Extraordinary performances under extraordinary pressure

There's the pressure of being a favorite. Then there's extraordinary pressure that goes beyond great expectations. I doubt anyone has ever skated under more pressure than Tonya Harding at the 1994 Olympics. She bombed.

But here are five skaters who showed nerves of steel under tough circumstances. From great to greatest performances:

5. Paul Wylie, 1992 Olympics. Normally, being the underdog means no pressure. But it's one thing to skate when people don't expect anything from you. It's another when everyone expects you to bomb.
We all know what happened. Here it is.
SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfEF_0GeDwc&feature=related
LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzxrQSbaCRU&feature=related

4. Irina Slutskaya, 2005 Worlds. Sat out the 2003 worlds because of her mother's illness. 9th in 2004 because of her own illness. She had to fight to come back in 2005. And to top it off, she had to skate in front of a home crowd. One of the best gold medal performances at a world championship:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zek69FhRfBc&feature=related

3. Midori Ito, 1992 Olympics. She struggled the whole competition and was so embarrassed she apologized to Japan. Falls on her first triple axle attempt in her LP - and then lands one at the last minute to fight her way to silver!! Hurray!! I just love watching this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=polwvMNVgFU

2. Lu Chen, 1998 Olympics. The 1995 world champ was coming off an abysmal 25th place finish at the 1997 worlds that led to a rift with the Chinese figure skating federation and coaching changes. She had to qualify the hard way for the Olympics.
Here's why it was a good thing she didn't give up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVW5W5-IwbQ&NR=1

1. Nancy Kerrigan, 1994 Olympics. This is not my favorite performance of this bunch. But who can deny the extraordinary pressure this girl was under. Talk about nerves of steel.
SP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjtwgN_DwjU
LP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7RvWbnaDZk&feature=related

Anyone else who should be on the list? My skating memory really only goes back to 1992 Olympics. I'd love to hear of more examples.

I would have to say that Evan's freeskate at worlds last year would have to join the list, as would Sale and Pellitier 2002 olympic LP.

I think that Tara Lipinski goes on this list.... Tara gets a lot of flack, but her performance at the Olympics I think was the best performance by a lady since probably Liz Manley's performance in 1988. And I don't think that performance has been equaled.

People can scream about Michelle all they want, but I know that people who were there said Tara was noticably faster than Michelle by a LOT and had more difficult. What Tara did was admirable and she's the last female world champion to win as well.

Elvis Stojko 1998 Olympic Long Program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6YZERHYa04

Our gold medal hope for figure skating, he had the pressure of a nation on his shoulers and was the reigning World Champion. He pulled out this amazing performance fighting the flu and skating on one leg. Incredible.

Kurt's SP in 1990 (?) was pretty awesome. He'd had a crappy season, total pressure to repeat as WC... pops the triple axel and throws one in at the last second of the program! WOW (will look for a youtube link)

ETA: here it is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tbFbEDZr4I

Wow, this hasn't been mentioned yet? Lambiel 2006 Worlds LP That's after Joubert came out and skated a blinder with two quads. What did Stephane do? He followed up with a performance even more brilliant.

i love to skate said:

Elvis Stojko 1998 Olympic Long Program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6YZERHYa04

Our gold medal hope for figure skating, he had the pressure of a nation on his shoulers and was the reigning World Champion. He pulled out this amazing performance fighting the flu and skating on one leg. Incredible.

Click to expand...

I think this is the one that truly needs to be on that list.. So nerve racking but also inspiring..

Layfan said:

5. Paul Wylie, 1992 Olympics. Normally, being the underdog means no pressure. But it's one thing to skate when people don't expect anything from you. It's another when everyone expects you to bomb.
We all know what happened. Here it is.
SP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfEF_0GeDwc&feature=related
LP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzxrQSbaCRU&feature=related

Click to expand...

ITA
Geat thread!

bekalc said:

I think that Tara Lipinski goes on this list.... Tara gets a lot of flack, but her performance at the Olympics I think was the best performance by a lady since probably Liz Manley's performance in 1988. And I don't think that performance has been equaled.

People can scream about Michelle all they want, but I know that people who were there said Tara was noticably faster than Michelle by a LOT and had more difficult. What Tara did was admirable and she's the last female world champion to win as well.

Click to expand...

I won't disagree that Tara performed amazingly in 1998. I have always believed Michelle not repeating the "Lyra" she did at Nationals, skate order and Bonaly's antics played just as big a part as the 3/3, 3^3 did. BUT I think to say that Michelle caved under pressure, was tentative or whatever, is as insulting to Tara as it is to Michelle. I felt both had excellent vehicles through which to best show off their strengths and for Tara, that included her energy and speed. "Lyra" was not supposed to be zipped around the rink to or about being an exuberant youngster as I felt Tara's music required. I do believe "Lyra" was best at Nationals, and Michelle had proved she can beat Tara and her 3/3's even without one of her own. She just skated her program best at Nats that year and Tara at the Olys. The only one who had more pressure than Tara that night was Michelle. IMO, either could've been the winner, they were both deserving.

I've always felt most top skaters have to compete with so much pressure and not always to win, to prove themselves. I felt after 1998 Olys, Michelle had so much pressure/expectations-to win, to keep the youngsters back, etc, and more often than not she lived up to the pressure-just 2002 Olys, IMO, is when she struggled. Started with 1994 Worlds-securing 2 spots, 1996 Worlds-beating the reigning Champ, 1998 Nats-despite a stress fracture and disaster 97 season she was still considered a favorite, 1999-2001 Nats-keeping the Next Best Thing from winning (NNN, Sasha, Sarah), 2000-01 Worlds-proving she was not left behind the Russians, 2003 Nats and Worlds-proving she still belongs here. And my fave, 2004 Nats-not to be written off as Sasha was not the best US Ladies skater.

Just going based on recent memory...Fumie is another one I felt has had some satisfying skates at Nationals where someone was waiting in the wings to dethrone her and she would deliver such emotionally charged skates. Loved Irina at 2005 Worlds in Russia. Evan at 2009 Worlds. Lambiel 2006. Alexei 2002 Olys. There are too many to mention!

Alexei at the 2002 Oly's for sure...both SP and LP.

MKFSfan said:

I won't disagree that Tara performed amazingly in 1998. I have always believed Michelle not repeating the "Lyra" she did at Nationals, skate order and Bonaly's antics played just as big a part as the 3/3, 3^3 did. BUT I think to say that Michelle caved under pressure, was tentative or whatever, is as insulting to Tara as it is to Michelle. I felt both had excellent vehicles through which to best show off their strengths and for Tara, that included her energy and speed. "Lyra" was not supposed to be zipped around the rink to or about being an exuberant youngster as I felt Tara's music required. I do believe "Lyra" was best at Nationals, and Michelle had proved she can beat Tara and her 3/3's even without one of her own. She just skated her program best at Nats that year and Tara at the Olys. The only one who had more pressure than Tara that night was Michelle. IMO, either could've been the winner, they were both deserving.

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Michelle was very slow at the Olympics. She was not that slow at all at US Nationals. I don't think skating order had anything to do with. The 6.0 system was a ranking system. The marks aren't nearly as important as the rank. The judges always leave room if a skater skates before the other top competitors, but in the end, if they think the skater who skated first was the best, they just give the other skater lower marks.

The judges decided that Tara was better than Michelle so they gave her higher marks than Michelle period. If they wanted Michelle to win, they would have given Tara justifably lower marks than the marks they gave her.

The idea that the judges were influenced in anyway becuase Michelle skated first is just frankly ridiculous. If Michelle had skated the exact same way after Tara-the results would have still been the same-because once again its a ranking system. There was more than enough room for the judges to rank Tara behind Michelle if they felt Michelle was better.

Layfan said:

4. Irina Slutskaya, 2005 Worlds. Sat out the 2003 worlds because of her mother's illness. 9th in 2004 because of her own illness. She had to fight to come back in 2005. And to top it off, she had to skate in front of a home crowd. One of the best gold medal performances at a world championship:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zek69FhRfBc&feature=related

Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing that, and with the back-story. I always loved Irina, for her courage and her athleticism. I thought she only ("only") had a heart problem, I did not know her mother was also ill. I'm so happy for her, that she pulled that off in those circumstances. Bravo.

bekalc said:

I think that Tara Lipinski goes on this list.... Tara gets a lot of flack, but her performance at the Olympics I think was the best performance by a lady since probably Liz Manley's performance in 1988.

Click to expand...

I was actually thinking of Lipinski's LP at 1998 Nationals.

She skated better at the Olympics, but I think she had more pressure, in some ways, at Nationals, coming into the long program in fourth place after falling in the short, reigning world champion but in danger of not actually qualifying for the Olympic team.

I think that example came to my mind because my father attended the ladies' freeskate in Philadelphia with me and, since he had a 15-year-old of his own at the time (my half brother), he was very impressed by Lipinski's ability to rise to the occasion under those circumstances.

i love to skate said:

Elvis Stojko 1998 Olympic Long Program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6YZERHYa04

Our gold medal hope for figure skating, he had the pressure of a nation on his shoulers and was the reigning World Champion. He pulled out this amazing performance fighting the flu and skating on one leg. Incredible.

Click to expand...

Wowwwwwww!! Thanks for this. Definitely one for the ages. I agree, he's one for the list.:yes:

I think Michelle and Tara both skated amazingly under pressure in that same Olympics, which is why it's a competition people still talk about so much today. But I don't think they were under any more pressure than favorites normally are.

Brian Orser, Calgary 1988 on home ice and Canada's hope had a tremendous performance under incredible pressure.

But Brian Boitano was also under tremendous pressure as well and had the skate of his life.

We have all seen it so I didn't include the clips.

I would give a nod to both of these skaters for outstanding performances and for making the "Battle of The Brians" one of the most memorable evenings of skating in Olympic history..

bekalc said:

The idea that the judges were influenced in anyway becuase Michelle skated first is just frankly ridiculous. If Michelle had skated the exact same way after Tara-the results would have still been the same-because once again its a ranking system. There was more than enough room for the judges to rank Tara behind Michelle if they felt Michelle was better.

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My point is skate order may have helped in that Tara knew what Michelle did and what she needed to do. We all know judges would leave room for later skaters under 6.0, especially if one of the favorites were still to come. Who knows what would've happened had Tara skated 1st? I believe skate order DOES affect both the skater and the judges marks. I didn't say Michelle was robbed or that Tara didn't skate the performance of her life. I did say Michelle skated her program the best at Nationals '98, and Tara skated her program the best at Olympics '98. At the time, I was just rooting for all 3 Americans to sweep podium and while I preferred Michelle, I wasn't yet a huge fan. I know Tara had the more difficult combos, but there was a lot about her skating I did not like. Now, had someone with say, Yu-Na's skills skated the same program cleanly, I would agree it was technically the best, most deserving to win program. As it is, Tara stood up to great deal of pressure, and the fact her biggest competitor went clean and landed 7 triples. Tara skated with a lot of speed and excitement. That IS how a competition should be won, so yes, I agree Tara's win should be mentioned in this thread. I just don't think Michelle's performance needs to be put down to make Tara's look better, I think that the fact they both skated clean and very well under pressure makes Tara's win even bigger.

janetfan said:

Brian Orser, Calgary 1988 on home ice and Canada's hope had a tremendous performance under incredible pressure.

But Brian Boitano was also under tremendous pressure as well and had the skate of his life.

We have all seen it so I didn't include the clips.

I would give a nod to both of these skaters for outstanding performances and for making the "Battle of The Brians" one of the most memorable evenings of skating in Olympic history..

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It's true. Both are performances that seem nearly super human for the way they overcame the pressure and delivered. True Olympians. Too bad it doesn't seem like we're heading for a similar showdown in Vancouver, at least when it comes to the women.

MKFSfan;438796[B said:

]My point is skate order may have helped in that Tara knew what Michelle did and what she needed to do. We all know judges would leave room for later skaters under 6.0, especially if one of the favorites were still to come. Who knows what would've happened had Tara skated 1st? I believe skate order DOES affect both the skater and the judges marks[/B]. I didn't say Michelle was robbed or that Tara didn't skate the performance of her life. I did say Michelle skated her program the best at Nationals '98, and Tara skated her program the best at Olympics '98. At the time, I was just rooting for all 3 Americans to sweep podium and while I preferred Michelle, I wasn't yet a huge fan. I know Tara had the more difficult combos, but there was a lot about her skating I did not like. Now, had someone with say, Yu-Na's skills skated the same program cleanly, I would agree it was technically the best, most deserving to win program. As it is, Tara stood up to great deal of pressure, and the fact her biggest competitor went clean and landed 7 triples. Tara skated with a lot of speed and excitement. That IS how a competition should be won, so yes, I agree Tara's win should be mentioned in this thread. I just don't think Michelle's performance needs to be put down to make Tara's look better, I think that the fact they both skated clean and very well under pressure makes Tara's win even bigger.

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Well, we'll never know for sure. But my guess is that Tara would have still poured everything into her skate. First of all, she was 2nd coming into the LP so she probably still would have assumed she had to be amazing to overcome Michelle. Second, Tara was so excited about being on Olympic ice that I think her excitement would have shone through no matter when she skated.

Now, y'all know I'm a Tru Uber and I don't mean to pull the thread off topic, but at the same time...

The whole Michelle v. Tara controversy is always interesting to read because while I've never had an issue with Tara's win over Michelle sometimes I wonder if now Tara feels it was worth it... she ruined her body with the training leading up to the Olympics and now she's done - she's been reduced to "American Beats Kwan" and hocking USFSA t-shirts. Michelle is an icon - more beloved, I suspect, BECAUSE she didn't win that particular medal. 2002 doesn't even compare... and again she upstaged everyone else with "Fields of Gold."

Michelle stood up to the pressure numerous times and she's probably the most Warrior Princess of all the ladies skaters of the modern age - but she thrived on it, so as much as it pains me, I think I've finally found a list she doesn't belong it...
This is probably true of Irina as well, despite the personal issues of 2005. She's a tough girl who was on a mission to prove she was still Slute and skated for different reasons that season...

Now who do I think belongs on this list? Sasha at 2006 Games. One fall, one squat and she still brought the house down? That's shaking it off and keepin' it moving.... :yes:

Kwanford Wife said:

Now, y'all know I'm a Tru Uber and I don't mean to pull the thread off topic, but at the same time...

The whole Michelle v. Tara controversy is always interesting to read because while I've never had an issue with Tara's win over Michelle sometimes I wonder if now Tara feels it was worth it... she ruined her body with the training leading up to the Olympics and now she's done - she's been reduced to "American Beats Kwan" and hocking USFSA t-shirts. Michelle is an icon - more beloved, I suspect, BECAUSE she didn't win that particular medal. 2002 doesn't even compare... and again she upstaged everyone else with "Fields of Gold."

Michelle stood up to the pressure numerous times and she's probably the most Warrior Princess of all the ladies skaters of the modern age - but she thrived on it, so as much as it pains me, I think I've finally found a list she doesn't belong it...
This is probably true of Irina as well, despite the personal issues of 2005. She's a tough girl who was on a mission to prove she was still Slute and skated for different reasons that season...

Now who do I think belongs on this list? Sasha at 2006 Games. One fall, one squat and she still brought the house down? That's shaking it off and keepin' it moving.... :yes:

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I was thinking of starting a different thread where I'd put that in: "Best mid-performance comeback."
I can think of three: Sasha in 2006, Mao in 2008 worlds (she had that awful fall in her 3 axel and then skated the rest of the program as if it had never happened) and Midori Ito in the 1992 program I already described.
Sort of different from going into the skate in the first place under extraordinary pressure.

Layfan said:

I was thinking of starting a different thread where I'd put that in: "Best mid-performance comeback."
I can think of three: Sasha in 2006, Mao in 2008 worlds (she had that awful fall in her 3 axel and then skated the rest of the program as if it had never happened) and Midori Ito in the 1992 program I already described.
Sort of different from going into the skate in the first place under extraordinary pressure.

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True dat...