Oksana Baiul (UKR) - 1994 Lillehammer, Figure Skating, Ladies' Free Skate

[cj222100]

I remember watching this, and basically after her winning, I came to the conclusion that the judges obviously don't really care what your costume looks like, because Nancy's costumes were always so elegant and modern and unique, and this was just like a bad sterotype of what an Eastern European would wear.

[slater4cc]

I still think this performance was sloppy. :(



[dragongirl1980]

johnny's weir coach...

[bemar1972]

@ScreamingInAPaperCup 3Lutz at the beggining of the program was absolutely clean look here 6:26! And Scott Hamilton tell "ONE FOOT LANDING"!!!

[snofagun1814]

still can't believe this crappy performance won

[Vitaluv]

She was really pretty! But I thought Nancy did such a great job. I feel like Oksana was good but not good enough to win. I feel like she got a sympathy vote. And don't get me wrong, I'm stating up front I'm NK fan all the way and felt like that was her moment.

On the other hand my mother, who loved Oksana at the time pointed out that artistically Oksana was better and her music was better as was her choreo. I don't know.

I still say Nancy was perfect even with 2F error.

[TheBob1901]

I can't understand why Scott Hamilton said that Oksana Baiul had no weaknesses. Say what you want about her artistry on ice, but athletically, this long program left a lot to be desired. Only 3 clean triple jumps, with no combinations. Only jump combination was very wonky. Nice flying camel spin, but the rest of her spins were weak. Also, no layback spin and no true spin combination. Her spirals paled in comparison to what Nancy Kerrigan accomplished. And almost no footwork.

[Karosanyo]

@TheBob1901 I agree. Anyone who thinks that Oksana should have won is ignorant to figure skating, IMO. No weaknesses??? The queen of two-footing triple jumps? She also never had any combo triples... Oksana WAS gifted the OGM. I even disliked her long program.

[kerito1993]

@ravenel2 I don't think I can agree with you... European Evgeni Plushenko cried out unfair results when Evan Lysacek beat him despite his quad-triple combination. And the great artistic skaters Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan are Americans. I think both Europeans and Americans have part of their population think technicals are better and some favoured arts.

[EricLensher]

@kerito1993 I m agree. Plushenko deserves gold medal. He s one of the best skaters of the history (technical and artistic) Not only for his quad.

[cleosmom7]

Correction it USED to be both..lnow not so much. Her program was better and more entertaining than Nancy's bottom line.

[cleosmom7]

Her artistry won out. Skating is both.

[yellowbanana104]

Though Oksana Baiul was a wonderful skater with good techniques and extraordinary artistry, I doubt whether she was mature enough to face the pressure. She cried everytime she saw her scores, especially at the presentation marks.

[ravenel2]

@yellowbanana104 -- This girl lost both her parents and I believe her grandmother, who took care of her, by the time she was 16. If I remember correctly, she had to skate on a rink in Ukraine that was like a swamp. If she cried, it had everything to do with what she had do to to get there.

[TheJcanno8]

I have to say I preferred this choreography to Nancy's stiff arms/little hops thing.

[dizzyduck44]

Yes if we look only at jumps then Kerrigan should have won. And the time I felt that she had been robbed. But looking back at this now, Baiul had far more difficult spins and footwork and well as speed across the ice. Presentation outstanding. I can see where the scores came from.

[lflagr]

Good thing she wasn't skating according to today's judging system...no way she would have won gold!

[EricLensher]

@lflagr I m desagree. Oksana was a dancer, she was better components and coreography than Nancy. Oksana was better.

[Karosanyo]

What the hell? She didn't land 5 triples!

[ADEAL416]

Yeah, the weird thing about this is that here, Hamilton says Baiul landed 5 triples, despite the fact that two of them were two-footed (though the flip was much more noticeably so than the toe loop she threw in at the end). It wasn't till Nagano that Hamilton started emphasizing in his broadcasts that two-footed jumps do not count as completed elements--a skater does not get credit for having landed that jump if it is two-footed. But yes, with Kerrigan's 5 triples including a triple/triple combo

[ADEAL416]

Nancy should have had a clear edge. Even if you give Baiul a .1 edge on the second mark (I personally thought they were both wonderful artistically and would have given both 5.9's on the second mark) with Kerrigan's more difficult and more cleanly executed program warranting at least a .2 if not a .3 edge on the first mark, there was no excuse for this result, ESPECIALLY since three of the five judges who put Baiul first actually had them TIED on the second mark with Baiul winning on the FIRST

[sneeyize45]

@ADEAL416 I still think the only reason why Baiul won with the scores she got with the lack of technical content (compared to Kerrigan's) is I feel the majority of the European judges were tired of the whole Nancy-Tonya affair by this point. Kerrigan actually could have won with this program over the previous 3 Olympic Gold medalist if she had skated like this in those Olympics (Poetsch, Witt and Yamaguchi) and probably could have defeated the 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist (Arkawaya {sp?}).

[sneeyize45]

@sneeyize45 Correction: With her program.

[ADEAL416]

Quite possible

[JNagarya]

@ADEAL416 The difference between Kerrigan and Oksana is very simple: Oksana was a live, breathing human being; Kerrigan was not.

[ADEAL416]

@JNagarya And you're more than entitled to that opinion, but that only affects the very subjective second mark. The first mark is supposed to be much more objective, and again, even if you give Baiul a slight artistic edge (and no judge put the two more than .1 apart on the second mark) it doesn't erase Kerrigan's AT LEAST .2-.3 superiority she absolutely should have had on the first mark

[Karosanyo]

Winning gold with only three clean triples and zero combos? I don't think so! Nancy SHOULD HAVE WON with her five triples and two combos (a 3t/3t and 3s/2t). What a disgrace.

[hydrolito]

@Karosanyo Lots of other things besides jumps. Just because a commentator says they weren't counted doesn't make it so either.This was also the longer artistic program not the shorter technical one so not exactly the same requirements or deductions. However I'm not a skating judge so I'm not going to claim to be an expert on this. I liked her program way better artistically, this is history anyway so why are people still going on about it?

[Karosanyo]

@hydrolito Well, this sport is highly subjective. I know what I saw. She only landed 3 clean triples with ZERO triple combos! This is a fact. I understand that there's more than just jumps in skating. I think that Nancy's LP was artisically superior as well. Baiul's SP was beautiful, but I was never a fan of her long. Nancy had a good program with five clean triples. She landed a triple/triple and a triple/double. I think that it's a shame that Nancy lost to this very flawed performance...

[bemar1972]

@Karosanyo what?3 triples? 3Lz, 3F, 3Lo, 3S and 3T = three triples?! :))) What a joke. Noly slightly 2footed 3flip judges count too!

[bemar1972]

@Karosanyo first of all at the end was 2A+2T (no 2A+2A). Remember, only without combination judges must to deduct the marks. Oksana did it - 2A+2T. Finally, do you really think that skater who complete 5 triples, automatically must to be higher of skater with 4 triples? Midori Ito in 1988 complete 7 triples, but she was 3rd in free skating, Manley and Witt, with 4 trples. was higher Midori, at 1st and 2nd place, and we have so many other similar situation in the history...

[Karosanyo]

@bemar1972 "Finally, do you really think a skater who complete 5 triples, automatically must to be higher of a skater with 4 triples?" Nancy landed a 3/3 and a 3S-2T. She also landed a 3L and a 3Z (the lutz was near the end of her program). Oksana had NO TRIPLE COMBOS!!! Does it really matter the it was a 2A+2T? It was sloppy looking as well. I FEEL that Oksana's program was poor (her SP was a small masterwork). Nancy's spins, spirals and footwork were better. Nancy SHOULD have won.

[EricLensher]

@Karosanyo Nancy tiene las piernas tan sólo, pero no es asi una bailarina (Sin brazos, sin cuerpo), Oksana fue más expresiva, elegante y tiene una coreografía mejor, más los componentes y la presentación más artística. Ella era la mejor, she was a ballet dancer-skater.

[ADEAL416]

You can't compare anything 1988 and before with anything 1992 or after, because the scoring system was completely altered then. Up through 1988 you had the element of the compulsory figures.  Midori Ito was too far back after the figures to be a serious factor in the free skate, and judges tended to unofficially take that into account at the time.

[metsdudenj]

@Karosanyo I couldnt agree with you more, I had her in bronze behind Chen Lu

[ADEAL416]

Actually the two-footed jumps don't count as completed elements. Hamilton was very clear about this on multiple other occasions--he didn't really bring it up here, probably because given her injury someone as compassionate as he is wanted to focus on the positive, but you can tell from his tone when the marks and ordinals came up that he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Two of Baiul's jumps were 2-footed--flip and toe loop, so she only gets credit for 3 completed triples

[LaNinaNaranja]

I know she was great, but.. I was never a fan of her skating..

[barkingtree88]

You can tell she had nerves of steel on the inside; on the outside, her limbs were light and soft as a feather. :-)