Can We Talk About The Beauty of Peggy Fleming's Skating?

[VGThuy]

Some months ago I found some links, thanks to @ilovepaydays , showing some TV specials Peggy Fleming did back in the day and I have to say that core, control, line, and attention to detail is absolutely exquisite. She was also just simply so elegant and beautiful. I mean this is simply majestic:

Here's Peggy Fleming (1968) - she does a bunch of performances here:

https://youtu.be/xnyVYYFfMmk

I'm particularly partial to her Dr. Zhivago duet with Bob Paul showing some pairs skills:

https://youtu.be/xnyVYYFfMmk?t=1332

British skating special - Greatest Sports Moments -
I thought Peggy came across so warmly here and I love how they talk about her first Olympic experience in 1964 and she said she was really nervous then and it showed in her free skate, but then laughed and said she did really good school figures there, but nobody watched those.

https://youtu.be/MWz3hsysvis

There was a great video of Peggy and Mister Rogers where she was giving him a skating lesson and he wasn't bad at all. Both of them were so great in that one and they had such a great rapport.

Unfortunately, PBS blocked that YouTube video for copyright.

Anyway, I can see exactly why she became such a superstar. I think she came at the exact right time. Television became a big thing for the Olympics with 1968 being the first colored broadcast of it and Peggy winning the only medal for the U.S...and it being gold.

 

[Seerek]

I'm surprised Peggy Fleming's TV specials in some form or another are difficult to find online.

Her 1973 special in The Soviet Union is available:

https://youtu.be/sat7_B20a3Y

But some others like the 1971 special in Sun Valley is unavailable.

 

[bardtoob]

I'm surprised Peggy Fleming's TV specials in some form or another are difficult to find online.

Her 1973 special in The Soviet Union is available:

https://youtu.be/sat7_B20a3Y

But some others like the 1971 special in Sun Valley is unavailable.

Ooo . . . I love this! https://youtu.be/sat7_B20a3Y?t=1144

. . .

@IceAlisa look at this! https://youtu.be/sat7_B20a3Y?t=1663

 

[gk_891]

When I first saw her skate years ago, I remember being mesmerized by the quality of her skating. She looked like she was floating over the ice.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Here's Peggy Fleming (1968) - she does a bunch of performances here:

https://youtu.be/xnyVYYFfMmk

I'm particularly partial to her Dr. Zhivago duet with Bob Paul showing some pairs skills:

https://youtu.be/xnyVYYFfMmk?t=1332

I loved this. The music in the first 5 minutes - 60's romantic movie track - like "The Sandpipers". So much production. Ice rink in summer. Pink ice. Camelot castle. Beautiful costumes. Thanks.

 

[suki]

Great thread, VietgrlTerifa. Peggy Fleming was my first skating idol. I still have my scrapbook with articles dating all the way back to 1965 when she won her first world's medal (bronze). She was a role model to me at a time when the notion that a woman could aspire to more than finding "Mr. Right" was still considered suspect. Here was young women from a modest background who dominated her sport. She was so inspiring.

Now, be a dear and don't try and guess my age, please.

 

[kittysk8ts]

Yes, we can and should forever discuss Peggy's exquisite skating! The young 'uns out there should all watch and be inspired.

 

[giselle23]

Peggy doesn't really get the credit she deserves for her impact on the sport. She was the first to add a balletic/artistic element to ladies competitive skating. Much like she used to say about Sasha Cohen, she never hit a bad position. Her layback still stands among the best. Look at her spread eagles and spirals and use of her arms. All of the great US ladies who came after her--from Janet Lynn to Michelle Kwan--followed in Peggy's footsteps as artists as well as athletes.

 

[berthesghost]

I’m always up for a good trip down Peggy Fleming memory lane, but each time I’m even more struck by what a celebrity she was the likes of which we never really saw in skating again. It’s not just the tv specials, the tributes, the tv comercials, the magazine covers etc but the fact that a lot of these outlets almost don’t even exist anymore. I can’t believe how often she was on the cover of tv Guide type publications!