- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
While I also believe Debi Thomas was grossly overrated and overscored I believe it was also a case of being in the right position at the right time to gain that stature and recognition with fans and judges that they were almost compelled to treat her like a top 2 skater along with Witt. Also the agressive campaigning of her jackas# of a coach made it her to not mantain her inflated status as a skater or else he would make a production about it, heck he even complained about her scores as it is if one can believe that.
3 skaters anyway had a chance to establish themselves, in the judges eyes, as the anointed rival to Katarina Witt during the quadrennial leading to Calgary. Kira Ivanova had the first crack at it in 85, she came into the year as the previous years Olympic bronze medalist and seemed to have the backing of her federation over the 84 World silver medalist Kondrashova. Kira Ivanova had a real shot to beat Witt for the gold medal at both the 85 Europeans and 85 Worlds but both times failed to do a clean long program in order to win the event. Had Kira taken risen to the occasion and won even 1 of those 2 events(although her skating a clean long program would have been a miracle to behold given her history)she would have been placed in the role of the primary rival of Witt the rest of the quadrennial but when she failed to secure 1 of those 2 shots at a big title win and new skaters emerged she was then started to see for what she was-a bland, erratic free skater who had little to offer outside of compulsory figures expertise. Had she put it together in the final free skate and won 1 of those 2 major 85 events though it would have been totally different likely.
Caryn Kadavy had a great opportunity to win the 86 U.S title, IIRC she almost beat Thomas even with Thomas arguably having her best performance ever and Kadavy having 2 major errors in the final free skate. Had she won there she would have had the U.Ss backing as their top lady but did not. She may have had another shot at Worlds where Thomas won with a major Witt error in the short program but Kadavy really did not deliever at those Worlds and dissapointed many after almost winning the U.S title. From that point she was clearly beneath Thomas in the U.S pecking order.
Jill Trenary had her shot at the 87 Worlds. People were high on her after her U.S title win, even if it was over a supbar Thomas and had she delivered, starting with the all important compulsory figures, at Worlds she may well have supplanted Thomas as the #1 American and chief rival to Witt. She pretty much bombed out at Worlds, starting with figures, carrying through to the short, and finally in the free skate however. Despite her U.S title Thomas's stunning free skate and 2nd place finish to Witt, in her world title defence, cemented Thomas's place again as the U.S golden girl and the one with the biggest base of U.S support and hype going into the big Olympic year.
Ito and Manley were held back by being so deficient at the compulsory figures. Alot of times even there 3rds or 4ths in free skating programs could easily have been 1st or 2nds had they been in the final flight after figures. Ito never really got a handle on figures which is why she did not win a major event medal(gold as it was)until the new quadrennial at 89 Worlds. Manley, like Ito, placed outside the top 6-7 in figures repeatedly until 1987. At the 1987 Worlds Manley finally was in striking distance after figures, set herself up to challenge for the gold medal after the short program then bombed out in the long program and ended up 4th. That set her back as well going into the 88 season, not too badly it turned out as she won silver, but had she gone in having finished over Thomas at the 87 Worlds I doubt she places below Thomas in the 88 Olympic short program for example and she probably wins the overall gold in Calgary with the same free skate that won her silver as was.
Leistner went through a slump in 84-85 and lost too much stature with judges to get back to being a chief threat for the gold medal ever again. She also was kind of boring and did not really stand out in anyway from the others however. Kondrashova is the one I am most confused by. I have no idea what it was but she never really seemed to have the judges on her side. I thought she was somebody who should have emerged as a potential Witt rival, she was an extremely elegant and stylish skater. People harped on her inconsistency but she was not nearly as inconsistent as she was potrayed IMO, and in fact much more consistent then the bland and uninspiring Ivanova IMO but even her stronger performances were underappreciated by judges I felt. For the record I honestly think she deserved the bronze over Ivanova at the 84 Olympics as well.
3 skaters anyway had a chance to establish themselves, in the judges eyes, as the anointed rival to Katarina Witt during the quadrennial leading to Calgary. Kira Ivanova had the first crack at it in 85, she came into the year as the previous years Olympic bronze medalist and seemed to have the backing of her federation over the 84 World silver medalist Kondrashova. Kira Ivanova had a real shot to beat Witt for the gold medal at both the 85 Europeans and 85 Worlds but both times failed to do a clean long program in order to win the event. Had Kira taken risen to the occasion and won even 1 of those 2 events(although her skating a clean long program would have been a miracle to behold given her history)she would have been placed in the role of the primary rival of Witt the rest of the quadrennial but when she failed to secure 1 of those 2 shots at a big title win and new skaters emerged she was then started to see for what she was-a bland, erratic free skater who had little to offer outside of compulsory figures expertise. Had she put it together in the final free skate and won 1 of those 2 major 85 events though it would have been totally different likely.
Caryn Kadavy had a great opportunity to win the 86 U.S title, IIRC she almost beat Thomas even with Thomas arguably having her best performance ever and Kadavy having 2 major errors in the final free skate. Had she won there she would have had the U.Ss backing as their top lady but did not. She may have had another shot at Worlds where Thomas won with a major Witt error in the short program but Kadavy really did not deliever at those Worlds and dissapointed many after almost winning the U.S title. From that point she was clearly beneath Thomas in the U.S pecking order.
Jill Trenary had her shot at the 87 Worlds. People were high on her after her U.S title win, even if it was over a supbar Thomas and had she delivered, starting with the all important compulsory figures, at Worlds she may well have supplanted Thomas as the #1 American and chief rival to Witt. She pretty much bombed out at Worlds, starting with figures, carrying through to the short, and finally in the free skate however. Despite her U.S title Thomas's stunning free skate and 2nd place finish to Witt, in her world title defence, cemented Thomas's place again as the U.S golden girl and the one with the biggest base of U.S support and hype going into the big Olympic year.
Ito and Manley were held back by being so deficient at the compulsory figures. Alot of times even there 3rds or 4ths in free skating programs could easily have been 1st or 2nds had they been in the final flight after figures. Ito never really got a handle on figures which is why she did not win a major event medal(gold as it was)until the new quadrennial at 89 Worlds. Manley, like Ito, placed outside the top 6-7 in figures repeatedly until 1987. At the 1987 Worlds Manley finally was in striking distance after figures, set herself up to challenge for the gold medal after the short program then bombed out in the long program and ended up 4th. That set her back as well going into the 88 season, not too badly it turned out as she won silver, but had she gone in having finished over Thomas at the 87 Worlds I doubt she places below Thomas in the 88 Olympic short program for example and she probably wins the overall gold in Calgary with the same free skate that won her silver as was.
Leistner went through a slump in 84-85 and lost too much stature with judges to get back to being a chief threat for the gold medal ever again. She also was kind of boring and did not really stand out in anyway from the others however. Kondrashova is the one I am most confused by. I have no idea what it was but she never really seemed to have the judges on her side. I thought she was somebody who should have emerged as a potential Witt rival, she was an extremely elegant and stylish skater. People harped on her inconsistency but she was not nearly as inconsistent as she was potrayed IMO, and in fact much more consistent then the bland and uninspiring Ivanova IMO but even her stronger performances were underappreciated by judges I felt. For the record I honestly think she deserved the bronze over Ivanova at the 84 Olympics as well.
