Pairs and Dance Competition - 1990 Worlds | Golden Skate

Pairs and Dance Competition - 1990 Worlds

S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
What fun to view (again) my videotape of the pairs and ice dance competition from the 1990 World Championships. What great skating!!

The Pairs:
The legendary Soviet pairs team of Katia Gordeeva/Sergei Grinkov won their fourth (and final) World title that year. They were romantically involved by that time, although it was not a known fact. Their long program was skated to a beautiful selection from "Romeo and Juliet" - a perfect number for them, as the young lovers that they were. Unfortunately, they skated one of the weakest programs of their career. They had a planned jump sequence that started with a double axel. Katia fell on the double axel and missed the complete sequence, while Sergei landed all of the jumps. They had a few other miscues in the program and a curious lack of unison, something that was unheard of for them.
The audience responded with polite applause, but not the standing ovations Katia and Sergei usually receive. They appeared to be in shock as they sat in the kiss 'n cry area and received their scores. Their marks were very generous and reflected their status of defending World and Olympic champions, not the quality of the performance they had just skated.

Canadians Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler skated a dynamic long program, full of difficult jumps and daring lifts - some of which only they perform - and the audience responded with a loud, long standing ovation. G & E skated cleanly and with great speed and assurance. They won the silver medal.

The bronze medal was won by Soviet skaters Natalia Mishkutionok and Artur Dmitriev. They skated cleanly, too, and IMHO, they should have finished second in the competition, not third. IMHO, Brasseur and Eisler should have won the gold medal, and Gordeeva/Grinkov should have finished third. But then, I'm not on of the judges, just a fan. Scott Hamilton expressed his displeasure over the pairs' result and said "The wrong pair won tonight."

The Ice Dance:
Soviet skaters Marina Klimova/Sergei Ponomarenko successfully defended their World title by skating to selections from "My Fair Lady". The silver medal was won by the brother/sister team of Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay who performed to "Missing". The bronze medal was won by Soviets Maia Usova and Alexander Zhulin.

While K & P's performance may have seemed a little bland and unexciting, it was beautifully skated, with clean edges and great technique. IMHO, they were "skater's skaters", and they skated with textbook perfection.

While the Dushesnay's program was very innovative, it wasn't skated with the same skill and perfection as shown by Marina and Sergei, IMHO. Isabelle was clearly not as good a skater as her brother, and it seemed to me that Paul was carrying the burden to present this program. Just an observation and my own opinion, of course.
 

lulu

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
I have also read other places that Paul was a much better skater than Isabel.

About the pairs programs, even thought G&G had the weakest program in terms of jumps and actually landing their technical elements-I thought they had the best choreography. In fact their Romeo & Juliet program is my favorite Long Program of theirs, and IMHO a better program than Moonlight Sonata. Unfortuantly, I think R&J has been somewhat overshadowed by other programs G&G have done.

I am a Huge M&D fan, but I'm not sure if "Jewish Folk Music" was the best routine to show off their strengths. They had a gorgeously sublime SP. But I just don't think that their forte was skating a "comical" routine. I like folk music-and I liked their Folk Music EX, I just wish M&D had skated to something different for their LP.
On the otherhand, I do have tremendous amount of 👍 for skaters who venture out of their comfort zone and skate to a different music.

B&E had a great performance, and the crowd really added to the "electric" atmosphere.
On the otherhand-those costumes... :p
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
lulu said:
I have also read other places that Paul was a much better skater than Isabel.

About the pairs programs, even thought G&G had the weakest program in terms of jumps and actually landing their technical elements-I thought they had the best choreography. In fact their Romeo & Juliet program is my favorite Long Program of theirs, and IMHO a better program than Moonlight Sonata. Unfortuantly, I think R&J has been somewhat overshadowed by other programs G&G have done.

I am a Huge M&D fan, but I'm not sure if "Jewish Folk Music" was the best routine to show off their strengths. They had a gorgeously sublime SP. But I just don't think that their forte was skating a "comical" routine. I like folk music-and I liked their Folk Music EX, I just wish M&D had skated to something different for their LP.
On the otherhand, I do have tremendous amount of 👍 for skaters who venture out of their comfort zone and skate to a different music.

B&E had a great performance, and the crowd really added to the "electric" atmosphere.
On the otherhand-those costumes... :p

When you watch the Dushesnays skate, it's obvious that Paul was the superior skater. IMO, Isabelle always looked as though she was straining to keep up with the choreography and with her more athletic brother. She skated with a lot of determination, but it had a rather rough edge to it - again, my opinion only.

I agree with you that G & G's "Romeo and Juliet" was a stunningly beautiful program, and had they landed all of their jumps and moves, it probably would have earned some 6.0s. Even the greatest of skaters have an off night, and that's what happened to G & G. The judges, however, should have judged them based upon their ACTUAL PERFORMANCE and not upon their reputation. But that's water under the dam at this point.
 

John King

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
A little off topic,but.....

Did Anjelika Krylova and one of the Vladimir's perform in that?I have their (Krylova & Fedorov) 1993 Worlds,and read some blurb about her and Vladimir Leliukh being in a 1989 competition.Either would be a treasure to get a copy of.
 

nuge

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Klimova/Ponomaenko's FD My Fair Lady is one of my fav FDs ever.You're right in saying that Marina and Sergei were not what you would call exciting skaters to watch like the Duchesnay's but they were beautiful and that programme was very traditional but just gorgeous edges and flow. 👍
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
nuge said:
Klimova/Ponomaenko's FD My Fair Lady is one of my fav FDs ever.You're right in saying that Marina and Sergei were not what you would call exciting skaters to watch like the Duchesnay's but they were beautiful and that programme was very traditional but just gorgeous edges and flow. 👍

Yep! :agree: Klimova/Ponomarenko were clasisical, traditional ice dances with pure, clean edges, lots of flow, grace, elegance, and choregraphy. They were heads and shoulders above the rest of the field, IMHO. :clap:
 

Effy

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 27, 2003
The content matters

It may be true that B&E did perform their program almost faultless, but their program was weaker in content that both Russian pairs (no triple, easier jumps and much less ice coverage and speed). M&D had several minor mistakes and the program was not au pair with their short program nor G&G long programme.

In my view the right couple won, although with a lesser margin. in 1994 Olympic the next time the three pairs meet G&G was not 100% perfect, but their content, stoking and style won over the rougher including triple program from M&D and the slowl B&E. Yes B&E could do some faboulous lifts but their basic stroking, jumps and pirouette was not text book material.
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Effy said:
It may be true that B&E did perform their program almost faultless, but their program was weaker in content that both Russian pairs (no triple, easier jumps and much less ice coverage and speed). M&D had several minor mistakes and the program was not au pair with their short program nor G&G long programme.

In my view the right couple won, although with a lesser margin. in 1994 Olympic the next time the three pairs meet G&G was not 100% perfect, but their content, stoking and style won over the rougher including triple program from M&D and the slowl B&E. Yes B&E could do some faboulous lifts but their basic stroking, jumps and pirouette was not text book material.

Well, we can agree to disagree with this assessment. IMHO, Brasseur and Eisler should have won the gold medal at the 1990 Worlds, as they skated the cleanest, most powerful long program. M&D's program had several small errors, as you mentioned, and Gordeeva & Grinkov's long program was a near-disaster for them. It was a matter of reputation (again) winning over the actual performance. :mad:
 
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