Shame he's not going to win.
Weir himself conceded that, after the men's figure skating short program at the Turin Games on Tuesday night. Well, not conceded. But between the new scoring system and the unprecedented score that three-time Russian world champion Evgeny Plushenko posted at the Palavela, Weir was "just being realistic" when he said that the only way that Plushenko can lose is "if he falls three times, maybe - maybe - someone could squeeze by, by a point or so." In other words? Forget it.
The gold medal belongs to Plushenko.
The flamboyant star is far and away the most talented male skater on the face of the earth, and has been the overwhelming gold-medal favorite at least since recovering from groin surgery last year, if not since he walked away with silver from the Salt Lake Games four years ago.
And now, after he posted a 90.66 in the short program - that's the highest score in three years under the new scoring system, and far ahead of second-place Weir - the free skate is bound to be more coronation than competition on Thursday night.
But showman though he may be on the ice, Plushenko is no Weir. Not when it comes to the after party.
While coach Alexei Mishin rushed Plushenko by the arm through a gauntlet of reporters following the short program - "Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!" he shouted - the 21-year-old Weir performed what already has become the most engaging interview in figure skating, maybe the whole Olympics.
The three-time defending national champion described his blossoming fascination with Russian culture and history - coach Tatiana Tarasova is helping him learn the language - explained how he has felt somewhat subdued throughout his Olympic experience, and joked about the dirtiness of the athletes village and his room in it.
"I mopped the floor and it's still dirty!" he said.
Weir isn't all talk, though.
He sits in second place behind Plushenko after scoring an 80.0 for a short program that he described as "not bad," but not nearly as good as the one he performed at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last month.
And though reigning world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland and former world silver medalist Brian Joubert of France lurk just behind at 79.04 and 77.77, respectively, Weir could become the first American man to win silver since Paul Wylie at the 1992 Albertville Games.
"If I skate clean and everything is 100 percent, I deserve to get a medal," he said.
The other Americans are not so hopeful, however.
Both Matt Savoie and Evan Lysacek had major flaws in their programs - both fell, for starters - and are stuck far back in eighth and 10th place respectively.
Weir decided against attempting a quad in his short program, but said it remains a possibility in the free skate depending on how he feels. "It's just going to have to be one of those days," he said. "I could very likely wake up and feel, like, horrible - like Nick Nolte's mug shot. In that case, there's no quad." Speaking of quads, Weir touched on how impressed he was watching China's Zhang Dan collect herself and finish her free skate after wiping out badly attempting to land a throw quad Salchow in the pairs competition on Monday.
Zhang recovered from the horrific crash to skate almost flawlessly and secure a silver medal for herself and partner Zhang Hao - even though some have questioned the official ruling that they resumed their routine within the allowable two minutes.
"That girl, I would buy her diamonds if I could afford it," Weir said. "I have no idea how she got up. It seemed like the type of fall that, you know, could render someone unable to have children. It looked like it hurt that much. . . . If I had to get up from that and keep competing, and be as 'on' as she was after? I don't know if I could have done it, personally." That Zhang and Zhang were able to hang on to the silver medal after such a nasty fall demonstrates why Plushenko is all but untouchable under the new scoring system.
While the pair would have been eliminated under the old system that basically graded the entire performance as a whole, they survived because under the new system, judges evaluate each element separately from the others. That means missing one element - even as horribly as Zhang did - no longer is fatal to a whole program.
"I'm not expecting anything," Weir said. "I'm not counting my eggs before they hatch." While Plushenko was predictably dazzling in the short program, if perhaps a little too manic at times for his more sedate music, Weir was something short of fantastic. He said his program was "definitely not my best, but I'm excited. It's over, it's done, it's Valentine's Day. I can go buy myself a rose and some chocolate now." And maybe dig up some silver Thursday.
