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Brent Bommentre and ice dance partner Kimberly Navarro performed the Finnstep for the first and last time in Vancouver. (Getty Images)

By Brent Bommentre, special to icenetwork.com

(02/04/2009) - Brent Bommentre takes us behind-the-scenes at the 2009 Four Continents Championships in Vancouver, British Columbia. In this edition, Bommentre laments the demise of the Finnstep while musing over Super Bowl ads.

Wednesday, Feb. 4

Of all the emotions of competition (nerves, excitement, joy and disappointment), the primary one was relief.

Sure, some of us probably wanted to skate better. But, we all finished in a collective sigh and quick change of focus to the OD. It feels weird to retire a dance that we barely had a week to learn and train. So, here is my best shot:

Today, we lost a good friend, a friend we hardly got a chance to get to know. He was fun, quick and sure had a lot of steps. Behind the dance community's tears, I know there was a glimmer of hope that the newest member of our family will be in a better place. Sure, we can visit him any time we like on icenetwork.com, but today was a rare event for dance. We hang on to our traditions pretty tightly, and never has a dance (for us) made a debut and an exit the same day.

Finnstep -- we will miss you.

On another note, it is very exciting to be in Vancouver. Not only do Canadians take skating, even compulsories, very seriously; but they LOVE the Olympics and all other sports. A great example is the Super Bowl. After arriving Sunday, we were pretty stoked to watch the game and the commercials. The game was amazing; I called the finish (offensive play would win the game), but I had the wrong team.

However, the commercials totally took me by surprise. They were totally different in Canada. No Doritos. No Transformers 2 trailer (I am still crying about that)... everything here is about the rings -- and not the one Big Ben got.

There are signs everywhere that the city is collectively preparing to welcome the world -- everything from construction cranes to billboards. There is energy in the air. Just like the Olympics themselves, I feel like the city knows the true meaning of the Games is in the process of self-improvement, and not the event itself.

Signing off,
Brent "Billy Shakes" Bommentre