Retrospective: The 1984 Olympics

[orbitz]

I agree with judgejudy27. The Carruthers were very luck to be 2nd after the SP. Most the stars and planets aligned for them that night Who would've thought Barb Underhill would wipe out on a sit spin. A sit spin!!! The other medal favorites also messed up. I thought the Carruthers had the typical peppy, unsophisticated American style of pair skating that the European judges didn't really care for, and their single elements were weak - I hated Kitty's air position on her 2flip. Good for them for being clean when it counted, but they were always at best the 3rd ranked or lower team at the world level.

[orbitz]

5th: Brian Boitano - USA

Short Program

This was pretty much the typical Boitano's style of skating up to 87. Thank God he got a hold of Sandra Bezic for the 87-88 season; She totally transformed him into an artistic skater.

[Coco]

Doesu anyone know what triples the russian ladies had @the this event? Thanks in advance.

[briancoogaert]

This was pretty much the typical Boitano's style of skating up to 87. Thank God he got a hold of Sandra Bezic for the 87-88 season; She totally transformed him into an artistic skater.

Did you watch his 1984 Exhibition to "On golden Pond" ? I was very impressed since it was a very artistic number. WOW

[caseyedwards]

Doesu anyone know what triples the russian ladies had @the this event? Thanks in advance.

Based on the commentary on Ivanova 3loop 3toe 3sal with 2A and 2lz

[aliceanne]

I just loved Torvill & Dean. My roomie had just gotten a VCR and I watched the paso and Bolero over and over.

School figures - mixed feelings about them. I do think some of the current skaters would benefit a ton from them. But they really affected results - Denise Biellmann and Brian Orser would be OGM (and Janet Lynn too though there was no SP then so its hard to compare) and Toller Cranston and Tiffany Chin would be OSM I think, to name a few.

I've never understood why people think figures would help free skaters. Figures are practiced in a small space with the skater looking down at their tracings. Free skaters have to cover a large area with speed and can't look down (a hard habit to break when you learn your edges and turns that way).
At least for me, skating muscles are so specific I don't find practing figures helps with edges and turns that cover the entire ice.

[julieann]

I agree with judgejudy27. The Carruthers were very luck to be 2nd after the SP. Most the stars and planets aligned for them that night Who would've thought Barb Underhill would wipe out on a sit spin. A sit spin!!! The other medal favorites also messed up. I thought the Carruthers had the typical peppy, unsophisticated American style of pair skating that the European judges didn't really care for, and their single elements were weak - I hated Kitty's air position on her 2flip. Good for them for being clean when it counted, but they were always at best the 3rd ranked or lower team at the world level.

Winning is about performing when it counts and Barbara Underhill couldn't hack it when she needed to and the Carruthers could. The same could be said in any sport for any athlete.

Maybe Savchenko/Szolkowy would have Olympic gold if they didn't have a fall or Pang and Tong would have gold if they knew to control when to stop with the music. Maybe Trankov would have a medal if he hadn't have fallen.

It's about stepping up when the time is right as much as knowing how to skate.

[vivika1982]

Retrospective moves onto the 1984 Olympics.
[*]Like Scott Hamilton, Torvill & Dean entered the Olympic competition as the 3 time world champions, and like Hamilton, they won the Olympic Gold medal and then retained their world title a few weeks later at 1984 Worlds and then retired. Their Free Dance during the 1983/84 season was the legendary Bolero. Somewhat fittingly, they skated the program at the Olympics on St. Valentine's Day. When choosing and choreographing Bolero, there were concerns that the program was too radical. However, they needn't have worried as when they got to the Olympics, their Bolero performance garnered them twelve 6.0's (with all 9 judges awarding them 6.0's for artistic impression) and six 5.9's
[*]Extremely close between Klimova & Ponomarenko and Blumberg & Seibert, with Klimova & Ponomarenko just winning the Bronze medal by a small margin. The result for Bronze remains very controversial to this day.[/LIST]



Ice Dance

Gold: Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean - GBR

Compulsory Dance No 1

Compulsory Dance No 2

Compulsory Dance No 3

Compulsory Dances - all 3 (2nd Copy)

Original Set Pattern

Free Dance

Free Dance - 2nd Copy

Exhibition

Exhibition (Encore)

Post Event Interview

2nd Interview

Medal Ceremony

Silver: Natalia Bestemianova & Andrei Bukin - USSR

Compulsory Dance No 1

Compulsory Dance No 2

Compulsory Dance No 3

Original Set Pattern

Free Dance

Bronze: Marina Klimova & Sergei Ponomarenko - USSR

Compulsory Dance No 2

Original Set Pattern

Free Dance

Exhibition

4th: Judy Blumberg & Michael Seibert - USA

Compulsory Dance No 1

Compulsory Dance No 2

Compulsory Dance No 3

Original Set Pattern

Free Dance

Thank you for those.Great competition with Ice Dance at its best and when the dancers became a dance.

[Coco]

Based on the commentary on Ivanova 3loop 3toe 3sal with 2A and 2lz

Thanks!

[essence_of_soy]

Winning is about performing when it counts and Barbara Underhill couldn't hack it when she needed to and the Carruthers could. The same could be said in any sport for any athlete.

Maybe Savchenko/Szolkowy would have Olympic gold if they didn't have a fall or Pang and Tong would have gold if they knew to control when to stop with the music. Maybe Trankov would have a medal if he hadn't have fallen.

It's about stepping up when the time is right as much as knowing how to skate.

Rather harsh words, methinks. Are you an Olympic level skater?

Maybe I'm buying into a troll's ignorance here, but it is well documented that Underhill was having tremedous trouble with her boots in the lead up to the Olympic Games. Barbara was also returning from a serious injury that put her and Martini on the sidelines for the entire season until the Games.

Boots to skaters are like knives to a chef or the right instrument for a musician. Faulty equipment can cause so many irritating problems.

After Sarejevo, they were so disillusioned the Canadian pair were within minutes of withdrawing from the World Championships in their home town. Had it not been a random suggestion from Brian Orser to try her old skates, their legendary win at the World Championships in Ottawa (still held up as one of the finest examples of pairs skating) may never have happened.

If coming back when they were potentially at the lowest points of their career isn't performing when it counts, tell me what is?

Regarding Underhill & Martini and The Carruthers, as eligible teams, both pairs rose on the scene at the same time and pretty well had the same results, and were often battling for the podium at the world level.

[TwizzlerS]

I have fond memories of watching the 1984 Olympics. I bought my first VCR in order to record it and then re-watched it many times. In addition to the top performances and the ones already mentioned, I wanted to add that I really enjoyed the free dance of Wilson and McCall.

Enjoy!

[taf2002]

I would have to respectfully disagree. The Carruthers should be very happy with their silver considering had Baess & Theirbach and Underhill & Martina skated like they normally do they wouldnt have even medaled.

But they didn't. The Carruthers rose to the occasion & skated their best. They weren't lucky to get a medal, they earned it. Besides, they were always in the hunt, they didn't come out of nowhere.

Was Sarah Hughes the best skater at the 02 Olys or did she skate her best when others faltered? The medals aren't supposed to be assigned before they even skate.

Valova & Vasiliev were overrated at the time maybe and didnt deserve to win the 83 Worlds but at the 84 Olympics nobody good enough skated well enough to beat them. I agree that it seemed the Olympics was set up for them to win, and they would have won even if Baess & Theirbach or Underhill & Martina had skated their best, but as the competition turned out they were the clear winners anyway.

'Nuff said...the fix was in. Do you think V&V at their best were more deserving than U&M at their best? Uh sure..

Winning is about performing when it counts and Barbara Underhill couldn't hack it when she needed to and the Carruthers could. The same could be said in any sport for any athlete.

Maybe Savchenko/Szolkowy would have Olympic gold if they didn't have a fall or Pang and Tong would have gold if they knew to control when to stop with the music. Maybe Trankov would have a medal if he hadn't have fallen.

It's about stepping up when the time is right as much as knowing how to skate.

This

[orbitz]

But they didn't. The Carruthers rose to the occasion & skated their best. They weren't lucky to get a medal, they earned it. Besides, they were always in the hunt, they didn't come out of nowhere.

Was Sarah Hughes the best skater at the 02 Olys or did she skate her best when others faltered? The medals aren't supposed to be assigned before they even skate.

The Carruthers and Sarah Hughes both earned their medals because (a) they skated their best AND (b) were lucky because the better skaters unexpectedly faltered.

[olympic]

Ivanova did land 1 more clean triple than Sumners did.

True, but Roz probably had an edge on everything else. Ivanova's '85 Worlds program was much more cohesive

[Erin]

I thought the Ladies competition was one of the least interesting; Sumners wasn't at her best in either of the SP And LP. Witt would be a better skater by '87. Ivanova and Kondrashova were pretty boring. Chin was a bright light in the SP and LP, but took herself out of the running with a 12th place finish in Figures. Zayak was undermarked at least in the SP, if not the LP too. Leistner was an up and comer who was disastrous in the SP. Ito missed the competition due to a disaster at JPN Nats earlier in the year.

I was re-watching this and I thought Chin should have won the free. Gorgeous program, much nicer than Witt's, with better posture and line, plus Chin had a very decent attempt at the triple flip (with only a step-out) while Witt only had triple toes and sals. Going by the factored placements on Wikipedia, Chin could have had the bronze medal with a win in the free - she had 11.0 compared to Ivanova's 9.2, so moving from 3rd to 1st in the free would give Chin 9.0 and the bronze.

1984 Olympics was really Chin's last good performance. She abandoned the flip after that and I don't think I ever saw her land more than two triples in any of her future programs. It was really sad to hear Peggy say that we could be watching the 1988 Olympic champ, knowing that Chin wouldn't even make it there.

Zayak was definitely robbed in the short and I would have had her above Sumners in the free. But even my marks in the short/free wouldn't put her on the podium...Chin winning the free barely gets her on the podium in my scenario and I would have had Zayak behind Chin in both programs.

Doesu anyone know what triples the russian ladies had @the this event? Thanks in advance.

Based on the commentary on Ivanova 3loop 3toe 3sal with 2A and 2lz

Ivanova's loop was seriously underrotated and two-footed though.

Kondrashova landed two triple toes, she popped the sal and fell on the loop. Vodorezova's full performance wasn't shown on the ABC coverage I have, but she was struggling with the double axel so I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't land any triples.

[Skate Talker]

I have fond memories of watching the 1984 Olympics. I bought my first VCR in order to record it and then re-watched it many times. In addition to the top performances and the ones already mentioned, I wanted to add that I really enjoyed the free dance of Wilson and McCall.

Enjoy!

I was 4 years behind you - bought my first VCR for 1988 Olympics where Wilson and McCall skated my favourite Free program. Thanks so much for the link. I don't think I have seen that skate since it originally aired. Everytime I see old footage of Tracy I at the lack of bottom portion to her costumes. Fortunately by 88 she added several inches.

[briancoogaert]

I was 4 years behind you - bought my first VCR for 1988 Olympics where Wilson and McCall skated my favourite Free program. Thanks so much for the link. I don't think I have seen that skate since it originally aired. Everytime I see old footage of Tracy I at the lack of bottom portion to her costumes. Fortunately by 88 she added several inches.

And me, four years later : I've used my parent's VCR for the first time in 1992 for the Olympics in Albertville !

[skatesindreams]

I bought my 1st VCR - and case of Memorex videotape - for this Olympics
I "loaned" the tapes to someone; and never saw them again.

It took years to replace them!

[julieann]

Rather harsh words, methinks. Are you an Olympic level skater?

No I’m not an Olympic level athlete, do you have to be? My words aren’t harsh they are reality.

Maybe I'm buying into a troll's ignorance here, but it is well documented that Underhill was having tremedous trouble with her boots in the lead up to the Olympic Games. Barbara was also returning from a serious injury that put her and Martini on the sidelines for the entire season until the Games.

Boots to skaters are like knives to a chef or the right instrument for a musician. Faulty equipment can cause so many irritating problems

Not a troll and certainly not ignorant, my comment was “Winning is about performing when it counts” no matter what her excuses/explanations were. She was injured; fine either withdrawal or skate the best you can through the pain. “If” it was her boot problem it could have been sorted out long before the short program. I think it was more that she stepped too far to the left with her left foot and her skate went right out from under her and she took her partner down with her. They were skating brilliantly up until then. Their LP was a mess as well for whatever reason, illness, boot trouble…the point is when they needed to rise to the occasion, for whatever their reason, they didn’t.

After Sarejevo, they were so disillusioned the Canadian pair were within minutes of withdrawing from the World Championships in their home town. Had it not been a random suggestion from Brian Orser to try her old skates, their legendary win at the World Championships in Ottawa (still held up as one of the finest examples of pairs skating) may never have happened.

So at worlds when injury obviously was standing in their way (or it wasn’t showing) an obvious boot change and they rose to the occasion and won the competition. As it should be.

If coming back when they were potentially at the lowest points of their career isn't performing when it counts, tell me what is?

You are mixing up competitions; one has nothing to do with the other. They messed up the Olympics (again, for whatever reason, known only to themselves) it’s over, time to move on to the next competition and find ways to improve. Get healthy, find new skates…whatever it takes, they obviously did whatever it took and won. I don’t remember the competition too well, I know Peter and Kitty weren’t there and I don’t remember how V/V skated.

But they certainly were out skated at the Olympics, it happens; it just wasn’t their day.

[berthesghost]

Rather harsh words, methinks. Are you an Olympic level skater?

Maybe I'm buying into a troll's ignorance here, but it is well documented that Underhill was having tremedous trouble with her boots in the lead up to the Olympic Games. Barbara was also returning from a serious injury that put her and Martini on the sidelines for the entire season until the Games.

Boots to skaters are like knives to a chef or the right instrument for a musician. Faulty equipment can cause so many irritating problems.

After Sarejevo, they were so disillusioned the Canadian pair were within minutes of withdrawing from the World Championships in their home town. Had it not been a random suggestion from Brian Orser to try her old skates, their legendary win at the World Championships in Ottawa (still held up as one of the finest examples of pairs skating) may never have happened.

If coming back when they were potentially at the lowest points of their career isn't performing when it counts, tell me what is?

Regarding Underhill & Martini and The Carruthers, as eligible teams, both pairs rose on the scene at the same time and pretty well had the same results, and were often battling for the podium at the world level.

Im still amazed they won worlds! It's a petty pet peeve I know, but it does irk me how people act like u&m were ogm favs who had bad luck. Yeah, maybe in their dreams! V&v were world champs, and t&b were world camps and multi world medalists who never placed below 5 th in several years, but it wasn't long before that u&m were coming I places like 11th and 7th at worlds yet somehow we were suppose to buy them as ogm contenders. Dark horses at best IMHO. Sorry, but they were no tai and randy