COMMENTARY

By Tim Dahlberg

updated 10:11 a.m. ET Feb. 17, 2006

TURIN, Italy - Johnny Weir was busy as he prepared for the biggest night of his life. Getting ready in the athletes’ village, his schedule went something like this:

Make sure swan costume from short program securely put away. Check.

Clean dorm room floor one more time. Check.

Glue missing sequins back on outfit. Check

Catch bus to arena.

Oops.

Weir’s worst Olympic moment didn’t come on the ice Thursday night, where he blew a chance to win a figure skating medal. It came when he was wandering around in the cold wondering if he would ever get to the arena.

Bus schedules? Those are for the concierge to read.

Besides, as much as Weir was talking all week, he didn’t have time to listen.

America’s only hope in the men’s figure skating arrived late and never recovered, skating a tentative one-bear program and dropping from second place to fifth in his first Olympics.

That’s one bear, as in only one fan threw a bear on the ice after he was done. Evgeni Plushenko got dozens, and a gold medal to wrap around them.

It was that bad, and Weir knew it.

“I just couldn’t get comfortable in this building tonight,” he said. “I need to train better. I need to train for every circumstance.”

Such as?

“Being late to the arena.”

If there wasn’t so much at stake, this could have seemed like a bad “I Love Lucy” rerun with Lucy running around the parking lot frantically trying to hail a cab.

Slide show   Pictures of the Day Check out Sunday's best Olympic images.

But there was nothing funny about Weir walking out from the village to the bus he expected to be waiting with less than two hours before his skate. It wasn’t there because the Italian organizers had changed the schedule and the buses that used to run every 10 minutes were now running every half-hour.

It doesn’t take much to shake up the average figure skater. Takes even less to rattle a self-described “princessy” one who complained the minute he came to the village that there was no room service, the bed was hard and there was dust on the floor of his room.

He wanted a hotel and limo service. He got a twin bed and a bus schedule.

Slide show   Emotional Moments Feb. 26: See photos of athletes' highs and lows from Sunday.

If he hadn’t found a volunteer with a car after about 20 minutes of walking around, he might have had to walk to the arena.

“It was never brought to my attention it would be changed,” Weir said. “I guess it’s my fault because I didn’t bother to ask.”

Maybe Weir could have squeezed the question in between interviews. With Michelle Kwan out and Weir sitting in second place after the short program, he was on NBC more this week than Jay Leno.

MORE FROM FIGURE SKATING

Figure skating Section Front

Cohen to skate in '10 ... if body permits Bumpy ride ahead for U.S. figure skating Vote: Who will win skating gold in 2010? Celizic: America's top 10 Olympic busts Cohen will skate in world championships Celizic: U.S. did itself proud at Olympics Figure skating medal winners, results   Slide show: Fashionable skating costumes Interactive: Figuring out figure skating Figure skating Section Front   Add Figure skating headlines to your news reader: