Retrospective Look at 1990 Worlds | Golden Skate

Retrospective Look at 1990 Worlds

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SkateFan4Life

Guest
Here's another recap, thanks to the videotapes I recorded while watching the network television coverage of the 1990 World Figure Skating Championships, which were held in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

"Goodbye School Figures" - Women's Competition
This was the last time the compulsory school figures were contested at Worlds. As in so many previous Worlds, the figures either gave some skaters a great start prior to the short and long programs, or they completely took the skaters out of the running for the medals.

In Halifax, Japan's Midori Ito, the wonderful high-jumping reigning World champion, had a disastrous performance in the school figures. I remember watching the coverage that showed Ito tracing one of her figures -- she completely stopped while turning around and nearly fell forward. The tracings were terribly wobbly and uneven. Midori's scores on that particular figure ranged from 10th to 24th (!). She finished 10th in that phase of the competition. A showing this poor would have finished the chances of most skaters, but not Midori. She rebounded with great short and long programs, the latter of which featured her beautiful, soaring triple axel. Midori pulled up to win the silver medal. The competition was so close that had Midori finished ninth in the school figures, she would have won the gold medal.

America's Jill Trenary won the school figures with very solid tracings. However, she made a major mistake in the short program - skating a double toe/double toe instead of her triple toe/ triple toe. Her technical marks were low enough to place her fifth in the short program. Still, after her excellent showing in the school figures, she, along with Holly Cook and the USSR's Natalia Lebeva, were all in a position to win the World title. Either of these three ladies could win if they finished first or second in the long program and Midori finished no higher than third.

Trenary skated a strong long program, with one slip-up on her single axel/triple salchow combination. She received a slew of 5.9s for presentation and finished second in the long program - and that won her the 1990 World title.

America's Holly Cook, who had won the bronze medal at Nationals
was a very strong school figures skater. Her competent free skating brought her the bronze medal at her first appearance at Worlds. Her reaction in the kiss 'n cry area was priceless.
"I'm third? I'm third? I'M THIRD!!!!"

Kristi Yamaguchi was still competing in both singles and pairs, the latter with Rudy Galindo. Yamaguchi and Galindo finished fifth in the pairs competition, and Kristi finished fourth in singles, just missing the podium. She fell twice in the beginning of her long program, and those mistakes prevented her from receiving high technical scores. The camera showed Mrs. Yamaguchi's reaction to her daughter's falls -- with her hands covering her face and a
"Ouch!" expression.

When Jill realized she had won the gold medal, she embraced her father. Mr. Trenary said, "Don't do this to me again!" Then, while holding her face with his hands, he said, "Not bad for fat kid."
Commentator Pat O'Brien asked Jill how she felt about winning her first World title. Jill replied, "I don't feel anything yet. It hasn't sunk in." She told Pat that she would take some time off after the COI tour to assess her skating and make the decision as to whether she would turn pro or continue on as an eligible skater. Clearly, the elimination of the school figures would hurt Jill's chances at any future Worlds/Olympics, as she typically finished very high in that discipline and could use that lead as a cushion, in case she made mistakes in the short program. As it happened, the 1990 Worlds was Jill Trenary's last appearance at a major eligible skating competition. She had foot surgery during the 1991 season, and she turned pro in the fall of 1991.

The Men:
Kurt Browning defended his World title, much to the delight of the huge audience, many of whom appeared to be screaming teenage
girls. Kurt had missed his triple axel in the short program and did some quick-thinking improvisation to place the triple axel at the end of his program. However, he neglected to add the connecting
steps that should have proceeded the triple axel. The judges,
apparently, overlooked that omission. Kurt skated to the same music as he did in 1989, and his program, while very similar, had some choregraphic changes and some refining touches. It was a great program. Browning played to the crowd towards the end of his program, and when he finished, he exclaimed, "Yes!". He skated to a crowd of young women and was enveloped in a huge bear hug.

Perhaps the funniest aspect of the men's competition was the
cat and mouse relationship that was shown between Christopher Bowman and his coach, Frank Carroll. Apparently, they were barely on speaking terms (Bowman's free spirit attitude constantly
collided with Frank's disciplinarian approach). When Bowman arrived to compete in the school figures, he tried to find his coach,
who, presumably, would help him select a good patch of ice.
Carroll was nowhere to be found. After Bowman competed in the figures, Frank suddenly appeared. Christopher asked his coach where he had been, and Frank said, "Well, I can't always be with you. I was busy." Yeech! Bowman improvised towards the end of his "Tico, Tico" long program and threw in a triple toe. His marks were good enough to win him the bronze medal.

The Soviet Union's Viktor Petrenko won the silver medal with very strong figures, winning the short program, and finishing second in the long program. Viktor had the unfortunate habit of running out of steam towards the end of his long programs, and his lack of stamina was clearly evident - singling and doubling planned triples, and skating with little speed. Still, Petrenko's programs were well skated, classical, and world-class.

A "wait until your turn" issue arose. Todd Eldredge, had won his first US title at the age of 18 and had skated strong school figures. The judges gave him relatively low marks that pretty much took him out of the running for a medal. Still, Todd skated very strong short and long programs and finished fifth in his first Worlds.

Paul Wylie made several errors in his short and long programs and wound up in 10th place.
 

RealtorGal

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
"When Jill realized she had won the gold medal, she embraced her father. Mr. Trenary said, "Don't do this to me again!" Then, while holding her face with his hands, he said, "Not bad for fat kid."

Ouch! Am I reading this incorrectly? What did he mean by the "Don't do this to me again"? Embrace him? If so, how cruel. That "fat kid" remark was REALLY cruel. Sounds like the male version of Mrs. Harding and other stage parent ogres.:confused:
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Jill's encounter with her father after winning the 1990 World title was warm and loving. When Mr. Trenary said, "Don't do this to me again", he was probably half-jokingly asking his daughter to not put him through another emotional competitive roller coaster situation. It's tough on skating parents to watch their children compete at Worlds! Talk about nerve-wracking situations.

As for the "fat kid" remark, perhaps Jill was a tad overweight as a youngster, or perhaps she thought she was "fat", and her dad made little jokes to show his daughter that she wasn't fat.

Mr. Trenary was a mainstay at his daughter's competitions. They were very close, and probably still are.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
SkateFan4Life-was this the year that Chris Bowman skated to Indian Love Call, supposedly because Frank Carroll had skated to it when he was a competitor in the short program? Or was that '91? And it fell kinda flat with the judges who never seem to truly embrace either cowboy or Indian programs?

I do remember that Chris didn't rechoreograph just his triple toe in the long. He had problems with the first two elements and completely threw his program out the window and just did stuff which completely infuriated Carroll.

The highlight of the whole competition for me though was the performance of the Duchesnay's to Missing.

dpp
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
I remember that Chris Bowman wore an "Indian-like" costume for his short program during the 1990 season.

Doris, you're absolutely correct about Chris's rechoregraphing his long program. He realized that he needed to up the ante, technically, so he threw in several things and rearranged the order of his elements. All that practicing and work was more or less thrown out the window for his serendipity ending. That really did infuriate Frank Carroll, and Carroll wasn't shy about expressing his displeasure.

And Berthe, you're absolutely correct about Chris's leaving Frank Carroll to train with Toller Cranston. It seems that the Bowman-
Carroll working relationship just completely unraveled at the 1990
Worlds, and both parties realized it was time to part ways.
 
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