The great depth and competiveness of 94 womens field!

The 1994 Olympics featured a fabulous ladies field because you had 5 women capable of winning the Olympic Gold medal-Nancy Kerrigan, Yuka Sato, Lu Chen, Oksana Biaul, and Surya Bonaly; and a total of 8 women capable of winning an Olympic medal-those 5, Tonya Harding, Tonya Szewcenko, Josee Chouinard.

While I'd agree that 1994 was a great year (drama aside), I'd make a case for the 1988 Olympics to have even greater depth.

Prior to the 1988 Olympics:

Katarina Witt - 84 OG, 3-time world champ
Debi Thomas - 86 World Champ
Liz Manley
Caryn Kadavy - 87 Bronze Medalist
Jill Trenary
Kira Ivanova - 84 Olympic & 85 World Bronze MEdalist
Anna Kondrashova - 84 World SIlver Medalist
Claudia Leistner - 83 World Silver Medalist
Midori Ito

I think that's a pretty impressive list - of course this group has always been one of my favorites.

JockProf said:

Kira Ivanova - 84 Olympic & 85 World Bronze MEdalist

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Kira Ivanova was the 85 silver medalist.

Yeah, don't forget the US ladies owned that world bronze medal 1984-1991.

gkelly said:

Yeah, don't forget the US ladies owned that world bronze medal 1984-1991.

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slutskayafan21 said:

The 1994 Olympics featured a fabulous ladies field because you had 5 women capable of winning the Olympic Gold medal-Nancy Kerrigan, Yuka Sato, Lu Chen, Oksana Biaul, and Surya Bonaly; and a total of 8 women capable of winning an Olympic medal-those 5, Tonya Harding, Tonya Szewcenko, Josee Chouinard.

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I have to disagree that there were five women capable of winning the OGM. Bonaly was certainly not there in terms of basic skills and artistry. Chen Lu had the jumps but artistically she had not developed that much. I don't believe she was a contender for the gold; she certainly was for a medal. Yuka Sato had not won a world medal up to that point.Her basic skills were never in question but she did not have what is needed to win an OGM. IMO her worlds 94 win was more due to the absence of the top 3 (Baiul, Kerrigan, Chen). She really developed after turning pro. Tonya Harding could have been a contender for the OGM actually but she was so distracted by that time that she would have been lucky to medal. She had the skills to win though.

I never thought of Josee Chouinard as an Olympic medallist material. I don't recall a single major competition where she skated great. Tania Szewchanko won a bronze at the 94 worlds only because of the absence of stronger skaters. When she was 16, she had great potential but it never materialized. Even though she had beaten Baiul at a GP, it was because of Baiul's mistakes.

IMO this field was about as strong as other Olympic fields- 2 or 3 favorites for the gold, a few more competing for the bronze (or a surprise silver,like Manley's in 1988). Similar arguments could be made for 1998, 2002, 2006, and 1988.

Actually I think the 2006 field was very strong- Irina (2 world titles, Oly silver), Shizuka (world title), Sasha (3 world silvers), Sokolova (1 world silver), and Kimmie with great potential (we saw in Calgary what she was capable of).

The 1998 and 2002 ladies fields were also very strong. Michelle alone can raise the level of overall excellence.

In 1992 Yamaguchi, Ito, Kerrigan, Harding, Bonaly made a very strong field also.

Vash

gkelly said:

Yeah, don't forget the US ladies owned that world bronze medal 1984-1991.

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Yeah, how many other countries can say that?

I tend to agree that 94 was not the strongest field.

Nancy only stuck around for 94 because it was only 2 years after 92. If it had been a full 4 yrs between Olympics, she would not have been there in 94.

Surya is/was very athletic, but I don't think she ever had enough artistry to land on the top of the podium unless she skated clean and the other leaders were totally abysmal.

Yuka is a lovely skater. From what I recall, her jumps were never there for her during major competitions before turning pro.

Josee also had a history of nerves. Her programs that year were lovely, though. Her best shot at a medal probably happened at 94 World's, but she cracked there too.

So, I gotta agree with Vash.

Vash01 said:

I have to disagree that there were five women capable of winning the OGM.

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Fair enough, I felt it was a sensational field, but I know not everyone will feel that way. I was curious to see how many others agreed is all.

Bonaly was certainly not there in terms of basic skills and artistry.

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That is possable but I still see every reason to believe she was a contender for the Oly gold, even though not the favorite. She had beaten World Champion Biaul at the last two Europeans, and was overall 2-2 head to head with Biaul going into the Olympics the last two seasons.

Chen Lu had the jumps but artistically she had not developed that much. I don't believe she was a contender for the gold; she certainly was for a medal.

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I believe she had a shot at the gold because of her consistency. She consistently turned out 6 triple type performances. Kerrigan, Biaul, Bonaly, and Harding, all had consistency problems enough making a gold for Chen atleast an outside shot. The kind of free skate Chen did regularly, would beat some of the occasionaly error-strewn freeskates Biaul, Kerrigan, and Bonaly all turned in at some point in 93-94.

Yuka Sato had not won a world medal up to that point.Her basic skills were never in question but she did not have what is needed to win an OGM. IMO her worlds 94 win was more due to the absence of the top 3 (Baiul, Kerrigan, Chen). She really developed after turning pro.

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Her free skate at the 94 Olympics was outstanding, better then her winning Worlds free skate. It would really have been interesting to see where it would have been placed had she done her triple lutz combo in the short, under the old system your marks were really impacted by not being in the last flight. She was the only women to do 7 triples, and with her overall skating quality I see no reason why it wouldnt have compared well to the top performances in the final flight. At 92 Skate America she won the gold over both Kerrigan and Chen, and at the 93 Worlds she had come 4th with only a triple loop combo in the short then, and only 4 clean triples in the long.

Tonya Harding could have been a contender for the OGM actually but she was so distracted by that time that she would have been lucky to medal. She had the skills to win though.

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Well considering she no longer did a triple axel, nor any triple-triples like Bonaly did, I could not have seen her winning, but definitely a medal chance if she skated like she did at U.S Nationals.

I never thought of Josee Chouinard as an Olympic medallist material. I don't recall a single major competition where she skated great.

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Her performances at the 93 and 94 Canadian Nationals, each were she completed 6 clean triples certainly would have put her in medal contention at the 94 Olympics combined with a clean short. While she never managed to match those outside of Canada, it certainly was not impossable that she could have, even if unlikely. Also she was 2nd at that years pre-Olympic event, ahead of both Bonaly and Chen.

Tania Szewchanko won a bronze at the 94 worlds only because of the absence of stronger skaters. When she was 16, she had great potential but it never materialized. Even though she had beaten Baiul at a GP, it was because of Baiul's mistakes.

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I agree, but her win over Biaul at Nations Cup was just an example of the things that could happen if the big guns make enough mistakes. That is why I considered her a dark horse for maybe a bronze in Lillehamar.

IMO this field was about as strong as other Olympic fields- 2 or 3 favorites for the gold, a few more competing for the bronze (or a surprise silver,like Manley's in 1988). Similar arguments could be made for 1998, 2002, 2006, and 1988.

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Well as you can see above I counted many more contenders in 94 then did you, so this is where we differ. Except for 88, as one earlier poster said the 88 field was also outstanding.

Actually I think the 2006 field was very strong- Irina (2 world titles, Oly silver), Shizuka (world title), Sasha (3 world silvers), Sokolova (1 world silver), and Kimmie with great potential (we saw in Calgary what she was capable of).

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Sokolova was less a contender for a medal at the 06 Olympics, then any one of the women listed above where at the 94 Olympics IMHO. With her best performances in year she was not even close to winning a medal at the depleted Worlds. The triple lutz-triple toe which was all her World medal in 2003 was owed to, no longer existed in her reportoire.

The 1998 and 2002 ladies fields were also very strong. Michelle alone can raise the level of overall excellence.

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The 2002 was about on par for a womens field, the 98 field was one of the weakest ever IMO. Michelle and Tara were about 3 falls better then the next best skater, the gap between those two and the 3rd best was outrageous.

In 1992 Yamaguchi, Ito, Kerrigan, Harding, Bonaly made a very strong field also.

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Yes the 92 field was also extremely strong at the very top, with two women with triple axels, and a third with great artistry also doing a triple lutz-triple toe and two triple lutzes. Bonaly was having reasonable quad attempts at the time, and Kerrigan also was doing a triple toe-triple toe and had excellent artistry as well.