The Best Compulsory Dancers In The World

Ice dancing has long been criticized for the lack of movement in the standings from one phase of the competition to the next, particularly in the days of the 6.0 judging system. 

At the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, twenty couples competed in three compulsory dances, an OSP and free dance. The only movement in the standings through the entire competition was that the Czechoslovakian couple who ranked fourteenth in the compulsories dropped to fifteenth overall. In response to the outrage over Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay placing eighth overall at those Games, World Champion and ISU Council member Lawrence Demmy complained, "In ice dancing, the positions invariably do not change... We have to change the attitude of the judges. The judge has got to realize there are three distinct stages and they have to be judged separately on style and merit. And that is not happening. And it's beginning to look ridiculous. We've got to look for a new concept in ice dancing. If we don't accept new concepts, ice dancing is going to stagnate." Many changes were made in the years that followed, including the ultimate demise of compulsory dances in senior international competition.

Let's take a look at the winners of the compulsory dances at the Olympics and World Championships and see just how rare it was for the winner of that phase of the event not to win the overall title. A '*' by a couple's name denotes that they also won the overall competitions.

 

Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin skating the Paso Doble at the 1988 Winter Olympics

WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

Year	Winning Couple
1976	Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov*
1980	Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov*
1984	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean*
1988	Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin*
1992	Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko*
1994	Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov*, Maya Usova and Alexandr Zhulin
1998	Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov*
2002	Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat*
2006	Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio
2010	Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin

Only twice (in 2006 and 2010) have the winners of the first segment of the ice dance competition at the Winter Olympics not gone on to win the overall title. Both of these occasions were after the IJS system was implemented. In 1994, the eventual winners tied in the compulsory dances with the reigning World Champions, who finished second overall.

 

Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko skating the Westminster Waltz at the 1989 World Championships. Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Year	Winning Couple
1950 (U)	Lois Waring and Michael McGean*
1951 (U)	Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy*
1952	Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy*
1953	Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy*
1954	Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy*
1955	Jean Westwood and Lawrence Demmy*
1956	Pamela Weight and Paul Thomas*
1957	June Markham and Courtney Jones*
1958	June Markham and Courtney Jones*
1959	Doreen Denny and Courtney Jones*
1960	Doreen Denny and Courtney Jones*
1962	Christiane and Jean Paul Guhel
1963	Linda Shearman and Michael Phillips
1964	Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman*
1965	Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman*
1966	Diane Towler and Bernard Ford*
1967	Diane Towler and Bernard Ford*
1968	Diane Towler and Bernard Ford*
1969	Diane Towler and Bernard Ford*
1970	Judy Schwomeyer and Jim Sladky
1971	Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov*
1972	Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov*
1973	Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov*
1974	Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov*
1975	Colleen O'Connor and Jim Millns
1976	Lyudmila Pakhomova and Aleksandr Gorshkov*
1977	Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov*
1978	Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov*
1979	Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov*
1980	Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov
1981	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean*
1982	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean*
1983	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean*
1984	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean*
1985	Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin*
1986	Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin*
1987	Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin*
1988	Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin*
1989	Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko*
1990	Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko*
1991	Maya Usova and Alexandr Zhulin
1992	Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko*
1993	Maya Usova and Alexandr Zhulin*
1994	Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov*
1995	Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov*
1996	Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov*
1997	Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov*
1998	Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov*
1999	Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov*
2000	Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat*
2001	Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat, Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio*
2002	Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh*
2003	Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz*, Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh
2004	Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski, Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov*
2005	Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov*
2006	Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski*
2007	Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon
2008	Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder*
2009	Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin*
2010	Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir*

Including the two International Ice Dancing Competitions held at World Championships that haven't been historically recognized as World Championships (1950 and 1951) and ignoring the three years that ice dancers were put in two groups for the compulsories (2001, 2003 and 2004), there were only seven occasions where the winner of the compulsory dances didn't win the overall World title in ice dancing. It's interesting to note that two of those couples were American. If you don't count Lois Waring and Michael McGean's win in 1950, which no one seems to, American dance teams would have won two World titles in the seventies had there have been no free dance. Definitely some interesting food for thought!

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