Performances with "that Olympic fire" | Golden Skate

Performances with "that Olympic fire"

sarahmistral

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
To borrow a phrase from BronzeIsGolden, what are the Olympic performances that stick out in your minds (whether they won gold or not; I was going to ask for only winning performances--it would be interesting if you listed both, actually) in which the skaters skated with "that Olympic fire"? These are usually flawless skates performed with no sign of nerves, just flair, boundless energy and killer instinct, conviction, and a carpe-diem attitude; a good example would be Tara Lipinski's LP in Nagano. We usually see them in the LP, since it's the "home stretch", but I'd be interested in hearing about performances that displayed those qualities in the short (Sasha Cohen's SP comes to mind for me) I find it interesting that there are skaters who won and just scraped by, sometimes falling, usually skating defensively, whereas on other occasions, the winner went for broke and reaped the benefits of the gamble.
 

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I think Yagudin's program in 2002...at WORLDS, had the Olympic fire!! :) I love Yags, and I thought his Man in the Iron Mask program was beautiful...but it didn't have the energy at the Olympics that it did a month later in Nagano.

Kasey
 

sk8m8

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
The program that immediately comes to mind is Lu Chen's second Olympic Broze. If you remember, Lu Lu had almost disappeared off the FS radar after her loss to MK afer she won her first World Title. It must have been hard to watch after LuLu gave the performance of her life to be beaten by a 15 YO Kwan.

When she returned to the Olympics a couple of years later, it was as if she had been reborn. She skated past other "superior skaters" and laid down one of the most beautiful artistic performances EVER at an Olympics. Perhaps not as technically challanging as others, her skating was magnificent and will stay with me as a "golden performance" regardless of the color of her medal. It was at that juncture that I REALLY began to appreciate the kind of competitor that LuLu obviously was.
 

show 42

Arm Chair Skate Fan
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I really appreciated the "fire" with which Midori Ito skated, whether it be for the silver at the 92 Olys or for a world championship, both amateur and pro........42
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Paul Wylie 1992
Jamie Salé & David Pelletier 2002
Sarah Hughes 2002
Alexei Yagudin 2002


I barely remember the other Olympics... but I've always been able to "relive" Paul's moment of glory... and I was only 7
 

Kwanisqueen81

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 30, 2003
skates that scream OLYMPICS!!

Midori from 1988
Tara from 1998
Sarah from 2002
Surya(SP) from 1994
Nancy from 1994
Lu Chen 1998
Liz Manly from 1988
Katerina Witt from 1984
 

fml99

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
And how could anyone forget...

Brian Boitano, 1988
Gordeeva and Grinkov, 1988

In both cases, watching these LPs, my jaw dropped...
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Liz Manley '88
Boitano '88
Lipinski '98
Hughes '02
M&D '94
K&P '92
Wylie '92
Wilson and McCall '88
 

KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 24, 2003
We are just talking about the Olys, right?! If not, then my list is a LOT longer!! LOL :laugh:

1984: Torvill & Dean FD
1988: Liz Manley LP, Brian Boitano LP, G&G LP
1992: Paul Wylie SP & LP :D
1994: Torvill and Dean FD, G&G LP
1998: Lulu LP, Shae & Vic FD
2002: Jamie & David LP, Todd Eldredge LP, Kyoko & John LP, Tim Goebel SP & LP, Alexei SP (WOW, for those Olys not being high up on my fave list, I sure did have a lot of performances that I loved from them!! LOL :laugh: )
 

SkatingFan94

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
G&G 1988 LP, 1994 LP
M&D 1994 LP
B&E 1994 LP
Michelle Kwan 1998 SP/LP, 2002 SP
S&P 2002 LP
B&S 2002 SP
Sarah Hughes 2002 LP
Nancy Kerrigan 1994 SP, LP
Brian Boitano 1988 LP
Ilia Kulik 1998 LP
Alexei Urmonov 1994 LP
T&D 1994 LP
A&P 1998 LP
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
- Ilia Kulik´s freeskate in Nagano Olympics definetely had Olympic fire. It was a totally courageous programme with great fire and sureness, no hesitation, playing it safe or holding back in jumps or in anything.

- The same applies to Brian Boitano´s performance in 1988

Marjaana
 
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icenut84

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Alexei Yagudin, 02 SP
Takeshi Honda, 02 SP
Sasha Cohen, 02 SP
Sarah Hughes, 02 LP
Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, 02 SP
Sale & Pelletier, 02 LP
Ina & Zimmerman, 02 LP
Lobacheva & Averbukh (esp. Averbukh :) ), 02 OD

Tara Lipinski, 98 LP

Torvill & Dean, 94 FD
Nancy Kerrigan, 94 LP
Oksana Baiul, 94 SP
Tanja Szewczenko, 94 SP
Gordeeva & Grinkov, 94 LP
Mishkutenok & Dmitriev, 94 LP
Brasseur & Eisler, 94 LP (what a competition! lol)
Elvis Stojko, 94 SP

Liz Manley, 88 LP
Brian Boitano, 88 LP
 
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Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Brian Orsers' 88 Calgary Olympics - short program - Sing, Sing, Sing.
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Torville & Dean 1984
Bestmianova & Bukin 1988
Klimova & Ponomarenko 1992
Gretchuk & Platov 1998
Yagudin 2002
Kulik 1998
Mishkitenok & Dmitriev 1992
Baiul 1994
 

Matt

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 19, 2003
It wasn't in an Olympic year, but it had just the same amount of fire...Yags' "Lawrence of Arabia" programme from '99 (I think it was '99)

Also:

Hughes '02
Sale & Pelletier '02
Lobacheva & Averbukh '02 (the most fire I've ever seen from them)
Kulik '98
Torvil & Dean '94 & '84
 

sarahmistral

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
a little Sasha gushing

Sasha Cohen's SLC 2002 Short Program. Just downloaded it. My God, how I loved that program. Fire, Abandon, Confidence, Flow, Speed, Musicality, Joy, Energy, Rhythm...HOW could I have forgotten to mention it! The music seems to propel her along, and she gains momentum with every note, every exquisite move, not isolated as I often find them in her programs, but flowing as part of a flawless whole. Wow.

I read in a post today a comment about Michelle's "real emotion" versus Sasha's contrived artistry or something to that effect...that may well have been the case on recent occasions, but emotionally that 2002 SP skate was, in my book, right up there with the emotion, abandon, and fire that Michelle has shown in her great recent Nats & Worlds LPs...and for a debut on the international scene, for Sasha to do it on that stage was really remarkable.

If she had pulled off an LP of matching intensity and polish and wound up skating off with the whole thing, she perhaps wouldn't have had the "growing pains" of dealing with pressure, hype, expectations etc, assuming of course that she decided to retire like Tara did. That skate of Sasha's actually reminded me of Tara's fiery Olympic skates, Tara clearly having the competitive edge in that comparison, the sheer nerves of steel, but I think Sasha's 2002 Oly SP shows that she has also been capable of pulling out all the stops emotionally and not caving in under the nerves. I know the question mark surrounding her is now focused mostly on the LP after she charges out to the lead in the short, but as a performance in its own right, I felt the need to mention that program.
 

sarahmistral

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
sorry for repeating myself

I just saw that I had mentioned Sasha's SP before, in my initial post, as had a few other people; I'm sorry, but after viewing it again after such a long time, I couldn't help myself:)

Sarah
 
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