1976 Olympics Ladies Free Skate - watch now on the Olympic Channel on Facebook!

[floskate]

The Olympic channel just premiered this on facebook. Great fun to watch and super quality. It's on their timeline and can be watched from the start. Not sure how long it will be up though so watch it while you can!

https://www.facebook.com/olympics/videos/550105825690496/

 

[bardtoob]

I find the skating quality of Marion Weber at 59:30 very appealing.

ETA 1: . . . And, of course, there is a pleased Jutta Mueller greeting her as she comes off the ice.
ETA 2: . . . And the judges scored her appropriately, in general, and relatively high, given the skating order.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

The Olympic channel just premiered this on facebook. Great fun to watch and super quality. It's on their timeline and can be watched from the start. Not sure how long it will be up though so watch it while you can!

https://www.facebook.com/olympics/videos/550105825690496/

Was such a treat to see Australia's Sharon Burley skate. I really like the delay on her jumps, too.

 

[bardtoob]

Emi Watanabe launches herself into her 2A like she is going for a 3A. It is no wonder her success rate is low but those landed are spectacular.

Lurz, as I knew from future skates, had no power in her skating at all, but she did get the 3Lp around in this program even if she stepped out. Her 2A is solid. It is a real shame she was not trained to be a more powerful freeskater, but then she was focusing on her compulsory figures.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Emi Watanabe launches herself into her 2A like she is going for a 3A. It is no wonder her success rate is low but those landed are spectacular.

As an aside, Emi was fantastic in the free skate at the 1980 World Championships in Dortmund, Germany. The perfect blend of athleticism and artistry.

 

[bardtoob]

You can tell by the stroking alone when the final flight starts.

Dorothy was very fast and deep into the ice. I admit I was never particularly impressed with her content, but the girl can skate.

Thank goodness Dorothy did not do her hair like Christine Errath. It makes you think that somebody with Errath's hair should not be wearing Errath's dress, but maybe coveralls, overalls, or some kind of jump suite. Errath's 3T has every quality I would want for Lurz's 3Lp but the outcome was about the same.

Annett skated to the Sound of Music, which worked for her better than Funny Girl, and she kind of goes in and out of brilliance. She does pull off a clean 3S. I think Annett could have gotten the Bronze over Errath if she beat Errath in the freeskate. Errath and Annett were domestic rivals but Mueller coached Annett.

I would like to see a clean skate from Susanna Driano because she has many marvelous qualities. The crowd was not pleased with her marks. I think the marks were fair but the judging was strict. Some of those 5.5s could have been 5.6s. She got enough 5.7s.

... and there is a bearded ginger Frank watching while Linda debuts Michelle Kwan's 2002 Olympic LP music. Linda's skating is pleasant and she must be athletically gifted because it is amazing how she managed to biff her triples but still land on one foot. Seriously, her air position for the opening 3S attempt reminds me of Glenda from the Wizard of Oz as a flying orb.

Dianne de Leeuw had the most beautiful 3T and could have won the freeskate, but she biffed a 2Lz and 2A.

 

[tony]

Fantastic! Some of these programs have never seen the light of day.

 

[screech]

Dianne de Leeuw had the most beautiful 3T and could have won the freeskate, but she biffed a 2Lz and 2A.

She had such weird technique on her 2a. Instead of crossing her free leg in front of her landing leg for her air position, it seems like she tucked it behind her landing leg (very noticeable at slower playback). She didn't do that on her other jumps

 

[bardtoob]

She had such weird technique on her 2a. Instead of crossing her free leg in front of her landing leg for her air position, it seems like she tucked it behind her landing leg (very noticeable at slower playback). She didn't do that on her other jumps

Are you sure she is crossing?

To me, it looks like she jumps and brings her legs together at the knees without crossing.

 

[briancoogaert]

What an amazing moment ! Never seen so many of those programs

 

[Maximillian]

Am about half-way through watching and am so loving it! Love watching a young Buianova pull off all those triples with the scariest air position. You can really see that Weber is a Mueller skater, so many trademark qualities with regards to posture, movement and technique, she actually reminds me a bit of Evelyn Grossman. Btw, I think that Katarina Witt is the only Mueller skater who didn't scare me with her 2A. Also fun to see a baby Kristofics-Binder as the home country favorite. Must have been strange for Austria to have had the previous Olympic champ in ladies and then only have a 14 year old representing them four years later. As it turns out Kristofics-Binder is the last international medalist for Austria in the ladies.

 

[orbitz]

That was a lot of fun to watch. Thanks for posting the link.

1. I love that each skater skated immediately out to her starting spot when her name was announced and then the music started right away. There were none of the pretentious pre-choreography craps that some skaters today do before they hit their starting position, or skaters that took their dramatic time until their skates tell them to skate.

2. Three different jump legs air positions were displayed in this one competition: legs crossed, legs wrapped, and legs side-by-side.

3. Great fun to see a very young Kristofics-Binder ... and those leg wraps!

3. Elena Buianova was very impressive and adorable. It was unfortunate that she couldn't continue further after this and disappeared from the scene for a long time.

4. Dorothy might not have had the most difficult choreography and technical content among the ladies, but I very much appreciated that her skating was not rushed and clean and of course, beautifully executed.

5. I like the simplicity of everyone's outfit. Linda probably had the most flashy costume there, but it wasn't that glitzy compared to what we saw in the 90s and today.

 

[Maximillian]

Finally finished watching...and pretty underwhelming, though Dorothy was clearly the class of the field. Didn't realize that DeLeeuw landed the 3t, but then the last half of the program unraveled. Also, the young DeLeeuw looks like a brunette Cameron Diaz. I actually much prefer Errath's skating to DeLeeuw's, but she seemed to be stalking her triple, as did a couple of other skaters (IIRC, Alletson in particular).

It is interesting to watch Fratianne's FS, I had seen it before but had forgotten that she missed both her triples. I know a lot of skaters use the same jump layout, but for whatever reason with Fratianne it seems really egregious, maybe because she's Mirai Nagasu level in terms of lacking facial expression. I do find it intriguing that she became the 'next one' for the USFS and they never veered from that, though I would argue that Lisa Marie Allen had more to offer (though the triples were always questionable).

 

[bardtoob]

I do find it intriguing that she became the 'next one' for the USFS and they never veered from that, though I would argue that Lisa Marie Allen had more to offer (though the triples were always questionable).

Linda was good a compulsory figures at US Nationals, which means she was actually good at the part of figures that involved tracing prescribed shapes into the ice. There were ways to politik for better figures scores at Worlds but not so much at US Nationals, and back then you couldn't get to Worlds or the Olympics without placing in the top 2 or 3 at US Nationals.

 

[skatesindreams]

Remember that Linda was young/inexperienced in 1976.
Despite her wonderful performance at Nationals; I believe that "Olympic Pressure" factored into the outcome.

 

[Maximillian]

There were ways to politik for better figures scores at Worlds but not so much at US Nationals

I really doubt this, but who knows...

 

[bardtoob]

I really doubt this, but who knows...

Let me put it this way . . . Don't you think Carlo Fassi would have figured out how at US Nationals?

 

[skatesindreams]

I'm confident that Carlo Fassi always "campaigned" for those he coached.

 

[Seerek]

Did Emi Watanabe leave Ellen Burka for Carlo the next season for that reason?

 

[olympic]

Remember that Linda was young/inexperienced in 1976.
Despite her wonderful performance at Nationals; I believe that "Olympic Pressure" factored into the outcome.

Linda said in her TSL interview she was so distracted by Dorothy's LP / probable win that she was unfocused during her own LP.

I watched the 76 LP long ago. I seem to remember off the top of my head that Dorothy and her SS was the class of the field. de Leeuw landed the 3T but it wasn't completely clean or eked out. Errath nearly fell on her 1st attempt at the 3T but landed it later, Poetzsch landed 2 triples, went for a 3rd but fell. Wendy Burge got an SO from the Austrian crowd.

 

[gkelly]

I see that of 10 multirotational jumps in Burge's program, 7 were axels (double, or singles with variations).

There were also plenty of split jumps in addition to three double jumps from toe-assisted takeoffs, so if you're not counting rotations, she had those takeoffs covered as well, especially the flip.

But no loops or salchows (or walleys) at all.

And hardly anyone did true combinations in the freeskate. Of course one was required in the short program, which was still pretty new at the time.

 

[Maximillian]

I see that of 10 multirotational jumps in Burge's program, 7 were axels (double, or singles with variations).

There were also plenty of split jumps in addition to three double jumps from toe-assisted takeoffs, so if you're not counting rotations, she had those takeoffs covered as well, especially the flip.

But no loops or salchows (or walleys) at all.

And hardly anyone did true combinations in the freeskate. Of course one was required in the short program, which was still pretty new at the time.

I also noticed the excessive number of axel jumps in Burge's program. At first I was impressed by the different variants which she did (tuck, delayed) but by the end it all seemed a bit repetitive.

Since I began watching skating in the early 1980s, post-Zayak and her 6 triple programs, it was interesting to see that practically every woman in the field in Innsbruck had up to the 2A, with just a handful having triples, which meant that the emphasis on jump content couldn't be as significant aspect of the first mark as it became.

 

[floskate]

I just saw on facebook Susanna Driano and Lynn Nightingale consoling each other that they both missed their triple salchow attempts

 

[Skate Talker]

I also noticed that Lynn Nightingale wished the next competitor good luck as they crossed paths at the gate/door.

 

[aliceanne]

Marion Weber reminded me of 1984 Witt.

Yoon (Korea) had the best layback I have ever seen. Fast, centered, and graceful position, which is rare even today.

I liked Kristofics-Binder’s skating. She must have an incredibly turned-out hip for that leg-wrap to be comfortable. Her calf and thigh are completely horizontal. Sadly I think it made it difficult to check out of her jumps in time which probably made it impossible for her to learn triples.

Errath looked like her landing leg wasn’t holding her up even though she was managing to land on one foot.

Burge and de Leuw looked different than I expected. I remember them as willowy and glamorous from show skating, and de Leuw was always blonde.

 

[floskate]

I also noticed that Lynn Nightingale wished the next competitor good luck as they crossed paths at the gate/door.

That was pretty common back in the day. At 1974 Worlds as Toller was waiting to skate Vladimir Kovalev who had just finished shook his hand and wished him luck. After Toller had finished and his marks including 6.0's came up, Jan Hoffmann - who had yet to skate and was in striking distance of the title - took the time to come over and pat him on the back. True sportsmanship.

 

[skatesindreams]

I'm sorry that those gestures are now very uncommon.

 

[Maximillian]

I'm sorry that those gestures are now very uncommon.

To be fair, at big international competitions the competitors enter/exit the ice from different places now, making that sort of exchange unfeasible.

 

[VGThuy]

Watched a bit. It was crazy to see how clean the dresses were and then you see Fratianne in that warm-up group all blinged out ready to disco. I always thought Dorothy had the best timing because she skated right before the triples era started to hit. It seemed her four years were a continuation of what Peggy and Janet Lynn’s era started regarding jumps -coming off of Carol Heiss/Tenley Albright and the battle of the double axels.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Watched a bit. It was crazy to see how clean the dresses were and then you see Fratianne in that warm-up group all blinged out ready to disco. I always thought Dorothy had the best timing because she skated right before the triples era started to hit. It seemed her four years were a continuation of what Peggy and Janet Lynn’s era started regarding jumps -coming off of Carol Heiss/Tenley Albright and the battle of the double axels.

My memory is a bit hazy on this.

But I believe in one of Hamill's autobiographies, that her coaches bribed her to try the triple salchow in practice.

Her double sal always looked very secure, so I'm sure it was probably quite something to see her do a triple.