Olympic Gold/Silver medallists with clean SP and LP

[Vash01]

It is harder to skate Two clean programs in the Olympics than in any other competition. The pressure is enormous. I was looking at skaters who won the gold with two clean programs in the Olympics. Some who skated clean did not win the gold. They won the silver (Or lower - I did not list them here).

Some who won the gold did not skate Two clean programs. However, in majority of cases two clean performances improve the chances of winning OGM significantly.

I did not list ice dance because it is rare to find a major mistake in it.

Pairs- G&G 1988, Vol-Tran 2014, Totmiania Marinin 2006
(K/D 1998 singled a double Axel, I think)

Silver with clean SP and LP: Bechke Petrov 92, M/D 94, STOL-Klim 2014

Ladies- Witt 1988, Lipinski 1998, Hughes 2002, Arakawa 2006, Kim 2010, Asada 2010, Zagitova 2018, Kim 2014

Silver with clean SP and LP- Manley 1988, Kwan 1998, Medvedeva 2018, Kim 2014

(I think Kristi 1992 OGM doubled a triple salcow- minor error)

Men - Boitano 1988, Kulik 1998, Yagudin 2002, Plushenko 2006, Lysacek 2010
Silver - Orser 1984, Stojko 1998, Plushenko 2010, Uno 2018? (I don't remember)

 

[Evgeniafan]

Silver with clean sp and FP Evgenia Medvedeva. She also had a clean short in the team event.

 

[Vash01]

Silver with clean sp and FP Evgenia Medvedeva. She also had a clean short in the team event.

Right. She was on my list (also Yu na 2014). I forgot to type. I have edited my post.

 

[Taso]

(I think Kristi 1992 OGM doubled a triple salcow- minor error)

She also fell on a triple loop

 

[giselle23]

It is harder to skate Two clean programs in the Olympics than in any other competition. The pressure is enormous. I was looking at skaters who won the gold with two clean programs in the Olympics. Some who skated clean did not win the gold. They won the silver (Or lower - I did not list them here).

Some who won the gold did not skate Two clean programs. However, in majority of cases two clean performances improve the chances of winning OGM significantly.

I did not list ice dance because it is rare to find a major mistake in it.

Pairs- G&G 1988, Vol-Tran 2014, Totmiania Marinin 2006
(K/D 1998 singled a double Axel, I think)

Silver with clean SP and LP: Bechke Petrov 92, M/D 94, STOL-Klim 2014

Ladies- Witt 1988, Lipinski 1998, Hughes 2002, Arakawa 2006, Kim 2010, Asada 2010, Zagitova 2018, Kim 2014

Silver with clean SP and LP- Manley 1988, Kwan 1998, Medvedeva 2018, Kim 2014

(I think Kristi 1992 OGM doubled a triple salcow- minor error)

Men - Boitano 1988, Kulik 1998, Yagudin 2002, Plushenko 2006, Lysacek 2010
Silver - Orser 1984, Stojko 1998, Plushenko 2010, Uno 2018? (I don't remember)

Asada won silver in 2010.

 

[tony]

Asada won silver in 2010.

Yes, thread is about both but Asada is just in the wrong column, same with Kim being in both lists.

To contribute something to that initial post- Uno had several mistakes in his free skate, including an opening fall.

 

[Colonel Green]

Plushenko 2006

Plushy was not clean in Torino, he popped his triple flip to a double in the free.

Asada likewise did not skate a clean free in Vancouver.

 

[Panja]

Vol-Tran were very good in 2014 but she definitely two-footed at least one of the throws in the FS. It didn't distract from the programme but it was not clean.

 

[alchemy void]

Ladies- Witt 1988, Lipinski 1998, Hughes 2002, Arakawa 2006, Kim 2010, Zagitova 2018

I don't think I would count Witt or Arakawa as "clean" as they doubled intended triples.

 

[caseyedwards]

I really feel plushenko in Vancouver has to be totally clean! What can people say? He leaned in the air twice? Lol that is nothing

 

[VGThuy]

I really feel plushenko in Vancouver has to be totally clean! What can people say? He leaned in the air twice? Lol that is nothing

Nobody in this thread argued otherwise.

 

[caseyedwards]

Nobody in this thread argued otherwise.

Well nobody mentioned it at all

 

[tony]

Well nobody mentioned it at all

The original poster mentioned his skate as clean and no one argued otherwise, which Is what most of the following comments were regarding with other skaters. So you should be happy we are all in agreement

 

[caseyedwards]

The original poster mentioned his skate as clean and no one argued otherwise, which Is what most of the following comments were regarding with other skaters. So you should be happy we are all in agreement

Missed it

 

[Vash01]

I don't think I would count Witt or Arakawa as "clean" as they doubled intended triples.

IIRC Arakawa only made the 3-3 into a 3-2. I don't consider that an error, just cautious skating. I don't remember the details of Witt's performance.

 

[Colonel Green]

IIRC Arakawa only made the 3-3 into a 3-2. I don't consider that an error, just cautious skating.

She did a standalone double loop instead of a triple.

 

[VGThuy]

She did a standalone double loop instead of a triple.

Yeah, she only ended up doing five triples to the seven she planned. That was one reason why she was so shocked at the result. Cohen was also shocked at winning silver because she thought she wouldn't even medal with the two major mistakes she made. She mentioned even changing out of her costume.

 

[Vash01]

Yeah, she only ended up doing five triples to the seven she planned. That was one reason why she was so shocked at the result. Cohen was also shocked at winning silver because she thought she wouldn't even medal with the two major mistakes she made. She mentioned even changing out of her costume.

It was not a well skated competition.

 

[caseyedwards]

When I was looking at all the arakawa skates of 2005 and 2006 while it’s very possible she made the same mistake 3 times- doubling a jump she did it multiple times so maybe it was always planned

http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpchn05/GPCHN05_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpfra05/GPFRA05_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

http://www.isuresults.com/results/owg2006/OWG06_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

this made me think it was planned double -She always doubled a jump

i can’t find Japan nationals but her tech score is no 7 triple

Her coach was Morozov. Planned double totally believable

Planned strategy of purposefully being seen as weaker threat to overstress Cohen and slutskaya. Play the sleeper. Perfect lower content skate all season

 

[tony]

When I was looking at all the arakawa skates of 2005 and 2006 while it’s very possible she made the same mistake 3 times- doubling a jump she did it multiple times so maybe it was always planned

http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpchn05/GPCHN05_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

http://www.isuresults.com/results/gpfra05/GPFRA05_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

http://www.isuresults.com/results/owg2006/OWG06_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

this made me think it was planned double -She always doubled a jump

i can’t find Japan nationals but her tech score is no 7 triple

Her coach was Morozov. Planned double totally believable

Planned strategy of purposefully being seen as weaker threat to overstress Cohen and slutskaya. Play the sleeper. Perfect lower content skate all season

Except she was landing 3+3+3 in practice that week, so I think she was going after much more in the LP and no doubles were ‘intentional’.

 

[caseyedwards]

Except she was landing 3+3+3 in practice that week, so I think she was going after much more in the LP and no doubles were ‘intentional’.

Intimidate In practice sessions? She never did anything close to that in any competition all season. All her competition performances were arguably exactly the same

 

[VGThuy]

It was a strategy that worked that one time, but what a time for it to work. Good for her. I believe Arakawa was winning the practices and she and Morosov observed how nervous Irina/Sasha were. Then the SP happened and she saw that she was seen as equal to them, and was not grouped in with the other competitors, so they had some sort of conservative skate strategy. If it worked, and Sasha and Irina skated the way they felt they may have, then it would lead to gold but if it didn’t and Sasha and Irina skated better than expected from practices, then Shizuka would still have done enough to ensure her a medal. That all being said, I personally think she wanted to do at least 6 triples but doubled up on that loop, which may have been comfortable for her, as it seems she did that multiple times previously that season. Even with the plan, I still think she was genuinely shocked that five triples from her did end up working after all. It was like how a lack of quad being made up elsewhere in the COP in comparison to his competitions ended up being the right strategy for Lysaceck win gold in 2010.

 

[asdf334]

I remember Arakawa saying that she intentionally downgraded from two triple-triples to one, but ended up missing the one she planned to do.

 

[blue_idealist]

It is harder to skate Two clean programs in the Olympics than in any other competition. The pressure is enormous. I was looking at skaters who won the gold with two clean programs in the Olympics. Some who skated clean did not win the gold. They won the silver (Or lower - I did not list them here).

Some who won the gold did not skate Two clean programs. However, in majority of cases two clean performances improve the chances of winning OGM significantly.

I did not list ice dance because it is rare to find a major mistake in it.

Pairs- G&G 1988, Vol-Tran 2014, Totmiania Marinin 2006
(K/D 1998 singled a double Axel, I think)

Silver with clean SP and LP: Bechke Petrov 92, M/D 94, STOL-Klim 2014

Ladies- Witt 1988, Lipinski 1998, Hughes 2002, Arakawa 2006, Kim 2010, Asada 2010, Zagitova 2018, Kim 2014

Silver with clean SP and LP- Manley 1988, Kwan 1998, Medvedeva 2018, Kim 2014

(I think Kristi 1992 OGM doubled a triple salcow- minor error)

Men - Boitano 1988, Kulik 1998, Yagudin 2002, Plushenko 2006, Lysacek 2010
Silver - Orser 1984, Stojko 1998, Plushenko 2010, Uno 2018? (I don't remember)

I think Uno fell.

 

[caseyedwards]

It was a strategy that worked that one time, but what a time for it to work. Good for her. I believe Arakawa was winning the practices and she and Morosov observed how nervous Irina/Sasha were. Then the SP happened and she saw that she was seen as equal to them, and was not grouped in with the other competitors, so they had some sort of conservative skate strategy. If it worked, and Sasha and Irina skated the way they felt they may have, then it would lead to gold but if it didn’t and Sasha and Irina skated better than expected from practices, then Shizuka would still have done enough to ensure her a medal. That all being said, I personally think she wanted to do at least 6 triples but doubled up on that loop, which may have been comfortable for her, as it seems she did that multiple times previously that season. Even with the plan, I still think she was genuinely shocked that five triples from her did end up working after all. It was like how a lack of quad being made up elsewhere in the COP in comparison to his competitions ended up being the right strategy for Lysaceck win gold in 2010.

One time she almost beat Sasha Cohen in her two bronze medal winning Grand Prix performances. The biggest thing was the total seeming exhaustion of slutskaya. She was far far ahead of everyone almost all season when she was on but she seemingly ran out of all energy in Turin free skate. Very unfortunate!

I remember Arakawa saying that she intentionally downgraded from two triple-triples to one, but ended up missing the one she planned to do.

Maybe it was one of those muscle memory things! She didn’t do 3/3 all season and automatically did 3/2 even if she meant to do 3/3. Body was like “no- we only do 3/2 now” lol

 

[On My Own]

Honestly, if Arakawa popping an intended 3Lo into a 2Lo is a mistake, then wouldn't losing levels on steps and spins be mistakes (Plushenko 2010, Kim 2014), too? Medvedeva's Flutz in 2018, too (even if uncalled). They were all intended to be higher level elements, or jumped off the correct edge.

 

[VGThuy]

I’d only consider missed levels a mistake if there is some egregious error that cost them a lower level. Skaters are sometimes confused why they get a level 4 at one performance and a level 3 or even 2 at another when they feel they performed the element the same way.

Flutzes are real technical errors but usually one the skater sort of intended to do because it was how they were taught to do the jump, but hoped to get away with. It’s not good, but I don’t know if I’d call it a mistake. Just something they need to be docked for. To me doubling an intended triple is popping a jump and a mistake. As we see with IJS, sometimes doubling a jump is worse than falling on a triple so long as the triple was fully rotated before the skater fell.

But I do see your point and see how the meaning of “clean” can be stretched or constricted depending on how far or thinly we want to define it.

 

[skateboy]

Do we count Kerrigan's silver medal in 1994 as clean? SP was definitely clean; LP she doubled an intended 3F, but it was a very nice 2F. Everything else was very good.

 

[On My Own]

To me doubling an intended triple is popping a jump and a mistake. As we see with IJS, sometimes doubling a jump is worse than falling on a triple so long as the triple was fully rotated before the skater fell.

Maybe. But we wouldn't know at all that it was a mistake unless the commentators brought it up, or if we didn't read the planned program content. Or if the skater really shows it on their face or body language. A program can very much continue like it was an entirely planned double or single. Mind you, the same reasoning all applies to the level calls on spins, and also flutzes/lips - which is why I think they all belong to the same criteria. Either they all are mistakes, or none of them are.

(Of course, nowadays, no one's going to go out of their way to do a 2Lo or a FSSp1 in their senior LPs, because it's just silly to give up that many points, but that's the kind of ex post facto definition of a mistake I'm choosing to ignore.)

About IJS, it did use to be the case that falls were better than pops, but then in 6.0 the commentators used to bring up pops as something that the skaters wouldn't be deducted for, and how it wasn't a break in the program. A "mistake" can very much be defined by your own personal opinion, based on which era of skating you grew up watching/doing.

 

[skateboy]

Regarding doubling/popping jumps: for me, whether or not it can be regarded as a mistake depends entirely on what the jump looks like. A pop always looks like a mistake.

But -- at least in the free skate -- content is... well, free. A skater can decide mid-program whether to do a 3A or a 2A and, as long as the 2A (or any other double) looks fine, I don't feel it should be regarded as a mistake. It just won't get as much credit as if it were a harder jump.