What's Old Is New Again: New Articles Re: Figure Skating History

[SkateGuard]

The two most recent Skate Guard blogs:

Patinage Poetry: The Language Of The Ice (P4): http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/patinage-poetry-language-of-ice-part.html
The 1936 Winter Olympic Games: http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-1936-winter-olympic-games.html

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest Skate Guard blog looks at the story of Bruce Allan Mapes, Skating's Unknown Inventor:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/bruce-allan-mapes-skatings-unknown.html

Some fascinating articles of interest to skating history buffs:

Piece on Zimbabwe's new ice rink: http://www.herald.co.zw/ice-skating-takes-harare-by-storm/
KARE piece on Paul Wylie running the 10 mile: http://www.kare11.com/news/olympic-...10-mile-after-near-death-experience/329841464

 

[SkateGuard]

The first of this week's trio of Skate Guard blogs looks back at The 1952 Canadian Figure Skating Championships:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-1952-canadian-figure-skating.html

 

[Frau Muller]

The second of this week's trio of Skate Guard blogs, The Cold War On Ice, looks at Peggy Fleming's history making television special filmed behind The Iron Curtain at a time when U.S. and Soviet relations were at their frostiest:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/09/the-cold-war-on-ice-peggy-fleming.html

Thank you for this. What a treat, too, to see Kirov Ballet stars Elena Evteeva & Nikolai Kovmir dance the adagio in Swan Lake!

 

[SkateGuard]

Glad you enjoyed this one, Frau Muller... Love the name by the way! Really trying to include more stuff from the 60's, 70's and 80's in some of the future blogs.

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest Skate Guard blog, Rethinking Ice Dance History: Progress And An Exhausted Argument, explores the Torvill and Dean and Duchesnay era's and the ISU's attempts to curb an avant garde trend in ice dancing in the late eighties and early nineties:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/rethinking-ice-dance-history-progress.html

Also of interest to skating history buffs... this brand new ABC News interview with 1992 Olympic Gold Medallist Kristi Yamaguchi:

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/video/lightning-round-kristi-yamaguchi-42624693

 

[Shyjosie]

The latest Skate Guard blog, Rethinking Ice Dance History: Progress And An Exhausted Argument, explores the Torvill and Dean and Duchesnay era's and the ISU's attempts to curb an avant garde trend in ice dancing in the late eighties and early nineties:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/rethinking-ice-dance-history-progress.html

Thank you for revisiting the golden era of ice dancing. The obstacles the artists had to face after changes upon changes implemented by the ISU were tremendous. Kudos to the creative skaters, coaches and choreographers who dared to push the envelope.

 

[Seerek]

The first of this week's trio of Skate Guard blogs looks back at The 1952 Canadian Figure Skating Championships:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-1952-canadian-figure-skating.html

I know this wasn't discussed in the article but like a few other skaters in that area, the late Suzanne Morrow was going to medical school (veterinary) while competing in eligible skating through 2 Olympic cycles. Very impressive, IMO.

 

[SkateGuard]

Thank you for revisiting the golden era of ice dancing. The obstacles the artists had to face after changes upon changes implemented by the ISU were tremendous. Kudos to the creative skaters, coaches and choreographers who dared to push the envelope.

I can't imagine it wouldn't have been easy for ANYONE coaching or doing choreography during that period. You definitely had a choice to make - follow the rules or follow the herd.

I know this wasn't discussed in the article but like a few other skaters in that area, the late Suzanne Morrow was going to medical school (veterinary) while competing in eligible skating through 2 Olympic cycles. Very impressive, IMO.

Suzanne Morrow Francis' story was altogether amazing IMO - have a bio on her and Wally Diestelmeyer on the way in the coming months!

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest on Skate Guard is an annual autumn tradition on the blog... Figure Skating Hodge Podge:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/figure-skating-hodge-podge-volume-4.html

Also of interest is this Irish Archaeology blog on a new bone skate discovery in Dublin:

http://irisharchaeology.ie/2016/09/bone-ice-skates-from-viking-age-dublin/

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest Skate Guard blog, Words Of Wisdom: Advice For The Ice From Howard Nicholson, introduces you to Sonja Henie's longtime coach Howard Nicholson:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2016/10/words-of-wisdom-advice-for-ice-from.html

Stay tuned later this week for blogs on the 1965 U.S. Championships in Lake Placid and a mysterious missing persons case with a skating connection.

 

[AlpineSkater]

Great article! I like this quote "Never lose sight of the fact, that it is better to do a less difficult thing well than a difficult thing badly."

 

[SkateGuard]

Great article! I like this quote "Never lose sight of the fact, that it is better to do a less difficult thing well than a difficult thing badly."

Glad you enjoyed this one! I like that particular quote from Mr. Nicholson as well... certainly seems fitting in today's IJS culture, doesn't it?

The latest Skate Guard blog takes a look at The 1965 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Lake Placid, New York:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-1965-us-figure-skating-championships.html

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest Skate Guard blog explores an absolutely bizarre missing persons case from the fifties with a figure skating connection, The Disappearance Of Helmut Gräf:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-disappearance-of-helmut-graf.html

Another recent article on a historical missing persons case with a skating connection is this fascinating New York Daily News piece on the 1917 disappearance of Ruth Cruger:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...917-manhattan-disappearance-article-1.2805184

 

[SkateGuard]

Just posted on Skate Guard earlier this AM was this month's edition of #Unearthed, a long lost 90's piece on the early skating career of legendary coach Sheldon Galbraith penned by PJ Kwong & Mel Matthews:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca

The last two blogs of October - coming this Thursday and Saturday - explore some spooky skating history just in time for Hallowe'en!

 

[SkateGuard]

Just in time for Hallowe'en, The Grim Reaper joins us on a trip through skating history on Skate Guard, as we explore some of the most tragic and unusual deaths the skating world has ever known in Death Stalks The Ice Rink:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/death-stalks-ice-rink.html

 

[SkateGuard]

Dim the lights and lock the rink door... Skate Guard's annual Hallowe'en blog is up. Read Paranormal Skatetivity 4: Skating's Darker Side:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/10/paranormal-skatetivity-4-skatings.html

 

[SkateGuard]

Fantastic Wall Street Journal piece on Sheila Cluff, a competitor at the 1953 Canadian Championships who is still skating at 80:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/an-80-year-old-figure-skaterstays-fit-to-compete-1477920548

Later this week, Skate Guard blog's taking on the 1990 World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia... but first, a little appetizer - The Great Lobster Boil Of 1989:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/11/the-great-lobster-boil-of-1989.html

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest Skate Guard blog takes an in-depth look at the stories, skaters and scandals of the only World Championships ever held in Atlantic Canada... The 1990 World Figure Skating Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/11/the-1990-world-figure-skating.html

 

[skatesindreams]

Many, many thanks for sharing details I never knew about this amazing event, Ryan.

 

[Shyjosie]

"It was like a painting that moves you to ecstacy without even distinguishing the colours. Just stunning."...It's always so interesting (and telling!) when well-known skaters talk about the upcoming stars of the scene.
Thank you, dear Ryan, for yet again a well-written and entertaining entry.

 

[skatesindreams]

"It was like a painting that moves you to ecstasy without even distinguishing the colours. Just stunning."

What a great description of that glorious performance!

I didn't like "My Fair Lady".
Beautifully performed though it was, it was a throwback to another era.

 

[VGThuy]

Thank you so much for these retrospectives. They are wonderfully written and so thorough that I'm living these events as if I was there.

 

[alchemy void]

Joining in to let you know how much I enjoyed the 1990 Worlds recap, too! It was really engaging and an enjoyable read.

All the local photos and anecdotes just enhanced it even more. And it also was a great introduction to Chris Bowman's LP here.

 

[SkateGuard]

"It was like a painting that moves you to ecstacy without even distinguishing the colours. Just stunning."...It's always so interesting (and telling!) when well-known skaters talk about the upcoming stars of the scene.
Thank you, dear Ryan, for yet again a well-written and entertaining entry.

You're too sweet! I loved Minenkov's quote as well... Keeping in mind that he was a skater that Christopher Dean put on a pedestal when he was coming up the ranks, what a huge compliment to him as a choreographer!

What a great description of that glorious performance!

I didn't like "My Fair Lady".
Beautifully performed though it was, it was a throwback to another era.

Personal opinion? Gotta agree with you on this one in most respects... Lovely, well-skated program but it didn't even come close to resonating with me like "Missing" did. Not even on the same page.

Thank you so much for these retrospectives. They are wonderfully written and so thorough that I'm living these events as if I was there.

You're too kind! I'm trying to throw a couple of these in a month to mix things up and they're really so interesting to put together. You really get a sense of the time by going back to the primary sources. I was sifting through some first hand accounts from another event for a future blog about an event in the early 1900's that was held outdoors in the bitter cold and in hearing how the competitors kept warm to skate their figures, you could almost feel the chill coming off the page.

Joining in to let you know how much I enjoyed the 1990 Worlds recap, too! It was really engaging and an enjoyable read.

All the local photos and anecdotes just enhanced it even more. And it also was a great introduction to Chris Bowman's LP here.

So glad you enjoyed reading it! I have a whole whack of material I didn't even include including some interesting quotes from skaters about their thoughts about the end of figures. One of my favourites came from Oleg Protopopov: "As a discipline, for this sport probably it is a good skill to do the figures. Unfortunately nobody sees this. To spend a lot of money to show figures to just nine people what you can do, I think it is not the best way. If you do eight hours of free skating each day, you will die."

 

[skatesindreams]

Personal opinion? Gotta agree with you on this one in most respects... Lovely, well-skated program but it didn't even come close to resonating with me like "Missing" did. Not even on the same page.

I'm with you, 100%.

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest Skate Guard blog, From Yasnaya Polyana To The Zoological Gardens: Tolstoy's Skating Legacy, offers up a little Russian skating history to go along with your Rostelecom Cup weekend:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/11/from-yasnaya-polyana-to-zoological.html

 

[SkateGuard]

The latest Skate Guard blog looks back at Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler's Dreams On Ice show from the 90's:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/11/dreams-on-ice.html

Also, here's a fascinating piece looking at the story of coach Nick Belovol from The Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...kating-and-the-american-2016-11-07-story.html

 

[Seerek]

The latest Skate Guard blog takes an in-depth look at the stories, skaters and scandals of the only World Championships ever held in Atlantic Canada... The 1990 World Figure Skating Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia:

http://www.facebook.com/SkateGuard
http://skateguard1.blogspot.ca/2016/11/the-1990-world-figure-skating.html

Well done! Worlds must have a big deal at the time for CBS to air the ladies free program live (in the East Coast) on the Saturday evening (they may have also aired live in 1987 in Cincinnati - not sure).

In many ways, 1990 was a watershed year, cause you had the debuts for future World champs Kavarikova/Novotny and Yuka Sato, plus future World medalists Philippe Candelero, Slava Zagorodniuk and Kuchiki/Sand.

It was not known at the time, but 1990 Worlds was also the last year that East and West Germany competed separately. The ISU allowed the combined entries earned in Halifax from both countries in each of the disciplines to be number of berths allocated for the unified Germany at the 1991 Worlds in Munich.

 

[SkateGuard]

Well done! Worlds must have a big deal at the time for CBS to air the ladies free program live (in the East Coast) on the Saturday evening (they may have also aired live in 1987 in Cincinnati - not sure).

In many ways, 1990 was a watershed year, cause you had the debuts for future World champs Kavarikova/Novotny and Yuka Sato, plus future World medalists Philippe Candelero, Slava Zagorodniuk and Kuchiki/Sand.

It was not known at the time, but 1990 Worlds was also the last year that East and West Germany competed separately. The ISU allowed the combined entries earned in Halifax from both countries in each of the disciplines to be number of berths allocated for the unified Germany at the 1991 Worlds in Munich.

Can't speak to coverage down in the States in 1987 versus 1990 but definitely agree it was a time of shift definitely. It's interesting how many top skaters stuck it out past Calgary (Gordeeva and Grinkov, Fadeev, Leistner, Landry, Wynne/Druar come to mind) but opted to turn pro prior to Albertville. EXCELLENT point re: Germany and thank you for mentioning it! When the two countries combined, it certainly made for some interesting results at the German Nationals in the years that followed... particularly in the women's event with Witt coming back in 1994 and Szewczenko rising up around the same time.