Favorite Olympic silver medal performance by a lady

[leafygreens]

Very well put! That was the reason I gave to Manley my vote and not to Kwan who was way too tentative.

I thought Kwan's performance was awesome. I don't blame her for the disappointment, since the placements were so controversial. But it's nice to see happy tears on the podium instead of devastated tears.

I liked that Chen Lu was emotional about the bronze that year because she had overcome so many obstacles. You don't see that too often. Usually it's the favorite who "just missed out" and their dreams are crushed. It's not really gratifying to watch something like that, as a fan.

[skateboy]

Kwan and Manley had really good silver medal performances.

I gave my vote to Nancy Kerrigan, who really did have a "perfect" skate. Her only mistake was a doubled flip, but it was a very good jump. And she had a clean triple-triple and landed all the other triples. She also had decent spins and, even if one didn't love her choreography, she was very polished and "on."

Plus, I think she really was robbed of the gold medal.

[Flatfoote]

I picked Liz Manley cause the thread title asked for favorite, not best. Her performance is memorable because it was the performance of her life, and she was having the time of her life. With all the attention focused on Debi and Katarina, Liz managed to slip in there and nearly take it all. In fact, I was hoping she would. I was disappointed in Debi's crumbling under pressure, and I didn't care for Katarina's pompous attitiude. Liz is what made that Olympics memorable. IIRC, she overcame some pretty serious personal problems to get where she was, which made it even all the more memorable.

There may have been better, more technically proficient silver medal performaces (as have been mentioned in this thread), but by far Liz Manley's is my favorite one.

[michiruwater]

Oh, Kerrigan was absolutely robbed of the OGM, I totally agree.

[briancoogaert]

Oh, Kerrigan was absolutely robbed of the OGM, I totally agree.

ITA

[orbitz]

I thought Kwan's performance was awesome. I don't blame her for the disappointment, since the placements were so controversial.

Was it controversial that Kwan placed 2nd in Nagano? CBS showed Danny Kwan in the stands after Tara finished her LP. He was clearly worried, so he knew then that Tara possibly delivered a gold medal performance.

[blue_idealist]

Oh, Kerrigan was absolutely robbed of the OGM, I totally agree.

I agree too, even though I voted for Michelle's performance to win this poll.

[briancoogaert]

Was it controversial that Kwan placed 2nd in Nagano? CBS showed Danny Kwan in the stands after Tara finished her LP. He was clearly worried, so he knew then that Tara possibly delivered a gold medal performance.

It was not controversial in the way that nobody really considered she was robbed. But it was so close it could have been either way. I mean, nobody would have said Tara was robbed if Michelle had won the Gold.

[Simone411]

In this poll, I voted for the lovely and talented Michelle Kwan. I loved her program, Lyra Angelica.

[UGG]

Michelle landed 7 triples and received all 5.9's for the 2nd mark. Had any other silver medalist in singles skating done that? I hate when I read she was tentative, dropped the ball, etc. She skated awesome-17 years old with all that pressure on her shoulders. The performance did not have the magic of Philadelphia. That was the only thing missing and unfortunatly, (or fortunatly LOL whoever you are) Tara had the skate of her life. Tara was probably a tad more motivated in the way that she wanted to prove everyone wrong where Kwan was skating in 1st place after the SP as the overwhelming favorite and pretty much anointed gold medalist before the competiton had started. Some of Michelle's greatest performances were when she was trying to shut doubters up. (2000 and 2001 worlds, 2003 entire season, 2004 nationals). It's a great motivator and worked in Tara's favor very much.