International Skating Union

[lambielfan26]

At the 94 Lillehammer Olympics EVERY gold medal decision was controversial to a degree and debated to this day. What do some of you think.

In the pairs event Gordeeva & Grinkov whom many/most consider the greatest pair team ever won. However they did not have their best perforamnce that night with about 4 obvious minor mistakes, and many felt the gold medal should have gone to their arch rivals Miskutienok & Dmtirev who skated lights out that night. Both teams were reinstated pros looking for their 2nd Olympic Gold. Which do you think was better:

Miskutienok & Dmitriev http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHPaeQ-wyTk

Gordeeva & Grinkov http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY7HFPSmx8M&feature=related



Then in the mens event there was debate about who should have won as well. Urmanov won with a classical program with mostly solid jumps, but no triple-triple combination, and stumbling around to save the last triple flip. Stojko many felt deserved to win with that night, his only error was singling the first triple axel, but he ended up throwing in a triple axel-triple toe in place of a planned quad immediately. Candelero might have won the gold but unfortunately botched his final triple axel attempt, turning it into a single with a fall. Which do you believe was the true winner that night:

Urmanov: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ieGvGdfyeo
Stojko: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpDaWDlwi2E



Then in the ice dance there was much debate between all top 3 finishers- Usova & Zhulin, Gritschuk & Platov, and Torvill & Dean to which deserved the gold medal. Here are the FDs of each:

Usova & Zhulin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSelX2fk2w0
Torvill & Dean http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfepV0qzW6g&feature=related
Gritschuk & Platov http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikmnZLhl1wA


And finally the womens the debate between Baiul and Kerrigan:

Kerrigan 1994 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7RvWbnaDZk
Baiul 1994 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msGK1h8dSN4


Here are my opinions:

Miskutienok & Dmitriev should have won that night but it is close.

Stojko clearly should have won the mens.

If one gives some leighway to the rules as they did for Gritschuk & Platov then Torvill & Dean should have been the winners as they had the most difficult and entertaining program that night. And if one is a stickler for the rules than Usova & Zhulin should have won as they were the only one of the top 3 with no questionable moves and who did a "by the book" dance as boring and uninspiring compared to their past work it was. Either way G&P did not deserve to win this year.

And Kerrigan was hands down the winner of the 94 Olympic Gold, one of the most blatant robberies in skating history. She was basically clubbed in the knee twice, this time by the judges in Lillehammer who blatantly robbed her of her clearly earned Olympic Gold. Chen also clearly outskated Baiul in the LP, and if she had a better SP I would have considered her for the gold too but definitely deserved silver. Sato deserved 3rd place in the LP over Baiul as well. I might have put Sato 2nd in the LP just to purposely bump Baiul off the podium though as Chen would still win silver overall in this case and Sato now bronze.

[Eladola]

You always were a little over the top in dismissing the skaters you don't like.


This event was the first one i ever watched and i was 7 or 8 i think ...
I realy took all the wins as facts , And i'm having a hard time separating it now , I'll let you know if i ever can but i bet people will slaughter this thread by the time i do .

[Dragonlady]

These dead horses have already been flayed to the bone. Get out the quicklime and be done with them.

7 more weeks until Thornhill. I wonder who will show up this year. In between there's Liberty, Silicon Valley Open, Detroit, Cranberry in Boston, The Quebec Summer Championships, Summer Sizzle, Lake Placid Dance and Indianapolis Pairs, and a few others.

Anybody plan on attending any of the above?

[anne-marie]

[loveskating]

I thought the judges called it totally correctly, including Grishuk and Platov.

[AliasJohnDoe]

My thoughts on Lillehammer.

Favorite Moment Ladies: Ladies SP - Katarina Witt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB7ZJqGlVWI

Favorite Moment Men: Mens LP - Brian Boitano http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ2CvPi6uo0

Pairs: As for G/G and M/D. I feel the same way about them as I do for D/W and V/M. Either could win and I'd be happy.
I could never criticize any of them.....so I won't gush either.

Dance:I wanted T/D to win. But I personally thought U/Z were the best.

[nowthen]

Kerrigan was Plushenko and Baiul was Lysacek. Judges said Baiul was the better at spins and steps.

[lambielfan26]

Baiul barely had any spins in her program and they were all weak. She had no combination spin, no scratch spin, no layback spin. She did a weak death drop with a very ugly sit position and hardly any rotation. Her best spin was a short little catchfoot donut spin.

As for steps she had no footwork sequence in her whole program and her only steps were wiggling her butt on her toe picks during stops in the program.

[nowthen]

This is a fascinating article with lots of comments from the Swedish referee about Kerrigan Vs. Baiul.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/27/sports/winter-olympics-the-judges-judge-says-baiul-deserves-the-gold.html?pagewanted=all

You also have the dreaded "cautious" word about Kerrigan.

[Dragonlady]

[Rosie]

[chuckiem]

Baiul also double-footed many of her jumps.

[nowthen]

[Winnipeg]

Kerrigan should have won and I was never even a fan.

I think Oksana's story pulled at the heartstring because she was an orphan and the knee whack couldn't quite elicit as much?

[loveskating]

[Culturegeek]

When I rewatched the men's competition (top five LPs) I was a bit surprised at how boring Stoijko was. For all his strides technically, he was so far behind presentation wise that I'm almost glad he didn't win - he did have a major mistake too. Of the two (Urmanov and Stoijko), I'd almost rather bump up Petrenko and Browning, but of course both were too far behind after the SP and were definitely behind in terms of technical performance.

Whereas I actually enjoyed all three ice dances quite a bit. Not knowing enough of the then-rules to really judge, but I'm fine with G/P's win, though I prefer later programs from them (their other OGM program is my favourite.)

[loveskating]

[chuckiem]

I don't consider Lysacek a great technical skate. He won in Vancouver because he skated his programs better than the other competitors.

Stojko skated his programs as well as he could, but he was basically a truck driver on the ice. He might as well have been skating to a metronome, because there was no musical interpretation or finesse to his skating. I wasn't exactly an Urmanov fan (hated his gloves!) but I thought he deserved the gold over Stojko. JMO.

[Culturegeek]

Was there ever any debate about who deserved the bronze in pairs, or were Brasseur/Eisler pretty well accepted by crowds/"experts"? Youtubing the fourth place team (who's name escapes me now) I thought it would've been close.

[lambielfan26]

Evan is a very strong technical skater. His spins and footwork are very difficult and well done, and he does all the jumps except for no quad of any kind (a big except) and does them all well except his weak triple axel. I stilll wouldnt call him a great technical skater either. There are still plenty of guys that we have seen with better footwork and spins in the last 20 years, and a mediocre triple axel that is lucky to be ratified under COP and rarely ever doing a quad, makes great an overstatement of sorts.