- Joined
- Nov 7, 2007
I agree with all except for T/D. They never had to do the footwork, twizzles, dance spins, or lifts like those that are required under CoP. They would however get excellent PCS. But pre-IJS ice dance is more of a performance, with a technical focus on edge quality and speed moreso than actual difficulty. You would wonder how the 90's would react if D/W or V/M went back in time and skated their current FDs.
Even G/G is questionable because the technical content they had was inferior to today's standards for winning at least. Again, their artistry is better than most, if not all, of today's pairs teams so their PCS would be high, but it's really difficult to compare pre- and post-IJS skaters. Of course Yagudin and Kim have quads and 3-3s and that hasn't changed too much.
That's because Torvill/Dean never trained for things like CoP style lifts, twizzles, etc. But given their skill with the blade I have no problem believing that they had the ability. They had no reason to, it just wasn't necessary back then. Ditto with G/G, actually their "artistry" during their competitive days was for the most part quite mediocre, it was their superior technical prowess that elevated them to their wins. Most of that artistic stuff we associate with G/G came after they turned pro. Remember, G/G were actually doing quad twists in the 1980s! I bet if G/G were born 30 years later, they would be CoP masters as well, their pure technique and incredible skating skills would make modern CoP technical content chopped liver for them. They just didn't train for today's standards because it wasn't required or even fully appreciated at the time. I remember reading somewhere that G/G actually stopped doing the quad twist in competition because the judges kept thinking it was a triple anyway. The thing is, 6.0 prioritized a clean program. Strategically, in terms of risk/reward under 6.0, it made much more sense for G/G to skate easier but clean performances as opposed to more difficult programs with higher chance of mistakes (which makes much more sense under the incentives of CoP).
Also--about Shiz in 2006, Shizuka actually skated before Irina, but after Cohen. She did play it safe after Cohen bombed, but she had no idea of knowing that Irina would bomb (I don't think anyone really did)
And Scott Hamilton was pretty much the only English language commentator I remember saying that Yagudin conceded the LP to Plush and was in danger of losing it to Goebel, pretty much everyone else thought Yagudin had won after he finished skating.