STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Judy Blumberg set a giant box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes on the kitchen bar amidst the Swedish meatballs and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus stalks.

It wasn’t meant to be consumed.

Instead, it was meant to be looked at, along with scads of Olympic pins that Lisa-Marie Allen had brought, along with Olympic jackets and tiny skating outfits from a bygone era.

Blumberg doesn’t even like cereal. But this cereal box featured a picture of herself and Michael Seibert, her ice dancing partner during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo. And, so, her father had bought out all the boxes at the local neighborhood store in Tarzana, Calif., where she grew up.

“And when another store didn’t have any, he told the store manager he would never shop there again and that he would advise his friends to boycott it, as well,” Blumberg recounted.

Blumberg joined hands with former Olympic figure skater Lisa-Marie Allen and pair skater Judianne Fotheringill Fuller to provide expert commentary for the ladies short skate program Tuesday evening. The evening, which included wine and food for 20, was auctioned off at the annual Girlfriends Luncheon to raise money for St. Thomas Playhouse.

“It’s so special because we live in a place that so many Olympic athletes have settled and we want to honor and celebrate them,” said Sara Gorby, who co-manages St. Thomas Playhouse with Brett Moellenberg. “How incredibly blessed we are to have them share their stories. And how cool is it that people here are so into it that they want to listen.”

For an evening, at least, those assembled at a private home in Elkhorn could dispense with the commentary of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir and listen as the three Olympians in their midst entertained and enlightened.

Blumberg not only has been a commentator for CBS Sports, but she and Allen underwent rigorous training, watching days of videotape and testing, to become an international technical judge and a national technical judge.

They’re the judges who determine whether a skater over rotated or under rotated—all dictated by single-spaced criteria in the two-inch thick notebooks they review enroute to competitions.

“We concentrate on their feet, not whether they’re flailing their arms overhead,” said Blumberg.

“We don’t look at the whether we like their music or costumes or hair. If we see they’ve executed a move, we give them credit,” said Allen. “It takes a little of the joy out of watching because we’re always adjudicating everything, even when we’re watching it on TV. On rare occasions, however, when skaters have a great performance, we can sit back and say, ‘Great performance!’”

Judianne Fotheringill Fuller and her brother Jerry Fotheringill were the U.S. National champions in 1963 and 1964 and silver medalists in 1962. They placed seventh at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck and had top 10 results in the World Championships from 1962 to 1964.

The two were spotted at a rink one afternoon near their home in Tacoma by a teacher who figured they were the right age to train as pair skaters.

“I was 9 and my brother was 12, which was ancient for starting out by today’s standards,” recalled Fuller. “We entered our first contest and came in second—out of two. And we thought: We can do better. We thought it was fun. It was so special to go out and have the spotlight on you.”

The siblings attended Colorado College while training in Colorado Springs. They practiced from 10 at night until 1 a.m. and attended class by day since their parents wouldn’t let them skate if their grades suffered.

“It would’ve been sad if we hadn’t had success because we had no social life,” recounted Fuller. “But we did get to go to Europe every year as stars. Our highlight was being named to the Olympics team. It’s so emotional when you put that uniform on.

“Kids today have to make decision to commit so much earlier than we did,” she added. “They give up their education—and not everyone becomes the next Peggy Fleming. I’m so glad my parents focused on our education—because for us life really started after the Olympics.”

Judy Blumberg was attracted to ice skating by her neighbor’s cute costume. The rink quickly became the only place she wanted to be, as she practiced three hours a day before school and a few hours afterwards.

When she was 19, she started ice dancing, becoming a five-time U.S. national champion from 1981-85.

She also was a world bronze medalist in 1983-85 at Helsinki, Ottawa and Tokyo, as well as the 1980 Ice Canada International champion and 1981 Skate America champion.

She and Seibert placed seventh at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., and fourth at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, following  a controversial low score by an Italian judge who contended that the Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” they danced to was unsuitable music  for ice dancing.

“I wanted to continue,” said Blumberg, “But Michael was tired of the politics.”

Lisa-Marie Allen asked her grandparents for a pair of skates after she saw Peggy Fleming skate in the Ice Follies on her ninth birthday. A natural athlete, she turned heads when she landed a spot on the national team within four years. And she chose to focus on skating over horses when she was 15.

“I decided I can ride horses forever but I can’t skate forever,” she said. “It was the right decision because in four years I was at the Olympics. I just love the sensation of flying, the cold air on my face.”

Allen was a 1978 Skate Canada International champion, a 1980 Skate America champion a 1975 Nebelhorn Trophy champion and a four-time U.S. national medalist. She placed fifth at the 1980 winter Olympics in Lake Placid behind Linda Fratianne, another Sun Valley Olympian who won a silver medal.

Allen made the most of her Olympic experience, entertaining a brief romance with U.S. ski racer Phil Mahre, who would go on to win gold at the 1984 Olympics.

“One of my highlights was riding on the bus to the Miracle on Ice game with the U.S. hockey team,” she said. “I sat with (goaltender) Jim Craig and we talked about everything else we had done that week, including how I like eating with the Italian team because they always had good pasta—and wine.”

“Talking about everything but the game helped relieve the stress. The Olympics can be such a stressful  event. You don’t remember a lot of it. You don’t even remember seeing your family because your head is in the zone. I didn’t fully appreciate the Olympic experience until the 2002 Winter Olympics when I helped choreograph the opening and closing ceremonies.”

As the night wore on, the trio answered many questions. About the new lightweight plastic skates that skaters are wearing. About  how the Russians’ decision to perform difficult jumps in the second half of their program for bonus points will eventually be questioned because it doesn’t fit the criteria of a well-balanced program. About how the French ice dancers likely would have won their competition had the French judge been drawn to judge their skate.

“If you listen to their blades, they’re so quiet. There’s no grinding.” Blumberg said, “They make their edges work for them.”

Many of today’s star skaters don’t know how to let their blades run free and they don’t have a good sense of what their bodies are doing since the focus on Figure 8s was discontinued, said Fuller.

“Figure 8s are for skaters what scales are for a pianist,” she said.

Fuller noted how she misses the days in which judges walked onto the ice and held their scores above their heads because it provided accountability.

Allen lamented the fact that today’s skaters celebrate following their performances.

“In our day we were not allowed to kiss the ice or celebrate in any way. We just curtseyed and got off the ice. We couldn’t wear pants, either. I hate it when I see figure skaters wearing pants today. Women have nice looking legs so why not show them off?”

The three watched American figure skaters Bradie Tennell and Mirai Nagasu fall as they attempted their first big jumps.

“But that’s the great thing about skating,” said Fuller. “You get up and you’re so focused on the next thing you don’t even remember falling.”

Today’s Amercan ladies have fallen behind athletes from Russia because Russia began stressing the importance of difficult moves in its national competitions years ago, and athletes had to learn to do them if they wanted to win a championship, they said.

“Mirai Nagasu is very talented but she doesn’t shine all the time. You always wonder what’s going to happen when she takes the ice,” said Allen.

Blumberg offered a quote from Carlos Fassi, who coached Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill, as to the definition of being a champion: “On your worst day you have to be so much better than anyone else.”

Blumberg doesn’t feel the need to do tricks anymore.

“But I still love the feeling I get moving over the ice.”