I thought that it would be interesting to take the ladies Olympic Medalists from 1992-2002 and break down their long programs by looking at the amount of time the ladies spend doing crossovers/basic stroking, jump preparation, two-foot skating & posing, and choreography (well... non-two foot skating & posing choreography). So, what I did was load all 12 programs into Adobe Premiere, cut out all of the technical elements, and tried to categorize the categories listed above.
I also have to say, this was a bitch to do; it wasn't easy to make some decisions on what should go where, and when a cut should be made, etc... I mean, once you think you have a good idea of what should classify as two-foot skating and posing vs "choreography," or when you should start tracking "jump preparation," the next skater comes along and just ruins your thought process. I have gone back and forth so many times on different things, that if I were to go back and do it again, some things would probably change. So just keep in mind that this is by no means perfect, and that with someone else's eyes, different decisions would be made. I tried to stay as internally consistent as possible, but there will undoubtedly be a crossover here or there that accidentally wound up under choreography (so, allow for some give or take with regards to the times given to each skater). And finally, this assessment makes no judgement calls regarding the quality, cohesiveness, or actual difficulty of what is being done; it's just measuring how much time they're doing stuff. So, with that huge disclaimer out of the way, here is the video:
https://youtu.be/vdMRKObBbhU
(each video column is a different Olympics, and the rows are organized by placement)
Just some comments about each category and the skaters:
Crossovers/Basic Stroking
If you want to spoil yourself with the results without watching the video, see below (ranked in order of best to worst):
I also have to say, this was a bitch to do; it wasn't easy to make some decisions on what should go where, and when a cut should be made, etc... I mean, once you think you have a good idea of what should classify as two-foot skating and posing vs "choreography," or when you should start tracking "jump preparation," the next skater comes along and just ruins your thought process. I have gone back and forth so many times on different things, that if I were to go back and do it again, some things would probably change. So just keep in mind that this is by no means perfect, and that with someone else's eyes, different decisions would be made. I tried to stay as internally consistent as possible, but there will undoubtedly be a crossover here or there that accidentally wound up under choreography (so, allow for some give or take with regards to the times given to each skater). And finally, this assessment makes no judgement calls regarding the quality, cohesiveness, or actual difficulty of what is being done; it's just measuring how much time they're doing stuff. So, with that huge disclaimer out of the way, here is the video:
https://youtu.be/vdMRKObBbhU
(each video column is a different Olympics, and the rows are organized by placement)
Just some comments about each category and the skaters:
Crossovers/Basic Stroking
- This was the most straightforward category to cut. There may be a second's worth of crossovers that were missed for some skaters here or there, so I would give a +/- 1 second margin of error in this category.
- I'm sorry, but Lu Chen and Baiul have some ugly ass crossovers while Nancy has some really nice crossovers.
- If Kwan skated her Scheherazade program like she did at nationals, there would've been two seconds less of crossovers (1 second of crossovers after the footwork vs 3 seconds to setup the final triple toe)... not that it would've mattered.
- I tried to start timing this when they "assume the position," for lack of a better term. Essentially, when the stroking and or transitions end, the setup begins (or at least within reason; I mean, I include the last three-turn or mohawk going into most of these jumps).
- I also included a brief category for the average jump preparation, because some skaters do 8 jumping passes while others only do 6, and it makes a significant difference in where skaters rank... I think both measurements are valid because if you can do 7 triples in only 6 passes, you should be recognized for not having to spend as much time setting up for a jump; however, at the same time, that doesn't mean you aren't taking a relatively long time setting up those 6 jumping passes either.
- Midori Ito and Kristi Yamaguchi finish all of their jumping pass preparations (of which they have 7 and 8, respectively) before Slutskaya finishes her first three... I swear, the lutz and salchow take an eternity to get through.
- Baiul has one ugly triple toe preparation.
- This (and the next) category was the most difficult to determine. Initially I was just going to have this as part of the Choreography category, but then you have some skaters who are literally standing there doing nothing while someone else is doing every damn transition in the book getting credit for the same thing; however, determining what should go under this less-desirable category wasn't easy. Standing still and waiving your arms? Not desirable. Gliding forwards with both feet next to each other? Not desirable. However, what about gliding forwards with one foot directly in front of the other? What about doing it all on an edge instead? What if your feet are crossed when you're doing this? What if you do a turn with both feet on the ice? And then you have posing... What if your feet moving while posing (even though you're not really going anywhere)? And what if you are going somewhere, but just one step at a time (not that I'm referencing Baiul here...)? So, to make my life easier, I included pretty much all of the above in this category. I'm still undecided about the opening of Baiul's program though, where parts of it could possibly be considered desirable choreography.
- The things I didn't include in this section, despite being on two feet, were Ina Bauers, spread eagles, and a pivot turns (or whatever you call it when you jam one toe-pick in the ice and do a turn with your other skate supporting you).
- This section (and the next) will be the ones that spark the most debate and require the most revising.
- It shouldn't surprise anyone who wins this category, nor should it surprise anyone who loses this category (nor should it surprise you by how much they win or lose this category by).
- Kerrigan does this hopping 3-turn out of several of her jump landings, so I included these in the choreography section (doesn't really add that much time to choreography, but I thought it was a nice little detail with her skating).
- Kwan's Scheherazade program at nationals has 7 seconds of additional choreography with the split falling leaf sequence and running butterflies (which would've put it above Lyra Angelica in choreography duration
).
If you want to spoil yourself with the results without watching the video, see below (ranked in order of best to worst):
Code:
+----------------+---------------+
| NAME | CROSSOVERS |
+----------------+---------------+
| 1992 Ito | 0:00:36.57 |
| 1994 Lu Chen | 0:00:39.97 |
| 1992 Yamaguchi | 0:00:45.97 |
| 1994 Kerrigan | 0:00:47.97 |
| 1998 Kwan | 0:00:48.60 |
| 2002 Hughes | 0:00:49.57 |
| 1992 Kerrigan | 0:00:52.33 |
| 2002 Slutskaya | 0:00:52.47 |
| 1998 Lu Chen | 0:00:58.80 |
| 1998 Lipinski | 0:01:00.27 |
| 1994 Baiul | 0:01:00.47 |
| 2002 Kwan | 0:01:03.83 |
+----------------+---------------+
+----------------+--------------+
| NAME | JUMP PREP |
+----------------+--------------+
| 1992 Ito | 0:00:13.83 |
| 1992 Yamaguchi | 0:00:14.17 |
| 1992 Kerrigan | 0:00:16.77 |
| 1994 Kerrigan | 0:00:17.23 |
| 1998 Lipinski | 0:00:17.83 |
| 1994 Lu Chen | 0:00:19.37 |
| 2002 Hughes | 0:00:19.73 |
| 1994 Baiul | 0:00:21.43 |
| 2002 Slutskaya | 0:00:21.80 |
| 1998 Lu Chen | 0:00:22.63 |
| 1998 Kwan | 0:00:23.20 |
| 2002 Kwan | 0:00:24.83 |
+----------------+--------------+
+----------------+--------------------+
| NAME | JUMP PREP PER JUMP |
+----------------+--------------------+
| 1992 Yamaguchi | 0:00:01.77 |
| 1992 Ito | 0:00:01.98 |
| 1992 Kerrigan | 0:00:02.40 |
| 1994 Lu Chen | 0:00:02.42 |
| 1994 Baiul | 0:00:02.68 |
| 1994 Kerrigan | 0:00:02.87 |
| 1998 Kwan | 0:00:02.90 |
| 1998 Lipinski | 0:00:02.97 |
| 2002 Kwan | 0:00:03.10 |
| 2002 Slutskaya | 0:00:03.11 |
| 1998 Lu Chen | 0:00:03.23 |
| 2002 Hughes | 0:00:03.28 |
+----------------+--------------------+
+----------------+-------------------+
| NAME | TWO FOOT & POSING |
+----------------+-------------------+
| 1994 Lu Chen | 0:00:14.87 |
| 1998 Kwan | 0:00:19.27 |
| 2002 Kwan | 0:00:20.67 |
| 1992 Yamaguchi | 0:00:23.53 |
| 1992 Kerrigan | 0:00:28.13 |
| 2002 Slutskaya | 0:00:29.03 |
| 2002 Hughes | 0:00:31.70 |
| 1992 Ito | 0:00:39.73 |
| 1998 Lu Chen | 0:00:40.27 |
| 1998 Lipinski | 0:00:43.13 |
| 1994 Kerrigan | 0:00:45.30 |
| 1994 Baiul | 0:00:45.53 |
+----------------+-------------------+
+----------------+--------------+
| NAME | CHOREOGRAPHY |
+----------------+--------------+
| 1994 Lu Chen | 0:01:46.47 |
| 1992 Yamaguchi | 0:01:22.53 |
| 1992 Ito | 0:01:13.43 |
| 1998 Kwan | 0:01:11.43 |
| 1992 Kerrigan | 0:01:10.10 |
| 2002 Hughes | 0:01:07.37 |
| 2002 Kwan | 0:01:05.40 |
| 1994 Kerrigan | 0:01:03.93 |
| 1994 Baiul | 0:01:01.53 |
| 2002 Slutskaya | 0:01:00.07 |
| 1998 Lu Chen | 0:00:51.80 |
| 1998 Lipinski | 0:00:45.37 |
+----------------+--------------+
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Oda, oh yes, his Chaplin was all about some good posing. 
is pro-Gracie Gold, who does not hold a pose for points.
