Ladies - A Look Back (Video List) | Golden Skate

Ladies - A Look Back (Video List)

reynycpr

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
I did this in the U.S. Nationals section and thought it would be nice to do it again seeing as how Worlds is fast approaching! (Maybe Mrs. P‎ can link up the Men's videos like last time too ;)

Video list of past World Champions - 30 Years of Champions
1981 - Denise Biellmann
*First Ladies Triple Lutz
1982 - Elaine Zayak
1983 - Rosalynn Sumners
1984 - Katarina Witt
1985 - Katarina Witt
1986 - Debi Thomas
1987 - Katarina Witt
1988 - Katarina Witt
1989 - Midori Ito
*First Ladies Triple Axel
1990 - Jill Trenary
1991 - Kristi Yamaguchi
*I believe the last time any country swept the podium at Worlds (USA - Kristi, Tonya, Nancy)
1992 - Kristi Yamaguchi
*Still stands as the last woman to win Worlds & Olympics in the same year, but then again, Yu-Na has been the only OC since then to try.
1993 - Oksana Baiul
1994 - Yuka Sato
1995 - Chen Lu
1996 - Michelle Kwan
1997 - Tara Lipinski
1998 - Michelle Kwan
1999 - Maria Butyrskaya
2000 - Michelle Kwan
2001 - Michelle Kwan
2002 - Irina Slutskaya
2003 - Michelle Kwan
2004 - Shizuka Arakawa
2005 - Irina Slutskaya
2006 - Kimmie Meissner
2007 - Miki Ando
2008 - Mao Asada
2009 - Kim Yu-Na
2010 - Mao Asada
2011 - ????

Enjoy!
& Good Luck to all the Ladies!

edited...found Meissner's LP
 
Last edited:

prettykeys

Medalist
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Wow, thank you, reynycpr! That must have taken some time.

So many Michelle Kwans and Katarina Witts...hehe.
 

reynycpr

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
No prob! More thanks goes to those who uploaded the videos on YouTube. Its just nice to be able go to a website and take a quick look at a Championship program some 50+ years ago! :thumbsup:
Yea Michelle and Katarina made it a little easier adding and searching for vids. lol
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Wow, thank you, reynycpr! That must have taken some time.

So many Michelle Kwans and Katarina Witts...hehe.

I always can't help but to wish for someone like that again. On the one hand, it's great to see more people have their days. On the other hand, it's exciting to watch people like Michelle and Kat and Dick Button and Michael Phelps become legends.

I think it is particularly impressive that Katarina stuck around to defend her gold medal. I wonder if we we will ever see that again. Well, I guess Plushenko gave an astonishingly impressive go at it but he took time off in between.
It must be so difficult, once you've won the top prize in your sport, to find the motivation to go through that gruel for four more years. Especially in a sport where your prime years can be so short.

I also am always so impressed that Irina and Michelle stayed at the top of their game, or near it, for so long. Irina was at three Olympics! In their case, I'm sure the elusive Olympic gold medal was something of a motivation. But whatever the motivation, it was great to be able to see them skating competitively as long as they did.

If there is one skater who I wish had stuck competitive skating around it is Oksana Baiul. She won an Olympic Gold medal but I always thought she wasn't even the best she could be in 1994.
 
Last edited:

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
What a glorious skate by Denise Biellmann! Does anyone know why she didn't stick around for the next Olympics? I noticed she had competed in five previous world champions (and an Olympics). Did she just decide she was through with competitive skating?
 

reynycpr

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
^^yea I'm not sure why she didn't stick around either, but I do remember when watching her skate in pro-competitions, Scott Hamilton was commentating on how at the 1980 Olympics she was so close to a medal considering she won the LP but had a crappy compulsory skate.

Also, I know I put *first ladies 3lz under her link but she first did it in 1977 or 78 I think
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
What a glorious skate by Denise Biellmann! Does anyone know why she didn't stick around for the next Olympics? I noticed she had competed in five previous world champions (and an Olympics). Did she just decide she was through with competitive skating?

AFAIR, from back in the day, she had competed at the Olympics the year before, and had won a World Championship. In 1981, you couldn't get paid to skate, and skaters left the sport because it was expensive to train, and the money just wasn't there. You had to go pro. (And Denise had an amazing pro career!)
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
All that was in the 6.0 system, never to be seen again since the scores are by the numbers and not by musical appreciation.

The FREE Skate told us more about the skater and her skating than the robotic numbers of individual tricks.
 

jatale

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 24, 2011
I respectfully disagree about the 6.0 system which was fundamentally flawed and riddled with political intrigue. I think the new COP is an improvement in every way. Politics have not been completely eliminated, but have been reduced to noise level and the COP can be adjusted to give more weighting to artistic elements if need be. Frankly, to my eyes, skaters like Yu-Na have demonstrated that athleticism and artistry can be successfully combined under the COP to craft beautiful programs. While technical tricks can be successfully taught and learned, artistry is more inate, some skaters have it and others don't. I don't think you can blame the COP system if artistry is lacking, it points more to skaters who feel safer trying to do tricks than bare their soul.
 

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
I respectfully disagree about the 6.0 system which was fundamentally flawed and riddled with political intrigue. I think the new COP is an improvement in every way. Politics have not been completely eliminated, but have been reduced to noise level and the COP can be adjusted to give more weighting to artistic elements if need be. Frankly, to my eyes, skaters like Yu-Na have demonstrated that athleticism and artistry can be successfully combined under the COP to craft beautiful programs. While technical tricks can be successfully taught and learned, artistry is more inate, some skaters have it and others don't. I don't think you can blame the COP system if artistry is lacking, it points more to skaters who feel safer trying to do tricks than bare their soul.

:unsure: really? I don't see it. The CoP didn't reduce political involvement much; it just complicated the process a bit. At least in the 6.0 system, it was clear to us all and we can laugh about it at times.
 

jatale

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 24, 2011
:unsure: really? I don't see it. The CoP didn't reduce political involvement much; it just complicated the process a bit. At least in the 6.0 system, it was clear to us all and we can laugh about it at times.

The random selection of 9 of 12 judges and the discarding of the high and low scores leaving only 7 judges seems like a pretty effective method to minimize the possibility of politically aligned voting. You would have to have a clique of block voting that comprised probably at least 5 out of the 12 judges to have much of a chance of having a determinative effect on the results. Not very likely it seems to me.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
In spite of the skullduggery of the 6.0 system, it produced many more beautiful Ladies performances. That's what I and others are writing about. We are not comparing which system is more honest. That's another topic and well written about. You can start a new post and rekindle the scandal(s) of the 6.0 system, if you wish, but for this topic it is of my opinion that

The best performances of Ladies Skaters are found in the 6.0 system. (on topic). :cool:

Since then, Mao has given us a 3A, and Yuna has given us Speed. but no other skaters perform more than what the points allow.
 
Last edited:

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
AFAIR, from back in the day, she had competed at the Olympics the year before, and had won a World Championship. In 1981, you couldn't get paid to skate, and skaters left the sport because it was expensive to train, and the money just wasn't there. You had to go pro. (And Denise had an amazing pro career!)

Thanks :) She did indeed have a great pro career. The pro videos were how I was introduced to her skating and then I went back and watched some of her competitions, although rarely. Fantastic the way she stayed in such great shape for so long. She definitely could have kept competiting had things been different.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Thanks :) She did indeed have a great pro career. The pro videos were how I was introduced to her skating and then I went back and watched some of her competitions, although rarely. Fantastic the way she stayed in such great shape for so long. She definitely could have kept competiting had things been different.
That's the way it was. I remember donating money to a campaign for Stephane Lambiel when he first began to show his talent. The Swiss Fed never gave him a sou.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Thanks :) She did indeed have a great pro career. The pro videos were how I was introduced to her skating and then I went back and watched some of her competitions, although rarely. Fantastic the way she stayed in such great shape for so long. She definitely could have kept competiting had things been different.

As a pro, Denise was famous for training harder than anyone else. I think it was Hamilton who was up late one night in the hotel during a competition, and there was Denise, working out in the hotel's gym. She kept her triples until forever. I think she probably felt that the one Worlds was the best she could ever do in the system as it was then. That as well as the financial demands of amateur skating probably gave her the motivation to turn pro.

I was also pleased about how Kristi maintained her skills. She was a wonderful pro, actually increasing her skating quality as time went on. She really had the ideal career arc, both as an amateur and as a pro.

As for Michelle and Irina, they both spoiled us, didn't they? We were able to watch two superb skaters grow and mature artistically instead of just getting a glimpse of talent that never developed, as was the case with Oksana, Tara, and Sarah. The latter three showed up, won the Olympics, and then never advanced or smoothed out their skills. This was especially a loss in the case of Oksana, who seems to be generally thought of as the most talented of the three. She did continue in pro skating but was not disciplined about her training (and had other problems besides). So her early appearance turned out to be her peak. Thank goodness for Michelle and Irina!

By the way, thanks so much, renycpr, for providing this wonderful video list! What a great resource, and I know it took a lot of work and time.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
The random selection of 9 of 12 judges and the discarding of the high and low scores leaving only 7 judges seems like a pretty effective method to minimize the possibility of politically aligned voting.

That scheme has been abandoned. Now there is no random draw, only nine judges are seated and the mean is trimmed by discarding the high and low score.

The ISU's rationale for the random draw, along with anonymous judging, was that it would allow judges to doublecross their federation presidents. That is, if two or more federation heads got together to fix the results and directed their judges as to how to vote, the judges could always vote differently, then lie about it and the federations would be none the wiser.

IMHO this explanation never held water, because the federation chiefs and ISU insiders knew how each judge voted. It was just the public that was kept in the dark. All of this was in response to the Salt Lake City controversy. The ISU's response to IOC displeasure and public embarrassment was, it's OK to cheat, what's scandalous is to get caught.

You would have to have a clique of block voting that comprised probably at least 5 out of the 12 judges to have much of a chance of having a determinative effect on the results. Not very likely it seems to me.

One thing that may help is the replacement of four of the judges between the short and long programs. But even one judge scoring with deliberate malice or unconscious bias could make a difference in a close contest.

As for conspiracies among several judges, in the days of the random draw the result of the draw might weaken a conspiracy, but by the same token might strengthen it, depending on which judges' scores were thrown out.

I do not see that it is either easier or harder for judges to cheat in giving out GOEs and PCSs than was the case in 6.0. For technical elements, the fixed base value adds some objectivity, but the tech panel still has the power to save or slay in terms of under-rotation and wrong edge calls. Anyway you slice it, we depend on the integrity and competence of the officials.
 

oksanafan

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Here are some videos of world championship winners from pre-1981

1980 Anett Potzsch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDBjnVC8gWE

1979 Linda Fratianne - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u8s-a1KSLo

1978 Anett Potzsch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMX3V0x8v8k

1977 Linda Fratianne - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfXwK-5erYE

1976 Dorothy Hamill - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r42MTdTTCc - SP (apologies - could not find LP)

1975 Dianne de Leeuw - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax4J89ddFt8

1974 Christine Errath - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojkrwkXKzTk - Could only find this montage

1973 Karen Magnussen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIH9SUftXSg

1971-72 Beatrix Schuba - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzvtjbcv-Cs - little footage available. Hence, have selected this documentary re the Trixie Schuba/Janet Lynn controversy. As many of you may know, Schuba won the 1971 and 1972 Worlds, plus the 1972 Olympic title simply by virtue of the fact that she was so much better than anybody else at that time at the School Figures. Her free skating was not that great. Janet Lynn however was a superb free skater and usually won that section, but because most of the marks were allocated to the School Figures, Schuba would always win the major championships. Consequently, there was a huge outcry after the 1972 Olympics (most people viewing the situation as unfair), and the short program was introduced in 1973 to help alleviate the problem. The school figures section was finally axed (to most peoples relief) in 1990 (something Midori Ito was delighted about, Jill Trenary less so)

1969/70 Gabby Seyfert - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw1kuqBDuwk - this is from the 1969 Gala (no other footage available)

1967/68 Peggy Fleming - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5gR4SKk_M - 1967 Worlds. This was last world championships to be held outdoors! Can you imagine skating in the wind, rain, snow, etc!

1966 Peggy Fleming - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT6PNFAJVoE

1965 Petra Burka - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StzDI2InudI - No footage. This is from a Holiday on Ice performance from 1967

1962-64 Sjoukje Dijkstra - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkIM4rCHxC4 - No footage. This is her winning 1964 Olympic performance

No World Champs took place in 1961 due to the air crash involving the US Team

1956-60 Carol Heiss - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBmkAh2nxkA - 1956 Worlds (beating Tenley Albright for the first time in Worlds)

1953 and 1955 Tenley Albright - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMOrI2M1cp0 - No footage. This is from the 1956 Worlds where she was defeated by Carol Heiss

1954 Gundi Busch - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwqubGMkSno - No footage - Archive Film

1952 - Jaqueline du Bief - no footage

1951 - Jeannette Altwegg - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78UxpDdyc78 - No footage - Montage

1949/50 Alena Vrzanova - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C50iu2k6lqk - No footage - Archive film which also features other skaters from the period

1947/48 Barbara-Ann Scott - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUTTkM_pj0I - No footage. This is from her winning 1948 Olympic performance

1938/39 Megan Taylor - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9t1Vul2T4Y - No footage. Just this tribute

1927-36 Sonja Henie and 1937 Cecilia Colledge - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k1er6NRYdY - No footage. This is from the 1936 Olympics won by Sonja Henie, with Colledge finishing second. A titanic competition between the two of them for Gold, with a very controversial outcome. The two of them were neck and neck after the School figures section. In her 2008 obituary to Colledge, Sandra Stevenson of The Independent described what happened next: "The closeness [of the competition] infuriated Henie, who, when the result for that section was posted on the wall in the competitors lounge, swiped the piece of paper and tore it into little pieces. The draw for the free skating [then] came under suspicion after Henie landed the plum position of skating last, while Colledge had to perform second of the 26 competitors. The early start was seen as a disadvantage, with the audience not yet whipped into a clapping frenzy and the judges known to be freer with their higher marks as the event proceeded. Years later, a fairer, staggered draw was adopted to counteract the situation."

1922-26 Herma Szabo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HByUOyu0u0 - No Footage. This is footage from the 1924 Olympics where she won gold

Hope you enjoy
 
Last edited:
Top