Rank womens Olympic medal winning LPs since 1992

[judgejudy27]

How would you rank the Olympic medal winning LPs since 1992. Here would mine:

1. Yu Na Kim 2010 gold- no brainer, she wins.

2. Shizuka Arakawa 2006 gold- only 5 triples that day but rate her this high just due to the complexity of the overall program, the spins, footwork, choreography. Essentialy she got a boost from skating under COP as I am sure many of these others would have included more of the same had they as well. Everything she did was super high quality as well though.

3. Mao Asada 2010 silver- thought of rating her 2nd especialy since I think in a judged competition she would have finished 2nd under either 6.0 or COP with the same skate. Rated her 3rd since those 2 mistakes at the end took away from the overall effect. Still rate her highly since she had 2 triple axels and the overall performance level was excellent, even if I didnt like the music or choreography much.

4. Tara Lipinski 1998 gold- she and Michelle were a toss up that night. I went with Tara just ahead since she actually was the one who got the judges nod for the gold, though I slightly prefered Michelle.

5. Michelle Kwan 1998 silver- read above.

6. Midori Ito 1992 silver- since that late triple axel was amazing and saved was was a rather subpar performance to that point. If she were 3rd after the short maybe wins with same perforamnce.

7. Kristi Yamaguchi- probably her worst skate of the 90-91 and 91-92 seasons. Still might have won the 1994 or 2002 Olympics though.

8. Nancy Kerrigan 1994 silver- excellent performance which merited the gold medal that night. Still only 5 triples, not spectacular spins, and a slightly generic quality which weaker choreography than some of her previous numbers.

9. Joannie Rochette- again tanking into account the level of difficulty in spins, footwork, spirals, and choreography required today. She is a very strong jumper and greatly improved her presentation over the years. A couple problems though an no triple-triple combo. Put her below Nancy since Nancy didnt put a foot wrong, and below Ito and Kristi since they completed something extremely difficult that night inspite of their mistakes.

10. Lu Chen 1994 bronze- excellent performance, competitive with Nancy for the LP win that night under fair judging. Very strong technically with very strong and interesting choreography, even if she wasnt exactly an exquisite artist on ice as she would later be.

11. Sasha Cohen 2006 silver- Exceptional performance after the 2 falls.

12. Sarah Hughes 2002 gold- meh, best of the night but shouldnt have been.
If she skated under COP I would probably rate her last, but what she did worked under 6.0.

13. Irina Slutskaya 2002 silver- well she stayed on her feet and some of the jumps and spins she did were excellent. Extremely subpar performance for her though, and not great choreography.

14. Lu Chen 1998 bronze- her artistry was on another level from 94, but technically she was nowhere near as strong as her 94 level as a skater. and I think Maria deserved the bronze that night anyway.

15. Michelle Kwan 2002 bronze- not a great performance obviously and not on e of her better programs to start with.

16. Irina Slutskaya 2006 bronze- one of her worst performances ever.

17. Nancy Kerrigan 1992 bronze- lame performance, put her over Oksana since the choreography and program itself was actually very nice, much better than her own 94 vehicle which she skated far better.

18. Oksana Baiul 1994 gold- Subpar even for her own subpar standards as a so called Championship skater.

[MikiAndoFan#1]

I'll just rank the gold medalists.

1. Yu-Na
2. Shizuka
3. Sarah
4. Kristi
5. Tara
6. Oksana

[shady82]

I'm very unfamiliar with skating before 2002, so I'll just rank medalists from 1998 and on.

1. Kim 2010: No question about it.
2. Lipinski 1998: Artistically speaking, her performance wasn't mature, deep, or especially complex choreographically. But technically she was excellent, and her choreography and connection with the audience were strong.
3. Kwan 1998: IMO perhaps the best FP conceptually and artistically of the group. The performance was tentative and a step down from Nationals, but a 7-triple, beautifully performed program must be up the list. I also feel she is a toss-up with Lipinski.
4. Hughes 2002: I'm probably the only one to put her up that high. Apart from her cheated jumps, she landed two triple-triple combinations, and delivered a well-balanced program with great MITF. She brought the audience along with her, as well.
5. Arakawa 2006: She brings her usual majestic quality and superior edges to this program. But this was a poor program jump-wise for an Olympic gold medalist, and I found the rest of the program to be somewhat flat.
6. Asada 2010: Two triple axels landed, though she did falter on a couple jumps later in the program. The program was choreograpihcally harder than Kim's, but still lacks the depth of older, more mature skaters such as Kwan and Chen. A breathtaking footwork sequence, though.
7. Slutskaya 2002: An ok program with most jumps landed, but somewhat sloppy, and imperfect jump-wise.
8. Rochette 2010: Well-rounded program with most of her jumps landed.
9. Chen 1998: Her "Butterfly Lovers" program is one of my favorites in this group. Though she did not skate it to her potential, she did deliver a solid comeback program with textbook choreography.
10. Cohen 2006: Faltered on the first two jumps, but the rest was brilliant. I wasn't too big of her R&J though, since I found her choreography and delivery to be a bit too stiff and contained.
11. Kwan 2002: She did not land two of her jumps cleanly. But "Scheherezade" was a decent program, and everything else was done neatly and with precision.
12. Slutskaya 2006: Like Kwan, she faltered on her jumps. Even aside from her jump problems, her program was a whole was sloppy and poorly constructed.

[neptune]

Just the gold medalists:

1) Tara (not as mature as Yu-Na, but she had just about everything else)
2) Yu-Na (great performance, just not as electrifying as Tara's--1 less triple too)
3) Sarah (if her combos weren't cheated, she'd be higher)
4) Kristi
5) Shizuka
6) Oksana

[briancoogaert]

1-YuNa Kim 2010
2-Tara Lipinski 1998 (tied with Michelle Kwan 1998 !!!)
3-Shizuka Arakawa 2006
4-Kristi Yamaguchi 1992
5-Sarah Hughes 2002
6-Oksana Baiul 1994 (with Nancy Kerrigan 1994 ahead !)

[blue_idealist]

I can't remember all of them in great detail, but Tara's is the most memorable to me.

[museksk8r]

1. Yu Na Kim 2010 gold (6 triples rotated, 6 clean)

2. Michelle Kwan 1998 silver (7 triples, saved flip)

3. Joannie Rochette 2010 bronze (7 triples rotated, 6 clean, step-out of 3flip, slight turn-out of 2Axel)

4. Shizuka Arakawa 2006 gold (5 triples rotated, 5 clean, 1 doubled triple loop)

5. Midori Ito 1992 silver (fall on the 1st 3Axel attempt and she doubled a 3Lutz, but I thought her speed, attack, and amplitude on the jumps were all better than Kristi's)

6. Kristi Yamaguchi 1992 gold (1 fall on UR 3loop, doubled Salchow)

7. Mao Asada 2010 silver (2-footed and UR 3flip, singled triple toe, 4 triples rotated clean, two 3Axels)

8. Tara Lipinski 1998 gold (one of the ugliest and smallest 2Axels of any elite skater ever! . . . only Zhang and Leung are worse, bad flutz too, some jumps were landed at a standstill with no speed, 6 rotated triples, 2nd 3loop was UR in the combo, and all her jumps were tiny too)

9. Nancy Kerrigan 1994 silver (5 triples, 1 doubled triple flip)

10. Lu Chen 1994 bronze (6 triples attempted, UR 3Lutz and UR 3flip with hand down)

11. Sarah Hughes 2002 gold (7 triples, some would have been UR under COP scoring system)

12. Irina Slutskaya 2002 silver

13. Lu Chen 1998 bronze (UR and stepped out of 3flip, UR 3Lutz, UR and 2-footed 3toe)

14. Michelle Kwan 2002 bronze (2-footed 3toe, UR and fall on 3flip)

15. Sasha Cohen 2006 silver (fall on 3flutz, fall on 3flip, 2-footed 3Salchow)

16. Irina Slutskaya 2006 bronze

17. Nancy Kerrigan 1992 bronze

18. Oksana Baiul 1994 gold (zero triple jumps in combination, zero spins in combination, zero footwork sequence, 2-footed 3flip, 2-footed 3toe)

[dawnie]

1. Yuna-2010
2. Shizuka- 2006
3. Tara- 1998
4. Kristi- 1992
5. Sarah- 2002: cheated jumps and just awkward skating in general
6. Oksana- 1994: I recently watched this again and my goodness... What. A. Joke.

[Fallcolor]

1. Yu Na Kim 2010 gold (7 triples rotated, 7 clean)

I believe she did 6 triples...

[Frau Muller]

I'm also doing just the gold medalists and I'm taking into consideration more than mere jumps and technical score but IMPACT of the result.

I'll just rank the gold medalists.

1. Yu-Na (no doubt there..potentially the greatest of all time)

2. Tara - strong 2nd place. Not only skated great but she Toppled a Pre-ordained Kween and that's no small thing.

- big line here -

3. Oksana - artistry and emotion 'slam-dunked' the American Darling; Oksana had the greatest raw artistry & musicality of all (even with the cheesy material)

4. Shizuka - also a solid skate and a dramatic win above more touted skaters

5. Kristi - the first US lady winner in a long time, so it was pretty dramatic for me

6. Sarah - almost "the accidental winner" and the gawkiest of all but, hey, she miraculously delivered on that one night

[ribbon]

1. Yuna-2010
2. Tara- 1998
3. kristi - 1992
4. Shizuka 2006
5. Sarah- 2002
6. Oksana- 1994

Yuna was just perfect. Tara was technically great and I thought it was such an exciting competition (thought Lulu and Michelle's performances were lovely, really a stellar podium all around). 1992 was a bummer overall in terms of clean performances, but Kristi, Paul, and M&D were highlights that year. I really disliked the 2006 Olympics compared to others; Shizuka obviously deserved gold, but I don't think it will be a performance that stands the test of time for me. 2002 Sarah - I never appreciated her basic skating skills, but she did excite me that night. If others were clean, she would not have won, however. And Oksana's short program was quite lovely, but even as a young kid, I thought her long program had way too much posing and primping and not enough skating.

[museksk8r]

I believe she did 6 triples...

Oops! My bad, I knew that! . . . it's my 1st day back to work from the 4th holiday, so my mind is obviously dragging. Thanks for catching my error!

[Triple Butz]

1) Lipinski- So Exciting, especially because most of the difficulty was near the end of the program. She was inspiring and on fire.
2) Kwan (1998)- Not as good as Nationals 98 but still a hell of a performance with some incredible moments and great jumps.
3) Kim- Stunning jumps, and elegant movements, but I found her LP a snoozer all season long, just doesn't match the excitement or beauty of her past programs.
4) Kerrigan (1994) 5 great triples and a 3/3. I surprised myself by putting this so high on the list as I generally can't stand Kerrigan or her programs...
5) Yamaguchi- A wonderfully packed program full of interesting movements and difficulty, but a very sloppy mid section.
6)Rochette (2010)- A few hiccups, but good content and clean, beautiful skating.
7) Ito (1992)- A courageous effort, too bad about the opening
8) Hughes- awkward jumps and awkward choreography, but still a lot of passion and determination.
9) Arakawa (2006)- Some good jumps, but not very much content. I find her leg lines awkward and her presentation totally ZZZZZzzzz
10) Asada- 2 3axels, but no lutz, toe, or salchow makes the program look extremely unbalanced. A beautiful skater but she had no concept of this music.
11) Kwan (2002) If you could erase the 5 seconds where the flip occurred this would have been a champion's performance.
12) Chen (1994) A good overall performance, but not the presentation that Chen would acquire in her later years.

The rest are totally unmemorable to me. Cohen and Slute were trainwrecks in 06. Chen's jumps were horrible in 98. Slutskaya probably should have won bronze in 98, that was her best Olympic LP in my mind. Harding should have won bronze in 92, but she and Kerrigan were both pretty bad. Baiul would be last on the list for reasons that have been stated again and again and again.

[judgejudy27]

Poor Baiul, her skating definitely does not stand the test of time well.

[barbk]

Poor Baiul, her skating definitely does not stand the test of time well.

Baiul's performance didn't survive 24 hours very well.

Janet Swan Hill used to use the phrase "ensorceled" to describe what Baiul did to the judges. As I recall, the ISU later issued a video that used her skate as an example of what not to do. (I think that had some guy counting how many seconds she stayed in one place.)

[smarts1]

1. Yuna Kim 2010 Gold-As much as I don't like her skating and as much as I don't like her Gershwin program (her Lark Ascending program was 2000x better), it was the best program she ever did and with her huge toe jumps, this ranks first.

2. Tara Lipinski 1998 Gold-There was just so much excitement and joy coming out of her! Technique issues aside, I would have put this over Yuna Kim, who I felt like was more reserved and cautious, but of course her small jumps, odd jump technique, and her slightly immaturity puts her below Yuna Kim. But really, this program was excellent jump-wise and was filled with so much charisma.

3. Sarah Hughes 2002 Gold-Very gutsy of her to attempt two real triple-triple combinations, great spins, and flexibility. This program really saves those Olympics, IMO. But of course, the bad toe technique and underrotated triple loops put this program behind the other two. But all in all, an inspiring program for the ages.

4. Shizuka Arakawa 2006 Gold-Really a big triumph for her. Exquisite program, really, which is weird because she doesn't really emote, and I'm not a fan of people who just goes through the movements, but she's someone who just captures your attention.

5. Michelle Kwan 1998 Silver-Great technical program and choreography. Unfortunately, she didn't let all of her emotion come out until the program ended and it became her downfall. She was reserved, and it made all the difference.

6. Nancy Kerrigan 1994 Silver-Only silver?!?!? What were the judges thinking? Best program she ever did for the important event in her career and yet she still ended up with the silver medal. Great jumps and very solid program. We could have done with the ending cheese-fest, but I loved the beginning and middle.

7. Lu Chen 1998 Olympics Bronze--I loved her skating. She was always so passionate and captivating. This program really emboddied that spirit and was a personal triumph for her. You have to feel for her. She always knew how to peek at the right time in the season and this showed it. Unfortunately, she was out of her technical prime by '98, but she did what she could and her artistry was really wonderful. I wonder if we'll see another Lu Chen ever again...

--Big Gap---

8. Lu Chen 1994 Olympics Bronze--This was a fluke. She deserved silver over Oksana. She landed six beautiful triples with some interesting choerography. I just wish she would have picked a new program to do for 94 because this program really did not highlight her artistic quality, which she could have easily brought out by 94, and the result could have been different had that happened and had China learned to politik for her.

9. Mao Asada 2010 Silver Medal-Bleh program with two botched jumps, but the two triple axels in the beginning are a triumph in ladies skating.

10. Midori Ito 1992 Olympics Silver--I honestly don't know how to rank anyone past Mao, but MIdori did a gorgeous triple axel very late in her program. But she did have mistakes in her program. Even more so, I thought this program was very flat, but it was better than the music arrangment earlier in the season.

11. Irina Slutskaya 2002 Olympics Silver--She did do some good jumping, but overall, very sloppy program, weird choreography, and very bleh overall. Really overmarked on the first mark, but thank goodness she lost the gold on the second mark because this program would have been really second rate in terms of Olympic gold winning performances.

12. Kristi Yamaguchi 1992 Olympics Gold--Great triple-triple in the beginning. Midori really pushed her technically. However, I always thought she was the most boring skaters alive and wanted to break the TV whenever the commentators said she was very artistic. Nothing stand out in her skating; she does everything okay.

13. Joannie Rochette 2010 Olympics Silver--I don't understand why everyone likes this program because I think the music cuts suck and the choreography is a bit forced. Her Aranjuez program, however, was brilliant. Stepped out of two jumps and underrotated the second lutz and triple sal from the sequence. It's a good thing Mirriam is an overly arbitrary technical caller and that her mom died because she should not have escaped downgrades. But of course, this was an emotional program for her mother, and EVEN SCOTT WAS CRYING.

14. Sasha Cohen 2006 Silver--Splat fest! But exquisite artistry, perfect positions.

15. Michelle Kwan 2002 Bronze--Bleh program. The fall just ruined it further.

16. Irina Slutskaya 2006 Bronze--She really seemed out of it that night. Ended up making an uncharacteristic error on the loop. No fire at all.

17. Nancy Kerrigan 1992 Bronze--Ehh. Made a bunch of mistakes that are preventing her from climbing up this list. However, holding that spiral at the end was magical.

18. Cowsana Baiul 1994 Not-Gold Medalist--Horrible program in all aspects Technically and artistically. How could a no real combination, cutsey, dumb pose teenager with lots of two-footed jumps win the gold medal? Especially over Lu Chen and Nancy? What a joke! And what were the judges thinking? All of us would have been happy with Nancy winning the gold (or at least most of us), but the judges decided to be idiots and made the worst decision ever. But of course, what do you expect when 5 out of 9 judges were related politically?

[judgejudy27]

Baiul's performance didn't survive 24 hours very well.

Janet Swan Hill used to use the phrase "ensorceled" to describe what Baiul did to the judges. As I recall, the ISU later issued a video that used her skate as an example of what not to do. (I think that had some guy counting how many seconds she stayed in one place.)

I remember watching her skate as a kid, first time I saw her was at Europeans in 1993. I remember being baffled at all the adoration for her. Her short program I actually somewhat liked. However I recall looking at her long program and thinking there is almost all stroking between each element, she amazingly had no footwork sequence, she is taking so long to set up her jumps (longer than Bonaly it felt like), she has a few spins most which were short and fugly, a short and weak spiral sequence, and she has all sections she stands in one place and wiggles her butt and waves her arms some. I just didnt get it. I was wondering why cant I even remotedly understand what makes this skater everyone is raving about so good. I remember thinking many aspects of her program paled in comparision to Marina Kiellmann of all people.

[DarrellH]

If I remember correctly, Oksana was being marketed to the public and the judges as the "poor orphan girl with no one to turn to". Emotions were played to the utmost, even among U.S. journalists.

[vassily]

Oksana was just about to burst onto the scenes, and many people thought she had a bright future with her talent. She was more marketable than the other ladies skater because of this.

[Triple Butz]

I know this is dangerously off topic, but I never understood how anyone could call this performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtKGPN5VY8o cautious or tentative.

Even Scott and Sandra were gushing from beginning to end about how "confident and relaxed" she was and that she had such a "beautiful look" on the ice. During most of the free skate, Kwan is smiling, looking up and out into the audience and presenting to the crowd. I find it really hard to believe that ALL nine judges would give the FIRST skater in the last group a 5.9 for presentation if they weren't captivated by the program. For the record, I would have given her the same presentation score as Lipinski, and only have Lipinski ahead on the tech mark by a tenth.