Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1994 TAG: 9402160121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HAMAR, NORWAY LENGTH: Medium
Elegance beat power in the most magnificent show of pairs figure skating in Olympic history.
Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, the 1988 gold medalists, won the Olympic title again Tuesday night, edging defending champions Natalia Mishkutienok and Artur Dmitriev in a dazzling duel of Russian couples.
World champions Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler won the bronze, as they did two years ago in Albertville.
"Tonight, we're the gold medal winners; if the pros aren't here, we're Olympic champions," said Eisler, a strong opponent of the 1992 rules change allowing professionals a one-time reinstatement of Olympic eligibility. "I said all along they shouldn't be here. In our minds, this is a gold medal performance."
The audience might not have agreed with the scoring or cared about the rule change, and some skaters and coaches questioned the judging. But there was no doubt about the quality of the performances.
"It was really a very hard gold medal," Gordeeva said after she and her husband earned a 6.0 for artistic impression from the Russian judge and eight 5.9s, enough to win their second Olympic crown and the ninth in a row for a Russian couple. "Everyone has been pushing on us, saying, `You will have no problems, you will win the gold medal.' But tonight, everyone skated so well."
Especially their countrymen, whose spins, lifts and jumps surpassed their performance at Albertville and earned them praise from everywhere. Yet, it got them only one first-place vote, from Belarus.
"I think there are three categories in skating," Dmitriev said. "There are coaches, skaters and judges. . . . All the categories work differently."
The gold medal came down to styles, the judges preferring the quiet fluidity and precision of G&G to the emotionally intense Mishkutienok and Dmitriev.
Eisler didn't think Gordeeva and Grinkov delivered such a performance.
"I don't care if you have five gold medals and world championships, you have to do it on the ice," he said. "Natalia and Artur deserved it."
Mishkutienok and Dmitriev were superb, with only the slightest of errors. As they finished their program, to the rousing music of Rachmaninoff, Dmitriev accidentally ripped the top of his costume.
"I wouldn't do such a dramatic program anymore," Moskvina said. "It doesn't pay."
Gordeeva and Grinkov, who spent 2 1/2 years as professionals and missed nearly a year of competition to have a baby, responded with grace.
Skating to a piano solo of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," Gordeeva and Grinkov seemed to float over the ice.
"When they do their lifts and twists, you barely hear his feet," said American skater Todd Sand, who with partner Jenni Meno finished a strong fifth. "From a technical point of view, it was very fast and quiet and done with great skill."
Eisler and Brasseur, who skated poorly when they won the bronze two years ago, had no such problems this time. Although they moved slower than the top pairs, they made up for it with two tremendous lifts, including a wraparound exit that had their fans cheering wildly.
When they were done, they slapped palms and hugged.
"I think tonight you saw the best group of pairs you will see for a long time," Eisler said. "I think the audience reaped a lot of benefits from seeing these performances."
Meno and Sand, the U.S. champions, followed their strong technical program with a clean, inspired free skate to match their fifth-place finish in last year's world championships.
"We didn't have any expectations," Meno said. "This is actually two places higher than last year, if you don't count the returning professionals."
by CNB