Disastrous Competitive Programs | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Disastrous Competitive Programs

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berthes ghost

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

- Amber's 99 nats LP. This year was her best shot at the podium and she blew it.

- Todd and any Oly performance. He could have medaled any of the 4 times (I include his 94 nats melt down which prevented him from melting down in Lillehamer)

- Lulu 97 SP

- Midori 91 LP and 96 LP

- D&K at 96 worlds

- B&S at 97 worlds

- Slightly OT, but similar are the withdrawels. Caryn Kadavy at Calgary, Tonja S at Nagano, W&S at Lillehamer, Tai&Randy at Lake Placid, Urmanov in Lausanne,etc...
 
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Raelynne

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

The biggest disaster I saw was Tonia Kwiatkowski during a pro-am competition in 1997. She was competing against Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, and some other ladies. She performed her "Hungarian Rhapsody #2" program and it was a disaster from the beginning. She kept falling, and barely hung onto her flying sit spin. Rosalynn Sumners, who was the commentator, said it was "Sloppy. Nowhere near Michelle or Kristi

She had to double jumps. Tonia was called in last minute and had no interpertive free or scaled down version.As for the other mistakes, well, there were just mistakes.
 
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patrickbrunk

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

Plus, Tonia's sit spin error (totally freak in nature) was in the SP. And I am pretty sure she did not fall in her LP. It was definitely weaker then the others - but she was called in at the last minute and had no choice but use her full competitive program.
 
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BronzeisGolden02

Guest
Tonia

I didn't see that competition but 1997 was a bad year for Tonia all around. I believe she finished 6th at Nationals, where she also performed "Hungarian Rhapsody", making numerous mistakes. But, all of that is eclipsed for me when I think about how she performed at the Minneapolis Worlds. She was spectacular. I would have had her in at least 4th for the long program! Too bad the international judges could never give her the credit she deserved.
 
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SkateFan4Life

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

Tonia Kwiatkowski blew a golden opportunity to make the US Olympic team in 1998. Granted, with Kwan, Lipinski, and Bobek, her chances weren't the greatest, but I think Tonia could have won the bronze medal, over Bobek, had she skated the kind of program she was capable of skating. Alas,
Kwiatkowski hit the ice, stumbled, and missed several of her triple jumps. :eek:

Another disaster - 1989 Skate America. Jill Trenary, the defending US champion and World bronze medalist, completely blew her long program. Falls, stumbles, etc. She did not successfully land one triple jump. It was a DISASTER, plain and simple, yet she received high enough marks to win the silver medal. Hmmmm. Tonya Harding won that competition with a strong technical long program.
 
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DORISPULASKI

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

Yes, Jill was one of those people who seemed to often get a free pass. Skating for Fassi sometimes did that. (See the Fratianne thread).

It was one reason that I never warmed up to her.

dpp
 
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rain

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

I've seen a few in my day.....


Most heartbreaking has to go to Kurt Browning's olympic outings. The last two. Particularly the year it was his to lose when he was skating to his (at the time) incomparable Casablanca program. All he had to do was stand up in the short - but alas, no.


Also recently heartbreaking was watching the disaster Jeff Buttle had at Worlds this year. Ouch. He just couldn't seem to land anything. One of those skates where the performer looks like he just wishes he could get off the ice as quickly as possible.


Salle and Pelletier at 2000 Worlds was also a bad one. It was theirs to win, but they just tanked. They fell on things there they'd never fallen on before and never since.
 
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mathman444

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

Has anyone mentioned Johnny Weir's 2003 U.S. Nationals disaster? I think the USFSA is still punishing him for it.

Mathman
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Most heartbreaking has to go to Kurt Browning's olympic outings. The last two. Particularly the year it was his to lose when he was skating to his (at the time) incomparable Casablanca program. All he had to do was stand up in the short - but alas, no.[/quote]

I had the tape of him of Casablanca (from NBC's 'World Champines on Ice'). This was really a master piece as the commentator put "This is the program started the trends of telling a story in a FS program". I had followed his professional skating on TV since/from mid 90 to end 90s. I bought that set of tape solely because of him and Michelle were mentioned.

I remember Yagudin once said (an interview around SLC)that every male skater has something he like to learn from. He specifically mentioned footwork from Kurt. These two are the male skaters I really liked.
 
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guinevere

Guest
Re: Disatrous Competitive Programs

I just remembered this one, and I can't believe it's not already on this list (unless maybe I missed it?):

Emanuel Sandhu's LP at Skate Canada 2001. He had just had the most incredible SP, was in 2nd (behind Yagudin) going into the long. I think that the SP ws the first time he had landed a quad with no errors in competition - or maybe it ws just the first clean short. Either way, it was the same SP he used last season, and when it's skated well, it is exquisite.

The LP was a complete train wreck. I think that he fell twice, but what made it so excruciating is that he completely gave up after the first mistake. Between the look on his face and how slow he was skating, I thought he ws just going to stop and leave the ice halfway through.

guinevere
 
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SkateFan4Life

Guest
Re: Disatrous Competitive Programs

How about Tonya Harding's disastrous long program at the 1993 US Nationals? She had gained a considerable amount of weight and looked, quite frankly, like a butterball on the ice. Tonya was woefully out of shape for that championship, and she fell and stumbled all through her long program to finish fourth overall and not qualify for the World team.

It was hard to remember that only two years prior to that nationals, in 1991, this now overweight, undertrained young woman had been in fighting shape and had won the US title and had become the first American woman to land a triple axel.
 
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KwanFan1212

Guest
Re: Disatrous Competitive Programs

Minor correction: J&D did not actually fall on anything in their Worlds 2000 LP. Jamie singled both axels and fell out of her triple toe (didn't get the rotation) and while it was a bad performance, I wouldn't call it the worst of all time. Glad they put that behind them though! LOL :rollin:

Can I add Kalesavich & Parcham's LP from 2003 US Nats to this list?! Gosh, I had SUCH high hopes for this team and they fell apart in the LP. It was SO hard to watch. :(
 
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Pather2000

Guest
Re: Disatrous Competitive Programs

<em>Let me see:

Nancy's Melt down at worlds
Tonya's Poor me So called skated at the Olympics:rolleyes: .They should have just let Micehlle skate instead of letting Tonya go & continue to make the USA look foolish.

Michelles 1997 LP in both worlds & at Nationals. Nerves started getting the better of her.

As mention before. Alexie's SP in the Goodwill Games at the start of the 2002 season. But actually, it was the best thing to happen to him. He was killer after that.:p But, I always wonderd how in the world could he contiue to skate at his head went into the wall. Even in his next jump 3Axel( I think) he was still feeling the effects of his head injury. But, he still pulled off that program.

Sasha's 2002 ( Olympic LP) & her 2003 National & Worlds LP: As for the Olympics. Her programs are not bad But her mistakes is her undoing. At the Olympics. She had that See look at what I can do TUTDE( instead of feeling the program)
At Nationals & Worlds. Her TUTDE has improved so much thanks to TT. But, there still is something that Alwasy seems to go wrong. At, Nationals she had no spirit whatsoever. She just went from one move to the next. & it showed.

Sarah: Outside of the LP At Nationals. Everything & anything she skated in this past season. She just should have skipped it all together. To show up out of shape & with programs that looked like that they were thrown together at the last mintue<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif ALT=":\">

Oksana B: Alot of her programs after she turned pro. Her skating sufferd because she got FULL OF HERSELF & she belived that she could do no wrong & wouldn't listen to people who actually knew more than her. Also, the fact that her drinking played a major role in her attitude.

There is more but, I have to think on it.
</em>
 
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SkateFan4Life

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

Another major slip-up. 1986 Worlds - Alexandr Fadeev, the defending World champion, skated a horrible long program, with numerous falls and other errors. Somehow, he managed to receive high enough marks that he won the bronze medal, and the Soviet judge "generously" gave him a 5.9 for technical merit. This judge was later suspended by the ISU for biased judging, but of course, that's another topic for another thread.

Jill Trenary had a number of sub-par fall competitions in which she fell, doubled planned triples, and otherwise skated poorly.
She won a slew of silver medals, however, thanks to generous judging and perhaps a weak competitive field.
 
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Lanternlight

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

Panther, Michelle's LP at 97 Worlds won that portion of the event. Six triples including a 3/3, she only doubled one jump. You must mean the SP, where she stepped out of combo. :D

If she hadn't messed up the SP, she'd have won the event easily. Taj was a brilliant FS in many ways much stronger than Lyra.
 
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SkateFan4Life

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

Lisa Ervin's long program at the 1994 US Nationals was a disaster of the first order. :eek: :eek: She had won the silver medal the previous year. Lisa had gained a considerable amount of weight, and she landed (I think) only one triple jump during that program. She fell twice and then doubled the rest of her triples.

Lisa skated to the soundtrack from "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Unfortunately for her, the "nightmare" was reality.
 
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DORISPULASKI

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

If the commentator gave Kurt's Casablanca credit for being the first program to tell a story, he wasn't getting it right.
T&D had Bolero, Mack and Mable and Barnum, all story programs. And many other ice dancers followed their lead long before Browning.

As to the ladies, certainly Kat Witt's Carmen was done as a deliberate story.

As to the men, Brian Boitano's Olympic LP was the story of a young soldier in the Napoleonic wars, and was skated as such.
The soldier rides out to battle and comes back with tail between legs, perks up, attends a dance at which he waltzes,
mourns the death of a comrade, heads back to battle, and returns in victory. There is probably more to it than that, but that's the segments I remember. Very good story telling, and why I would have BB over BO in '88 even in artistic impression
(which it was those days, not presentation) as it was a much rarer thing then).

Also his SP to Les patineurs was done in story context with the young skating daredevil of the 1800's doing Jackson Haines looking moves, pulling off a 'See there' triple axel double loop, wiping off his blade and throwing the snow (story line thinner but still a story). It was said in the Canadian commentary that Les patineurs was the only story program in the SP in '88.

I am sure that there are lesser known story programs in singles before '88, but I don't remember them, does anyone else?

But definitely Casablanca, while a superb story program, skated superbly, was not the first.

dpp
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>But definitely Casablanca, while a superb story program, skated superbly, was not the first.[/quote]

Thanks for the correction. May be I put it in a wrong way. It was definitely an impressing comment. It is summer kind of lazy to dig out the tape and litsen what he actually said. May be in male FS. Honestly I did not pay much attention to mens untill after Kurt.
 
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Pather2000

Guest
Re: Disastrous Competitive Programs

<em>Lanternlight:

I thought that it was 1997. I thought that it was 1997. I do know that it was the 1st time ever that michelle has skated scared & it showed. Her programs was wonderful as usual but, she skated poorly. She fell I think 2 times & was very stiff. I do know that it was like a year prior to the 1998 olympics. & the samething happen to her during the worlds of that same year. The same mistakes & skating very stiff. I do know that Tara won both Nationals & Worlds that year. That was the only two times I belive that she gaveup during a program while skating. I do know that in the 98 Nationals she was untouchable.
Someother programs I remembered :
As mentioned before. Any Kurt Browning olympic performance. I really feel for the guy.
Todd E. He two has that Olympic block that they couldn't get past.

Elvis S. during the 2002 Olympics. His LP. for starters is was an old program( that wasn't that good to start with). But, he just maybe took a spot that another skater could have gone. He reinforced the thought that his better skating days were behind him.

Timmy at the start at the past season( though, he was injured). But, he skated very poorly. He has no soul as it was & had to rely on his jumps. But, even during his skate. His jumps had failed him also. </em>
 
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