Alexei Urmanov 1994 Olympics FS

He Won the Gold Medal.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• figure
• skating
• alexei
• urmanov

[lamarin777]

Alexei has always been very artistic and elegant on ice, his lines are irreproacable as these ones of a ballet dancer. He was instable sometimes, but seeig his programs brings a lot of esthetic delight.

[autumn1942]

Thank you for posting great to watch a true master on the ice much joy.

[faeryquene]

Alexei was brilliant at those Games and I was SO HAPPY when he beat Stojko for the gold. His skating skills versus Stojko were absolutely superior overall.

[SOLE2SOUL]

I so miss the old scoring system.  I hadn't seen this performance in so long, but upon seeing it again, I feel he should've gotten the 5.9s for technical ability and the no higher than 5.8 for artistic with mostly 5.7s. His triples were absolutely beautiful but the spins were weak. I find it hilarious that the French judge placed him 5th!

[grafgirl27]

@TheWhatsinaname Todd Eldredge wasnt even at the Olympics. And Elvis skated cleanly with more technical content than Urmanov and still lost. 

[stefan7171]

I generally prefer the classical/balletic style that Urmanov had here for example, but I felt so much more passion & emotion from Elvis' program that I felt he should've gotten the gold

[ja3399]

There were a few moves in his choreography that I absolutely hated. Yes, he won because many great skaters made major mistakes. He was not so well-known. But that is how it is: it is the best skater, on THAT night. Remember Sarah Hughes at Salt Lake? Judges too often "held up" skaters of greater reputations, through decades. I think the new judging system is worse because judges now are TOTALLY anonymous. Always something to argue. Alexei had such beautiful line and artistry.

[TheWhatsinaname]

@TheWhatsinaname I would agree that the story of 1994 Men's Figure Skating Medals would have been totally different if say Elvis Stojko, Kurt Browning or even say, Brian Boitano or Todd Eldredge had stayed totally vertical and had totally smooth takeoffs, positions in the air and landings than they did have at these championships. Any of those four men would have definitely beaten Urmanov on any other night of skating.

[TheWhatsinaname]

@TheWhatsinaname That being written, Urmanov won this championship because the other men had other troubles during their LP's as well. I wasn't ever happy with Urmanov's jumping technique, it's just this time his lack of technique didn't hurt the majority of takeoffs, positions in the air or landings as they normally would and he stayed vertical a lot better in this championships then the other men.

[TheWhatsinaname]

@intldawn I actually think all of Urmanov's transitions were aweful, not only his spins, for at least a whole second he literally came to a standstill in his GOLD Medal winning performance -- I don't think I've ever seen any Men's GOLD Medal winning Olympic champion actually come to a complete standstill for a whole second (and possibly more) during their winning program, and I've been watching the Winter Olympics since 1976.

[veboy]

He is a very handsome man!

[intldawn]

I've never been a fan of Urmanov's skating and believe his artistry is overrated, but he is a terrific athlete. That said, I cannot believe he won this competition so convincingly with such weak spins. For such a good skater, he is woefully incomplete in that area and the judges should have docked him for it. His spins are such an eyesore that they detract from an otherwise decent performance.