The Greatest 3 Performances in the Olympic

[floskate]

So I'm going mostly by impact with a good (but not perfect) degree of technical.

Ladies: Baiul 1994 SP
Men: Curry 1976 LP
Pairs: Mishkuteniok/Dmitriev 1994 LP
Dance: Klimova/Ponomarkenko 1992 FD

I'm really not sure what you mean by this post. What was not perfect technically about John Curry's skate? It was absolutely flawless!

[jatale]

These are all excellent selections.
What makes it hard is to decide how you look at it. Does it need to be technically perfect? Does it need to be mezmerizing? Do you have to consider the context?

For me the answers are yes, yes, and no (the only relevant "context" is temporal since the technical aspects of skating continue to advance as the years go by).

All these lists are so subjective, however, as to be almost meaningless. I, for example, find John Curry's Insbrook performance to be very slow, boring, and somnolent.

[Rock2]

I'm really not sure what you mean by this post. What was not perfect technically about John Curry's skate? It was absolutely flawless!

I was talking about the list as a whole, not each individual performance. Curry was perfect, but Baiul was not. The list, as a whole, is not made up of perfect skates.

Hope that clarifies.

[blue_idealist]

The best ladies' one to me was Tara Lipinski's. Yu-Na's was technically perfect, but it lacked the joy that Tara's had.

For male gold medalists I would probably go with Brian Boitano's or Evan Lysacek's, but keep in mind I don't remember Yagudin's in much detail so if I were to I might choose that one instead. The Olympic mens' performance that moved me the most though was Elvis Stojko's in 1998, just because he was skating with so much pain - although I didn't know until after, so the emotional effect didn't happen until I was re-watching it.

Hmm, pairs.. I think Sale/Pelletier 2002 probably.

And dance, Virtue and Moir in 2010, closely followed by Anissina and Peizerat in 2002.

[Rock2]

All these lists are so subjective, however, as to be almost meaningless. I, for example, find John Curry's Insbrook performance to be very slow, boring, and somnolent.

Understood. I think different things inspire each of us as we watch. Taste is so personal.
Top skaters of that era were not particularly speedy. Also, free skates were longer then so you had to pace yourself a bit. Still, I found this performance to be absolutely sublime; he hit the difficult triples of that era, spun in both directions, had wonderful and musical transitions and deployed field moves. Also his back, body line, extension and musical interpretation were all pretty much flawless. That might not bring you out of your seat, but it does for me.

His more modern contemporary would have been Galindo. Some similarities in that jumps, spins, body line where outstanding. Outside of the main elements, though, Galindo's complexity was painfully low, especially in footwork and transitions. He was not that quick around the ice either. Still -- and in part because of his known personal story -- his 96 nationals performance brought people out of their seats with tears in their eyes. I choked up, too...and I'm dead inside

[duane]

The best ladies' one to me was Tara Lipinski's. Yu-Na's was technically perfect, but it lacked the joy that Tara's had.

I so agree! I don't think I've ever seen an Olympic performance (Oksana a close second) where the skater seemed to be having so much fun on the ice.

For the men, my favorite is Kulik's 1998 LP.

For pairs, definitely m&d's 94 LP (they were SOOOO robbed!!)

[kwanfan1818]

Many people would rank this one as the greatest of all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79TMsYRnEc

I'd be one of them.

[robinhood]

I'd be one of them.

A very interesting fellow, this John Curry! Do u guys know of a good biography of him? I'm quite intrigued about his life

[Vash01]

Only 3 best among 4 disciplines? That's a tough one.

Men- Have to go with Yagudin, although Kulik had a cleaner performance.

Ladies- Yu na Kim

Pairs- M&D 1994 (though not an OGM winner)

Ice dance- Tie between K&P and T&D

[kwanfan1818]

To John Curry's 1976 Free Skate, I would add:

Berezhnaia/Sikharulidze 2002 Olympics SP

The greatest FS IMO was Gordeeva/Grinkov's 1988 Olympics FS, but of all Olympics pairs programs, I think B/S's SP is the most exquisite.

Torvill and Dean's Bolero was extraordinary, but I think their greater performance was their Paso Doble OSP, where they kept up intensity and precision for the pattern and two repeats.

[kwanfan1818]

A very interesting fellow, this John Curry! Do u guys know of a good biography of him? I'm quite intrigued about his life

I don't know of a print bio, but here are links to a TV program called "Maestro":
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Links to "50 Golden Days"
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

All were posted to YouTube by floskate

[amaro]

The best ladies' one to me was Tara Lipinski's. Yu-Na's was ...

Perhaps that was so because you are American. It was joyous like crazy to Koreans. Putting how joyous a performance was aside, I think Yuna's performance was just amazing both technically and artistically.

[orientalplane]

Perhaps that was so because you are American. It was joyous like crazy to Koreans. Putting how joyous a performance was aside, I think Yuna's performance was just amazing both technically and artistically.

I understand what blue_idealist means. Lipinski smiled her way right through that programme, and that's part of what made it so wonderful. But Kim's music called for something rather different, and she interpreted it perfectly by being elegant, sophisticated, cool and serene. If she'd had a permanent grin all the way through the Gershwin Concerto it wouldn't have been appropriate or fitting to the music.

I love both interpretations. They are two of my favourite performances of all time.

[floskate]

Understood. I think different things inspire each of us as we watch. Taste is so personal.
Top skaters of that era were not particularly speedy. Also, free skates were longer then so you had to pace yourself a bit. Still, I found this performance to be absolutely sublime; he hit the difficult triples of that era, spun in both directions, had wonderful and musical transitions and deployed field moves. Also his back, body line, extension and musical interpretation were all pretty much flawless. That might not bring you out of your seat, but it does for me.

His more modern contemporary would have been Galindo. Some similarities in that jumps, spins, body line where outstanding. Outside of the main elements, though, Galindo's complexity was painfully low, especially in footwork and transitions. He was not that quick around the ice either. Still -- and in part because of his known personal story -- his 96 nationals performance brought people out of their seats with tears in their eyes. I choked up, too...and I'm dead inside

John could skate with incredible speed....when he wanted to. His pacing was all down to what the music told him to do. John would never skate fast just for the sake of skating fast, but his mastery of the blade was such that he could make those choices. ITA on everything else you say about his Olympic program.

Not sure I get the Galindo comparison. For his era Rudy had very good position and line, but it pales in comparison to John's. I think Paul Wylie had a much more classic bodyline for example, but Paul was much more of a showy and ''ta-da'' kind of skater. The closest comparison to John's positioning would proably be Rudi Cerne of Germany.

@kwanfan1818, thanks for posting the links to my vids. Regarding a written biography of John, there is an excellent picture book by Keith Money that can often be found on ebay or amazon. Another biography called Black Ice was written after John's death by his former manager Elva Oglanby but John's family took out an injunction and it was withdrawn from sale. I have a copy and they do appear from time to time but often sell for over $100. It's rather tastelessly written and focuses waaay too much on his private life, plus none of it is corroborated or properly referenced. Hopefully someday, someone will write a definitive biography. It's an idea I have toyed with myself actually!

[blue_idealist]

Perhaps that was so because you are American. It was joyous like crazy to Koreans. Putting how joyous a performance was aside, I think Yuna's performance was just amazing both technically and artistically.

I'm actually Canadian.

[amaro]

I understand what blue_idealist means. Lipinski smiled her way right through that programme, and that's part of what made it so wonderful. But Kim's music called for something rather different, and she interpreted it perfectly by being elegant, sophisticated, cool and serene. If she'd had a permanent grin all the way through the Gershwin Concerto it wouldn't have been appropriate or fitting to the music.

I love both interpretations. They are two of my favourite performances of all time.

Well said.

[PUNKPRINCESS]

No discussion of the best Olympic performances can be complete without this.

I second this absolutely gorgeous, exquisite skate.

[let`s talk]

It's almost impossible to find clips of specific performances from Vancouver on Youtube - broadcast rights, I guess. The best I can do is a link to the point when Dai went on the ice for his LP.

Thanks. Other Olympics host broadcasters also have copyrights. But they are just less greedy!

[Rock2]

Perhaps that was so because you are American.

You made a valid point about Yu-Na's joy being seen in a different way. I'm sorry you felt the need to throw in this non-value-added dig, which is what I'll take away more than the good sense you brought to the discussion.

I wouldn't put Lipinski at #1 because I found her skate to not have the sophistication of other performances including that of YuNa.

On the "joy" factor between her and YuNa, I did feel that Tara skated without any apparent pressure or weight of expectations. There was a certain liberation in how she skated that YuNa didn't have, especially when you look at their performances earlier in the season. Kim did a fantastic job performing her program under such enormous pressure, but (understandably) I still see she was holding back slightly vs what I saw from that program earlier in the season where we was a little more free in her movement and flirtatious with the audience. Again, stands to reason but her energy dialed down to something more controlled come the Olympic LP whereas Tara stepped it up a notch.

I think what impressed some people about Tara was that she brought her energy up a tad vs earlier season performances in the face of only having a small crack in the door left open by Kwan. She had to be perfect and sell the heck out of her program as her only chance. And she stepped up. Well done, but all in all, not my #1 skate.

Not enough to make Tara #1...but...just my take on the "joy" observation

[Rock2]

Yes! B/S 2002 SP: sublime. I put that as my #2 skate after M/D 1994 LP. Spellbinding...and whodathunk butter color pants could look so yummy on a guy?