Any interest for past Olympic rewatches? | Golden Skate

Any interest for past Olympic rewatches?

Y

yfan1

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 2, 2025
Another quad has slipped through our fingers, and we have yet another rule change. I think now is as good a time as any to watch some of the past Olympics skating, to see how much skating has changed.

These are the Olympic videos I found:

women 2002 LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLC8k54zdHc

women 2006
SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHrR_FzDLeo
LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsOktQ5QqXs

women 2010
SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yc6k9oCI9c
LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5gXuc8y6SQ

men 2006
SP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSY9Lahlz0
LP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBcLt0_wCos

There are of course more. Would this forum be interested in rewatching together, discussing who skated best, how different it is from now? Since all apart from 2002 are CoP olympics, it even becomes easier to compare.

And there will be a lot of wuzrobbing which we all love, no doubt ;)
 
As a separate post, for me, the most interesting would be 2006 men and women. It's interesting to revisit seeing how we had an Italian Olympics 20 years later, and the quality of skating in 2006 was so much better in comparison.
 
I think that the 2014 Men were such an exceptional "bunch", alas it was a "splat fest".
Here's the Free Skating:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com


Here's the Short Program:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
Here's the Women's Short Program, to revive the fight:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com


Strangely, I don't find their Free?

Are Pairs and Ice Dance included in the thread?
 
For me (and yes, I saved quite a bit of the 2014 men) it's more than that... yes, there were a lot of splats but some of them, knowing they had started badly, still fought back and kept doing their absolute best even when their dream seemed to have died. It's always good - for me at least - to see someone do that.

Hey, I'm an Aussie, and we have a thing about battlers...
 
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TallyT said:
For me (and yes, I saved quite a bit of the 2014 men) it's more than that... yes, there were a lot of splats but some of them, knowing they had started badly, still fought back and kept doing their absolute best even when their dream seemed to have died. It's always good = for me at least - to see someone do that.

Hey, I'm an Aussie, and we have a thing about battlers...
Click to expand...
Well, I'm a Frenchie, and we don't scorn those who lose after a beautiful fight...
I'd like also the 1988 Men and Ladies because in my foggy memory the few Skaters I saw on French TV were "worth a sight".
 
I'm not French or Aussie, so...

If someone can find 1998, then by all means, please do and post them. My vote goes to 2006.
 
Unexpectedly, the 2026 Olympics full sp and fp for all disciplines have already been uploaded to YouTube, with Belinda Noonan commentary. 😍

Hopefully, this means the ISU is beginning to understand the importance of fan access in order to continue building new and sustained audience interest.
 
BlissfulSynergy said:
Unexpectedly, the 2026 Olympics full sp and fp for all disciplines have already been uploaded to YouTube, with Belinda Noonan commentary. 😍

Hopefully, this means the ISU is beginning to understand the importance of fan access in order to continue building new and sustained audience interest.
Click to expand...
For Beijing Olympic Games, there had been an incomplete release initially, then after maybe six months? the rest of the videos had been posted, if I remember correctly.
 
I rewatched men 2006.
Interesting how men needed to rotate their jumps or else they were noted as a triple (or a double axel) and how it really made it hard on some who lost jumps and even zayaked because of under-rotation. Was it too harsh ? Probably. I mean, it's not like the skaters knew their jump was downgraded and needed to avoid repeating it.

I remember how back then, quads were relatively sparse. Plushenko and Joubert were perhaps the only two in the top who could manage quads and triple axels. Unfortunately for Joubert, it didn't go his way. Plushenko : I never liked his skating (sue me) and since he skated first and they were showing him waiting for others to end up behind him, I wasn't thrilled with his non-verbal language... but then, that's just my impressions and since I am biased against his skating,I am probably over analyzing things.

Johnny Weir: interesting for me. I remembered him as a flamboyant skater yet his program is pretty vanilla. Nothing really that great in it.

Lambiel : one who didn't have a triple axel and compensated with the quad toe. The program was really good but that fall on the lutz... ugh. It was nice to see his trademark spin and his lovely footwork. However, the costume was ugly back then and that hasn't evolved.

Jeffrey Buttle. He was my favourite skater for the LP. Jeffrey was doing a planned fall on the quad toe which was actually more rewarding back then, than a downgraded jump. Other than that, he doubled the loop and had a scratchy triple axel landing but the rest was really good. I know Jeffrey can skate to anything but I prefer him in classical, because of his elegant and refined skating. So it was nice to see this program again.

Daisuke (with Lambiel and Buttle) were among my favourite skaters back then. Unfortunately his Rach 2 quad attempt really messed him up as since it was downgraded, he ended up repeating the toes and axels so when he repeated a lutz, it was invalid. I don't miss this type of costume though I miss his skating.

Joubert : talking about horrendous costumes :) Joubert was a very handsome fellow with big powerful jumps but he was rarely consistent... and that showed big time here.

In some ways, though the IJS was new, I felt that the judges and tech panel applied the rules well though the rules were too strict for downgraded/under-rotated jumps.

Too bad Jeffrey had a bad SP because his LP was superior despite some of the flaws.
Interesting to see so many levels not reached in the level elements.
I loved seeing the two step sequences again. So much love for step sequences. YAY !

In the end, I don't think much of the skating back then. It's not better than nowadays but the programs had more variety and more steps helped. I didn't remember how so many people had tough performances in the top 6 so it was nice to watch this again and see my Jeffrey win his bronze with a good skate. In my memory, 2010 was cleaner but I am not planning to rewatch that one.

This made me think : men and Olympics... so many splatfests... it's really at worlds that we get better performances.
 
Oh dang @4everchan, I thought no one was interested! I'll post my thoughts too then (a bit later).

I really, really wanted to rewatch because IMO even despite the falls, I think the difference in skating quality is so stark compared to now... Even between Plushy v Shaidorov... Plushy takes it with the 'it' factor (the SP wasn't terrible, the LP was... lol).

Also, this happens to be the Olympics IMO, where the men had some of the very best program choreography ever. I actually loved Johnny's The Swan and Otonal, and Lambiel's Dralion, and Matt Savoie's LP. This was one of the sweet spots of 6.0 and CoP skating.
 
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yfan1 said:
Oh dang @4everchan, I thought no one was interested! I'll post my thoughts too then (a bit later).

I really, really wanted to rewatch because IMO even despite the falls, I think the difference in skating quality is so stark compared to now... Even between Plushy v Shaidorov... Plushy takes it with the 'it' factor (the SP wasn't terrible, the LP was... lol).

Also, this happens to be the Olympics IMO, where the men had some of the very best program choreography ever. I actually loved Johnny's The Swan and Otonal, and Lambiel's Dralion, and Matt Savoie's LP. This was one of the sweet spots of 6.0 and CoP skating.
Click to expand...
I didn't like Ottonal but maybe it's because I really dislike the music to start with. I will rewatch Matt Savoie because I only watched the last six. I remember he had a great one and was under marked .. but I need to watch it first.

Regarding the skating quality. I would say that indeed, in general, skaters back then had better blade skills. Skater nowadays though seem to have better jumping technique (not just the rotation). I think the skating nowadays is more homogenous though well... I don't know. Not sure what I think lol.
 
SPs!

Group 1:

Daisuke Takahashi: It's so strange to see him ignoring musical cues, knowing what kind of skater he'd go on to become... Fantastic energy. One thing I do like about him is that he tries to change and choreograph spin positions with the music.

Plushenko: I got no idea what this program's supposed to mean, I just think he performed it with the utmost confidence. The 3A was fantastic though.

Shawn Sawyer: Like the steps into the 3Lo very much along with the position out of it. I think my problem with this is that I think it's 'well choreographed' in the sense of there being content, positions, stretch, and following the music superficially, but it didn't really evoke much feeling for me. Also ended up looking robotic after Plushenko.

Li Chengjiang: Choreography was a mess and so were the jumps (apart from the great 3Lo)... Like that he too tried to be energetic and present what he had though.

Jeff Buttle: I find him corny here, tbh. Best choreo and skating skills so far (and performance that tries to bring the music out), but then there are the mistakes, and it's not fun for me. Clear cheat on the +3T takeoff...

Ivan Dinev: Nice 3A, bad program.

Group 2:

Kristoffer Berntsson: The kind of dumbass program a lot of the modern fans will lose it over I feel like... silly fun, but nothing special, IMO. Smiled during the straight line steps though.

Gheorghe Chiper: Just very bland, sorry to say. Even the music change at the straight line steps didn't save it for me.

Frederic Dambier: Just not any good.

Viktor Pfeiffer: See above, although I love the tacky energy he brought to the performance significantly more.

Stephane Lambiel: What a balm for the eyes. Compared to what passes as "9" and "10" nowadays, this actually WOULD deserve very high PCS. Amusing to see this only got 38 PCS in 2006! That 4T is one of the biggest quad toes too. Even the exit of the 3Lz has been done in a way to reflect the music. Deserved to beat Plushy here.

Trifun Zivanovic: Really just a nothing choreography and performance.
 
yfan1 said:
and Matt Savoie's LP. This was one of the sweet spots of 6.0 and CoP skating.
Click to expand...
totally agree with this... I rewatched it just now. He lost so many points on his lutzes that event... but everything else was so awesome. The transitions, the interpretation, the positions... the music of the LP is one of my favourite used in skating music... when it is kept instrumental :)
In any case, there are some skaters like that who never quite clearly reach the top but were truly amazing. Matt Savoie is one of them.
 
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