Flashback to 1995 World Championships

I recently viewed my videotape of the 1995 World Championships, which were held in Birmingham, England. What a superb competition! :thumbsup:

The Women:
14-year-old Michelle Kwan skated two beautiful programs, error-free, and laden with triple jumps. At that stage of her career, Michelle was a skater who looked, and skated, like the young girl she was. She wore a cute pigtail and ingenue costumes. She did not wear makeup at that point, and she was such a young, fresh face on the ice. Michelle's artistry at that point was pretty much an undeveloped entity, and she looked like a young girl skating in a adult competition. The judges awarded her high technical marks, but they held her down in the presentation mark, as they, apparently, considered her to be not mature enough to be on the World podium. Sandra Bezic, commenting, said, "The only thing the judges can mark her down for is being fourteen." I concur with that assessment. Michelle seemed pleased with her marks and was happy with her fourth-place finish. However, it seemed (to me at least) that her coach, Frank Carroll, wasn’t happy with the results. Clearly, Carroll felt as though Michelle should have won a medal. One of the commentators asked Michelle if she thought it was fair that she finished out of the medals, and she graciously said she was very happy with her performance. Good for you, Michelle! You have always been a class act, IMHO.

US champion Nicole Bobek won the short program and looked poised to win the World title, as she had a beautiful “Doctor Zhivago” program that was loaded with triples, mature choreography, and artistry. Nicole started out strongly but then made two errors in the second half of her program. Her two errors seemed to destroy her concentration, and she finished rather poorly. Poor Nicole. She was so upset, as she realized all too well that she had blown a golden opportunity. At least she received high enough marks to win the bronze medal. The cameras followed Nicole into the back area and filmed her crying her eyes out. Sheesh - enough, already (the cameras, I mean).

I was really happy to see Chen Lu win her first World title. She skated two beautiful, beautiful (!) programs, and she won convincingly. She was overjoyed with her victory, and she cried tears of joy during the medal ceremony. Well done, Chen!

France’s Suraya Bonaly won her third consecutive World silver medal. Without being unkind, I think that her skating was an embarrassment, from an artistic point of view. Just a lot of simple stroking to one end of the rink – JUMP – then stroking to the other end of the rink – JUMP – etc. Boring, boring, IMHO. At least this year Suraya did not yank the silver medal off her neck, as she had done the previous year. She told the media she was happy to have won a medal in this competition.

The Men:
Canada’s Elvis Stojko successfully defended his World title with some wonderfully strong, masculine skating. Lots of triples and lots of confidence. It appeared that the judges had finally “accepted” Elvis’ brand of skating – not the old school classical style – and gave him marks that reflected his excellence. Great job, Elvis!!

The silver medal was won by Todd Eldredge, who skated two strong programs. In my opinion, the judges scored this competition just right, with Elvis first and Todd second. Todd looked as though he was very happy to be back on the World podium, after an absence of several years due to injury and illnesses.

France’s Philippe Candeloro won the bronze medal with his typical flamboyant and somewhat technically flawed programs. Without a doubt, Philippe was a great favorite of the audience, and he certainly showed a lot of showmanship. Scott Davis of the US finished 7th at this Worlds. I always enjoyed Scott’s skating, particularly his terrific “West Side Story” long program that won him the 1993 and 1994 US titles. At Worlds, however, he always made several mistakes and finished out of the medals.

The Pairs:
Radka Kovarikova and Renee Novotny won the World title with two strong programs. Evgenia Shikkova and Vadim Naumov of Russia finished second, and Jenni Meno and Todd Sand of the US finished third.

Ice Dance:
Russian dancers Oksana Grishuk and Evgency Platov successfully defended their World dance title, with Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko of Finland winning silver, and Sophie Moniotte and Pascal Lavanchy of France winning bronze.

And after all these years, Michelle Kwan is still in the game. Everybody else mentioned above has either retired & left the sport, turned pro, or is coaching. Michelle carries the torch.....

P.S. - The media had a field day over Nicole Bobek's brush with the law that occurred a few weeks prior to the US Nationals of 1995. Since it was just a year following the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan saga, the press was primed and ready to pounce on this story. The British tabloid newspapers had a field day with the story, but, thankfully, the story played out quickly, and the skating became the real news of the day.

"The cameras followed Nicole into the back area and filmed her crying her eyes out. Sheesh - enough, already (the cameras, I mean)"

ITA, the cameras are always doing something like that. They did it to Irina after Worlds in '00 and '01; Angela after Nats '02, etc. I wish something could be done about it.

I actually saw this one, lol. This was a great Worlds, but it was such a shame for Nicole. Her SP was one of her best performances, and she started out so strongly in the LP with that 3flz/3t. I thought she might have it. But, then came the falls on the 3l and the 3s. What a missed opportunity!
Chen Lu was in top form in the LP and certainly deserved the World title. Surya was great technically, but I thought this LP was actually a step (or a few steps) backwards from the season before. The music was so jarring and frantic. Michelle was brilliant, but still so young. I agree with her 3rd place finish in the LP. I did, however, have a problem with her finishing behind Surya Bonaly in the SP. Michelle completed the 3lz/2t and a 3f, while Surya had a touch down on the 3lz/2t. At any rate, it probably wouldn't have made a difference in the overall rankings. This was a good competition, though. All of the top 3 ladies in the LP skated very well.

Michelle's free skate here may still be my all-time favorite Kwan performance, actually; naturally in the years since she has shown so much more artistry and maturity, but there is just something so carefree and fun about that performance in Birmingham, on top of the fact she just skated so flawlessly. What I loved about it especially was when she was on her way off the ice right after she was done and said to Frank Carroll "I was so nervous!!" . If only in ensuing years she was able to continue skating like that when she was nervous -- but then again, that's the difference between being a 14 year old on your way up and a 17 year old expected to win the OGM.

As for Nicole, I was amazed at the brilliance of her short program and couldn't believe this was the same young lady who couldn't even get out of qualifying at the previous Worlds. And I'm so glad that Lulu, one of my all time favorites, won here, since it was sort of all downhill from there for her and I'm glad that she was able to get to the top of the podium at least once in her career.

As to the men, pretty good faceoff between Elvis and Todd; I remember being a bit annoyed at the 6 that Elvis received for TM in his long. He FELL on the quad attempt, after all; there should have been a rule in place that if you fall, you don't get a 6.

It was good to see Kovarikova & Novotny win Pairs; I'm always in favor of, at least every now and then, having someone from a country other than the Usual Suspects get to the top.

The dance competition I have tried to block out of my memory for the most part. This was one of those seasons where there were so many ISU regulations against doing anything even remotely interesting that the free dances were just a major snore. Except for one couple. This was the first time I ever saw Shae-Lynn and Vic skate, and I was absolutely completely blown away. They were absolutely fantastic; I truly thought (it's even written down in my "performance critique noteook" that I am referring to at the moment) I was watching the next Torvill & Dean. Well, they never quite made it that far, but.... I also remember, the following year, when the free dances overall were even WORSE, when Shae-Lynn & Vic took the ice (last) I was like, Oh, my God, I am SO glad to see you two!!

I was so happy with Lu Lu I wanted her to win so bad after she withdrew the previous year.

Michelle was awsome!! It was the first time she made me cry. She landed jump after jump. I would have definitely had her in front of Bonaly but her best was yet to come. After all. It was the low marks that motivated Frank Carroll to choose Salome which transformed Michelle into one of the greats.

Great review!

Rondo is also one of my favorite MK programs. My favorite part is when she lands her 2nd 3z and has the biggest smile on her face and goes into a spread eagle and you can just see her shoulders slowly relaxing. Aww, such a sweet performance. From as early as 14, one could see she'd be a champion.

This is the year that I became a die hard Todd Eldredge fan. He had fallen on his second triple axel in the long program, but added it back in at the very end of his program. That took guts! What gets me is, he landed it better than he did the first one that he put in combination. Awesome performance after all the problems that he had, but he was finally back on the world podium again, and he remained there every year he competed, until he retired from eligible competition.

ITA, the cameras are always doing something like that. They did it to Irina after Worlds in '00 and '01; Angela after Nats '02, etc. I wish something could be done about it.[/QUOTE]

I never saw Irina crying.. Do you it was only on the american TV and not on the european ones. Because I dont remember this, neither in Nice nor in Vancouver.. :scratch:

I was delighted that Rakhamo&Kokko finally medalled at World's that year. It was a nice way for them to go out. Wasn't there the usual stink that Bourne&Kraatz shoould have medalled, but didn't? Maybe it was just a Canadian media craze.

lillyfore said:

ITA, the cameras are always doing something like that. They did it to Irina after Worlds in '00 and '01; Angela after Nats '02, etc. I wish something could be done about it.

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I never saw Irina crying.. Do you it was only on the american TV and not on the european ones. Because I dont remember this, neither in Nice nor in Vancouver.. :scratch:[/QUOTE]

Irina's crying after Nice and Vancouver was definitely shown on American TV. Maybe, the Europeans have better manners, so they didn't show it.

bdreampixie said:

Great review!

Rondo is also one of my favorite MK programs. My favorite part is when she lands her 2nd 3z and has the biggest smile on her face and goes into a spread eagle and you can just see her shoulders slowly relaxing. Aww, such a sweet performance. From as early as 14, one could see she'd be a champion.

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Yes! Michelle's triumphant smile after landing her second triple lutz was a joy to see. She skated such a joyous, superb program! It was obvious that this young lady would be a champion - and did she ever live up to the high expectations when in the next year she won both the US and World titles for the first time.

Antilles said:

I was delighted that Rakhamo&Kokko finally medalled at World's that year. It was a nice way for them to go out.

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Rahkomo/Kokko had also won bronze at 1994 Worlds.

Eeyora said:

It was the low marks that motivated Frank Carroll to choose Salome which transformed Michelle into one of the greats.

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That transformation was indeed stunning. I keep waiting for a similar transformation from Carolina Kostner, but it is going to take someone special to pull that out of her and turn what I believe to be a similar potential into something amazing.

Eldredgefan2001 said:

This is the year that I became a die hard Todd Eldredge fan. He had fallen on his second triple axel in the long program, but added it back in at the very end of his program. That took guts! What gets me is, he landed it better than he did the first one that he put in combination. Awesome performance after all the problems that he had, but he was finally back on the world podium again, and he remained there every year he competed, until he retired from eligible competition.

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I was so thrilled for Todd at 1995 Worlds. The 1994/1995 season was a great season for him, after three seasons of disappointment (back injury, self-doubt, flu & high fever at 1994 US nationals). It was just so heartening to see him back on the international scene. I read somewhere that he put his silver medal on his dad at these Worlds, a precursor to what he did the following year for his mom . I wish I also had that moment (putting the medal on his dad) on video. I was
also very happy for Elvis. I had always enjoyed the Elvis/Todd rivalry as I had the Brian B./Brian O. rivalry. To me, both were classy, friendly rivalries.

I, too, was delighted to see Todd back on the World podium. He earned his silver medal, and it was a tremendous comeback for him, after several seasons of illnesses and injury.

attyfan said:

"The cameras followed Nicole into the back area and filmed her crying her eyes out. Sheesh - enough, already (the cameras, I mean)"

ITA, the cameras are always doing something like that. They did it to Irina after Worlds in '00 and '01; Angela after Nats '02, etc. I wish something could be done about it.

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In my opinion, the worst episode of "camera following" occured at the 1972 World Championships. Soviet pair skaters Irina Rodnina and Alexsei Ulanov had competed together and won four straight World titles, plus the 1972 Olympic gold medal -- however, there was trouble in paradise. Ulanov had fallen in love with Ludmila Smirnova, who with partner Andrei Suraikin, had won the World silver medal. Ulanov ended his partnership with Rodnina and teamed with his new love (and future wife) Smirnova. Unfortunately, Rodnina had also fallen in love with Ulanov, and her heart was broken. The 1972 long program was their final skate, and when they exited the ice, Irina rushed to a chair and cried her eyes out. A team official tried to hide her from the prying cameras, but to no avail. The last picture we had of Irina that season was of her crying her heart out. So much for privacy on the world stage.

My memories of the 95 Worlds:

Michelle Kwan-skated beautifully but I agreed with her not medaling. Her jumps were smaller than the other top women, and carried less speed in, and flow out, although they were technicnaly secure and clean. Her presentation was pleasent but lacking in maturity or a true look or character out there. Still she was rightfully thrilled with her performances, and it was a foreshadowing of a great career, and a great 2nd Worlds for her even without the medal.

Nicole Bobek-bombed her only real chance to win a World title. Skated the short with speed, style, confidence, beautiful jumps(except for a huge flutz on the lutz as usual); and opened the long much the same way, looking so regal and poised while also landing a huge triple lutz/triple toe to open up. Lost her concentration and fell on two jumps and fell to third though. I believe she was pretty much a total lock if she had held it together, the judges had already chosen her the definite winner, but she couldnt hold it up.

Elvis Stojko-overscored on presentation scores as usual, although his Christopher Columbus program was atleast better choreographicaly than some of his other efforts. Fell on his quad try and still got a 6.0 for technical merit, I wonder what that judge was reserving for him without a fall. Still deserved to win probably since he did 8 triples to Eldredge's 7, and 2 triple/triples to Eldredge's 1; and it is mostly about the jumps these days, no?

Todd Eldredge-his program was nice, but kind of bland, he seemed to always use the same choreography and concepts, and it grew stale after awhile. Skated pretty well, made a big mistake on first attempt at 2nd triple axel, but thre it in later again. Stojko had thrown in a triple/triple instead of a triple/double late too. The main difference was Eldredge popped his first triple axel/triple toe to a triple axel/double toe and Stojko did his as the triple axel/triple toe, thus giving him the 1 extra triple and 1 extra triple/triple I talked about.

Phillipe Candelero-I am not a big fan of his skating, but he does do his own thing.
Everything about the performance, the gestures, the motions, were all his own, and whether you liked it much or not he pretty much followed his own ideas. I will give him due on one thing, at the Europeans before Worlds he was not in shape to even hope for a medal, but he was far improved in his Worlds shape and performances than at Europeans.

Rahkammo/Kokko-their original dance and free dance were delightful, I thought they should have won, but Gritschuk/Platov would have had to make a huge error for there to be any chance of them giving it to the Finns, and that didnt happen. It was still their best finish ever at Worlds, they retire with this silver, a bronze from 94, and 4th from both the 94 Olympics and 93 Worlds. Still a great note to end their career on, and I hope they saw it that way, although they looked dissapointed to me.

Kovarikova/Novotny-great short program and then a long program with one major error on blown side-by-side triple toes, and alot of smaller ones marring it.
I have no idea what the judges were thinking with their scores, maybe paying them back for past times they were ripped off, like the 92 Olympics where Brasseur/Eisler were awarded the bronze medal that most thought was theirs, and the pre-Worlds Europeans were many were apalled at Woetzel/Steur's win (it was in Germany so naturaly). Perhaps a case of a lifetime achievment award.

Shishkova/Naumov-I found their program lifeless and passionless, but they did all their tricks picture perfect, presentation-wise they did use the music and ice surface well, and because of Kovarikova/Novotny's flawed performance my view was like it or not, this was the performance that had to win the Championship. Obviously the judges had a different view though.

Meno/Sand-wonderful performances in both short and long, no mistakes on any side by sides or throws, their romanctic presence on ice was way too Ken-and-
Barbie for my liking however. Still probably would have won if it was not for lacking side by side triple toes. Funny situation, Woetzel/Stuer were 2nd after short and bombed to long, to be 4th below Meno/Sand's 3rd in the long before final team, 4th placed after short Eltsova/Bushkov skated. Still because of short program factored points, the only way Meno/Sand would get the bronze was Eltsova/Bushkov beating Woetzel/Stuer but being below Meno/Sand, and that is exactly what happened. Must be a funny feeling, "skate well but not too well, something in between this area." is what you are hoping, LOL!


Personaly I must say the Todd Eldredge vs Elvis Stojko rivalry bored me too tears, it is about as much a rivalry as something like Kwan vs Butyrskaya; Elvis was pretty safe to win every time, the only time I recall him losing to Todd was the 96 Worlds where he self-destructed in the short program. The Kulik vs Stojko, and Urmanov vs Stojko rivalries were the real rivalries of that era, atleast those two were threats to beat Stojko in a competition without him falling in the short program. I guess it depends what one considers a rivarly, when I feel no suspense to who might win, that is not a rivalry for me.

I certainly agree with the posters who wrote that Nicole Bobek missed a golden opportunity to win the World title iin 1995. She looked like the champion when she started her long program, but two mistakes completely destroyed her confidence and concentration, and she finished third overall.

It has to be devastating to have such a great opportunity right in front of you just slip out of your hands!

I agree, although she did not state it so directly, I think she knew it was completely hers to win or lose, she had the skating and programs that were sure to do it, the judges had already chosen her in their minds, but that middle 40 seconds ruined it all. Due to injuries, questionable training choices, and even moreso the emergence of Kwan as a historic legend who became near invincable, and Tara Lipinski bursting onto the scene with an array of textbook triple/triples and other tricks, she never got another opportunity anything near that again.

I was there in Birmingham for this and I can remember everything like it was yesterday!!.... I practically LIVED at NEC for the whole week... so many memories, the victory of Rene & Radka was really sweet!! I also got to meet many of the skaters, the best of all was that I got a double cheeker from my darling Alexei Urmanov!!