In the 2004 remake of "The Stepford Wives", Nicole Kidman plays Joanna Eberhart, who starts the film as a highly successful executive producer of reality television shows for a major network. We see her promoting a show called "I Can Do Better" where men and women choose between their spouses and prostitutes, which really isn't far off that "Temptation Island" foolishness they had on for a while. That repeated mantra "I Can Do Better" - which sounds like something right out of a Susan Powter self-help book - very much applies to how I feel when I watch competitive figure skating these days. If the choreography of nine out of the ten competitive programs I watch leaves me feeling empty - like I haven't watched choreography at all - then surely I can do better than that as a viewer, right? How alone am I in this feeling? I know I am most certainly not, but there seems to be such a large segment of today's figure skating fans who seem perfectly content adding up numbers and beleaguering over grades of execution, downgrades, upgrades, levels and similar mumbo jumbo that I feel the following question needs to be asked: "has the IJS judging system's adoption of Program Component Scores (PCS) as opposed to a general mark for Artistic Impression or Presentation generated a skating culture and a fan base that is less interested in the artistic side of skating?"
The quote that first prompted me to ask this question came from Debbi Wilkes' book "Ice Time" and none other than one of skating's most profilic artists himself, Toller Cranston. Toller said that "there was a very rich, creative cultural period in skating in the seventies, a very thoroughbred, Arabian stallion approach. John Curry would have aspired to the same level. It was all deliberate in retrospect, a facade that was affected and cultivated, but there was something rather imperious about us. 'Don't even look at us the wrong way, we're intelligent, we're untouchable, we're gods, we're artists.' Janet Lynn, a great skater, the kind that comes along once in a century, but completely forgotten now, certainly in America, had exquisite programs. Her coach told me she wanted Janet's opening to reflect the attitudes she discovered on ancient Greek vases in the Metropolitan Museum. If you were going to tell a skater today, 'Now, for your opening, take this motif from a Greek vase...' they'd think you were out of your fucking mind. They're not into it. It doesn't exist. They don't want to be artistic, interesting, bizarre or be whoever the top ballet stars are."
Cranston raises a valid point as the choreography we are seeing from many of today's top skaters isn't that groundbreaking or deep material that we saw in many of the competitive performances of yesteryear, but it wouldn't be fair to say that skating under the IJS system hasn't produced many outstanding and musical skaters and programs that are absolutely memorable. Part of the problem as I see it as to why many of skating's newer fans don't have the interest in "the second mark" stems from some of the seemingly incomprehensible evaluation of PCS scores in international competition.
Sarah Kay once said that "artistry is important. Skill, hard work, rewriting, editing and careful, careful craft: All of these are necessary. These are what separate the beginners from experienced artists." In the men's short program at the 2014 LEXUS Cup Of China, Uzbekistan's Misha Ge skated cleanly, performing a triple axel, triple lutz/triple toe and triple flip. His musical interpretation and choreography were without question better than most of the men out there in that particular competition and yet his PCS scores were ALL lower than China's Han Yan, who faltered on all three jumping passes he attempted in his program and skated with poor posture. The interpretation of the lively music "If I Were A Rich Man" from "Fiddler On The Roof" looked half hearted and reliant mainly on transitional footwork and little kicks. Even under the guise or premise that IJS would duly reward his Transitions/Footwork separately from the other parts of the PCS score, it's hard to make an argument how a flawed Yan could earn just shy of ten points more than Ge with a program that was in my opinion both technically and artistically inferior... which should have clearly reflected in the final three marks allocated for Performance/Execution, Choreography/Composition and Interpretation.
It's about comparing apples with oranges though and while I get that subjectivity is always going to be a challenge that skating will always face, as the sport's audience we need to always reserve our right to say "I Can Do Better" if artistry is something as fans we personally value. That brings us to the pressing question at hand: "HAS the IJS judging system's adoption of Program Component Scores (PCS) as opposed to a general mark for Artistic Impression or Presentation generated a skating culture and a fan base that is less interested in the artistic side of skating?". I asked some of skating's biggest fans this very question and got some interesting and varied responses: JOSEPH STEWART: "To answer your question, I think PCS has eliminated the concept of 'artistic impression' judging. The former artistic impression score was the best way we've ever had to score the 'je ne sais quoi' that really is the essence of artistry. The new method of quantifying it through set areas like transitions and 'skating skills' takes away the benefit of being original and encourages skaters to try and fit a cookie cutter mold of what has been known to work in the past. Fans can't identify to this as opinion no longer matters: you need to be well versed on how the scoring system works to understand results, which is not fan friendly!"
JOSH KENNON: "Interesting question. I think it has, to a degree, because people understand the quantifiable measures on the technical side... the 'a triple axel is worth so and so points, plus or minus three if they do it well or badly' thing. People don't easily understand how you can easily quantify things like speed, emotion, leg line individually...some people have the capability to measure that because of their understanding of dance/skating..but the regular fan doesn't. All they understand is the performance that reaches across that barrier between skater and audience member, that covers that distance across the boards, to get inside their hearts and move them." CLAIRE CLOUTIER: "I do think the adoption of IJS has changed the skating fan base a little bit. I think there are now a lot of fans who are very focused on the technical side of the sport and will argue endlessly over questions of underrotations, who has the best lutz, who has the most transitions, etc. I think it's the adoption of IJS as a whole, rather than PCS in particular, that has driven this. It's the existence of protocols and the actual code of points, which allows fans to analyze the technical side of the sport in much greater detail than ever before. Before, fans knew the differences between the jumps, but they didn't really know exactly how much the jumps counted for, or how much anything else counted. Now they have a much better sense of this. In the process, for some fans, the technical side of the sport has taken precedence. This isn't true for all fans, though; most still want a balanced approach (great artistry along with great jumps), I think."
As Elizabeth Cady Stanton famously said: "The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls." Here's my humble opinion. Figure skating CAN do better... and it can start by people looking - really looking - at the skating between the all so important jumps with fresh eyes, putting down the calculator, protractor and abacus and once again thinking about how the performance in front of them made them feel and how the music was really interpreted.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
Four time Canadian Champion, two time World Champion and 1948 Olympic Gold Medallist Barbara Ann Scott was honestly nothing short of a national treasure and was described by the newspapers of her day "a tiny exquisite doll". To this day, she is the only Canadian ladies skater to win Olympic gold and throughout her amateur and professional careers and later life she was a complete class act... someone I would have really loved to have met. That said... many young girls and fabulous boys who never met Scott in person got to welcome her company in their homes every day because in the late 1940's and 1950's, if you didn't have a Barbara Ann Scott doll you might as well just have thrown in the towel right there and then.
Back in a time where many young ones played with paper dolls, the U.S. based Madame Alexander doll company owned by Beatrice Alexander had marketed a very popular Sonja Henie doll in the late 1930's. Figure skating was immensely popular in North America at the time and it was no wonder a doll in the likeness of the three time Olympic Gold Medallist and skating diva caught on. After Barbara Ann Scott's win at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Reliable Toy Company marketed a doll in Scott's likeness... and it caught on even more than Henie's!
The Toronto company that became the Reliable Toy Company was founded in 1920 and was originally named the Canadian Statuary and Novelty Company. By 1935, they were the largest toy company in the British Empire and they're even still in operation today. The composition Barbara Ann Scott doll was designed by popular doll maker Bernard Lipfert, was fifteen inches high and according to the Museum Of Vancouver was "made of a mixture of glue and sawdust, which created a more durable material than bisque (or porcelain). The doll has a moveable head, arms, and legs. She has sleeping blue eyes, an open smiling mouth. Her skates and headband are original; but her skating costume is not. The doll, which sold well until 1954, came with a hangtag shaped like an ice skate, a letter from Barbara Ann, a pair of shoes and a small book about the skater." The Canadian Museum Of History further explains that "in 1948, it wore a lace skating costume trimmed with marabou. A new costume was created each year and was always trimmed with marabou." According to Jim Trautman's article "The Barbara Ann Scott Skating Doll", "though the doll was always composition, her skating outfit did change. In 1948, the first doll wore a blue lace skating outfit trimmed with maribou feathers, a pearl coronet had and figure skating boots - the boot type which can be taken off, put back on, and laced up. The metal skate blades are attached to the bottom of the skate boots with little rivets. The other unique item is a small skate tag which hung from her hand. It reads 'Barbara Ann Scott' (printed in red), then 'Doll' (printed in blue) and then 'Barbara Ann Scott' again (again in red). On the skate blade, 'Reliable Toy company Limited, Toronto' is printed in red. The 1949 version wears a blue costume and a tiara. The 1950 version also had a hat and a velveteen skating costume. It should be noted that each of the costumes was nicely trimmed with marabou feathers. The 1951 Barbara Ann Scott wears a blue outfit with gold dots and the marabou trim. A second version is pink with gold dots. As befits an outfit for skating in the cold outdoors, all of her costumes are long-sleeved. The doll's box is not elaborate. On the side panel is printed 'Barbara Ann Scott Doll' with the Reliable Toy Company information. On the right side of the label panel is Barbara Ann Scott in a skating pose, looking up. The label also has the colour stamped on it."
During the period the doll was sold sales skyrocketed and it was on the top of many young people's Christmas lists but due to the delicate nature of the doll's 'ingredients' as it were, although many Barbara Ann Scott dolls survive in museums and private collections, a lot of the ones you'll find at antique shops will have deteriorated or cracked in time unless they were kept in mint condition, which is a real shame.
I absolutely love that Allison Manley was able to interview Barbara Ann for The Manleywoman SkateCast in 2010 and am completely jealous at the same time! It was most probably the last full length interview she gave before her death two years later. Laughingly, Barbara Ann said "when we were married, Tommy had never seen one, so I said, it’s a ratty-looking doll with marabou around the bottom. So yes, we have one. And several years later they made another edition." Barbara Ann wouldn't be the only Canadian ladies skater to have a doll made in her likeness - Regal Toys produced a plastic Karen Magnussen doll and Star Dolls and Distinctive Doll of Canada made a Liz Manley doll - but Scott's is without question the most popular doll made in a skaters likeness, certainly here in Canada at least. I think we should continue the tradition with a Joannie Rochette doll, don't you? It would really be rude not to.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
It just wouldn't be Christmas time on the blog without a visit from Jolly Ol' Saint Dick, now would it?
Last season, Twas The Night Before Sochi took a tongue in cheek take on Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (widely known as "Twas The Night Before Christmas") in the form of a Christmas poem featuring a visit from none other than two time Olympic Gold Medallist and living legend Dick Button. Being the aloof character I sometimes am, I didn't even realize until THIS year that I was totally copying Allison Manley's idea from her 2012 Ode To Dick Button. Great minds think alike apparently? That said, with the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships around the corner this March in Shanghai, I thought it only right that my own rendition of a Saint Dick holiday poem made a little redux on the blog leading up to Christmas! Happy holidays to all of you, thanks for continued support, and hope you enjoy:
Twas the night before Shanghai and all through the rink
Not a skater was lutzing, or flutzing I think
Jason Brown's MC Hammer pants were hung in the dressing room with care,
In hopes that Dick Button soon would be there.
The judges were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of edge calls danced in their heads
Jeremy Abbott in brown and Sergei Voronov in something iffy
Were asleep in their hotel beds looking quite spiffy.
When in the host hotel there arose such a clatter,
the skaters sprang from their beds to see what was the matter.
Away to the windows they flew in a pack,
To see if St. Dick had arrived with his sack.
The moon on the breast of the cold Chinese snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to the courtyard below.
When, what to their wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight skate-clad reindeer.
With a jolly driver, so lively and quick,
In a minute they knew it must be St. Dick!
More rapid than spread eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
"Now Salchow! Now Henie! Now Fleming And Hamill!
On Axel! On Buttle! On Layback And Camel!
To the top of the rink! To the top of the wall!
Now skate away! Skate away! Skate away all!"
As so the sleigh landed and he looked around
And let his sack of presents fall down to the ground.
"Let's get down to business," St. Dick exclaimed.
"We won't be having any tomfoolery or reindeer games!"
"Don't make those referees blow on their whistles!
You better be sure that you nail those twizzles!
There needs to a little more swan in that Swan Lake.
Extend that free leg and don't let it shake!
Leave your catchfoots at home and forget those haircutters.
A good program is clean and doesn't look cluttered!
Turn your foot out, my dear, and hunch shoulders you mustn't.
Whatever that was supposed to be... it wasn't!
Make those layback spins first rate and those landings tight!
I don't give a rusty hoot what they say, you must do it right!
Keep your back straight, and gosh sakes, hold that edge!
Get your hair cut - get the Dorothy Hamill wedge!
If that doesn't put a fanizzle in their shanizzle nothing else will!
Show them your best! Show them your skill!
Bamboozle them with your feet and not with your hands!
Then they'll be cheering all through the stands!
For you fine young ladies and you fine young men,
all deserve a level ten!"
One skater shouted "but it only goes to five!"
St. Dick laughed and let out a sigh.
"The biggest gift that you can give them is your best skate.
Just do your best and make it first rate!
There's no time for sleep, get on that ice quick!
Practice all night! And watch that toe pick!"
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But they heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Gold medals for all, and to all a good night!" SAINT DICK'S RESPONSE TO THE POEM
Dick Button: "You get my approval instantly! I think it was charming, humorous, a great put on, most times right on... The rhyming spot on terrific... and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Thanks for the send off and a happy season to you and yours... Dick, aka Big Daddy. St. Dick, Popeye on Ice, the octogenarian, etc. etc. etc."
A big HAPPY HOLIDAYS from my family to yours! Get your eat and drink on, laugh and be merry! Most importantly, don't do anything I wouldn't do... which is a pretty short list. Merry Christmas!
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
Directed by Lawrence Jordan for Automatic Productions and A&E television in 1999, Winter Solstice On Ice hearkened back to the kind of artistically invigorating and truly meaningful work we saw in Toller Cranston's television specials, for instance. The show was hosted by musician Jim Brickman and featured a stellar cast of skaters from around the world interpreting winter and holiday themes from around the world with an array of both live and recorded music as backdrop.
One thing that stood out in particularly about this show to me is that there was great attention put into costuming. The cinematography by Rick Siegel was also just so on point and the dreamy outdoor settings just enhanced the moods of each of the pieces. The works skated themselves were a lesson in contrasts, from Rory Flack's "Esawayo" and Drobiazko and Vanagas' "Stars To Share" with music by Samite to softer pieces like Rahkamo and Kokko's performance to Johann Pachelbel's "Canon", each performance had its own distinct, standalone flavor and the sum of all parts contributed to a cohesive whole.
Rahkamo and Kokko's creation to Mark Isham's "Mr. Moto's Penguin (Who'd Be An Eskimo's Wife?)" was full of whimsy and in direct contrast to Alexander Abt's softer "Winter" which was presented on the same snowy outdoor stage.
In my own humble and always outspoken opinion, I would love to see more skating like this on our television sets instead of the overproduced and rather kitschy holiday skating specials that we are accustomed to largely now. Winter Solstice On Ice was a prime example of the kind of true artistry that would give us all something meaningful to celebrate about figure skating if it returned.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
Christmas may be creeping up on faster than a jolly Père Noël to a serving of milk and cookies, but unfortunately this blog's going to make the man with a bag take the back seat of the sleigh for a moment. The man at the reins of this sleigh is Per Thorén, a turn of the century Swedish skater who won a European title and medals at both the World Championships and Olympic Winter Games.
The son of Lars Petter Petersson and Wilhemina Thorén, Per Ludvig Julius Thorén was born in Stockholm, Sweden on January 26, 1885. In the first decade of the twentieth century, he won the Swedish men's title twice, along with four medals at the European Championships including gold in his final attempt at the singles crown in 1911 and two World medals (bronze in 1905 and silver in 1909). With partner Valborg Lindahl, he medalled at the Nordic Games in pairs skating.
In 1908, he found himself smack dab in the middle of his teammate Ulrich Salchow's skirmish with Russia's Nikolay Panin at the Summer Olympics in London, England and with Salchow and Richard Johansson was one of three Swedish men who swept the podium in the men's event that year. Never mind that two of the five judges were Swedish. That said, Per's medal win at those Games was impressive moreso in the fact that he climbed from sixth place in the school figures to claim the bronze at a time in history where school figures obviously played a very prominent role in determination of the overall results. He was noted as a particularly high jumper.
After winning the 1911 European men's title in Russia, Per eyed a new challenge - pairs skating - and caught on very quickly. He teamed up with Elna Montgomery, who had been an Olympic teammate of his at the 1908 Summer Games. They won the 1912 Swedish pairs title in Gothenburg. The following year in Stockholm, he claimed a second pairs title with Elly Svensson and retired from competition.
Elly Svensson and Per Thorén
Per's most notable contribution to skating is his invention of the Thorén jump where a skater takes off as they would in a loop but instead lands on the opposite leg on a back inside edge, allowing them in a combination for instance to go right into a Salchow or flip jump. This jump, known for many years as the half loop, has also been called a Euler and credited to a German skater.
After retiring from competitive skating, Per married Jenny Gerda Viran Lindström, survived both World Wars and passed away on January 5, 1962. He is buried in the Northern Necropolis in Solna, Sweden. Richard Witt's book "A Lifetime of Training for Just Ten Seconds: Olympians in their own words" quotes a modest Per reflecting on his 1908 Olympic medal win: "I really lack the words to compliment myself today". Even if Per may have been modest of his Olympic medal win, we don't have to be. Way to go, Per and thanks for the half loop, wherever you are!
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
When we think of ladies figure skating in the early seventies, several names obviously come to mind... Olympic Gold Medallists Trixi Schuba and Dorothy Hamill, World Champions Karen Magnussen, Gaby Seyfert and Christine Stüber-Errath and U.S. Champion Janet Lynn among them. However, another very talented ladies skater from Great Britain was also very much in the mix at that time as well. In 1973, Jean Scott Brennan won the silver medal at the European Figure Skating Championships in Cologne, West Germany and twice she finished in the top five at the World Championships. Also a two time British Champion, her story of overcoming injury to find success is an inspiration and her years of dedication to the sport as a coach have helped pave the way for a future generation of skaters in England to become their very best. It was my pleasure to speak with Jean about her competitive career, overcoming injuries sustained in a car accident to go on and win a European medal, coaching and much more in this fabulous interview: Q: You had such an impressive skating career, winning two British titles, the European silver medal in 1973, medals at both Skate Canada and the Richmond Trophy and competing at the 1972 Winter Olympics and three World Championships. Looking back on it all now, what are your proudest moments or most special memories from your "amateur" career?
A: My proudest moments were representing Great Britain in the Europeans and Worlds and competing in the 1972 Olympics. Also, winning back my British title.
Q: During your career, you competed against some of skating's biggest legends including Janet Lynn and Dorothy Hamill. What was your relationship with the skaters you competed against like - were the rivalries as 'bitter' back in those days?
A: I became friendly with Janet Lynn. She is such a lovely and sincere person. Karen Magnussen was really nice to me too but her mother gave Janet such a hard time! Christine Errath and Karin Iten were also very nice,. Yes, there was quite a bit of rivalry even then but thankfully I was never involved.
Q: In 1972, after finishing sixth at the World Championships, you were actual involved in a serious car accident where you suffered both arm and leg injuries and really had to fight your way back into the physical condition you needed to be in. What can you share about this whole experience?
A: After my car accident, it was so difficult as I was told to stay off the ice for about three months. I was naughty and I didn't obey the orders although I concentrated mainly on figures as my upper arm had forty eight stitches inserted and was likely to burst open if I had fallen on it. The concentration both my coach (Margaret Vernal) and I gave to my figures paid off and we reaped the rewards afterwards.
Q: When you won the British ladies title in 1974, John Curry won the men's title. What are your memories of John both as a skater and as a person?
A: My second British title was actually in December 1973 after winning silver in Europeans and fifth in Worlds that year. I was very fond of John Curry. He and I became very close when we competed; he was a massive fan of my coach and my mother who just doted on him. John actually asked Frau (my pet name for my coach) to coach him in Sapporo as John Pierce was the team coach and with Haig (Oundjian) being his pupil also competing, I think John was a little concerned.
Q: After you retired from competitive skating in 1974, you turned to coaching and coached at the Magnum rink for twenty five years and earned the British Ice Teachers Association Coach Of The Year Award in 2002. What is your coaching philosophy and what is the biggest lesson that your skaters have taught YOU?
A: Coaching taught me lots of things including how temperaments differ and having to adjust technique to achieve the best from a pupil. When I was training a lot of the time I was on my own after various rinks closed in Scotland and Frau had a young family so it was at weekends when I had most of my lessons but because I had to think for myself it helped me a great deal when it came to coaching.
Q: This year, you were one of the baton holders as The Queen's baton made its journey from India to Scotland through seventy nations as part of the Queen's Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. What did the experience mean to you?
A: When I was selected as a baton bearer I was dreading it but it was a wonderful experience! I had so much support from family, friends, neighbours and ex-pupils. Q: Who are your three favourite skaters of all time and why?
A: My favourite skaters in the past are John Curry for his grace and great technique and Janet Lynn for much the same as John. She was so lovely to watch even just skating around the rink without the jumps or spins. Katarina Witt, not for technique but for her all around personality.
Q: What's one thing most people don't know about you?
A: Most people who have got to know me are surprised at my lack of confidence. Even today, I'm quite a shy person although I tried very hard to hide that when competing. Q: When you look back on all of your experiences and a life dedicated to skating... would you do it all again?
A: Yes, if I had my time again I would do it all again... but hopefully with more confidence.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
Considered by many one of the most strikingly beautiful moves in the field figure skating boasts, the Ina Bauer is a variation on the spread eagle where one leg is bent deeply at the knee, the back and body bend backwards and the other leg traces a parallel line on a back inside edge. It's not an easy move to pull off with grace but when mastered most certainly adds a dramatic flair to choreography. Much like the Salchow, the Lutz or the Biellmann spin, the Ina Bauer too is named after a real skater who popularized the movement.
Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine
Born in 1941 in the midst of World War II, Ina Bauer made her first appearance on the senior level at the 1956 West German Figure Skating Championships in Cologne, where she finished second to Rosi Pettinger, the former rival of 1954 World Champion Gundi Busch. The following three years Ina would rise to prominence nationally, decisively winning the national title in West Germany in 1957, 1958 and 1959. She competed at a total of four European and World Championships, improving her results very quickly along the way - perhaps due to the fine training she was receiving overseas in Colorado Springs at the time. In 1958, she just missed the podium at the World Championships. The following year, she'd have the same luck when she finished fourth to two different Dutch skaters (Joan Haanappel and Sjoukje Dijkstra) at the European and World Championships.
In 1960, she did not compete at her National Championships but did go on to the European Championships which were held in her home country at the Olympia-Kunsteisstadion arena in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. She however opted to withdraw after the compulsory figures and effectively ended her competitive career. In "Skating World" magazine, Dennis Bird remarked, "Ina Bauer had been built up into something of a national heroine by the German Press and TV. When she finished the figures no higher than fourth, and her father forbade her to continue, there was a strong reaction. Headlines appeared describing her withdrawal as 'Unintelligible - unsporting!' and critical remarks by Gundi Busch, Carlo Fassi and the German instructor Erich Zeller were widely quoted. In fairness to Frl. Bauer, it must be remembered that in Germany a father's power over his daughter is probably much greater than it might be in Britain; German women are still to some extent expected to be subservient. Frl. Bauer herself may not have wished to retire. But whoever was to blame, the whole affair was regrettable." I'm sure many a skater breathed a sigh of relief as she was at the time certainly considered an up and comer. In Allison Manley's 2013 Manleywoman SkateCast interview with Carol Heiss Jenkins (who won Olympic gold medal), when asked who she was most nervous to compete against Carol responded "probably the German girl, Ina Bauer, because she came in with the Bauer and she had flaming red hair."
After retiring from competition, Ina made her name as a professional skater touring with Ice Follies and actually starred in two movies in 1961: the comedies "Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon" and "Ein Stern fällt vom Himmel". She appeared in both films alongside Austrian alpine skier Toni Sailer. "Kauf dir einen bunten Luftballon" is actually featured above in its entirety, and within the first ten minutes you get a chance to see Bauer skate! She was quite a popular show skater. A 1960 New York Times review wrote of Bauer's American debut in Ice Follies: "19-year-old Ina Bauer, three-time figure skating champion of West Germany has been called 'Brigitte Bardot on ice' and it's easy to see why." It was while touring with the Ice Follies that she met Hungarian Champion István Szenes, whom she married in 1968.
As an interesting aside, when Shizuka Arakawa further popularized her own variation of the skating move named after Bauer and won Olympic gold in 2006 Asahi Breweries Ltd. in Japan filed an application for a patent to name an alcoholic drink 'the Ina Bauer'. They were categorically shut down by the Japanese patent office, who responded that "such behavior to capitalize on the fame of Ms. Arakawa would offend public order and morals". The patent office added that Bauer herself did not respond in approval of the proposal.
Having a skating move named after you is pretty freaking cool if you ask me and aside from Ulrich Salchow and Denise Biellmann for instance, a lot of the skaters who have this honor of being perpetually remembered for their contributions to skating aren't world or Olympic Champions. I think what that speaks to is that you don't have to be the best skater to be the most creative... and it is creativity that really gets you remembered in figure skating. Sadly, Ina Szenes-Bauer passed away on December 13, 2014 in Krefeld after contributing so much more than her trademark skating move to the sport. She founded the Ina Bauer Cup and worked tirelessly in her community and with the skating club she founded and will be remembered fondly.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
When it comes to interesting stories, the proverbial cup always runneth over... and this time of year is no exception. A lot of times when I am sifting through material looking for blog ideas, I come across some pretty interesting facts and stories that may not be "enough for a whole blog" but definitely deserve to be shared with all of you. I saved a handful of these very interesting factoids and stories to share with all of you as a little holiday gift of sorts. I hope you find these all as fascinating as I did:
SANDY HILL
Prior to marrying Nancy Kerrigan, Jerry Solomon was briefly married to Sandy Hill, the second American woman to to ascend the world's Seven Summits: Mount Everest, Aconcagua in The Andes, Mount McKinkley, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanazania, Mount Elbrus in Russia's Caucasus Mountains, Mount Vinson in Antarctica, Puncak Jaya in Indonesia and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia. If you've read Jon Krakauer's best seller "Into Thin Air" about the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, you'll remember Sandy well... and if you haven't I highly recommend it. I read it on a really long bus ride to Ontario once (NEVER again!) and it was definitely a page turner. WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER
It might be a little muggy... but who knows? Maybe in the year 4018, they'll be holding figure skating competitions on Mercury. In 1991, astronomers fired radar signals at Mercury's poles and their findings led them to believe there could be ice at both poles of the planet. This was further confirmed by 1999 measurements. In 2011, NASA confirmed that there was indeed ice at the planet's North Pole, a very curious fact considering the rest of the planet can reach temperatures as four hundred and twenty seven degrees Celsius. Just a tad balmy... but it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "when hell freezes over".
HITLER'S SKATES?
Bridget Hitler, Adolf Hitler's sister-in-law penned a book in the thirties that was published in 1979 affer her death called "The Memoirs Of Bridget Hitler". The book, which has been widely dismissed by historians as a hoax written to cash in on his fame, claimed that Hitler actually briefly lived in England in 1912 to evade military service. Some claim that a pair of his skates were displayed behind glass at the Wavertree Ice Rink in Liverpool but much like the claims in the 1979 book, finding proof of this claim was an elusive task. PRINCESS MARGARET OF CONNAUGHT
Princess Margaret of Connaught was the Crown Princess of Sweden and first wife of the future Swedish King Gustaf VI Adolf. Sadly, she passed away before her husband's ascension to the throne. Margaret, who was known as Margareta when she moved Sweden, not only took great interests in photography, gardening and painting, but was also an avid hockey player and ice skater. Her tragic and sudden death in 1920 due to an infection after an operation - while she pregnant with her sixth child - sent an entire country into mourning.
A GALLANT TRAGEDY
On December 6, 1901, Henry Albert Harper, well known journalist and personal friend of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, attended a skating party thrown on the Ottawa River below Rockcliffe by the Governor General, the Earl Of Minto. The ice gave way and Bessie Blair and Alex Creelman found themselves in the water. Creelman pulled himself to safety while Blair struggled in the water. Harper dove in to save Blair and both ended up drowning. It's all so sadly reminiscent of The Regent's Park Skating Tragedy, isn't it? There seems to be some debate as to whether his last words were indeed "What else can I do?" when friends tried to talk him out of attempting to save Blair. Some say he quoted Galahad's famous "If I love myself, I save myself" before gallantly diving to his ultimate death. King was very distraught over his friend and former roommate's death and arranged to fittingly have a statue of Galahad installed at the entrance to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where it remains today.
THE GANGSTA GINGERBREAD MAN
After putting all of these together, I realized that this was turning into one DEPRESSING Christmas gift so I wanted to finish things off on a lighter note with yes, you guessed it, a little skating! From the wonderful world of YouTube, here's Jessica Jamieson skating to "The Gingerbread Man". I kind of think this is the best thing ever. Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
I want to start this recap of the 2014 ISU Grand Prix Final by commenting on the amazing job that Spain did on hosting their first major international figure skating competition. The opening ceremonies were interesting, the event looked organized and the seats were packed with the most lively mix of figure skating fans that we have seen yet this season. Please keep in mind too that I'm recovering from a pretty rough dental surgery (double extraction of two molars after fourteen days of antibiotics) and as much as I enjoyed getting to rest in bed today and watching all of the skating interrupted from start to finish for the first time in forever on my laptop, I may be a bit of a cranky bear so forgive my bluntness at times. That said, the caliber of the event was so high that it was hard to find faults that weren't petty with many of the performances. This wasn't Susie Stepout and Tommy Twofoot... it was the creme de la creme and these skaters largely all skated to a high standard.
Before I talk skating, I want to again give a little disclaimer. Please keep in mind with all the coverage of any competition on Skate Guard as always I'll post videos of some of the most standout performances. Many of them might be geoblocked in your country, and for that I apologize. Around the time of major competitions, videos go up every minute and come down and get geoblocked just as fast. If you're unable to watch videos in your country, I've got some great advice for you. Go to YouTube, and under your search settings you can select 'Upload Date'. If you type in keywords for the competition or skater you want to see, you can narrow it down to 'Today' or 'This Week' and usually find just what you're looking for in minutes! And now, on to the event at hand...
I'm not going to really talk about the junior events but I will say that the skating was spectacular. Canada's Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau won the gold medal in the pairs competition with an impressive score of 175.57 with a ten point lead on their closest rivals. Shoma Uno of Japan won the men's event, Anna Yanovskaya and Sergey Mozgov the ice dance title and Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia the ladies crown. If this is the "future" of figure skating, it looks promising.
The men's competition was full of surprises. After four less than stellar performances on the Grand Prix series, many including myself thought Olympic Gold Medallist Yuzuru Hanyu's qualification for this event had more to do with reputation than results. In the short program, Hanyu looked on the road to redemption, landing a beautiful quad toe-loop and triple axel but then proceeding to fall on the back end of his triple lutz/triple toe. All I could think of was Dick Button's infamous "and then a fall on the end of it, which was absolutely unnecessary and uncalled for" quote. You know, not a single one of the men in the short program delivered a clean performance, so I really don't think it's fair to beat a dead horse and go on and on about it but one comparison that I've heard tossed around more and more lately about Hanyu's scoring comes back to the same kind of scoring we've seen more than once dished out to Patrick Chan when he's faltered as well. A six point TES lead on Machida when they both landed the exact three same jumps? I don't know. Hanyu's very good but so are a lot of the men competing right now and I think in general you're starting to see a certain overwhelming level of generosity from the judges with him that's becoming alarming. All of that said, he went out in the free skate and showed us all what he's made of, looking in fabulous form with a quad toe, quad salchow and a whopping eight triple jumps including two beautiful triple axels. His only error an unfortunate fall on his final jump attempt, the triple lutz, ensured his commanding win here with a huge score of 288.16. To paraphrase Mark Twain's famous quote, it appears the rumors of Yuzuru Hanyu's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Good for him!
The pressure on Javier Fernandez at the first big ISU eligible figure skating competition in his home country (I say ISU eligible because the the World Professional Championships were indeed a big deal) had to have just been tremendous. When tickets are being sold based on your qualification before you've even qualified, you know the "hometown crowd" were certainly expecting something special. Like all of the men, Fernandez didn't have a great short program. In fact, it was pretty rough indeed. He fell on his quad salchow attempt, botched his combination and just managed to squeak out his triple axel to finish fifth out of six men in that part of the competition. He turned a challenge into an opportunity in his operatic free skate though, coming out very strong if not a little cautious at times but landing a great quad toe-loop to catapult himself up in the standings from fifth to second with a score of 253.90 and his cool confidence in doing so was just something to behold.
The bronze medal in the men's event went to Russia's Sergei Voronov. A two footed landing on his quad attempt in the short program left him in the fourth but a very strong free skate earned him a total event score of 244.53, just enough to move up onto the podium. As much of a grab bag of bad music edits as that free skate is, what I like about Voronov is that he's clearly having fun out there, selling what he is doing with a certain charismatic charm and that in terms of jumping, despite that step out on the opening quad, he's really quite fantastic. I think it's pretty to forget that Voronov's really been in the game since 2006 and has improved tremendously since then in terms of the second mark, so good on him.
Rounding out the men's event were Voronov's teammate Maxim Kovtun, who was really rather unspectacular here in finishing fourth in my mind. He had some great moments technically in his free skate - and some not so good ones - but I find the bottom line with his skating unfortunately is just that the skating itself just has no pizazz or personality. I just feel like whether they've been doing singles, doubles, triples or quads, skating has seen so many men like Kovtun in its history and unfortunately, whether they've won medals or not they haven't ultimately been remembered. I hope he can turn that car around. Japan's Takahito Muta moved up from sixth to fifth with a score of 235.37 overall and unfortunately Tatsuki Machida kind of imploded in the free skate, dropping all of the way down from second to last place among the men overall with an overall score of 216.13. Ouch.
The ladies event seemed a wonderful preview for the Russian Nationals with four of the six ladies competing hailing from "Mother Russia" (I totally said that in a Boris and Natasha voice in my head) and unsurprisingly, the odds played out in one of those four ladies favour. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who has really been unstoppable this season, won her SIXTH international competition this season with a score of 203.58. In her free skate, she couldn't seem to put a foot wrong, landing seven triples including two triple lutzes and a triple toe/triple toe, even if the program itself was a bit "middle Eastern medley lite". She is a no frills kind of skater but the jumps are huge and the confidence with which she carries off her skating so convincing that you cannot help but say to yourself like a good nineties talk show gay "you go girl!"
The silver medal went to Russia's Elena Radionova. I'm sorry, but the short program was in my eyes a bit of a hot mess and my reaction to her PCS score of 31.26 in that portion of the competition as compared to Ashley Wagner's 30.40 was "that's rich!" The program itself was like watching a pre-juvenile skater go Barbie shopping at Giant Tiger - simply put, low end shit. My program with Radionova's skating is that she almost seems to FLAUNT her absolute disregard for musical interpretation and owness for that falls on both her as a young skater but on the coaches and choreographers that are putting her out there with material she just doesn't have the chops to pull off at this point in her skating career. Then you have the jumps. In the free skate, she whirled off a triple lutz/triple toe, triple lutz, triple loop/half loop/triple salchow and two other triples and makes you go, well... she DID land the jumps. I just find Radionova to be a poster child for the direction ladies skating is going and that scares the bejesus out of me. Her silver medal winning score was 198.74.
Ashley Wagner! Her outing in Barcelona was everything that makes for great television. In the short program, she faltered and found herself in last place with a score of 60.24 and all but written off in the eyes of many skating "fans". You know the Twitter drill... unfortunately we've all seen that foolishness. In the free skate, she rebounded with one of the FINEST performances I think we've ever seen from her. A clean one foot landing on the triple flip/triple toe and four other clean triples including her final jump, a triple lutz late in the program off a clean outside edge... what more can you ask for? I just can't revel enough in the crow Ashley delivered for supper here. The programs themselves are really developing more and more as well with every outing and her final score of 189.50 was enough to move her up from sixth to third place overall. Not bad "for a U.S. lady", now is it?
Russia's Anna Pogorilaya looked very stiff and flat in both programs here, I found and finished fourth overall with two hot and cold performances and a score of 180.29. Juxtaposed, I thought Julia Lipnitskaia was fabulous in the short program for a change. The spark and cool confidence belying her years seemed to be back and as usual, those Lucinda Ruh like spins were definitely an "OOO! AAA!" kind of moment. In the free skate, unfortunately, although she started very strongly with a triple lutz/triple toe she had a bit of a meltdown after that and dropped all the way from second to fifth with a score of 177.79. Growing pains... Rika Hongo of Japan rounded out the event in last with a score of 176.13. To me, Hongo has the body line of Zvetelina Abrasheva. If she didn't have the jumps, this wouldn't fly. I think she'd benefit greatly from working with someone like Carol Heiss Jenkins. She just needs to unhunch the shoulders, straighten her back and know what to do with her arms... and those are really the only differences between her and someone like Mao Asada.
If you're not a fan of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, turn back now before it's too late... because holy shit, that was amazing! In the short program, they were flawless as anything, of course landing both the throw triple lutz and side by side triple lutzes with absolute ease... so much so, it's easy to really not think about the level of difficulty in their programs, not even just on the elements attempted but in the transitions and lifts. The free skate? Out of this world. Their only mistake a step out from Meagan on the side by side triple lutzes, they were in a completely different league than the rest of the competition, landing a gorgeous throw triple lutz, side by side triple toes in combination and of course, the biggest throw quad salchow in the business. Their score of 220.72 was not only enough for gold, but it outdistanced the reigning Olympic and World Silver Medallists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov by seven points. I'm just over the moon happy for these two. They keep pushing themselves harder and harder and the fact that you constantly see little improvements in their skating shows they aren't just resting on the difficulty of their content but are focused on always bettering themselves.
Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov are really the latest in a line of mechanical Russian pairs with fabulous speed and attack that have fared well in the last decade. They're no Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov or Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov - that's for sure - but you have to admire their commanding presence and really strong technique. "Danse Mon Esmeralda" always gets me (I don't know why, it does) but if it wasn't for that gorgeous throw triple loop at the end of the program on the crescendo of the music, it wouldn't have had the same impact overall. As it was, this was just too meat and potatoes to even be beating Duhamel and Radford in the PCS department, which it did. I totally get Meagan and Eric are known for being strong skaters technically, but I think that even that small affordance being made in the results when really looking at the presentation of both programs was a little generous, although hardly highway robbery. Their silver medal winning score was 213.72.
Wenjing Sui and Cong Han were beautifully and maturely presented in their free skate but I think in terms of the technical content, the judges did get it right when they placed them fifth, even if it was enough for the bronze medal overall. The "Stray Cat Strut" short program came off as a little juniorish to me but I think it's just the music choice which I have this really big aversion to after seeing so many flimsy looking programs set to it. Of the three Chinese pairs, my favourite was probably Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin, who finished fifth just behind Cheng Peng and Hao Zhang. I have to say that both of their programs are really growing on me with each outing. Great musical choices both and that makes a big difference. A disaster of a short program left Russia's Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov simply too far behind the rest of the pack for anything less than a show stopping effort to move them up to the podium, and their free skate left them in sixth place overall with a score of 184.54. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they'll be back. I have no doubt in my mind.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje skated their paso doble like that bull owned them money and with a score of 71.34 had a healthy enough lead on the rest of the back heading into the free dance. There free dance was in a completely different league than all five of the other teams, a study in musical interpretation, carriage and impeccable timing. Nothing was contrived or phoned in, just beautiful, sincere skating. No disrespect meant, but I don't think trying to really invent a rivalry between them and Chock and Bates similar to that between Davis and White and Virtue and Moir is in any way really representative of the comparison of the two team's performance levels. Weaver and Poje's winning score in Barcelona was 181.14.
Finishing second with a score of 167.09 were Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates. Again, I have to be duly complimentary about this team's excellent speed and attack in their programs but unfortunately rather than these programs growing on me the more times I see them, they're starting to really grate on me. Just not my cup of tea, I'll leave it at that.
A lot of people, including an impassioned booing audience, didn't seem too thrilled with the French team of Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron's rise from fifth place to claim bronze. Sure, their rise in the standings this year has been meteoric but it's not like it's suspiciously meteoric at all. Their edge work, intricacy and just the class they're bringing to the table in that free dance absolutely does it for me. Their bronze medal winning score was 162.39... and you better check my temperature. I'm agreeing with a result from an ice dance panel with Alla Shekhovtseva as the Technical Controller. Perhaps I need a hug, but instead of from Alla, I'll take my hug from Cizeron. If he wants to make babies, that's okay too.
Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani were again lowballed on their TES score in the short dance and again delivered two beautifully scripted free dances, just missing the podium with a score of 158.94 after the judges really gave it to them in the free dance, placing them sixth in that segment of the event without any obvious deductions. I rewatched their free dance looking for anything that really stuck out in my mind but aside from some two foot skating from Alex, I didn't see anything to really justify such a drop in the standings. Maybe Adelina's not returning Alla's calls and she's just having a bad day... who knows?
Rounding out the ice dance event were Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier and Russians Elena Ilinykh and Ruslan Zhiganshin. I think I would have had them ahead of the Shibutani's in the free dance maybe? but not the French team. The free dance is starting to grow on me, which is a good sign! I think Ilinykh and Zhiganshin presented a pretty atypical mid range Russian drama, vodka and lipstick free dance. They continue to improve as a team and although this free dance lacks originality. there is definitely a connection between them. A fourth place in the free dance connection? Oh sweetie no...
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
