Oksana Baiul - 1994 Olympics Ex - The Swan - Perfect Quality

[itzjoeymac]

Amazing

[tjpization]

The lifetime movie of her story was on awhile back and it was pretty cheesy to say the least but Okasana herself skated the swan at the end of the movie and it was beyond words. Incredible.

[anita22seline]

wow I´ve watching a lot of championship ice figure skating videos...I have to say she is the Best :O as someone say before...how she can put all together and you barely can see stiffness in her body...AWESOME :)

[Ellevius]

The performance is so beautiful, it is heartwrenching,

And so is Oxana.

May it is be because she is an orphan, may be not.

But there is a certain, subtle, undefinable quality about her, that makes one almost cry.

[Ellevius]

Oxana Baiul is one of the greatest artists.

She only compares to the greatest ones of their respective genres, such as

Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, Lang Lang, to name a few.

Ah, her pursuit is a sport, but she way transends beyond that limited category.

She is an artist extraordinaire, and has proven it again, and again,

I love Oxana Baiul and her timeless art.

[nospaces08]

This is one of the best figure skating performances of all time.

[NashfanVash]

Gorgeous!

[RoadCaptainEntertain]

This is one Skater who truly seems to love skating and performing.

A beautiful and genuine smile.

[candybruh]

omgosh so this this is what an angel looks like :O

[manderson610]

I love the steadiness of her upper body and the way she uses her arms. Amazing how young she was here!

[mvy2k]

Oksana is just the EVER BEST Skater !!! Because skating is not about only jumps or moves or artistics - it's about everything putting together !!!

[oPeRa1923]

Ah, ballet on ice! both graceful and majestique! :)

[manderson610]

@oPeRa1923 Oui! Superb.

[djobeat]

did she belong to the opera before skating? because really they way i see her, shes almost like an actor from black and white movies

[ayumi4018]

美しすぎる！



[Davethreshold]

BEAUTIFUL!!! All 3 of her performances in Hammar are some of my faves of all time. Violayan, where did you get this in such high quality? It's the best of Hammar that I have seen. Can you tell us?

[triptoheaveandho]

i think.... Oksana is like the Marai Callas of skating...when she was touched by the fire she was otherworldly

... a true artist.. such expression

[ikznot21]

for me she is the best female figure skater ever..

[plumeria66]

Every movement expresses the accompanying music, with emotion and artistry. Unparalleled performance since.

[IndependantW]

This was a strikingly beautiful and moving performance. She successfully combined the art and movements of ballet with the athleticism and moves of skating. And her head movements mimicking the swan were loveley.

This was the first ever gold medal for Ukraine; as a Ukrainian-Amereican it was just as moving to hear my ancestors' anthem played while the Ukrainian flag was raised over the Olympic arena.

[2levina]

One of three 'revelations', and most adorable athletes of sports history, along with Olga Korbut and Nadia Comeniche.

[MrFieston]

precioso espectacular¡¡¡¡¡¡

[freeunion]

this radiant, transcendent performance by this poor orphan girl is moving beyond words. if i were a religiously inclined person, i would say it constitutes proof of the existence of a loving god -- in any case, Oksana makes me proud to be a member of the human race.

[ja3399]

Yes, of course she is the white swan here, and this role has been danced by the best Russian ballerinas. Oksana was, I think, a better skater from the waist up than the waist down, but, WHO CARES? This was magical and so special. The rest of Oksana's life was not so magical: she admitted to feeling like she had a "nervous breakdown." Then she was injured. I don't know anything about her life now, but I wish her well, and I thank her for the beauty and joy she gave us all.

[kata0515]

「トリプルサルコウです」なんてコメントは要らない。

黙って見てろよ、と思うくらい引き込まれてしまった。

フィギュアはこうゆう美しさがあるから良いわけで

技術に偏った・技術頼りの演技はすごいと思うけど、

この演技のように見入ってしまうことはない。

[0terytony0]

so beautiful.....................­..so beautiful

[signorinakitty]

un programma degno di una ballerina!

[ksi1304]

Класс, Super

[yellowbanana104]

0:49 to 0:51 is like magic.

[just4lizzy]

this is so cool! it is really like ballet on ice! Similar choreography/style too!

[zackyko]

she is a beautiful person..inside & outside!!that makes the performance incredibly good!

[Menexpert]

Not the most difficult pogramme but absolutely beautiful. Skating should be more about this and not just tricks!

[gravyboatK]

I wonder if she drunkenly crashed her car this gracefully.

[koolaidnhemlock]

magical. completely transports you to another world.

[greghousedr]

superrr!! c'est trop beau !

[koolaidnhemlock]

sophisticated beyond her years

[blackrose881]

AMAZING!!!

[SilverInsanity]

Ukrainians are some of the best ballet dancers in the world. Oksana Baiul's performance perfectly mirrors their talents, only on ice, especially with the more or less identical choreography at the beginning to Fokine. :)

[mlc2005]

This program single handedly got me interested in figure skating. I loved the music, and played it over and over again. Simply beautiful. Whatever you think of Oksana, for these 4 mins, she was breathtaking.

[xxradiance]

This was absolutely beautiful.

[montgomeryfan]

Beautiful! Just beautiful!! A ballerina on ice!!

[ohheyytess]

She seems so comfy on the ice!

[koolaidnhemlock]

wow

[michellequeen1980]

this program is gorgeous. I've never seen something like this before.

[Thaspie]

to me this is such an annoying routine to watch.

[satroufile]

j etais devant mon poste de télé quand elle a fait sa prestation au jo et j ai été émerveillé, tant de grace un vrai moment de bonheur

[secretme127]

Fantastic!

[lialammas]

If someone can say that some people are born to do this or that... Well then, we can say that Oksana Baiul she is definitely born to do just that dance and skate.

She is so artistic perfect she is a joy to watch and inspire.

[s6m6nt6]

It was a beautiful performance. i wasnt even born when she skated...but it was soo...i dont have the words to describe it correctly. Just, beautiful performer i thought of The Swan Lake when i saw this...strong, beautiful but delicate.

[ZairaAmaterasu]

I keep crying of joyous entanglement every time I see this. I was 9 when she performed it and since then I have been hooked on figure skating.

Perfection.

[robotabob]

the best ever. she knows how to use her arms - unfortunately no one has come anywhere near her in arm movement. today's skaters have forgotten - or maybe just don't know - how to use the arms which finish and perfect the body line. i could watch this a million times and not grow tired of it. and the costume is perfect.  especially the headdress.

[nestersg]

With this stupid new scoring system arm movements are no longer rewarded. It's just element after element with no beauty. I miss these old days of skating.

[selvaescalada]

What a big difference there is between the jumps then and now. But like everything else, the sport has to evolve somehow, to keep the audience interested. As beautiful as Oksana was that day, I found her routine today somewhat lacking the "wow" factor. I guess this must be a natural reaction as the time goes by ,and the sport evolves, and we get used to different things.

[BigFatLoserDude]

@selvaescalada That's a good point. I remember being so very moved when i first saw her routine. But compared to the technical achievements of young skaters like Kim Yu Na , it losses a bit of impact.

Though as "robotabob" stated,, her arm use is still supreme .

[verygudveryguud]

wie beim spitzeschuh tanz :)

[jaysmic24]

she was like a ballerina. .she just happens to be dancing on ice. i dont like figure skating but she was really something special to see

[Defroster9]

Looks like the emphasis now in figure skatings are the jumps more than the artistry of the sport. Oksana is the best ever!!!!!

[emorrisIV]

She was in a league of her own that has never been equaled. Watch her hands! She is a dancer first, skater second. No one has ever showed the grace and beauty of this ballet on ice. She doesn't just make gestures and sets up for the jumps; she connected everything together to make a performance. The greatest ever IMHO.

[anniebhier]

I remember seeing this at the time - it just so embodied grace and beauty. She is wonderfully light on those skates when going into the spins. This performance is a classic in every way.

[shibby3030]

when was this performed? during the olympics in '94? was it during competition?

[beckylink]

Hi, no shibby, this was not in the competition part - she had already won the gold. It was the Exhibition in '94.

Its beauty makes me cry..

There will never be another one like her... as ViVi said, truly MAGICAL. she HAD to win...it would have been the biggest travesty had she not.

She was a true artist. Best ever, to me.

[ViVi80]

im so glad she won the olympics instead of nancy kerrigan.

nancy was great, but her skating wasn't truly magical like how oksana baiul's was.

[SultanaLotus]

i can't watch this without thinking that this is exactly what figure skating is all about.

[froggirl80]

She's a swan because she embodies beauty and grace and strength

[faeryquene]

Oksana had a real God-Given otherworldly something that the judges rewarded-and rightly so. Here, here her exhibition skate to "The Dying Swan" is masterful. Right up there with Anna Pavlova's imo.

[faeryquene]

I'm so used to today's CoP skating that I kept expecting a Bielmann Spin, change of edges on those spirals, more variety in spins lol.

[thesilvershining]

I love her swan "head shake" at 0:47... oh my god. She is amazing, truly a great artist.

[EnzoF288]

I would have given her the gold medal just on sheer cuteness alone. She was adorable. Sexy legs too. ;)

[rhibronx]

I have never been able to forget this performance since I first saw it in 1994. Someone like Oksana comes along once in a generation if we are lucky. I remember her coach Galina Zmievskaya saying (to paraphrase), "God gives some skaters athletic ability, others He gives artistic talent, others the indefinable qualities of a champion, He gave Oksana everything."

[kayoky093]

Incredibly elegance! Incredibly performance! She is so simple, but she shows that she love to skate and the public is so silent. It seems like they want to hear her skates on the ice!

By the way... "Perfect Quality" That's right!

[kakilong]

Oksana, how could i have forgotten this program.  sheer brillance!!!

[youariston]

WOW what a performance! Brilliant.

[pathfinderization]

it's artistry to the max!

[waddleduckie1]

she's a ballerina on the ice!

[ThePomiget1]

beautiful skating and program but THAT COSTUME? WEIRD ahah

[Sharoney]

See ladypamela2's comment below. The costume is a skater's interpretation of a classical ballet swan costume and thus is absolutely appropriate--and she looks lovely in it.

[Windlespoon]

She is a great dancer! She did ART. I really like her skate.

[melodyp]

Violayan, it's you again! Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this.

Violayanさん、またあなたですね！アップ本当にありがと­う。

I am not sure if you are Japanese or not, so I typed in both English and Japanese.

あなたが日本人かどうかわからないので、英語と日本語両方で書き­ました。

[melodyp]

In addition to Katrina's Carmen, this is the performance I always wanted to watch again.

カトリーナ　ビットのカルメンとともに、この演技をずっとずっとまた見たいと­思っていました。

This performance is unrealistically beautiful and makes me cry.　現実離れしたあまりの美しい演技に、涙がでます。

[ladypamela2]

What total idiots!! Of course she is supposed to be a SWAN If you knew anything about the arts, you would know that she is wearing the classic costume of ballerinas who danced the dying swan. She brought the grace and artistry of dancers like Pavlova, Makarova, Gilliem, and many others--and she did it on ice!!! She wore the PERFECT costume for this moment of perfection

[SilverInsanity]

@ladypamela2 Guillem. :) Only, I am ballet-obsessed so please don't think I'm trying to be obnoxious.

[MrKLT1945]

@ladypamela2 Utter rubbish. She was a lump and don't you dare put her in the same category as prima ballerinas.

The 'bourreee' are a joke. Hard to be elegant with big thighs and a big bum sticking out. Impressive tricks, that's all. Looks like a turtle at the end. I'm a former ballerina (Covent Garden ) so I know what I am talking about. As an attempt at being a swan a la Pavlova it was more of a piss-take. It's GUILLEM, by the way.

[1flamerz]

@MrKLT1945 she has figure skating thighs you idiot.

[MondeTriste1]

@MrKLT1945 What the hell is wrong with you. Not even going to go into the idiot comments on her body but I hope at some point in time you'll gain the critical thinking skills to realize that ballet moves done by dancers with ballet slippers wont translate in the same way when its done by skaters in leather boots w/ blades on ice. For what she did on ice, it was perfectly graceful. But your opinion isn't what pissed me off, it's the fact that you sounded like a patronizing git expressing it.

[FigureSkater243]

@MondeTriste1 amen.

[FigureSkater243]

@MrKLT1945 are you freaking kidding me? You really have the audacity to comment on a video of skating which you know NOTHING OF and accuse oksana of trying to pass herself as a prima ballerina? It's an INTERPRETATION of the ballet, she's not trying to be a ballerina. Seriously, go somewhere with yourself. You're the same idiot who posted all of the nonsense on all of the natalie portman videos and you honestly have the audacity to come over here and spout bullshit which you know nothing of?

[FigureSkater243]

@MrKLT1945 Oksana was no "lump." She was a timeless, classic figure skater and you know absolutely nothing about skating to categorize her as such. Sorry that Oksana doesn't starve herself and is a real athlete with muscle. You're a joke. Get off your high horse. You are no ballet teacher and you're probably not even that great at ballet. If you were honestly a teacher of an even remotely accredible school, you would not say the absolutely preposterous things that you say.

[manderson610]

@MrKLT1945 Big thighs? Big bum? Are we looking at the same video?

[ezzzy100]

omgg awseome rutine dress was a bit cough cough hint hint lol:P

[Sk8terAGFan]

pretty good proformance, but auful costume Ugh

[americangirlrock2]

Ha ha yeah it is an auful costume! is she supposed to be a swan?

[spunkysk8er1997]

Wow! All of that ballet she took really helped this performance! Not that it wouldn't have been great anyway!

[NevadaRoja]

Youlia Barsoukova used this music in Sydney

[shineluvslambiel]

I still can't believe she was only 16 when she skated to this. The artistry and musicality was just out of this world. I've never seen such expressive arms in figure skating.

[tracyterry]

see, she fell again. she already has the bandage around her head

[idolfan9495]

Oksana became the swan in this performance. Just beautiful.

[egodiegoego]

amazing. tension and beauty all along!

[MotherFlower666]

I see her quite often around town, next time maybe I'll say hello

[rosewithoutathorn]

Notice how quiet the audience is. She had them completely transfixed. Such a beautiful presence on the ice.

[adizltk]

Wau, she moves with such grace and beauty...

[aloha42506]

Wow, definitely one of the best moment in the sport. Just beautiful...a ballerina on the ice.

[gizmowhizzbanger]

So breathtaking and hauntingly beautiful. It moves me to tears every time I see it.

[dksanrk]

I can't say my mind to word. just, it...is just beautiful.

[vsoltero88]

She was so beautiful. Her musicality was and continues to be unmatched. Just extraordinary.

[HerrNollie]

I prefer the camera work of the US networks here, but that is not that important. What is important is that we were blessed with 4 minutes of unruffled artistic perfection here. Oksana transformed into a swan. I love this beautiful improvisation above all others.

[shamyla8]

the best skater the ice has ever seen

[amair6]

VERY EXPRESSIVE

[vistaprime]

isn 't this meditation? which begs the question why her short and exhbition show such maturity over her long? I like this almost as much as the short. Ah! that short. still gives me goosebumps

[Gachmuret2]

That´s the essence of Figure Skating. A really great moment.

[uwoeric]

Great quality, thanks you!! Loved this performance... she was such a special skater.

[hun615]

Just so beautiful...

[LuktarGvendur]

this is beauty!

[urgonnawishuweredead]

her routine is like the ballet by maya p to this song

[dizneegirl76]

She was absolutely amazing at this point in her career. She really did this ballet justice.