Regarding last nights' "Skating with the Stars," we need to begin with the injured list, as we finally got proof of the "most dangerous show on television" with every team having a series of issues ranging from bumps and bruises to hospital visits.

The biggest story of the night was that Brandon Mychal Smith went to hospital with food poisoning. His pro partner, Keauna McLaughlin, only found out when she came to the set to see an ambulance, then found out it was Brandon.

The biggest story of the night was that Brandon Mychal Smith went to hospital with food poisoning.  His pro partner, Keauna McLaughlin, only found out when she came to the set to see an ambulance, then found out it was Brandon.

Then there was the cringe -worthy clip Jonny Moseley's partner, Brooke Castile's injury.  Jonny tripped and ran over her finger, which she said was cut to the bone and she too was rushed to the hospital. But she was a real trooper and performed last night and later shrugged it off and said injuries are just part of skating.  Vince Neil also injured his back and was stiff for a few days. 

Rebecca Budig and her partner Fred Palascak took a hard fall and both hurt their wrists while practicing a spin/lift.  After Rebecca also took a trip to the hospital, she went ahead and performed, in spite of being told by doctors to take a rest.  Only Bethenny Frankel and her partner, Ethan Burgess, made it through last weeks practice unscathed.

Now, with all of this drama, how did everyone do?

Jonny & Brooke
While the clips of their practices showed some problems (Jonny outstripped the size of the performance rink and kept tripping over the decorative lights around the ice), they skated cleanly and were the only couple to show the other required element of the night, that being to tell a romantic story in their program.  Jonny also tried to go for higher difficulty with his required jump (doing a combination flip and waltz jump) but both had shaky, two-footed landings. 

But otherwise, their program was lovely and created the romantic mood the judges were looking for and they received the highest scores of the night.  Regarding the mishap with Brooke, Jonny said that in the future he will try and back off more and be less aggressive, so that he and Brooke can physically survive the competition. But that seems unlikely to happen with this competitive Olympic athlete.

Rebecca & Fred
As requested by the judges, Rebecca's performance was much more expressive than last week. Rebecca did the best required jump of the night (a flip jump) and she and Fred later revealed Rebecca has also been practicing an axel (as apparently has Jonny) but decided to do the flip jump when they heard that's all Jonny was doing.  But considering what she did, her technical scores of 8 from Dick Button and Johnny Weir seemed a bit low.  Rebecca joked that she hoped Jonny doesn't get used to being on top. 

Brandon & Keauna
Keauna was very distraught throughout the program regarding Brandon's condition and the show dragged out the "suspense" of whether or not Brandon would be able to come at the last minute and perform (did anyone really believe that was going to happen?)  Their rehearsal tape was show instead and it looked very good, but the performance level wasn't there, since it was .. well … just a rehearsal, so their reflected that. 

Non figure skating fans may think that Keauna was overly emotional regarding the circumstances, but they may not know what a rough and emotional year she has had.  Just this past January, she and her pairs partner Rockne Brubaker (who were considered shoe-ins for making the Olympic team in Vancouver) came in shocking 5th place in the Olympic Trials. 

Keauna later confessed that she quit skating 6 months ago and hadn't skated for 5 months until the SWTS opportunity came up.  She added that SWTS means a lot to her and is a chance to "redeem" herself and to be "happy and successful".  So there is more going on there than just being upset that she and Brandon could not perform

Bethenny & Ethan
Bethenny was frustrated and feisty about not caring about judges opinions of her skating.  She did do a fairly decent toe loop, but like Jonny, she got too close to the edge of the ice, which seemed to freak her out and made  her wobble a bit on the landing. 

Afterward, she reflected on the fact that she felt disappointed in herself for being a bit nervous and not skating as well as she did in rehearsal.  I feel badly for Bethenny, because she is trying hard, but really isn't very good.  Some people take to sports quickly and some don't.  Bethenny is one of those who if she had more practice, she'd be a decent skater, but the show's timeframe doesn't allow for this. 

Vince & Jennifer
Vince took the advice of the judges to get back to basics and joined a bunch of kids in a skating school.  It was cute watching the kids give him tips and while there was some improvement in his program. Kudos have to be given to Jennifer, who was brave to let Vince lift her not once but TWICE, since his security with balance was still shaky. 

But it wasn't much of a surprise that he and Jennifer were the ones eliminated this week.  In spite of being a sweet and endearing person, Vince is the weakest skater and was rightfully sent home.  He later commented that he was disappointed and bummed to be eliminated and Jennifer said she'll miss him singing to her while they skate.

But the bizarre moment of the night was when Button, always one to say something odd, told Vince he is the TSA of figure skating" who can see the hidden talent in him and also added that it is not far "from heavy metal to a gold medal".  (YIKES!! Look out Bruno, you've got some competition in the odd and obscure comments department!)

Speaking of the judges, the audience did a lot of booing at the scores given by Dick Button and Johnny Weir, who explained their scoring later on.  Button says his scoring may seem low, but the judges have to rank stars performances and can't do so by giving eights and nines to everyone. 

Weir emphasized his critiquing of skaters skills is only to help them improve and agreed he is being much nicer and less critical to them than coaches usually are to skaters. He admitted, "I've had coffee and guards thrown (at me), (I've) been belittled and yelled at." 

That's right folks, skating is not all feathers, sequins and prettiness.  There aren't sweet, understanding coaches like you see in movies and TV.  Most are like the screeching and insulting football coaches in films, who will do anything to inspire/push their protégés to do more than they ever thought they could do. 

So keep it up, Dick and Johnny. What you are doing is working, because the skaters (and the show) get better every week!

By Philip Hersh

When Shizuka Arakawa became the first Japanese figure skater to win an Olympic gold medal in 2006, the feeling was the victory presaged even more impressive achievements for her country in the sport.

While the Arakawa impact has created a conundrum -- more skaters, not enough rinks -- there is no doubt that the Land of the Rising Sun has gone on to dominate world singles skating over the 4-plus seasons since the 2006 Olympics.

Beginning in 2007, two Japanese women -- Mao Asada and Miki Ando -- have won three of the four world singles titles, five of the 12 world medals and an Olympic medal.  Only Olympic champion Kim Yuna of South Korea has overcome their hegemony.

And Daisuke Takahashi, capitalizing on the absence of the top two 2010 Olympic finishers, became the first Japanese man to win a world title last March.

But there is no clearer evidence of Japan's singles stature than the list of qualifiers for the Grand Prix Final beginning Friday in Beijing.

Japan earned half the six spots in the men's and women's fields, with three men and three women.  Only Russia has done as well or better, with four men and three women in the 1999 season; two men and four women in 2000; and three-three in 2001.

Even more impressive: 

*Japan rang up its big qualifying numbers without Mao Asada, two-time world champion and 2010 Olympic silver medalist, whose decision to change coaches and rework her jumps this season left her stumbling and tumbling to 8th and 5th in her two Grand Prix events, 18th in the overall standings.

*And the Japanese added a 16-year-old senior Grand Prix debutante, reigning junior world champion Kanako Murakami, to a group of qualifiers in which the other two, Ando, 22, and Akiko Suzuki, 25, are established veterans.

*On the men's side, 21-year-old Takahiko Kozura seems to have rallied from an off-year to regain the form that propelled him to a silver medal in the Grand Prix Final two years ago.  Kozuka won two Grand Prix events this fall, and although neither field was of striking quality, his margins of victory were. 

While Japan had no men's qualifiers for this year's Junior Grand Prix Final, Yuzuru Hanyu, the reigning world junior champion who turned 16 Tuesday, finished 12th in the senior men's standings.

All this has occurred despite crowded conditions in old rinks.

``Many are like a dump,'' Japanese Skating Federation official Tatsuro Matsumura told me by telephone.  ``Sometimes I don't know the reason why we are doing so well.''

Matsumura said Japan has only 100 ice rinks for a population of 127 million, and 80 of them are seasonal.

As a press conference two days after her Olympic triumph, Arakawa asked that private companies become become involved in building ice rinks.   The economic downturn has discouraged such investment.

``Unfortunately, very few new ice rinks have been built since (Shizuka's gold medal), and there is an increasing population of young people wanting to skate,'' Matsumura said.  ``There are times when we have 200 skaters on the ice in a rink.''

The situation is such that two Japanese universities recently have built rinks, and others are planning them as a way to attract students.  Ando and Asada have been students at one, Nagoya's Chukyo University, while Takahashi is enrolled at another, Osaka's Kansai University. 

While the university rinks are not open to the general public, they do give elite skaters conditions necessary to continue their careers in Japan.

Despite that, the kids keep coming.  Matsumura said there are a number of ``quite good'' young skaters expected to move into senior ranks after the 2014 Olympics, when the Ando-Asada-Suzuki-Takhashi-Kozuka-Nobunari Oda generation will likely be leaving the competitive scene.

``I don't think dominate is the appropriate word,'' Matsumura said of Japan's primacy.  ``I don't think we can expect that.''

Until about 10 years ago, Japan had produced a few top skaters but rarely more than one at a time.

Midori Ito became the country's first figure skating world champion in 1989 (and first Olympic skating medalist, with silver in 1992), and Yuka Sato followed as world champion in 1994.   When Ito won, Japan had no other woman in the top 14;   when Sato won, no other woman in the top 12.

By comparison:  Arakawa and Ando went 1-4 in 2004; Ando, Asada and Yukari Nakano were 1-2-5 in 2007.

``When Midori and I won, it was kind of the trigger,'' said Sato, 7th and 5th in her two Olympic appearances.  ``Kids who watched us started skating, and it created more of a skating population.  Before, skating was not so popular. Then Shizuka came along, and so on.'' 

The Japanese federation began capitalizing on the interest after 1994 by sending 100 promising young skaters aged 8-12 to four-day summer camps.  The best would move on to longer summer camps with elite junior and senior skaters.

The traditional morphology of Japanese children also has helped.  In a sport putting more and more physical demands on athletes, skaters with smaller, lighter bodies -- especially girls and women -- have a size/strength ratio advantageous to jumping and spinning. 

The lack of ice and ice time has another dimension in Japan.  Scheduling issues cannot be resolved simply by home schooling, a common option for U.S. skaters.  A 2008 Japan Times story said few Japanese parents are aware of ways to educate children outside school and that doing it is difficult.  That means nearly every young skater wants to be at the rink at the same time.

As discomfiting as that can be, Sato said it also has a positive side.

``It helps the children understand discipline,'' she said.  ``They learn to be more efficient and hungry.''

Meanwhile, the United States has not had a women's medalist at worlds since 2006 and its only two men medalists since then, Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir, both are not competing this season. 

Among the current group of U.S. singles skaters, only inconsistent Mirai Nagasu and consistent big meet bust Jeremy Abbott have shown the talent to win a world medal in a competition where everyone skates well.

The U.S. has no men and just two women in the Grand Prix final: the ever-erratic Alissa Czisny, whose errors undermine her grace, and the dogged Rachael Flatt, who seems to have fallen out of judges' good graces after winning the world junior title in 2008 and finishing a solid fifth at senior worlds the next year.

From now until the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, a number of Russian skaters are expected to move into the world elite.  That will end the talent drought that began with the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and accelerated after 2003, when only veterans Irina Slutskaya and Evgeny Plushenko were able to keep winning medals for The Motherland.

But this is clearly Japan's time in the sun.

Sato, married to U.S. Olympian Jason Dungjen and coaching both Abbott and Czisny with her husband in suburban Detroit, is basking in the glow.

``Even though I am trying to produce American skaters, it is kind of cool for me to see,'' Sato said.

Photos, top to bottom: Reaching to be the latest star: Japan's Kanako Murakami, 16, during her winning performance at this year's Skate America Grand Prix event.  (Associated Press / Steve Dykes); Olympic figure skating champion Shizuka Arakawa, her country's only gold medalist at the 2006 Winter Olympics (Getty Images / Al Bello); world champion Midori Ito lighting the torch at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan (Bill Alkofer / KRT file photo); Jeremy Abbott with coaches Jason Dungjen and Yuka Sato at the 2010 Olympics (Associated Press)