Best Olympic Games

[seaner00]

What was the best Olympic Games in figure skating??
By this I mean the most great performances, controversy, great stories and maybe the most memorable.


For me it was 1994 (thx to 3Axel1996 for posting the entire 94 olympics on youtube). Every discipline was exciting, really ever silver medalist(in one case bronze medalist) could have conceivably have won Gold. There was also the pros coming back(G&G,M&D,Witt,Torvill/Dean,Petrenko,Boitano),Harding/Kerrigan saga and MANY fantastic performances throughout the games.

[Jammers]

For me nothing beats Lillehammer. I like when the winter Olympics are in the smaller venues then the bigger cities which seems to be th trend now. Salt Lake City is my second favorite for many reasons. Being an american it's always special when your country hosts a Olympics and after 9/11 we needed something to pump us up. Also this was the Olympics that showed the world that the US was a true winter Olympics power.

[briancoogaert]

The problem I have with Lillehammer is the ladies event. Oksana Baiul as an Olympic champion is still something really painful to me !
Otherwise, the other events were amazing, I loved the pairs and dance. And the men competition was really interesting with the old skaters vs the young.

[judgejudy27]

LOL at all the votes for Vancouver. Other than the ladies event and Virtue & Moir what was great about that. A splatfest mens event, a splatfest pairs event, and a weak overall dance field with the worst crop of Euro teams in history by a huge margin.

[paskatefan]

Calgary 1988 for me! Why" The Battle of the Brians, G&G, and Midori Ito! These are the Olympics that got me hooked on figure skating for good!

[floskate]

LOL at all the votes for Vancouver. Other than the ladies event and Virtue & Moir what was great about that. A splatfest mens event, a splatfest pairs event, and a weak overall dance field with the worst crop of Euro teams in history by a huge margin.

Maybe because compared to Torino it actually was a very well skated event?

My vote goes to Calgary. There was just something so magical about those Olympics which IMO has never been equaled.

[Twilight1]

2010- Watching V&M and Rochette and what they accomplished despite the adversity is awe inspiring.

1994- Unlike briancoogaert, I loved that Oksana won those Oly's. Also, seeing G&G and the upstarts G&P win. I will never forget cracking my toes when G&P won. Seeing Elvis Stojko do well was awesome.

2002- The dance event, even though my fave's fell at the end of the FD and seeing A&P win was great! B&S and S&P skated amazing. Yagudin bar none is my all time favourite male skater!!

1998- Men's and ice dance event stand out for me, as well as Lu Chen skating so well to win bronze. Also happy that W&S won bronze too.

1988- Men's event and Manley winning silver, never mind Carmen by Witt.

[briancoogaert]

IMO, the best ladies event, ever, was 1998.
In Pairs, I'd say 1994.

[judgejudy27]

Maybe because compared to Torino it actually was a very well skated event?

True, but it wasnt exactly a tough standard to beat.

[miki88]

IMO, the best ladies event, ever, was 1998.
In Pairs, I'd say 1994.

I agree! It was a very exciting event! And since it was also the first Olympics I watched, there's the nostalgic factor.

[casken]

1994.

Besides the fact that the quality was high across all four disciplines, it was my first Olympics, and there was just something really special about that event; the the energy and enthusiasm of the crowd, the way the sound echoed through the arena, how the ice and the whole venue in general just seemed to glow, etc.

Every other Olympics has paled in comparison.

[let`s talk]

SLC. Of course I didn't enjoy what happened in pairs, got furious with ladies' results, got bored with dancers's but PlushYag rivalry heavily cracked all sh.. out. Cool boys!!!

[aliceanne]

Calgary for me. It was an exciting time. It was the beginning of the skating boom - people weren't jaded yet. Plus the Olympics were in North America and the U.S. and Canada had many top skaters. The U.S. women were Thomas, Trenary, and Kadavy. There was the battle of the Brians. The Duchesnays challenged the Russians in dance with a new style. Liz Manley's surprise medal. Midori Ito's spectacular skate. The media infatuation with Katarina Witt.

Skating had sex appeal then. IMHO skating is as much show-bizz as sport, no matter how much the ISU tries to deny it!

[Aceon6]

I voted Sarajevo, Torvill and Dean, Scotty's gold, and the Carruther's magical silver.

[Jaana]

I voted for Vancouver, because in every discipline the skater/s won, which I was rooting for.

[bardtoob]

Calgary.

[olympic]

There was great moments and blahdom in each olympiad, so very hard for me to rank, but I'll give you my feelings:

Sarajevo '84 - Watchable just because of T/D in Ice Dance and Orser in the Men's LP; everything else was pretty blah. Witt was somewhat interesting, but Sumners underperforming and the rest of the ladies were just not that exciting for me - the top all had issues with either figures or free skating.

Calgary '88 - Better than '84 due to G/G in Pairs. I thought V/V were a little sloppy but were always a great pair; Battle of the Brians in the Men's comp; and Midori Ito in the ladies competition with a 3z and 3t-3t, and happy for Manley winning Silver with a 3z, [but I thought she was overscored in the SP] took it up a level in ladies. I found the Ice Dance unmemorable.

Albertville '92 - Not as great as '88 but better than '84 - mediocre men's competition although happy for Wylie; and Ladies were a huge letdown not because of the medalists, but because so much more was expected technically. Although Ice Dance and M/D saved these games from complete mediocrity.

Lillehamer '94 - OK. Even. The pairs competition due to G/G, M/D, was sterling and even B/E had the skate of their life. The ice dance was good between G/P, U/Z and T/D, too. But I thought Men's and Ladies were subpar once again. Ladies took a step back technically from the ambitions of '92 and none of the men skated their best and impressed me at all

Nagano '98 - Just Better than '94. Kwan vs. Lipinski in the Ladies competition, Lulu's emotional Bronze, and Kulik in the Men's competition resurrected the Singles this olympiad, Ice Dance was decent but for me not as riveting as the two previous olympiads. I found Pairs pretty unexciting, too

SLC '02 - On the whole- meh. Not as good as '94 and '98: I only thought the Men were technically dazzling; the Ladies with Sarah Hughes winning and Kwan, Slutskaya and Butyrskaya all subpar was a letdown. I also wasn't a big fan of Ice Dance this time either - A/P couldn't match '00 Worlds FD to 'Carmina Burana', L/A were not that interesting to me and FP/M, B/K stumbling were also subpar. Pairs was a total distraction with the whole B/S v. S/P scoring fiasco taking away from the competition. S/Z were still not that exciting, and Dullmianina/Dullinin at this time were snoozeworthy

Torino '06 - Even less riveting than '02: Plushenko's jump clinic programs weren't that interesting and I found the Men's comp to be a big step-down from '02 with Buttle stumbling to the podium and Lysacek in '06 form getting close to the podium. I also wasn't on fire for the Ladies with Arakawa skating nicely but conservatively for the Gold and Slutskaya, Cohen both falling. I suppose I should be impressed by T/M winning but I found their skating blah after past winners like G/G, M/D, B/S. Z/Z on the podium was a travesty. I guess the closeness of the competition in Ice Dance was a highlight of this Olympiad.

Vancouver '10 - Good. Close men's competition even if a step down jump-wise from '02 and '06 kept me interested. Also the ladies were finally outstanding for the first time since '98 - Kim's 3z-3t; Mao's 3 3x's; Rochette's overcoming grief to medal for Canada for the first time since Manley. V/M and D/W in Ice Dance [especially D/W's OD] were great to watch. I found pairs to be just OK. Though, I missed being mesmerized by a top Soviet/Russian Pair. The Chinese dominance doesn't impress me as much as Soviet/Russian dominance. I respect S/Z but for some reason, it all seemed so manufactured this year to me

[kwanette]

I picked Vancouver because my heart wasn't broken...Happy with the outcome of the men's, fine with dance and ladies, and thrilled with prs. If I could have given Tanith and Ben the bronze and Johnny the bronze with Plushenko staying home, then it would have been perfect.

[liv]

calgary: pairs: young, perfect G/G
men: battle of the brians
women: witt, new midori
dance: kind of meh, but advent of duchesnays

[Allen]

1992 was the first Olympics where I really watched figure skating and knew what was going on. I was twelve and thought I was the bees knees because I could tell a lutz from a salchow.