Old skating on Youtube!

I've been away and I suppose I'm the last person in the universe to realize this, but Youtube has lots of great skating performances.

What I'm especially crazy about is the older stuff from before the VCR period. I've been concentrating on the ladies but for the first time in years I get to watch skaters like Christine Errath, Janet Lynn, Karen Magnusson etc. I like watching the lesser known/mostly forgotten skaters and the not so highly ranked as free skaters like Claudia Kristofics-Binder and Dagmar Lurz (it gives a much better picture of the technical state of skating at any particular time).

My special favorite (who I'd never seen before) is Gabriele Seyfert (Jutta Muller's daughter and first big star) with powerful (for the time) stroking, great posture and real charisma. I also am surprised at how much I enjoyed Diane de Leeuw's olympic LP (she sure didn't get any love in the US media but what a great skater).

I was also able to watch again the 1980 ladies LP's to relive the Fratianne/Poetzsch controversy. But Poetzsch's SP (the real source of the controversy IMHO) isn't there yet. Best LP of that season seems to be Biellmann's Olympics, followed by Fratianne at worlds and Poetzsch at Euros.
It's also instructive that Biellmann really didn't do many Biellmann spins. In the olympic LP she only goes into the full position for about 3 rotations at the very end of the program (teasing the audience with several close calls before).

Unfortunately there's still a lot of gaps which I hope will be rectified. The skater I most want to see is (don't laugh) Beatrix Schuba so I can judge just how uninspired (or not) she was as a free skater. I'm also continually searching for Julie Lynn Holmes, Hana Mashkova, Zsuzsa Almassy and Sjoukje Dijkstra among others (there is about a ten second blip of Dijkstra where they talk about how heavy and tall she is but it's nothing to judge from and the single video of Petra Burke has very poor picture quality with frequent blackouts).

I'm also searching for more videos of school figures which (freak that I am) I enjoy watching. I really wish they'd kept those around in some capacity.

Summary: I love the internet and I love Youtube.

Mafke, everyone may be on youtube already but everyone is certainly not talking about these skaters. If you put out the word that you're seeking certain skate(r)s on other boards, someone may be kind enough to post them on youtube for you or email them via yousendit or a similar program.

Thanks for the inspiration to look at the historic skaters!

Mafke:

That's great that you are discovering all these great and as you said sometimes under appreciated skaters from figure skating's history. I have been visiting youtube as well lately.

Donald Jackson is another famous Canadian figure skater you may want to have a peak at. His 1962 world title win where he did the first triple Lutz is featured on youtube. Here is more on Donald Jackson:

http://www.jacksonskates.com/html/dj_bio.html

and more on Canadian skaters like Barbara Ann Scott:

http://www.skatehistory.ca/feature11.htm

Mafke said:

My special favorite (who I'd never seen before) is Gabriele Seyfert (Jutta Muller's daughter and first big star) with powerful (for the time) stroking, great posture and real charisma.

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Isn't she grand? Those incredible double axels, including the second from a long forward entrance, and that 2Lo/2Lo without any hesitation and the lovely combo towards the beginning of the program. She was one of my favorite skaters growning up, and one of my all-time favorites.

I'd like to see the old skaters of the 50s and 60s, such as Carol Heiss, Tenley Albright.
And I'm also courious about the old dance couples. Now I've started to have a major interest in ice dancing, that before was just marginal. I saw various Torvill and Dean and Klimova and Ponomarenko vids (thanks to fsvids) and my interest grew. So, I'm searching for more informations, especially before the 80s. Somebody (Ladskater or other skating experts) could tell me who were the most influent dance couples, the inventors of the various compulsory dances, which dances they have to choose for their original programs... Thanks

Mafke said:

The skater I most want to see is (don't laugh) Beatrix Schuba so I can judge just how uninspired (or not) she was as a free skater. .

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Actually, what Beatrix Schuba lacked in as a free skater she made up in spades as a figure skater. It's a shame there is no footage of Beatrix tracing figures. Her figures were perfect. I saw her once in a world tour of champions and they had her lay down some figures. It was awesome. In those days figures counted for 50% of the marks. Often skaters like Trixi - as she was called - won their titles on their strength of their figures rather than their skills as a skater. It was always kind of frustrating to watch, but one could not help admire a figure skater like Trixi Schuba when it came to school figures.

I am with you - I love You Tube!!!

gio said:

So, I'm searching for more informations, especially before the 80s. Somebody (Ladskater or other skating experts) could tell me who were the most influent dance couples, the inventors of the various compulsory dances, which dances they have to choose for their original programs... Thanks

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I have a limited amount of info on ice-dance from 1976 to 1980 but I do know that the premier ice-dance team at the 1976 Olympics was Pakhamova & Gorshkov and they (or rather she) were known for being very very expressive. They weren't my favourites but I loved their rivals Moiseeva & Minenkov (silver at the 76 games). They had a very graceful and lyrical style and I believe that Torvill & Dean cited them as huge influences on their own skating. Mo & Min won in 1977 after Pakhamova & Gorshkov retired. At the 1978 Worlds, they were skating beautifully to West Side Story (the slow section was quietly stunning) but they fell at the very end on a lift, giving the gold to Linichuk & Karponosov (the famous coaches).

I could never get into Linichuk & Karponosov but they had a very clean and crisp style and I guess I could see why the judges liked them. By 1979, they won the gold while a Hungarian team, Regoeczy and Sallay won the silver, pushing Moiseeva & Minenkov down to 3rd. The Hungarians had a very lively and energetic style (usually skated to folk music) and they were very very popular with audiences. By this time, Mo & Min had completely changed their style and they were skating to more contemporary pieces of music (Debbie Wilkes called it punk rock). I personally liked it although the judges seemed to hate it. At the 1980 Olympics, I think there was a huge controversy over Linichuk & Karponosov winning the gold over the Hungarians although I personally thought that Mo & Min should've won. They got bronze. Linichuk & Karponosov took a dive in the ranks in 1981 while Torvill & Dean took over as the #1 ice dance team in the world. Mo & Min were still around getting silver (they retired a year later) while a younger Soviet team, Bestiamanova & Bukin got the bronze (I think this is correct).

Sorry for the long answer (I can talk about ice-dance all day) but I hope that helps. I know I didn't answer everything you asked for but hopefully this'll give you some ideas about ice-dance before the 80s (at least from 1976 to 1980!). I'm not sure about who created what dances that became compulsory dances or even what the OD's were. Maybe somebody who knows more than me can fill in the blanks there.

Thanks for the great info!!! I'll download some vids of the skaters you named at fsvid or youtube!!!

Thanks gio, I will subscribe to you for sure!!!!

SeaniBu, the vid of John Curry was made by mkfanforver, so not my merit. However, if you are interested I have a lot of vids on my computer, and if you and other are interested I can upload some here. When I'll be more free (after the exam this week), I'll post some vids.

gio said:

I'd like to see the old skaters of the 50s and 60s, such as Carol Heiss, Tenley Albright.

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There was an ESPN show of American Skaters through the years and it was on tape (made from old newsreels. quality not the best). I'm sure some posters have taped that show.

You will see the Lyrical Albright vie against the Bravura Heiss. Interesting - nothing has changed since then.

Joe

I watched the Sarajevo Olympics on this tube thing, and I thought Sumners was lucky to get the silver, her LP wasnt good at all. Those dumb complusaires cost Chin a medal. She was a great skater, better then than she was in 85 and 86.....
i cannot believe Vodorezova, she did like 3 jumps in teh whole progam, she looked like she was near death, and Ivanova didnt deserve a medal!

ok my 2 cents worth

gio said:

SeaniBu, the vid of John Curry was made by mkfanforver, so not my merit. However, if you are interested I have a lot of vids on my computer, and if you and other are interested I can upload some here. When I'll be more free (after the exam this week), I'll post some vids.

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Sorry if it sounded like I thought you posted those, I was trying to give some advice for any that you might do in the future. I did however love watching those Curry's. I think it would be nice to see the lack of sponsor and no faces in the background of every skate event.

Hope your exams go well and if there are any you might like to share at full quality YouSendit is great oppertunity.

BTW, Quicktime is preferred on all platforms but not all users. I like to have a happy computer, it returns the favor. But YouTube will 'vert everything to macro anyhoo.

Sean, I sent you a PM.

Dee

My favourite You Tube moment is from Trophee Lalique warm up in 1991. Midori Ito lands a perfect triple axel triple toe and the Eurosport commentators pay no attention although they are talking about her.

IDLERACER said:

I've been checking out YouTube as well. Women's skating was alot more fun to watch when they were just doing doubles. There were almost no mistakes, and the skaters were all alot more confident, and the moves were more precise. Click HERE to see some ancient footage of Liz Manley giving a flawless performance. I'd forgotten what a great spinner she was. Not as flexible as Lucinda Ruh, but just as centered.​

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I agree with you 100%! Women's skating was alot more fun to watch when the ladies just did doubles. They focused more on the detail of their programs and their stroking, not on how many tripples they have to do. Here is some footage of Karen Magnussen if you want to see some great skating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0GImV_78bA&search=karen magnussen

I wish there was more because Karen was special and one of the great lady figure skaters of all time. Enjoy.

Thanks Lad this is awesome!

I do think choreography has come a little further though.