Your favorite men's Olympic competition

Crossover · Jan 4, 2016

I guess this topic has surely been raised numerous times in the past, but since we currently have "favorite ladies' Olympic competition", why not to have men's competition right?

For me, the men's event at the 2002 Olympic is so special and incomparable to other Olympic competitions. I didn't care about men's competition as much as ladies' back then so unfortunately I watched the event much later in 2004 or 2005 before the Torino Olympic season began. It was regretful but what a great competition it was with so many great and legendary skaters. Yagudin's Winter deserves my first and ultimate love for men's figure skating. The step sequences are so electrifying and give me a shiver every time I rewatch it. I also love watching performances by Plushenko, Abt, Stojko and so many "youngsters" back then such as Lambiel, Jourbert, and Kevin van der Perren.

What do you think?

ManyCairns · Jan 4, 2016

Oh, c'mon, ask a tough question! Heeheehee just kidding.

Easy peasy -- hands down, nothing else coming even close -

the Battle of the Brians. Two amazing champions giving wonderful performances. Both such classy skaters and men. But I was thrilled that Boitano took the win! Boitano all the way.

mrrice · Jan 4, 2016

ManyCairns said:
Oh, c'mon, ask a tough question! Heeheehee just kidding. Easy peasy -- hands down, nothing else coming even close -

the Battle of the Brians. Two amazing champions giving wonderful performances. Both such classy skaters and men. But I was thrilled that Boitano took the win! Boitano all the way.

Yeah....This question is one of the easiest for me to answer. The Battle Of The Brians was huge in the US and Canada and I haven't seen that much hype around a skating event in a long time. Unless, of course, you count the whack!! But, they weren't Men.

rollerblade · Jan 4, 2016

Yagudin & Plushenko. I especially love that there's no fake niceness between those two during their competitive years. They are like buffet, what you see is what you get. :laugh:

mrrice · Jan 4, 2016

rollerblade said:
Yagudin & Plushenko. I especially love that there's no fake niceness between those two during their competitive years. They are like buffet, what you see is what you get.

This was horrible!!! My Plushy!!!:sad21: I have to say that Yags deserved the Gold that night. His 2002 costumes are still my favorite to this day.

plushyfan · Jan 4, 2016

2002 of course. So much drama, excitement, fan, crying.. Yes, Yagudin was better that competition.

I like Torino, too but Plushenko's victory was predictable. He was miles away from the others. I liked how the cowd and the Italians were crazy about him. He can fill the Palavela even today.

Cherryy · Jan 4, 2016

I haven't watched men's skating enough to say which one is my favourite.

But I'm pretty sure 2014 is my least favourite :laugh:

.

If I were to guess, I'd go for 2002 too. Reason? I remember this one guy who did the biggest death drop I have ever seen. It certainly didn't seem human. Can't remember his name though. Still, I'm pretty sure that would be the *best* single moment for me had I gone to 2002 Olympics.

jenaj · Jan 4, 2016

Plushenko vs. Lysacek was pretty compelling.

el henry · Jan 4, 2016

Oh people. Why are we so 2000s centric on this site? (That's rhetorical)

Battle of the Brians is good, real good. (and not 2000s)

Any event that had both John Curry and Toller is better.

4everchan · Jan 4, 2016

battle of the brians... I was a kid and I still remember it... it was so good!!!!

then, in recent years, I'd say 2006 was pretty intense... PLushy was way above the pack but the drama in the free skate!!!! Lambiel just holding on to his silver <3 and of course the awesome come back of Jeff Buttle for bronze <3<3<3 LOTS OF DRAMA in the free skate.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Jan 4, 2016

I would have to say 2002. The battle of Plushenko and Yagudin, Goebel's 3 quads. It was one of the few times that all three men on the podium all had OGM-worthy performances (SP+LP).

I also loved Nagano in 1998 with the excellent performances by Kulik (including a quad!), Stojko toughing it out, and Candeloro pulling a Lu Chen for the surprise bronze and thoroughly entertaining the crowd.

Battle of the Brians was epic, but we're talking about overall competition here.

skateluvr · Jan 4, 2016

This is easy. 1988 the Batle of the Brians. I actually like Orser because he was faster and rotated his jumps faster. Those are still great skates to watch. Yagudin's winter is the most memorable short program for me in this millennium. I love just watched it the other day and loved that costume. I'm a big Plush fan too but his costumes were so awful usually. He really has been an incredible warrior.

Timothy Goebel and his quads were never given the applause they deserved.

2014 should have been great but Hanyu blew it.

2018 may be the skate we all hope to see. I'd love to see a relaxed Chan skating as the senior statesman with skating skills and maturity blowing us away. And for Hanyu to skate a clean short and long. And Shoma uno could win it all.

So for me it's still 1988 and 2002

musicfan80 · Jan 4, 2016

I think that 2018 has the most potential to either be the most epic or disappointing men's Olympics competition of all time.

I would rank the "Battle of the Brians" in 1988 as #1 as well. I think overall that Boitano was slightly better. But I think David Santee shoving the microphone in Orser's face in the kiss & cry just seconds after his marks were announced to tell him that he had lost to Boitano was one of worst things to ever happen in Olympic broadcasting.

Bonnie F · Jan 4, 2016

I am picking 1998 - Nagano. I loved Philippe Candeloro's 3 musketeer LP to medal when no one had given him a chance. I felt like crying to see the pain of Elvis Stojko who skated injured but other than one missed quad he was clean. Finally I loved Ilia Kulik's skating skills combined with landing the quad. Even his ugly costume made things memorable. Then throw in this was like the debut of Alexei Yagudin and the swan song of Todd Eldredge. For me this event also ushered in the quad era, from here on out you really needed a quad to win (2010 being the anomaly).

Mathman · Jan 4, 2016

el henry said:
Any event that had both John Curry and Toller is better.

1976 Olympics. Cranston won the short program, second in the long. (He dropped to third because of figures, of course. Oh well.) Curry was 2nd in figures, 2nd in the short, and in the long he gave the greatest performance in the history of figure skating (sorry, Yuzuru.

), a performance that to this day "suffers no rival and laughs at flattery."

daphenaxa · Jan 4, 2016

2002 hands down even though I wanted Plushy to win!
I gotta say 2010 was also great uniquely from Daisuke's performances :luv17:

skylark · Jan 4, 2016

4everchan said:
then, in recent years, I'd say 2006 was pretty intense... PLushy was way above the pack but the drama in the free skate!!!! Lambiel just holding on to his silver <3 and of course the awesome come back of Jeff Buttle for bronze <3<3<3 LOTS OF DRAMA in the free skate.

And don't forget the awesome comeback of Evan Lysacek, who skated ill and was 10th in the SP. After a couple of days between SP and LP, he skated his fabulous free skate to Carmen. That performance ranked third of the night (ahead of Lambiel's FS). Lysacek then finished fourth overall !

4everchan · Jan 4, 2016

i didn't forget

just kept to the podium

but you are right

skylark said:
And don't forget the awesome comeback of Evan Lysacek, who skated ill and was 10th in the SP. After a couple of days between SP and LP, he skated his fabulous free skate to Carmen. That performance ranked third of the night (ahead of Lambiel's FS). Lysacek then finished fourth overall !

bixby · Jan 4, 2016

daphenaxa said:
2002 hands down even though I wanted Plushy to win!

I gotta say 2010 was also great uniquely from Daisuke's performances :luv17:

2010 was great! Evan's surprise win over Plush was deserved. It has generated lot's of noise and controversy about men's figure skating. It has revolutionized the quad jump to a new height making it a common place in a program. Patrick's one or two quad LP is no longer a thrill, Hanyu's 3 and Boyang's 4-quad LP is "trending" nowadays. OUT with the OLD, IN with the NEW. Even a clean Patrick LP with 2 quads will be less thrilling now, if Boyang's 4 quad LP are executed well because of its difficulty. The anticipation of "can he (Boyang) do it" is what's exciting since it's very challenging and no one has done it before especially the quality of his quad lutz. No Olympic or world champs has landed quad-lutz. Add Hanyu's clean LP these days, Patrick has a lot of catching up to do.

So thanks to Evan's quad-less almost perfect program in 2010. It reigned supreme then over Plushy's program with quad(s?).

2014 was a big mess! 2018 seems to be exciting & promising with more quads to count.

LiamForeman · Jan 4, 2016

1988 Battle of the Brians. I also enjoyed Petrenko, Kotin, Bowman, and Wylie.

Your favorite men's Olympic competition

Crossover

All Hail the Queen

ManyCairns

mrrice

rollerblade

mrrice

plushyfan

Cherryy

jenaj

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

4everchan

CanadianSkaterGuy

skateluvr

musicfan80

Bonnie F

Mathman

daphenaxa

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset

4everchan

bixby

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam

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