Remembering the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid - Skating | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Remembering the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid - Skating

Scott512

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
The heavily Underdog United States of America with a monumental upset of the then USSR unbeatables 4 to 3 going all-in to win Olympic gold at home. The greatest hockey game ever.

And 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid New York was where the Biellmann spin was born. ;)
 

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Thank you for the trip down memory lane!!! I vividly remember these Games! I don't remember being upset that Linda won the silver, she never had much charisma to me and came across as a snot so it was hard to care one way or the other with her. Yes, in hindsight there is a very large case for her being wuzrobbed, but like with Nancy I was rooting for anyone but her.

Juan Hoffman was the real wuzrobbed at these Games!
 

lesnar001

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Thank you for the trip down memory lane!!! I vividly remember these Games! I don't remember being upset that Linda won the silver, she never had much charisma to me and came across as a snot so it was hard to care one way or the other with her. Yes, in hindsight there is a very large case for her being wuzrobbed, but like with Nancy I was rooting for anyone but her.

Juan Hoffman was the real wuzrobbed at these Games!

Ironically, he was the East German judge that was blamed for "wuzrobbing" Nancy Kerrigan in 1994!
 

lesnar001

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
The heavily Underdog United States of America with a monumental upset of the then USSR unbeatables 4 to 3 going all-in to win Olympic gold at home. The greatest hockey game ever.

And 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid New York was where the Biellmann spin was born. ;)

The Miracle on Ice against the USSR was the game that sent the USA to the the Gold Medal round.
I don't even remember who they beat to win Gold (maybe Sweden?).
I DO remember watching the Gold Medal game, but unfortunately not the game against the USSR.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
While perhaps not of particular interest to figure skating fans...

Eric Heiden's sweep of the five speed skating races in 1980, Gold Medalist in EVERY event from 500 meters to 10,000 meters, is the greatest achievement in Winter Olympics history, IMO. Certainly it's the best in a single Winter Games - the only possible rival I can think of would be Jean-Claude Killy who won all three alpine skiing events in 1968.

Sadly, Eric Heiden is relatively unknown in his own country.
 

ManyCairns

Medalist
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Country
United-States
Thank you for the trip down memory lane!!! I vividly remember these Games! I don't remember being upset that Linda won the silver, she never had much charisma to me and came across as a snot so it was hard to care one way or the other with her. Yes, in hindsight there is a very large case for her being wuzrobbed, but like with Nancy I was rooting for anyone but her.

Juan Hoffman was the real wuzrobbed at these Games!

Someone compared him to a spinning oak tree at the time, I think (!!!) but I haven't had a chance to look at the men yet, and I don't remember him like I do Santee and Hamilton and Cousins.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
Jan Hoffman in 1980 I barely remember.

But he had the great good sense to finish 4th in 1976 and allow Toller to win his body of work Olympic bronze. Was there politiking between East and West? You bet. And the correct result was achieved. Not that I had a favorite or anything:biggrin:
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
The heavily Underdog United States of America with a monumental upset of the then USSR unbeatables 4 to 3 going all-in to win Olympic gold at home. The greatest hockey game ever.

And 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid New York was where the Biellmann spin was born. ;)

Okay the hockey was way off topic lol. I was too young but from what i can tell the tragic injury of Randy Gardiner who looked to be co favorites for oly gold with the Soviets. Linda Fratianne losing the gold to Annete Poetzh and wearing the same dress in the short and the long. Actually it wasn't the most brilliant skating. Dance was ho hum with the Soviets holding off the Hungarians where the female pulled aroudn the male skater. Pairs was a let down. A rather perfunctory performance by Rodina and Zaitzev in the absence of the Americans - poor Tai and Randy. A rather ho hum Robin Cousins who at the olympics or worlds fell on footwork and somehow won gold over Hoffman. Technically soso and while fairly charismatic - not special like Toller Cranston or John Curry and not naturally as engaging as the upcoming king Scott Hamilton or the technical prowess of Brian Orser. Neither Annete or Linda pushed the sport and the bronze medallist Dagmar Lurz was kind of like wall paper - forgettable and I believe was more knwon for her figures. 1980 was not a great skating olympics. And that's fine; not all olympics are great skating.
 

ManyCairns

Medalist
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Country
United-States
Okay the hockey was way off topic lol. I was too young but from what i can tell the tragic injury of Randy Gardiner who looked to be co favorites for oly gold with the Soviets. Linda Fratianne losing the gold to Annete Poetzh and wearing the same dress in the short and the long. Actually it wasn't the most brilliant skating. Dance was ho hum with the Soviets holding off the Hungarians where the female pulled aroudn the male skater. Pairs was a let down. A rather perfunctory performance by Rodina and Zaitzev in the absence of the Americans - poor Tai and Randy. A rather ho hum Robin Cousins who at the olympics or worlds fell on footwork and somehow won gold over Hoffman. Technically soso and while fairly charismatic - not special like Toller Cranston or John Curry and not naturally as engaging as the upcoming king Scott Hamilton or the technical prowess of Brian Orser. Neither Annete or Linda pushed the sport and the bronze medallist Dagmar Lurz was kind of like wall paper - forgettable and I believe was more knwon for her figures. 1980 was not a great skating olympics. And that's fine; not all olympics are great skating.

Linda didn't push the sport? She was the first woman to land two triples in a program, I believe, and two different triples at that.
 

LadyB

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2016
The heavily Underdog United States of America with a monumental upset of the then USSR unbeatables 4 to 3 going all-in to win Olympic gold at home. The greatest hockey game ever.

I know it's off topic, but I just wanted to say that this was the first sports event that I stayed up for at night. I'll never forget that.
 

labgoat

I have no words
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Country
United-States
While perhaps not of particular interest to figure skating fans...

Eric Heiden's sweep of the five speed skating races in 1980, Gold Medalist in EVERY event from 500 meters to 10,000 meters, is the greatest achievement in Winter Olympics history, IMO. Certainly it's the best in a single Winter Games - the only possible rival I can think of would be Jean-Claude Killy who won all three alpine skiing events in 1968.

Sadly, Eric Heiden is relatively unknown in his own country.

Eric went on to track cycling and road racing after the Olympics while pursuing his medical degree. He seems to have chosen a more private path. According to Wikipedia

"In 2009, Heiden was one of the team of doctors assisting US speed skater J.R. Celski as the latter recovered from a very bad speed skating crash during the U.S. Olympic trials. Despite cutting himself to the bone and requiring 60 stitches, Celski was able to recover in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he won the bronze medal in both men's 1500 m and 5000 m relay.[10]"

For more on him...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Heiden
 

labgoat

I have no words
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Country
United-States
Okay the hockey was way off topic lol. I was too young but from what i can tell the tragic injury of Randy Gardiner who looked to be co favorites for oly gold with the Soviets. Linda Fratianne losing the gold to Annete Poetzh and wearing the same dress in the short and the long. Actually it wasn't the most brilliant skating. Dance was ho hum with the Soviets holding off the Hungarians where the female pulled aroudn the male skater. Pairs was a let down. A rather perfunctory performance by Rodina and Zaitzev in the absence of the Americans - poor Tai and Randy. A rather ho hum Robin Cousins who at the olympics or worlds fell on footwork and somehow won gold over Hoffman. Technically soso and while fairly charismatic - not special like Toller Cranston or John Curry and not naturally as engaging as the upcoming king Scott Hamilton or the technical prowess of Brian Orser. Neither Annete or Linda pushed the sport and the bronze medallist Dagmar Lurz was kind of like wall paper - forgettable and I believe was more knwon for her figures. 1980 was not a great skating olympics. And that's fine; not all olympics are great skating.

I disagree with calling Cousins ho-hum. He was very charismatic with a unique and beautiful style on the ice. I used to wait for his beautiful camel spins and a sitspin so perfectly low with a leg position so solid it seemed wooden. He had engaging a popular footwork. I actually see a lot of similarities between him and Jun Hwa Cha (? My spelling may not be correct). Cousins was considered the next best stylist after Curry & Cranston.
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
I disagree with calling Cousins ho-hum. He was very charismatic with a unique and beautiful style on the ice. I used to wait for his beautiful camel spins and a sitspin so perfectly low with a leg position so solid it seemed wooden. He had engaging a popular footwork. I actually see a lot of similarities between him and Jun Hwa Cha (? My spelling may not be correct). Cousins was considered the next best stylist after Curry & Cranston.

Agreed! His long legs made everything look majestic. Technically solid FS won him the gold, plus we can’t deny the power of disco.
 

labgoat

I have no words
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Country
United-States
Someone compared him to a spinning oak tree at the time, I think (!!!) but I haven't had a chance to look at the men yet, and I don't remember him like I do Santee and Hamilton and Cousins.

When you view Hoffmann, know he was said to have worked on his artistry to add to his solid rep as an excellent technician. I found his spins and choreo to be no match for Cousins, while Jan definitely had the harder jump content. Jan was more engaging with the audience than in the past, pleasant but no great artistic statement here. Santee & Hamilton were both amazing at this event and clearly on the rise - so sad that their Olympic skates seem to be lost. Tickner was a class act whose misstep in the short cost him dearly, but I honestly feel his placement was correct in the end. Bobrin was the wildcard of the event with his unusual sense of style. He is important because of how he later went on to have much success in Russian ice shows.
 

skatesofgold

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Country
United-States
The Miracle on Ice against the USSR was the game that sent the USA to the the Gold Medal round.
I don't even remember who they beat to win Gold (maybe Sweden?).
I DO remember watching the Gold Medal game, but unfortunately not the game against the USSR.

USA played Finland last. The USA-Sweden game was at the start of the Olympics and they tied.
 

TT_Fin

The second worst besserwisser in the world
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Country
Finland
I remember the ladies - I was a teenager then had strong opinions of everything. I was so upset Denise did not medal, but maybe it was the figures? Now I see more clear, how much ahead of time with compinations, difficult entries etc she was. Politics was so obvious at scoring on those time. But, Denise Bielman is anyway the one, who got her name to history.
 

skatesofgold

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Country
United-States
I remember the ladies - I was a teenager then had strong opinions of everything. I was so upset Denise did not medal, but maybe it was the figures? Now I see more clear, how much ahead of time with compinations, difficult entries etc she was. Politics was so obvious at scoring on those time. But, Denise Bielman is anyway the one, who got her name to history.

I looked up the results on Wikipedia and apparently she was 12th in figures.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Linda didn't push the sport? She was the first woman to land two triples in a program, I believe, and two different triples at that.

Along with Elena Vodorezeva, who may have been the first to land two triples in one program internationally, since she did it at 1976 Olympics and Fratianne did not repeat the feat there. I don't know what Vodorezeva had done at Soviet Nationals or Prize of Moscow News earlier that season, or Europeans if it fell before the US Nationals where Fratianne did both.
 

labgoat

I have no words
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Country
United-States
Along with Elena Vodorezeva, who may have been the first to land two triples in one program internationally, since she did it at 1976 Olympics and Fratianne did not repeat the feat there. I don't know what Vodorezeva had done at Soviet Nationals or Prize of Moscow News earlier that season, or Europeans if it fell before the US Nationals where Fratianne did both.

From Wikipedia:

"Elena Germanovna Vodorezova (Russian: Елена Германовна Водорезова; married name: Buianova Russian: Буянова; born 21 May 1963), is a Russian figure skating coach and retired competitive skater who represented the Soviet Union. She is the 1983 World bronze medalist and three-time European medalist.

Elena Vodorezova was coached by Stanislav Zhuk at the Armed Forces sports society in Moscow. A gifted free-skater, she represented her country at the 1976 Winter Olympics aged just 12. She was the first skater to complete a double flip, triple toe loop combination. She was noted for a spectacularly high double axel and fast spins. She won the bronze medal at the 1978 European Championships; it was the first time a Soviet ladies' single skater had won a medal at the event. She missed the 1979–1981 seasons completely due to severe juvenile arthritis, which prevented her from even walking for months in 1979.

She won a second bronze medal at the 1982 Europeans and silver at the 1983 event. She also won bronze at the 1983 World Championships – the first World medal for a Soviet female single skater. Vodorezova placed 8th at the 1984 Winter Olympics.[1] She retired from competition in 1984. She married a former skater and in 1987 gave birth to a son, Ivan."

She was the Olga Korbut of skating. I thought that she and Linda Fratianne were going to trade titles from 1977-1980. You can see that she has taught her students that same beautiful double axel.
 
Top