Cross-posting from a discussion in Canadian pairs:
History is illuminating, insightful and essential, even though few people in figure skating care to take the time to check out the history and make the relevant connections. We are continuing to lose connections with the past ever since Dick Button's retirement. A lot of fans today think only of the moment or the recent history, rather than delving back to understand the past and how it impacts the present. There are so many connections to make.
When I kept hearing people acting as if U.S. pairs are so terrible and that Canadian pairs are so much better, I asked why and I decided to do some research last year. With the Internet, research capabilities are right at our fingertips, and there are some good books too. Also, a few old-timers are still around who we definitely need to talk to and learn from before it's too late. I frankly feel that U.S. fed needs to take advantage of the knowledge of pairs from the past such as Ron Ludington, JoJo Starbuck, Babilonia/Gardner, as well as seeking fresh ideas and expertise outside the box to complement what's available from current coaches and former pairs skaters such as Peter Oppegard, Meno/Sand, Jim Peterson, Amanda Evora, Mark Ladwig, and John Zimmerman. It seems that Zimmerman's buzz worthy success with France's James/Cipres has only excited interest from Canadian pairs instead of any U.S. pairs. Hopefully, it's just that the more established U.S. teams are comfortable with their current coaches, and that more younger teams will be contacting Zimmerman post the Olympics season.
I have noticed that Canadian pairs always seemed to receive more props among North American teams, even when they were not actually better than U.S. pairs (for e.g. at 2010 Olympics). Evora/Ladwig were unfairly low-balled when they skated better than all three Canadian teams. Dube/Davison were a better team, but they simply did not live up to their billing. I don't think the other two Canadian pairs that year were better than E/L, despite being rated ahead. A lot of pairs teams made mistakes and got breaks ahead of E/L at that Olympics.
Currently Canadian pairs are obviously better than U.S. teams, and Canadians have a wonderful history to be proud of in pairs. I also think Skate Canada pays more attention to developing their pairs than U.S. fed has ever done. So that makes a difference. The major influence is that Wagner/Paul broke through in a big way at Worlds and Olympics in the late 1950s and early 1960s and thus established a legacy. And also Canadian pairs have had a great deal more recent successes at Worlds and Olympics, with Brasseur/Eisler, Sale/Pelletier, and Duhamel/Radford. That's why I found it surprising to discover that Canadian teams were off the Worlds podium for 19 years from 1964 (Wilkes/Revell won bronze) to 1983 when Underhill/ Martini broke through again for Canada, winning bronze and then grabbing gold in 1984 prior to retiring -- U/M had faltered at the 1984 Olympics, where the Carruthers siblings from the U.S. won silver. I wonder how long it will take U.S. pairs to recover from their 16-year long and counting World podium drought?
The Russian pairs dominance after the extraordinary innovations of Belousova/Protopopov in the 1960s is what kept so many countries off the pairs podium. However, U.S. teams managed to remain relevant in the 1960s and 1970s with the Josephs, the Kauffmans, Starbuck/Shelley, and Babilonia/Gardner. In the 1980s, the Carruthers and Watson/Oppegard reached World and Olympic podiums. And later, Kuchiki/Sand, Meno/Sand, Ina/Zimmerman, and that has been it in terms of most recent World podium appearances, although there have been some other top contending teams from the U.S., just not significantly enough for about 16 years. I think the U.S. pairs discipline might benefit from looking back and gaining some inspiration from the fact that it was a U.S. pairs team, Carol & Peter Kennedy, who were the first North American team to win a World championship, in 1950. The Kennedys had won silver twice before winning gold, and they also won silver at the 1952 Olympics. The U.S.'s Loughran/Badger were the first North American team to reach a World podium, winning bronze in 1930, and the first NA team on an Olympic podium with their silver at the 1932 Olympics.
Canada's first breakthrough on the World and Olympics podium was in 1948 with Morrow/ Diestelmeyer winning bronze at both events. Later Dafoe/Bowden in the mid-1950s extended the Canadian legacy which paved the way for the huge success of Wagner/Paul, accompanied by the Jelineks (who won a World championship in 1962).
I thought the judges were very stingy on the scores for them. Haven and Brandon were clearly better on everything than the two pairs preceding them in the sp. For how well Haven and Brandon performed they should have been at least two points higher IMO. The judges simply have low expectations for some skaters. Politics is so rampant. I really enjoy both of D/F's programs this season.
Haven just turned 22 and Brandon will be 25 in November. Surely they will continue for at least another four years. I hope so.
