Custom Search
Showing posts with label Winter Olympics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winter Olympics. Show all posts

Monday, August 4, 2008

Brian Boitano and Brian Orser: The Battle of The Brians

Many of the greatest moments in modern Olympic history have been where two champions have met and not just competed against each other to win gold, but also they have become inextricably linked. It could be because they were from the same or from different countries. It could be because they shared a strong friendship, or the reverse were bitter rivals. It could also be that one was on the way up, the other one the way down. So many Olympics have had their story told through the competitions between athletes like Zatopek and Mimoun, Powell and Lewis, Johnson and Yang, Thorpe and Spitz. From this type of perspective the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics will always been known for the legendary "Battle of the Brians"; the men's figure skating competition where the American Brian Boitano and the Canadian Brian Orser went head to head in arguably the greatest men's skating program at the Olympics.

Calgary won the right to host the 1988 Winter Olympics on September 30th, 1981, after two previously unsuccessful bids. Canadian Summer Olympic history was long and prestigious, however the Montreal 1976 Games had been a traumatic experience thanks to the cost blow-outs, the African boycott and the failure of any Canadian to win a gold medal at their home games. Therefore, with the Canadian passion for such winter sports as ice hockey, speed and figure skating, and skiing it was hoped that the Calgary Winter Olympics would do much to redeem the emotional and financial investment in Canadian Olympism.

Four years before the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics Canada found a new emerging figure skating star to support, who would hopefully bring them gold in their home-town Olympics. In the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics Ontario-born Brian Orser had skated well enough to surpass the eventual gold medallist American Scott Hamilton in both the short and long programs of the men's figure skating, however his relatively poor performance in the highly technical figures meant that Orser ended up with the silver medal. The best result for a Canadian male figure skater at the Olympics, it was reasonable to assume he climb one step higher up the podium in Calgary. Between 1984 and 1988 Orser developed into a genuine gold medal hope with one world championship gold, two silvers plus the 1987 season saw him win almost every championship he entered. However there was one particular rival who loomed large as a gold medal threat; his name, Brian Boitano.

Boitano, an American from the state of California with Italian ancestry had first competed against Orser in the 1978 Junior World Championships where Boitano had won first place, followed by the Canadian in second. The first American male skater to land a triple axel, at Sarajevo he finished fifth. Then, at the 1985 ISU World Figure Skating championships he came third behind Orser again (with Soviet skater Alexandr Fadeyev winning the title), followed by winning that championship one year later in Geneva. Significantly for the build up to the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, at the 1987 World Championships in Cincinnati Orser reversed the preceding year's result as Boitano failed to land a new move, a quadruple toe loop. The stage had been set; the two Brian's were established as the leading contenders for the Calgary gold medal and whilst Orser was arguably more proficient artistically (which made him more attractive to spectators during the long program), Boitano arguably more athletic but not as inspired in his choreography. Naturally there would also be the home-town factor; unlike Sarajevo where neither of the two Brians had any support from local spectators, in Calgary it was to be expected that Orser would have fanatical Canadians willing him on to gold.

The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary were in full swing by the time the men's figure skating program began. After the first round (the compulsory figures) the men's figure skating was actually led by the 1985 world champion, the Soviet skater Fadeyev, in front of Boitano (second) and Orser (third). However it wasn't that part of the program which would define who would win gold; the artistic segments of the skating program where the skaters would spend most of their time on the ice with the greater potential benefit score-wise. Plus both the short and long artistic would bring to bear the influence of the spectators, both on the skaters and possibly the judges.

The short program saw Fedeyev drop dramatically down to 9th place, whilst as expected Boitano and Orser lifted into second and first respectively. The Ukrainian skater Viktor Petrenko rose into third, but his compulsory figures weren't good enough to threaten the two Brians. It all depended upon the long artistic or free skates from Boitano (who had chosen a routine developed by his relatively new choreographer Sandra Bezic which aimed to show him off as less "a jumping robot") and from Orser (who also used a military theme in his free skate, with music from Shostakhovich). Pundits noted that whilst Orser was perhaps more skittish on the ice, he had the advantage (or disadvantage) of Canadian expectations.

Boitano was the first to skate in the long artistic program, and his performance was near perfect technically. He scored five 5.9's from the judges which reinforced the reputation of him as a strong and correct skater. His artistic points weren't quite as strong, with three 5.9's and one 5.7. The majority of the crowd may have been Canadian however they recognised a great skater with strong applause. The opening was there for Brian Orser to take the gold medal with a higher scoring performance, and as he skated out to begin Orser looked unusually confident.

For the first 90 seconds of his skate Orser was both technically and artistic brilliant. However when Orser attempted a triple flip jump he failed to laucnh off his toe pick correctly, and whilst he didn't fall his two feet landing was a small flaw that the judges interpreted as a difference between him and Boitano. Then, at the 3 minute 41 second mark Orser flew into what was supposed to be a triple axel was performed as a double axel as Orser's fatigue level increased. With the end of his free skate the two Brians were incomparably close, but the judges had two specific reference points to differentiate them on technically.

As the technical points were displayed for Orser's free skate Boitano's chances for the gold rose even higher. Orser was only able to secure one 5.9 score, yet this was compensated for with five 5.9s in the artistic scores plus one 6.0. Orser had skated with flair and imagination, but it was Boitano who got the nod from the judges, splitting the decision 5-4 in his favour. Two judges had both Brians tied, but when they looked to break the tie they went to the technical scores. The final score in factored places was Boitano rated a position of 3.0 whilst Orser ranked 4.2. Boitano took the gold, Orser the silver and Petrenko the bronze.

Sadly for the Canadians this meant that just as in Montreal they would be denied a home town gold medal at their own Olympics. Yet no matter the medals awarded to them, both Brian Boitano and Brian Orser were good friends with each other and they had provided the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics a defining moment. During the medal ceremony Boitano reflected on his rival and friend, saying afterwards "I almost felt guilty feeling great. I tried to hold it back, so me feeling great wouldn't make him (Orser) feel worse." The Battle of the Brians had been won and lost, yet as always in the best Olympic moments rivalry and winning was pushed into the background. The victor was not arrogant, the loser not humiliated; it was a sublime moment of competition elevated by generous human spirits.





Sources:
Posted by Andrew McDonald at 12:49 AM 2 comments
Labels: , , , , , ,

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Jim Shea: The Moonshine Gold Medallist

When one compares the Winter and Summer Olympics, the former appears to have the more potential for death and dismemberment when it comes to the individual sports. For every dangerous moment involving a bicycle travelling at about 80 kph down a rainy road in the individual or team time trial at the Summer Olympics, there is a seemingly mad bobsledder and his crew racing their aerodynamic bob down a twisting ice track at speeds at times in excess of 120 kph. The combination of speed, ice, snow and sharp blades has a habit of testing the bravery of the human spirit and the fragility of the human body when applied in the Winter Olympic Games. And in the case of the skeleton, it could be argued this is the most frightening of all the most dangerous of Olympic sports.

The skeleton is essentially a head first sled ride down a toboganning, luge or bobsled track, where the rider (weighing no more that 115 kilos for men, 92 kilos for women) attempts to set the fastest combined times over two runs. Originating in Switzerland the sport was added to the Winter Olympic program for the St Moritz games of 1928. However like some other sports on both the Winter and Summer program it was an infrequent event, not to appear at the Lake Placid 1932 or Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 Winter Olympics. Skeleton briefly returned post-war, again at St Moritz in 1948 but was then again being withdrawn as a gold medal event. It took some serious effort on the part of the Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Togogganing (FIBT) to reinstate the sport as a viable candidate for reinclusion on the Winter Olympic program, which eventually took place in 1999. The next opportunity for a full skeleton competition with gold medals available to both male and female champions was to be Salt Lake City 2002.

Whilst the FIBT and the IOC were working through the issues of bring skeleton back into the fold as a Winter Olympic event a third generation winter sportsman was aiming to participate in the Salt Lake City Olympics as part of the US tea. Jim Shea, born in Hartford Connecticut had prime Winter Olympian genes as part of his heritage. His grandfather Jack Shea had won 2 gold medals in the speed skating program at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, and had also taken the athletes' oath at those games. His father Jim Shea Senior competed in three Nordic skiing events at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics. Plus all three generations lived within a very short distance of the host venue of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics.

Jim Shea Junior had originally been attracted to skeleton after switching from bobsled when he balanced out the costs of the equipment ($30,000US for a bobsled versus $3000US for a skeleton sled). Yet there was another factor; as David Wallechinsky records Jim Jnr said that:

"Bobsled is the champagne of thrills, skeleton is the moonshine of thrills."

With this attitude and after a rather unsuccessful 1997 World Cup season Shea decided to travel to Europe to improve his skills. With little money Shea protected his initial meagre resources by sleeping in barns and working on sled courses for free runs. Improving as the years passed he became the first American to win a World Cup race as well as a World Championship in skeleton (1999) and Goodwill Games gold (2000). However there were other and arguably better prospects for winning the US it's first gold for skeleton since 1932, with Chris Soule ending the 2001-2002 season in second place overall, behind Gregor Stähli (Switzerland) and in front of Martin Rettl (Austria).

Jim Jnr's 2001-2002 results however secured him a place on the US team and then, with only 17 days to go until the Salt Lake City opening ceremony tragically his grandfather Jack Shea was killed in a motor vehicle accident. This changed Jim Jnr's pursuit for gold into something more than just a desire to win for himself and for his country. As a tribute to the grandson, the father and the grandfather Jim Snr and Jim Jnr were the penultimate torchbearers at the Salt Lake City opening ceremony before handing the flame over to the 1980 US Ice Hockey team. To add further honour to Jim Jnr he was also given the opportunity to follow in Jack Shea's footsteps, reading the oath on behalf of all competitors at the 2002 Winter Olympics. No matter the form of his competitors there was an incredible amount of sentiment and goodwill riding with Jim Shea Jnr as he began his quest for skeleton gold.

The competition for the men's skeleton was held at the Park City sled track, dropping over 100 metres from start to finish and running over 1300 metres long. Gregor Stähli was the gold medal favourite, in part due to his success from the 2001-2002 season but also perhaps because his father Buddy was considered 'the father of Swiss skeleton'. Yet unfortunately for Stähli on the day of competition the weather was slightly against him. February 20th was a snowy day, and the conditions meant the track became slower for the earlier sliders. Stähli's time was approximately 2 seconds behind what he should have achieved, opening a gap for others such at Rettl and Shea. Rettl's time was only marginally quicker than Stähli's, with Shea then taking his skeleton sled down the course in 50.89 seconds (a 0.13 lead over the Austrian Rettl). Surprisingly an Irish skeleton racer Clifton Wrottesley was also in contention, finishing the first heat in third place.

Snow continued to fall as the second heat proceeded. As the sliders took their turns heading face down the track the times to beat were Shea's, Rettl's and Wrottesley's. Stähli had a far better run but with his 50.99 was still languishing behind the top three. Wrottesley dropped in pace losing valuable time. Then Rettl matched Stähli's second heat time, which in turn gave Shea a definitive target. He had to slide a 51.12 for gold. Although Jim Jnr had a notoriously slow start there was an ace up his sleeve. In his helmet was a photograph of his recently killed grandfather, the dual gold medallist Jack Shea.

For most of the run Shea was 0.14 seconds behind Rettl's time. However at the final split the gap had been narrowed by the American to a mere one-hundredth of a second. With the momentum, the loud American crowd and perhaps his grandfather's spirit behind him Shea continued downwards, sliding into the finish with a second run time of 51.07 seconds. His overall time was 1.41.96; five hundredths of a second in front of Rettl. The gold was Shea's. Mobbed by his fellow skeleton sliders who until then had been his competitors Shea pulled the photograph out of his helmet. The crowd erupted, chanting "USA! Shea!" repeatedly. And then Jim Shea Jnr paid tribute to his grandfather Jack:

"I think my grandfather had some unfinished business down here, now he can go up to heaven."

Sources:
Posted by Andrew McDonald at 3:59 AM 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

What was the greatest achievement of the Beijing Olympics

What were the most successful Olympics since 1980