1994 Worlds ladies' results: Surya Bonaly and Yuka Sato | Page 3 | Golden Skate

1994 Worlds ladies' results: Surya Bonaly and Yuka Sato

taf2002

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Well I remember watching this & wondering how Surya took any 1st place ordinals (other than the French judge who gave her 5.9/5.9). IMO Surya's program was a mess:

Surya:
2A
3T/3Sal/2T sequence (the 2T was a little sloppy but the seq was nice)
3Z- twofooted?
3R-hand down
2A
3F (cheated)/3Sal-so cheated she landed it forward
3Z/2T

Yuka:
3Z
3F-wide swinging leg
3R/2T
2T
2A/3S sequence
3R
3S

Tanja:
3R-huge
3Z-twofoot?
3T
3R/2T
3S
3T(2ft?)/2T
2A

So they all had 6 triples (I am counting 2ft & hand downs), Yuka & Surya both had 7 planned. Yuka & Tanja had much better programs than Surya & even though they both had mistakes, they didn't give a sloppy impression. Surya skated from jump to jump & had very few clean triples. I would not have been surprised if Tanja had been in 2nd....I thought silver was a consolation prize for 1993...but IMO gold for Surya was totally out of the question.
 

Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
Maybe Bonaly had been frustrated and resentful for a long time even before this competition. That may be perhaps why she seemed more upset than she should have been (Four judges out of nine gave her the first place. So her superiority in jump contents were at least acknowledged by as many as four judges). But whatever accumulated resentments she had had, it is regrettable that she behaved there as if she were an insulted princess for her personal anguish. This incident completely ruined Yuka's proudest and happiest moment in her career in front of the home crowd. Yuka looked very sad throughout the ceremony and the audience were very upset. I was there in the arena and felt very sorry for Yuka.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I remember this medal ceremony incident well. I think it made Surya look like a poor sport and embarrassed Yuka. As far as skaters go, Yuka is a far more graceful skater than Surya. Yuka is a "skaters skater" she is light on her feet and flows effortlessly across the ice. Surya was never as graceful and was heavy footed. She was not really pretty to watch.

I think this is the first time a skater has shown such poor sportsmanship publically. They are not always happy with the results of a championship, but are usually gracious to one another.

To me this incident put Surya on the same level as Tonya Harding. Neither are in the history books of figure skating as "good sports."
 

Medusa

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
So they all had 6 triples (I am counting 2ft & hand downs), Yuka & Surya both had 7 planned. Yuka & Tanja had much better programs than Surya & even though they both had mistakes, they didn't give a sloppy impression. Surya skated from jump to jump & had very few clean triples.

I just watched the freeprograms and a few other programs by Bonaly. I have to say that in my opinion none of these ladies had what I would call an elegant and secure jumping technique. Bonaly sure had power, but the jumps looked sometimes very out of control, the landings were a bit wild. Sato's easier jumps looked alright except for the one Salchow, but the landings on the Flip and Lutz looked very lysacekish, not really a running edge and the rather wild free leg. I just don't like it if every second jump looks "saved" - of course it makes the program look exciting and you get the impression that the skater is fighting through the performance (Yagudin also had a program here and there where the excitement built up because he seemed to fight for the landings).

But apart from some jump landings I really enjoyed Sato's performance very much. She wasn't what I would call really lyrical, but very artistic and charismatic. Reminds me of Nakano a bit (without the leg-wrap of course, brrr....).
 

Bennett

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 20, 2007
I just read that the Olympic committee took away a medal from an athlete who had thrown it away at the medal ceremony. I guess Bonaly was lucky that she could keep still it.
 
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