US Women Sweep Medals at 1991 Worlds

[SkateFan4Life]

I just viewed one of my many skating videotapes, this one from the 1991 World
Championships, which were held in Munich. While my heart went out in total sympathy to the wonderful Midori Ito, who injured herself with a short program warm-up collision and skated a disastrous long program, I was thrilled to watch, once again, the outstanding American trio of Kristi Yamaguchi, Tonya Harding, and Nancy Kerigan, sweep the medals. All of the US women were awesome!

Kristi was light, yet powerful, and she landed crisp, strong triple jumps. Tonya landed her triple axel and made a few mistakes thereafter, but otherwise skated a strong program to "Batman", "Send in the Clowns", and "Wild Thing", and Nancy skated a strong program to "Born on the Fourth of July". Just seeing them on the podium and watching the three US flags raise as the National Anthem was played was a sight to behold.

God Bless America!

OK, I'm an American - obviously!

 

[BronzeisGolden]

The 1991 Worlds sweep was a great moment for U.S. ladies' skating. I was so proud of Kristi Yamaguchi and her "Samson & Delilah" LP in Munich is my favorite of all her amateur performances. She was brilliant and nearly perfect. I still can't believe she received 5.6/5.6 from that Australian judge...what was he/she watching? Tonya was solid and her triple axel was better than at Nationals, but she really let a great opportunity slip by when she singled/doubled so many of her triple jumps. At any rate, it was technically a very powerful performance and I really liked her style. Nancy was elegant and....believe it or not....not clean, but it still was a great performance for her and I felt she completely deserved her bronze medal. It was such a bummer for Midori, though. The SP incident was horrendous and I can't even believe she got back up and finished after such a crazy fall/crash. I'm so glad that she was able to come back the next season and capture Olympic Silver.

 

[Glacierskater]

SKATEFAN,

I did not see this competition...it happened before I came to life as an obessessed skater. I can imagine the emotion that it would invoke to see the flag raised for 3 American ladies on the podium. I went to the 1984 Olympics in LA for the swimming events, and even though I was not a huge swim fan, it was AWESOME to see those athletes win gold at home. When the National Anthem played it was a moment that I will never forget.

Thanks for sharing some history with us. I am off to try to locate this performance in the tape trading section.

 

[berthes ghost]

Worthy of note was Surya's quad attempt in the LP. She underrotated it, but stood up, Then, perhaps overexcited by the feat, she cancelled out all glory by promptly falling flat on her face while simply skating forward. It's a shame she was never able to improve upon that strong effort and pull it off, fully rotated. She tried the quad Sal years later at 96 worlds, but didn't have enough height and landed mid rotation on two feet and fell.

Poor Midori, a dark cloud seemed to be over her head that whole comp. Even before the awful crash with Hubert, we were told that she was injured. IIRC she had foot problems, back pain, and had had a cist removed just prior to the event. As Albertville and 96 worlds later confirmed, Midori was not really a pressure skater and often let stress get the better of her. So sad, as in theory the gold medal practicly had her name already on it before the event even began. She was such a great skater, and to see 3 skaters, 2 of whom in their first worlds ever, and the 3rd whom had never been able to medal before, pass her over must have been heartbreaking.

Also saddening was world champ Jill Trenary watching from TV at home, out recovering from ankle surjury, IIRC. I was never a big Jill fan, but I do feel bad for any champ who doesn't have the chance to defend their title.

 

[floskate]

I think considering the obvious pain she was in that Midori did a brave job of the LP at Worlds that year. Machiko Yamada actually said it was the most courageous performance of her career because she was desperately trying to gain 3 spots for Japan at the Olympics the next year.

Although the pressure got to her in Albertville, I don't think it was pressure that got her down in Munich - more the injuries. If Midori ever had a meltdown in a competition it was probably the 87/88 Nationals. She so desperately wanted to go to Calgary that she botched several jumps but made it anyway. I think she was haunted by the '84 Nationals where she fell in the sp and missed out on the Olympics in Sarejevo by one place.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Tonya was solid and her triple axel was better than at Nationals, but she really let a great opportunity slip by when she singled/doubled so many of her triple jumps. At any rate, it was technically a very powerful performance and I really liked her style.

I also really liked Tonya Harding's 1991 competitive program - the jazzy short, and the powerful long, with a high-flying triple axel. Had she not fluffed several of her triples, she may well have won the World title. She and her coach stood behind the curtain as Kristi Yamaguchi's winning scores were announced, and they walked away when they realized the outcome. Tonya did not seem too thrilled at winning "only" the silver medal, but Nancy Kerrigan appeared to be absolutely overjoyed at her bronze medal, and Kristi was aglow with her gold medal. When the three United States flags were raised, Kristi looked at Nancy and said something like "Wow!" to her.

Indeed - it was as "WOW!!" moment.

 

[Ogre Mage]

"A Midori"

1991 Worlds in Munich was also the year that Midori Ito accidentally jumped out of the rink into the camera pit during her SP. Luckily she completed her combo before she did it so she got full credit. This incident became so infamous that later on, falling out of the rink became known as doing "a Midori." 1991 Worlds for Midori reminded me a bit of 2004 Worlds for Michelle ... an ill-luck event where it was one bizarre bad thing after another. Germany will hold no special affection in the heart of either skater, that's for sure.

Kristi was absolutely devastated by her loss to Tonya Harding at 1991 U.S. Nats. She stated that for several weeks after that competition, she was a mess on the ice, continually in tears and wondering if her program should be changed. That she was able to come to Munich and skate two powerful and artistic programs shows her mental fortitude. She became the complete package in '91.

Tonya was awesome and landed the 3axel again, but when she reduced her 3/3 and 3/2 combos to 2/2 and 2/2, she left the door clearly open for Kristi.

Nancy fell on her 3salchow, but skated an otherwise strong program with a 3flip, 3lutz and 3toe/3toe combo. The choreography was excellent and used her long, elegant line to best advantage.

The U.S.A. podium sweep took the skating world by complete surprise as it was Nancy and Tonya's first worlds plus everyone expected Midori to be in the mix. The USFSA was certainly puffing with pride after that one.

 

[floskate]

I also remember our own Joanne Conway FINALLY skating up to her potential. She was such an unlucky skater - clearly talented but put under so much pressure when she became British Champion at 14. She was infamous for buckling under pressure, yoyo weight problems and was nearly always injured. But for some reason in 1991 she put it all together. She'd left Carlo Fassi, come home to the UK and just skated up a storm inc 3f, 3r, 1foot axel - 3s. I felt she deserved a little better than 7th IMO

 

[berthes ghost]

They only showed the top 5 ladies on US TV. Did they show 6th place finisher Josee on CTV? How did she do, what was her program, etc...?

 

[floskate]

We only had BBC so they showed Joanne then Midori and the US ladies IIRC. There is Eurosport footage out there of this event though so I'm sure Josee got shown on that but CTV would be your best bet!

 

[SkateFan4Life]

Kristi was absolutely devastated by her loss to Tonya Harding at 1991 U.S. Nats. She stated that for several weeks after that competition, she was a mess on the ice, continually in tears and wondering if her program should be changed. That she was able to come to Munich and skate two powerful and artistic programs shows her mental fortitude. She became the complete package in '91.

Yes, I remember that, too. Kristi was in tears at the US medal ceremony, as she again won the silver medal (89, 90, and 91). She had been the heavy favorite to win, but she fell on her elusive triple salchow and Tonya Harding blew the roof off the arena by becoming the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition. No contest, as far as I'm concerned.

When Kristi returned to the Royal Glenora rink in Edmonton, she and her coach Christy Ness tried, unsuccessfully, to incorporate a triple axel into her long program. Kristi certainly tried her best, but that jump wasn't meant to be for her.

 

[SkateFan4Life]

I also remember our own Joanne Conway FINALLY skating up to her potential. She was such an unlucky skater - clearly talented but put under so much pressure when she became British Champion at 14. She was infamous for buckling under pressure, yoyo weight problems and was nearly always injured. But for some reason in 1991 she put it all together. She'd left Carlo Fassi, come home to the UK and just skated up a storm inc 3f, 3r, 1foot axel - 3s. I felt she deserved a little better than 7th IMO

Unfortunately, reputation has a great deal to do with judging, and Joanne Conway's past of missing jumps and buckling under the pressure did not help her when she finally did put it together in 1991. I remember seeing her long program. I thought she skated very, very well for her. She wasn't in the same class as the medalists, but she was terrific. Seventh place at Worlds is nothing to be ashamed about. I think Joanne did herself proud in that competition.