to "Otoñal" by Argentine pianist Raúl Di Blasio, which Weir used the previous season. He stated that although he had performed the program well, he was bored with it and felt it lacked passion and power. Commentator and former Olympic gold medalist Dick Button agreed, stating that the newer program "was not good enough for him". Weir's coach and mother admitted that Weir felt nervous about competing at the Olympics, and was uneasy about competing against Plushenko, but he was called "the breakthrough personality of the Games". It was the first time Weir's father John Weir, who had difficulty traveling after a disabling car accident in 1984, attended one of his son's competitions since Weir was a novice. Weir received death threats during the Olympics and received "nasty e-mails" for several months afterwards, personal attacks that "targeted his love for things Russian and even his sexual preferences". According to Variety, Weir's habit of wearing "retro Soviet CCCP sweatshirts" instead of USA clothing during the Olympics angered many U.S. supporters. Weir was the only American male in medal contention after his short program in Turin, skating "well but not brilliantly". Weir began his short program with "a smooth triple Axel" followed by the highest-scoring element in his program, a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination. His next elements were a circular step sequence and a triple flip "that was lacking in crispness". His final elements were a sit spin, a straight-line step sequence, and a combination spin. He earned a personal-best score of 80.00 points, the third-highest score of the new system, and second-best behind Plushenko, who was in first place after the short program. Plushenko earned a personal-best score of 90.66, the highest short program score up to that point. Weir was ahead of the reigning world champion, Stéphane Lambiel from Switzerland, who was in third place, and the world silver medalist, Jeffrey Buttle of Canada, who was in fourth place. Weir arrived late to the stadium for his free skate, blaming it on missing the bus from the athletes' village and not being told of a schedule change, which put him 90 minutes off his routine. Reporter John Crumpacker stated that Weir was "out of sorts for his long program and skated abysmally as he went from second place to fifth". He accomplished eight out of his planned 13 jumps, replaced a planned quadruple toe loop with a double Axel,