Non Controversial Olympic Wins | Golden Skate

Non Controversial Olympic Wins

Greengemmonster

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
The other thread got me thinking about non controversial Olympics wins. Obviously anyone can cry foul about anything (and some do) but in a general sense which wins do you think were pretty straight forward?

Two that come to mind for me are:

2018 - Alina

2010 - Yuna

Nothing hokey about these wins imo.
 

Skatesocs

Final Flight
Joined
May 16, 2020
1998 Kulik, Lipinski (never watched the other two here)

2002 Hughes, Yagudin (didn't judge the other two critically enough)

2006 Arakawa, Plushenko, and Totmianina/Marinin (never judged the dance event for myself)

2010 Yuna Kim, Shen/Zhao

2014 Hanyu, Volosozhar/Trankov

2018 All four of them
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Mar 3, 2014
Country
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Echo Torvill & Dean

John Curry, 1976
(Even with sob, Toller....)
 

Colonel Green

Record Breaker
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Mar 3, 2018
Country
Canada
The fact that Savchenko/Massot's gold in 2018 is uncontroversial is a bit of a miracle when you think about how narrow their win actually was.
 

Ophelia

Record Breaker
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Dec 6, 2013
^People were really rooting for Savchenko which makes it easier for them to accept a win, and that narrow win made it even more of an Olympics miracle story.
 

theharleyquinn

Medalist
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
The fact that Savchenko/Massot's gold in 2018 is uncontroversial is a bit of a miracle when you think about how narrow their win actually was.

Honestly that event was just so competitive and thrilling to watch that, even as someone rooting for S/H, I would've been impressed with whichever team managed to come out on top. Just an incredible pairs final.
 

jenaj

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Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
All except 1998 Ladies, 1994 Ladies, 2002 Pairs, 2014 Ladies. Russia thought 2002 Ladies was controversial but no one else did.
 

4everchan

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Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
is there such a thing???

just a couple examples : Alina's win : she was definitely the strongest but do not forget the drama with zhenya and all the tears.. there are thousands of posts about this... i wouldn't say it was completely not controversial..

even gordeeva and grinkov's second win.... it was controversial in some ways as two russian pairs that were retired and skating pro came back as eligible skaters... ask isabelle brasseur how controversial ...they were world champions the year before and had hoped to win the olympic title, remained amateur until the new rules allowed pro skaters to come back....

those who are writing hanyu in sochi haven't read the other thread where people are saying that someone who falls twice in the LP shouldn't have won.


I am not sharing any of my own opinions about what is a clear win or not... but I am saying that there is almost ALWAYS some kind of controversy .. that's why Olympics are so much fun.
 

Skatesocs

Final Flight
Joined
May 16, 2020
those who are writing hanyu in sochi haven't read the other thread where people are saying that someone who falls twice in the LP shouldn't have won.

Or it just means we are personally fine with the result, as I'm sure most would interpret the topic. Especially as the topic starter of that other thread, I've personally read such opinions :)
 

herro

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
is there such a thing???

just a couple examples : Alina's win : she was definitely the strongest but do not forget the drama with zhenya and all the tears.. there are thousands of posts about this... i wouldn't say it was completely not controversial..

even gordeeva and grinkov's second win.... it was controversial in some ways as two russian pairs that were retired and skating pro came back as eligible skaters... ask isabelle brasseur how controversial ...they were world champions the year before and had hoped to win the olympic title, remained amateur until the new rules allowed pro skaters to come back....

those who are writing hanyu in sochi haven't read the other thread where people are saying that someone who falls twice in the LP shouldn't have won.


I am not sharing any of my own opinions about what is a clear win or not... but I am saying that there is almost ALWAYS some kind of controversy .. that's why Olympics are so much fun.

I totally agree with you... In reading through some of the responses above, I feel like people are very loosely interpreting "non-controversial" or even just ignoring that prompt to possibly put in a plug for their personal favorites. For example, Hughes in 2002 was definitely not "non-controversial" by any definition of the word and actually made me pause upon reading it here just to make sure my eyes weren't playing a trick on me. I think the point is to give examples of wins in which the majority of spectators and critics were aligned on the win.
 

Baron Vladimir

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
The other thread got me thinking about non controversial Olympics wins. Obviously anyone can cry foul about anything (and some do) but in a general sense which wins do you think were pretty straight forward?

Two that come to mind for me are:

2018 - Alina

2010 - Yuna

Nothing hokey about these wins imo.

It depends how you look at it. I think Yuna won fair (as Alina) according to the rules being on the table at that time. But many felt that Mao had more technically challenging programme, and actually the rules changed after that Olympic to reward more difficulty in the jumps. Not just because of the quad controversy (Lysacek vs Pluschenko) but ISU also made the Base Value of 3A higher in the ladies. With the changed rules (which were on the table at Sochi for example or which are in use today), if the skaters perform the same programmes as they did in Vancouver, Yuna win over Mao (with three 3As) would be certainly controversial. Also, with todays 'rules' i'm not sure Alina would win over Zhenya, they would have almost the same scores :scratch3: But in general, i think all the Olympic wins in recent history were non controversial, i mean for all of them i can find some reasonable explanation for being a winner :biggrin:
 

Jeanie19

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Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Country
United-States
The other thread got me thinking about non controversial Olympics wins. Obviously anyone can cry foul about anything (and some do) but in a general sense which wins do you think were pretty straight forward?

Two that come to mind for me are:

2018 - Alina

2010 - Yuna

Nothing hokey about these wins imo.

I disagree. I think Evgenia should have won.
 

ladyjane

Medalist
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Country
Netherlands
Honestly that event was just so competitive and thrilling to watch that, even as someone rooting for S/H, I would've been impressed with whichever team managed to come out on top. Just an incredible pairs final.

It could have been controversial, considering the later suspension of the Chinese judge, but thankfully it wasn't. Although very, very close.
 

cohen-esque

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
It depends how you look at it. I think Yuna won fair (as Alina) according to the rules being on the table at that time. But many felt that Mao had more technically challenging programme, and actually the rules changed after that Olympic to reward more difficulty in the jumps. Not just because of the quad controversy (Lysacek vs Pluschenko) but ISU also made the Base Value of 3A higher in the ladies. With the changed rules (which were on the table at Sochi for example or which are in use today), if the skaters perform the same programmes as they did in Vancouver, Yuna win over Mao (with three 3As) would be certainly controversial. Also, with todays 'rules' i'm not sure Alina would win over Zhenya, they would have almost the same scores :scratch3: But in general, i think all the Olympic wins in recent history were non controversial, i mean for all of them i can find some reasonable explanation for being a winner :biggrin:
I always sort of disagreed with margin of Yuna’s victory, against Mao’s 3As and non-jump elements. And I’ve seen other people echo that sentiment, but has anyone really thought Mao should have won outright? She didn’t have a Lutz or Salchow, and she also made two major errors and ended up with lower BV—it was Worlds that was controversial.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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Sep 14, 2008
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France
There are very few completely non-controversial wins.

Men - 2002
Ladies - 1992, 2006
Pairs - 1988, 1992, 2006
Dance - 1992, maaaaybe 2010 (but isn't there a considerable "Davis/White should have won" contingent, at least for the SP?)

Every other time, even if there isn't controversy about who deserved to win as a whole, there's still some issue of the winner being overscored or placing too high in one segment of the competition or doing something that people say shouldn't be allowed (Torvill/Dean being on their knees so long at the start, Yuna doing 3 double axels, etc).

I'd say that every winners at 1984 Olympics (Scott Hamilton, Katarina Witt, Valova/Vasiliev and Torville/Dean) are/were uncontroversial :)

There's much controversy about Hamilton winning. Witt was criticized for her lack of artistry at the time and only 5 judges did vote her as best. Valova/Vasilev were technically inferior to the Carruthers debateably, but not scored as such, and some consider their performance to be lesser as well.
 
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