Stating that figure skating is as brutal and competitive as any athletic discipline, a reporter examines today's big stars, from Oksana Baiul to Elvis Stojko, and reveals the dark side of the sport. 50,000 first printing. Tour. Figure skating is emerging as a major force in worldwide professional sports. Get the inside edge on the events and personalities of the professional figure-skating circuit. Profiles on stars such as Nancy Kerrigan, Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton, and Oksana Baiul are interspersed with the author's impressions and research from a year on the tour, including analysis of the major competitions, the judging process, and the emotional and physical toll the sport takes on young athletes. YA?Championship figure skating is not all sequins and spandex. It is hard work and heartbreak, practice and programs. Skaters train rigorously for years, only to have their ultimate success depend upon a four-minute program or even a four-second triple jump. Failure, or even hesitation, at this point often ends a career. Brennan has covered figure-skating for the Washington Post for 11 years. She brings a love of her sport and a crisp, clear writing style to a topic sure to interest many YAs. Loosely structured around the six-month competitive season, the text covers everything from the development of the sport, through changes in the competitive requirements, to the media bonanza that it has become. The author interviews and profiles many skaters, known and forgotten, coaches, parents, and judges along the way. While this is not exactly an expose, it is a hard look at the realities of a sport more applauded for its personalities and their appearances than their athletic excellence. Brennan doesn't flinch from chastising the U.S. Figure Skating Association for attempting to ignore the impact of AIDS on the sport or from discussing the homosexuality of many of the skaters. Easily read and digested, this title should make readers watch these athletes with new understanding and think twice before they commit to the demanding life of a championship figure skater.?Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Not many people paid attention to figure skating until Tonya and Nancy squared off. Now this book on the subject merits huge publicity and a ten-city tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. A national survey recently revealed that figure skating is the second-most-popular sport in the U.S. after pro football, despite the fallout from the Nancy Kerrigan^-Tonya Harding brouhaha. Brennan, a 10-year Washington Post veteran, examines the sport thoroughly, from the lifestyles of the skaters to the always subjective--and sometimes maddeningly arbitrary--scoring system that rules their lives. Highlights include a lengthy profile of men's champion Brian Boitano, which focuses on his unorthodox ascendance at the hands of coach Linda Leaer. Also profiled are Scott Hamilton, the sports's most ebullient spokesman and charismatic skater; Katarina Witt; Peggy Fleming; and Christopher Bowman. This is not a brutal expose, ala Joan Ryan's Little Girls in Pretty Boxes , which showed how young skaters are emotionally and physically abused in their struggle to the top. Instead, Brennan offers an evenhanded examination of a sport that she believes combines the beauty of Rogers and Hammerstein with the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock. Certain to be popular and a must for most sports collections. Wes Lukowsky Christine Brennan has been a sportswriter for the Washington Post for eleven years, specializing in the Olympics and international sports.