"But it's just for fun," said Weir"
Fun? How about 'The Soviet Union killed 60 million of its own people and all I got was a lousy CCCP jacket."
Fun? The kid's a dirt bag. He should spend some time in a Soviet gulag. Then maybe I'll accept his comment that it's 'fun'.
www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060210/SPORTS/602100341/-1/NEWS01Weir causes stir with Soviet jacket
U.S. champion admires Russian skaters, culture
By GARY MIHOCES
USA Today
02/10/2006
TURIN, Italy -- Johnny Weir, winner of three consecutive U.S. figure skating titles, was sporting a throwback warmup jacket from the old Soviet Union after his Olympic practice session Thursday.
"CCCP,'' the Russian acronym for the Soviet Union, was lettered across the chest of the red, zippered jacket. On the left sleeve of the jersey he wore in practice, "Johnny" was spelled out in Russian letters.
"It's not that I'm anti-American or anything like that ... I just admire Russian culture and Russian skaters for their strength and their perseverance through everything they go through," said Weir, who trains at the Pond in Newark.
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He acknowledged that he's taken some flak about the jacket, which was a birthday gift from Russian skater Tatiana Totmianina.
"People are [saying] like, 'What are you doing? Why don't you switch countries?' But it's just for fun," said Weir. "It's a group of people I admire. It would be the same as someone wearing a Madonna T-shirt."
Weir's relationship with Russian choreographer Tatiana Tarasova fueled his interest in Russian culture and its strong tradition of skating.
"Working with Tatiana brought it to a forefront just because she's Russian, but I've worked with Russians throughout my whole skating career," he said.
Even as a youngster, Weir was fascinated by anything Russian.
"I remember before I could really write cursive in English, I could write some of the letters in the Cyrillic [Russian] alphabet, because I found a book about it in my library in elementary school," he said. "So, from then on, I was like, 'Wow, that's so far away and so much going on there.' It was always just someplace that spoke to me for whatever reasons."
The feeling is mutual.
At the 2005 figure skating world championships in Moscow, Russian fans welcomed Weir warmly.
"They clapped to my music, and it's slow music," he said. "They've been very supportive."
On the Grand Prix figure skating tour this season, he had throngs of admiring fans at the Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg.