Flashback to the 1988 Winter Olympics

[SkateFan4Life]

She was right, though. Annet Poetzsch, her sister-in-law, disappeared behind the Iron Curtain, as did Christine Errath. Only recently were they able to pursue what they truly wanted (they both worked in banks before the wall fell; now Annet coaches, and Christine does broadcast).

She sure was. Most of the GDR skaters became coaches or judges, or they left the sport altogether. None of them, with the exception of Witt, pursued a career as a professional show skater. That kind of "materialistic" life didn't conform with the worker's state mentality of the GDR. Of course, none of them had Katarina's charisma. Even if the GDR had permitted professional careers for its top skaters, I would find it hard to imagine that either Poetszch or Errath would have become big-name show skaters.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

At Calgary, Paul Wylie was the newly-minted US silver medalist, competing for the first time in a major international competition. He said (to paraphrase) "I was so nervous that my jaw was glued shut". After finishing tenth overall, Paul vowed to return to the Olympics a second time to do them justice. And did he ever do them justice at Albertville!

 

[Eeyora]

Yes Katarina did say that in her Biography special that if she finished anywhere but first she would be forced to coaching or judging in East Germany.

 

[JonnyCoop]

MEN -- I will never have a truly concrete opinion as to who should have won the Battle of the Brians -- I had just moved at the time and was staying with my cousin and I remember that right after Orser had started skating, there was a knock on the door and it was a friend of my cousin's stopping by so I spent about 3/4 of his program explaining that my cousin was at work! Have never seen it since in its entirety -- but I feel that Boitano definitely had THE performance of his life -- he'd certainly never skated that well before, and I've never seen him skate a program that interesting since.

LADIES -- First of all, I will never to this day understand Debi Thomas' Oh-I-Screwed-Up-My-First-Jump-So-The-Hell-With-It mentality. I was thrilled to see Liz win the silver, as I'd seen her at the 82 Worlds when she was mired down in like 23rd place after the SP or something like that, and I remember thinking, This girl is gonna be on a podium someday. And what a time to finally do it! I was also thrilled to see Midori Ito for the first time -- I had heard so much about her since the 84 Worlds, but had never actually seen her. She certainly did not disappoint; it was one of her most delightful performances.

PAIRS -- All I really remember about this was the fact that the overall quality of skating in the SP was incredible -- as I recall, the only mistake ANYONE made was when Oleg Makarov fell on a jump. A lot of good, clean performances. I also remember Christine Hough & Doug Ladret doing a fantastic long program -- I always expected them to end up on a Worlds podium at some point, but it never happened. I also remember Brasseur & Eisler, who'd only been together for 9 months at that point, skating incredibly well for such a short time together. Oddly, I remember very little about G & G -- tho to be honest, their style never really did much for me.

DANCE -- In addition to the Duchesnays, I remember an excellent free dance from Klara Engi & Attila Toth, a Hungarian couple who I still consider to be one of the greatest unsung dance couples of all time.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

MEN LADIES -- First of all, I will never to this day understand Debi Thomas' Oh-I-Screwed-Up-My-First-Jump-So-The-Hell-With-It mentality. I was thrilled to see Liz win the silver, as I'd seen her at the 82 Worlds when she was mired down in like 23rd place after the SP or something like that, and I remember thinking, This girl is gonna be on a podium someday. And what a time to finally do it! I was also thrilled to see Midori Ito for the first time -- I had heard so much about her since the 84 Worlds, but had never actually seen her. She certainly did not disappoint; it was one of her most delightful performances.

I can't understand Debi Thomas' mindset, either. She could have, and most likely would have, won the gold medal, had she landed all of her other triples without mistakes. As much as the judges loved Witt, Thomas had the better long program - more athletic, difficult, and powerful. Witt's "Carmen" had a do-nothing mid-section that contained little but posing and simple moves. Had Debi landed her other jumps, she would have had four triples, one more than Katarina, plus other more difficult moves. IMHO, Thomas would have won.

I, too, was delighted to see Elizabeth Manley win the silver medal. She finally came through with a great performance in a major competition, and her timing was perfect. At the 1984 Olympics, Liz was pretty much a "party girl" and just didn't take the competition seriously. She certainly changed her attitude and her peformance at Calgary.

 

[Piel]

This was the first Olympics that I remember watching everything that was televised (remember Eddie the Eagle?). I was so disappointed for Debi Thomas. Not winning the OGM certainly has not held her back in any other aspects of life. Another thing that I remember is the media hook up of Witt and Italian skier Alberta Tomba (La Bamba) which may have been the two biggest egos in sport at that time, LOL.. After the Olympics there was an article in the newspaper about the ladies competition that said..."In the end the American got the bronze, the Canadian got the cowboy hat, and La Bimbo got La Bamba"...OUCH! B&B's ice dance exhibition ( Rasputin IIRC) was pretty out there too. The announcers were almost speechless afterwards (they may have all needed a cigarette .

 

[SkateFan4Life]

This was the first Olympics that I remember watching everything that was televised (remember Eddie the Eagle?). I was so disappointed for Debi Thomas. Not winning the OGM certainly has not held her back in any other aspects of life. Another thing that I remember is the media hook up of Witt and Italian skier Alberta Tomba (La Bamba) which may have been the two biggest egos in sport at that time, LOL.. After the Olympics there was an article in the newspaper about the ladies competition that said..."In the end the American got the bronze, the Canadian got the cowboy hat, and La Bimbo got La Bamba"...OUCH! B&B's ice dance exhibition ( Rasputin IIRC) was pretty out there too. The announcers were almost speechless afterwards (they may have all needed a cigarette .

Yes, Eddie the Eagle finished last in the ski jump, but he won the gold medal in the hearts of the fans. I remember that the press was trying to pair up Alberta Tomba and Katarina Witt, to no avail. Witt was there to win the gold medal, plain and simple, and she had no time for such fluff and nonsense.

I remember reading an editorial in my local newspaper that criticized Dick Button's "overly critical" commentary on the ladies' long program. ABC-TV had televised virtually the entire long program, live, so we all had the pleasure of seeing skaters in the third and fourth flights - something we never get to do. What a pleasure that was! OK, a few of those skaters were obviously not at the same level as Witt, Manley, and Thomas, but they were the champions of their respective countries, and they were entitled to compete at the Olympics.
The editoral said (to paraprase) "We think it was almost cruel for Button to bemoan the falls of the lesser-ranked skaters. Button said "We are really seeing poor performances now". Really, Mr. Button. Most of us can't step outside the front porch to retrieve the newspaper on an icy day without suffering a life-threatening mishap. We thought that all of the skaters were very impressive. In our opinion, they were all wonderful."

 

[Piel]

Kat with her coach at her side gave a press conference and mentioned that she had had a few sips of beer and had gotten a little tipsy. IIRC she did eventually meet with Tomba after her competitions were over.

 

[thisthingcalledlove]

B&B's ice dance exhibition ( Rasputin IIRC) was pretty out there too. The announcers were almost speechless afterwards (they may have all needed a cigarette .

Wasn't that the program where people got the Besti Squats from?

 

[SkateFan4Life]

MEN -- I will never have a truly concrete opinion as to who should have won the Battle of the Brians -- I had just moved at the time and was staying with my cousin and I remember that right after Orser had started skating, there was a knock on the door and it was a friend of my cousin's stopping by so I spent about 3/4 of his program explaining that my cousin was at work! Have never seen it since in its entirety -- but I feel that Boitano definitely had THE performance of his life -- he'd certainly never skated that well before, and I've never seen him skate a program that interesting since.
QUOTE]

Actually, I've seen Brian Boitano skate a number of excellent programs since his victory at Calgary. IMHO, the judges scored the Olympic competition correctly. Remember that in those days the tiebreaker was the technical mark, not the presentation mark, as it is today. Boitano had more triples, including two triple axels, and he skated his long program with full-out energy. Orser made two mistakes - a fall-out on a triple flip and a doubling of a planned second triple axel - and he looked noticeably tired at the end of his long program.

 

[Antilles]

Calgary was the first figure skating competition I really remember. It still seems like the most magical. The battle of the Brians and the battle of the Carmens were both very exciting. The whole thing did seem very "cold war". That seemed rather exciting to me as a child. Liz Manley's LP is still one of the best performances I've ever seen, and she had one of the best post-skate reactions of all time. I remember pairs less. I only remember G&G. She definitely was the media's darling at the Olympics. I remember dance even less. I really didn't care for it at the time. I only have vague recollections of B&B and Wilson&McCall. I don't remember K&P at all. I need to get my hands on copies of those competitions. It would be fun to re-live.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Liz Manley's LP is still one of the best performances I've ever seen, and she had one of the best post-skate reactions of all time. /QUOTE]

Absolutely! :agree: Someone threw a white cowboy hat onto the rink, Liz Manley scooped it up, placed it on her head and skated into the arms of her coach, Peter Dunfield. He picked her up in his arms and she pumped her fist in victory. What a priceless moment.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

I watched my videotape of "Fire and Ice" - which had been broadcast on the Arts & Entertainment Network a few years ago. Yvonne Gomez, an Amercan citizen who represented Spain in the women's figure skating competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics, said, "You could cut the atmosphere in the women's locker room with a knife - the tension was that thick with Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas inside that room. While they did not speak with each other, you could feel the tension that both of them felt." Indeed, there was a great deal of pressure on both Witt and Thomas - not only the "Battle of the Carmens", but the "Battle of East (Witt) and West (Thomas)".

IMHO, both Katarina and Debi deserve kudos for handling themselves with dignity and class throughout this pressure-cooker of a competition.

The Witt-Thomas rivalry was a great one, in my opinion.