Flashback to the 1980 Winter Olympics

SkateFan4Life · Jan 8, 2005

A very nice television advertisement is being aired in the New York area to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Shots of the frigid opening ceremony and the US hockey team celebrating its gold medal win. Shots of the men's downhill from Whiteface Mountain. Naturally, the ad trumpeted the virtues of vacationing in Lake Placid.

No shots of the figure skating competitio, though!

thisthingcalledlove · Jan 8, 2005

Totally off topic...

SkateFan4Life said:
The school figures were 60 percent of the Olympic and World scores in 1968 when Peggy Fleming won the titles. However, the ISU attempted to give a bit more emphasis on the free skating part of the competition by equalizing the weight of the scores - the percentages, anyway - so that by 1972 the school figures were 50 percent of the overall score and the long program was 50 percent of the overall score. Obviously, you still had to score high in the school figures to have a chance at a medal.

Trixi was in 3rd place in 1968 after the figures...well within contention...but she fell apart in the free, finishing 12th in the free skate...

SkateFan4Life · Jan 8, 2005

thisthingcalledlove said:
Trixi was in 3rd place in 1968 after the figures...well within contention...but she fell apart in the free, finishing 12th in the free skate...

I disagree. Fleming/Seyfert/Maskova were the 1967 Worlds podium, and they repeated this at the 1968 Olympics and Worlds. Maskova, the bronze medalist, was ten times a better free skater than Trixi Schuba. The only way for Schuba to have held onto the bronze medal was for her to skate the performance of her life and for Maskova to fall apart, and this did not happen. Maskova skated her typical, strong, powerful long program and convincingly won the bronze medal.

SkateFan4Life · Feb 13, 2005

Guys, the reason I'm resurrecting this thread is to respond to a poster who asked for information concerning the controversial finish of Linda Fratianne at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Many thought that she should have won the gold medal over Annet Poetszch, but Annet won fairly and squarely, according to the judging system of that time, which included the school figures, the short program, and the long program.

dorispulaski · Feb 14, 2005

SkateFan4Life
They added a new forum at FSU--Video Vault. A large number of 1980 Olys videos have been posted for download in the oldies but goodies thread there.

Hamilton's LP was LOTS better than his LP in 1984.

Ladskater · Feb 14, 2005

Relavence is relavence. The skaters from pre quad days were awesome skaters; saying they would now be Jr. Skaters is just plain silly. Robin Cousins, Toller Cranston, Donald Jackson - to name a few of the greats - blazed the trail for what we see today. Donald Jackson did the first triple Lutz in competition and Brian Orser became known as "Mr. Triple Axel."

Figure skating has always been a changing sport. Each skater raises the bar for the next generation of skaters. Figures still counted when Robin Cousins was competing.

All of these skaters left their mark on the sport in some way or another and inspired other skaters to carry on.

SkateFan4Life · Feb 14, 2005

Ladskater said:
Relavence is relavence. The skaters from pre quad days were awesome skaters; saying they would now be Jr. Skaters is just plain silly. Robin Cousins, Toller Cranston, Donald Jackson - to name a few of the greats - blazed the trail for what we see today. Donald Jackson did the first triple Lutz in competition and Brian Orser became known as "Mr. Triple Axel."

Figure skating has always been a changing sport. Each skater raises the bar for the next generation of skaters. Figures still counted when Robin Cousins was competing.

All of these skaters left their mark on the sport in some way or another and inspired other skaters to carry on.

I completely agree with you, Ladskater! :agree: The champions of the pre-quad days (and the pre-multi triple jump days) were fantastic, inspiring skaters.
Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill never skated triples, but they performed all of the jumps that the women of their era performed. The fact that they "only" skated double axels in no way detracts from their achievements.

IMHO, had Dorothy or Peggy competed in the 1990s or today, they both would have multiple triples in their competitive arsenal.

All of the champions of the past were the best for their time, and I salute all of them.

Yazmeen · Feb 15, 2005

Diane De Leuuw is an active coach and teacher and very active within ISI (the Ice Skating Institute). I've had the pleasure of being in her classes at the ISI conference and talking to her, and she's about as down to earth and sweet as people can be. She's an EXCELLENT trainer for ISI judges (I judge at bronze level).

SkateFan4Life · Feb 15, 2005

Yazmeen said:
Diane De Leuuw is an active coach and teacher and very active within ISI (the Ice Skating Institute). I've had the pleasure of being in her classes at the ISI conference and talking to her, and she's about as down to earth and sweet as people can be. She's an EXCELLENT trainer for ISI judges (I judge at bronze level).

And Diane was an excellent figure skater, as she won the 1975 World title and the 1976 Olympic silver medal. Diane is a native Californian but represented the Netherlands in her amateur competitive years.

Flashback to the 1980 Winter Olympics

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