Figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics

The figure skating events in 1998 Winter Olympics were held at the White Ring in Nagano. There were no changes in the format or scoring systems from 1994. Professionals were again allowed to compete, although they had to declare that intention and compete in ISU-approved events to do so. Previously, the ISU had been accused of rejecting Western professionals, while allowing Eastern Bloc state-sponsored "amateurs" to compete.[1][2] Most of the top competitors by 1998 were now openly professional.

Figure skating at the XVIII Olympic Winter Games
Type:Olympic Games
Venue:White Ring
Champions
Men's singles:
Russia Ilia Kulik
Ladies' singles:
United States Tara Lipinski
Pairs:
Russia Oksana Kazakova / Artur Dmitriev
Ice dance:
Russia Oksana Grishuk / Evgeny Platov
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1994 Winter Olympics
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2002 Winter Olympics

The competitions took place on the following days:

  • Pairs: 8–10 February 1998
  • Men's singles: 12–14 February 1998
  • Ice dance: 13–16 February 1998
  • Ladies' singles: 18–20 February 1998[3]
  • Exhibition gala: 21 February 1998

Medal summary

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Medalists

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's singles
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Ilia Kulik
  Russia
Elvis Stojko
  Canada
Philippe Candeloro
  France
Ladies' singles
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Tara Lipinski
  United States
Michelle Kwan
  United States
Chen Lu
  China
Pair skating
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  Oksana Kazakova
and Artur Dmitriev (RUS)
  Elena Berezhnaya
and Anton Sikharulidze (RUS)
  Mandy Wötzel
and Ingo Steuer (GER)
Ice dance
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  Oksana Grishuk
and Evgeny Platov (RUS)
  Anjelika Krylova
and Oleg Ovsyannikov (RUS)
  Marina Anissina
and Gwendal Peizerat (FRA)

Medal table

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Russia3205
2  United States1102
3  Canada0101
4  France0022
5  China0011
  Germany0011
Totals (6 entries)44412

Participating NOCs

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Thirty-five nations competed in the figure skating events at Nagano.

Results

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The favourites and top two after the short program were Ilia Kulik and Elvis Stojko, who would skate first and last, respectively. Medal contenders Alexei Yagudin, Todd Eldredge and Philippe Candeloro went in between. Steven Cousins was the other skater in the final draw, but he was not considered to have a realistic chance of making the podium.

Kulik skated a flawless program which included a quad toe loop to open the last session. Yagudin, who was one of several athletes suffering from the flu during these games, fell on his quad attempt and his triple Axel, which took him out of medal contention. Eldredge was skating cleanly until he popped what was to be his second triple Axel, and then he fell again when he tried to complete the jump again in the closing seconds. Candeloro, with the exception of a step out on his triple Axel, skated his program flawlessly to end up second in the free skating. Stojko, who skated last, originally intended to perform a quad toe loop/triple toe loop combination. However, a partial groin tear and the flu prevented him from attempting the combo, so he downgraded his quad to a triple. Despite his injury, he skated a clean program but finished the free skating third, placing second overall behind Kulik.

The countries represented by the podium finishers were the same as in the men's competition at the Lillehammer 1994 games, with Stojko and Candeloro getting their second consecutive silver and bronze medals, respectively. In a noteworthy instance, Stojko had to limp to the podium on sneakers at the medal presentation. He also did not skate at the figure skating gala, although he did take the ice briefly to announce that he would skip the World Championships next month.

Rank Name Nation SP FS TFP
1 Ilia Kulik   Russia 1 1 1.5
2 Elvis Stojko   Canada 2 3 4.0
3 Philippe Candeloro   France 5 2 4.5
4 Todd Eldredge   United States 3 4 5.5
5 Alexei Yagudin   Russia 4 5 7.0
6 Steven Cousins   Great Britain 6 7 10.0
7 Michael Weiss   United States 11 6 11.5
8 Guo Zhengxin   China 10 9 14.0
9 Michael Tyllesen   Denmark 9 11 15.5
10 Viacheslav Zagorodniuk   Ukraine 16 8 16.0
11 Ivan Dinev   Bulgaria 7 14 17.5
12 Jeff Langdon   Canada 17 10 18.5
13 Szabolcs Vidrai   Hungary 12 16 19.0
14 Dmitri Dmitrenko   Ukraine 8 16 20.0
15 Takeshi Honda   Japan 18 12 21.0
16 Igor Pashkevich   Azerbaijan 13 15 21.5
17 Yamato Tamura   Japan 15 17 24.5
18 Michael Shmerkin   Israel 14 18 25.0
19 Roman Skorniakov   Uzbekistan 20 19 29.0
20 Margus Hernits   Estonia 19 20 29.5
21 Cornel Gheorghe   Romania 21 21 31.5
22 Patrick Meier   Switzerland 22 22 33.0
23 Gilberto Viadana   Italy 24 23 35.0
24 Lee Kyu-hyun   South Korea 23 24 35.5
Free skating not reached
25 Anthony Liu   Australia 25
26 Róbert Kažimír   Slovakia 26
27 David Liu   Chinese Taipei 27
28 Yuri Litvinov   Kazakhstan 28
29 Patrick Schmit   Luxembourg 29

Referee:

Assistant Referee:

Judges:

Ladies

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The primary contenders for the gold medal were Americans Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan.[4] Kwan and Lipinski were in first and second place respectively after the short program. In the free skating, both Lipinski and Kwan skated clean. 6 judges placed Lipinski ahead of Kwan, and three placed Kwan ahead of Lipinski, which meant Lipinski won the gold medal, and Kwan took the silver.

The primary competitors for the bronze medal were Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya from Russia, and Chen Lu from China. In the free skating, they all skated well, but had mistakes. The final placements were very close. The 3rd–5th place votes were split unevenly between Chen, Butyrskaya, and Slutskaya. Chen beat Butyrskaya by the tally of 5 judges to 4 and beat Slutskaya 6 judges to 3, giving Chen her second straight bronze medal in the Olympic Games.

Tara Lipinski (gold), Michelle Kwan (silver) and Chen Lu (bronze) were the World Champions in 1997, 1996 and 1995, respectively. Lipinski also became the youngest competitor in Winter Olympics history to earn a gold medal in an individual event.[5]

While not a medal winner, France's injured Surya Bonaly, who placed 10th, completed an (illegal) backflip during her long program, making her the fourth person and only woman to ever land a backflip in competition. She is the only person to land on one foot and to do a split mid-air (now colloquially referred to as a 'Bonaly'). She performed the unorthodox maneuver as a result of a previous fall and poor program due to an injured foot, however given the illegal nature of the move, her backflip was not considered when grading her technical merit. Youtube video

Rank Name Nation SP FS TFP
1 Tara Lipinski   United States 2 1 2.0
2 Michelle Kwan   United States 1 2 2.5
3 Chen Lu   China 4 3 5.0
4 Maria Butyrskaya   Russia 3 4 5.5
5 Irina Slutskaya   Russia 5 5 7.5
6 Vanessa Gusmeroli   France 8 6 10.0
7 Elena Sokolova   Russia 10 7 12.0
8 Tatiana Malinina   Uzbekistan 9 8 12.5
9 Elena Liashenko   Ukraine 7 10 13.5
10 Surya Bonaly   France 6 11 14.0
11 Yulia Lavrenchuk   Ukraine 15 9 16.5
12 Joanne Carter   Australia 11 12 17.5
13 Shizuka Arakawa   Japan 14 14 21.0
14 Julia Lautowa   Austria 21 13 23.5
15 Júlia Sebestyén   Hungary 19 15 24.5
16 Yulia Vorobieva   Azerbaijan 18 16 25.0
17 Nicole Bobek   United States 17 17 25.5
18 Lenka Kulovaná   Czech Republic 16 18 26.0
19 Anna Rechnio   Poland 13 20 26.5
20 Laëtitia Hubert   France 12 21 27.0
21 Alisa Drei   Finland 20 19 29.0
22 Marta Andrade   Spain 24 22 34.0
23 Mojca Kopač   Slovenia 22 23 34.0
24 Shirene Human   South Africa 23 24 35.5
Free skating not reached
25 Ivana Jakupcevic   Croatia 25
26 Helena Grundberg   Sweden 26
27 Tony Bombardieri   Italy 27
28 Sofia Penkova   Bulgaria 28
Rank in FS
Rank in FS Skater Judge (Australia) Judge (Hungary) Judge (Austria) Judge (Germany) Judge (United States) Judge (Russia) Judge (Ukraine) Judge (Poland) Judge (France) Average
1 Tara Lipinski 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 1.3
2 Michelle Kwan 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1.7
3 Chen Lu 3 4 3 3 4 5 4 4 4 3.8
4 Maria Butyrskaya 5 5 5 4 5 3 3 3 3 4.0
5 Irina Slutskaya 4 3 4 5 3 4 5 5 5 4.2

FS=Free Skating

Final Rank
Final Rank Skater Rank in SP Rank in FS Total Score
1 Tara Lipinski 2 1 2.0 ( 2 * 0.5 + 1 = 2.0 )
2 Michelle Kwan 1 2 2.5 ( 1 * 0.5 + 2 = 2.5 )
3 Chen Lu 4 3 5.0 ( 4 * 0.5 + 3 = 5.0 )
4 Maria Butyrskaya 3 4 5.5 ( 3 * 0.5 + 4 = 5.5 )
5 Irina Slutskaya 5 5 7.5 ( 5 * 0.5 + 5 = 7.5 )

SP=Short Program, FS=Free Skating

Referee:

Assistant Referee:

Judges:

Pairs

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Artur Dmitriev of Russia won his second Olympic gold here. He had previously won in 1992 with a different partner. He was the first man to win the Olympics more than once with different partners.[6] The first woman to do so was Russian skater Irina Rodnina, who won three Olympics with two different partners.

Full results

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Rank Name Nation SP FS TFP
1 Oksana Kazakova / Artur Dmitriev   Russia 1 1 1.5
2 Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze   Russia 3 2 3.5
3 Mandy Wötzel / Ingo Steuer   Germany 2 3 4.0
4 Kyoko Ina / Jason Dungjen   United States 4 4 6.0
5 Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo   China 8 5 9.0
6 Sarah Abitbol / Stéphane Bernadis   France 7 6 9.5
7 Marina Eltsova / Andrei Bushkov   Russia 5 7 9.5
8 Jenni Meno / Todd Sand   United States 6 9 12.0
9 Peggy Schwarz / Mirko Müller   Germany 9 8 12.5
10 Dorota Zagórska / Mariusz Siudek   Poland 10 11 16.0
11 Evgenia Filonenko / Igor Marchenko   Ukraine 13 10 16.5
12 Kristy Sargeant / Kris Wirtz   Canada 11 12 17.5
13 Danielle McGrath / Stephen Carr   Australia 15 13 20.5
14 Marina Khalturina / Andrei Krukov   Kazakhstan 16 14 22.0
15 Kateřina Beránková / Otto Dlabola   Czech Republic 14 15 22.0
16 Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon / Luc Bradet   Canada 12 16 22.0
17 Sabrina Lefrançois / Nicolas Osseland   France 17 17 25.5
18 Inga Rodionova / Aleksandr Anichenko   Azerbaijan 19 18 27.5
19 Maria Krasiltseva / Alexander Chestnikh   Armenia 18 19 28.0
20 Marie Arai / Shin Amano   Japan 20 20 30.0

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Assistant Referee:

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Ice dance

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Grishuk and Platov became the first pair ever to repeat as champions in Olympic Ice Dance. They won 21 straight events before they won in Nagano.[7]

The judging was marred by accusations that the Europeans colluded in "bloc voting" (where judges tend to favor skaters from their regions), so that the dance teams representing their countries would take the medals, while keeping the Canadians off the podium.[8][9]

Full results

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Rank Name Nation CD1 CD2 OD FD TFP
1 Pasha Grishuk / Evgeni Platov   Russia 1 1 1 1 2.0
2 Anjelika Krylova / Oleg Ovsyannikov   Russia 2 2 2 2 4.0
3 Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat   France 3 3 3 4 7.0
4 Shae-Lynn Bourne / Victor Kraatz   Canada 5 4 4 3 7.2
5 Irina Lobacheva / Ilia Averbukh   Russia 4 5 5 5 9.8
6 Barbara Fusar-Poli / Maurizio Margaglio   Italy 6 6 6 6 12.0
7 Elizabeth Punsalan / Jerod Swallow   United States 7 7 7 7 14.0
8 Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas   Lithuania 8 9 8 8 16.2
9 Irina Romanova / Igor Yaroshenko   Ukraine 9 8 10 9 18.4
10 Kati Winkler / René Lohse   Germany 11 11 9 10 19.8
11 Sophie Moniotte / Pascal Lavanchy   France 10 10 12 11 22.2
12 Sylwia Nowak / Sebastian Kolasiński   Poland 12 12 11 12 23.4
13 Kateřina Mrázová / Martin Šimeček   Czech Republic 13 13 13 13 26.0
14 Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovski   Israel 17 14 14 14 28.6
15 Elena Grushina / Ruslan Goncharov   Ukraine 15 16 15 15 30.2
16 Tatiana Navka / Nikolai Morozov   Belarus 14 15 17 16 32.0
17 Diane Gerencser / Pasquale Camerlengo   Italy 16 17 16 17 33.2
18 Albena Denkova / Maxim Staviski   Bulgaria 18 18 18 18 36.0
19 Chantal Lefebvre / Michel Brunet   Canada 19 19 19 19 38.0
20 Dominique Deniaud / Martial Jaffredo   France 20 21 21 20 40.8
21 Jessica Joseph / Charles Butler   United States 22 20 20 21 41.4
22 Elizaveta Stekolnikova / Dmitri Kazarlyga   Kazakhstan 23 22 22 22 44.2
23 Aya Kawai / Hiroshi Tanaka   Japan 21 23 23 23 45.6
24 Ksenia Smetanenko / Samuel Gezalian   Armenia 24 24 24 24 48.0

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References

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  1. ^ Riordan, Jim (1993). "Rewriting Soviet Sports History". Journal of Sport History. 20 (3): 247–258. JSTOR 43609911.
  2. ^ Knisley, Michael (7 March 1994). "1998 Ad". Sporting News. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 7 December 2006.
  3. ^ "Figure Skating at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  4. ^ "The Women Who Would be Queen - New York Daily News". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Tara Lipinski becomes youngest Olympic figure skating gold medalist".
  6. ^ Longman, Jere (11 February 1998). "THE XVIII WINTER GAMES: FIGURE SKATING; Dmitriev Rises to Occasion in Pairs Once Again". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  7. ^ Longman, Jere (17 February 1998). "THE XVIII WINTER GAMES: FIGURE SKATING; Russian Duo Remain Unbeatable". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  8. ^ Canadians dig for gold on ice: Bourne and Kraatz will battle opponents and judges in Nagano Archived 25 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Steve Milton, 7 February 1998
  9. ^ Skating federation to investigate judging Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, 12 February 2002
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Men

Ladies

Pair

Dance