Some Disastrous Competitive Performances

mememe said:

Boitano had missed his triple axel combination, but nailed everything else in his program and he was eighth (and that's being the very first skater up in the SPs and not being in "favor" with the judges).

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When you say not being in "favor" with the judges, do you directly mean because he was skating first, or is there something else you are implying?

Meno & Sand

I don't rember when it was but Todd lost control of a death spiral & just laid Jenny out on the ice. She was so mad that you could see the steam coming from her for the rest of the program.

sk8addict said:

I don't rember when it was but Todd lost control of a death spiral & just laid Jenny out on the ice. She was so mad that you could see the steam coming from her for the rest of the program.

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I remember that!! I think it was one of the US Nationals and I was so because Jenny was so mad but trying not to show it but she couldn't help it because it was SUCH a stupid mistake. I remember a pic of it being in USA Today too of her lying on the ice with Todd kind of squatting/sitting and the surprise on her face was just hilarious!!!

Gwendolyn said:

I remember that!! I think it was one of the US Nationals and I was so because Jenny was so mad but trying not to show it but she couldn't help it because it was SUCH a stupid mistake. I remember a pic of it being in USA Today too of her lying on the ice with Todd kind of squatting/sitting and the surprise on her face was just hilarious!!!

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That was during the SP at the 1997 nats. They made another mistake before that, which caused Todd to rush the Death Spiral.

tvcats said:

Yep. It's called bribery. Tarasova has spread it around for years now.

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And what would YOU be called? If it's "bribery" that got him 4 Worlds and an Olympic gold (PUHLEEZE!), why is Sasha not a world champion? Why not Kulikova and Novikov? Why not Griazev? Why did Shizuka fall so far in the standings last Worlds?

If that is your sole argument as to why a very talented skater won a LOT of competitions, you're an idiot.

slutskayafan21 said:

When you say not being in "favor" with the judges, do you directly mean because he was skating first, or is there something else you are implying?

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Not to put words in mememe's mouth, but most people thought at the time that the ISU and USFSA were not really in favor of the pro's being allowed to reinstate and compete at the Olympics. Boitano championed the rule change, which was known as the "Boitano Rule." Many eligible skaters opposed the change, Mark Mitchell being the most vocal. Many people felt that the returning pros would not be given a fair shake by the judges. Whether or not that was true is something that is probably still debated.

slutskayafan21 said:

When you say not being in "favor" with the judges, do you directly mean because he was skating first, or is there something else you are implying?

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Not trying to "imply" anything -- but I guess the "in favor of the judges" does have a couple of meanings for me. Skating first, especially back then, has never been a good spot to skate. Under the 6.0 system, the judges did have to be careful what they gave to skaters coming early in the draw (and this was just a few years after figures were eliminated -- with figures, the skaters were put into the SP based on figures finishes, which usually left the top skaters in the final group or two), since they still had to "place" a lot more skaters (in this case, I think there were 24 or 30 in the field, so 23 or 29 more skaters). So yes, coming first would not be "favorable" for a chance to do well with the judges. If you do have to skate first, you had better not make a mistake and/or be someone the judges are willing to hand out some good marks for, even if the entire field is still to come.

At that point, I don't believe Boitano (and some of the other re-instatees) were skaters the judges would be willing to go out on a limb for. I'm not saying he deserved any better place than he got -- as I remember it, other than Scott Davis (who didn't make as major an error as Boitano, but did have at least two errors in his SP and finished in the top six), everyone else in the top 7 skated clean and deserved good marks. I just had the feeling that the judges were more than willing to nail him for any mistake and were certainly not going to give Boitano any benefit of the doubt or "let's-keep-you-in-the-running" technical or presentation marks that they would be likely to give to those they believed to be or wanted to be among the best.

For example, Browning was defending world champion and one of the Olympic favorites in 1992. He made mistakes on at least two elements in his SP, if I recall rightly. Yet, if I remember correctly, he was fourth in the SP -- while Elvis Stojko went absolutely clean with at least the same-or-better jump content, and finished, what, sixth or seventh? Urmanov had, as I recall, a slight stumble on a footwork sequence, and he, too, was in the 6th-to-10th finish spot. I would say that Browning was "in favor" of the judges that year, while Stojko and Urmanov were still in the up-and-comer it's-not-your-turn-yet category and not "in favor" -- they were certainly willing to nail Urmanov for a very small mistake, and not reward Stojko as much for a clean program as they could have..

I fell that Browning, again as the defending world champ (and a bit of a sentimental favorite), although not the Canadian champ at that time, was still "in favor" of the judges in 1994 and had he only had the fall on the flip, the judges would have been willing to give him marks good enough to keep him, like Davis, in the top six -- which means he'd have had a great chance at a medal, even if the gold may have been hard to come by. Instead, he made a major mistake later (omitting the required double axel because he only did a single) and finished I think 12th in the SP, which put him pretty much out of any kind of medal contention.

And on another subject mentioned here (or is it another thread) -- I am one of those who thought Urmanov won fair and square in 1994. I thought both he and Stojko would have been deserving winners, but to me, Urmanov's program was stronger overall (thought Stojko had too many pauses and stops) so I was in agreement with the judges on that call.

mememe said:

Scott Hamilton had an absolute disaster in a pro competition in Moscow -- Challenge of Champions, I think, in about 1989 or 90. He fell three times -- hard. I think he fell on all three of his triples, then finally hit a double axel (or else fell on the double axel and two triples and finally landed a triple toe). It was painful to watch. But you had to admire him for continuing to go for the jumps.

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OUCH! I remember watching that on television. It was in 1989, held in Moscow, and Scott, indeed, fell on all three of his opening triples, and he fell hard on them. After one fall he grabbed his hip, as if he was in pain from the collision with the ice. He said, in jest, after that skate, "I couldn't find my center, and I was off axis for all of my jumps. I guess I'll have to quit skating now."

Thankfully, Scott rebounded from that disaster and did not leave the sport!!

I think Plushenko's 2000 Worlds LP is the worse I've seen from him.

Unfortunately, Timothy Goebel has turned in some truly disastrous performances at this season's Grand Prix events. Falls, spills, etc. Ouch!!

Can't forget Nancy Kerrigan's disastrous long program at the 1993 Worlds. She was in first place, after the short, and then proceeded to fall and/or stumble on virtually every jump in her long program. She finished ninth (!) and fell to fifth overall. Because Kerrigan did not medal, the US could send only two women to the 1994 Olympics.

Bad skate! :scowl:

Bringing this back to life...sorry I'm playing catch up.

Worst almost performace disaster ...this is going back...in 1980 Lake Placid, when Randy Gardner fell during warmups injuring himself, and he and Tai Babelonia had to withdraw. They were favorites and it was heartbreaking.

Not to nitpick about Tai and Randy, but they did NOT skate a disastrous performance at the 1980 Olympics. Randy had a groin injury, so they had to withdraw, just prior to the short program. He fell repeatedly in the warm-up, but not in the actual performance.

Had they competed, they may well have skated a truly disastrous performance. Their coach, John Nicks, said that one of the major factors in the decision for their withdrawal was the fact that Randy could not support weight on his injured side, and this could very potentially cause him to fall when he was lifting Tai for any of their pairs lifts. Had he dropped Tai while she was over his head, that could have resulted in a serious injury for her and further injury for Randy.

What about Debi Thomas' outwitted [sorry] in the Oly, forgot what year. Then she went and got married the next day, that didn't work out too well either. Oh well, she's done well since.

SkateFan4Life said:

Not to nitpick about Tai and Randy, but they did NOT skate a disastrous performance at the 1980 Olympics. Randy had a groin injury, so they had to withdraw, just prior to the short program. He fell repeatedly in the warm-up, but not in the actual performance.

Had they competed, they may well have skated a truly disastrous performance. Their coach, John Nicks, said that one of the major factors in the decision for their withdrawal was the fact that Randy could not support weight on his injured side, and this could very potentially cause him to fall when he was lifting Tai for any of their pairs lifts. Had he dropped Tai while she was over his head, that could have resulted in a serious injury for her and further injury for Randy.

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That's why I said an almost disastrous performance.

Most recently, Miki Ando's 2005 GPF LP. I felt so bad for her after she skated that program since I enjoy both her SP and LP this season.

Griazev's SP yesterday at Russian Nationals. :disapp:

Sadly, I have to add Emanuel Sandhu's GP Final long program as a disastrous performance. He missed one jump, then another jump, and then several other jumps. It's as if his mind gets stuck when he misses one jump and he forgets how to execute all of his other jumps. Very, very sad.

As far as truly disasterous-

Bobek- 98 Oly- didn't land a single jumping element

Kwan - 97 Nats- just odd falls all over (02 Oly was heart breaking but not really that bad- 1 fall, 1 two foot, but the mistakes took the air out of the building.)

Goebel- 04 nats SP- Arghh- this was the year he withdrew due to anatomical changes

Who was the Russian lady at 95 worlds?

S/P- 00 Worlds- she went the entire program without landing or completing the correct number of rotations on anything.

Both Irvin and Kwiatkowski at '93 worlds qualifying. (didn't make the cut)

The entire '97 Ladies US nationals except for Tara and Angela (in the long)

To whoever mentioned sasha at 03 Nats- that was just odd- for the first half of the program I thought she was going to win and for the second half I wondeered if she'd beat AP for 3rd.