Definitely Brian Boitano!
I spent last summer rewatching the great comps of the 1980's, so my memory on this is quite recent.
I watched the Canadian telecast of the '88 Olympics with Johnny Esau, Debbie Wilkes and Brian Pockar as commentators. Boitano skated first, and the amount of raving from Esau, Wilkes and Pockar was amazing. Esau wanted to know where the 6's were and Wilkes had to remind him that the judges had to save room for Orser, but Johnny still wasn't having any.
When you make that kind of impression on the commentators from the country of your biggest rival, you have absolutely exceeded the requirements for what was then Artistic Expression (different rules today).
The collective gasp from the crowd on the huge huge death drop he did alone was worth the price of admission.
When Orser skated, he was tentative and doubled his 2nd 3A, and had a hugely wide swinging free leg on his 3f. Worse, he was also doing a military program, just as Boitano did. And frankly, he was in a costume that looked like a bellhop's. He was not convincing as a military hero. Sing, Sing, Sing, Orser's SP was definitely the kind of program Orser should have been doing, but The Bolt was not in that vein at all. Skated perfectly, Orser could definitely have beaten Boitano. But he did not skate perfectly. In many ways, he lost the competition not only because of his skating, but also because of an unfortunate choice of music and costume, and choreography that negated his superiority to Boitano in the artistic area. There was a particularly unappetizing piece of business where he mimes getting shot, but he doesn't slow down, act like he's hurt or even show facial distress. For me, Orser lost this competition on the 2nd mark as well as on the first.
Sandra Bezic definitely deserves a lot of the credit for Boitano's look, but she also deserves some of the blame, too, for the criticism of Boitano's work that it lacked choreo. It was Bezic who decided that Brian should do only 'stately' footwork, not fast footwork. In his previous, and much maligned programs, Brian favored fast jazzy routines and he had pretty good footwork, although not up to Orser's standard, IMO. In doing this sort of routine, he was working Orser's line of country, and therefore looked 2nd best at it. He also got criticized by Dick Button for flailing arms. Watching BB pre Bezic, I was reminded of some of the European skaters of today, actually. Bezic removed the arms and the footwork.
If you have a chance, do get a copy of the whole 1988 Olympics.
A Great Set of competitions in all 4 disciplines, and my favorite Olympics so far.
I spent last summer rewatching the great comps of the 1980's, so my memory on this is quite recent.
I watched the Canadian telecast of the '88 Olympics with Johnny Esau, Debbie Wilkes and Brian Pockar as commentators. Boitano skated first, and the amount of raving from Esau, Wilkes and Pockar was amazing. Esau wanted to know where the 6's were and Wilkes had to remind him that the judges had to save room for Orser, but Johnny still wasn't having any.
When you make that kind of impression on the commentators from the country of your biggest rival, you have absolutely exceeded the requirements for what was then Artistic Expression (different rules today).
The collective gasp from the crowd on the huge huge death drop he did alone was worth the price of admission.
When Orser skated, he was tentative and doubled his 2nd 3A, and had a hugely wide swinging free leg on his 3f. Worse, he was also doing a military program, just as Boitano did. And frankly, he was in a costume that looked like a bellhop's. He was not convincing as a military hero. Sing, Sing, Sing, Orser's SP was definitely the kind of program Orser should have been doing, but The Bolt was not in that vein at all. Skated perfectly, Orser could definitely have beaten Boitano. But he did not skate perfectly. In many ways, he lost the competition not only because of his skating, but also because of an unfortunate choice of music and costume, and choreography that negated his superiority to Boitano in the artistic area. There was a particularly unappetizing piece of business where he mimes getting shot, but he doesn't slow down, act like he's hurt or even show facial distress. For me, Orser lost this competition on the 2nd mark as well as on the first.
Sandra Bezic definitely deserves a lot of the credit for Boitano's look, but she also deserves some of the blame, too, for the criticism of Boitano's work that it lacked choreo. It was Bezic who decided that Brian should do only 'stately' footwork, not fast footwork. In his previous, and much maligned programs, Brian favored fast jazzy routines and he had pretty good footwork, although not up to Orser's standard, IMO. In doing this sort of routine, he was working Orser's line of country, and therefore looked 2nd best at it. He also got criticized by Dick Button for flailing arms. Watching BB pre Bezic, I was reminded of some of the European skaters of today, actually. Bezic removed the arms and the footwork.
If you have a chance, do get a copy of the whole 1988 Olympics.
A Great Set of competitions in all 4 disciplines, and my favorite Olympics so far.