Best Olympic Rivalries in Skating History

[gsk8]

The title says it all!

What do you think are the greatest Olympic rivalries in figure skating history — and why? Let’s celebrate the passion of these matchups while keeping the conversation respectful and free of trolling, personal attacks and flame wars.

This is not about "upsets" or "scandals" (i.e. Yuna Kim and Adelina Sotnikova) but actual rivalries, friendly or not.

For me, it was Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko.

They gave us one of the most epic rivalries in figure skating history. Both came up under the same coach, Alexei Mishin, but things got messy fast, and Yagudin ended up going to Tatiana Tarasova.

Yagudin was the drama king on ice — powerful, intense, and unforgettable — especially with his gold-medal performance at the 2002 Olympics. Plushenko, on the other hand, was the ultimate technician, throwing down quads and sticking around long enough to win medals across four Olympics.

Fans were split into “Team Yagudin” vs. “Team Plushenko,” and their clashes weren’t just about who had more medals — it was artistry vs. athleticism, fire vs. ice.

What are your thoughts on this rivalry?

 

[TontoK]

Yagudin v Plushenko was a great rivalry.

My contribution to the thread:

While I don't think it had the same sense of fiery personal rivalry, Gordeeva/Grinkov v Mishkutenok/Dmitriev in 1994 also offered a crisp variety of styles, and they were delivered by two amazing teams. The bronze medalists that year, who were current WC at the time, Brasseur/Eisler were no slouches either.

I was then, and still remain, Team G/G.

 

[dorispulaski]

For me it will always be Team Orser vs Team Boitano

For sheer drama, Team Grishuk &'Platov vs. Team Usova & Zhulin in dance, but for two teams of lovely skaters with two teams of rabid fans, Virtue & Moir vs Davis & White.

 

[TontoK]

For me it will always be Team Orser vs Team Boitano

For sheer drama, Team Grishuk &'Platov vs. Team Usova & Zhulin in dance, but for two teams of lovely skaters with two teams of rabid fans, Virtue & Moir vs Davis & White.

How could I have forgotten Virtue/Moir v Davis/White. That rivalry was the worst for me... because I absolutely loved both of the teams.

Of the others mentioned, the rivalry was fun. I preferred Yagudin to Plushenko. G/G to the other pairs, and Boitano to Orser. Usova/Zhulin to G/P. That was fun because I always knew who I wanted to win.

But man, with V/M and D/W.. it was easy to take things personally, because adherents to one seemed to trash the other too often, and I couldn't stand that.

 

[Mathman]

Sonja Henie versus Cecilia Colledge, Berlin,1936. Drama? Henie was so mad when the school figures scores were posted, showing the top two nip and tuck instead of Henie way ahead, that she ripped the placard off the bulletin board and tore it to shreds.

There is no evidence that her father put in a call to his buddy, Adolph Hitler. But when the random draw was conducted for skate order in the free skate, Colledge was slotted at #2 (out of 26), with Henie last.

 

[iluvtodd]

The Battle of the Brians!!!!!

 

[ladyjane]

I loved the battle of the Brians (even if the media tended to focus on the Carmens by Katarina Witt and Debbie Thomas), and Yagudin vs Pluschenko was also great. I enjoyed Davis/White vs Virtue/Moir as well, and the one following that Virtue/Moir vs Papadakis/Cizeron too.

I also like internal country rivalries although they tend to be less spectacular in the countries where they don't take place. I just loved our two (Dutch) ID-teams who were very close in competence, but that rivalry disappeared this season (I won't go into the reasons for that in this thread. Let's just say I really would have liked that rivalry to remain in existence.).

I loved Gordeeva-Gringov vs Mishkutenok-Dimitriev, but was not so happy with the outcome because I really liked M-D better.

 

[ElSoteroLoco]

Tara vs Michelle- Tara was my girlfriend
Yagudin vs Plushenko- Team Yagudin
Tonya vs Nancy- Tonya all the way
Kristi vs Midori- Team Kristi (although I always loved Midori's spirit and smile when she skated)
Boitano vs Orser- Team Brian
Plushenko vs Lysacek- Team Evan

 

[4everchan]

Battle of the Brians is perhaps the one I felt most intensely.

Virtue and Moir were also in the middle of two famous rivalries as mentioned before.

Return of the pro skaters was a big deal, preventing world champions Brasseur Eisler from getting the gold. Gordeeva and Grinkov were special but coming from Canada, the rule changes tasted a bit sour, especially the way it was presented in our medias.

There were many rivalries happening in world championships that never unfolded really at the Olympics because one of the two skaters didn't have a great Olympic competition. For instance, 2018 and 2022. Everyone was looking forward to an epic Chen- Hanyu battlr which never happened when Nathan took himself out of contention in the SP. In 2022, the reverse, well it wasn't the same circumstances of course, happened with Nathan taking the gold but with less of the opposition some had expected.

Some of the greatest battles have been internal. For instance, Canadian fans recall the Chartrand/Austman battle about who is getting that final spot for the team. Of course, that battle wouldn't be something many fans other than Canadian fans would recall because it happens during the month leading to the games and not at the games.
There are many many examples of these, for instance Spanish ice dancers etc.

And of course, as mentioned Yagudin and Plushenko is probably one of the most iconic for most fans.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

V/M vs D/W--V/M for me
Lysacek vs Plushenko--Lysacek for me
Yagudin vs Plushenko--Yagudin for me
Usova/Zhulin vs Grischuk/Platov--U/Z for me
Chen/Hanyu-Chen for me

 

[Ziotic]

I’m surprised no one mentioned Kim vs Asada. Although not as fraught as some of the others it was still great to see them pushing each other.

 

[lariko]

I watched Mishina/Galliamov vs Boikova/Kozlovskii with great interest. Wish it was tbc, but I appreciate B/K more.
Trusova/Tscherbakova. If I ruled the world, Trusova would wear every gold medal she wanted so badly.
Chen/Hanyu. Chen, Chen, Chen!

 

[bostonskaterguy86]

I’m surprised no one mentioned Kim vs Asada. Although not as fraught as some of the others it was still great to see them pushing each other.

This would be my pick for the best - in no small part because I still find it almost impossible to take a "side!" To this day I watch them both and all I can think of is how lucky we all were to have both of them competing at the same time.

 

[macy]

i guess i have to add Medvedeva/Zagitova although maybe it wasn't as dramatic as some others. the closer to the 2018 olympics we got the more dramatic it became with Evgenia's injury and Alina's skyrocket to the top especially as they were training mates. At the beginning of that season no one really thought Alina was a threat.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Kwan vs Lipinski. Kwan, always Kwan.

 

[TontoK]

I loved the battle of the Brians (even if the media tended to focus on the Carmens by Katarina Witt and Debbie Thomas), and Yagudin vs Pluschenko was also great. I enjoyed Davis/White vs Virtue/Moir as well, and the one following that Virtue/Moir vs Papadakis/Cizeron too.

I also like internal contry rivalries although they tend to be less spectacular in the countries where they don't take place. I just loved our two (Dutch) ID-teams who were very close in competence, but that rivalry disappeared this season (I won't go into the reasons for that in this thread. Let's just say I really would have liked that rivalry to remain in existence.).

I loved Gordeeva-Gringov vs Mishkutenok-Dimitriev, but was not so happy with the outcome because I really liked M-D better.

See, I didn't think V/M vs P/C was that much of a rivalry. Frankly I thought V/M were so superior that there really wasn't a logical standard by which the two teams could be considered comparable.

And, yes, I realize that P/C sometimes came out on top. In every instance, the judges were in error, and I can only assume that extreme bias and vote-swapping were the cause. (Tongue in cheek - if you know the thread, then you know the thread.)

 

[ladyjane]

See, I didn't think V/M vs P/C was that much of a rivalry. Frankly I thought V/M were so superior that there really wasn't a logical standard by which the two teams could be considered comparable.

And, yes, I realize that P/C sometimes came out on top. In every instance, the judges were in error, and I can only assume that extreme bias and vote-swapping were the cause. (Tongue in cheek - if you know the thread, then you know the thread.)

I'll agree to disagree. I didn't think V/M were superior at all, and thought PC should have won the OG and the judges were not in error at all in the other competitions. V/M stayed the same (which was really good, I won't deny that), but P/C rose during that season, and became better and better. If it wasn't for the costume debacle.... they would and should have won. The costume thing was the issue in the end, and I refuse to think that vote swapping or extreme bias was the case with these particular skaters.

 

[TontoK]

I'll agree to disagree. I didn't think V/M were superior at all, and thought PC should have won the OG and the judges were not in error at all in the other competitions. V/M stayed the same (which was really good, I won't deny that), but P/C rose during that season, and became better and better. If it wasn't for the costume debacle.... they would and should have won. The costume thing was the issue in the end, and I refuse to think that vote swapping or extreme bias was the case with these particular skaters.

The vote-swapping part was in jest... referring to another recent thread which basically complained about biased judging because the OP's favorite was underscored. That whole thread was a hoot. I riffed off that to jokingly imply that something underhanded was going on when V/M were beaten by P/C. But I won't back off my contention that V/M were by far the better team. Opinions may vary, of course.

 

[ladyjane]

Opinions may vary, of course.

This....glad to see you're not taking part in the vote swapping conspiracies! I still think it was a real rivalry though, and, to be fair, so did V/M themselves. I remember him saying it was really tough competing with P/C!

 

[Arigato]

Only in this rivalry will you hear this question, and this answer. Timestamped. Hit play.