1984 Winter Olympics - Men's Figure Skating Free Skate Part 7

Scott Hamilton USA

[@dralbertpakin8895]

To this day Scott has been my favorite skater ever. He is flawless as I've never seen him miss.

[@cayea4076]

He has a lot of personality in his skating.

[@grantnoroyan4083]

He absolutley deserved to be 2nd period!

[@suerte196]

Scott has done so very much to elevate the sport over the years. He's sort of a living legend. His footwork and spins are so memorable.

[@MsSarahKelly]

For the record, he had literally just completed chemotherapy for cancer right before this performance. How? How can someone be so absolutely mesmerizing on the ice like this. I’ve been watching figure skating my whole life and was a skater when I was much younger, nothing ever at this level. But this was so clearly the most amazing performance I have ever seen. Could not take my eyes off of him, he just exudes love for the sport, love for the ice, and love for the audience. Such an absolutely gifted man.

[@merlinsusan1]

I always loved his fast footwork and attention to the music.

[@julievanderleest]

I was just born before these Olympics but I grew up knowing who Scott Hamilton was. He was one that really inspired me as a kid. Never give up!

[@mkfan1853]

Hamilton was skating with an inner ear infection (which he slightly referenced with his remarks to Dick Button about balance issues). Not only did he win gold, but he also showed why he later became an excellent commentator on skating.

[@cathiecoulson9092]

Always my favorite! I wrote Scott a poem after his win. Was able to give it to him when I saw him in Ice Capades. One of the nicest guys!

[@kayakair1]

Scott said it..."Under pressure you perform 15% better or 15% worse"!

[@JackCondor44]

I'm not from a figure skating town ..... but I'm glad my dad had the range of vision of talent that brought me to get a glimpse of this venue of expression..... and it was always one of my quietly just too myself favorite sports.....

[@jasonmikolajewski2653]

I concur, I have had much the same experience in my life. Although Scott being from my hometown of Toledo, and having gone to BGSU as I did (albeit for my grad school), maybe I can say that I am from a figure skating town...

[@megeraashley7777]

I’m a 90s Scott Hamilton fan…I’m not used to seeing him with hair. If he was younger today & didn’t have all those health issues I still think he’d give Chen a run for his money.

[@Cre8tvMG]

He looks like Luke Skywalker in tights.

[@ilovebeinagirl]

He kind of looks like Chucky from Child's Play with the hairstyle to me.

[@ThatClassic70sGirl]

😆

[@keyscook]

He certainly does and could have been stunt double in the movies - skates + a lightsaber = DEADLY ! 😂 Cheers from Seattle 🍻

[@robindew9072]

Scotty the king on the ice

[@afrosheenqueen]

I came to see Scott’s Olympic performance. Ive never seen it before. He was so fast and expressive as a skater. Unfortunately his choice of music for this was horrific. Oh well. I enjoyed the interview. Lots of honesty. Very refreshing to see!

[@PotatoFaceMakeup]

Oh the 80s. Lol

[@InvertedFreeSolo]

What are you talking about this song slaps

[@darrenbrown9126]

Back then, skaters had to have 4 changes of music. And I think he had music from past performances.

[@Fee212]

You saw him skate and you're criticising his choice in MUSIC??????

[@lauraroberts4081]

Pure class!!

[@carolinehugge8829]

I just met him while watching my brothers hockey game

[@JackCondor44]

such an incredible performer.... my father and I were glued too that TV wathcing his Olympic performances.... great memories....

[@marmarbinx3458]

That's neat. I saw him when I was little at an ice capades show I believe. He was awesome to watch, along with everyone else.

[@L0wBap]

aaah the era without hairstylists, so nice

[@rogerphillips2063]

One of the best And a kind hearted Christian man who has overcome lots of physical issues. Good example of Christ like life.

[@Person-mh6xq]

🙄

[@raymesquite]

​@Person-mh6xq God has really blessed him after all the difficulties he endured. An amazing testimony.

[@will74lsn]

That was a lot of Axels 🤣

[@swizzle1961]

Ricky Harris a classic❤️

[@mpinelli3724]

He always jokes how flip jumps were his nemesis. For me it was always the Axel and the flip was my easiest.

[@christymallesky8670]

Wow

[@iago07]

EVERYTHING about this is 1984 😭

[@will74lsn]

were those generous marks? Just wondering 🤣

[@Fee212]

5.6 is an outrage.

[@westnyacktwins]

I'm sure there were corrupt judges, especially in figures. At this time, it was usually an East v West thing. If you look at the numbers in Sarajevo for the compulsory figures, Hamilton received first place votes from all nine judges. He averaged a score of 4.03 on his figures, whereas Simond in second place averaged a 3.8. Orser averaged 3.46. No judge placed Orser higher than 6th in the figures. This leads me to believe that Hamilton actually skated the best figures and Orser didn't. Usually, skaters had to "prove themselves" to gain higher marks in figures, so it usually took a few years for them the ascend in the ranks. For instance, Katarina Witt placed 20th in figures at the 1980 Worlds and moved up to 11th, 9th, and 8th the next three years. That was why it was such a surprise the she placed third in figures in Sarajevo. Had she placed 6th or lower, Sumners would have won gold.

[@afrosheenqueen]

Yeah, it was a little bit crappy how they did it back then

[@douglasbrown5671]

I am sure the figures scoring was fair and accurate. Hamilton winning figures over Simond was a surprise, so I am sure he deserved it. Orser had weak figures back then despite the hard work on them, and admited it himself. The same judges who really liked him as shown by his free skating scores scored him.
The question though is if Hamilton deserved his free skating placements. And I would say that is questionable at best. If those were dropped, meaning both short program and long program, it would be interesting if Orser or even Boitano (if scored properly) could overtake him.

[@douglasbrown5671]

And considering Sumners did not deserve 2nd in the long program (5th in the short was right) I doubt she deserved gold over Witt, even if Witt were placed lower in figures.

[@victoriagill3337]

No possibility that they might have recognised they needed to improve in that area and put in the extra work….

[@normano3573]

@@douglasbrown5671 Hamilton was way overmarked in the freeskate. Orser destroyed him.

[@victoriagill3337]

One thing I’ve noticed through watching these videos throughout the 80s is how forgiving the American commentators are of their own skaters while criticising their main contenders from other countries in absolute minute detail

[@marmarbinx3458]

That's every country. In every event.

[@pamelabrown9484]

Oh please, where have you been? Every country does that for itself and its allies...

[@elisefincher4478]

Cmon man you act like that isn't done everywhere. Of course announcers are going to go easy on those representing them while being overly critical of skaters from other countries.

[@tuxtommy69]

And the quintessential example of that would be the Canadian commentators & sports media whining and crying about the placements of the very overrated Bourne & Kraatz.

[@victoriagill3337]

@@tuxtommy69 I think it’s probably more noticeable because the British commentators are ever so nice and proper and fair. Plus we never really had any contenders….other than T&D of course

[@user-ij2rz1to1o]

Hamilton竟然兩個一轉跳, 給分過高. 短長曲都排第一的Orser輸得很冤.

[@swizzle1961]

Old wagon wheeler can see the technique

[@MichaelDruck]

5.9 for technical merit ?

[@ThatClassic70sGirl]

Yeppers! 😁 This was back when the figure skating scoring system made sense; and it was quick and easy to see which skaters were leading; and how much the judges' nationalism was figuring into the results.

[@yankeegirl3380]

Hey, I've seen 6.0 for technical merit.

[@melindafrank9582]

SPIDERMAN

[@cayea4076]

His level of skating back then wouldn't be even close to competitive in today's skating world.

[@joycefinn5403]

You're right, he's way better.

[@mr.balloffur]

Same thing could be said for any sport

[@barberman2737]

Yeah, he's much better than anyone skating today. One of the best ever.

[@user-ig4ce6wo9w]

Сорвал флип, нет тройного Акселя. 5.9 за технику - за гранью фантастики. 5.9 за артистизм, тоже переоценено. В произвольной я считаю проиграл Орсеру и Бойтано. Дали высокие оценки за рейтинг, трёхкратный чемпион мира.

[@sloams]

Good performance for 1984, but not even good enough to compete against women figure skaters of today!!!

[@Fee212]

Fabulously entertaining, extremely talented, hard-working, brave enough to survive cancer and win a world gold medal. A genuine one-off and one of those once in a lifetime people. ✨️ ⛸️ 🏅

[@wecv670]

sorry to all fans , but scotty didn't deserve the gold medal here , how is it possible to be the olympic champion with this kind of program ( and the short wasn't that good , too ) such an awkward skating and undeserved win , everybody knew it but nobody could admit it , they simply didn't want to bash such a beloved skater by saying that ... he completely omitted a triple jump , did only 3 triples ..yet manage to win this , and brian in next olympics stepped out of his triple flip and that was able to cost him the gold medal ...

[@westnyacktwins]

Hamilton won it on figures. Of course we can’t really compare his figures to Orser’s. Question is where should he have placed in the free? Hamilton knew the factored placement rule that if he finished top 2 in the figures he would be hard to beat in the overall. The other top skaters in figures were weak in free skating and the best free skaters struggled in figures.

[@wecv670]

@@westnyacktwins that's right , the figures saved him , and he was indeed strong at figures , but still there are two questions , were those lower placements justified for other skaters ,or they were put down ? like maybe Orser should've been 5th rather than 7th? we don't know since the figures weren't shown and they were very vulnerable to corruption and judging bias ... second is , was his place in SP and LP justified for him ( scott ) , he should've been much lower than second in SP , and Boitano and Fadeev should've beaten him in the long .. then he wouldn't have been the champion .. I know this won't change a thing but still feel he didn't deserve it here , neither in the worlds the same year .. but just my opinion anyway ..

[@ilovebeinagirl]

He probably won based on his placing. Keep in mind there were compulsory figures, then the short program. I don't remember where Orser or anyone else placed but Scott was first in both, so he probably just had enough of a lead and/or it was one of those someone else had to beat him other than Orser AND Orser had to win the free skate to win, but I don't know for sure. And I think Boitano would've won in 1988 even if Orser hadn't stepped out of the flip. But he got two gold medals as a coach now, so it's all good.

[@baritonebynight]

It's interesting how far the sport came. Less than ten years later, Tonya Harding was doing a triple lutz AND a triple axel in combination. Granted, Hamilton was known more for trying to be masculine (wearing a speed skating suit to show how butch he was) than for technical prowess....while Tonya Harding, in her prime, was doing things that only the best male skaters did and wasn't hung up about not being "girly" enough.

[@priscillaconrad3958]

Bull hockey..HE WON WAS IS AND ALWAYS THE BEST. MARK HAMILTON AN
D KURT BROWNING #1