Kerrigan was always one of the most interesting and mysterious figure skaters. She was a mix of classic from the modern times (the 50s-60s era), but then also a touch of modern avant-guard. You didn't know what to expect what type of interpretation she'd do on the ice, or even what type of music. A wonderful and unique skater.
She attacked it here flying down the ice. If you notice in Lillehammer just a few months later shes slower and hesitates into that flip. However her loop had more attack there.
I still think her Olympic program was strong enough artistically compared to Oksana's to win the Gold. It's all a matter of sympathy and Oksana's sympathy level turned out to be bigger. The orphan girl who wins Worlds & Olympics can only favor the Olympics just like Tara Lipinksi 4 years later being the charming little girl and youngest Olympic Ladies champ ever. They love their dramatic stories.
@Gary Henzler besides... Nancy had a manufactured style that a lot of judges and people in skating just did not care for to begin with. Because she had the good looks and could portray such a wholesome American image, people wanted her to be a star just like Peggy and Dorothy; but Nancy was a painfully shy person with very little charisma off the ice and she could not live up to those expectations, anyway! Not to mention she had a history of nerves and inconsistency on the ice; she even admitted on camera at least once that she never enjoyed competing. Yes of course the judges were looking for a future investment and judged based on the politics of the Soviet Union collapse in the early 90's - but that has always gone on in skating!! Oksana was naturally a more talented skater than Nancy - point blank!
Also keep in mind that this is when skating was at its financial peak. The events were getting huge ratings and skaters were making millions in ice shows and tv specials. The top skaters made even more in endorsements. It’s became not a matter of awarding great skating, but who had the most star power. I think back to the pair’s competition in 94. When Gordeeva and Grinkov came back leading up to the games they already had television specials and a book deal in the works. Sergei skated horribly in the free skate and made several mistakes yet the judges held them up. They were out skated that night but their money making potential is what won them gold.
@@omar505 eww yes let's not talk about how they stole the gold with a subpar performance compared to m&d. I can recall Kurt Browning commentating once that if he were a judge he'd get caught up in a performance and maybe miss a few mistakes as a result. That was said to justify a lesser program winning over a superior one. If that's what goes on they need to quit judging honestly.
Thanks! I think this shows that Nancy's clean skate at Olympics was not a fluke. (I refuse to call a double jump instead of a triple jump a mistake). She was capable of skating virtually flawlessly, especially in her last amateur season. This was not as strong as her Olympic performance, but still excellent.
@@lila2986 I know you are one of the Harding fans that loved seeing Nancy being cheated out of the gold by those five Communist judges. I am still outraged by the fact the commies had a majority of five commie judges on the panel of judges. There was no doubt she was cheated out of that gold in favor of a Ukraine girl. Two of the Western judges not only had Nancy Kerrigan the gold, but had Chen Lu the silver and Oksana Baiul the bronze. You actually live to hate Nancy Kerrigan. It wasn't really close.
I agree with your assessment of Nancy's program. I think Oksana's victory was more to do with national bias. It existed on both sides, but the bias in the Eastern camp made it close to even when it should have been unanimous for Nancy. That left the tie-break to the German judge, when it never should have come down to him anyway. Even the American judge awarded Oksana the same technical mark as Nancy. Hello?!
"The worst thing that could happen did happen." Oh Scott Hamilton, how wrong you would be. The event that changed figure skating would be looming for Nancy at the Nationals later on that season.
All of her programs seems to start off the same way. That push off with eyes to the ceiling. She was quite robotic with her "artistry". I'm glad Michelle Kwan came along after this period.
Scratch spin was weak and wobbly. She crosses her feet before she pulls her arms in. She needs to pull her arms in at the same time as she pulls her leg in.
the attack notwithstanding, I think what Scott meant by the double axel being the thing that was behind her now may have been in response to the fact that whenever she tried that job the technique looked a little scary and she had been known at various times in years previous to fall on the simplest of jumps. I don't think it had anything to do with the attack which hadn't happened yet. regardless Nancy was at her best here and at the Olympics you try skating on an eighth of an inch blade just a few weeks after your cleared by the doctors and see how you would handle it. she may only have won national championship but she went to the Olympics and World twice and medalled twice enough said.
@@thesovgc No, it was an International Seniors' skating championship from 1989 - 1998, after which it became a junior championship. Skating at that event enabled Nancy to skate exactly where she would later skate at the Olympics. Not only so, all her major competitors were there except Oksana, and Tonya.
And as you allude to, Kwan then gets passed over for Lipinski in the next Olympics, a more defensible decision with Lipinski having a more difficult repertoire of jump combinations, but still irritating because of Kwan's overall better skating. Also to consider, in each case the skater who should have won skated before her rival. I suspect this affected the outcome only in the latter case, as I think Lipinski's performance excited everyone but would have been eclipsed by Kwan's beauty later on.
I think Tara deserved to win. Michelle peaked at Nationals and won, but her program - though still beautiful at the Olympics - neither was as good nor had the same impact as it did at Nationals. Tara skated as good as it was possible for her to skate at the Olympics with better technique on that night than Michelle (remember, Michelle had no triple/triple combination; Tara had a triple loop/triple loop combo PLUS a triple loop/half loop/triple sal combo). Tara skated with lovely artistry and great joy, so her componet scores were very good that night, but it was her technique that really overcame Michelle, and the fact that she had the joy of skating the best program of her life on Olympic ice! Michelle skated the two best programs of her life at 98 nationals; her 3rd best program was '96 Worlds. '98 Olympic Long was probably her 4th best program - maybe. She had a really scary double axel in that program. Did you know that in the lead-up to the '98 Olympics, Nancy Kerrigan indicated that she favored Tara Lipinski? About Nancy, I also believe she deserved the Gold at Lillihammer.
All glitter in the world COULD NOT disguise the mediocrity that was central in her skating. In retrospect without Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan would never have been remembered at all.
What's this trash talk nonsense? Her jump technique is fantastic (TRUE Lutz, a beautiful great Flip and adequate approach on the other four triple jumps and the 2A, besides making 3+3 combinations when it was a far cry from being extraofficially mandatory). Plus Nancy had the beauty and the grace.
@Thang Vuong: With all due respect for your opinion, I'm afraid you are totally incorrect. Nancy was part of the '91 Women's team that swept the World podium. She had the best Original program (though placed 2nd) at the '92 Olympics, and in spite of a flawed long program, she accomplished 4 exquisite triple jumps, and a gorgeous double axel, while wearing the difficilt to skate in, but beautiful, white dress. Because of her beauty, the white dress, her elegance, and the tension in that "Born on the 4th of July" program, the audience went crazy for her. She received the Bronze medal and she came home to a hero's welcome - to a parade, and having a street named after her, and to multiple endorsements, including commercials & being in a big Christmas special. Nancy was a marquee name attraction long before the whack attack!!! The fact that she was in such high demand is what partly led to her skating unravelling in 1993; she was making the commercials, modeling, and all kinds of things, and - I think - let it get to her psychologically, as well as perhaps take away too much from her training. But the disastrous '93 World's got her attention, and she developed better training habits and poured herself into preparing for '94 Olympics. But she was a favorite to win Gold before the attack. She just had to work twice as hard to recover from the attack in order to skate well - which she did - at the Olympics.
Thats the problem with the old judging system. As Kurt Browning said once, sometimes you get swept up by the excitement of a routine and you ignore mistakes or flaws that should be deducted for. It's a dangerous path to take in skating to reward excitement over the essence of skating which is beauty, elegance, line, etc. Thats why when Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze won in 2002 I was ecstatic that they finally got it right. At least until the crybaby routine got an unearned gold for the others.
Kerrigan was always one of the most interesting and mysterious figure skaters. She was a mix of classic from the modern times (the 50s-60s era), but then also a touch of modern avant-guard. You didn't know what to expect what type of interpretation she'd do on the ice, or even what type of music. A wonderful and unique skater.
That triple Flip was powerful as hell
She attacked it here flying down the ice. If you notice in Lillehammer just a few months later shes slower and hesitates into that flip. However her loop had more attack there.
I still think her Olympic program was strong enough artistically compared to Oksana's to win the Gold. It's all a matter of sympathy and Oksana's sympathy level turned out to be bigger. The orphan girl who wins Worlds & Olympics can only favor the Olympics just like Tara Lipinksi 4 years later being the charming little girl and youngest Olympic Ladies champ ever. They love their dramatic stories.
Keith Valdez one word: COMMUNISM
@Gary Henzler besides... Nancy had a manufactured style that a lot of judges and people in skating just did not care for to begin with. Because she had the good looks and could portray such a wholesome American image, people wanted her to be a star just like Peggy and Dorothy; but Nancy was a painfully shy person with very little charisma off the ice and she could not live up to those expectations, anyway! Not to mention she had a history of nerves and inconsistency on the ice; she even admitted on camera at least once that she never enjoyed competing. Yes of course the judges were looking for a future investment and judged based on the politics of the Soviet Union collapse in the early 90's - but that has always gone on in skating!! Oksana was naturally a more talented skater than Nancy - point blank!
Keith Valdez I agree.
Also keep in mind that this is when skating was at its financial peak. The events were getting huge ratings and skaters were making millions in ice shows and tv specials. The top skaters made even more in endorsements. It’s became not a matter of awarding great skating, but who had the most star power. I think back to the pair’s competition in 94. When Gordeeva and Grinkov came back leading up to the games they already had television specials and a book deal in the works. Sergei skated horribly in the free skate and made several mistakes yet the judges held them up. They were out skated that night but their money making potential is what won them gold.
@@omar505 eww yes let's not talk about how they stole the gold with a subpar performance compared to m&d. I can recall Kurt Browning commentating once that if he were a judge he'd get caught up in a performance and maybe miss a few mistakes as a result. That was said to justify a lesser program winning over a superior one. If that's what goes on they need to quit judging honestly.
Thanks! I think this shows that Nancy's clean skate at Olympics was not a fluke. (I refuse to call a double jump instead of a triple jump a mistake). She was capable of skating virtually flawlessly, especially in her last amateur season. This was not as strong as her Olympic performance, but still excellent.
@@lila2986 I know you are one of the Harding fans that loved seeing Nancy being cheated out of the gold by those five Communist judges. I am still outraged by the fact the commies had a majority of five commie judges on the panel of judges. There was no doubt she was cheated out of that gold in favor of a Ukraine girl. Two of the Western judges not only had Nancy Kerrigan the gold, but had Chen Lu the silver and Oksana Baiul the bronze. You actually live to hate Nancy Kerrigan. It wasn't really close.
I agree with your assessment of Nancy's program. I think Oksana's victory was more to do with national bias. It existed on both sides, but the bias in the Eastern camp made it close to even when it should have been unanimous for Nancy. That left the tie-break to the German judge, when it never should have come down to him anyway. Even the American judge awarded Oksana the same technical mark as Nancy. Hello?!
"The worst thing that could happen did happen." Oh Scott Hamilton, how wrong you would be. The event that changed figure skating would be looming for Nancy at the Nationals later on that season.
Peter Schuurmans that event brought more work to skaters than anything else. Peggy Fleming etc even said so
All of her programs seems to start off the same way. That push off with eyes to the ceiling. She was quite robotic with her "artistry". I'm glad Michelle Kwan came along after this period.
Scratch spin was weak and wobbly. She crosses her feet before she pulls her arms in. She needs to pull her arms in at the same time as she pulls her leg in.
She improved it, and it was spot on at the Olympics, centered and beautiful, and climaxed right with the music!!!
the attack notwithstanding, I think what Scott meant by the double axel being the thing that was behind her now may have been in response to the fact that whenever she tried that job the technique looked a little scary and she had been known at various times in years previous to fall on the simplest of jumps. I don't think it had anything to do with the attack which hadn't happened yet. regardless Nancy was at her best here and at the Olympics you try skating on an eighth of an inch blade just a few weeks after your cleared by the doctors and see how you would handle it. she may only have won national championship but she went to the Olympics and World twice and medalled twice enough said.
Did Mary ludington choreograph?
Does this event still exist and why isn't it part of the grand prix series? what's it all about?
vistaprime Pretty sure it was just a one-off test event for the Olympics.
@@thesovgc No, it was an International Seniors' skating championship from 1989 - 1998, after which it became a junior championship. Skating at that event enabled Nancy to skate exactly where she would later skate at the Olympics. Not only so, all her major competitors were there except Oksana, and Tonya.
And as you allude to, Kwan then gets passed over for Lipinski in the next Olympics, a more defensible decision with Lipinski having a more difficult repertoire of jump combinations, but still irritating because of Kwan's overall better skating. Also to consider, in each case the skater who should have won skated before her rival. I suspect this affected the outcome only in the latter case, as I think Lipinski's performance excited everyone but would have been eclipsed by Kwan's beauty later on.
Absolutely agree. And to think it wasn't even a 5-4 split, but a 6-3.
I think Tara deserved to win. Michelle peaked at Nationals and won, but her program - though still beautiful at the Olympics - neither was as good nor had the same impact as it did at Nationals. Tara skated as good as it was possible for her to skate at the Olympics with better technique on that night than Michelle (remember, Michelle had no triple/triple combination; Tara had a triple loop/triple loop combo PLUS a triple loop/half loop/triple sal combo). Tara skated with lovely artistry and great joy, so her componet scores were very good that night, but it was her technique that really overcame Michelle, and the fact that she had the joy of skating the best program of her life on Olympic ice! Michelle skated the two best programs of her life at 98 nationals; her 3rd best program was '96 Worlds. '98 Olympic Long was probably her 4th best program - maybe. She had a really scary double axel in that program. Did you know that in the lead-up to the '98 Olympics, Nancy Kerrigan indicated that she favored Tara Lipinski? About Nancy, I also believe she deserved the Gold at Lillihammer.
@@genednomyar3383It is a good thing for Tara that she skated at a time when underrotated jumps ( loop) and flutzes ( lutzes) were not marked down.
@@reneedaughter I will give you that, but - in my opinion - she was still a very special skater.
@@genednomyar3383 😀
All glitter in the world COULD NOT disguise the mediocrity that was central in her skating. In retrospect without Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan would never have been remembered at all.
What's this trash talk nonsense? Her jump technique is fantastic (TRUE Lutz, a beautiful great Flip and adequate approach on the other four triple jumps and the 2A, besides making 3+3 combinations when it was a far cry from being extraofficially mandatory). Plus Nancy had the beauty and the grace.
Thang Vuong what you call mediocracy, others call artistic merit.
💯🎯
@Thang Vuong: With all due respect for your opinion, I'm afraid you are totally incorrect. Nancy was part of the '91 Women's team that swept the World podium. She had the best Original program (though placed 2nd) at the '92 Olympics, and in spite of a flawed long program, she accomplished 4 exquisite triple jumps, and a gorgeous double axel, while wearing the difficilt to skate in, but beautiful, white dress. Because of her beauty, the white dress, her elegance, and the tension in that "Born on the 4th of July" program, the audience went crazy for her. She received the Bronze medal and she came home to a hero's welcome - to a parade, and having a street named after her, and to multiple endorsements, including commercials & being in a big Christmas special. Nancy was a marquee name attraction long before the whack attack!!! The fact that she was in such high demand is what partly led to her skating unravelling in 1993; she was making the commercials, modeling, and all kinds of things, and - I think - let it get to her psychologically, as well as perhaps take away too much from her training. But the disastrous '93 World's got her attention, and she developed better training habits and poured herself into preparing for '94 Olympics. But she was a favorite to win Gold before the attack. She just had to work twice as hard to recover from the attack in order to skate well - which she did - at the Olympics.
A better program at the Olympics and she scored lower there!
Thats the problem with the old judging system. As Kurt Browning said once, sometimes you get swept up by the excitement of a routine and you ignore mistakes or flaws that should be deducted for. It's a dangerous path to take in skating to reward excitement over the essence of skating which is beauty, elegance, line, etc. Thats why when Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze won in 2002 I was ecstatic that they finally got it right. At least until the crybaby routine got an unearned gold for the others.
High five and I totally agree. If those Olympics had been anywhere other than North America the results would've stood as they were in the beginning.