90s Skating School

I found this newly posted and totally great collection of clips from the 98 Olympics. They are from the true heyday of skating when 30 minute or even 1 hour programs outside the actual competition could be shown daily and bring in significant viewers. These are hosted by Peter Carruthers and Roz Sumners. They are actually fairly informative in that that give a pretty clear perspective on how skating was viewed and judged pre-CoP. There are lots of demos and interviews with actual influential players (skaters, coaches, officials and judges) at the time. Worth watching to see how the sport has evolved (forward or backward depending on your point of view). Here are a few of the clips I enjoyed the most. BTW the third host, Alice Cook, is a former skater herself and 1976 Olympian in pairs with Bill Fauver who later skated in Sarajevo with Lee Ann Miller in 1984. Miller of course became a noted choreographer after retiring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRPj8B6At9E&feature=g-all-u&context=G2ed1779FAAAAAAAADAA
Discussion of basic spinning positions, including the physics and physiological effects behind them, as well as a discussion of old 6.0 judging in an interview with judge Jean Senft. (Doris I told you I would find more vids with her in them.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IF5...DvjVQa1PpcFM1Jn4hd_JDxo6krNdQW8Fv36kVq1koUNA=
Preview of the ladies event (please don't turn this into installment 6,000,0001 of the Tara vs Michelle Wars)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1O...DvjVQa1PpcFM1Jn4hd_JDxhf7k7_JD_nFIDi0yAHwqZ4=
An interview with Speedy and a discussion about the Ice Dance judging controversy and judging scandals in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs5z...DvjVQa1PpcFM1Jn4hd_JDxnpkp0-b5d3gXKfDi_LcFJk=
Ice dance competition review and interview with Grishuk and Platov.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbGs...DvjVQa1PpcFM1Jn4hd_JDxrfeCUaLZhNXB6my-qfczsM=
Original Dance preview with Isabelle Duschenay including a discussion of the new use of lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntXY...DvjVQa1PpcFM1Jn4hd_JDxitINN2XufE98eXhZUzNwTg=
CD discussion with Bourne and Dubova.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOY3...DvjVQa1PpcFPyvj8gFrIDZwL1_EQBUi3fob5l6Dm3UR4=
Discussion of the merits of the quad. Funny how certain arguments reemerge decade after decade.

Great thread jcoates! :thumbsup:

I like the statement from Cinquanta that it is not the sport's responsibility to teach the audience and some journalists the rules. :thumbsup: IMO, if you cannot understand the judging, and actually have an interest in the sport and want to know how it's judged, then one should read about it instead of crying out loud everytime one doesn't understand the outcome. :yes:

I do think the information should be readily available for those who are interested -- which is far more true in the Internet age than was true 20+ years ago.

But there's that old saying about leading a horse to water...

I think a big problem is that most fans encounter skating first and often only through television, and the television producers don't want to lead fans to understand skating on their own, they want to remain gatekeepers of the knowledge. It's great when they can devote enough time to educational segments like those in this thread. But when time is limited, most TV coverage ignores everything about the sport except what fits into their neat 2-hour entertainment packages.

Fortunately many fans do seek out forums like this one online and learn about where else to look for access to information and more skating to watch.

Another fluff in this series:

Sandra Bezic on choreographing for skaters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsM5ujnxZC8

And more on the Golden Waltz, and the problems both G&P had with it. This clip shows clearly where Pasha stumbled, and yes it was pretty bad. (In COP GW days, it would be in the middle of a key point)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b9ccVYO548

I really liked the interview with Krylova & Ovsiannakov.

And the interview with Speedy was interesting.

Apparently it was TNT that aired these "Cutting Edge" fluffs?

Thanks jcoates for posting these.