Nancy Kerrigan Gives the Worst Sports Interview EVER

Poor Nancy...she’s a good person, but rather introverted. Not her fault really. But I agree, Jerry Solomon should have prepped her better.

I remember that Nancy was not likable...neither was Tonya. They were both bad for the sport, IMO.

"You’d think a woman who married her agent"

You mean: " You'd think that a whore who slept with her already married agent and broke up his marriage ......."

Nancy was the Great White Hope of the advertising world, who needed a spokesperson whom they could feature on advertising campaigns as the American ideal. Of course that couldn't be Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi, because she was a " Jap," so they put all of their effort into promoting this white ideal, not realizing that she was a spoiled, entitled bitch who was an underachiever on the ice and only became famous because she got whacked in the knee.

WHO?

Let's enjoy this DL iconic moment.

Wasn't she the one who bitched about poor Mickey Mouse?

Fake news, R7. Even though it's recorded. It must be the fake media trying to get me.

She's just keeping it real, girls.

Hey Nancy,

What an entitled bitch. Monica Seles, who had a far more legitimate reason to feel bitter and jaded, was never this entitled. Whiny, maybe, but not a bitch. Kerrigan deserved that whack.

I remember this, Scoot went off on her.

scott, dammit. She is another airhead. All that she needed to say is that she is disappointed with her performance and disappointed with her standing,. Kerrigan behaved as if being number 1 was her birthright after the assault.

Funny how Nancy gets all the blame for getting with her agent. Like she forced him to divorce his wife.

No, she didn't "force" him but a decent person wouldn't have gone there.

LOL so he was just an innocent victim of her indecent actions? R15 HAS to be a frau.

Please show me EXACTLY where I stated that. I'll wait.

"...a decent person wouldn't have gone there..." thus putting the blame on her as a person who wasn't decent. And he was what? Innocent?

I don't think she was that bitchy. She definitely wasn't what America wanted her to be, though: wholesome, cheerful, perky. How dare she not lie about loving to compete when she's been doing it since she was a toddler, or say that she finds it hard to be motivated to be number one when she'll make just as much money just for showing up? Doesn't she know she's supposed to smile and robotically say she's honored just to be amongst such fine athletes, and to perform for such a wonderful audience?

She wasn't a horrid bitch, she just wasn't America's Sweetheart and America very much wanted her to be that.

Exactly. I said she wasn't a decent person and she's not. Its usually common knowledge that a spouse of either sex who cheats is not a decent person either. No explanation necessary.

There are things we all think and feel, but when in a professional role, there are things you don’t articulate because they make you look bad (or unprofessional). This interview made her look spoiled, ungrateful, immature and lazy. Her lack of self-awareness is pretty stunning.

Lots of elite athletes are dumb as a brick and have zero social skills. While we were studying and reading and hanging out with our friends, they were on the practice field.

Have you ever listened to Tiger Woods or Derek Jeter or Tom Brady or Venus Williams in interviews? Zero smarts and zero personality.

Except for Johnny Weir. Johnny is fabulous.

Oh shut up, r4. Everyone loved Kristi.

Girls, girls! Enough already! Both Nancy AND Jerry are assholes!

R19 America doesn’t need or care about a sweetheart. The MEDIA cares very much though.

Not Advertisers, R23, which was the point, so shut up. Chicago Tribune: Since then, only speedskater Bonnie Blair-who won a gold in 1988 and two this year-is still visible in commercials as one of a handful of athletes McDonald`s Corp. has hired to appear in its ads. That`s better than figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, who appeared for a while in Kellogg`s Special K cereal ads, but was unable to get any other major endorsements although gold-medal figure skaters have traditionally been a TV favorite. Most recently, Hoechst Celanese signed her on to endorse its acetate fashion fibers in print ads, said the agency representing her, International Management Group. Her situation is unique, according to some marketing insiders, who speculated that Japan bashing may have discouraged companies from signing on Yamaguchi, a Californian of Japanese ancestry. Bloomberg: Kristi Yamaguchi is red-hot. She's lithe, pretty, and telegenic. Her performance in women's figure skating, the glamour event of the 1992 Winter Olympics, won her the gold medal--the first for an American since Dorothy Hamill wowed the judges in 1976. So savvy consumer-products companies must be lining up to pay the 20-year-old Northern Californian big bucks to endorse their wares, right? Not exactly. "Kristi has no offers yet," says her agent, Kevin Albrecht of International Management Group. He has drawn up a list of goods that he thinks are right for her: "Soft drinks, automotives, and because of her attractiveness, beauty products."

I dunno, that clip with Mickey totally endears her to me. I'd be mortified too.

Scott Hamilton is also a little fundie wingnut asshole. They both belong under a Zamboni.

Maybe I am being unfair but all I remember after her getting hit in the knee was wailing "WHY ME, WHY ME" like it wouldn't have mattered if it had happened to someone else but "WHY ME".

r29, I hate when people say that!

That's an interview that shouldn't have happened.

I get her, though.

she was whining. People despise whining.

I don’t know why, but her whole WHYYY ME??? always struck me as funny. I don’t think it was funny that she was attacked, just the melodramatic response. It was like bad soap opera acting.

She was a millennial before they existed

If this was in 1995, wasn't this over a whole year after her knee whack incident? It seemed like she should have sucked it up by then.

If she was that unhappy about doing the things she so hated doing why did she take all the endorsement money then? Why did she sign the deals which kinda required her to present a certain image to the public? This entitled, greedy frau cunt wanted the sympathy and the cushy endorsement income without having to lift a finger. Fuck her and that undeserved silver medal she was gifted just because she got a whack on the knee.

Nancy was a CUNT!

Clueless. Her reaction to the knee whack was odd, also.

She was a cunt and it was awesome.!! We need more people like her in entertainment and sports!! Everyone is so “fake nice” and pc now it’s fucking nauseating!

She was no Nicole Bobek, that's for sure.

Kristi is also dull as dishwater and had zero charisma. She hosted a skating reality show and was terrible.

Peggy and Dorothy were iconic, I don’t think any U.S skater ever came close to the fame and superstar status they had at the time.

Kerrigan and her family are just as trashy as the Hardings. Just a bit more outwardly polished.

And yet I was the one who got the Oscar-nominated FILM!

She is known as one of the worst SNL guests ever. Abysmal.

The only thing dumber than expecting an athlete to be an eloquent public speaker is expecting an actor to be competent in holding any public office.

Yeah - evidence is all the stupid shit posted by brain dead celebs on social media. They are their own worst enemy. They need someone to filter their stupid comments and opinions. I’m sure Nancy’s manager read her the riot act over this interview.

Kerrigan almost makes Tonya Harding look more appealing and deserving of sympathy in comparison.

A stark contrast to their tennis equivalents where Monica was and is the sweeter, more relatable one and Steffi Graff the humourless, robotic ice cube.

Yeah, Oksana "two-footed" Bauil certainly was given a gift as well and she drank it away like the complete piece of trash that she is.

When pro figure skating really took off a few years later, I don't remember Nancy being a part of that scene very much. So either she really didn't like the scene, or this interview sunk her?

I think she just didn’t give a fuck anymore and was going through the motions for the paycheck. It was just strange for someone that young to be be so jaded and cynical. But If you want to learn to hate something you love, turn it into business.

[quote] I think she just didn’t give a fuck anymore and was going through the motions for the paycheck.

If I'm not mistaken, didn't a lot of those retired skaters make decent salary from all of those cheesy pro skating shows? People like Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt, Kurt Browning, Scott Hamilton? I think Nancy shot herself in the foot here.

She was too busy breaking up a family and sleeping with a married man to skate.

I think a some women are pushed into careers or think they want one, but if they are honest, just want to be a wife and mom and have a husband who supports them. I sense that was Nancy.

She seems dopey and stupid.

If you think she felt humiliated at the Disney parade, how about this?

R55, she should have dressed up as the Evil Queen.

So this was 25 years ago? Why was this even posted?

Because dumb cunts are fun to laugh at no matter the age.

R22 You had me until the last paragraph. Johnny is also dumb as a brick. Did you miss the part about him marrying a con artist who fleeced him for all he had?

Also, this is what "fabulous" Johnny is doing now. What an attention-whore nutjob.

I never saw Monica Seles as whiny...

I remember when the whole incident happened. I remember not liking Kerrigan and feeling sorry for Tonya because it was obvious Tonya had some insecurities or borderline mental illness. Everything could see Tonya was lying through her teeth about involvement.

Surprising to see Tonya rewarded years later. You could easily make a movie about Nancy the Bitch and have it be celebrated.

R60 "OWWWWW. That dude just stabbed me in da back!!" was pretty damn whiny.

Did you see the knee bashing video? It's so comical. The reason the aftermath happened to be filmed, is the only reason this story took off! Her dramatic hysterics over a bruised knee are exactly what propelled this thing to national news.

It was a bruised knee that she easily healed from.

R63, uhh, I don't like Nancy more than anybody else here, but have you ever hit your knee against something accidentally? That shit hurts. Somebody hitting your knee full force with a tire iron would be extremely painful.

But yes, her "Why me?" business was annoying.

I'm not annoying. I'm understated.

Johnny has a better butt, R59.

R66 I had no idea Mr. Burns was modeled after Johnny. Can totally see it now.

R26, Yamaguchi is decidedly NOT PRETTY. Delicate but not pretty at all...

R68 That old cunt was neither pretty nor delicate. The one true stunner in ladies figure skating was/is Michelle Kwan. Even now, she looks to be barely in her 20s. Amazing.

Kristi Yamaguchi is not pretty, she's beautiful and an OLYMPIC GOLD medalist. Michelle Kwan, not so much.

Kristi has a flat head and an oddly shaped mouth. Plus, bitch was a Romney supporter.

The ONLY reason Kristi was ignored by advertisers was that she was of Asian descent. THAT's ALL.

Heck, even up to when Michelle Kwan was winning world medals, American headlines would say shit like "American beats out Kwan."

Kristi's handlers would make it a point to have her wear outfits with American Flag decals to keep reinforcing that she's an American

The most awkward human being ever to a microphone shoved in her face.

R72, that's not true. Michelle Kwan was the media skating darling during her reign. In fact, she was probably the U.S. athlete most talked about at both her Olympics.

But she got no sponsorships.

Kwan? She got numerous sponsorships....endless, even though she didn’t get gold at any Winter Games.

Kwan was smart and well spoken. Had a post-skating career in DC and campaigned for Hillary in 2016. IIRC, after the 1998 Olympics, Pat Lipinski (Tara’s mother) reportedly complained because the media was paying more attention to Michelle even though Tara won gold.

I liked Kristi and she seems to have been one of the few female skaters to continue to improve as a pro skater. Her coach attributed that to her strong work ethic. Certainly better than that of Nancy “it’s hard to get motivated to train and skate well when all I have to do is show up to get my appearance fee” Kerrigan. I do wish Kristi would have stuck around another two years to compete in Lillehammer.

Kristi deciding not to compete at the 94 Ols is probably the ONLY reason Tonya/Nancy happened.

Tara is not that bright. Compared to Michelle especially. I don’t think that Peggy, Dorothy or even Katarina Witt like her that much.

[quote] But she got no sponsorships.

To be fair, neither did Sarah Hughes -- who eventually won the 2002 Olympic Gold Medal -- and in fact, today, it's not hyperbolic to say that nobody remembers Sarah Hughes or her win.

Yamaguchi also had to contend with the fact that in 1992 Americans were not happy with the Japanese due to their dominance of the electronics field.

Kristy Yamaguchi was far prettier than Michelle. When Michelle got into skating she made weird Claire Danes facial expressions.

I think Kristy was prettier and more polite than Nancy or Tonya.

Michelle's mouth hangs open like a mouth breather. Lipinski did this too. Lipinski looked like she suffered from some type of chromosome condition.

They don't want to feature homely ones.

R85, my recollection of Sarah was that she looked like a gangly moose calf -- all limbs on ice.

Peggy Flemming was nicer. Girls in the 60s were so nice.

Sarah probably was going for a Dorothy Hamil look.

Failed.

R88, I'm not sure what Sarah was thinking with that do. It wasn't even popular with girls of her age during that era. It looked incredibly matronly for the time.

I know. They had chunky highlights. Anne Bancroft and Holly Golightly did it better.

Omg, Sarah Hughes is a cousin of Opie Hughes of Opie and Anthony. She graduated Law School from UPenn and went to Take. This bitch rich. She doesn't need any endorsements!

Sarah became massively FAT after winning her gold medal.

Wow, what a bitch. That said, I do find her honesty refreshing.

I work as an entertainment reporter in LA and if I had a nickel for every time I cleaned up quotes and steered an actor into saying something intelligent...I'd have about $158.45.

R94 Yo, Ent reporter, when you ask shit of actors, react to what they say and follow up on that. Be in the moment with them please. Throw out that checklist of question.

Kerrigan did cash in on the post tonya/Nancy 94 olympics like a lot of pro skaters who were at the end of their careers. It lasted 7-8 years, but it got over saturated and the specials shows stated getting silly. The 2002 olympics helped kill pro skating in the us as well.

I think Peggy and Dorothy both had media training with did both of them well.

Tara stopped skating around 2002, and spent years trying to make it as an actress. She also got injured and didn’t like stars on ice as most of the skaters were significantly older then she was.

Sarah’s father turned down SNL I think partially because of the Kerrigan debacle. Sarah came back in 2003 to try and win a national and world title but was undertrained and out of shape. I know she did stars on ice maybe one season and she was doing double jumps at that point and having some trouble with those.

Kwan benefited the most from the relaxed restrictions of Olympic eligible skating in terms of making $$. By time she retired in 2006 pro skating was in the dumps and endorsements were few and far between.

R96 is Sarah still a fatty?

R78 I disagree that Michelle is smart or well spoken. She always sounds mush mouthed to me plus I was always baffled that she never got her crooked teeth fixed. They were a major distraction. Plus, she isn’t smart. It doesn’t take a genius to work for Clinton as a “special envoy.” Her oddball marriage to Clay Pell and current laughable desperation (constantly posing in bikinis to show off “her yoga poses” and designer handbags on IG) prove that.

Tara was barely on the senior scene for a total of two years. Michelle was always The Great Hope but came up short each time. Michelle was also favored by Scott Hamilton, who let it be known that Tara wasn’t cutting it in Stars on Ice, HIS production. He did that a lot, undercutting those that weren’t beneficial to his wallet, and it certainly affected public opinion of skaters.

[quote] I never saw Monica Seles as whiny...

R60, I read the book she wrote and she sounded quite whiny in it. The tone was very Nancy Kerrigan-like and more or less implied the same "Why me?" attitude.

She covered it up well in interviews though. She had some bitterness but that was understandable. She was also very shrewd and PR savvy and knew what to say and do to rake in the sympathy endorsement dollars, unlike Nancy.

I remember they used to show that stupid WHY ME?! footage so often I ended up mocking her and imitating it when it came on. It was annoying af.

I also remember the guys at the video store I worked at previewing Tonya H’s “porn” in the back room — the honeymoon video her ex sold. It was a regular video store that carried a selection of porns. It was gross and anything but erotic. It made me glad I’m gay.

Nancy was never very smart and she didn't have any media savvy. I also think deep down she wasn't that great of a competitor. She was far more comfortable winning the bronze in 1992 than being the favorite for the 1993 Worlds, where in my opinion she opened the door for Baiul.

Speaking of Oksana, R48, I completely agree. The judges handed Baiul the gold and she became alcoholic trash as a result. I don't think Oksana was ready for it, and deep down she knows she did not have the skate of the night and didn't deserve it.

But back to Kerrigan. That whack on the knee actually gave her a focus and a purpose she never really had. It distracted her from her own insecurities. I don't know that she'd have even medaled in 1994 without it. Look at what she did at Worlds in 1993 where she imploded on the ice. Then she does the two best skates of her life and the of the competition, and the judges hand the gold to Baiul. Nancy was definitely bitter after all that.

I agree with an above poster, too, who wrote that Nancy really just wanted to be a wife and mother. I think she was being honest in that clip. She didn't really like to compete, but irony of ironies, that whack on the knee gave her the will to compete in 1994 that she never really had.

As for figure skating, in 2002, we finally had confirmed what we knew all along. The judges prearranged who was going to win and traded votes to help each other in different disciplines. You give me the women's gold and I'll get your skater on the podium in say ice dancing. Corrupt bullshit. Now figure skating is a shadow of what it once was as far as popularity is concerned. The 2002 pairs judging debacle started the slide.

R101, I wanna hear more about whatever backroom deal ended up with Sarah F'ing Hughes winning the gold! If I remember correctly, she went from 4th in the SP to 1st!

Yes, Kwan got sponsorships but her Olympic performances were years after Kristi, who was ignored because of her Asian background.

That said, even Kwan was seen as “foreign”—just google what how various newspaper outlets labeled her as “Asian” as white skaters were labeled “American.”

Luckily for her the country had moved forward since Kristi and Kwan was able to receive financial benefits despite being of Asian descent.

[quote] I remember they used to show that stupid WHY ME?! footage so often I ended up mocking her and imitating it when it came on.

I think the funny thing is that looking back Kerrigan never actually said the words "Why me?" She just repeatedly says the words WHY? over and over again and I think "Help me" once. But everyone's collective memory is that she was whining WHY ME? And R100, you were not the only one mocking her that winter!

Nancy skates so stiffly, with absolutely no sense of artistry. Everything seems so calculated.

She didn’t deserve the gold, Baiul did

Let’s talk about fucking Paul Wylie

[Quote] You give me the women's gold and I'll get your skater on the podium in say ice dancing.

I’m sure that happened to come degree but considering they had completely different sets of judges, it couldn’t have been so open

Sarah Hughes won because she did a clean slate and the three above her all had very shaky skates. The judges wanted to give it to the clean skate

Isn't Michelle Kwan a Repug?

I’d say the day Sarah Hughes won Olympic gold is the day U.S. interest figure skating died. She was about as uninspiring as Carly Patterson.

Maybe Don McLean can write a song about it.

R110, I would say Sasha Cohen was the last memorable US ladies figure skater.

Baiul skated like the junior lady she was. Tiny, two-footed jumps, excessive hand movements. Kerrigan is far from artistic, but she skated clean.

N? I don't know her.

Yes, R111. Unfortunately, Sasha came along at a time when a lot of people stopped paying attention. She would have been much more appreciated had she peaked during the late 90s skating boom. Plus, fans of Michelle Kwan were still hoping she could pull it together and finally win the damn gold (which did not not, of course).

^happen^

Sasha chocked at every big international competition. Psychologically, she was a disaster. But, the Americans liked her because she was a cute white girl. In recent years, American women's figure skating has become a non-factor and almost a source of embarrassment.

Sasha was a choker, despite her many gifts. She wasn’t as bad as Emanuel Sandhu, however. He was a complete head case, the skating gods wasted their arrows on him. And he never, ever took responsibility for his failures.

I would much rather watch a Sasha splatfest than a mistake-free skate by Sarah Hughes or Rachael Flatt, America’s other robot on ice with more ambition than actual talent.

No, Kwan is a Dem and worked on the Hillary campaign

My interest in skating died with the new scoring system.

Every routine was an obvious stacking of elements to build points. There was no place for any spontaneity at all.

Both Baiul and Kwan won competitions by adding jumps at the last minute. Those were some of the most exciting moments in the sport. Sadly, the new skating system killed excitement

Rachel Flatt was an unfortunate looking skater. Born looking like she was 35-years old. And she had a dowager hump.

Sasha had it all— style and technical excellence. Sadly her head got in the way

The superstardom that usually comes with winning skating gold eluded Tara Lipinski and Sara Cohen because they hadn’t built any presence with the American public.

And they aren’t charismatic at all

Sasha didn’t have the steadiest feet. She always looked like she was about to tip over. She was super flexible though and had gorgeous positions on the ice.

Oksana added a shaky double axel double toe loop at the end of her program, hardly the triple axel Midori ito threw in near the end of her long program in 92. I think people though Oksana was going to be the next Witt or Sonja Henie and dominate the sport for years, but she had a growth spurt and got injured. Plus once she moved to the US full time she had a lot of money and no supervision which led to her downfall. I think she’s burned most of her bridges.

Nancy was seeing a sports psychologist and she had won the fall 1993 big pre Olympic competition in Norway. It’s still baffling that Harding did that as she would’ve easily been named to the 1994 team.

R101 sums it up pretty nicely!

Sasha Cohen had the most beautiful spins and spirals I’ve ever seen. She would always be leading after the short program, but then she’d choke in the long program.

She might be better off nowadays because this system gives you credit for trying jumps even if you fall, doesn’t it? Idk, I don’t really follow it anymore. Sotnikova beating Kim in 2014 was the last straw for me.

The new system was in place in 2006 and Sasha still choked. She made two serious errors before the halfway mark. Her silver was a gift.

R125, no one could have put in a triple axel at the end except Ito.

Baiul was far more expressive and graceful than Kerrigan ever was.

Sadly, Baiul became a drunk and killed any potential skating career she could have had

I wish Kwan hadn’t choked and had won a gold at the Olympics. She’s the greatest female skater ever and yet doesn’t have the gold.

Whatever happened to Linda Fratianne?

I have no idea who the latest Russian champs are. They appear for a season or so and suddenly disappear

I'm not the biggest Michelle fan, but she DESERVED to win the 98 Ols. Tara's triple loop-triple loop was great and she did another triple/triple combo but artistically she was 2 tenths from what Kwan could do.

Michelle also had a chance in 2002 had the judges ranked her 2nd in the free (behind Hughes) she would have won Gold. Instead Slutskya (who was shaky) got 2nd in the free. Irina thought she was robbed, lol. Sarah was gawky, but had a gorgeous layback.

[quote] Rachel Flatt was an unfortunate looking skater. Born looking like she was 35-years old. And she had a dowager hump.

R121, lol! Rachael Flatt reminded me of Louie Anderson lumbering on the ice.

Irina thought she should’ve won the short program over kwan in SLC. Kwan didn’t choke in Nagano, but fell apart towards the end in the long in SLC.

I think Linda fratianne lives and coaches in sun valley.

R132 injuries, growing spurts and weight gains. I think Taras hip injuries from doing those triple loop triple loop combos cut her career short.

She is one of the most selfish self involved people I’ve ever seen in sports. Besides being a poor sport she also isn’t a clutch athlete. Now if you want to talk about a great athlete on skates let’s talk about Kristie Yamaguchi

R102, I knew a couple figure skating judges back in the 1990s. They did US competitions and I think one actually did US Nationals at one point, but that was years after we fell out of touch. Anyway, the guy who ultimately judged US Nationals would sometimes have judges visit him who did international competitions, and they had all the scuttlebutt. As to Hughes, they said the judges wanted Irina Slutskaya to win the gold that year and they feared Kwan would outskate her.

Kwan was leading after the short, so Kwan had to be bumped to third to get Slutskaya on top after Slutskaya's imperfect free skate. Hughes skated after Slutskaya in the free skate so this was their chance. Basically a couple of the judges trying to work together to get Slutskaya the gold screwed up their math hoping to put Hughes above Kwan so Kwan couldn't win, but placing Hughes above Slutskaya because Hughes clearly outskated her coming after Slutskaya. By those judges placing her first, though, combined with Western judges who scored Hughes accurately that night, it lifted Hughes into the gold position with 5 first place votes. Four judges actually placed Slutskaya in first.

This was back in the old 6.0 system. The winner was determined by factored placements in the short and long. Slutskaya had second in the short (1 factored placement) and second in the long (2 factored placements) for a total of 3 factored placements. Hughes came in fourth in the short and first in the long (2 factored placements short + 1 factored placmenent long), also giving her 3 factored placements, so they tied. The tiebreaker was who won the free, and that was Hughes.

It wasn't intended to be that way. A couple judges from former Eastern Bloc countries who scored Hughes first were also afraid after the pairs scandal of not giving first to the person who had the skate of the night. They knew the world had the judges under a microscope that night. Despite that, 4 of 5 judges still placed Slutskaya first, which was pretty ballsy given how poorly Slutskaya skated (3 of the 4 judges were former Eastern Bloc, with Denmark being the lone Western country who placed Slutskaya first). Actually, they should have placed Slutskaya behind Kwan based on the skate that night, and Kwan would have won gold, even if Sarah was still placed first.

^I never understood the appeal of Irina Slutskaya.

That's because you have eyes, R138! Yeah, completely agree. She was overscored her whole career, particularly as regards her artistic marks, all because of the cheating of the former Eastern Bloc nations + China, then eventually France threw in with Russia.

R112 and R125, absolutely right about Baiul with her two-footed landings (that makes jumps MUCH easier to land) vs Nancy's solid and technically sound one-foot landings on the correct blade AND Baiul's shaky, last-minute double axel, double toe that was sloppy as hell, threw off the flow of her program, and was technically imperfect on both jumps. The most egregious thing about the judging that night was judges who placed Baiul above Kerrigan in technical merit. Baiul did not have the technical merit that Nancy had, plain and simple. Nancy knew it, the judges knew it, but the Eastern Bloc + China made sure Baiul won. It was just yet another in a string of fixed decisions (Grishuk and Platov over Torvil and Dean in 1994 ice dancing anyone?) that were terrible. The Russian Mob was basically choosing the medals back then. Just ask Oksana Grishuk, part of the most boring ever ice dance pair who won Olympic Gold.

Disney paid her $2 million to smile and wave and she couldn't bring herself to do it!? Fuck that bitch. They should've clawed that money back and kicked her sourpuss ass to the curb. Hopefully they learned from that complete and total waste of money going forward. Don't pay them until AFTER they've successfully smiled & waved!

Bitch.

If Disney had taken back tbt 2 mil she would have sat on the ground and asked,

*the

Very interesting, R137! That explains a lot about how we ended up with gold medalist Sarah Hughes.

Irina was known on some skating boards as a back-humping troglodyte.

R144, that's funny. She was never graceful, poor thing.

It was her backwards crossovers, and she’d pump up and down. Cute when you are a junior lady, but kind of spastic when you’re skating on the senior level. I always thought that she was cute though.

Irina always telegraphed her jumps, never much footwork or interesting entrances into her jumps.

Irina attacks the ice.

There was always something about Michelle Kwan that seemed a bit off-putting. I never liked her or her performances and was glad that she retired without ever winning an Olympic gold in spite of her very evident desperation to be an Olympic champ.

Rumours about Irina's doping are legendary. The later 'heart' problems she had, were suspect.

I suspect if Sasha Cohen had 1 fall in 2006 she would have won Gold over Arrakawara.

Hmmm idk r150. Arakawa skated beautifully to a famous opera song in Italy and that seemed to get the crowd on her side. She peaked at exactly the right time.

Arakawa was gorgeous. She really skated like a lady, as opposed to a teenage jumping bean.

^^ I am referring to Lipinski of course.

I was rooting for Sasha in '06 though. She had presence and the IT factor. At least from my non-expert opinion.

Arakawa was a no-brainer in 2006. She outskated everyone and gave a lovely performance. The next big debacle was Alina Sotnikova over Yuna Kim in 2014. Sotnikova scored some ridiculous amount more than she ever had and the judging panel was, surprise, surprise, majority former Eastern Bloc, with Russians overseeing the technical panel.

At least in 2018 the two Russians who went 1-2 on the podium deserved it. I just wanted someone to say to the Russians, "See, you don't have to cheat. You just have to have the best skater." Now Russia pretty much dominates women's figure skating.

What happened to the American ladies? They used to dominate figure skating. Now they can't even buy a medal.

What am I, chopped liver?

I at least went on to have a successful movie career.

Hush up, Lynn Holly. Even James Bond rejected you.

R153 I was rooting for Sasha too, but after Arakawa's performance I was totally fine with her winning. One of the better gold medalists this sport has produced... there have been a lot of crappy and/or forgettable gold medalists in the Ladies' Figure Skating event unfortunately.

R154 Yes, ugh. Sotnikova's gold medal is such a black eye on this sport. Yuna Kim skated last with all the pressure in the world on her, and skated an absolutely beautiful routine. She was so fucking robbed of gold.

Now the Russians have dominated every discipline in figure skating. They make me sick.

R160, it doesn't appear that they are currently dominating the men's ice skating or ice dancing.

[quote] Irina was known on some skating boards as a back-humping troglodyte.

Irina actually appeared to have a friendly disposition off ice, but some of her skating moves were very unfortunate. She had one move where she lifted her leg up and it reminded me of a doggy marking its territory on a fire hydrant.

Sasha had a diva attitude that was off putting. It was impossible to root for her.

I like Kwan, but it was the height of selfishness when she went to Turin. She knew that she wasn’t up to snuff and she went anyway, simply because she thought she had the right to do it. She acted as if her injury had healed enough for her to go and make Emily Hughes stay home, then forcing her to drop everything at the last minute when Kwan dropped out. Then never officially retiring, always telling the press that she was taking it easy and hadn’t made up her mind yet.

US skating is comatose. They were Johnny come Latelys to the Code of Points.

[quote] Emily Hughes stay home

R163, to be fair, I think this was the universe's way of saying it couldn't handle two Hughes sisters medaling in back-to-back Olympics.

Emily Hughes had all the grace of a manatee thing to skate

trying to...

R165, that's what I was getting at. She had a very "heavy" quality to her skating.

R167, it was cake.

Why no mention of this one? Seems a quad is harder to do than a triple. Was what Tonya and Midori did harder than this?

I always have this fantasy that if I were a skater I would impress by doing 5 quadruples back to back. But men have always been able to do quadruple jumps.

I don't like the trend of pulling the legging down over the boot.

WHY are you talking about other skaters??? WHY NOT ME???? WHY??? WHY?????

It's hard to keep track of all of these new Russian jumping beans.

I did like Zagitova though, or however you spell her name. I thought her Olympic SP was rather dramatic.

Nancy says asking why is a valid question.

She’s still has that snarky tone when she responds.

It’s like she wishes she could end every response with an eyeroll and, “Duh!”

Didn't Nancy's dad shoot her brother or something? May have something to do with the constant defensiveness.

Oksana Baiul saw an opportunity and grabbed it. Oksana Baiul brought some excitement and emotion to the Olympics and had star quality.

Tonya and Nancy canceled each other out. Tonya Harding brought the wrong kind of drama (broken shoelace, criminal boyfriend). Nancy Kerrigan with her "Whyyyy!!!" and boring ways.

Nancy Kerrigan may have been, technically, better than Oksana Baiul at the 1994 Olympics. Yes, maybe Kerrigan should have won. Maybe there were Eastern European shenanigans going on in the background.

Nancy’s brother got into a fight with his father and punched him causing a fatal heart attack. He was Nancy’s mother primary caretaker and Nancy, her mother and brothers asked for him not to serve jail time but he served time.

Bauil brought her own drama as well with the constant "poor orphan" story her coaches and federation kept pushing. It worked, too, until the real Oksana came out as a cheap drunk.

Mao Asada had won 2005 Trophee Lalique and had beaten Arakawa at Japanese Nat'ls - I think? She was not allowed to compete at the 2006 Ols, which she could have won with ease.

R176 who is that third lady?

The Russian girls are probably doping but at least their pushing women's figure skating into harder routines. How long were the women going to do the same triple jumps? Ok American girls it's time to step up to the plate.

Thanks to the YouTube channel “The Skating Lesson,” we can continue to enjoy these over-the-top dramatic vignettes from the mid-1990s!

Lu Chen from China, R180. She was the bronze winner at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.

I want to see some black American women get into skating. When they do they will probably dominate like Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles did to gymnastics.

Or Venus and Serena.

Such a bad response.

Ask Debi Thomas about that, r184.

I really loved in "I, Tonya" when Tonya says, "Nancy Kerrigan looked like she stepped in poo when she got the silver." Looking at r176, she really does.

Um, she looks good. Very smooth and graceful. She became a doctor after?

Oh my God she's not a doctor anymore. What happened? Oh no. She's probably too smart for her own good and suffers from depression.

These stupid psych shows exploit the people who come on the show to get help. Remember Shelley Duvall? They care about their ratings not the person.

R190, that was of course Mr. Phil who did that to Shelley. I do wonder what happened to her after the episode since she refused treatment. At the end of the day, she needs treatment badly, so exploitive as it was, they tried to get her help.

Thomas is just a mess. She was a doctor in LA and screwed everything up. I think she still lives her but has shown herself impossible to work with and that's proven by the fact that she's had numerous jobs and can't stay anywhere for very long. Almost everywhere, people note that she will not be gotten along with.

I found this Dec 2019 video of Debi Thomas in Egypt shilling for a card. So at least she's out of that trailer!

Debi also lost custody of her son to her ex. Something is not right with Debi.

I'm guessing autism/Asperger's as well.

Schizophrenia. Such a horrible disease.

[quote] The Russian girls are probably doping but at least their pushing women's figure skating into harder routines.

R181, is harder routines really better though? I can only opine that in the case of gymnastics, the endless quest for more difficulty has resulted in a severe lack of beauty and grace in the sport. I'm not sure if this translates over into skating though.

*are

R180 Though R183 answered, I just wanted to add that Lu Chen was world champion in 1995 and bronze medalist again at the Nagano Olympics. She was one of my favorite skaters ever, just the picture of grace and beauty. It was a joy watching her mature as an athlete and artist. Can’t say that for all the flash-in-the-pans dominating the women’s field nowadays.

Chen Lu after competition:

On 8 July 2005, Chen married Russian pair skater Denis Petrov, the 1992 Olympics silver medalist.[2] Their son, Nikita, was born on 27 June 2006.[2] Their daughter, Anastasia, was born on 8 July 2009. Chen is manager of the World Ice Arena Skating Academy based at World Ice Arena, an upscale mall rink in Shenzhen, China, while her husband is the head coach of the skating academy.[2]

"Did you see her on TV?" Barnicle demands about the Disney debacle. "She was having a debate with Mickey Mouse! Nancy, wake up! ... Very few people around here had really heard of Nancy Kerrigan until she got hit on the knee. She was a semi-celebrity who, if she couldn't skate, probably would have been saying, 'That's $11.50, please. Pull up to the window for your burgers and fries.' "

Was there any tension caused by latent lez undercurrents between Tonya and Nancy?

[quote] She was a semi-celebrity who, if she couldn't skate, probably would have been saying, 'That's $11.50, please. Pull up to the window for your burgers and fries.'

I don't know that I see Nancy in any fast food scenario other than furiously tugging along a small handful of brats and demanding to speak to a manager because her daughter got the wrong happy meal toy again.

Were it not for figure skating, I get secretary or medical receptionist vibes from her. With her eye out for the boss, trying to marry 'up.'

Yeah but definitely not even close to what she became . I think people were just incredulous that she always seemed like she was doing everyone a huge favor just by showing up. She always came off like the eternal pissy teenage girl with rbf.

WEHT Naomi Nari Nam? I remember wanting her to have a bigger skating career than she ended up having.

R204 I vividly remember seeing this program and thinking Naomi Nari Nam was destined for greatness. Dick Button was practically hyperventilating over it.

Naomi nari nam was sidelined with injuries, she actually did pairs skating for awhile and medaled twice at nationals but retired in 2008.

R205, I remember that performance and also thought she was going to be next great skating star.

Timothy Goebel: bottom?

Also, is there a single straight man on this below podium?

Plushenko is hetero...and thank the sexual orientation god for that. He looks like Lucy Lee Flippin has transitioned.

R209, lol! Evgeni's odd half-bowl haircut certainly never did him any favors.

I really liked Zagitova's SP to Swan Lake. She's another Lipinski, though. Some kid who came along and could jump and won.

Nancy was a homewrecker?

I thought that Nancy would’ve married Paul Wylie...they were besties you know.

Wylie was even more irritating as an announcer than Hamilton.

How do you all feel about Johnny and Tara as commentators?

All I can say is that I'm so glad Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic are no longer Olympic commentators.

Tara is actually ok...Johnny, not so much.

Other than the stupid outfits he wears i get a sense that Johnny actually knows what he's talking about, his commentary is mostly on the mark. I'll definitely take Johnny and Tara over the Christian fundies of yesteryear.

I didn’t mind Scott as much as I did Sandra...she always sounded so pretentious.

So can we analyze why America felt sorry Tonya and made her a star? After making her a pariah 20 years ago?

She was involved in the planning, knew about it and lies about it to this day. Sure, it wasn't a major assault crime (when I was and saw Nancy hollaring I thought it had to be nearly amputated) But...?

After watching Better Call Saul tonight I suppose it's because we think more gray about crime. Everyone wants to cheer for an underdog, including a desperate woman with cluster B mental health issues who made bad choices as a young woman.

R218, because a little bit of Tonya lives inside all of us...

R219 Ok. I can see that. Why didn't it live in us in 1993? Why was she a witch then and a poor abused orphan now?

[quote] Why didn't it live in us in 1993?

Because I think all Americans were rightfully mortified that -- in a sport prized for its grace and elegance -- Tonya was out there skating to the music of Jurassic Park.

So what changed?

She publicly defended her loser brother after he murdered their father. He was living in his parents' basement when he and his father argued over his using the phone at 2:00 AM. A physical encounter erupted and he crushed his father's larynx, which triggered a fatal heart attack. He was tried, convicted and served time, but not enough.

Nancy is currently the commercial spokesperson for having a Massachusetts agency assess your home for energy saving upgrades.

After decades in the public eye, she's still as awkward on camera as Caroline Kennedy.

Nancy is a gifted actress though. I thought she more than held her own in Equus, opposite Daniel Radcliffe. She showed true range and emotion.

What a loser . . .

Nancy doesn't look like a horse but she does have some big teeth.

What a cold fish . . .

Nancy is a serious introvert...sometimes their reticence is mistaken for rudeness.

Timothy Goebel married.

Johnny and Tara are old and tired - Tara is a vapid cunt and Johnny needs to work on his mental health issues first. I hope they drop both Johnny and Tara soon. I would rather have zero commentary than hear those twits talk over skating programs. Of course anybody is better than the fundies of yesteryear, but why such a low bar? Why not someone like Dick Button?

Goebbel’s husband looks a bit like Evan Lysacek.

Nancy seemed fine in that interview and she looks great. I think she has come into her own being a full time mom with no pressure to be anything but that. I don’t think she was ever cut out to be a skating celebrity, but unfortunately it came with the territory.

I'm glad Lu Chen won back-to-back bronze medals. I wonder why China -- with their state-sponsored sports training programs and facilities -- has never managed to produce another high-caliber ladies figure skater ever since her?

I’m Invincible!!

r218, Because Nancy was exposed as a stuck up bitch and we secretly believe she deserved to assaulted. Lying, cheating and stealing is the American way!

Nancy's PR team should have been more forthcoming about her semi-gritty, blue collar upbringing. I think it would have made her appear more vulnerable and relatable to the public. The whole perfect All-American princess facade they were going for certainly didn't do her many favors.

America already had a gritty skater - Tonya. Nancy was set up to be the anti-Tonya, glamorous and ready for endorsements.

Only sadly, Nancy wasn't any of those things.

Nancy is a tomboy...they attempted to mold her into the quintessential American Ice Princess. The hair in a bun, erect carriage and glitzy skating outfits. But underneath, she was still a tomboy and an introverted one at that.

Introverts don't steal husbands and make the comments Nancy made.

Sure they do r241.

No they don't.

I loved when Nancy took exception to CBS for exposing her affair with Jerry Solomon during the 1st Ice Wars. "After all I've done for your network," she told Verne Lundqvist. She was the headliner (over 4 Olympic champs) and her performances were desultory and laughable.

Did she really have six miscarriages?

She looked like Katherine Hepburn but was as white trashy as Tonya.

The big unknown question is whether Nancy would have had Oksana Baiul's knee whacked with a tire iron if she knew how it would all play out at the Olympics?

WHET to Ilia Kulik? My teenage self had a crush on him around the time he won Gold at the Olympics.

The bitch makes Tonya Harding likable! Enough said!

Nancy sounds like a typical bratty Boston girl

R248, Ilia married Ekaterina Gordeeva in 2002.

R251 They're divorced. He's now fat. Enough said, he's not even interesting enough to google.

R248 Ilia's career peaked with his bit part in the 2000 dance masterpiece Center Stage. It was all downhill after that.

R251 - R253, sad! He was twinkalicious for awhile. I also had a crush on the 1994 men's gold medalist. Alexei Urmanov? Did he get fat, too?

R254 Urmanov was always kind of thick, so his geriatric thickening didn't take away from his looks the same way as Kulik (who was, as you point out, twinkalicious). However, Urmanov still has a hideous haircut.

I didn’t realize they were divorced, R252. They must have kept it pretty quiet (or I’m just out of touch with skating news lately!)

That's funny, R244.

Urmanov was the one that caught Yagudin getting his dick sucked by Rudy Galindo. I found this out on FSU of all places. Urmanov told the Russian skating officials. Supposedly, this kept Yags from winning Russian National Titles...he usually placed second to that hideous looking Plushenko.

Galindo was also warned by the Champions on Ice executives to keep away from Yagudin. I was told that Brian Boitano told him to stay away, as Yagudin was underaged at the time. Yagudin was also boning several of the females in COI too, including meth queen Nicole Bobek. So when Galindo tested positive for HIV, everyone had the vapors, afraid that they had contracted something. There was talk about him fucking Tim Goebbel, but I cannot see it happening.

R255 & R258, thanks for the Urmanov update. Who knew the world of figure skating could be so sordid?

On a somewhat related note, perv on Urmanov's ass was one of my first stirrings of gayling lust. It's unfortunate he seemed to disappear into nowhere. Didn't he have a sort of Norman Bates thing going on with his controlling mom?

*perving on^

Urmanov was poised to win his second OGM, but he popped his groin in 1997...Worlds or Europeans I think. He retired after that. I’m told that groin injuries are fatal to skaters careers. He eventually married and had several spawn.

Kulik got fat? No way. The fraus loved him. I sat next to a woman at Skate America whose wallet was filled with photos of....wait for it...TODD ELDREDGE. she said that he was sexy...

Also I cannot believe Yagudin hooked up with Rudy Galindo??(!) That's hilarious.

I was told this by someone who was well acquainted with Lorrie Kim. She’s a Korean American lady, very gay friendly who had a website called Rainbow Ice. She kinda shrugged her shoulders at the Alexis-Rudi thing.

Yes, the skaters are quite active. Jeff Buttle of Canada supposedly was busted giving head on a tour bus in Canada. This was after the Salt Lake City Winter Games. He allegedly hooked up with that exotic head case Emanuel Sandhu too. Rivals AND lovers!

Very interesting, R263! Tell us more!

My information is from folks who take their vacation time during the skating season so they can go to the Grand Prix of Skating. I don’t really follow it now, Code of Points and a lack of interesting skaters is the problem. But I was a huge fan from 1988 to 2014. I lurked at several skating webpages (and got kicked off a couple too 🥴). I love the cute boys well enough, but the beauty of the sport was what I loved. I was a serious Michelle Kwan fan. And Stephane Lambiel - absolutely crazy about him. He’s the most artistic male skater ever. He’s also gay, not out, but he had a partner. He’s very discreet and everyone loves him. Not a fan of Johnny Weir. The men pairs skaters have the best bodies. And I know people who have met Richard Callaghan and he’s a big kiddie diddler, so glad he’s finally being investigated.

Galindo was HIV positive and knew his status long before he won US Nationals and turned professional.

Whaaaaat r266? I thought that he got tested afterwards...

R265, I miss Lambiel as well. I'm not the biggest fan of this latest decade in skating, although I'm no expert, and some performances have been pleasantly surprising.

I remember an old usenet board called RSSIF which used to be the hub for figure skating discussion. I used to bring up the possibility of certain gay male skaters but always got shut down by the flock of frauen!

Yes r268...most of the skating boards were like that. They’d fill up the threads about the marriages and relationships of Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and others, but every time someone (including me) would bring up the subject of gay skaters, either someone would post about prying into their personal lives, it was distasteful or the threads would get shut down. Marriages, divorces, unwed mothers (a Canadian girl skater got knocked up), weight and eating disorders...everything that is under the sun. But not gay. Even when talking about guys like Rudy. “It’s really nobody’s business”, it was done to death.

R131 I think Linda retired from skating and got married and had kids.

I’m a huge fan of Michelle Kwan too, R269. I’m intrigued by rumors of her marriage to Clay Pell (bearding?). And my favorite pairs team, Gordeeva and Grinkov—someone once posted on this board something about “the grieving widow” taking up with Kulik a lot sooner than was publicly known. Oh, to be a fly on a skating rink wall during the 1990s skating boom!

From the 80s and 90s skaters I always had a bit of a crush on the Canadian, Paul Martini, who used to skate with Barbara Underhill.

True r271. Skating was the bomb post Nancy and Tonya up until Torino. Part of the blame falls on the International Skating Union and their Il Duce in residence, Ottavio Cinquanta. He machinated from behind the scenes to keep eligible skaters from participating in pro competition. The monetary returns for figure skating are paltry compared to other sports, especially when you figure in the money spent on it. He did offer prize money but the pro skaters were left high and dry. Not the Witts or Boitanos, but lesser known skaters. But the pros shot themselves in the foot because there were too many pro comps with nebulous rules. And after a while, one can only watch Rosalynn Sumner do double toe loops to bland power ballads so many times.

I heard rumors about Katie too...Scott Hamilton and Kurt Browning both had crushes on her and she milked it for all it was worth. Sergei was so young when he died and she played the grieving widow to the hilt. Sergei was a beautiful man though, even handsomer than Kulik.

Paul Martini had a great body...as did Victor Kratz and Peter Tcherneysev (sp?). Peter was an underwear model for a while to pay for skating expenses.

R273 Sergei Grinkov was a god. Their daughter, Daria, has his smile. What a huge loss to the skating world.

And I could totally see that Scott Hamilton crush. After Sergei died, he was practically acting as her spokesperson/protector. Even at that Celebration of Sergei’s life skating special, he stuck to her like glue at the end when she addressed the audience (to the point where it was almost weirdly uncomfortable).

R273, I still can't believe Scott Hamilton is straight. Not that I want him batting on our team. He oozes as much sexuality as Richard Simmons

R258, did that also play into World and Grand Prix titles that Yagudin was denied? Leading up to the 2002 Olympics, it was clear the majority former Eastern Bloc + China judging panel (maybe France was in with Russia at this point because of Maria Anissina) favored Plushenko. They had been itching to make Plushenko World champion in the past, but he didn't deliver the goods. When he finally skated clean in 2001 Worlds, they handed him the gold, but Yagudin had made mistakes that Worlds, too.

Leading up to the Olympics, Yagudin had outskated Plushenko a couple times, but the judges placed him second. That all changed at the Grand Prix final, which Yagudin won. My former acquaintance who knew international judges (and he himself judged US nationals) said it was pretty split that year. Alexei Mishin (Plushenko's coach and Yagudin's former coach) and Tatiana Tarasova (Yagudin's coach leading up to the Olympics) were both powerful in the skating world and had a lot of pull. The judges decided whoever skated clean would win, but if they both skated clean Plushenko would win. Plushenko fell in the short and placed 4th, which back then was nearly impossible to come back from in the old 6.0 system. Easy for the judges to choose Yagudin at that point.

I think Yagudin was the far better skater. His Winter short program at the Olympics ranks among the best ever short programs in skating history. Plushenko was just a jumper. Even his spins sucked. In any event, the judges handed Plushenko his gold at the 2006 Olympics despite there not being any choreography whatsoever in either of his programs.

Plushenko wanted a second individual gold to set him apart from Yagudin, his bitter rival. Plushenko's loss to Evan Lysacek at the 2010 Olympics was one of my favorite skating moments. Plushenko assumed the judges would hand him the gold once again, but this time surprisingly they hit him for his program components, which sucked ass, and he made a lot of jumping mistakes, too. Lysacek wasn't as good a jumper, but he had better overall skating skills and he had the skate of the night. Plushenko never got his second individual gold as he withdrew from the singles after getting a gold in the lame-ass team competition (I wish they'd get rid of that). The typically whiny-ass Russians cried foul because the quad was supposed to be EVERYTHING and Plushenko landed one, but anyone who saw the two skates could see that Lysacek's jumps were cleaner, his spins were better, and he had actual choreography, so his program component scores were better. Suck it, Plushenko!

Poor Plushenko had a 'special needs' face. He reminded me of Corky from Life Goes On. A total troll in the looks department vs. the three previous Russian male gold medalists (Urmanov, Kulik, Yagudin).

Quite possibly r277. The Russian Federation is very powerful and influential. They pushed Evgeny ahead of Alexei more than once. I hated Yagudin’s attitude, but man, was he magnificent on ice or what. Plushenko skated like a epileptic tent boy. And that catch foot spiral was so ugly. As was its owner.

Scott Hamilton did wait until he was past forty to marry and have children. So there’s that.

It is my understanding that Katarina Witt is bisexual and has hooked up with a married ISU executive AND spin queen Denise Biellmann.

Yagudin has made some extremely hateful, homophobic comments both in the past and recently (regarding Jason Brown and his lack of quads). Used to love him, but can't look at him the same way anymore.

R281, apparently Rudy Galindo should send some Tweets Yagudin's way! That'll shut him up.

I respect his skills but it ends there.

Tomas Verner is also homophobic. But the Czech Republic is anything but a gay haven.

I also still think that Tanith Belbin is the most beautiful woman in figure skating. I hear she has a baby now with Charlie White. I was told that she was a bit of a wild child in her younger days, but marriage has calmed her down.

I don't even know who the reigning world and Olympic champions are - not since 2010.

[quote]The most egregious thing about the judging that night was judges who placed Baiul above Kerrigan in technical merit. Baiul did not have the technical merit that Nancy had, plain and simple.

Funnily enough, the American Judge tied them on the technical merit.

Everyone with half a brain knew that even before Nancy got whacked Oksana was going to win.

And Nancy got the overall technical win but Oksana got the artistic one and despite how horrendously choreographed her free skate was, she didn't skate like she hated every second of it like Nancy did.

Going back to Chen Lu, she was robbed her second World Title in 1996. Her Free Skate was perfection.

The whole Tonya/Nancy debacle was absolutely Kristi Yamaguchi's fault! If she had stuck around the extra two years, none of that bullshit would have gone on.

What is amazing is that Kristi doesn't get the praise she deserves for strong of a skater she actually was. People label her "artistic," but that's only because she had the misfortune of skating against Midori.

Her Olympic Program's technical content would have held up almost another 20 years. There was an interesting article about this in the LA times or something, I'll link it if I can find it.

I like Michelle Kwan fine, but sort of laugh at anyone who says she speaks eloquently or intelligently. Go back and watch her interviews when she was competing and she sounds like she speaks as though English is her second language.

And while she helped change the Artistry in the sport, she probably single handedly set the sport back technically.

Re: Paul Wylie - A delightful encountered was posted on some thread years ago. The person had a one-night hook up with a figure skater, unnamed, but it was obvious that it was Paul.

In my head, Paul Wylie and Todd Eldredge are both indecipherable from one another -- one single bland face, one single person.

I don't know how you find them indistinguishable (that's the word you're looking for?). One is a midget and one has the face of a rat's fetus.

Oh, one was also probably diddled by his coach while the other one's coach was probably too busy diddling Nancy.

Paul’s wife is almost twice his size.

Bump...surprised and disappointed with John Zimmerman, my skate husband for life. He and his wife Sylvia Fontana were involved in a coverup regarding a sex abuse allegation at their rink? Learn something new every day.

Following on R293’s question....R265, did Tara Lipinski ever comment on the Richard Callaghan sex abuse scandal? Have to wonder if she had any inkling of what her coach was doing.

Has anyone exploited widowhood more than Ekaterina Gordeeva? My Sergei indeed.

R293, did Zimmerman bang Kyoko Ina?

Please have some compassion, R295. I am a widower and know what it feels to have lost your soul mate and the love of your life. To this day, I feel Victor's arms caressing my nethers, like am amputated limb. Sob.

R294 I don't know the answer to this for certain but I remember someone mentioning in another thread that Tar had distanced herself from Callaghan more than a decade ago. I never hear her speak of him, except for recently when she did commentary on her own Olympic FS. I don't remember what she said about him, but from what I remember it was just something very brief.

Todd Eldredge was allegedly groomed by Callaghan. Tara is only concerned about Tara. Her parents knew what Callaghan was up to, but since girls weren’t his objects of desire, they looked the other way. Everyone knew about it. Well before the Nancy and Tonya scandal pushed ice skating into the limelight.

Zimmerman was so hot back in the day. I’m sorry to hear that he may have been involved in a #metoo cover up. The skating world is so insular and cliquish.

[quote]Tara is only concerned about Tara.

I never would have guessed that by looking at her Instagram!

[quote] And Nancy got the overall technical win but Oksana got the artistic one and despite how horrendously choreographed her free skate was, she didn't skate like she hated every second of it like Nancy did.

R285 this is a good way of putting it. I just rewatched Nancy's free skate with the sound off and her body language is just terrible. She's so robotic. There is no joy in anything she does. She doesn't fight for that double loop at all. At the end, she looks happy that it's over.

She reminds me of this fat girl I knew in middle school/high school who hated acting but whose mother made her do every play and musical.

R301, I couldn't have been the only one who was thrilled when Oksana beat Nancy. I realize that's a bit petty, but I really didn't want her to be the gold medalist.

R301 it's the same reason they gave the win to Tara over Kwan. Kwan skated like it was a job. Tara skated with some actual enthusiasm and joy.

Both Kerrigan and Kwan hit the ice thinking as long as they were clean they'd win. It was paint by numbers for them and something they had to get through.

Oksana skated with her hands. Her technical content was poor, as was her coverage of the ice. Nancy skated clean but she doubled one of her triple jumps. That could have made the difference.

I totally agree about Kwan. She skated dutifully. Most of her programs were like that. And deciding to skate coach-free for the 2002 Games was a foolish move on her part.

My favorite thing that has been revealed about Michelle's loss to Tara was from her coach, Frank.

He stated in some video that immediately after Michelle lost, her father, Daddy Kwan, rushed the backstage area and was shouting to Michelle about how she was robbed. He kept repeating it to her over and over and Michelle finally looked over to Frank and asked if it was true and Frank told basically told her no, Tara out skated you. And after he said that, Michelle accepted it.

R303 Agree to disagree. I don't think Kwan was lifeless in 1998.

Wow, R305. That's another great factoid.

Kwan skated beautifully to Lyra Angelica, but it's a pretty ethereal program without a lot of fire to it. Tara came out and skated to a lot of energy to whatever Disney song she skated to. And in those days, skating order played a big part in scoring as judges would often hold back until the final skater.

Why would she drop Frank Carroll before the 2002 Games? Salt Lake City was hers to lose!

R309, because Daddy Kwan told her to.

I didn't say that Kwan was lifeless. I said she skated like it was a job. When I watch that skate I can see her mind ticking away, next jump. Okay, now put your arm there. Make sure you extend your leg there.

[quote] . Tara came out and skated to a lot of energy to whatever Disney song she skated to.

The only thing I randomly remember about Tara's skating is that she skated to the music of Little Women at some point, lol.

R310, I think you’re right, and that it had something to do with—surprise!—money. In a nutshell, Frank wanted more of it.

True, you didn't R311. I misread.

Tara did skate with a great deal of energy and pizazz. I will give her that.

In 1998, Michelle was expected to bring home the gold, and felt every bit of that pressure. Tara had less to lose, and went for it.

A friend of mine was a competitive skater and once told me that people focus on the Nancy and Oksana thing and say Nancy deserved the win because of her jumps and Oksana's technical mark shouldn't have been as high as they were. She (my friend) said that people often forget that the technical mark isn't just about the jumps but that it includes a lot of other factors and that Oksana was a better skater than Nancy in terms of speed, spins, and connections.

I'm sure that a lot of people will disagree. I read an article once where one of the judges said the same thing. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Another thing people forget is that Oksana went out there after having had a bad crash and gouge to her landing leg. I wonder how much that impacted her jumps. It's been years since I've seen her skate so I don't remember.

As a Michelle stan, I didn't give Tara enough credit at the time. I do admire her grit, determination, and hard work, especially considering how young she was. She definitely showed mental toughness.

Kwan also failed to up the technical difficulty in her skating. Post Nagano, she did triple-triple jumps for what, two seasons? The scuttlebutt was that she injured herself a lot earlier than she claimed.

R319 I commented earlier that Michelle is the reason the sport, at least on the women's side, stagnated. She wasn't doing triple triples or at least the triple lutz-triple to, which they were doing back in 1992... but she kept winning so everyone else figured, if she doesn't have to do it, why should I?

[quote]I commented earlier that Michelle is the reason the sport, at least on the women's side, stagnated.

And we heard you the first time.

Good point r320. You are right.

Here's a link to that article I read. I was wrong in that it wasn't one of the judges that said it but the referee that night.

Interestingly, the referee also scores the event but those scores do not count. Her scores that night reflected back what ended up happening. The referee gave the technical mark to Nancy, but the Artistic mark to Oksana. Because her scores tied them, but Oksana got the higher artistic mark, her scores would have put Oksana as the winner, which is what ended up happening.

Some of her comments below:

[quote]In Lindgren's opinion, Baiul was superior in several areas of the four-minute free skate, where seeming intangibles can count as much as technique.

- Emotional appeal:

"When Oksana presents a program, it comes really from the heart," Lindgren said. "To me, she is really an artist on the ice.

"Nancy is a little cold as a skater. She has a nice presentation, but it is not coming from the inside. That is the difference between a good presentation and a little better presentation."

- Footwork and spins:

"Oksana's spins are very beautiful and maybe more interesting than Nancy's. Her flying spins are of better quality and so are her step sequences. Nancy had one good step sequence and her spiral is nice, but it is only one."

- Jumps:

"Oksana's triple lutz (the most difficult jump done by either skater) was of much better quality than Nancy's. Nancy's triple flip was a double flip, and Oksana did a triple, even with a touchdown (both feet hitting the ice on the landing)."

Glad you paid attention, R321.

One thing I hated too was Michelle reusing her 1998 SP in 2002. I really liked that program the first time I saw it. By 2002 it was stale.

What I disliked about Tara’s win is that she was the one of the first generation of Olympic skaters who really didn’t have to deal with compulsory figures, which (as boring as they are) required experience and practice to master—and required you to really learn how to skate. I guess Michelle was of that era, too, but Tara really epitomized the prepubescent jumping bean whose specialty was just jumping. There was a controversy (fueled by Danny Kwan, apparently) about Tara’s “flutz.”

The jumping took its toll, and Tara had hip surgery when she was barely out of her teens. By then, Tara and her handlers must havevrealized how lucky they were that Tara had the skate of the night on the right night. Tara took that gold, decided not to skate at Worlds that year, and went pro at age 16 (thus ensuring she’d never have to go head to head with Michelle in a real competition again).

I agree, R325. It seemed lazy. I guess she wanted to do something she felt comfortable with, given her situation at the time, but it sort of feels like that's not in the spirit of the Olympics - playing it safe. Michelle skated both 1998 and 2002 like she had something to lose and not like she was going after the win.

R326, it's sort of the same way with gymanstics and compulsories.

However, it's interesting that both Midori and Kristi, who people pretty much agree were great champions, were terrible at figures.

I also recall the whole thing about Daddy Kwan starting the whole thing about Tara's, "Flutz," but also recall how it backfired and people started pointing out that Michelle flutzed as well.

[quote] (thus ensuring she’d never have to go head to head with Michelle in a real competition again).

Didn't she already beat Michelle at a Nationals, Worlds, and Olympics?

Yes r326, jumping on ice while you’re going through puberty is bad for your joints. You are basically torquing and twisting and landing on them while they are growing and that’s what hurt Tara and some other ladies. And screw the USFSA for placing all their eggs into the Kwan basket. They relied on her for ratings-and were majorly pissed when she started skipping the Grand Prix. And I don’t care what anyone says, the ISU was none too happy with her either for that same reason. Dortmund 2004 was a wake up call for her. And of course, Sasha blew her chances For world championship gold. She was first after the short program. I think she was even a hit in the qualifying round. But then the long program she choked like a porn star on a giant cock.

Yeas, R329, but Michelle had just recently won the 1998 U.S. Championship with amazing performances that earned her several 6.0s for artistic impression. Meanwhile, Tara’s were receiving some criticism for being childish. The overall sentiment going into the Olympics that year was that it was Michelle’s event to lose. Unfortunately, Michelle could not recapture the magic of her Nationals performance at the Olympics.

What screwed Tara up specifically was that triple loop triple loop combo.

I don't remember much of Kwan's career after SLC but wasn't one of her main issues that she refused to adapt to the new scoring system? I remember reading something that said USFSA did her no favors because they judged national competitions based on the old system, allowing Michelle to not change her programs and still win at home.

Who was the World Champion going in to the Olympics? Tara or Michelle?

I know, I could Google.

Tara won the World title in 1997, as well as the National title. And before Bad, she won the Grand Prix final I think I could be wrong. So she gave Michelle Kwan a notice because I think Michelle had been believing her hype everybody thought that she would be the next great thing including women like Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill they all liked her and they all wanted her to win Olympic gold and I thought she was a shoe in because of her work ethic. And it didn’t really pan out for ever. It’s a tough pill to swallow I think but Michelle‘s wealthy From all of those endorsements and sponsorships she got during the course of her career. The only thing that’s missing is the Olympic gold medal. I think that’s more something she worries about than anybody else. I wonder why she in Clay Pell got divorced.

And before THAT, not bad.

[quote] I think but Michelle‘s wealthy From all of those endorsements and sponsorships she got during the course of her career.

Glad to hear SOMEONE can get any endorsement money and not even win a fucking Gold medal.

R336, Unfortunately by the time the world of endorsements opened up for skaters regardless of their race Kristi Yamaguchi had retired so she didn’t Get a chance to benefit with Michelle Kwan did. Nobody had a work ethic quite Michelle Kwan but I think like it has been posted here, she didn’t skate with a lot of passion. I think during 2004 whirls Terry Gannon or dick button said that Michelle was one of the most reliable skaters in the world. Which is fine, but reliability doesn’t always translate into success, At least not in figure skating.

[quote]Nobody had a work ethic quite Michelle Kwan

We beg to differ!

Kristi was lucky to get the gold with that big splat she had in the FS

Lucky?

Did you see the other splats? Kristi's ass was the only one that didn't french kiss the ice.

Michelle Kwan’s spiral was also technically downgraded and she couldn’t do a bielmann spin the Sasha spirals that started popping up.

I think Tara fell in the short at US nationals. Kristi was the best of the splat fest in 92, her real gold medal performance was at the US nationals. Probably one of the best long programs ever at us nationals.

The anti Japanese sentiment at the time hurt Kristi‘a endorsement prospects, and perhaps if she has stayed in through 94 and got that second gold her prospects would’ve dramatically improved. Witt only stayed in for another 4 years because the government told her she could skate in professional shows if she stayed in, otherwise she would’ve turned pro. Kristi wanted to skate in shows.

Kristi like a lot of skaters is an introvert and isn’t particularly good at public speaking or being a spokesperson. She hosted a terrible reality skating show was was dull, she’s the same way in her commentary.

Baiul was wobbly and got lucky as her growth spurt was starting to hit.

R341 I think Kristi would actually probably have stayed in if she had collected endorsements. I think because she didn't, she decided to turn pro in order to cash in on tours and pro-competitions.

THIS is my favorite Nancy Kerrigan moment. From 0:40 onward. Nancy looks SO pissed!

R343, we just had that topic.

R343 is that the clip where Nancy is bitching that Oksana is delaying the ceremony because she wants extra makeup (which was incorrect - the delay was because they couldn't find the Ukranian National Anthem)? I love that she's bitching about it to Chen Lu who couldn't care less.

Fun fact. After the competition when Chen Lu was asked who she thought should have won and her response was that Oksana was the rightful winner.

R344, ooops. Looks like I was late to the party again.

R345, yep! Nancy is seething because of a delay. She was bitching about it to Chen Lu who, by the way, did the poor thing even speak English? She's like, "I'm just here for my bronze medal, you crazy Americans."

DRUNKSANA hahahahaha.

Chen Lu and Shizuoka Arakawa are so lovely. I miss that. Chen married a Russian pairs skater or ice dancer. I can’t remember his name, but she lives with him in Russia.

Shiz was a cigarette smoker too. Don’t know if she quit or not. He long program at 2004 Worlds was a delight. But under the new judging system, her jumps were downgraded and at Moscow the following year she barely made the top ten. Irina Slutskaya won that award and Michelle Kwan finished fourth...the first time in ten years she wasn’t on the podium. She didn’t really adapt her skating to the CoP. Few of the US skaters did, not really.

Chen Lu married Dennis Petrov (Olympic Pairs Silver Medalist from 1992). They live in China.

Another fun fact about Chen Lu - she competed at 3 Olympics and in her first, 1992, she completed the most triples (6) out of all the women in the field.

Her Freeskate from 1998 and tribute to her coaches is one of my favorites. It's a shame that it's not available to watch anywhere.

R349, this isn't the 1998 free skate you're talking about?

My first skating crush was Kurt Browning. He’s now divorced, bald and has been with Alissa Csizny for a couple of years. Always wondered if the rumour that Scott H kicked him off tour for banging Gordeeva was true. She’s now dating David Pelletier of all people.

Yes, R350, but all videos of it have been copystruck so they're all silent, which is really weird considering the music she skated to.

R352 That fucking sucks. Every so often, I’d like to revisit that program. That performance was sublime and it introduced me to the “Butterfly Lovers” concerto, which I had no idea even existed before the 1998 Olympics. I understand copyright but FFS, the copyright holder should be grateful that their music was elevated and popularized by this performance. It’s free advertising, sheesh.

The weird thing about it though is that the music is a classical piece so I don't know who can claim a copyright on it. Further, if you do a search on Youtube various performances of that piece can be found no problem.... including a video that was made that took Chen Lu's edit of the music available to listen to - which hasn't been copstruck.

R354 Thanks for posting the link!

Also, it’s rich that a Chinese musician would claim copyright. Oh, the irony!

Listening to the music linked at R354, I think they sped the music up a fraction and changed the pitch to get around the copyright issue.

[quote] Michelle Kwan’s spiral was also technically downgraded and she couldn’t do a bielmann spin the Sasha spirals that started popping up.

I love the look of the Bielmann spin and always watch to see how well a skater does it (or whether they skip it). It takes a lot of back flexibility.

I wasn't paying that much attention to Midori Ito back when she was skating, but I have watched clips on YouTube. She's awesome, brought emotion and excitement to skating, and I wish she had gotten more recognition for doing the triple axel so long ago.

Kristi Yamaguchi, still married to Stanley Cup (hockey) winner Bret Hedican. Married since 2000. I hope she's happy. He's good-looking, IMO.

R358 if you haven't watched it already:

One of the greatest things about Midori is that she truly had joy when she skated and you could tell she genuinely loves the sport. So much so that she is STILL competing in Adult competitions.

Is Kristi a deplorable? I heard she is a fundie (along with most of the 80s/90s greats)

Kristi Yamaguchi appeared in an ad supporting Mitt Romney. I am having trouble posting a link.

Kurt Browning is divorced? Wow. I always liked him. Everyone thought that he was gay, but in reality he was one of the sport’s biggest p-hounds. And with Czizny? She’s the one responsible for causing trouble with Yuka Sato’s and Jason Djungen’s (sp?) marriage. Both Jason and Yuka coached her and he was having an affair with her. I forget what competition it was, but Alissa , as she was wont to do, skated really crappy and the announcer said she had a lot on her mind...she was sitting in Kiss & Cry between Yuka and Jason and the three of them looked miserable. The dish was that Jason and Alissa were fucking. Which was a surprise because Jason is supposedly into Asian women.

Alissa was another promising skater who was a major head case. Gorgeous spins and laybacks but her jumps were problematic. She was one of the first skaters to wear those hinged skates. They were only partially successful however.

I heard Djungen was a real asshole and Sato is well shot of him.

Yes r365 I heard similar rumors. A lot of the male skaters are douchebags; they love being the heterosexual ones in the sport (most of them anyway) and plow through the women. A womanizing heterosexual with artistic pretensions is a disaster for women in the sport.

Nancy in 1994. You judge for yourself.

Oksana.

Yuka sato started skating pairs after dungjen and ina split so he could have a professional career

Yuka was a fabulous skater. I enjoyed her long program at the 1994 Olympics more than Oksana's or Nancy's.

Frank Deford of SI wrote an interesting piece about Kristi and Midori. He noted their physical differences, going so far as to say how attractive Kristi's legs were compared to Midori's but then said that in spite of her being American, she was really Japanese. That didn't go over well with her parents who were interned during WWII but truly spoke to how she was thought of by the general public.

And now Deford is dead.

Deford was a Repug douchebag, so no surprises there.

R368, Oksana deserved the win, from my non-expert opinion. Even so, I forgot all about her frizzy, unfortunate 1990s hair.

It's hard to imagine that in just two years she went from looking like that to this 1996 performance below. I know pro skating is basically trash-tastic, but this performance is a guilty pleasure.

No one was there to rein Drunksana in. She was desperately poor growing up and quite in need of parental, especially motherly supervision after Lillehammer. Whether she deserved the gold or not (I don’t think she did). Galina and Viktor...did they pocket some of her money? I’ve always wanted to confirm this.

And if She had been more photogenic, it could have led to more money via cosmetic endorsements. But Baiul is rather homely in the face. The only other lady skaters uglier than her would be Akiko Suzuki or Amber Corwin.

Kerrigan's smile is awful. It looks utterly phony.

I think when you put all the factors together, Oksana deservedly got the Gold over Kerrigan.

I've never thought Kerrigan was a particularly "graceful," or "artistic," skater. Her programs were pretty much the same exact programs set to different music. To me, her "artistry," wasn't much better than Tonya's... she just benefited from having a better physical package to hide it all behind.

R376 You shoulda seen it before they capped her teeth. Shudder.

Midori was built like a miniature wrestler. But that’s what helped her to land those triple axels.

Midori is bowlegged. I think Tonya is too.

Do the skaters ever intimidate each other/play mind games during warmups with each other? I remember reading somewhere that Surya Bonaly tried to psyche out Midori Ito by doing a backflip right in front of her and Midori responded by doing a triple axel.

Speaking of "artistic," skaters that may not really have been that artistic..

I'll never understand how Jill Trenary was praised for her artistry when this monstrosity was her crowning achievement.

It's literally no better than anything Tonya ever skated.

Yes, R381. Katarina Witt was the Queen of it and refreshingly, would admit to it.

During practice sessions she'd go out on the ice and while another skater was doing their allotted run through she would create full routines to that person's music to psyche the skater out. She claims it worked all the time.

Going back to intimidation on the ice, it seems the French girls made a practice of doing so, quite often with Midori as their target. You had Surya intentionally doing backflips during Midiori's session, doing one that got dangerously close to landing right on top of Midori and Laetitia Hubert, also from France, made it a habit of skating at other skaters, making it appear as though she was going to collide with them, in order to disrupt them. I believe she did this to Midori once and ended up miscalculating and actually collided with her, knocking the wind out of Midori and injuring her, which hurt her Short Program.

Mariah Bell was recently accused of gashing one of her skating mates in the leg at a practice session at some recent competition.

R384, I do remember seeing firsthand Sasha Cohen shadowing Michelle Kwan in warmups at 2002 Nationals, skating extremely close by. I like both of them, but I remember thinking that was a bit aggressive.

R352, that's a shame about Chen Lu's music in that performance. I remember being thrilled that she won bronze.

Her free skate to The Last Emperor was one of my faves.

Story about Bonaly & Ito (Baltimore Sun):

[quote] It [Bonaly not being permitted to do her back flip] became an issue during Wednesday's practice, when, only a few hours before the women's original program began, Bonaly did a back flip and landed very close to the favorite, Japan's Midori Ito.

[quote] Forced to interrupt the final rehearsal of her program, Ito never regained her composure. She tumbled 40 seconds into her performance, dumping a 3 1/2 -revolution Axel for a 3-revolution Lutz, and eventually finished fourth in the original program Wednesday. Bonaly took third place.

Bonaly was a bitch and her nightmare of a mother was even worse.

Mine too, R386.

Bonaly couldn't skate.

R390, I think with her flipping abilities, Surya would have been better off as a gymnast.

R391 she was some sort of Acrobatics Tumbling champion as a child. She should have stayed in Acrotumbling, and probably would have if it had been an Olympic sport back then.

She would have failed miserably in Artistic Gymnastics.

It did seem arbitrary to not allow the flip (Bonaly). These skaters are athletes and should be able to push the limits on what they can do (on skates), physically.

I do think Bonaly was a good and exciting skater. Just sad that Midori couldn't pull it together after the practice incident.

I think backflips were banned after the 76 Olympics. Jill ternary was good at figures but the 1990 world championships backed up the decision to drop figures after that year. Midori had a brilliant short and long program, Jill messed up in her short, did ok/well in the long, and great in figures while ito finished 10th I think and could only pull up to 2nd place overall.

Harding was better at figures then Kerrigan or yamaguchi.

R394, I had to look up "figures." I wish they would bring that back. I like quantifiable measurements (no puns intended) rather than quality-type measurements (like "artistic expression"). In gymnastics (women's), my favorite is the balance beam. If you've fallen off the beam, you've fallen off.

Yeah, R395, but now the way the scoring system is in gymnastics, which was to supposedly improve subjective scoring, has made that a joke.

You can fall off the beam two times and still be crowned World Champion.

[quote] In gymnastics (women's), my favorite is the balance beam. If you've fallen off the beam, you've fallen off.

Unfortunately with this new code of points, gymnasts can win or get medals even with falls if their difficulty score is high enough.

R392, I always thought Surya would have been a good Cirque du Soleil performer. I remember all of the stories about her mother. It seems like figure skating attracts lots of overbearing mother types.

I liked Surya in spite of the fact that she had literally no artistry whatsoever. She was her authentic self for better or worse.

The casual skating television viewer didn’t know jack about figures. They were long, boring and quite expensive. After the Sapporo games in 1972, where Janet Lynn came in 3rd place after that German linebacker Trixi Schuba, the ISU lessened the importance of figures in the overall scoring.

[quote]It seems like figure skating attracts lots of overbearing mother types.

And fathers!

[quote]It seems like figure skating attracts lots of overbearing mother types.

Bitch, please. Figure skating knows nothing about overbearing mother types.

I didn't know about these changes to women's gymnastics. Maybe the trade-off is worth it: more daring and ambitious moves.

R401, I think just like with figure skating, most gymnastics fans long for the competitive days of the '80s and '90s. There was definitely more artistry in Artistic Gymnastics then.

Surya might have done well in artistic gymnastics because Mary Lou, Dianne Durham and Elena Shushunova ushered in the more athletic style.

I think the development of making gymnastics more difficult is important because as Dick Button says in the Midori Ito clip, hers were athletic performances which is fine because it's a sport first. Artistry can be very difficult to define but seeing a performer do a triple twist or a double/double, is something anyone can appreciate.

I disagree. Surya wouldn't have excelled at anything other than vault and maybe floor, although I think she'd only be able to manage the tumbling parts and not the dance requirements.

She was built identically to Dianne Durham. Retton, Durham and Shushunova performed routines built around their physical strength and it worked for them. Shushunova couldn't dance at all but she was the most successful all around female gymnast of that decade.

R401 the thing is though, changing the scoring system didn't actually jumpstart the technical difficulty in gymnastics. Some argue the height of gymnastics was around 1992 and almost thirty years later, the difficulty in the sport hasn't increased that much. With a few exceptions, gymnasts aren't doing skills that weren't already being done in 1992. After thirty years, adding an extra half twist to something isn't that much of an advancement.

R403, speaking of difficulty in figure skating, do you think the sport has maxed out, especially in the men's field? All of the top men appear to be doing these quad jumps, but beyond this, is there much more that the human body is capable of? Will we be seeing quintuple jumps? That sounds kind of dangerous actually.

It isn't just about Surya's body type. Comparing her body type to other gymnasts and saying she'd do just as well isn't really a valid point. Surya as a athlete, her behavior, her situation with her mother, none of that would have allowed her to train how she needed to in order to excel. She literally could not skate, there's no way she'd be able to train the four events necessary. Also, like Tonya, she wouldn't comply with the rules of the ISF to help herself succeed.. no way she's survive the FIG and WAG. She would have done much better as an Acro Tumbler or on Trampoline.

Further, if you want to compare body types, she was also 5'4. All the others were under 4'9.

R407 during the last Winter Olympics there was a segment on Youtube that talked about quantum physics and physical limitations in sports. The segment stated that a quad is pretty much the max in any sport, not just figure skating, because the body cannot rotate fast enough to go beyond that. It was interesting.

If I can find the video I'll link it.

Here's the link mentioned in R409.

I've always wondered if Midori ever attempted to train a quad and if not, why she never tried it. Tonya claimed she was able to do a quad toe, but Tonya isn't exactly honest so...

R410, thanks for the link. I'm actually glad to hear the sport will probably max out at the quad. As it is, I wonder how many of these young male skaters will end up with possible injuries or permanent damage.

Speaking of Jill Trenary....she clearly was under the illusion that, had SHE been at the 1992 Olympics, Kristi’s gold medal would have been HERS.

Link to hilariously bitchy interview below.

Trenary IS delusional and suffers from battered wife syndrome.

Had she still been competing she wouldn't have even made the team.

Would you bitches sleep with Jeff Gillooly?

I would r415.

R414, I’m surprised Jill was jogging during the 92 Olympic free skate. Based on that interview at R413, I could envision her chopping down small trees and shrubbery in the garden, in the dark....

JILL (on her knees, covered in dirt, to her husband): CHRISTOPHER, BRING ME THE AX!

Christopher Dean beat her, R414? I guess the rumors about him being a jerk are true. Apparently he was rude towards Jayne Torvill as well. Don't think that he ever hit her, but he was a bit of a bully towards her.

Christopher was abusing Jill?? WTF!!

Jeff Gilooly was hung.

It can't be unseen.

R421, I have to say, his ass wasn't bad! I forgot they had a sex tapes?

My eyes are still burning from Tonya's tits!

Yes they had a "leaked," sex tape from their, "honeymoon."

You bitches are cracking me up.

R424, from the looks of it, their honeymoon must have been at a roadside Motel 6.

[quote] Glad to hear SOMEONE can get any endorsement money and not even win a fucking Gold medal. —Kristi

Kristi did not need endorsements. She was too busy winning pro competitions to the music of Crystal Waters' 100% Pure Love.

One of the very few times I've seen Kristi show some personality.

Yes, Kristi was forced to embarrass herself with those skates because she couldn't earn any money outside of walking around wearing grey contact lenses.

Poor thing.

I thought Kristi received endorsement deals with Kellogg and Wendy's? Or maybe I am remembering wrong.

Wendy's?

They should have hired ME for their spokesperson. No one exemplifies their slogan, "Deliciously different," like I do!

Stop that, R431!

What, R432? Everyone knows I did the best spread eagles!

R433, thanks a lot. I may not be able to sleep tonight!

R426 that was the thing...

They claimed it was their honeymoon but it wasn't. They filmed it after the 94 Olympics and after they divorced.

I don’t know about that r435, tonya is much leaner in these stills compared to what she looked like in 1994.

R436 there's supposed to be something in the video that gave it away. I don't remember what it was and I'm not going to watch to find out!

Did they 'leak' this video to make cash? Is there anybody out there in the world who would pay for a Tonya and Gilooly sex tape?

The first stills showed up on a tabloid tv show in feb 94, then gillooly sold a few stills to a tabloid. Penthouse released the tape an Jeff and tonya negotiated their cut of the profits. Every commercially released sex tape has both parties signed on for its release. Tonya got her breasts done not too long after the olympics.

The thing that gave away the video not being their honeymoon was that Gilooly had his 94 stache in the video. He didn't have a stache at their actual wedding.

Jeff had his stashe in 91. It looks like it was made after a Halloween party they went to.

Tonya and Jeff in 1991

But he didn't have the stache at their wedding.

To contrast, look at what an elegant, beautiful, glorious bride Nancy was!

Nancy couldn't marry in the Church because she married a divorced Jew,

Gag on my Vera Wang, you fat whores!

But Nancy did end up with what she wanted all along.

Someone else's husband?

Forget Tonya's sex tape, this boxing match against Paula Jones was one of her finest moments!

I don't know who I should have felt bad for, Tonya or Paula, but I realize how much I despise both of them.

People say that in reality, Kerrigan didn't have that much of an edge on Nancy when it comes to their backgrounds and their childhoods because Nancy's family wasn't rich but, "blue collar."

I think I disagree with that because even being blue collar seems to be two steps up from how Tonya grew up. Additionally, in some interview, someone pointed out, and Nancy actually agreed with this, she benefited from stability, which Tonya had none in her personal life. People underestimate what a difference something like that can make.

Imagine starting a hobby as a 5 or 6 year old. Then as you get older you get more and more involved and your life starts to revolve around it. The friends you've made through the hobby or through school fall away over the years. They get involved in high school activities, get jobs, get romantic relationships, go to college. You spend several hours every day pursuing this hobby. Kids your age quit and are replaced by younger kids. Thats your life. You're not destined to become a mature, well-rounded person, are you?

Speak for yourself, R451.

So who are/were the worst skating parents? So far, I know Danny Kwan has a reputation, as well as Tiffany Chin's mom.

[quote]So who are/were the worst skating parents? So far, I know Danny Kwan has a reputation, as well as Tiffany Chin's mom.

Keep me out of this.

Ann Patrice McDonough was another skater who had a crazy mother. Ann Patrice was a beautiful skater who left the sport before she could make a stronger impression. Her mother supposedly held her in her arms and would often repeat to her “YOU WILL SKATE”. Several times a day.

R455, I remember her. She was an adopted Korean girl, if I remember correctly. I thought she was going to be the next best thing, but things didn't pan out -- possibly a better thing for her.

[quote]So who are/were the worst skating parents?

Don't come for me unless I call.

Who are the controlling, domineering skating moms of male skaters? I remember reading that Alexei Urmanov's mother was a real battleaxe.

Why was Nicole Bobek considered a bad girl in the sport again?

Bobek was extremely talented but lazy, changed coaches constantly and was busted on a home invasion charge shortly before winning the 1995 US championships. Later was busted for running a meth ring with her then boyfriend.

I didn't realize that Bobek trained with the Scotvolds and therefore was a rink mate of Kerrigan's.

A friend of mine who was heavily involved in the sport once told me that when Kerrigan got bashed in the knee, his actual first thought was that Bobek did it, ha.

R461, my first guess was that it was Tania Kwiatkowski who did the knee whack.

Beautiful, elegant, Fire Bird, Tonia, was too much of a lady to even consider such a thing!

R463, she was more fire hydrant than fire bird.

Tonia and Amber Corwin....grand dames of dull choreography and cheated jumps.

[quote]Tonia and Amber Corwin....grand dames of dull choreography and cheated jumps.

Sounds like Daddy Kwan has come to visit us!

On this "Truth and Lies" documentary about Tonya Harding, TH claims her mother would start drinking at 4:30 in the morning: a thermos of brandy & coffee, then drive her to school. The mom claims she sometimes drank coffee with "brandy flavoring" and that "you can't get drunk on [brandy] flavoring." Mom talks about how nice the trailer was, etc.

Sad.

Amber and Tonia are two of the few skaters that managed to get their college degree while competing.

Tonia:

Kwiatkowski was born on February 12, 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Lakewood High School in Ohio. In June 1994, she earned a degree in communications and psychology from Cleveland's Baldwin-Wallace College. She was frequently lauded by television commentators for pursuing her post-secondary education while competing at the highest levels of the sport, a rare combination in figure skating, which typically demands four to six hours of daily practice to remain competitive at the elite level. While 1980s skating greats Debi Thomas (Stanford BA, Northwestern MD) and Paul Wylie (Harvard BA, MBA) had managed to do both, by Kwiatkowski's era in the middle and late 1990s, as professional opportunities in figure skating were multiplying in the wake of the Kerrigan-Harding scandal, there were seemingly very few skaters on the scene pursuing a college degree. According to a March 18, 1996 Los Angeles Times article, Kwiatkowski's college degree was duly noted as "...most of her competitors have not finished high school."

One of the Christine Brennan books had a section on Tonia K. and her coach, Carol Heiss-Jenkins. Carol really thought very highly of Tonia, and talked how hard it was for a twenty something woman like Tonia to compete with the sport’s increasingly prepubescent stars. She was really thrilled when Tonia was able to make the podium at Nationals in the mid-90s.

Yeah r470, she never really reached the top ranks of skaters. Her, Amber, Angela Nikodinov, and others. Though Nikodinov had beautiful lines. Remember at the 2005 Nationals when Angela and her mother were in the car accident and her mother died? Now that was something. I thought that it was odd that Angela, though she couldn’t compete, attended the competition because all of her friends were there and they took care of her. Whenever a skater dies, they really close ranks and support their peers. The death of the entire US team in the 1961 plane crash had a ripple effect on the skaters.

The injuries caused while jumping on still forming bones and joints, the catty women and their gay bffs making caustic remarks about weight. It drove a lot of girls to insanity. Jennifer Kirk too. I am glad that she quit because she was suffering from the stress. And she’d choke and choke badly. Supposedly she had an eating disorder. So did Tanith Belbin, I’m told. Tanith’s mother sent her to fat camp. She and Ben were my favorite ice dance team. I didn’t understand the discipline enough to get why they’d get marked so low.

Nikodinov had a beautiful layback.

[quote] Tonia Kwiatkowski was born on February 12, 1971 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Tonia skated like she had the weight of Cleveland, Ohio on her shoulders.

It was in her hips, r473.

It's amazing that Tonia Kwiatkowski was able to go to college and still win so many titles and championships and consistently be so highly ranked and regarded in the world...

Oh wait.. nevermind!

It's sort of telling that in a thread about Nancy... the majority of posts are about everyone else BUT her.

I love that we're talking about Tonia Kwiatkowksi. This is probably the most action she's seen in 30 years.

Speaking of those who have gotten no action in 30 years...

Did Daddy Kwan also raise his girls to beard?

R478, I completely forgot that Michelle Kwan had a sister who also skated.

That video is also the first time I remember ever seeing Michelle's mother in the audience?

[quote] Tanith Belbin

Benjamin Agosto is gay, right?

Maybe skater girls are bearding because after a lifetime spent at the rink they haven't realized that straight men exist and that it is possible to have relationships with them.

I had no idea that Kwan, the other Kwan girl, that her gay husband was over 20 years older than her?

R480 he has been engaged to a lady pairs skater. That’s the last thing I heard.

Karen Kwan was no Michelle Kwan.

Karen has a body type better for ice dancing than singles skating.

Speaking of ice dancing, the male half of the Shib Sibs: gay?

R486? Gay? Are you joking? Maia's pussy says otherwise.

R487, I always felt a bit bad for brother/sister pairs skaters/ice dancers. They're at an obvious disadvantage in that they can't resonate any sexual or romantic chemistry, which I guess is why you end up with someone like the Shib Sibs skating to the music of Coldplay.

The problem is that the Shibs, despite skating to Coldplay, interact with one another off ice as though they're a couple.

What about the Kerrs from the UK?

Honorable mention to Patrice Lauzon...the sexy French-Canadian ice dancer and his wife, Marie-France Dubreil. He was a hot piece of ass for real!

What a putz she is.

R489, you got me looking at this performance in a whole 'nother way...

I have to say that it's so very nice to have a thread about skating that does not mention a certain male single skater.

This thread is funny but I do hope no figure skater finds it. Yikes!

I hope Jill ternary didn’t really believe she had a shot at the 92 team. She had no triple lutz and no one doing a triple toe double toe jump combo in the short was going to do well. Hell debi Thomas midori ito and caryn kadavy were doing harder jump combos in the short programs. Her 1990 worlds win was a blessing and should’ve been her way to turning pro.

The skating community was pissed off at Christine Brennan after she wrote her two skating books. I for one, liked both of them. But I know that Scott Hamilton was not happy about it. Neither was Paul Wylie or Brian Boitano. She wrote about gay men in the sport and the challenges they faced with AIDS and homophobia. It was eye opening. That world is so insular and sheltered.

I liked them too, R496. I guess the skating elite didn’t like the fact that someone put a spotlight on the less-than-perfect behind the scenes reality of figure skating.

I wish Christine Brennan would write another skating book. I’m sure she’s have a field day with the Diva Wagner, Rachael Flatt, and Gracie Gold years.

I’m sure she would r497...the past two competitive seasons have been top heavy with divas and brats. Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold, Adam Rippon, several others...Adam behaved as if he were a back to back gold medalist. Gracie kind of gets a pass because she admitted that she had some mental health issues. But the era of elite US ladies is over. Our other disciplines have been inconsistent, but ice dance has really made strides forward.

Parts of this thread have reminded me of the Gymnastics threads from a few years ago which was classic DL. I still visit those threads whenever I need a good laugh.

I have a feeling some of you bitches were also posting in those threads.

Brennan also ratted out the skaters who had rhinoplasty. Peggy Fleming, Linda Fratianne and Debi Thomas.

Gracie Gold definitely had a lot of issues. I still remember that interview after she skated at one of the Worlds where she basically said she was worthless and didn't deserve to be alive. I think people perceived her as a diva more than she ever actually was.

Ashley Wagner was the worst. To this day, I bet she still feels she was entitled to Mirai's Olympic spot for the second time.

Ashley was a big brat. She needed a slap. But her shitty performances on the international stage was humiliation enough. I also hated Jeremy Abbott.

Ashley skates with her vagina.

One of the Christine Brennan books also described how they had to convince Danny Kwan to allow them to have Michelle play the seductress Salome during one of her early routines so that the judges would view her as being more adult.

Of course, that plan went out the window when Tara Lipinski won Olympic gold skating to cartoon movie songs.

Wasn't it also Daddy Kwan who had Michelle go behind her coach's back to take her Senior test while Frank was out of town?

Yes, R503. Or at least poor Ashley TRIED to be sexy.

But there are only so many times you can toss your hair and thrust hip before “sexy” becomes “spastic.”

Christine Brennan sucked kwans asshole for years.

I'm going to the US nationals in January. Will you guys come sit next to me?

Speaking of brother-sister pairs, the desexed Shibutanis had nothing on the erotic and messy Duchenays.

Ashley Wagner skated like was performing on a stripper pole in a Texas titty bar.

As far as I'm concerned, this was the last real memorable performance by a US ladies' figure skater. If you can semi-read lips, I love how Sasha mouths the words "Fuck yeah" at the end of her performance!

Is Kulik still ska

iPad fart at r512 Is kulik still coaching in Dallas? I thought he was charming in the ballet movie. If Brennan wrote a book would be boring now, I mean who cares about Rachel flatt or Ashley wagner or Jeremy Abbott

R512, that's unfortunate that he became a fatty. Ilia drank too much vodka and not enough club soda! He looks like a Soviet factory worker now.

Only of a bunch of fags would think this woman deserved to be wacked. I'm sorry but it needs to be said. If she were a diva, who had a dick in any other sport she was just be seen as a jock being a jock. Bros being bros.

R515, I don't think Nancy deserved to get clubbed on her shank, but I do think she deserved to get defeated by a 16-year-old Ukrainian orphan with frizzy hair who couldn't drive.

Oksana is kind of ugly.

I also see that Belgian twink Kevin Van Der Perren has finally become a dad. He married that chav UK skater Jenna McCorkell. He was really cute when he was younger. Now, not so much.

R517, Oksana was never a great beauty, but can you imagine if Nancy had won the gold medal? The media would never have STFU about it or let us hear the end of it!

And if she had won the Gold, Nancy still would have acted like a cunt.

Sarah Hughes is the last American woman to win the Gold, right? So that's the longest drought in American history. Prior to that it was the time between Hamill and Yamaguchi.

R521, yes Hughes was the last American lady to win Olympic gold, and having her in that same elite category as Peggy Fleming and Hamill is like Hilary Swank being in the same league as other two-time Oscar winning actresses.

Speaking of Hamill...this 1976 Dorothy Hamill TV special was just posted on The Skating Lesson’s YouTube channel.

It stars with Gene Kelly narrating little Dorothy’s rise to Olympic champ. Her success wasn’t exactly as miraculous as Gene makes it sound...Riverside is actually a section of Greenwich, Connecticut, one of the wealthiest towns in America. The other notable thing to come out of Greenwich around the same time in the mid-70s was the Martha Moxley murder, for which Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was eventually convicted (a conviction later overturned when the Kennedys reportedly paid off the judges involved.)

Enjoy!

I meant it STARTS with Gene Kelly narrating. Dang it, autocorrect!

Isn't Dorothy Hamill also supposed to be a bitch?

[quote]So that's the longest drought in American history.

Um, 1908-1956 is a pretty long time, R521

I still don't understand how Dorothy's butch haircut ever caught on.

Droughts don't happen until you've first had something, Rose.

[quote]I still don't understand how Dorothy's butch haircut ever caught on.

Beat's me! How gross and dykey Dorothy was!

R529, still an improvement over Amanda Borden's do.

I’m surprised that Boitano’s mullet didn’t have the same impact as Hamill’s wedge.

R531, yikes! BTW, here is Boitano presenting mullet and hole all in one.

Speaking of mullets, it was absolutely inexcusable for a Canadian male to be rocking one like Elvis Stojko did in 1994! Although maybe he thought it paired well with his wannabe Japanese martial arts ice skating.

I always thought Elvis Stojko was awful.

Elvis was so stocky and rough looking. But he had no pretense to art, like Surya Bonaly. Brute athleticism, no more, no less.

R534, the only redeeming thing about Elvis was his ass! That thing was massive -- it was like a separate entity of its own, and no, one could not help but stare at it.

So true r536. Surpassed only by Brian Joubert’s alabaster cakes.

Yannick Ponsero also had a nice one, but it affected his jumps.

[quote]Nancy Kerrigan Gives the Worst Sports Interview EVER

Nancy also gives the worst BJs ever...

#teeth

R537, Brian Joubert's ass was legendary! He was a hottie in general.

I get wood looking at those photos r539.

For those into feet.

I'd gladly take Artur Dmitriev's ass over Joubert's. It also didn't hurt that he seemingly loved to always have his basket on display.

Too bad he looks the way he does now.

Dmitriev didn’t age well...but he was hot back in the day. Most of the males in pairs are sexy.

Speaking of hot male pairs skaters, any gossip about Bruno Massot?

If I was rooting for Mao Asada over Yu Na Kim, does that mean I had questionable taste?

I liked Mao over Yu Na Kim mostly because Mao seems tragic.

I know everyone loves Kim but I always found her boring.

R546, thanks. Agreed. Kim came across to me like Little Miss Perfect.

Mao's skating had a depth and darkness to it that I liked.

So are most figure skaters form rich families?

Skating was originally a rich man’s sport.

R548, I would think figure skating is a costly sport for parents who want their kids to perform at an elite level, with top-notch lessons and coaches, etc. It's definitely not the same as just dropping your kid off at Pee Wee League baseball or cheerleading camp or whatever.

I do remember fluff pieces about Todd Eldredge's entire hometown pitching in money to help him make it to Worlds. And then there's Tonya. So there must be some skaters from gritty backgrounds at least...

[quote]So are most figure skaters form rich families?

Not me!

Nancy wasn't either; her parents were working class folks. Well paid, but working class people from a lower middle class neighborhood. Nancy's equine attractiveness made some of her fans think of her as Kate Hepburn on ice. She had Kate's introverted arrogance, but none of her poise I guess. I still like Nancy though. She has been through a lot. Her mom went legally blind after a virus destroyed her eyesight. She could only watch her daughter perform through a specially made television. And I am guessing that her brother was a never do well. No, it was not cool of her to hook up with the then-married Jerry Solomon, but who hasn't done something shady in the name of love? I think Nancy does better as a wife and mother.

Nancy's family was the fucking Vanderbilts compared to Harding's.

Also, I just watched a ton of interviews with Nancy's mom... now I know where Nancy get's her bitch attitude.

Didn't Johnny Weir come from humble origins or am I totally wrong?

Johnny’s dad had a good job but lost it after he was disabled or something. He gets a disability check, but mom is the chief breadwinner. She seems so down to earth compared to her flamboyant and pretentious Russian wannabe son.

R555, thanks. I remember reading that Miss Weir's Russian Diva persona was at odds with a working-class background.

This is why I dislike Weir so much. He behaves like a gay Stepin Fetchit. Saying things not because they make sense or are profound in any way, but to bring attention to himself and to wallow in the adulation of others. And he didn’t even try at the Turin Games; he took a page from Sandhu’s playbook and blamed everything and everyone but himself.

Last night I dreamed I went to US Nationals and it was the worst shitshow.

Let's hope I'm not psychic.