Tai and Randy question... | Golden Skate

Tai and Randy question...

76olympics

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
It's off season and I happened to view some Tai and Randy vids from the fsvids site. I had forgotten how much I liked them---really great unison and positions and they look so happy out there.

Do you think -if the injury had not happened-they would have had a fighting chance against the indomitable Rodnina and Zaitsev? I like to think they would have even though some like to point out that Rodnina was on maternity leave when Tai and Randy triumphed at Worlds in 1979. I know Rodnina and Zaitsev were fast and gave the general impression they would NEVER miss an element--but they didn't have much lyricism or artistry, IMHO (unlike the Protopopovs for example). Still-Rodnina in both of her partnerships seemed well-nigh unbeatable.

What do you think?
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
A beautiful pairs team - not because they were American - but because they were a beautiful pairs team.. Whether a healthier Randy would have made a differemce. is immaterial. They were special and that is what is important.

There are so many gold medalists whom I could easily forget and actually have. I just don't believe a gold medal means 'the best'.

Joe
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
76olympics said:
It's off season and I happened to view some Tai and Randy vids from the fsvids site. I had forgotten how much I liked them---really great unison and positions and they look so happy out there.

Do you think -if the injury had not happened-they would have had a fighting chance against the indomitable Rodnina and Zaitsev? I like to think they would have even though some like to point out that Rodnina was on maternity leave when Tai and Randy triumphed at Worlds in 1979. I know Rodnina and Zaitsev were fast and gave the general impression they would NEVER miss an element--but they didn't have much lyricism or artistry, IMHO (unlike the Protopopovs for example). Still-Rodnina in both of her partnerships seemed well-nigh unbeatable.

What do you think?

I remember well when this happend and watched the whole event unfold. Actually, Tai and Randy were just hitting their stride It was a real battle between these two pairs. The great Irina Rodnina was a force and hard to beat.

It's one of those questions that will always be unanswered. Tai and Randy were forced to withdraw before the competiton began. It would have been a real showdown between the two pair teams.

Rodnina and Zaitsev were a real athletic team and did every element with strength and great speed. That was their calling card and what made them special. Tai and Randy were young and were good show skaters. In those days it was pretty difficult for any pairs team to beat a Russian pairs team, but Tai and Randy caught the imagination of the public and were noticed by the judges. It's anyone's guess what the outcome would have been, but it certainly would have been one for the history books.
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
I remember watching Tai and Randy's withdrawal from the short program at the Lake Placid Olympics. It was heartbreaking. They were the defending World champions, and they surely would have won at least the silver medal, had they been able to compete.

Rodnina/Zaitsev, who won the gold medal in 1980, were a strong, sturdy pair, but they had precious little artistry, elegance, or refinement. They just plowed their way through their programs at full throttle, and they won on the basis of their pure strength. I watched my videotape from Lake Placid, and R/Z long program was hardly inspired - it was just go, go, go. When they finished, Irina dropped her arms to her side in exhaustion. Ugh, IMHO.

Tai and Randy, on the other hand, were truly a pair - they skated as one - they had wonderful choregraphy, artistry, and moves they invented and inserted into their programs.
 

Eldredgefan2001

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I'd have to agree with you there SkateFan4Life. They were beautiful to watch, and had the entire package. While Rodnina & Zaitsev were not a joy to watch. They may have had power and consistancy, but they had very little else. I am one who believes that Tai and Randy could have won out over them, had they been given the chance. :love:
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Eldredgefan2001 said:
I'd have to agree with you there SkateFan4Life. They were beautiful to watch, and had the entire package. While Rodnina & Zaitsev were not a joy to watch. They may have had power and consistancy, but they had very little else. I am one who believes that Tai and Randy could have won out over them, had they been given the chance. :love:

Yes...had Tai and Randy been able to compete, I think they would have pulled an Olympic upset and won the gold medal. However - they would have had to skate
perfectly in both their short and long programs. Could they have done so - YES.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
You guys are so cerebral ;) Doesn't anybody want to gossip about Tai's recent engagement to 69-year-old commedian David Brenner?
 

76olympics

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
Mathman, I guess Brenner must have a very charismatic personality.. I am trying to be kind. I do remember liking his routines, but I haven't seen one for some time.

BTW, I recently bought the Tai and Randy autobio from Ebay (my interest sparked again by all of that video watching). It is a really interesting book with great photos. Both of them are very likable (albeit very different)--and inclined to be very demanding of themselves. I hope Tai does have a happy ending with this match -though it is a little hard to fathom from the outside.

I do believe that they could have done it in 1980. But-they didn't have to do it to remain one of the most memorable pairs. They had a unique look and style--I haven't seen it replicated.
 

76olympics

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
Oh- I do have one gossipy detail from the book. Tai was once engaged to Peter Carruthers! This was a surprise to me. It was in 1984 --but it (needless to say) did not end well to the eventual (and general) relief of all. Tai and Randy both say she and Peter were both too young and immature to make it work.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I would have given Tai and Randy a shot at gold, simply because it was Lake Placid in the US. There has always been a bit of home field advantage in figure skating.
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
DORISPULASKI said:
I would have given Tai and Randy a shot at gold, simply because it was Lake Placid in the US. There has always been a bit of home field advantage in figure skating.

Me, too - but Tai and Randy would have had to skate two perfect programs, US "home ice" advantage or not. The Soviet bloc judging was in its heyday then,
and the majority of judges were from European countries. All things being equal, however, if both Rodnina/Zaitsev and Babilonia/Gardner skated perfect programs, I think the gold medal would have been won by Tai and Randy - perhaps in a very close 5/4 decision. We'll never know, sadly, what might have happened.
 

Arianne

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 26, 2004
So Tai is engaged. Is Randy married? I haven't heard much about him lately.

Arianne
 

SusanBeth

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Can anyone remember Rodnina and either of her partners missing anything? Even when their music stopped, they didn't falter. I always remember them as being absolutely clean. I have had to face the painful truth that my memory has been less than faithful to reality. I just remember them as extremely powerful and almost robotic.
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
I loved both pairs very much! As the Olympics approached I though had no doubts in my mind, that it will be Rodnina & Zaitsev for gold medal. They were such a mentally strong and really powerful team. Rodnina was a small and spunky skater with such a huge determination to win. She felt totally unbeatable! She won 3 Olympic, 10 Worlds and 11 Europeans gold medals....
 

pollyls

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 2, 2004
A child's experience of Tai and Randy

When the Olympic drama unfolded in 1980, I was 12. I had been a fan of figure skating longer than I could remember. (Still am. ;) ) I was skating a little bit, too, in group lessons. At a young adolescent age, Randy's injury and their withdrawal from the competition felt like Greek tragedy. I was inconsolable. I remember crying and praying and just being heartbroken. :) I look back at myself and say, poor little kid!!!

But it must have been such a blow for them, especially for Tai -- hadn't Randy hidden his injury from her?
 
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