It was once billed because the maximum occasion within the heritage of pair skating: 3 of the simplest groups of all time fighting for Olympic gold on one evening in Salt Lake urban. Technical skill used to be nearly equivalent. It was once the creative benefit rating that may come to a decision the gold medal -- the second one mark.

Representing Canada, China, and Russia, the 3 pairs illuminated their particular cultures. at the moment mark, whose tradition may triumph? wouldn't it be the wonderful thing about the Russians' ballet on ice, the joys of the chinese language pair's heart-stopping acrobatics, or the Canadians' passionate reference to the viewers? In a down-to-the-wire nail-biter, the variation among gold and silver got here all the way down to the vote of a unmarried pass judgement on. Hours later, a bombshell: the confession of a French pass judgement on unleashed a world debate -- and finally produced an exceptional reproduction gold medal.

The moment Mark unearths what an athlete quite is going via to develop into the easiest on this planet, during the riveting tales of unforgettable humans. We meet Yelena Berezhnaya of Russia, who survives emergency mind surgical procedure after a near-fatal education twist of fate and makes it again to the Olympics in below years. We meet Zhao Hongbo, a tender boy skating in subzero climate in remotest China, who will satisfy his coach's twenty-year dream of catching as much as the West. And we meet Canadians, a barista and a concession stand employee, who had virtually hand over the game sooner than finding out to provide it one final attempt -- and turning into global champions.

Exhaustively researched via a skating insider, The moment Mark takes readers deep into the realm of the Olympic athlete, illuminating the attention-grabbing variations among East and West. From the frozen fields of China to the key corridors of the previous Soviet activities approach, from a tiny farm village in remotest Quebec to the judges' behind the curtain international, The moment Mark tells the compelling human
stories at the back of probably the most debatable nights in Olympic history.