journal

Tuesday, Februrary 3, 2009

Title: Thank you
 

My dear fans,

I want to thank you all for your support in this rough, rough time. I also want to thank all of you who supported me both in Cleveland and in front of the TV set around the World. I want to say a special thank you to the fans who brought my banners not only from Johnny's Angels America, but also from Japan and Russia as well as those of you who were involved in sending the balloons and teddy bear to my ice rink. It was such a honor to skate in such a loving environment.

I want to apologize for the way I performed in Cleveland. I know so many of you who read this website wanted to see me at my best and win another National title as much as I did personally and I let all of us down. I can say that after a very rough fall season and two major illnesses that I wasn't strong enough to be prepared in the manner that I usually am and my performance suffered. I did not want to withdraw from the event because to me, that would have been the easy way out. I wanted to fight, healthy or not. After the Christmas show in Korea I was eight pounds under my usual weight, and I immediately started training for Nationals which leaves very little extra time to recover and put weight back on and become strong again. I showed up at Nationals and competed which for me, was a triumph in itself.

Many people have criticized my decision to perform in the Christmas show in Seoul, and I can understand their criticism but I do not accept it. It was my choice to perform, and had I not gotten sick, I would have been 100% for Nationals. I am not exempt from getting a stomach virus or the flu, just like the rest of you. I can not control when I am sick and when I am healthy. Life is random and I hope everyone can understand that. I also hope people will stop blaming a show on my Nationals performance. It was an honor to be invited to the show in Korea and I was so happy to lend my time. The only thing that I am blaming my performance on, is not being healthy which is not an excuse, it is the truth. I can assure everyone that I tried my best to be prepared.

I want to publicly congratulate the medalists from our National Championships and the World team. I hope the United States men can achieve their best results in our home country. I also hope they can manage to win three spots for the Olympic Games, as I helped achieve last year for this World Championship. It is an honor to compete with such a talented group of skaters.

Thank you all so much. I hope you don't lose faith in me, and I hope I can excite you all with my performances in the off-season as well as next season when we all compete with a blank slate in hopes of becoming Olympic Champion. Thank you, Spasibo, Kamsa-hamnida, Arigato, Grazie, Merci and Danke!

-Johnny