olympic
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So, I can't help myself.
There were obviously Pairs missing from Olympic competition for a variety of reasons, and wanted your take on the impact of their absence -
1984 - Pestova / Leonovich
They were just bumped from the Olympic podium at Lake Placid 1980, took bronze at the post-Olympic World Championships, then solid silver medalists / top-finishing Soviet pair at the 1982 Worlds in Copenhagen, but finally sliding down to 6th at 1983 Worlds. In Sarajevo, the #3 USSR pair was Avstriyskaya / Kvashnin. So, I wonder what happened to keep them off the team.
1988 - Coull / Rowsom
They broke up a Soviet sweep of the podium at 1986 Worlds, winning the Bronze medals, and they were solidly #2 CAN pair in 1985 and 1987 at Worlds, always a pretty solid top 10 team going way back. Were they just lost in the muddle of Benning / Johnston, Brasseur / Eisler, Hough / Ladret in 1988, and failed to make the CAN team for Calgary?
1992 - Yamaguchi / Galindo , Landry / Johnston, Selezneva / Makarov
Well, the 1st pair is obvious: KY left pairs and pursued singles, although I always wonder in an alternate universe where KY had the strength to do both disciplines, if Y/G could have medalled in Albertville if you consider the mistakes by Brasseur / Eisler in 3rd place.
Landry / Johnston were solid silver medallists to Gordeyeva / Grinkov (whom I don't bother to throw into the mix because they married and Katya had a baby). I see L/J slid down the ranks from 2nd to 9th at 1990 Worlds. Did their career just fizzle?
Selezneva / Makarov completed a Soviet sweep at 1988 Worlds, disappeared from Worlds in 1989, then came back to finish 4th in 1990. I see by 1991, the USSR had Mishkutenok / Dmitriev solidly #1, with Bechke / Petrov having a much stronger presence, and Shishkova / Naumov appearing on the big stage as #5. maybe S/M just didn't have what it took anymore?
1994 - Wotzel / Steuer, Urbanski / Marval
Wotzel / Steuer WD at Lillehammer in 1994. Isn't this the LP where she was channeling Sharon Stone, and fell on her neck during a lift and had to stop? I don't think they were a legitimate medal threat, when you consider the returning RUS champions, and great skates from Brasseur / Eisler, although they beat Shishkova / Naumov at 1993 Worlds, who at the Olympics I think only lost 5-4 split to the Canadians. Maybe they would've been ultimately finished in front of Meno / Sand?
Didn't Urbanski / Marval split before Lillehammer?
1998 - Shishkova / Naumov , Kovarcikova / Novotny
Shishkova / Naumov won 1994 Worlds, then silver at 95 Worlds, behind Kovarcikova / Novotny, 1995 World Champs. S/M were in medal contention in 1996 but just slipped off the podium, losing the bronze to Meno / Sand. Neither S/N or K/N was at Nagano 1998. I wouldn't call Eltsova / Bushkov a dominating team, and Kazakova / Dmitriev and Berezhnaya / Sikharulidze were new RUS teams. It seems there could have been an opening for S/N to make the team for Nagano.
I do seem to recall that Kovarcikova / Novotny intended to retire after winning in 1995. I think Rene's age (31?) was cited (?)
2002 - Abitbol / Bernardis , Sargent-Wirtz / Wirtz
French team won bronze at 2000 Worlds and was attempting the throw 3A. I see that they WD from 2001 Worlds after finishing 7th in the SP. What happened to them? They may have made the muddle behind the medalists a more fascinating competition. They did return in 2003 with a not-so-great result
The Wirtzes were 8th at 2001 Worlds, but didn't make the team (?). Their finish in 2001 was higher than the CAN pairs who competed at SLC (?)
2006 - I don't see any prominent teams who missed Torino, although Langlois / Archetto were a top performing CAN team in the interim years leading up to the Olympics, finishing 5th and 8th at 2003 and 2004 World respectively, but they did not make the team for Torino.
2010 - McLaughlin / Brubaker, Duhamel / Buntin
There weren't any top medal threats missing from Vancouver that I can see, but M/B deserve a mention. They just seemed to go downhill quite quickly in 2009, but I assume that if they were somehow capable of showing that fire from 2008, they may have been in the penultimate group and been the best possible competitors from the USA
Did Duhamel / Buntin not compete at Vancouver? They finished 6th at 2008 Worlds / 8th at 2009 Worlds. I realize that she teamed up with Radford just after Vancouver sometime, but interesting that they didn't stick it out for an Olympics together ....
2014 - Takahashi / Tran , Scimeca / Knierim, Denney / Coughlin
What exactly happened to the 2012 Worlds Bronze medalists that they did not compete in Sochi?
I think the US probably may have been better represented by S/K and / or D/C. A lot of baggage comes up when discussing John Coughlin, so I don't even know whether to bring that up. S/K had just formed in 2012 and I think they may have been able to outperform Castelli / Shnapir and definitely Zhang / Bartholomay. D/C didn't make mistakes but were criticized for a lack of presentation.
2018 - Volosozhar / Trankov , Stolbova / Klimov
The 2014 Olympic champs and silver medalists both continued beyond Sochi to 2016 and 2017 respectively, so what affected their decision to not continue to 2018. It appears they were slipping a bit in the ranks, but RUS did not exactly have an incredible replacement in Tarasova / Morozov. Come to think of it, I seem to recall a lot of drama re a split between Stolbova / Klimov, but still fascinated that V/T didn't continue.
2022 - No one
Zabiako / Enbert did not make the cut for Beijing, but I think it's pretty obvious that they were outclassed by the RUS teams representing there, and Morgan / Cipres had a good 5th place finish at 2019 Worlds. They were missing for obvious reasons, and I won't go into that ...
There were obviously Pairs missing from Olympic competition for a variety of reasons, and wanted your take on the impact of their absence -
1984 - Pestova / Leonovich
They were just bumped from the Olympic podium at Lake Placid 1980, took bronze at the post-Olympic World Championships, then solid silver medalists / top-finishing Soviet pair at the 1982 Worlds in Copenhagen, but finally sliding down to 6th at 1983 Worlds. In Sarajevo, the #3 USSR pair was Avstriyskaya / Kvashnin. So, I wonder what happened to keep them off the team.
1988 - Coull / Rowsom
They broke up a Soviet sweep of the podium at 1986 Worlds, winning the Bronze medals, and they were solidly #2 CAN pair in 1985 and 1987 at Worlds, always a pretty solid top 10 team going way back. Were they just lost in the muddle of Benning / Johnston, Brasseur / Eisler, Hough / Ladret in 1988, and failed to make the CAN team for Calgary?
1992 - Yamaguchi / Galindo , Landry / Johnston, Selezneva / Makarov
Well, the 1st pair is obvious: KY left pairs and pursued singles, although I always wonder in an alternate universe where KY had the strength to do both disciplines, if Y/G could have medalled in Albertville if you consider the mistakes by Brasseur / Eisler in 3rd place.
Landry / Johnston were solid silver medallists to Gordeyeva / Grinkov (whom I don't bother to throw into the mix because they married and Katya had a baby). I see L/J slid down the ranks from 2nd to 9th at 1990 Worlds. Did their career just fizzle?
Selezneva / Makarov completed a Soviet sweep at 1988 Worlds, disappeared from Worlds in 1989, then came back to finish 4th in 1990. I see by 1991, the USSR had Mishkutenok / Dmitriev solidly #1, with Bechke / Petrov having a much stronger presence, and Shishkova / Naumov appearing on the big stage as #5. maybe S/M just didn't have what it took anymore?
1994 - Wotzel / Steuer, Urbanski / Marval
Wotzel / Steuer WD at Lillehammer in 1994. Isn't this the LP where she was channeling Sharon Stone, and fell on her neck during a lift and had to stop? I don't think they were a legitimate medal threat, when you consider the returning RUS champions, and great skates from Brasseur / Eisler, although they beat Shishkova / Naumov at 1993 Worlds, who at the Olympics I think only lost 5-4 split to the Canadians. Maybe they would've been ultimately finished in front of Meno / Sand?
Didn't Urbanski / Marval split before Lillehammer?
1998 - Shishkova / Naumov , Kovarcikova / Novotny
Shishkova / Naumov won 1994 Worlds, then silver at 95 Worlds, behind Kovarcikova / Novotny, 1995 World Champs. S/M were in medal contention in 1996 but just slipped off the podium, losing the bronze to Meno / Sand. Neither S/N or K/N was at Nagano 1998. I wouldn't call Eltsova / Bushkov a dominating team, and Kazakova / Dmitriev and Berezhnaya / Sikharulidze were new RUS teams. It seems there could have been an opening for S/N to make the team for Nagano.
I do seem to recall that Kovarcikova / Novotny intended to retire after winning in 1995. I think Rene's age (31?) was cited (?)
2002 - Abitbol / Bernardis , Sargent-Wirtz / Wirtz
French team won bronze at 2000 Worlds and was attempting the throw 3A. I see that they WD from 2001 Worlds after finishing 7th in the SP. What happened to them? They may have made the muddle behind the medalists a more fascinating competition. They did return in 2003 with a not-so-great result
The Wirtzes were 8th at 2001 Worlds, but didn't make the team (?). Their finish in 2001 was higher than the CAN pairs who competed at SLC (?)
2006 - I don't see any prominent teams who missed Torino, although Langlois / Archetto were a top performing CAN team in the interim years leading up to the Olympics, finishing 5th and 8th at 2003 and 2004 World respectively, but they did not make the team for Torino.
2010 - McLaughlin / Brubaker, Duhamel / Buntin
There weren't any top medal threats missing from Vancouver that I can see, but M/B deserve a mention. They just seemed to go downhill quite quickly in 2009, but I assume that if they were somehow capable of showing that fire from 2008, they may have been in the penultimate group and been the best possible competitors from the USA
Did Duhamel / Buntin not compete at Vancouver? They finished 6th at 2008 Worlds / 8th at 2009 Worlds. I realize that she teamed up with Radford just after Vancouver sometime, but interesting that they didn't stick it out for an Olympics together ....
2014 - Takahashi / Tran , Scimeca / Knierim, Denney / Coughlin
What exactly happened to the 2012 Worlds Bronze medalists that they did not compete in Sochi?
I think the US probably may have been better represented by S/K and / or D/C. A lot of baggage comes up when discussing John Coughlin, so I don't even know whether to bring that up. S/K had just formed in 2012 and I think they may have been able to outperform Castelli / Shnapir and definitely Zhang / Bartholomay. D/C didn't make mistakes but were criticized for a lack of presentation.
2018 - Volosozhar / Trankov , Stolbova / Klimov
The 2014 Olympic champs and silver medalists both continued beyond Sochi to 2016 and 2017 respectively, so what affected their decision to not continue to 2018. It appears they were slipping a bit in the ranks, but RUS did not exactly have an incredible replacement in Tarasova / Morozov. Come to think of it, I seem to recall a lot of drama re a split between Stolbova / Klimov, but still fascinated that V/T didn't continue.
2022 - No one
Zabiako / Enbert did not make the cut for Beijing, but I think it's pretty obvious that they were outclassed by the RUS teams representing there, and Morgan / Cipres had a good 5th place finish at 2019 Worlds. They were missing for obvious reasons, and I won't go into that ...
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