Brian Boitano (USA) - 1988 Calgary, Men's Long Program

[EricLensher]

Boitano was an excellent jumper, but Orson was a better dancer, he was more expressive and artistic skater. I prefer Orson.

[metsdudenj]

@EricLensher Boitano had a better overall line and extension, orser couldnt do a spiral or even a spread eagle becuase of his poor line, there is no comparison

[SuperSparks55]

What would Brian Boitano do???

He'd probably kick an ass or two cause that's what Brian Boitano do!!!

i came to this from a south park clip of bigger longer and uncut i laughed my ass off at the Brian Boitano video while i was laughing i was also asking myself:Who the hell is Brian Boitano a superhero?!??!! lol

[skatebride9205]

@Tha4thLetterr Sorry, I'm Swedish! My english isn't always the best:p so thanks for the correction:)

[buchananbji]

Right on. The days of when watching figure skating was fun. Battle of the Bs', Battle of the Carmens. Off to Ito vs. Yama. Kwan vs. Slutskya, Lipinski, etc. I miss the days of being a couch judge yelling, 5.8 / 5.9!! Thanks to the judge that messed everything up and made it progress to new scoring system. It's not fun. May she never judge again!

[skatebride9205]

I must say, having hockey marks on Olympic figure skating ice... Not cool!!!

[Tha4thLetterr]

@skatebride9205 they're not marks, they're lines!! lolll.

[rickram1961]

This is perhaps one of the best ever LP in Olympic History!

[jjh2456]

The Tano I believe is worth more than a 3 axel in points nowadays cause that variation is very difficult.

[sr200179]

You know you Rock when you have "signature jump, the 'Tano triple lutz' Awesome!

[will74lsn]

great. What an explosive finish!!! 10x better than Orser who was slow at the end. Should have been a clear 9-0 for Boitano with 6.0s!!!! I never understood how 4 judges could go for ORser (except for the fact that he was the reigning world champion skating in Canada :-O) I would have given 6.0 for technical merit despite the second foot on the second 3A...boys the quality of all elements was exceptional!

[3Axel1996]

@will74lsn It was actually a 6-3 finish. This was the last season where the first tiebreaker for the Long Program/Free Skate was the Technical Merit score. After this season, the ISU voted to modify the scoring a bit and made the Artistic Impression marks the 1st tiebreaker instead -- mainly because of arguments as to what constitutes a well-rounded program that wasn't just focused on jumps.

[will74lsn]

@3Axel1996 I have USA, DEN, URS, SUI and JPN for Boitano; but FRG, GDR, CAN and TCH went for Orser (of course with the technical merit score as tiebreaker as you say)

[will74lsn]

@3Axel1996 you actually get a 6-3 finish if you take the artistic impression mark as tiebreaker, however for Orser (ridiculous ;)). Thanks God the technical merit was the tiebreaker!!!!

[oofahman]

He was just absolutely amazing

[hmp22]

At 9:35 he fights the evil robot king

[bootgrunt69]

Whenever I think of the classic figure skating line, Brian Boitano comes to mind. The landing position of his 3 Lutz...stunning! And look at how secure the landing edge is on the 3 Flip and he then changes edge with as if he was doing paragraphs not jumping and landing.

[cphipps79]

He could have SOOOOOO have done a triple axel/triple toe, with the speed and strength he landed that axel with!

[indiatree]

Dick Button mentions that there is a two foot landing somewhere. To what jump is he refering? Is it the second triple axel?

[Icespeller]

@indiatree yes

[will74lsn]

@indiatree yes

[metsdudenj]

@indiatree it isnt a two foot landing, just a burst of ice on the landing, button later on clarified in an interview he had called it wrong, the judes credited him with 8 clean triples

[stompydingdong]

the one dislike this vid has is the one surviving grizzly bear that escaped Brian Boitano's magical fire breath when he saved the maidens in the alps

[dsfddsgh]

That spread eagle was insane. Same thing with his splits.

[xxmrjjlove24xx]

Brian Boitano is figure skateing!

[hera76545345]

my friends at the rink saw RISE, thumbs up if you did!!

[10Dec1971]

@hera76545345 I wish I could have seen that. It wasn't playing anywhere near here. Darn it.

Dawn

[eastofdenver]

at 6:35: "i did it!" :)

[Mashoenima]

What would Brian Boitano do?

[rickram1961]

This was the best LP in Men's Winter Olympic history. I still get the chills watching this magnificent program!

[npe1]

@rickram1961 And let's be honest. Although Orser was a great skater it really should not have been such a close finish in '88 because Boitano was head n shoulders better. Im my book Boitano should have beaten Orser in all 3 sections. Orser won the short but to my reckoning Boitano's 'Les Patineurs' short programme was a masterpiece of choreography. Sorry to the Orser fans but the best man won in Calgary and as a Brit I'm not biased one way or the other, just a skater who loves our sport.

[10Dec1971]

@npe1 As an American, I agree. The Best Man won!! Also, Great Britain had two Gold Medalists and two of my fave skaters. John Curry and Robin Cousins!

[npe1]

@10Dec1971 Yes I agree. Maybe Curry and Cousins were not doing 3 axels & quads but their style and artistry were superb. Curry was the most graceful skater ever and nobody has ever matched the effortless flow over the ice that Cousins has. Boitano was both technically perfect - copy book perfect - and had great artistry.

[ohpineapples]

Brain is (to me) the best male figure skater out there (in the men's division). He wow'd me everytime I seen him skate. He gets such great height and he's so strong. He's just sooooo Great!!!! Thanks for the video = ) PS now I get to watch him on TV cooking, which just thrills me! I've been watching every show since it started. And boy oh boy can he cook!! wink wink! ps Brian if you read this ....I just wanted to say HI BRAIN !!!!!! YOUR THE BEST!! 10!!! ps again..keep cookin' !!!

[star915]

6.0!! +3GOEs on all of his jumps! lol

[pedigreeY2J]

What would Brian Boitano do?

[Hallonjuden]

@pedigreeY2J He'd probably kick an ass or two, cause that's what Brian Boitano would do.

[rickram1961]

The best ever free skate of any Olympic Men's Program I believe. 

[KLTO1988]

Great video. The amazing thing, as great as Brian B. was, he has never - and I mean never - landed two CLEAN triple axels in a single program. Many have argued but his 2nd triple axel in Calgary was two-footed. Ironically, Brian Orser has landed two triple axels in his 1987 long program and in his 1988 Worlds long Program.

[manosmac2]

My copy of this program which was originally recorded on a Beta tape and copied to VHS is simply nothing but ghost figures now--been viewed too many times. Thanks for this beautiful copy--Boitano is a brilliant skater--among my top favorites. This performance is still exiting to watch.

[meredithlynnbilhartz]

To me this was a 6.0 perfromance. Perhaps if he had skated last he might have gotten a few. The music goes perfect with the choreography. Say what you want about Sandra Bezic's commentary, she new how to put together a great program and this was one of the best.

[ste3021878]

An extraordinary performance from one of the greatest male skaters of all time. I haven't watched this video in a few years. Once again, I was thrilled by his command of the choreography, the intricacy of the transitions, the awesome death-drop and spread eagle and the thrilling jumps (including his trademark "Tano Lutz). Back in '88, this Olympic champion inspired me to seek excellence in many aspects of my life. Thank you, Brian!

[libralady1010]

Remember this like it was yesterday...it was live and I couldn't watch it but my husband did... and I saw at the very end... in the reflection of our dining room mirror, he was raising both hands clasped over his head and just said, ' " YES! " ' I came into the den. He said ,' That was about as close to perfect as I've ever seen in 25 years of Skating " '

And he WAS perfect. Brilliant and Beautiful.

[mlc2005]

@libralady1010 :  I love your recollection. That is so beautiful!!!!

[libralady1010]

@mlc2005 Thank you! His performance was beautiful too. He was/is so technically perfect. The artistry was spellbinding. Orser was great as well. They were like Figure Skatings' version of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers in the '70's. Or Chris Evert and Martina Navritolova in Tennis.Just remember it was dark in the dining room,the TV was in a well lighted den and my normally reserved husbands' ' YES!!!" ,etc. It was wonderful and still is to go back,remember and view this again!

[carolinemitsuko]

I totally agree with kcdshg. To have this available is a gift. I watch it at least once every day!

[kcdshg]

Thank you SO MUCH for this high quality video of this program. I am so happy to have found this. Imagine - 22 years later and I am still so moved by this performance that I have never forgotten it. Sheer perfection, just like Torvill and Dean's Bolero.