gold medal).
Best thing about the Olympics: “The stories. Obviously the athletes and the events and the competitions are the bones of the Olympics, but the stories and the triumphs and the victories are the soul of it, and so to be just one of those stories and those victories is something I’ll never forget.”
JEREMY ABBOTT
Age: 24.
Country: U.S.A.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: Ninth.
Have you seen any other competitions? “I had tickets to the U.S.A.-Canada hockey game, but I didn’t go. I went to watch ice dancing instead.”
You know how many Canadians would have died for your hockey ticket? “Yeah, but I’m not really into hockey, and I wanted to go support my friends.”
ALEXANDER SMIRNOV
Age: 25.
Country: Russia.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Fourth.
What kind of music is popular in Russia? “Michael Jackson this year.”
Do you want us to turn on some M.J. for the photo shoot? “No.”
YUKO KAVAGUTI
Age: 28.
Country: Russia.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Fourth.
On the crowd support: “There were so many people!”
On preparing for the world championships in Italy: “There is still a lot of work to do.”
MICHAEL BREZINA
Age: 19.
Country: Czech Republic.
Sport: Figure skating.
Placed: 10th.
On traveling to the Olympics: “I have so much luggage. The Czech team’s bag is like that”-he separates his arms as wide as they can go-“and mine is like this”-he lifts his arms to his waist.
On the Vancouver party scene: “They had a party last night, but I had to go to bed. I practice every day!”
TONG JIAN
Age: 30.
Country: China.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Second.
Girlfriend: Pang Qing. Yes, the smiley pair who have been skating together for 17 years just announced that they are also a couple.
PANG QING
Age: 30.
Country: China.
Sport: Pairs figure skating.
Placed: Second.
Boyfriend: Tong Jian.
FEDERICA FAIELLA
Age: 29.
Country: Italy.
Sport: Ice dancing.
Placed: Fifth.
On being the pair’s unofficial Olympic spokesperson: “Massimo keeps saying, ‘Ask Federica, ask Federica!’”
Über-staffed: “We have four coaches. Sometimes there are up to 10 people at the rink telling us what to do.”
MASSIMO SCALI
Age: 30.
Country: Italy.
Sport: Ice dancing.
Placed: Fifth.
Possible job change: “I want to be a public relater in New York City nightlife.”
You mean do public relations? “Yes, public relations! But I still need to work on my English a little bit, I think.”
The tattoo on his finger: “I got it when I left Italy and moved to the United States. It’s two roads separating in different directions.”
sauce