Your favorite men's Olympic competition | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Your favorite men's Olympic competition

MaxSwagg

Match Penalty
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Daisuke should've been WELL ahead of both Plush and Evan in both segments in the components. His programs were choreographically more substantive, performance was better, interpretation was certainly better, as were the skating skills. He absolutely should've been leading after the short program by several points.

But you have to go with 2002.
 
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blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Out of the ones I've seen at the time they were running, 2002 (1998 is a close second due to Elvis's "heroic" performance with the groin injury), but if I'd been able to watch the 1988 competition in 1988, I'd probably say that. As it stands, I've only watched some of the performances on YouTube, but Orser and Boitano make it seem exciting enough on their own.
 

Eddie Lee

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
No contest! 1988's Calgary Olympics featuring the "Battle of the Brians". I was rooting for my countryman, Boitano, but must admit I preferred the "Dapper-Stepper's" performance (Dick Button's moniker for Orser). Who can forget the landmark Olympic debut of Midori Ito? Gold medalist's Katerina Witt's "Carmen"? And the absolute perfection of the pairs' gold of Godeeva/Grinkov? All at the 1988 Olympics. I review it yearly.

Next would be the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Evan's gold and Yuna's absolutely perfect performances. And the Ice Dance battle between Virtue/Moir and Davis/White? Another spectacular Canadian Olympics!
 
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andromache

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Those of you commenting on the 1988 Olympics...can you comment on the perception of the men's event in 1994? I recall reading that Urmanov's win was kind of controversial.

As for my favorite, 2002. (Though what I've seen of 1988 was epic, I didn't watch it live because I wasn't born.) Yagudin put down two jaw-dropping performances, the rivalry was amazing and real, and Tim Goebel landed a ton of quads. This was also the first time I witnessed legend TAT in her fur coat.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Those of you commenting on the 1988 Olympics...can you comment on the perception of the men's event in 1994? I recall reading that Urmanov's win was kind of controversial.

I don't think it was controversial, just kind of disappointing all the way around. In the short program Kurt Browning finished 12th, returning Brian Boitano got 8th and defending champion from 1992 Victor Petrenko was 9th. Urmaov skated well and held off a valiant effort by Stojko (who popped a triple Axel attempt into a single, but recovered well). Candeloro was entertaining as usual with Godfather, but slipped to fifth in the long, still giving him the bronze overall even though he finished behind both Browning and Petrenko in the long. Some people didn't like Urmanov's style (too pompous or something). All in all, kind of a forgettable competition.
 
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iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Battle of the Brians - 1988 - two classy guys (I was actually pulling for Brian O., my favorite Canadian men's skater), but they were both fabulous!
 
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LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Those of you commenting on the 1988 Olympics...can you comment on the perception of the men's event in 1994? I recall reading that Urmanov's win was kind of controversial.

Pretty much what Mathman wrote. Urmanov over Stojko IMO wasn't that controversial. It's just that Urmanov was downright ridiculous in that costume and had some ridiculous choreo (answering a phone, the chicken leg thing). I think if Elvis had not popped the first axel and did the 4toe-3toe he'd have won hands down. I thought Petrenko should have won the LP, but as the typical judging went he was too far down to get FS winning marks. (It always amazes me that judges have such poor short term memory that they can't tell a winning program from the penultimate group)

As for Boitano and Browning, uggh. When Candeloro with his horrendous skating skills wins an Olympic medal, you know the favorites must have blown it bigtime.
 

solani

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 8, 2014
Country
Austria
Pretty much what Mathman wrote. Urmanov over Stojko IMO wasn't that controversial. It's just that Urmanov was downright ridiculous in that costume and had some ridiculous choreo (answering a phone, the chicken leg thing). I think if Elvis had not popped the first axel and did the 4toe-3toe he'd have won hands down. I thought Petrenko should have won the LP, but as the typical judging went he was too far down to get FS winning marks. (It always amazes me that judges have such poor short term memory that they can't tell a winning program from the penultimate group)

As for Boitano and Browning, uggh. When Candeloro with his horrendous skating skills wins an Olympic medal, you know the favorites must have blown it bigtime.
When I was a kid watching that competiton I thought that Stojko was the coolest guy around (even cooler than Candeloro) and I was very upset that he didn't win. But you shouldn't forget that Urmanov skated after Stojko in the FS and Urmanov also had a quad toe, but he didn't go for it because he knew he didn't need it. And Stojko still received higher technical marks than Urmanov and I'm not sure I agree with that now. Urmanov's jumps (except that 3F) were stellar. And, altough I don't like his program much I must say that his performance was very good.
And I agree, Boitano and Browning were a huge disappointment really.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
1988- not just for the Brians. What an amazing group of men skated for the gold in Calgary! And most of them had at least one great performance in one of the three phases of the event!

Here's the line up :) and final order of finish

1988 Winter Olympics 1 Brian Boitano USA
1988 Winter Olympics 2 Brian Orser CAN
1988 Winter Olympics 3 Viktor Petrenko URS
1988 Winter Olympics 4 Alexander Fadeev URS
1988 Winter Olympics 5 Grzegorz Filipowski POL
1988 Winter Olympics 6 Vladimir Kotin URS
1988 Winter Olympics 7 Christopher Bowman USA
1988 Winter Olympics 8 Kurt Browning CAN
1988 Winter Olympics 9 Heiko Fischer FRG
1988 Winter Olympics 10 Paul Wylie USA
1988 Winter Olympics 11 Richard Zander FRG
1988 Winter Olympics 12 Oliver Honer SUI
1988 Winter Olympics 13 Petr Barna CZE
1988 Winter Olympics 14 Lars Dresler DEN
1988 Winter Olympics 15 Axel Mederic FRA
1988 Winter Olympics 16 Neil Paterson CAN
1988 Winter Olympics 17 Makoto Kano JPN
1988 Winter Olympics 18 Paul Robinson GBR
1988 Winter Olympics 19 Cameron Medhurst AUS
1988 Winter Olympics 20 Shubin Zhang CHN
1988 Winter Olympics 21 Alessandro Riccitelli ITA
1988 Winter Olympics 22 Sung-Il Jung KOR
1988 Winter Olympics 23 Michael Huth GDR
1988 Winter Olympics 24 Peter Johansson SWE
1988 Winter Olympics 25 David Liu TPE
1988 Winter Olympics 26 Boiko Alexiev BUL
1988 Winter Olympics 27 Walbe Olavarrieta Navarro MEX
1988 Winter Olympics 28 Gang Ho PRK
 

Crossover

All Hail the Queen
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
I feel like I'm obliged to rewatch the 1988 Olympics as a whole and carefully since so many people say "The 1988 are the best of all". :laugh:

My first winter Olympic experience is 1992 when I was a kid, and that was only for the ladies' figure skating and then 2002 men's competition blew me away. How beautiful men's figure skating could be; great power and energy along with a lot of interesting drama. The Men's events at 2006, 2010, and 2014 Olympics were kind of meh... to me although I saw them live...and then the 1994 and 1998 were much more exciting to watch because I loved Candeloro's unique personality and spins on the ice. The Olympic competitions held before 1990s seem too distant to me, so only saw some of clips from the old days.
 
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edenlover

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
1992 was wonderful because the surprise silver medalist was Paul Wylie, with his Henry the 5th (I think) long program and wonderful La Valse in the short. He was so proud of his performances, and he should have been. He was so under the radar.

The best of all for me was 1988, without a doubt . I was in Cincinnati when Brian B lost his title to Brian O, so when he took GOLD in 88 I was ecstatic. I loved his program--both programs, in fact.

Then, the last exciting one for me was Evan in 2010. TO beat Plushy the way he did was a feat! And I loved his reaction to his win. He didn't expect it...was genuinely surprised. I also think Johnny Weir was also royally screwed in that competition. To drop to sixth was a slap in the face.

So there you have it. I'm sure these choices were no surprise to those who have read my posts.
 
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CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
I think that 2018 has the most potential to either be the most epic or disappointing men's Olympics competition of all time.

We thought the same about Sochi... but then the pressure of the Olympics got to everyone. :slink: But by then I think the overall field will be much more consistent. This is actually an excellent season so far in terms of men's skating, with strong freeskates from many competitors.

I'm thinking the environment in Korea will be much more hospitable on people's nerves -- after Plu withdrew in Sochi , the energy (and obviously, the attendance) of the crowd diminished, and when you're under pressure and a great portion of the audience (well, what remained of it) isn't the most supportive and even somewhat apathetic at that point, it's very difficult to perform well.

Frankly it makes it even more remarkable that Kostner and Kim skated as well as they did in the ladies event, considering every Russian in that audience was itching to cheer the moment they made a mistake (a la S/S in pairs).

I feel like in the men's event in Korea, the audience will be quite neutral, or at least more respectful of all the skaters compared to Sochi.
 

NaVi

Medalist
Joined
Oct 30, 2014
Blaming the crowd for the performances in 2014 is lame...

I personally have little doubt(and that comes from the possibility of injuries) that 2018 will be the greatest Men's Olympic event of all time.
 
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Ophelia

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 6, 2013
^its not lame. Skaters themselves have remarked on the impact an audience has in their performances.
 

lyndichee

Medalist
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Unfortunately I can't comment on older Olympic ones because I am too young but 2002 was a great year.

On another somewhat related but unrelated note, I liked the IDEA of 2014.

Yuzuru Hanyu, The GPF winner.
Patrick Chan, 3 time world champion who broke the WR at 2013 TEB.
Denis Ten, World Silver Medalist who surprised everyone at 2013 Worlds (Friend who attended who is a Patrick Chan fan said that he deserved gold there)
Javier Fernandez, World Bronze Medalist who has made strides since switching to Brian Orser

Plus long-time competitors such a Jeremy Abbott, Daisuke Takahashi, Brian Jourbert, Evgeni Plushenko etc.

Should have been a good year, unfortunately not clean like the Ladies competition.
 

anyanka

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Oh, c'mon, ask a tough question! Heeheehee just kidding. :dance3: Easy peasy -- hands down, nothing else coming even close -

the Battle of the Brians. Two amazing champions giving wonderful performances. Both such classy skaters and men. But I was thrilled that Boitano took the win! Boitano all the way.

Agreed. I'm Canadian and was really sad Orser didn't take the title, he was very close (that minor stumble), but Boitano was marvelous. I imagine the judges had a very difficult decision that night. Both are still wonderful to watch, years later. :)
 

anyanka

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Some friends were fortunate enough to attend the 2010 men's event. The final flight was nerve-wracking and book-ended by the reigning world champ and the reigning Olympic champ, it was really down to the wire. The skate order: Evan (last competitive skate), Nobu, Steph (retired afterward), Dai, Johnny (took long break), Plushy (also rested until E2012). What a lineup!! The crowd was supportive of everyone in the final flight, regardless of nationality, and the only real dissent was when Johnny Weir's scores put him in 5th with just Plushy left to skate and the crowd voiced their disapproval (he had no quad but brought the house down with a clean skate). And of course being in Vancouver, Chan got a very warm ovation skating in the second-to-last group (he was 7th heading into the FS).

It was the first winter Olympics that came around since Facebook went prominent, so I got to see the reactions in real time on my feed, which was personally very exciting for me. The official Olympic page was active but not the way it was now, so seeing videos, clips, photos was a real game-changer to the way we watched skating competitions at that point. So for me it had that extra level of excitement.

The most disappointing was Sochi, which was a splatfest. And poor Javi, he had the one jump invalidated and it cost him the medal. I can't watch footage again because his face completely fell when he realized he was 2nd behind Denis with the rest of the final flight still to go, and he knew the medal was gone. :(
 

liv

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
For me, 1988, no question. Although disappointed that Orser didnt win, he only had 2 small errors which didnt really affect the performance, but mattered because Brian B was pretty much clean. Both had great programs, similar tech content, and then Petrenko was clean... these guys won their medals rather fall into them. For both Brians, the pressure was immense, yet both delivered. Unfortunately many do not live up to the hype at the Olympics so we get only a few memorable overall events.

Gosh, 1988 was stellar for all 4 events.

I hope we see everyone perform their best in korea... if they can do as well as at gpf 2015, and add some more of the guys to the mix, wow, we are in for a treat.
 

Ice Dance

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
2002.

Yagudin.

Timothy.

Honda.

Abt.

The number of people who skated better than we had any right to expect. I believe every Olympics since then has suffered by comparison. (Though I will say that the best battle for gold was 1988).
 
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