Memory Lane: Kristi and Rudy

[Alsace]

While he is little he doesn't have a problem throwing Johnny and doing the throw triple axel! I can't access youtube at work anymore, but search for it it's great!

Ant

Maybe Doris can correct me, but I thought that throws were just assists in height and distance. If the person being thrown could do the jump unassisted, then a smaller partner would not be a disadvantage.

 

[dorispulaski]

Alsace, you don't need my help, you explained it perfectly.

However, small difference in height can make difficulties in lifts, especially, more so if the lady weighs as much as the man.

If you want to see some spiffing pair skating by two people of relatively equal size, check out some youtubes of Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner. There are advantages, particularly in things like pull Arabians.

 

[Tonichelle]

Tai and Randy were (And still are) awesome...

my dad still loves Tai lol

 

[76olympics]

To follow the Tai/Randy diversion, I always was amazed at Randy's strength in the lifts. Tai was not big at all, but there was very little height difference and he had a slender build ( no Rockne Brubaker..) The lifts always looked very secure.

I think the similar height also made for beautiful pair camels and the Ina Bauer move.. It seems like they were the last prominent pair I can remember where the man was not tall and the girl tiny. I always enjoy seeing Tai/Randy routines again..


Back to Kristi and Rudy.. I listened to Manleywoman's podcast with John Nicks, and he said he always felt that pairs who jumped in opposite directions didn't get as much credit as they should because the unison issue was not as easy to determine.

 

[Dee4707]

I never quite liked Kristi afterwards as much as I should have because I loved this team and hated to see it break up.

That's the reason I never cared for Kristi too. I always thought it was her mother that kind of threw Rudy under the bus. Anyhow, I haven't liked Kristi since then.

Dee

 

[Mathman]

Here is a fine article by E.M. Swift of Sports Illistrated on Rudy's struggles and triumphs, written in 1996 shortly after his U.S. Nationals miracle performance.

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1007827/2/index.htm

Skate the same way as at the nationals? Why not ask for a rainbow in a bottle? Galindo might hit every triple, replicate every gesture and move just as arrestingly from beginning to end. But he will never skate quite the same way because, well, the first time happens just once. That he should finally show everyone what he could do, in his hometown, on the eve of giving up competitive skating so he could coach youngsters full time and actually earn a living—that's part of the magic. Clearly, Galindo will never again skate with as much at stake or as little to lean on.

"Rudy became a whole person this year," [his sister] Laura says. "He confronted all the issues in his life and stopped putting the blame on everyone else. There was a different kind of fight in Rudy this year. He had so little, and he wanted to give something to Mom."

Galindo was a fine singles skater—he was third in the world juniors at 15—but pairs was his first love, and he eventually specialized in that. His partner was Kristi Yamaguchi, and together they won the 1989 and 1990 U.S. championships. Had they stayed with it, they were a good bet to win a medal in the 1992 Olympics, which would have been the end of his family's money problems. But the roof tell in when Yamaguchi told him she was giving up pairs to focus on her singles career. "April 26, 1990," he says ruefully. "I guess I knew it would happen. You hear comments from other skaters. But Kristi had never said anything. We were like brother and sister, then we just went our separate ways."

So did their fortunes. Yamaguchi won the 1992 Olympic gold and launched a lucrative professional career. Galindo, returning to singles rather than attempting the impossible task of finding a partner of Yamaguchi's skills, floundered. He finished 11th at the nationals in '91 and eighth in '92. "He never said one bad word about Kristi," Laura says. "He just bottled it up."

 

[lcd]

Remember that after 1990, figures were eliminated. I think that figures may have been the reason that Kristi was fourth in 1990 WC. Because she was the strongest consistent US free-skater at the time, she was USFSA's pick for top gal the following year (though Harding wound up with the title).

Alsace... excellenet point. 1990 WAS the final year for compulsories, and that's an excellent point. Kristi did have quite a bit of ground to make up after figures. Recalling the exact free program though, there were mistakes here and there, and I thought when she finished, there was a feeling that it might have been a little better... and who knows... the burdens of all the training in both disciplines, competing at a worlds in both, etc. etc.

And... to date myself... I totaly smile with the mentions of Tai and Randy,..but let's not forget another similarly sized, truly AMAZING John Nicks team.. JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley... their pull arabians were out of this world as well and such wonderful use of their similar height (jump pair camels.... to die for... I miss those days.) Anybody remember seeing JoJo, Ken, Tai and Randy do "Fours" numbers for those Landover events?

sigh...

 

[dorispulaski]

1972 US Championships JoJo Starbuck & Ken Shelley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP7AyOji1qA&feature=PlayList&p=EB5E2623B4D8E44E&playnext=1&index=3

She was married to quarterback Terry Bradshaw for a while.
I didn't see them doing 4's though

 

[ManyCairns]

1972 US Championships JoJo Starbuck & Ken Shelley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP7AyOji1qA&feature=PlayList&p=EB5E2623B4D8E44E&playnext=1&index=3

She was married to quarterback Terry Bradshaw for a while.
I didn't see them doing 4's though

Took me a bit to take the time to sit down and watch Jo Jo and Ken. Now that's a pair equal in height! If anything, in some shots she looks a smidgeon taller than he, though that's probably an optical illusion from the almost bouffant hairstyle.

 

[Tonichelle]

I miss EM Swift's coverage... is Swift still around the sport?