Brits' poll of greatest Winter Olympic/Paralympic moments

[TallyT]

And I had to share because it is so, so British. First, of course, two figure skating moments came up on it (which justifies the post!). Torvill and Dean (well duh... I still recall seeing that, the first time gives chills) and Yuzuru Hanyu. And before anyone can accuse me of bias (oh all right yes I am, I love all three) please note these are Brits and Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team made the list. Maybe us fans are not the ones who decide where legends are made after all..... or maybe we all should remember that what our country sees as the great defining moments, the rest of the world might just go "well.... okay."

I like the statement There’s a reason we’re drawn to the underdog stories and at the Winter Games they remind us that greatness can often be forged in the moments no one sees. Which may be why so many people are cheering Mikhail's win over the seemingly predetermined medalists...

Iconic Moments from the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games that Inspire Brits, From the Podium to Beyond

80% of Brits say capturing moments of personal progress matter just as much as major milestones, as Samsung supports the Olympic and Paralympic athletes with the Galaxy Z Flip7 Olympic Edition at Milano Cortina 2026

news.samsung.com

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Yay!!! Ester Ledecká (CZE) made it!!!

And there I was thinking I was the only one in the UK that knew who she was!

Big fan here. Well, more from the Alpine skiing side of things. I don't follow snowboarding. Although I do admit that Ester did lead me to find out more about Alpine snowboarding.

Such a pity that the weather disruption to the training runs meant she didn't get to do the Downhill in Cortina. And she was so unfortunate not to finish the Super G.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[dorispulaski]

An interesting list.

Eddie the Eagle’s ski jump (Calgary 1988) (Eddie was from the UK)
The Jamaican bobsleigh team debut (Calgary 1988)

These stories were broken by ABC back in 1988. I loved that Calgary Olympics.

NBC never covers these underdog stories. Given how memorable they are, NBC should consider finding and airing a few of today's underdog stories.

 

[el henry]

I do wish there were more "Up Close and Personal" on ABC for underdogs, happy to be there, and not just medalists.

Interesting to see the Miracle on Ice on a British list. I think "Cool Runnings" and "Miracle" may have some influence.

 

[Magill]

Great to see both Torvill & Dean and Yuzuru on the British Top 20 list.
While both are truly among the greatest icons of the sport, any national list of the sort tends to be leaning in favour of the given nation's legends, and understandably so as these are just better known and better remembered in their own country. Being included as a foreigner is then even more telling. Anyone still wants to maintain that Yuzu is popular in Japan only, lol?

 

[ladyjane]

Eric Heiden is in there as well...I remember a picture of the guy with 5 gold medals around his neck all claimed in one OG. Pretty spectacular.

 

[dorispulaski]

I knew his sister Beth who won a speed skating bronze medal in 1980:

Beth Heiden - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

When I knew her she was trying to go to college in Vermont while properly representing the Wisconsin Cheese Industry as some kind of cheese Queen back in Wisconsin.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I didn't notice earlier that the survey also included the Paralympics.

In that case, I am really surprised that the very first Paralympic Gold Medal for the British team, achieved at Sochi 2014, didn't make the list.

2014 Women's Visually Impaired Super-G Paralympic Gold Medallist Kelly GALLAGHER (with the white hair) and her guide Charlotte EVANS.

Bet you it was because Kelly is from Northern Ireland. The folk across the water always forget about us!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[skatingfan4ever]

I do wish there were more "Up Close and Personal" on ABC for underdogs, happy to be there, and not just medalists.

Interesting to see the Miracle on Ice on a British list. I think "Cool Runnings" and "Miracle" may have some influence.

For NBC, name recognition seems to be their number one consideration. They seem to pre-decide whom to feature and focus on, before the competition starts, and Ilia has done the whole gauntlet of interviews before and after, despite how his competition went. Meanwhile you have Andrew, who is our silver medalist and had his best international competition ever, who got one NBC interview after his short. I am curious whether Andrew has been offered more interviews and declined, or if he wasn't asked. I mean, NBC could have gone the "skating for Ukrainian grandparents who are still in war-torn Ukraine fighting to survive daily" route, but they didn't.

In saying this, I'm not wishing for Andrew to have as much pressure on him as Ilia does (in fact, I think it works best for Andrew to be in the shadows). But, it is interesting to observe the narratives that NBC focuses on, when as fans we know of other narratives they could use if they chose.

 

[gsk8]

I was there in 1988 and I totally remember the awesome story of the Jamaica bobsled team. So inspirational!

Here's a photo with some of the original members.

 

[Magill]

If everyone is embedding or linking visuals, then how could it be that we don't link videos of the only figure skaters included in the list?

 

[gsk8]

The poll was for iconic Olympic moments - not just the greatest figure skating moments (which you already mentioned in the OP). Not sure I understand your question?

 

[Magill]

The poll was for iconic Olympic moments - not just the greatest figure skating moments (which you already mentioned in the OP). Not sure I understand your question?

The question was rhetorical and half joking Sorry for not putting an emoticon in the end, I will correct it.
BTW, I did not write the OP

 

[dorispulaski]

We all know about the famous skaters!

But perhaps quite of few of you don't remember the number one guy here,

1. Eddie the Eagle’s ski jump (Calgary 1988)

There were films about him, but none as well known as say Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsledders.

Amazon.com: Eddie The Eagle : Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Dexter Fletcher: Movies & TV

Amazon.com: Eddie The Eagle : Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Dexter Fletcher: Movies & TV

www.amazon.com

Eddie's real name is Michael David Edwards. Here is a guy who has done a bit of everything.

Do read his wiki entry. It's a kick.

Eddie the Eagle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

An excerpt:

In 1991, he recorded a single in Finnish entitled "Mun nimeni on Eetu" ("My name is Eetu"), B-sided with "Eddien Siivellä" ("On Eddie's Wing"), though he does not speak Finnish. Edwards learned the lyrics phonetically and the song reached No. 2 in the Finnish charts. "Mun nimeni on Eetu" was written by Finnish singer Irwin Goodman.

In 2024, he appeared as a contestant on the sixteenth series of Dancing on Ice.

 

[skatingfan4ever]

Adding to my earlier post - I mentioned Andrew Torgashev's Ukrainian grandparents angle, but a skating-related angle is Andrew's long list of injuries that he has dealt with, which have taken him out of several competitions over the years. One foot injury took him out for two full seasons and there was no guarantee he could ever skate again without pain, and he thought about quitting daily during that time. But miraculously, he was able to get back on the ice in 2022 and rebuild his skating from square one. At the time, I thought NBC could have made a bigger deal out of his surprising 2023 Nationals comeback and bronze medal. Frankly, without GS and the archival material in Andrew's Fan Fest, I myself would not have understood how amazing his comeback was. It used to be that we'd get more such details from the TV broadcasts (especially during the ABC years), but not so anymore. If NBC doesn't want to do non-skating aspects, many skaters have skating drama in their careers, not only the medal hopefuls. But if all my favorites got enough attention, the broadcast would be a couple hours longer.

 

[thatdarncat]

Surprised the women's curling in 2002 gold medal win wasn't in there, seeing as it was the first gold we won for 18 years

 

[TallyT]

We all know about the famous skaters!

But perhaps quite of few of you don't remember the number one guy here,

1. Eddie the Eagle’s ski jump (Calgary 1988)

There were films about him, but none as well known as say Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsledders.

Amazon.com: Eddie The Eagle : Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Dexter Fletcher: Movies & TV

Amazon.com: Eddie The Eagle : Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Dexter Fletcher: Movies & TV

www.amazon.com

Eddie's real name is Michael David Edwards. Here is a guy who has done a bit of everything.

Do read his wiki entry. It's a kick.

Eddie the Eagle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

An excerpt:




In 2024, he appeared as a contestant on the sixteenth series of Dancing on Ice.

Eddie's story - and the way his country embraced him - is so totally British, you gotta love it.