Rena and John win silver; marriage proposal follows; she says yes!

January 26, 2008

She said YES!

As John Baldwin and Rena Inoue took their bows, John dropped to his knees and asked his longtime girlfriend to marry him. She appeared stunned — or maybe she just couldn’t hear — and he asked her a second time before she said yes, hugging him as tears rolled down her face.

“I didn’t know. He didn’t tell me and I don’t think he told anybody,” Inoue said. “At first I was just so shocked. I didn’t know what was going on here.”

Said Baldwin, “We’ve talked about marriage for a long time, and I always told Rena, ‘Well, you can ask me.’ She said that’s not the way it’s done.... I told her she’s the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, how much respect I have for her and that everything I’ve accomplished in my career and on the ice is because of her.”

As the crowd cheered, Baldwin asked again. With tears rolling down her face, Inoue said yes.

Rena and John finished second in the competition and advance to the World Championships in March. Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker were first and Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski were third.

Rena and John second after short program

January 23, 2008

Rena Inoue and John Baldwin skated a clean short program and earned their highest score ever in the short program at the U.S. National Championships Wednesday night.

The pair looked impressive earning a score of 65.24 points, 3.51 points better than their previously high (61.73) recorded at last year’s Four Continents competition.

They are only 1.27 points behind leaders Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker.

It was one of the best performances Rena and John have performed. They didn’t have any mistakes, nailed every element and was flawless in the throw triple loop and exquisite performing the new death spiral mandated by the ISU.

John and Rena have been touring most of the year and only having less than two weeks to prepare for the U.S. Nationals.

Skating to Beethoven performed by the Trans Siberian Orchestra, the two-time national champions were very sharp in their performance. They began with a solid double axel, then nailed their throw triple loop, a split double twist, inside edge pairs spin, a beautiful lift and dismount, the inside
death spiral, and terrific footwork that earned applause from the crowd and finished with their side by side sit spin combination with only once change of foot.

The commentators from the Icenetwork.com said it was a well-polished program, the elements were nice and smooth and Rena and John appeared to be in mid-season form despite traveling up to the competition.

Rena and John will be going after their third U.S. Championships title Saturday morning in the free skate, which begins at 11:35 a.m. The free skate will be shown from 4-6 p.m. on NBC-TV.

January 20, 2008

Rena and John head to Nationals

John Baldwin was beading his new skating costumes while answering phone calls this weekend. His longtime seamstress, Mare Talbot, who turned them over to him and Rena Inoue Saturday, prepared the costumes. John and Rena leave Monday for the U.S. National Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota.

John and Rena are two–time U.S. Champions and two-time Silver medalists. They are also the most veteran pair of figure skaters still competing in the world. “We have the standing longevity record,” said John with a laugh. “We didn’t want to walk away from the U.S. Nationals."

After each competitive season John said he agonizes whether to continue competitive skating. Two weeks ago, after returning from touring overseas, he was questioning whether it was time to retire or remain competitive.

The competitive side of John and Rena won out again. NBC is televising some events (check local listings) live.

“I’m still competing because of that adrenaline rush I get every time a competition is held,” John said. “It’s the whole process that carries us through a good performance or a bad performance. The process John refers to is getting into shape, putting three new programs with new music together and being able to meet the challenge of the difficulty the ruling body of figure skating places on its competitors.

For example, this year pairs will have to perform the death spiral much like the Europeans. That is, the female cannot have any arch in her back – she must be totally flat and the hips must be below the knees. “We’ve got it,” John said. “Rena and I do what it takes to meet or exceed the elements. But it is becoming increasingly challenging to getting all these elements in each year.

“There’s barely enough time to get in all the elements because we have to hold everything so long. Phillip Mills (choreographer) is very creative and he did an excellent job with our programs. I’m confident our footwork is Level 4. It has full body range and it’s a challenge.”

What John and Rena also have going for them is their signature throw-triple Axel performed at the U.S. Nationals, Worlds and Olympics in 2006. No one else has come close to perfecting that throw. “We have that now as part of our routine arsenal,” John said. “Although we didn’t do it while touring, when Rena and I began our training for Nationals we began landing it as though we didn’t miss a beat.”

John said the short program will be skated to Beethoven performed by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. John has not announced their free skate music. John and Rena only had a week and a half to learn the new programs and collaborate on the costumes with Talbot. “We came back to California and the next day we were at the rink practicing. It’s been non-stop from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. since we’ve been back,” he said.

“I’m always nervous when I’m in a competition because everything is on the line. Rena and I care deeply how we skate and how we perform. The difference between shows and competing is that competitions are more fulfilling,” John said.

One of the differences in practicing during competition week is the lack of time on the competitive ice at the Xcel Energy Center. “We only get one 30-minute practice session. There’s no 10-minute warmup like there has been in the past at the competition venue. For us it won’t be that big of a deal because we’re used to it.”

John and Rena have spent much of the off-season touring in the U.S., Japan and France. “The best thing we could have done is take the Grand Prix season off,” John said. “It was good skating as much as we did, but the travel always takes a toll.”

The tour in Japan was a welcome homecoming for Rena, who was born and competed for Japan in two Olympics. “It was great going to Japan as much as we did. Rena deserved the recognition and fame showered on her. It was great to see Rena in her country and me relying on her to get around on the subways and seeing the country.”

John and Rena have only been back home for about 10 days.

They will continue touring after the U.S. National championships. They will head to Germany for the Katarina Witt tour Feb. 3 and then will go to Japan in late February.

The championship pairs short program will be Wednesday at 7 p.m., following the opening ceremony. The championship pairs free skate will be Saturday at 8:45 a.m.