Teenage Ladies Olympic Champions

In the past three Winter Olympics, young teenagers have won the gold medal:

1994 - Oksana Baiul, Ukraine. She came into the competition as the defending World Champion. She won the gold medal and immediately took advantage of the many exhibitions, shows, and pro competitions that sprang up in the mid 1990s. Oksana never competed again in another eligible competition.

1998 - Tara Lapinski, USA. She came into the competition as the defending World Champion. She won the gold medal and immediately turned pro. Tara had been nursing a serious hip injury during the Olympics - an injury that derailed her pro skating career. She, too, never competed again in another eligible competition.

2002 - Sarah Hughes, USA. She came into the competition as the defending World bronze medalist. She won the gold medal in a huge upset. Sarah filmed some shows, TV specials, made plenty of endorsements, publicity appearances, and left skating to attend Yale University. Now it seems that she's returning to the ice, as a professional skater, with SOI. Frankly, I would be surprised if Sarah ever competed in another eligible competition.

I'm not criticizing any of these wonderful champions. Anyone who wins an Olympic gold medal in figure skating is nothing short of magnificent. Still, it's been kind of sad to see them "grab the gold and say goodbye."

Certainly, the demise of the school figures had a lot to do with the emergence of these young teenagers as Olympic champions. They had little, if any, need to learn the school figures, as this discipline was abolished in 1990- when Oksana was 13, Tara was 8, and Sarah as 5. Well, Oksana probably trained in the school figures, but she stopped doing so when they were abolished.

IMHO, I would love to see a more "mature" woman figure skater - someone in her 20s - win in 2006. There are plenty of talented women out there who could grace the podium at the next OIympics - Sasha, Michelle, Shizuka, etc.

The skating judges and gymnsatics judges just like the girls who are 16 years old to win the Olympic golds. Oksana and Sarah were 16, Tara was 15, and Carly Patterson is 16, younger age really give the competitors a lot of confidence. When they are younger, they haven't gone through many injuries and frustration, they can compete better. At 2006 Winter Olympic it's more likely another girl who is 16 to win the gold.

Eligible

Sarah Hughes did continue on as a eligible skater for one more Nationals and one more Worlds. She deserves credit for staying in there a bit longer.

One other point: it didn't seem to me as if she won for her youthful enthusiasm. She won because she had the goods that night.

It's possible that Tara's youthful enthusiasm gave her the teeny tiny edge needed to grab the gold.

Can't pull a play-by-play memory up out of the ole memory banks for the previous Olys. Was it Oksana's youthful enthusiasm? That was a split decision also, wasn't it?

Don't almost all Olympic champions quit after winning the gold? Regardless of their age?

Maybe someone else has the statistics on this... Methinks Katerina Witt was the exception, staying eligible to win a second gold, but her options were limited under the East German system. BTW, the A&E Biography of Katt Witt was excellent, IMO.

Linny

Well you can say the same thing about other skaters as well. Kristi won 1992 and cashed in on her medal even though she could have stayed on to 1994, however she said that she had already accomplished what she wanted in 1992 and she didn't want to deal with the Olympic pressure of being the clear favorite in 1994. If MK had won in 1998, she might not have continued competing for all these years. I definitely don't look down upon the girls who go on with their lives and I really don't understand why everyone jumped on Oksana, Tara and Sarah. There's a whole life outside skating and everyone is in it for the OGM. Once you get the OGM, why stay in (other than to win another OGM). Even Ilia Kulik left after winning 1998 OGM, even though he might have had the best chance to repeat his accomplishment.

Never mind.

IDLERACER said:

Women's figure skating has always been a teenager's sport. Peggy Flemming and Dorothy Hammil were both 19 when they won their gold medals. As a matter of fact, the only exception to this rule was Kristie Yamaguchi who won her's at the ripe old age of (gasp) 20.​

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Carol Heiss was 20 when she won her Olympic gold. I think Tenley Albright was 20 or 21.

Because of these young age girls winning the Olys, the Sport has been written off as the Teenyboppers Sport. While I understand the Sportscasters views on this, I am hoping we get a Senior Lady who is over the age of 18, from anywhere in the world and wins the next Oly and we get back to sincere ladies figure skating and not a children's pagaent with triple combos and quads and the biggest dimples as the talent.

On another note, what is so stupendous about little girls who win the Olys? So many already have. Their age is definitely in their favor. Isn't it?

Joe

It seems that the entire skating community in a way is in favor of younger skaters, even at grass root level. At a local major club, if you reached 14, you are an over-hill senior lady. Not many girls at this age are still skating and competing. Acturally most of them have hard time to overcome the difficulty of growing-up, and have to quit figure skating.

jesslily said:

It seems that the entire skating community in a way is in favor of younger skaters, even at grass root level. At a local major club, if you reached 14, you are an over-hill senior lady. Not many girls at this age are still skating and competing. Acturally most of them have hard time to overcome the difficulty of growing-up, and have to quit figure skating.

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And we constantly hype 'it's amazing that someone so young won the olympics'. If someone is 20 or more, will we say 'an old bag won the olys this year'?

From what I've read, the number of young teens and preteens with serious skating injuries are quite common.

Joe

I for one am glad to see someone other than a teenager win an event. I think that with age comes an increased awareness of self and maturity (hopefully) that can lead to knowing what boundaries of the sport you can push (and they don't all have to be in how many revolutions in the air anyone can do).

The fact that the ISU instituted the age rule (must be 15 by July 1st of the year before the Senior ISU Championship/Olympic competition) pretty much eliminates the possibility of a Lipinski/Baiul/Hughes repeat. Lipinski and Baiul were 15 and Hughes was 16 when they won the OGM.

Every lady winner (with the exception of Barbara Ann Scott, in 1948) has stood on the World podium prior to winning the OGM. Lipinski and Baiul were World Champions at 14 the year before they won, and Sarah was 15 when she won a World bronze medal. All three had participated in more than one GP series (Lipinski had won the GPF twice) and Bauil was a two-time Europeans silver medal winner, before winning a World medal. So all three had substantial competitive resumes before their Olympic win.

Under today's rules, it's pretty tough for very young skaters to accumulate enough Senior experience at the World level to position themselves as OGM contenders. Of the young up-and-comers, Miki Ando has probably accomplished the most, and she will be 18 for the Turino Olympics. Should Miki win the OGM, though, I think she will turn pro just as the previous 3 OGM winners did.

One interesting point: until Oksana Baiul in 1994, most of the OGM winners had gone on to Worlds the year of their Olympic win. Witt did in 1988 and so did Yamaguchi in 1992. Oksana immediately turned pro and skipped Worlds, and Tara followed suit. Hughes declined to compete at Worlds 2002, but did compete in 2003, and finished 6th, off the podium.

eurterpe - I'm not against little girls. What I am saying is that the hype that follows a little girl winning the Olys is like "Wow! how could she do it at such a young age?" Your emphasizing the wins of these teenagers prove my point that it is the norm for little girls to win the Olys. It's not incredulous. Would you suggest any skater upon reaching 19 to "go pro" whatever that means?

Joe

The USFSA did not get rid of figures at the lower levels until 1994. So Lipinski did have to pass figure tests and compete figures up to the intermediate level.

Barbara Ann Scott did stand on the 1947 world podium.

why the disdain for teens? if they're good the night of then why penalize them because they're a teen. I think the real problem a lot of people have with the last 3 teen champions is because teens these days are looked down as the scum on the world.... we're dirt under the feet. We're not *mature* enough we're not *worthy* enough...

Tara was exciting to watch and yes her youth might have had something to do with her no fear kick butt attitude... but being as how she was suffering already from her hip she might have also thought that it was her only shot... that would be a mature way of thinking in my *teenaged* opinion. Sarah won because the *older* more *mature* women fell and she stayed on her feet... she was inspired that night... she was 4th and figured she might have a chance for a medal but I don't think gold ever entered her mind while she was skating until AFTER she got off and realized she had the skate of her life. I was 9 when Oksana won, and really I can't comment on that one... but the "curse" of the teen skaters is only a curse if you so desire to think it so. they deservingly won their place in skating history...

I think as fans we feel cheated when these skaters drop out of Olympic eligible skating after winning the OGM. IMO less jumping and more skating would =longer, healthier careers. Imagine if Kwan had turned pro after 98 or even 2002 what we would have missed!

I think one of the main issues surrounding the concept of Oksana, Tara, and Sarah as OMGs is not necessarily the fact that they were "outa there" once they won the gold (Sarah being an exception, and I'll get back to that), it was what they had accomplished BEFORE they won. Or, more accurately, the length of time they were around at the top before they did so. Oksana blew on the scene out of literally nowhere, wins the silver at Euros, then the Worlds, then one year later she's won the gold and she's "outa there". She certainly was not the first skater to do this, as a matter of fact, it is usually considered pretty standard for skaters to "get out" once they win the OMG -- however, in Oksana's case, a year earlier, it was a case of Oksana Who? so it was like no-one really got a chance to "get to know her" so to speak because she wasn't in the top ranks of eligible skating for very long. Plus winning the gold in a controversial decision over the more established Nancy Kerrigan didn't help much either. So it's easy to dismiss Oksana as a skater who happened to have one fabulous year at just the right time as opposed to perhaps a -- I hate to use this word, but it's the only thing that comes to mind at the moment -- TRUE Olympic champion with a more established record behind her, in the vein of a Carol Heiss or a Katarina Witt (in her 2nd Olympics). Much the same can be said for Lipinski. She was fairly well known in the US by the time she'd won Worlds in '97, but internationally it was much the same -- she had one great year at just the right time, winning the Worlds and OMG; and she, too, won a controversial decision over the more established Michelle Kwan which didn't help either. Then, she, like Oksana, was "outa there". It was another case, like Oksana, of WAIT a minute, we don't even know what you're truly capable of yet. Will history remember you as one of the all-time greats (i.e, Heiss, Fleming, Hammill, Witt) or as someone who just had one fabulous year?

Sarah's case is a bit different. Remember, the Ladies free program in Salt Lake City was NOTHING to write home about. Kwan was mediocre, Slutskaya could have been much better, Cohen was concentrating so much on landing jumps that all her wonderful choreography went right out the window, and Butrskaya had a terrible competition. So this was less a case of Sarah being so terrific (although she was), it was more of a case of everyone else didn't really step up to the plate so Sarah was able to benefit. And even she realized that despite the OMG, she overall really hadn't accomplished much in her career yet, so she stuck around the extra year until school took up much of her time. And by some accounts she actually isn't finished yet, so the jury is still out.

That being said, I too would like to see the gold in Torino go to a lady with a more established top-level record than what we've seen at the last 3 Olympics. It used to be that an Olympic Gold Medal was the capoff of a good or great career, not part of the start of one that never really took off.

What I was saying was not that it was good or bad to have such young girls winning the OGM, or that girls over 19 should retire.

The point I was trying to make is that from now on, given the ISU age rules, it's very unlikely that we'll see 16 year-old or even 17-year-old Olympic champions.

IMO, the ISU changed the rules to prevent the exit of young talent from the eligible ranks. If their purpose was to keep that talent in the ISU Grand Prix, I'm not sure that's terribly successful either, considering the reduction in prize money and the number of skaters dropping out of the GP due to reported injury.

Oh zzzzzz with the Sarah hadn't done much talk. Yet again. Blah-blah yada yada.

A medal at every GP event she'd entered except one, over three seasons. Two GP Final medals. A reigning Worlds medalist going into the OOOOOs. Four times on the US Nats podium. (And a Jr. National Ladies Champ.) The most difficult program ever done by a woman at the Olympics. Etc. etc.
I think a lot of skaters wouldn't mind "not much" of a career like that one.

Katarina had to have been over 20 when she won her second gold medal. I don't remember her being 15ish when she won in 1984. Also, Oksana wasn't the only champion who didn't show up for Worlds in 94. G&G didin't either. I'm not sure about Urmanov. It seems that almost all OGM winners went pre-1994, and hardly any have bothered to go since.

I don't have a problem with a teenager winning if they deserve it that night. However, something different next time around would be nice, just for a change of pace.