Bad air and a bum ankle: Who says tough guys don't dance?
Joseph Farias III recently returned from Kaohsiung, a city in southern Taiwan, where he competed in the 2008 World Roller Figure Skating Championships. The 27-year-old Fall River native took fourth place in the senior solo dance category, despite suffering an ankle injury in the middle of the competition.
Farias had spent months skating at the Carousel Family Fun Center in Whitman in preparation for this championship. His opponents were among the top roller figure skaters in the world, hailing from Portugal, France, Argentina, Japan, Brazil, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.
"It went well," said Farias. "It was a very, very tough competition."
The solo dance event was split into two parts. During the compulsory portion, the skaters were required to perform the Italian fox-trot and starlight waltz.
"Every country had their own interpretation of what the compulsory dance looked like," said Farias. "That was interesting to see, the ways skaters from other countries put their dances on the floor. It was different, more flamboyant. There was huge difference in style from every country."
Farias was in Taiwan from Nov. 14 to Nov. 23, a trip he described as a "huge culture shock." He recalled that the bus ride between the hotel and the venue took more than an hour, with "32 twists and turns" around a steep mountain, with countless motor scooters zipping past the bus. In the city, the sky was dark with smog and people wore surgical masks over their mouths and noses to filter the air, he said.
Besides the food and the language barrier, there were other differences. The wooden floor at I-Shou University's stadium was much smaller than what Farias and his Team USA cohorts usually skate on.
"Instead of skating in a rectangle, we were skating in a square," said Farias. "It's not what we're used to."
Two other skaters from Team USA miscalculated the length of the floor and crashed into the barrier during a warm-up.
Farias's coach, John Viola, said there were problems with the skating surface itself. At one point, officials deemed the floor to be unusable and a practice was canceled, he said. The floor had to be washed several times between events, he said.
"The conditions weren't good at the championship," said Viola, who lives in Norton. "The wrong coating was on the floor. And the floor was not quite the right size, and that made it more difficult."
Despite those obstacles, "Joey skated very, very good," said Viola. "He did his job."
For the free dance portion of the competition, Farias performed a routine choreographed to Tony Bennett's version of "Steppin' Out With My Baby."
On Nov. 21, Farias hurt his ankle while warming up. Practicing a footwork sequence before his Tony Bennett routine, he went into a turn and his left skate got stuck on the floor. "I nailed the floor," said Farias. "You could hear my fall echo through the place, up to the rafters."
Farias picked himself up. His left leg - from his toes up to his hip - was throbbing in pain. He took an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory and pain reliever and drank some water. He still had some time before his turn. There were two skaters before him.
"I took a minute to shake it off," he said.
By the time it was his turn, "I couldn't really feel too much," he said. "I still pulled it together and got good scores."
But it didn't take long for his ankle to swell up. Since he arrived in the United States on Nov. 24, he's had to stay off his skates.
He hopes to recover as quickly as possible so he can get back to the rink. After all, the 2009 World Roller Figure Skating Championships are slated to be held in Freiburg, Germany, next November.
"As of right now, that's something I'm setting my sights on," he said. "And I'm looking forward to another successful competitive season."
Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. 