The 1971 European Figure Skating Championships

The third manned lunar landing, achieved by the Apollo 14 mission, was a top news story. A carton of eggs cost sixty cents and bacon a pound of bacon was less than a dollar. The film "Love Story", starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal, was number one at the box office. Lynn Anderson's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" topped the music charts.

The year was 1971 and from February 2 to 7, the Hallenstadion in Zürich, Switzerland played host to the European Figure Skating Championships. The historic city had only played host to the competition once before, exactly twenty years prior. However, the 1951 event had been held outdoors on the Dolder Kunsteisbahn, a massive open-air ice rink atop the city's biggest hill, surrounded by a forest. 

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

How did things pan out in Zürich that chilly February? Let's take a look back at the stories and skaters that shaped the event.

THE PAIRS COMPETITION 

Pairs medallists

In 1969 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Soviet pairs had swept the pairs podium at the European Championships for the first time. In 1970 in Leningrad, the East German pair of Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz-Ulrich Walther had taken the bronze - putting a wrench in the hopes of the Soviets repeating their 1969 feat on home soil. In Zürich, Steiner and Walther stood at the boards as coaches, hoping that their efforts teaching in East Berlin would propel another East German team to the European podium. 

Left: Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov. Right: Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraikin. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Two-time and defending European Champions Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov took the lead in the compulsory short program. Despite an uncharacteristic tumble from Ulanov in the free skate on a side-by-side double Axel attempt, they managed to best their teammates Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraikin both in the free skate and overall. Both teams received huge ovations from the Swiss crowd. In a dramatic battle for the bronze, Soviets Galina Karelina and Georgi Proskurin completed the Russian sweep of the podium. They outranked East Germans Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann by just three points and one ordinal placing. 

Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann

Fourteen year old Groß and twenty year old Kagelmann completed side-by-side double Lutzes in their free skate, which were just as rare as Rodnina and Ulanov's planned side-by-side double Axels at the time. 

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

 Left: Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov. Right: Angelika and Erich Buck. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Twenty couples representing eleven countries competed in Zürich, but the two most talked about were Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov and Angelika and Erich Buck. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves noted that at that event, "Gossip and publicity brought about prejudging in the case of the Bucks. The judges marked them higher than both British teams who, many believed, had programs of equal technical merit but richer in style. The Bucks, however, were well-matched and smooth in their free dance to 'Music of the Mountains' and Kaempfert's 'Swiss Polka'... Lyudmila Pakhomova and Alexander Gorshkov brought to Zürich a free dance to real dance music that displayed their athleticism. Their Spanish theme blended tango ['Jalousie'] and paso doble rhythms.'" 

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

However, as would happen at several events in the next couple of years, Angelika and Erich's strengths versus those of Pakhomova and Gorshkov's divided Communist and Western bloc judges. Both teams ended with same total of place ordinals and only a 0.4 difference in points. The Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Soviet and Polish judges voted for the Soviets, while judges from West Germany, Austria, Great Britain and Switzerland voted for the West Germans. The deciding vote in favour of Pakhomova and Gorshkov was made by France's Lysiane Lauret. 

Susan Getty and Roy Bradshaw. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Skating to "Oye Negra", "Hernando's Hideaway", "A'Agapo" and "Millionaire's Hoe-Down", Britons Susan Getty and Roy Bradshaw took the bronze, besting Soviets Tatiana Voituk and Vyacheslav Zhigalin by a comfortable margin. In fact, the fifth place British couple - Janet Sawbridge and Peter Dalby - were only two points and ordinals behind the second Soviet couple. 

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Men's medallists

Patrick Péra and Günter Zöller, medallists at the 1970 European Championships in Leningrad, were both absent from Zürich. Zöller was recovering from a foot operation and Péra slashed his foot only three days before the competition. These absences would have somewhat taken the pressure off of Ondrej Nepela, the two time and defending champion. 

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

After racking up a solid lead over Soviets Sergei Chetverukhin and Sergei Volkov in the school figures, Nepela delivered a steady and confident free skating performance that was enough for him to coast to victory. He actually outranked Chetverukhin, the silver medallist, by a margin of almost sixty three points. 

Sergei Chetverukhin. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

That said, the star of the show was Great Britain's Haig Oundjian. Skating to "Carmen", Oundjian landed a triple Salchow and triple toe-loop on the way to becoming the first British man since Michael Booker in 1956 to win the free skate at the European Championships. He earned the bronze overall, climbing all the way up from sixth after figures. At the time, he was ranked second in Great Britain to John Curry.

   

John Curry had been training in Switzerland prior to the competition with Arnold Gerschwiler, and managed a comeback of his own. He moved up from eleventh to seventh with a fine free skating performance, marred only by a tumble on a triple loop. 

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

Places fourth through sixth were filled with Eastern bloc skaters - East Germany's Jan Hoffmann and Soviets Yuri Ovchinnikov and Sergei Volkov. With his high flying jumps and unique style, Ovchinnikov was a favourite of the Swiss crowd.

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

With the retirement of defending European Champion Gaby Seyfert, little stood in the way of nineteen year old Trixi Schuba of Austria finally winning the competition she had medalled at but not won the previous three years. In true Trixi Schuba fashion, she amassed an astonishing one hundred and nineteen point lead over Italian Champion Rita Trapanese in the school figures. In the free skate, Trixi struggled on two jumps but managed marks ranging from 5.2 to 5.6. On the strength of her figures, she managed to best Hungary's Zsuzsa Almássy and Trapanese to win her first European title. 

Zsuzsa Almássy. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Interestingly, all three of the medallists were criticized for their free skating efforts... among other things. Almássy, the showgirl of the bunch, was called out on her dramatic weight loss. A report in "Skating" magazine noted, "The dynamic champion's chances of winning the European title this season were real, and to jump higher, she went on a strict diet. The successful results were very evident when she appeared for training the first day; a journalist at the usual press conference asked her about her diet. The gay Zsuzsa said, 'I went to the doctor, who gave me pills. I asked him if I had to take them before or after meals. He replied, 'Instead of the meal.'"

Sonja Morgenstern. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

The women who earned the most praise were a pair of Frau Jutta Müller's students, sixteen year old Sonja Morgenstern and fourteen year old Christine Errath, and Zürich's own Charlotte Walter, who was skating on home ice. 

Video courtesy Frazer Ormondroyd

Sonja Morgenstern won the free skate, landing a triple Salchow and moving all the way up from eighth to fourth overall. Christine Errath leaped from tenth to seventh with a technically demanding performance of her own. Charlotte Walter placed an impressive fifth, the highest finish ever in singles skating by a Swiss woman at the European Championships at that point in time.

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.

Canadian Skating Carnivals Through The Years

Antoinette Margaret Echlin and Cavin Atkinson appearing 'At The Mardi Gras' in the 1948 Toronto Skating Club carnival

"Lions and tigers and bears... oh my!" The famous line from "The Wizard Of Oz" describes three animals you'd likely find at any zoo... as well as three costumes that you'll be bound to see at any skating club's annual club carnival or ice show. These annual fundraising efforts have been staples of Canada's figure skating scene for well over a century and truth be told, the general format hasn't differed all that much. The club's best skaters typically perform solos and duets, while the up-and-comers are relegated to the lion, tiger and bear costumes. Guest skaters might be brought in to fill up seats; the club's professionals might even dust off an old standby and get in on the fun. Yet, when we go back through the accounts and pictures of these shows, we sense just how much skating clubs have evolved through the years. Hop in the time machine and I'll show you just what I'm talking about!

1939 (MONTREAL FIGURE SKATING CLUB)

Photo courtesy Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

A pair of igloos served as the backdrop for Montreal's skating carnival in 1939, a joint venture of the Montreal Figure Skating Club and Rotary Club Of Westmount. The show was held at the Montreal Forum, site of the World Championships seven years prior. 

Hazel Franklin. Photo courtesy Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Andrée (Joly) and Pierre Brunet, who won the pairs event in 1932, served as the show's stars, alongside Hazel Franklin, Freddie Trenkler, Otto Gold and Donald B. Cruikshank. The Montreal Figure Skating Club's own Denise and Pierre Benoit were also prominently featured. There were twenty-two numbers in all, mostly solos and duets, but a "Rust" ballet group number was also an attraction. The show attracted seven thousand spectators, raised a small fortune for the Montreal Children's Hospital and featured a cast of over one hundred skaters. The Quebec newspaper "L'illustration nouvelle" called it "un brillant succès".

1942 (TORONTO SKATING CLUB)

The Toronto Skating Club held its first skating carnival at the turn of the century and smack dab in the middle of World War II, things looked quite different than they did some forty years prior. While many of the club's male members were overseas on the front lines, those at home were engaged in War work. Skaters volunteered at Red Cross blood clinics and scrimped and saved by sewing their own skating dresses, so that there was money left over to send cigarettes and care packages to their loved ones in Europe. 

Yet, the show went on in 1942 with J. Wilson Jardine conducting the Toronto Symphony Band for a lengthy show featuring twenty one acts. The opening number was a "Masquerade Ball" replete with Harlequins and Columbines and the closing number choreographed by Boris Volkoff, "Let Freedom Reign", offered a message of peace. 

A group of skaters in the "Let Freedom Reign" ice ballet

The carnival's program stated, "In a world of peace and freedom, Evil appears surrounded by his cohorts of symbolic creatures, which swoop menacingly around the cringing peasants. The people strive vainly to drive back the evil forces until Youth appears and the demons flee. The laughing throng forget the threat of doom in the gaiety of the dance. The legions of Evil make a last attempt to banish Freedom and enslave Youth. Their dire peril brings forth an inner fire which fills the people with a great strength. Winter deals the final blow, and the loathsome horde is frozen rigid. The untarnished might of Youth overcomes Evil and hope is born anew. Children were featured in an elaborate "Easter Fantasy" while more senior skaters performed in group numbers with ballet and military themes. Featured performers from the Toronto Skating Club included Norah McCarthy, Donald Gilchrist, Eleanor O'Meara, Sandy McKechnie and Michael Kirby. Special guests from abroad included Freddie Tomlins, Bobby Specht and Edi Scholdan.

1950 (OSHAWA SKATING CLUB)

Andrea Kékesy. Photo courtesy Oshawa Public Library.

In 1950, the Oshawa Skating Club presented its tenth annual ice show, "Ice Frolics". Choreographed by the club's professional, Nan Unsworth from Scotland, the show was made possible through the hard work of dozens of local volunteers who did everything from prop and set design to ice painting, make-up and costumes and selling tickets and programs. Olympic Silver Medallist and World Champion Andrea Kékesy was the show's big name. She skated a duet with 1945 Canadian Champion Nigel Stephens. 

Photo courtesy Oshawa Public Library

Group numbers included a "Garden Wonderland" of roses, daffodils, daisies, butterflies and gardeners and a trip to Grand Central Station, featuring a cast of characters such as a policeman, hobo, travelling salesman, shoe shine boy, drunk and soda jerk. A group demonstration of the Swing Waltz dance was another highlight. The finale, in tribute to His Majesty King George VI, was set to "God Save The King". 

1961 (CAPILANO WINTER CLUB)

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

In mid-April of 1961, the Capilano Winter Club in North Vancouver, British Columbia held their annual carnival "Around The World In Eighty Days", choreographed by club professional Alex Fulton. The show had one of the more elaborate, showy openings of the decade when the star, Joey Summerfield, descended to the middle of the ice in an aerial balloon basket! The club's younger members were put in groups representative of different locales - France, Holland, South America, Hungary, the United States... even outer space. Future Olympian Shirra Kenworthy and future Canadian Champion Louise Lind (Soper) were part of the cast "before they were stars". A report of the show in "Skating" magazine noted that the show "was a sellout both nights and groups of retarded children and wheel-chair patients were brought in to witness the dress rehearsal." It was a different time.

1975 (ST. ALBERT FIGURE SKATING CLUB)

Louise and Barry Soper being thanked at the St. Albert Figure Skating Club in 1975. Photo courtesy University Of Alberta Digital Collections.

On January 18, 1975, the St. Albert Figure Skating Club just northwest of Edmonton showed just how excited a tiny skating club could be over a bit of star power. In what was great 'get' for the mostly recreational club, they snagged Canadian Champions Louise and Barry Soper for "An Afternoon With The Sopers". Fourteen guest skaters from Edmonton complemented the skaters from St. Albert, which only numbered forty. The show played to a packed house and helped generate interest in ice dancing in the area.

What are your favourite memories from your skating club's carnival? Reach out on social media and share your best stories!

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.

Rollers And Ice: The Gloria Nord Story

Photo courtesy "Ice Skate" magazine

"It's quite odd. I opened in the roller show when Harold Steinman had never seen me on wheels, only on ice. Then, I opened as a top star in London on ice, and they'd never seen me on ice, but on wheels!" - Gloria Nord, "Roller Skating For Gold", David H. Lewis, 1997

Born August 2, 1922 in Santa, Monica, California, Gloria Louise Nordskog was the youngest of Arne and Daisy Nordskog's five children. Born and raised in Iowa, where he met his wife, Arne Nordskog was a successful concert tenor and politician of Norwegian descent who co-founded the Hollywood Bowl and established one of the first opera companies in Los Angeles. Around the same time as his daughter's birth, his short lived Nordskog Records company produced the only recordings of Canadian vaudeville singer Eva Tanguay. Little did he know at the time that his infant daughter would grow up to become perhaps the most famous roller skater of all time.

Young Gloria got her start as a dancer, performing professionally in Vaudeville style shows in nightclubs at the tender age of nine and using the money towards ballet classes. As a teenager, she attended Miss Long's Professional School. Having received her first pair of ice skates at the age of four, she took a break from her studies and headed to the Polar Palace and took the ice to do her best impression of Sonja Henie. 

A producer named Harold Steinman spotted Gloria on the ice with none other than actress Betty Grable and offered both girls spots in his "St. Moritz Express" revue at the Tropical Ice Gardens in Westwood. Grable declined Steinman's offer as she was under contract; Gloria accepted. After a few rehearsals, she got an earache, decided ice rinks were too damp and cold and dropped out of the show. Much more at home on roller skates than flashing blades, she was spotted by impresario Sid Grauman at a roller rink he'd converted from an old Warner Brothers sound stage on Sunset Boulevard. Recognizing her appeal, he invited her to give daily exhibitions in exchange for free skating time and a modest paycheck. After touring to promote "Skating Review" magazine, Gloria (who by then had dropped the 'skog' from her last name for stage purposes) was offered a spot as the leading lady in a roller skating tour Grauman created called "Skating Vanities". Basically a roller skating equivalent of the "Ice Follies", the tour was a glamorous spectacle and would kickstart what would prove to be a legendary career.

Right photo courtesy "The Skater" magazine

The tour opened at the Baltimore Coliseum on January 7, 1942 with a cast of one hundred roller skaters from thirty-one states. Bottle blonde Gloria, skating opposite U.S. novice figure skating champion Douglas Breniser of Highland Park, Michigan, wasn't exactly an instant hit with audiences. In that first show, cracks between the sheets of masonite laid over the floor caused her to trip and fumble around. A prop malfunction in a "Cinderella" routine (her skate failed to come off at the stroke of midnight) left critics pondering why she'd even landed the starring role. Soon enough, she proved her mettle and gained the admiration of audiences.

Travelling throughout North America and even to Cuba with mother Daisy in tow, Gloria was hailed by reporters as "Sonja Henie on rollers". Her style was heavy on showmanship. In the "Fabulous Ice Age" documentary, Gloria recalled, "The first time I met [Sonja] she came and watched me. In her next movie, I saw some of my arm movements. But that's okay... I copied her. I didn't know anything about skating until I saw her. So that was fine... I was flattered."

Gloria was by all accounts an incredibly hard worker, and despite numerous tumbles and mishaps, American audiences embraced her glamorous style. Tour life wasn't without its tribulations though. At one show in Duluth, Minnesota, her roller skates were stolen. When she arrived in the next city, the police were called and a car was dispatched to the nearest sports outfitter to fetch her a new pair. Dennis Holman, writing for "The Newcastle Sun" on July 22, 1954, claimed, "The car, escorted by motor cyclists, and with sirens screaming, rushed a new pair to Gloria with five minutes to spare." After that, she carried two extra pairs of roller skates with her to every show. At another show, a stuffed lamb mounted on skates used as a prop in one of her numbers was stolen and placed among a flock of real sheep. Neither Gloria nor the police called in to look for Gloria's Little Lamb were amused.

Gloria suitably impressed film scouts at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1943 and was, along with her "Skating Vanities" cast, brought in to roller skate in the 1944 Twentieth Century-Fox film "Pin Up Girl" which starred her old friend Betty Grable. Her appearance in publicity materials surrounding the film earned her a following with U.S. soldiers.

In the early fifties, Gloria traded in her rollers for figure skates and found fame in Tom Arnold's ice pantomimes in Great Britain. On her shift to the ice, she said, "I always wanted to be an ice star. Though rollers give a dancer more variety - tap rhythm can be inserted and things like acute angled arabesques can be done on four wheels that would be impossible on a blade - there is more glitter and glamour about ice."

The queen of roller skating meets the queen of the ice - Gloria Nord and Barbara Ann Scott. Photo courtesy "The Skating Times" magazine.

Gloria practiced for three months until the wee hours of the morning before making her big debut in the winter of 1952, and it wasn't all smooth sailing. There were numerous tumbles but Tom Arnold told her, "Don't worry, Gloria, you look better on your bottom than most girls do standing up."

Daphne Walker and Gloria Nord

Gloria ultimately made her big figure skating debut alongside Daphne Walker at Wembley's Empire Pool in Arnold's production of "Sleeping Beauty". The show, which was in direct competition with Claude Langdon's "Jack And The Beanstalk On Ice" at Empress Hall starring none other than Belita, was a success. The two years, she appeared in "Chu Chin Chow On Ice" and "Ice Circus Of 1952" at Wembley. She said, "I have skated on rollers so much for so long at a time that I find when I go ice skating that it sharpens me up, is just enough different to keep my wits about me, and because I do not feel quite as much at home, the 'existence' of hands, arm movements and free-leg position becomes more conscious and I become less careless."

On November 2, 1953, Gloria was selected to appear before Queen Elizabeth II in a Royal Variety Show produced by Gerald Palmer at the London Coliseum. In his book "This Skating Age", writer Howard Bass recalled, "Gerald's own commission was to devise and prepare a production number for her to appear in which would also be worthy of Her Majesty’s approval as a closing scene to the first half of the show. Refrigeration pipes were specially cut for the decorated ice tank, built to revolve in full sight of the audience, to reveal a nineteenth-century ballroom scene with a static, posed group of eight pairs of skaters and, simultaneously on the outer revolving ring, twenty-four dancing couples, the men attired in Ruritanian military uniforms and the girls in large hooped crinolines. What began with the official choice of one artiste culminated with a specially selected corps ale ballet, led by the former British professional ice dance champions, Len Liggett and Pamela Murray, Waltzing to [Tchaikovsky's] 'Eugene Onegin', followed by a 'Blue Danube' octette of four pairs. A formation group in suitable positions then 'dressed' the stage for the entry of Gloria for her specially prepared solo to incidental music and Terry's theme from the film Limelight, composed by Charles Chaplin. Yes, it was certainly fit for a queen and delightful to know that the ever-rising status of theatrical skating had been thus acknowledged." Gloria later admitted that this performance before The Queen could have easily been marred by an errant bead that she spotted on the ice: "But I didn't care. I wanted to give the Queen all I've got. The bead was there when I finished. I skated around it."

Left: Gloria Nord and Charles Hain. Right: Gloria Nord. 

In 1953 and 1954, Gloria appeared in two more Tom Arnold pantomimes, "Humpty Dumpty" and an ice adaptation off Ivor Novello's musical "The Dancing Years" at Wembley. The latter show was in direct competition with Claude Langdon's "White Horse Inn On Ice" starring Belita, and attendance suffered somewhat as a result of the two productions running concurrently. It would prove to be Gloria's final appearance in a major ice production.

Returning to America in October of 1954, Gloria appeared in the "Hippodrome" tour that succeeded "Skating Vanities" alongside figure skater Nancy Lee Parker. On returning to rollers, she told reporters from "The Milwaukee Journal" on October 18, 1954: "It felt really crazy! It was almost the same yet somehow there was a difference. But I skated for nearly three-quarters of an hour. It was a real workout and I didn't slip or fall once. It was wonderful!"

Gloria Nord and Douglas Breniser

On January 7, 1955 at the age of thirty, Gloria married her twenty-seven year old roller skating partner Edwin Delbridge at a Presbyterian chapel in Los Angeles and returned to "Skating Vanities" as a special guest, performing in South America in what would be her final tour. By the early sixties, she'd hung up her skates permanently. She later remarried and had two hip replacements and surgery on her toe, but according to her Washington Post obituary, "She continued to dance socially and wear high heels." 

Gloria passed away at the age of eighty-seven on December 30, 2010 in Mission Vieho, California. Although best remembered today - and rightfully so - for her accolades on rollers, her brave transition to the ice is an often overlooked footnote from skating history that is absolutely worthy of recognition.

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.

Exploring The Collections: Protocols

Every Skate Guard blog that is put together draws from a variety of different sources - everything from museum and library holdings and genealogical research to newspaper archives and dusty old printed materials I've amassed over the last ten years or so. This year, I thought it would be fun to give you a bit of a 'behind the scenes' look at the Skate Guard Collections, which include books, magazines, VHS tapes, show and competition programs, photographs and many other items. These Collections date back to the nineteenth century and chronicle figure skating's rich history from the days of quaint waltzes in coats and tails to quadruple toe-loop's. Whether you're doing your own research about a famous 'fancy' skater in your family tree or a long-lost ice rink in your community or just have a general skating history question you can't find the answer to online, I'm always happy to draw on these resources and try to help if I can.

This month, I'd like to talk about protocols. Historically, after every major ISU Championship, a summary of the results as approved by the referee has been made available shortly afterwards. Thanks to the generosity of BIS Historian Elaine Hooper, there are at this time a dozen of these protocols in the Skate Guard collections, spanning from the fifties to the seventies. These booklets are brimming with useful information. A time schedule of the events, the size of the ice surface used, the weather conditions for each phase of the competition (if outdoors) is always included. In singles, the school figures drawn are listed and in ice dance, the compulsory dances drawn are stated. There are also, of course, detailed results and ordinals (and on some occasions the actual marks given), the names of the officials and podium photos. 

When you look at these protocols, you'll really get a more detailed picture as to the judging of each international competition than you would if you popped a competition into the Google. As an example, the protocol for the pairs event at the 1950 World Championships in London tells us, "Originally the 7th and 9th places were transposed. The correct result above for the 7th place is arrived at by the application of Rule 314 para 4 concerning the lower total of place numbers when the majority of more than one competitor are equal. The 8th and 9th places are decided by absolute majorities under Rule 314 para 1." 

In terms of historical research, protocols are valuable because they were the approved, official results of each competition at the time. Unfortunately, due to 'the telephone game', incorrect competition results are sometimes shared on the internet. Going back to the original, primary sources ensures us that we are 'getting it right' when we look back at a competition that occurred thirty or forty years ago through a modern lens. 

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.

A Right-Sized Amount Of Reader Mail

 

It's once again time to unpack the mail bag, answer some of your questions and share some of the interesting e-mails and social media messages that have come my way over the last few months. As always, if you have a question you'd like me to tackle or feedback on a blog please reach out via e-mail.

SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS FROM JANUARY'S READER MAIL SURVEY

S: An updated version of Jackson Haines biography.

A: When I cover a skater or topic, I will occasionally go back and update the original blog post with a new photo or tidbit that I come across. The Jackson Haines piece from 2015 is one of those pieces I've added a few small updates and new photographs to over the years. I don't really have any plans to do any major updates in the future but never say never, I suppose!

S: Don Watson was my company manager in Ice Capades. He was a protégés and life long friend of Sonja Henie and one of Ája Zanová's closest friends. In addition to skating professionally Don has worked in a large variety positions in the performing arts industry. I have begged him to put his life in writing and/or orally via videotape. He's very humble about it all. I think he would add a lot to all of the amazing work you have done already.

A: Great suggestion and I'd love to talk to Don in the future. What an amazing front row seat to skating history he's had!

S: Are there stories of skaters defecting? Unlike the famous ballet stars we know of, it must have been less famous skaters to flee their Communist countries.

A: Great suggestion. There have certainly been some very talented (and brave) skaters who have defected from Communist countries and quite a few of these stories have already been covered on the blog already. You can find pieces on the defections of Maria and Otto Jelinek, Jiřina Nekolová, Ede Király, Günter Zöller and Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov. The defection of Ája Zanová was briefly touched on briefly in this 2014 blog. Ede and Ája's defections will come up again in a future blog on the 1950 World Championships.

READER QUESTIONS 

Lyudmila Smirnova and Andrei Suraikin

From Virginia (via Facebook): "I remember the story about Alexei Ulanov leaving Irina Rodnina and teaming up with Lyudmila Smirnova after the 1972 Olympics. Whatever happened to Lyudmila's partner?"

A: When Lyudmila Smirnova teamed up with Alexei Ulanov, Andrei Suraikin briefly teamed up with Natalia Ovchinnikova, but the partnership didn't last long. They were hampered by injury and finished off the podium at the few competitions they entered. Andrei turned to coaching at the Sport Club 'Zenit' in St. Petersburg, and later coached in Czechoslovakia and Finland after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Among his students (early in their careers) were a young Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov and Andrei Bushkov. He sadly passed away in 1996.

From Peter (via e-mail): "I quite enjoy reading Skate Guard... I am wondering how the pandemic has impacted your writing?"

A: Glad you're enjoying reading Peter! I've had a lot more time to devote to writing over the last year and as a result have quite a lot of material already finished that will be coming out in the weeks and months to come. Over the past few months, I've been devoting a lot of time to working on the fourth and fifth Skate Guard features. Having more time to pursue my passion has been wonderful, but like everyone, I'm looking forward to being vaccinated and having a life outside my front door! The downside to writing during the pandemic has definitely been the impact it has had on libraries and archives. I rely heavily on 'help from afar' from librarians and archivists around the world. Limited hours and closures have made things a little tricky at times. 

From @Huriye (via Twitter): "I recently saw a clip of Joan Haanappel (NED) skating outdoors at a WC with part of the ice on one side out of bounds with cones due to the poor quality. I was amazed!! Was that the reason why only indoor rinks were assigned Championships afterwards? What year was that?"

A: In the first half of the twentieth century, many of the higher-up's in the ISU were from a generation where international competitions were rarely held in indoor rinks. 'Hothouse' skaters regularly trained outdoors in Switzerland to become accustomed to skating in all manner of conditions - snow, wind, rain, unbelievably cold temperatures and as you mention, poor ice quality. Ulrich Salchow, who was the ISU's President for over a decade before World War II, was famously unsympathetic towards anyone who was phased by poor conditions. At one event, held in absolutely miserable weather, someone approached him suggesting the event be postponed. He replied, "Isn't figure skating an outdoor sport?", the show went on and everyone froze their buns off. The consensus vote to hold all ISU Championships in covered rinks came about at the 1967 ISU Congress in Amsterdam. It was likely based on a number of factors - the previous success of ISU Championships that had been held indoors, the (fresh) memories of the weather reaking havoc at outdoor events and the availability of suitable venues from host countries at the time. Keep in mind that in 1967, when this rule was passed, Norway (which had played host to many ISU Championships and was a major player in skating) didn't have any indoor rinks. The ISU didn't actually require the rinks used in its Championships to be completely indoors until 1980, so in the interim some international competitions were staged in rinks that had roofs, but were open on one side allowing for the wind to sweep through. An example of a rink like this was one in Oberstdorf, which had a roof but was open at both ends. 

Jan Hoffmann and Frau Jutta Müller

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

From Barbara (via Facebook): "Dr. Hoffmann was impeccably coached by Frau Müller. She took him on as a pupil at age 9 and became a second mother to him when he moved from his home in Chemnitz to Dresden to train. He looked up to Gunter Zöller and we all know how that turned out!

A lot of pressure was put on an to step into Zöller's shoes when he was only 16 years old. He doubled down on the task and was world champion at age 18. A devastating training accident on his 19th birthday almost ended his career, yet, with Frau Müller's support and guidance, he came back to win a bronze in the 1976 World Championships. 4th at Olympics, he lost the bronze when he inexplicably missed his Double Axel in the short program. Balancing full-time training with university and then medical school, he was always 1st or 2nd at Europeans and Worlds, except for a third place at the 1979 Worlds. Gorgeous compulsory figures and strong jumps kept him at the top. The 1980 Olympics ended in a 6-3 victory to Robin Cousins, who skated beautifully. Jan regained the World title the next month in Dortmund, Germany, and retired on top of the podium. Fran Müller was with him every step of the way. Often criticized for his lack of 'artistry', he was, nonetheless, a man who left the sport better than when he arrived at the age of 12."

KAREN GROBBA VIDEOS?

From Crystal (via e-mail): "I met Karen Grobba once and looking for footage of her skating. She won bronze 1970 Canadian senior ladies. She became Karen Cahill after marrying, and choreographed Ice Capades and some other shows, and coached. Do you have any pictures or video of her skating? I used to skate too, but not at that level. Thank you for any help you can provide."

If anyone happens to have videos or photos of Karen, send them my way and I'd be happy to pass them on to Crystal!

CHARLENE ADAMS

From Betsy (via e-mail): "I'm wondering if anyone might know anything about Charlene Adams, who skated out of Chicago in the fifties?" 

If anyone knew/skated with Charlene, feel free to reach out and I can connect you with Betsy!

THE 1986 U.S CHAMPIONSHIPS

From John (via e-mail): "I have just finished reading your article about the 1986 US national figure skating championships. This was the last US nationals which I had attended. Your wonderful article brought up such wonderful memories. I was living in Northern New Jersey at the time. Drove out to Long Island New York.  When you mentioned that it was 35 years ago, I was in shock. ( and felt Very Very Old ) Once again, I worked at the USFSA booth at those championships once again.   A group of us went into Manhattan and we ate in the Little Italy section. I use to frequently go to the Little Italy section in Manhattan when  younger. One of their restaurants Umbertos Clam House was open until 6 am. I was young and we would drive back home , sleep for an hour and work the next day on our 8 hour shifts. However, that time, we went  to Il Cortille restaurant. It is still there. The people whom I knew from the USFSA have passed on since then but it is a very nice memory... I had brought my Mother to these championships and remember how much she loved Paul Wylie's long programme. He finished in fifth overall. The Uniondale rink where the event was held was closed for a number of years but reopened in 2020 where the ice hockey team of the New York Islanders now I shall play full time once again since last year. I also remember the silver pair medalists Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard wore outfits in the long which looked like ice cream vendors. (Pastel tan) I had the brother of Gillian Watson video taping the event as I was as well. Senior ladies was probably the most exciting event . The defending champion Tiffany Chin was landing triple flips in the warm up for the long. One of my favorites Caryn Kadavy skated well but a bit conservative. I am not a big Debi Thomas fan but she won with a good long program. She just landed a triple loop with triple toes and triple Salchows. Brian Boitano (whom I am not a big fan of either ) was injured and skated conservatively. Still he landed triple Axel/double toe loop and triple Lutz in the long... Thanks again for the article on the 1986 US nationals."

Left: Nikolay Panin-Kolomenkin. Right: Ulrich Salchow.

PANIN .VS. SALCHOW

From Frazer (via Facebook): "I was just going through some papers on the early days of Russian skating (pre-USSR dominance) and came across a translation of mini skating book reviews by Nikolai Panin. These were published in Panin's 1938 book 'Figure Skating Skill'. He varies from gushing to constructively critical of all the books he mentions (Brokaw, Meyer, Fuchs, Magnus etc). That is, until he gets to his last mini review of Salchow's 'Handbook in Figure Skating', 1906. I quote: 'This small book not only is of no help to it's readers, but contains several wrong instructions which make me think the author purposely misled readers because he didn't want to divulge his own technique'."

BARBARA UNDERHILL AND THE BUS

From Bridget (via Twitter): "One of the most generous gestures I witnessed at a Tour of Champions show was Barbara Underhill collecting all the programs from kids waiting outside the tour bus, taking them on the bus, and emerging with them all signed. It was such a practical, kind, special task for these young fans... I think it was 1988 or 89. My programs were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina; but I’ve always held on to that memory of true gracious champions."

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.