Give that man at least twice the ice surface to skate on! I cringed watching such a tall, powerful skater try to skate on such a small surface. But I enjoyed the chance to watch, despite that, as well as the chance to listen to the interviews. Brian told the same story about his skating style at the 88 Olympics, and leading up to it in interviews somewhere getting on to 30 years back now. He also said that in trying to skate like his smaller rivals, he had maintained an unnaturally low weight (15O-155 lbs) as well, which would have reduced the power that he later further developed. I believe that Sandra Bezic’s take on his skating helped him to embrace his style and his build as when I saw him live at the Professional World Figure Skating Competition (in person) late in 88, he had already begun to gain a significant amount of muscle mass, and his skating was just breathtaking. I’d never seen a skater with so much speed, strength, and amplitude before in my life! And he only got better and better. It was a delight to watch him as his consistency allowed the fans to watch with a complete sense of ease, producing a level of enjoyment that’s never been equaled in that way. He’s the most consistent skater I’ve ever seen. That consistency and his ability to embrace his strengths led to a tremendous amount of growth and finesse in his skating. I’ve always loved strong, powerful skating. Few men skate like that, as there are few men of Brian’s size who compete in singles these days. It’s sadly now dominated by in large by much smaller skaters. I so miss seeing such consistent, powerful and breath taking skating. I hope that the scoring changes so that we can once again enjoy watching taller men compete, along with the power that their size allows them to bring to the ice. I miss those days. I also realize that Brian had a nearly unparalleled dedication to his training and his skating.
I'm a Sunnyvale, CA native who graduated from HS with BB. In the year before graduation, we were enrolled in two high school summer classes back in the '70s presumably so we could get out early (Teri Hatcher was in those classes too) and he was a year before me. We were in a Spanish class and a Biology class together and had a lot of fun joking around. In Biology, there were three of us girls who pulled him to the back of the class to teach him some dance rhythm because he was good at hard beats but not the nuance. I will note that we grew up with an ice skating AND roller skating rink right next to each other and he trained there from a young age (no longer there - they've been turned into a pizza parlor). My personal joke with him was that I would meet him in Paris in our later years. Last time I saw him, I told him I was in Paris but he wasn't there. He's a true Silicon Valley kid and a true athlete.
I always knew Orser's marks from the '88 LP were a joke, especially the 6.0. He fell out of the triple flip, downgraded his second 3-axle to a double and had a hard two-foot landing on this last jump, not to mention his junior-ish choreography by Ushi Kessler. Boitano was far superior to Orser and should have won by a much larger margin. Canadian corruption. Disgusting.
MsA: The fix was in for Orser to win. Canada has never won a men's singles gold medal. With the games in Calgary, it was all set to be a pre-planned fairytale story for hometown boy, Orser. At 17:10, Linda Leaver finally confirms what we all suspected at the time. That the competition was indeed fixed for Orser, and that most of the judges were compromised, giving Boitano shockingly low marks for a perfect program. Ironically, it was the Russian judge who told Leaver after seeing Boitano skate so incredibly that he HAD to vote his conscience. It was his mark that put Boitano over Orser by the 0.1 points to give Boitano his rightful win, when in reality, the gap should have been MUCH wider between Boitano and Orser. As a consequence, the Russian judge was subsequently fired from his job with the Russian federation for not going along with the plan. The low marks were about collusion with the Canadian federation.
Monica: Yes, figure skating judging is still controversial today. Now, going into the 2018-2019 season, the judges will have a +5 GOE at their disposal. They'll be able to add up to 5 points (!) to EVERY element a skater performs that they think is "prettier" than another skater or when they jump "higher". They're making the technical side of the judging as subjective as the artistic. Sad. Now, judges don't even need to go to the trouble of conspiring with each other. They can just keep adding higher and higher GOEs to whoever they want to win.
@Icolwes. You are right about that. The focus is now more on how many quads or triple triple a skater can do. There is only some room for the artistic component. I feel it should be judged on both technical and Artistic. ISU has discussed limiting how many quads a skater can do. I have not heard what the results are. I think doing so many quads can put a young skater's body in danger as they get older. Example is Yagudin and Plushenko. Yagudin had to retire after his win in 2002 due to his hip disorder. Back then the men were only doing 2 quads with the exception of Goebel. Also the Dutch skating federation has recommended the age change for senior competition. I hope something positive can come out of this meeting. We will have to see unless you have heard something.
The Russian pair was probably Valova and vasilliev who were injured but still finished second despite multiple errors in their long program in Calgary. That event preceded the men’s event in those Olympics.
@@xxwhispersxx2856 Why would it be baloney? Why would Linda risk her reputation sharing such a story if it was false? After all, the guy got fired from the Russian Skating Federation immediately after those Olympics. Coincidence? Hardly. Everyone knows that the Russians are the leaders in corruption / drugging in sports, and when he didn't play along with the planned cheating scheme, he paid the price, but at least he can live with himself now. Good for him. You also have to remember that the "broken tie" business was nonsense. Boitano's and Orser's scores should have been nowhere near each other because Boitano crushed Orser in the LP. Everyone focuses on Orser's fallout on the triple flip, but he also downgraded his second triple axel to a double and had a hard two-foot landing on it. In contrast, Boitano did two triple axels, two triple flips, and a triple-triple combination, all of which Orser didn't do. Add to this Boitano's Tano-lutz, which makes a jump more difficult because it raises the center of gravity, his trademark huge death drop, spread eagle, and split jumps (all of which Orser didn't do, as well) and it's clear that their final scores should not have been nearly as close as they were. Just comparing the content with the final scores of both programs proves several if not all of those judges were compromised that night. Thank God for the Russian with a conscience. It's ironic that it would be the Russian judge that would have the crisis of conscience that night, but I'm glad he did. The other big sign that the fix was in for Orser is that immediately after those Olympics, the powers-that-be wanted to make sure no judge could "go rogue" and depart from a cheating scheme in the future and throw off the predetermined result. So, they changed the broken tie rule from using the highest technical mark as the tie-breaker to the highest artistic mark, thus making it more subjective and easier to award the planned winner the gold rather than the deserving one. It seems obvious that such an arbitrary rule change was made because someone VERY high up in the ISU was pissed off that their plan for the men's event didn't work out, and this was insurance that it couldn't happen again. Another coincidence? I don't think so. Mind you, none of this is a reflection on the skaters involved but the skating federations. Still, anyone who has watched skating since the 80's knows full well how deep the corruption runs, especially back in the 6.0 era.
Give that man at least twice the ice surface to skate on! I cringed watching such a tall, powerful skater try to skate on such a small surface. But I enjoyed the chance to watch, despite that, as well as the chance to listen to the interviews. Brian told the same story about his skating style at the 88 Olympics, and leading up to it in interviews somewhere getting on to 30 years back now. He also said that in trying to skate like his smaller rivals, he had maintained an unnaturally low weight (15O-155 lbs) as well, which would have reduced the power that he later further developed. I believe that Sandra Bezic’s take on his skating helped him to embrace his style and his build as when I saw him live at the Professional World Figure Skating Competition (in person) late in 88, he had already begun to gain a significant amount of muscle mass, and his skating was just breathtaking. I’d never seen a skater with so much speed, strength, and amplitude before in my life! And he only got better and better. It was a delight to watch him as his consistency allowed the fans to watch with a complete sense of ease, producing a level of enjoyment that’s never been equaled in that way. He’s the most consistent skater I’ve ever seen. That consistency and his ability to embrace his strengths led to a tremendous amount of growth and finesse in his skating. I’ve always loved strong, powerful skating. Few men skate like that, as there are few men of Brian’s size who compete in singles these days. It’s sadly now dominated by in large by much smaller skaters. I so miss seeing such consistent, powerful and breath taking skating. I hope that the scoring changes so that we can once again enjoy watching taller men compete, along with the power that their size allows them to bring to the ice. I miss those days. I also realize that Brian had a nearly unparalleled dedication to his training and his skating.
pacificoast82 that ‘Tano lutz was absolutely huge.
I'm a Sunnyvale, CA native who graduated from HS with BB. In the year before graduation, we were enrolled in two high school summer classes back in the '70s presumably so we could get out early (Teri Hatcher was in those classes too) and he was a year before me. We were in a Spanish class and a Biology class together and had a lot of fun joking around. In Biology, there were three of us girls who pulled him to the back of the class to teach him some dance rhythm because he was good at hard beats but not the nuance. I will note that we grew up with an ice skating AND roller skating rink right next to each other and he trained there from a young age (no longer there - they've been turned into a pizza parlor). My personal joke with him was that I would meet him in Paris in our later years. Last time I saw him, I told him I was in Paris but he wasn't there. He's a true Silicon Valley kid and a true athlete.
Thanks for posting this. Long time fan. Brian is so amazing. Love that 'tano tripple!
It's funny who South Park picks to celebrate or trash. In this case, Boitano is well deserving of Matt and Trey's praise. Caesar Milan as well!
I always knew Orser's marks from the '88 LP were a joke, especially the 6.0. He fell out of the triple flip, downgraded his second 3-axle to a double and had a hard two-foot landing on this last jump, not to mention his junior-ish choreography by Ushi Kessler. Boitano was far superior to Orser and should have won by a much larger margin. Canadian corruption. Disgusting.
What was with the judge from Denmark? He gave Boitano the lowest mark (5.7). What was his problem?
MsA: The fix was in for Orser to win. Canada has never won a men's singles gold medal. With the games in Calgary, it was all set to be a pre-planned fairytale story for hometown boy, Orser. At 17:10, Linda Leaver finally confirms what we all suspected at the time. That the competition was indeed fixed for Orser, and that most of the judges were compromised, giving Boitano shockingly low marks for a perfect program. Ironically, it was the Russian judge who told Leaver after seeing Boitano skate so incredibly that he HAD to vote his conscience. It was his mark that put Boitano over Orser by the 0.1 points to give Boitano his rightful win, when in reality, the gap should have been MUCH wider between Boitano and Orser. As a consequence, the Russian judge was subsequently fired from his job with the Russian federation for not going along with the plan. The low marks were about collusion with the Canadian federation.
Unbelievable! They really need to fix the judging system and who they pick to judge. It is still a controversial issue to this day.
Monica: Yes, figure skating judging is still controversial today. Now, going into the 2018-2019 season, the judges will have a +5 GOE at their disposal. They'll be able to add up to 5 points (!) to EVERY element a skater performs that they think is "prettier" than another skater or when they jump "higher". They're making the technical side of the judging as subjective as the artistic. Sad. Now, judges don't even need to go to the trouble of conspiring with each other. They can just keep adding higher and higher GOEs to whoever they want to win.
@Icolwes. You are right about that. The focus is now more on how many quads or triple triple a skater can do. There is only some room for the artistic component. I feel it should be judged on both technical and Artistic. ISU has discussed limiting how many quads a skater can do. I have not heard what the results are. I think doing so many quads can put a young skater's body in danger as they get older. Example is Yagudin and Plushenko. Yagudin had to retire after his win in 2002 due to his hip disorder. Back then the men were only doing 2 quads with the exception of Goebel. Also the Dutch skating federation has recommended the age change for senior competition. I hope something positive can come out of this meeting. We will have to see unless you have heard something.
Yes, but what would he DO?
Russian pair? Which one? lol The were two russian pairs and there was no need to deal with canadian judge. So Linda's story is just ridiculous.
So you are saying Linda Leaver is a liar.
The Russian pair was probably Valova and vasilliev who were injured but still finished second despite multiple errors in their long program in Calgary. That event preceded the men’s event in those Olympics.
@@user-vn7sj5ig8w I don't believe Linda is lying, but it's quiet possible this 'judge' was full of baloney. Who knows?
@@xxwhispersxx2856 👍
@@xxwhispersxx2856 Why would it be baloney? Why would Linda risk her reputation sharing such a story if it was false? After all, the guy got fired from the Russian Skating Federation immediately after those Olympics. Coincidence? Hardly. Everyone knows that the Russians are the leaders in corruption / drugging in sports, and when he didn't play along with the planned cheating scheme, he paid the price, but at least he can live with himself now. Good for him.
You also have to remember that the "broken tie" business was nonsense. Boitano's and Orser's scores should have been nowhere near each other because Boitano crushed Orser in the LP. Everyone focuses on Orser's fallout on the triple flip, but he also downgraded his second triple axel to a double and had a hard two-foot landing on it. In contrast, Boitano did two triple axels, two triple flips, and a triple-triple combination, all of which Orser didn't do. Add to this Boitano's Tano-lutz, which makes a jump more difficult because it raises the center of gravity, his trademark huge death drop, spread eagle, and split jumps (all of which Orser didn't do, as well) and it's clear that their final scores should not have been nearly as close as they were. Just comparing the content with the final scores of both programs proves several if not all of those judges were compromised that night. Thank God for the Russian with a conscience. It's ironic that it would be the Russian judge that would have the crisis of conscience that night, but I'm glad he did.
The other big sign that the fix was in for Orser is that immediately after those Olympics, the powers-that-be wanted to make sure no judge could "go rogue" and depart from a cheating scheme in the future and throw off the predetermined result. So, they changed the broken tie rule from using the highest technical mark as the tie-breaker to the highest artistic mark, thus making it more subjective and easier to award the planned winner the gold rather than the deserving one. It seems obvious that such an arbitrary rule change was made because someone VERY high up in the ISU was pissed off that their plan for the men's event didn't work out, and this was insurance that it couldn't happen again. Another coincidence? I don't think so. Mind you, none of this is a reflection on the skaters involved but the skating federations. Still, anyone who has watched skating since the 80's knows full well how deep the corruption runs, especially back in the 6.0 era.