Best Olympics Men's Competitions | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Best Olympics Men's Competitions

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
2002 was the best that I remember. The epic battle between Plush and Yags in their primes, and then Tim Goebel landing 3 quads in the LP (IIRC). Plus Elvis Stojko's last competitive performance. Abt was good too.

2002 would be closely followed by 2010 and then 1998 for me. 2010 wasn't as good as 2002 because Evan lacked a quad and it wasn't such a showdown between him and Plush because they both skated programs focusing on totally different things (Evan - maximizing points, Plush - jumps, basically, more of a 6.0 style). 1998 was marred a bit by the injury of Elvis Stojko, causing him to not do his quad and to have to walk to the podium instead of skate. So heartbreaking. Plus, Candeloro is my least favourite skater ever.

I was two in '88 so I don't remember it in real time, but I did enjoy the performances of both Brians on youtube.
 

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
1. 1988- Of course there were the Brians, but Viktor Petrenko came from behind with an amazing SP and LP too. Bowman, Wylie, Browning all were great.

2. 2002- Best ever Yagudin performance, Plush went after the tech, and Goebel managed a clean one.

3. 1998- Stojko was never my thing, but he pushed to the end, and Kulik was flawless. D'Artagnan was a total surpise.

4. 1994- Yeah, the elders blew up, but they all came back in the LP to do great programs. The medalists earned it.
 

zschultz1986

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
2002
------moderate gap-----
1988 (only due to the 2 Brians really)
1998
2006 (lots of mistakes but technically sublime Plushenko and super artistry from Lambiel and Buttle)
1994
1980
1972
------big gap-----

1992, 2010, 2014, 1984 all sucked about equally in different ways

Really, you're gonna put 2006 up there, but leave out 2010? I may not like that Evan won, but the last flight was amazing. 2006 was as big of a mess as this Olympics was for the men. Buttle was NOT landing that quad at all and still did it for the points, a la Hanyu this year. Really only Plushenko skated well in that final flight.
 

moviechick

On the Ice
Joined
May 7, 2008
I would put 2006 slightly above 2010 personally as well. Artistically, Lambiel and Buttle showed some realness while I was mostly bored by the artistic programs of 2010 except for Takahashi. Lyscaek is just a charisma vacuum to me.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
Young whippersnappers.

Try 1976 with John Curry and Toller Cranston. Now THAT was a competition that shaped the future of figure skating. Glorious.

Also... Dorothy Hamill and Irina Rodnina... it was an Olympics to remember.
 

Crylais

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 14, 2014
I only got into figure skating last December so I can't say which one is the best, only watched this years. Overall this Olympic was slightly disappointing as no one really performed at their best. However, we were able to witness possibly one of the best Men's SP ever and an almost equally great SP from Patrick Chan. If he landed his 3A then he would probably have skated his best SP, which is a huge achievement. I think his Olympic SP only fell short of his personal best by like 1 point and if he didn't stumble the 3A he would have broke it.

We also saw a glimpse of some possible future talents.

I was somewhat sad that Australia came last. Hopefully in a few Olympic Games time we will have someone who can at least place in the top 10.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
02 and 2010 come to mind. I honestly don't remember whole competitions (or final flights) before 2000... but I was barely in my teens before then :laugh:

that being said... in 1992 there weren't a lot of inspiring skates from the skaters we were told were the best (3time world champion got confused and played zamboni after all, and he wasn't the only one). 94 had a "controversial" winner... 98 I don't even remember Kulik's skate (interestingly enough I do remember Mike Weiss lol)

I guess 1988 would be one, too, if for no other reason than the Battle of the Brians?
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Battle of the Brians in 1988, hands down!

1992 - for Paul Wylie's silver medal
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
2006 was underwhelming for me. Plushenko was technically good but had about as much artistry and heart as a rock during the performance. IIRC, Lambiel and Buttle made mistakes.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
1. 1988- Of course there were the Brians, but Viktor Petrenko came from behind with an amazing SP and LP too. Bowman, Wylie, Browning all were great.

2. 2002- Best ever Yagudin performance, Plush went after the tech, and Goebel managed a clean one.

3. 1998- Stojko was never my thing, but he pushed to the end, and Kulik was flawless. D'Artagnan was a total surpise.

4. 1994- Yeah, the elders blew up, but they all came back in the LP to do great programs. The medalists earned it.

For me 2002 tops them all because all of the top 3 were so great but Yagudin really in my mind was incomparable. And the Brian Brian competition was fierce but the Plushenko/Yagudin one had more melodrama. And then Goebel being so amazing and landing three freaking quads is just the cherry on top.

But now I'll have to go and rewatch all those other guys you mentioned from 1988.
 

Raatkirani

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 22, 2006
My favorite men's competition was 1994...you had the amateurs and the reinstated pros together...so much anticipation and shocking results.
 
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