Brian Boitano - 1988 U.S. Nationals, Men's Long Program

Denver, Colorado, USA - 1988 United States Figure Skating
Championships, Men's Long Program - First, a profile on
Brian Boitano, followed by his Long Program which helped him win the Gold Medal.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• 1988
• figure
• skating
• Brian
• Boitano

[trav16z]

All 5.9s LOL too funny

[3Axel1996]

@trav16z Sadly, back then, if a country like the US, Canada or Russia had a skater who was considered a medal contender at the Olympics, the thing to do then was to send that skater off not only with the national title, but also awarding high scores to give the impression that that skater had done well and was going to be a tough competitor for the Olympic Gold. Remember, this was back in the era before the internet and YouTube, so such spreading of news by word of mouth can be helpful.

[MissFit29]

Don't forget this Nationals was marred by scheduling issues. I think Brian's program was skated after 11 pm. His comment after his win was that he was tired.

[3Axel1996]

@MissFit29 That's right. Brian ended up skating around 11:55pm. The Men's LP was delayed by the Pairs' LP going overtime. Much of it was blamed on the need for the flower girls to spend so much time picking up loose flowers and the debris they left behind on the ice. That's why there have been limitations as to what's allowed to be tossed onto the ice as gifts for the skaters now.

[russianskatingfan]

@premierrules you cant compare scores from Nationals vs the Olympics. Here he was being judged vs other American men who were not contenders on the World stage this year all under an inflated National scoring scale. At the Olympics he was being judged vs his main rivals in the World under Olympic standard scoring.

[selesfan30]

@premierrules Nationals is not scored under the same scoring scale as the Olympics at all. Wylie who was a no name back then got all 5.8s at Nationals, he was never going to get that in Calgary. They had to give him those scores to win here with how others scored. Anyway in Calgary he had political favor against him with Orser being World Champion in his home country, and Fadeev being a former World winner with the Soviet federation behind him. Plus he drew first to skate there.

[selesfan30]

@hobbitbuddy How could you know that Lysacek would win when he needed Plushenko, Takahashi, Chan, Lambiel, to all not skate their best in order to win. Same with Calgary, Boitano needed the skate of his life and Orser not to skate his best to barely win.

[hobbitbuddy]

When I saw Brian give this disastrous (for him)performance at Nationals in 1988, I KNEW he'd win the Olympic gold medal in Calgary because he hadn't done what so many great skaters before him had done; skate the performance of his life at Nationals and then skate below par at the Olympics. Brian was saving his best for when it counted. That's also how I knew Evan Lysacek would win in Vancouver; he didn't skate his very best at Nationals. He saved it for the Olympics.

[carolinemitsuko]

Addendum: He peaked at the perfect time: the Olympics! And what a peak that was. Still hasn't been matched, in my opinion.

[carolinemitsuko]

I agree, his Olympic performance, to me, pretty much deserved all 6's. But they had to leave room for Orser's performance, who was favored going into the Olympics. Goes to show you how subjective judging can be. But the correct outcome in both cases, I believe. I think the judges in Denver wanted Boitano to go to the Olympics with the National Championship under his belt and they were correct. He had the potential for a gold medal and won it in great style. Perfection, in my opinion!