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SOCHI, Russia (AP) - "Bolero."
It is the most famous piece of music in figure skating, thanks to Torvill and Dean's historic free dance to it at the Sarajevo Games.
Carolina Kostner, whose father Erwin was a hockey player at the 1984 Olympics and was in the Zetra arena for that performance, will be skating to "Bolero" in the women's free skate on Thursday.
The world silver medalist from Italy at first was reluctant to skate to the iconic piece, but choreographer Lori Nichol was very persuasive.
"I had been hoping she would do it for a long time, but it was never ready yet," Nichol said Monday. "I had a vision of how I wanted her to do it. It took a long time for her to say yes.
"I wanted her to skate it for the Olympics, especially because at the (2013) world championships, it was not her maximum performance and I didn't want to see that be the end of her Bolero.''
Kostner got more comfortable with Ravel's powerful piece and now can't believe she ever opposed using it.
"The music keeps memories for me of very special skating with the way Jayne and Christopher skated it in 1984, and knowing my dad was in the ice rink when they skated," Kostner said. "That music helped me get through the whole season last year, when I didn't want to compete, but it is such a cool program and I did want to skate to it.
"I feel now that it is my music, that is my program."
_ By Barry Wilner _ Twitter http://twitter.com/wilner88
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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu
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