Dianne De Leeuw - 1975 World Championships Long Program

Diane de Leeuw, representing the Netherlands, takes advantage of poor performances from Christine Errath and Dorothy Hamill to convincingly win the 1975 World Championships

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Dianne
• De
• Leeuw
• 1975
• World
• Championships
• Long
• Program
• Figure
• Skating

[slapshotz20]

Loved that layover camel. She & Wendy Burge had, I think, the best ones. I'm glad that Stephan Lambiel has revived this lovely spin.

[miloandtock1]

Dianne did not get robed of a medal at the 76 Games - she won the silver. She most certainly didnt derserve the gold! Her short program in Innsbruck was sub par and was judged accordingly. And her long - as here - was ok but not great. She just didnt have the extension and flair that Hamill had, and her edges were not as good. Had Dorothy not fallen in the short program, I think it would have been tough for Dianne to win here.

[mlc2005]

Yeah, she didn't have the speed or smoothness of Dorothy Hamill. What I found strange is how this period (pre-1977) the women seemed trapped technically. No one advanced the sport to make it more difficult.

Then, after Hamill retired in 1976, immediately triples were being done and were required to get on the podium. Weird. I think I would be more excited about Hamill if she done a few herself!

[grafgirl27]

@metsdudenj she is the poorest skater i have ever seen win Worlds. Atleast Schuba and somewhat Poetzsch were amazing at figures, which DeLeeuw obviously wasnt since she rarely even won figures.

[who1cares]

LOL another double loop very difficult! lol figure skaters aare hitting doubles before there ten yrs old now..thts nothing for them.....i get a feeling when my kids r born quads will b the new triples...ekkk smh

[npe1]

@metsdudenj But she was not European. Her father was Dutch so was able to skate for Holland. But Dianne was born, raised and trained all her life in California. She was really American.

[npe1]

@mlc2005 There were not that many ladies doing them pre 1976. Christine Errath, Dianne deleeuw (sometimes), Linda Fratianne and a few others. It was not really until post '76 Olympics that the women started doing triples regularly. Fratianne and Poetsch both did them and sometimes you got one from Lurz, Watanabe, Lisa Marie Allen, but the women that really pushed skating along technically in the late '70s were Denise Bielmann and Elena Voderezova.

[mlc2005]

Why didn't dorothy ever do any triples? It seemed that several of the other top women of the time did? Just curious. It's funny how back then "style" and "flair" would be enough to win gold medals.

[grandmagrumpy]

Dorothy was lucky the judges didn't mark her figures accurately. It was all Dorothy could do to see what she was doing even with her glasses. she did not have good figures.

[Parses6]

wow she has the hottest legs ever...nice pantyhose!