Part of what makes figure skating great are some of the amazing rivalries that have existed. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the rivalries fresh in our mind and decide...who won?!?!
Also, click on the links in this post for some fun YouTube trips down memory lane!
Alexei Yagudin vs Evgeny Plushenko: Yags v Plush. It seemed for a while these two where winning everything...and when one didn't win, the other got second place. It was ridiculous. It was even like their coaches would have snide little remarks about the other skater. I remember at one point Alexei Mishin (who in Yagudin's early days actually coached him) saying how Yagudin's best days where back in the junior ranks and Tatiana Tarasova called Evgeny Plushenko "
plastic" at one point (what did that mean?). It all came to a head at the 2002 Olympics and fortunately for Yagudin, Plushenko decided to
crash and burn on his quad combo in the short program leaving a free and clear
gold medal path for Yagudin. But who wins this rivalry? I think if you look strictly at the competition between them, Yagudin's World Championship 3-peat wins over Plushenko (
1998,
1999,
2000) combined with that Olympic Gold and I think Yagudin is the clear winner. If you take a look at their careers as a whole, Plushenko has certainly been more successful having medaled in three consecutive Olympics. I think rivalries are more than simply competition against one another but careers as a whole and what you are able to achieve above and beyond your chief competitor.
WINNER: Evgeny Plushenko
Michelle Kwan vs Tara Lipinski: When Tara hit the stage in 1996 with that quick program set to music from the "Speed" soundtrack and finished 3rd at U.S. Nationals, I was sure we were looking at a contender for Olympic Gold in 2002. Not to be, she quickly rose to the level of Michelle Kwan (who won her
first national title in 1996) and a rivalry was born. Michelle owned the 1996 season, winning the
1996 World Title as well...
Lipinski finished 15th. But 1997 was an entirely different story. Things looked like they would continue as they had the year prior...Kwan had easy wins on the Grand Prix while Tara just had okay performances. The tides turned for Tara at U.S. Nationals where Michelle Kwan suffered a
major meltdown and finished 2nd (the meltdown wasn't so much in the placement but in the terrible performance) allowing Lipinski...at 14 years old...to
take the title. Michellle's storm cloud above her head stuck with her as she
lost to Lipinski at the Champion Series Final (now Grand Prix Final) and at the World Championships. All of this set up an Olympic year showdown and both skaters where hungry! Michelle Kwan looked good on the Grand Prix but then suffered an injury causing her to withdraw from the Champion Series Final where Tara easily clinched a victory. At Nationals, Michelle Kwan turned in one of the
most memorable performances in U.S. Nationals history to take that title. The short program at the Olympics couldn't have been any more suspenseful with both ladies skating flawlessly. But the much decried triple loop-triple loop from Tara Lipinski sealed the deal in the free and she took
Olympic Gold. Ultimately, however, its about a career as a whole.
WINNER: Michelle Kwan
Johnny Weir vs Evan Lysacek: The recent
Twitter drama has me about sick of this rivalry. I wouldn't even call it a rivalry really if the media didn't make it so. Maybe it became a rivalry at the 2006 Olympics when Lysacek got ahead of Johnny for the first time (he
finished 4th to Weir's 5th)? I don't even feel like it was a real rivalry until 2008 when they
tied at U.S. Nationals but Evan won the tie-breaker to take the title. Then it was like, "
Oh it's on bitch!" Johnny still seemed to be getting the better end of it during the Grand Prix in 2008. Evan failed to make the Grand Prix Final while Johnny took the Bronze. At Nationals they both lost out as Jeremy Abbott won the title, Evan only finishing 3rd and Johnny, well, not even on the podium. But that's when Evan kicked it up a notch, narrowly missing the Four Continents title in 2009 but then running away with the
World Title. Johnny made a good run at Evan in the Olympic Season but didn't have the chops to keep up. Evan won the Grand Prix Final,
Johnny third. While Evan again lost the National Title to Abbott, he was second to Johnny's third. And of course Evan scooted out of Vancouver with Olympic Gold...Johnny was 6th. I'm somewhat certain we are done seeing these two compete against each other in the competitive arena but their rivalry or what I would actually call a
bitch-fest continues. They just keep trying to media-up one another and it's getting old. The last stunt Evan pulled about not being sure if Johnny was a girl was in poor taste...but Johnny's has pulled some zingers of his own.
WINNER: Evan Lysacek on the condition he stops the bitch-fest.
Kim Yu-Na vs Mao Asada: This is the hottest rivalry in skating currently. This rivalry is so intense their fans are often ridiculous about it. I mean, computer servers have been shut down over these two. They are both so magnificently matched in talents and abilities. It's just crazy. They've been trading titles back and forth for the past three years and you never know which one will win if they are in a competition together. Mao has two
World Titles to Kim's
one but Kim has the Olympic Gold to Mao's Silver. I guess we can give Kim another point for having the World Record score, but then Mao is in the Guinness Book of World Records for Triple Axels completed by a woman in a competition. In the end, its ridiculously close between these two!
WINNER: Undecided...I don't think we can call this one yet but Kim Yu-Na is ahead by just a smidge.
Brian Boitano vs Brian Orser: The storied
Battle of the Brian's between American Brian Boitano and Canadian Brian Orser is one of the biggest rivalries in skating history. Both equally matched in skill and ability, their rivalry came to a head at the 1998 Olympics in Orser's home country of Canada. Brian Orser also had won the previous season's World Championship ahead of Boitano and entered the competition as the slight favorite. After the short program, both were nearly tied but a bobble on a triple flip in the free skate allowed Brian Boitano to slip through and win the title...and the Battle of the Brian's. But picking a winner of the overall rivalry between these two is tough. While Boitano has the
Olympic Gold, Orser has two Silver's. You do have to give points to Boitano because he competed in a third Olympics (Lillehammer) while Orser only competed in two. Does Orser get points for coaching Kim Yu-Na? Boitano for having a show on Food Network?
WINNER: It's a tie! Disagree...well it's my blog!
Tonya Harding vs Nancy Kerrigan: The
knee whack heard round the world got everyone to tune in to what was going on between these two prior to the 1994 Olympics. But these two in fact did have a history prior to the 1994 U.S. Nationals. Both had a National Title under their belts prior to 1994. Both had a smattering of medals from various international events including the World Championships (that includes the 1991 U.S. sweep of Yamaguchi/Kerrigan/Harding). Tonya had something Nancy didn't have though...a
triple axel. After the attack on Nancy at the 1994 U.S. Nationals, Tonya went on to
win the title but at the Olympics it was a sad story for Tonya. Her entire career seemed to crumble in front of her and finished 8th while
Nancy soared to Silver, narrowly missing the Gold in a 5-4 judging decision. Details of the attack had come out prior to the Olympics, Connie Chung was following her everywhere,
she couldn't get her shoe-lace on her boot tied, it was a press nightmare everywhere she went, and she couldn't keep it together. On March 16th 1994, Tonya avoided jail time by pleading guilty to conspiring to hinder an investigation, was stripped of her National title, and banned from all future eligible competitions.
WINNER: Nancy Kerrigan...as if it could go any other way?Did I call it right? Would you call it differently? Weigh-in!
Jenni Meno and Todd Sand always put an amazing lift near the end of their programs that was always mesmerizing. It was a gorgeous stag lift that had this impressive drop-out at the end. The crowd always gasped a little when they did it but Todd never ever dropped her (whew!). Lots of teams after them have performed the element but it never seems to look as great as when Jenni and Todd did it. At one point the ISU considered making the move illegal...but thankfully that never happened.
Brian Boitano's "Tano" lutz is a classic. The lutz is already super-hard because it takes off and outside edge but Brian Boitano upped the ante when he decided to throw one arm above his head as he performed the jump. I think what made this move so impressive was the crispness and the tightness of his arm during the jump. Like any iconic move, lots of skaters have copied it, but often their arm looks floppy above their head. Brian's arm was always very strong above his head making it look so much cleaner. One of the more interesting reinventions of the iconic move comes from Adam Rippon who performs a lutz with both hands over his head. We'll see if his jump becomes as famous. Brian is also made the death drop iconic by making it bigger than anyone had ever before.
A spread eagle is such a basic move but no other American skater gave it such effect as Paul Wylie. While many skaters perform a spread eagle, Paul makes the move iconic. Paul has always been known as an artistic skater but he takes it to a whole different level when he enters into a spread eagle. It isn't even about how long or short the spiral it is, it's simply the power he performs the move with. He just explodes into it and hits this amazing position. Speed I think is the factor that makes the move work. Paul Wylie was always a skater with tremendous speed. At the 1992 Olympics during the free skate he hit his spread eagle with such amazing power it was a joy to watch. Brian Boitano also had an iconic spread eagle but he can't have all the credit. ;-)
Not really a move but an iconic part of her performance any is of course the Dorothy Hamill "Wedge" haircut. That hair is an icon all by itself. Every little girl wanted to have the wedge just like Dorothy. She became a fashion icon with that hair and a media hit following the 1976 Olympics. To her credit she does have an actual iconic move, the "Hamill Camel" where she moved immediately from a camel spin into a sit spin. Dorothy has managed to keep her hair current over the years but it always seems to somehow maintain some of that "wedginess" that was so popular.
My favorite iconic move of them all is the Michelle Kwan forward spiral. It isn't that Michelle had the best stretch of any skater in her spiral...she didn't. It was more just how it moved across the ice, had the great change of edge, and simply embraced you with it's openness and honesty (yes...a skating move can be 'honest'). I think the first time she did it with impact was her 1998 Olympic Season short program to Rachmaninoff (which I believe remains one of the greatest choreographed short programs...ever!). At the 1998 U.S. Nationals, she was at the end of a ridiculously amazing performance and she flew into that spiral and the crowd went nuts. That's the moment it became iconic. It made several more appearances in subsequent programs of hers and was a crowd hit every time.
