If you could change one Olympic moment... | Golden Skate

If you could change one Olympic moment...

AnalyticalMind

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
If you could change one moment in Olympic history, would you? If so, which would it be?

Note: This isn't a thread to discuss judging / wuzrobbed but rather if you had magical powers but could only use it to change one Olympic moment/result, including keeping skaters upright :biggrin:

Upon Mao's retirement, I started thinking (for the 29487th time) what a mixed blessing it is that she, like Michelle, never won OGM. As much as it breaks my heart that neither of them won at the Olympics when they very well could have, we likely wouldn't have gotten such long careers out of them had they won.

So I got to thinking: if you could go back in time and change Olympic history (and give someone an Olympic gold with the consequence that they would have likely retired afterwards) would you?

I probably wouldn't give either of them OGM in their first go, as their second olympic cycles were where they really came into their own as artists. I'm more emotionally attached to Mao (as much as I respect Michelle, I just wasn't old enough to appreciate her at the time), but even with her, I hesitate. If anything, I would probably give Mao a clean Sochi SP assuming that then her 8-triple FS would have won her gold, but this comes in exchange for never witnessing her Madame Butterfly (which is my favorite program of hers) two years later.

What about you guys? Or is there anyone other than Michelle or Mao that you would have used your powers on?
 
Last edited:

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
I would have liked to see Mao at the 2006 Olympics. It was not a well-skated event, and I think she could have won.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
I'd switch Patrick's skates at TEB 2013 for the Sochi ones...

Also, not about medals but just because of the circumstances, I wouldn't have Tonya Harding lace mess up affect the schedule of the other skaters.. Josée Chouinard had to change her entire preparation and felt rushed in what was the most important skate of her life... I don't think she was going to climb up the rankings so much, but she didn't get the chance to skate the Olympics she had trained for. So unfortunate.
 
Last edited:

jaylee

Medalist
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Michelle Kwan's fall on the flip in the 2002 Olympics FS. And allowing her to do her 3T/3T (instead of the two-footed 3T/2T that she did do). And fully rotating and cleanly landing the flip in the SP. And in general, skating with the speed and confidence that she had in all of her world championship wins. Oh, and with better programs than her SLC programs.

Sigh.

Oh wait, just one thing?
 

Imagine

Medalist
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
There's so many ways to go about this....

I want Mao to have OGM...but Yuna's Vancouver performances were two of my favorites. I guess I would have Mao not mess up the Sochi SP...but I also wanted it for Yulia T_T I think I will leave Sochi and Vancouver untouched.

Shizuka's Torino FS is my all time favorite, but I think I would sacrifice her OGM for Sasha. Shizuka was already a world champ, and would have been celebrated in Japan regardless even if she had gotten silver...seeing as Japan had no other medals there. Plus as Mao proves, you don't necessarily need OGM to be a beloved skater in Japan. So yeah, that would be the thing I change. IMO, Sasha Cohen had a profound impact on the artistic aspects of this sport. But sadly, she will probably be lost to history because she never won those major titles...literally 2 jumping passes away from greatness.
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
I'd switch Patrick's skates at TEB 2013 for the Sochi ones...

Also, not about medals but just because of the circumstances, I wouldn't have Tonya Harding lace mess up affect the schedule of the other skaters.. Josée Chouinard had to change her entire preparation and felt rushed in what was the most important skate of her life... I don't think she was going to climb up the rankings so much, but she didn't get the chance to skate the Olympics she had trained for. So unfortunate.

Now, what exactly happened with Josee? Wasn't she the next skater when Tonya's lace broke? If that happens in dance, the late team/Tonya would have been moved to end of the flight due to her lace problem. Lot's of strange things have happened. I remember a group had mislabeled their music and had to leave the floor after the wrong song played. They left the floor and the event continued on schedule and the team performed at the end of the flight....After doing some checking, it appears that's what happened with Tonya as well. So, I guess our rules are similar.

Something weird happened to Dorothy Hammill as well. All I remember is that she was crying for some reason but, I don't remember why. I'll have to look it up. I'm sorry, this wasn't the Olympics, it was Worlds in 1974. The crowd was booing the low marks given to the skater before Dorothy and it really affected her nerves. She did recover and I believe she won the Long Program and the Silver that night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ5ZzsUX8nM
 
Last edited:

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I change the composition of the US men 's 2014 team.

And those sad sad eyes are removed from my memory.

***

If I cannot have that, then I erase Brendan's tears...
 

Warwick360

Medalist
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
Given Yuna her second Gold, which personally I feel should have been hers. Not just because I like Yuna and believe that she deserved it, but also, I feel the OGM has left me with a bitter taste whenever I see Adelina. I know it's unfair, or irrational, whatever one might choose. But I feel if she hadn't had that Olympics controversy, there were so many things I might have been admiring about her, than to be thinking about the Sochi fiasco, like her amazing Camel combo, or her single handed Biellmann. Instead she'll be the girl who was in the midst of the Sochi storm.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
I change the composition of the US men 's 2014 team.

And those sad sad eyes are removed from my memory.

***

If I cannot have that, then I erase Brendan's tears...

Yep. Josh instead of Jason.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
Now, what exactly happened with Josee? Wasn't the next skater when Tonya's lace broke? If that happens in dance, the late team/Tonya would have been moved to end of the flight due to her lace problem. Lot's of strange things have happened. I remember a group had mislabeled their music and had to leave the floor after the wrong song played. They left the floor and the event continued on schedule and the team performed at the end of the flight.
Tonya was moved in later if I recall... Josée was given her call early and it was a mess backstage. She said that she felt rushed in.

TONYA's mess before Josée's skate
 
Last edited:

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Yep. Josh instead of Jason.

I give you points for loyalty ;) but nope :noshake: The guy who finished second, and the only American male skater to go (understandably) viral with an outstanding and crowd-rousing skate wasn't going to be left off that team. Not even for Josh.

I'm trying to figure out how to give John Curry and Toller gold. Think I need to bump Ondrej Nepela and the next three after him....
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
I'd have Randy Gardner not have his injury in Lake Placid so that he and Tai could have skated.

I doubt they would have beaten Rodnina and Zaitsev, but we'll never know. I'd have loved to find out.

I bet for them, not knowing is worse than knowing that you lost. Of course, it's been so many years, I'm sure they've found peace.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
I give you points for loyalty ;) but nope :noshake: The guy who finished second, and the only American male skater to go (understandably) viral with an outstanding and crowd-rousing skate wasn't going to be left off that team. Not even for Josh.

I'm trying to figure out how to give John Curry and Toller gold. Think I need to bump Ondrej Nepela and the next three after him....

That wasn't my point, but nice try, I could care less who went second. And for the record: I don't have beef with Jason. ;)
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
That wasn't my point, but nice try, I could care less who went second. And for the record: I don't have beef with Jason. ;)

I have yet to find the person who has a beef with Jason, it would be like having a beef with puppies, rainbows and ice cream. I think I got your point. Personally, from whom I would rather see skate, I would rather have seen Max than Jeremy go to Sochi in 2014. But as long as Jason was going, I could care less who the other skater was....

But damn, I wanted Toller to win back in the day...... And it wasn't going to happen:drama:
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
I have yet to find the person who has a beef with Jason, it would be like having a beef with puppies, rainbows and ice cream. I think I got your point. Personally, from whom I would rather see skate, I would rather have seen Max than Jeremy go to Sochi in 2014. But as long as Jason was going, I could care less who the other skater was....

But damn, I wanted Toller to win back in the day...... And it wasn't going to happen:drama:

Well, Jeremy won his 4th US title fair and square so...:console:
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
Given Yuna her second Gold, which personally I feel should have been hers. Not just because I like Yuna and believe that she deserved it, but also, I feel the OGM has left me with a bitter taste whenever I see Adelina. I know it's unfair, or irrational, whatever one might choose. But I feel if she hadn't had that Olympics controversy, there were so many things I might have been admiring about her, than to be thinking about the Sochi fiasco, like her amazing Camel combo, or her single handed Biellmann. Instead she'll be the girl who was in the midst of the Sochi storm.

The Sochi ladies competition was my favorite Olympic outcome in at least 20 years.

I was thrilled. So different strokes for different folks, I guess.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Yep. Josh instead of Jason.

No, Max, who would have fought his backside off every time he was on the ice, and certainly would never have excused a performance given up on by saying flippantly, "It's a positive step, it's just a warmup!", particularly if that performance had let down his teammates.

Besides, Josh's eyes were not sad on that podium. He was elated just to have made the podium after struggling with both a sprained ankle and the flu in the leadup to Nationals.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
No, Max, who would have fought his backside off every time he was on the ice, and certainly would never have excused a performance given up on by saying flippantly, "It's a positive step, it's just a warmup!", particularly if that performance had let down his teammates.

Besides, Josh's eyes were not sad on that podium. He was elated just to have made the podium after struggling with both a sprained ankle and the flu in the leadup to Nationals.

I knew who you were talking about (and no I don't have a problem with Max either), you really need to let it go and stop making excuses and acting like you know what so and so would have done had they gone and also putting words and meaning behind those words into Jeremy's mouth.

Jeremy won his national title fair and square and deserved to go. Your inability to not accept it and whine about it every chance you get isn't his fault.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
I thought the thread was about what happened at the olympics that we would change. If we are going to discuss every skater missing out on qualifying, due to federation picks or not, it will be a mess. Can we just stick to topic for once karne? Max was not at Sochi.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
I thought the thread was about what happened at the olympics that we would change. If we are going to discuss every skater missing out on qualifying, due to federation picks or not, it will be a mess. Can we just stick to topic for once karne? Max was not at Sochi.

:thank:
 
Top