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--Both times Russians Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov won an Olympic gold, they beat the gold medalists from the previous games.
--All three of the pairs teams standing on the podium at the 1995 World Championships were engaged to be married. Coincidence? I think not. I think romance between pairs teams adds that extra passion and spark.
--Both of the men's Olympic Gold Medalists from the 1970's died of AIDS in the 1990's.
--Though they have a tendency to win World Championships, never has a Canadian man won a gold in singles at the Olympics.
--Kurt Browning was once an ice dancer!
--Ice dancers Torvill and Dean hold the record for most perfect 6.0's in amateur competition--approximately 155!
--You think the US has always sucked at ice dancing??? Guess what--the first Olympic bronze medal in ice dancing was awarded to Colleen O'Connor and Jimmy Millins of the USA. However, the US hasn't medaled in ice dancing at the Olympics since. We came close with the team of Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert, five-time US Champions and two-time World Bronze Medalists. They finished fourth in the 1984 Olympics.
--The 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway was the worst showing by the US Figure Skating Team since 1964 in Innsbruck, where the only medal was Scott Allen's bronze in men's singles. This was, of course, in the aftermath of the 1961 plane crash that took the lives of the entire US World Team. In 1994, the USA only earned one medal in figure skating, Nancy Kerrigan's silver in singles. Fortunately, the most of US figure skating team finished in the top ten in their respective events--except for one pairs team and the ice dancing team. --The best showing by the US in the Olympics: two golds, two silvers and one bronze in the figure skating competition in Cortina at the 1956 Olympics. All were in singles--three in men's and two in ladies'.
--The US Team had a wonderful showing at the 1991 World Championships. We won a total of five medals, medaling in three of the four disciplines. The American women swept the ladies' event--Kristi Yamaguchi won her first World title after finishing second to Tonya Harding's triple axel at Nationals one month earlier. Tonya Harding was a close second, landing the triple axel perfectly, but faltering on other easier jumps. Nancy Kerrigan turned in a beautiful performance to earn the bronze, making her mark in her first year of international competition. Natasha Kuchiki and Todd Sand took home the bronze in pairs, while National Champion Todd Eldredge was third only to superstars Petrenko and Browning.
--Only two Americans have ever scored perfect 6.0's in the short program at the National Championships. They are Brian Boitano (in 1988) and Michelle Kwan (in 1998).
Interesting Facts from Nagano:
--The top four in the ladies competition in Nagano mirrored the top four ladies competition
in Lillehammer exactly. The winner of the short program ended up with
the silver, and the second place finisher won the gold. The skater
who finished fourth in the short program won the bronze, and the
third place finisher from the short finished fourth.
--Pasha Grishuk and Evgeny Platov became the only dance team to win two (consecutive) Olympic Gold medals.
--Despite the all of the controversy surrounding the ice dancing, the US had its best showing in that event since 1988.
--The men's podium from Nagano was almost exactly the same as the podium from Lillehammer. The only difference was the (poorly dressed) 20-year-old Russian on the top!!! Stojko repeated with the silver and Candeloro repeated with the bronze.
© 1997 tracyveronika@yahoo.com
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