Olympic upsets in Ladies Figure Skating | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Olympic upsets in Ladies Figure Skating

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Eek. I just couldn't stand Kerrigan and I liked Harding's moxie. Having been to several after Nationals parties, it's hilarious she didn't show up when she won. I watched both of the new shows and just want to wring Tonya's neck. She THREW it away. Not the whack, but 1992, then 1993 where she landed maybe a total of 5 jumps in all her competitions. What the heck happened??? She always had her jumps. Maybe the style wasn't all there, but she always always had the easy breezy ginormous jumps.
 

juppiter

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
It's funny, I was just thinking the other day, "Has there EVER been a gold medalist that was uncontroversial?" And the only name that sprang to mind was Shizuka Arakawa. I don't think it can actually be debated that she deserved to win that year. Of course, I was a Sasha fan rooting against her, but looking back, she did amazing and deserved it. If only it could be that simple every year.
 

juppiter

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 12, 2014
That is the thing too. I always want to feel bad for Tonya when I watch her 1991 Nationals and Skate America performances. Look at how amazing she was there. But nobody endorsed her. Nobody told her how good she was. She had a dysfunctional family and rough childhood. I get it.

But in these new documentaries, she doesn't take responsibility for anything. Everything is someone else's fault. She did let herself get out of shape in the 92 and 93 seasons, and that is nobody's fault but Tonya's. As we saw with Mao at these Olympics, the long lost Triple Axel can make a return. It's not impossible. And it could have returned for Tonya too had she kept herself in shape.
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
She had a dysfunctional family and rough childhood. I get it.
But in these new documentaries, she doesn't take responsibility for anything

The problem with family dysfunction is that the children develop coping stategies that might help them survive the dysfunction at home (so they become very attached to these strategeis that allow them to survive after a fashion) but which work against them when they find themselves in a less dysfunctional situation and they end up sabotaging themselves.
 

keasus

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
It's funny, I was just thinking the other day, "Has there EVER been a gold medalist that was uncontroversial?" And the only name that sprang to mind was Shizuka Arakawa. I don't think it can actually be debated that she deserved to win that year. Of course, I was a Sasha fan rooting against her, but looking back, she did amazing and deserved it. If only it could be that simple every year.

Yes, Peggy Fleming in 1968. Hands down the class of the field. A master of school figures (some say the equal of Beatrix Schuba in her prime) and superior free skater, even though Peggy says it was not her best performance. I don't think Dorothy Hammill was too controversial in 1976, either.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Actually most ladies OGM winners are uncontroversial.

Ann Scott in 48, Altwegg in 52, Albright in 56 (except for young whiny Heiss), Heiss in 60, Dijkstra in 64, Fleming in 68, Schuba in 72 (to those who understood the scoring system), Hamill in 76, Witt in 84, Yamaguchi in 92, Arakawa in 2006, Kim in 2010 were all completely without controversy.

On the other hand there has never been a past ladies result that caused even close to the fury as 2014. In fact the only past result in any discipline that did was 2002 pairs, and that was mostly due to fabricated NA media hype and unfair slanting of truths, and a schizofrenic french judge.
 
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