site continues to recall the history of the performances of the Russian national team at Winter Olympics Oh. The third part of our story is the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Until the last, the Americans, who had pretended to the 1998 Olympics, took their toll four years later, when the capital of Utah won the right to host the 2002 Winter Games.
Surrounded by nearly a dozen ski resorts Salt Lay City was simply made to host world holiday winter sports.
Considering that the city is located at an altitude of about 1,300 meters above sea level, most of the Olympic venues were built high in the mountains.
Cross-country skiing took place at the maximum height allowed The International Federation skiing and olympic skating rink became one of the highest ice arenas in the world.
The mascots of the nineteenth Winter Olympic Games were three animals - a hare, a coyote and a bear (does it look like anything?), Which symbolized the Olympic motto "Faster, higher, stronger."
2002 Olympics mascots: hare, coyote and bear
Participants of the Games and fans will remember the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City for the great entertainment, the brightness of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, the abundance of fireworks and special effects.
At the same time, just five months before the start of the Olympic Games, suicide bombers attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Therefore, security measures in Salt Lake City have been seriously strengthened, which affected the atmosphere of the holiday.
The main idea of the 2002 Olympics was the rallying of the entire civilized world, and the organizers included in the opening ceremony of the Games the introduction of the American flag found on the ruins of a shopping center in New York, as a reminder of the need to unite nations in the face of the threat of international terrorism.
Notable features of the Olympics
One more distinctive feature The Salt Lake City Games were a huge number of scandals, and they began long before the start of the Olympics.
Several years before OI-2002, information was released about corruption among IOC members, thanks to which the American bid won such a landslide victory.
The result was that a dozen members of the organizing committee of the Salt Lake City Olympics were dismissed, and the IOC adopted new rules for working with candidate cities.
The first Olympics in the 21st century was also marked by a huge number of disqualifications due to doping, which was a consequence of tightening control by the anti-doping committee, after Jauan Antonio Samaranch replaced Jacques Rogge as president of the IOC.
So, the Spanish skier of German origin Johan Mülleg after positive doping test took away three gold medals at once, two of which went to the Norwegian national team, allowing it to win in the medal standings.
Apolo Ono mined his gold with a scandal
There were also enough complaints about the organization of competitions and the work of judges. Everyone remembered an episode in a short track speed skating competition when main rival Japanese American athlete Apolo Ono and Korean Kim Dong Soon was unexpectedly disqualified for crossing Ono's trajectory.
V figure skating an innovation was an instant video replay of the competition, but this did not save the judges from the incident that went down in history as a "Scandal on Ice" and which in the future became the reason for revising the entire rating system.
We should also note the appearance of the first black champions of the Winter Olympics, which were the American bobsledder Vonetta Flowers and Canadian hockey player Jerome Iginla, who won gold medals.
Yang Yang A's first winter gold in China
The first gold medals at the Winter Olympic Games were won by athletes from Australia and China. Australian Stephen Bradbury's 1000m short track victory was somewhat ridiculous - he finished after the fall of ALL of his competitors.
His compatriot Alisa Camplin won gold in freestyle and acrobatics. Yang Yang (A) won two gold medals among Chinese women in short track
Medal credit
Athletes from 77 countries of the world took part in the 2002 Olympics and 78 sets of medals were played in 15 sports: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, snowboarding, cross-country skiing and biathlon, freestyle, tobogganing, speed skating and alpine skiing, short track, skeleton , ski jumping, figure skating and ice hockey.
A new look Olympic program became a skeleton - descent along an ice chute on a two-run sled on a reinforced frame. The favorite of the women's team, Ekaterina Mironova, took only 7th place in Salt Lake City, and the first Olympic medal had to wait until 2010.
In the unofficial team event, the Norwegian national team won, winning 25 medals, of which 13 were gold and 5 were silver.
Team Germany won only 12 gold medals, but set a record Winter Games according to the total number of awards won - 36 medals.
The Americans, who closed the top three, were not far behind the Germans in the total number of medals - 34, of which 10 were gold.
The Russian team became only fifth, having won 13 medals (5 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze).
The collapse of Russian skiers
Such an unsuccessful performance was primarily due to failures in sports, which brought most of the gold medals at past Olympics - cross-country skiing and figure skating. Scandals with doping and refereeing did not pass the Russian national team.
First, Larisa Lazutina was removed from the ski relay due to an increased level of hemoglobin, and this was done on the eve of the start, so that the Russian team did not have time to make a replacement and missed the race.
In the 30 km race, Lazutina won her sixth Olympic gold medal, but later darbepoetin will be found in her analyzes, she will be deprived of her medal and disqualified. The same fate befell another Russian champion - Olga Danilova.
The last Olympics of Larisa Lazutina
As a result, only Yulia Chepalova replenished the piggy bank of the Russian national team, collecting full set awards: gold in the sprint, silver in the classic 10 km race and bronze in the mass start.
Having lost two gold medals due to doping, the Russian national team, because of him, acquired one award of the highest standard. Russian skier Mikhail Ivanov took second place, but after Johan Mülleg was disqualified and stripped of his medals, Ivanov became the Olympic champion.
"Scandal on ice"
Figure skating was no longer a tragedy, but a farce. Competitions sports couples Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won, but a scandal erupted in the press, judge Mary Rain Le Gun from France was accused of bias, and the results of the competition were corrected.
As a result, a couple of days later the re-awarding ceremony took place, where the second set of gold medals was received by Canadians Zhami Sale and David Pelletier. Chinese bronze medalists Xu Chen and Hongbo Zhao refused to participate in the second ceremony.
Zhami Sale and David Pelletier
The scandal continued in women's singles skating, where 16-year-old American Sarah Hughes won a rather controversial victory over Irina Slutskaya thanks to just one judge's vote.
However, there was no revision of the results. Returning to Russia, Slutskaya was awarded a medal "For an Honest Victory", cast from a kilogram of gold.
In the competition of dance pairs, the Russians were also left without gold - Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh lost to the duet Marina Anisina-Gwendal Peizerat representing France.
Alexey Yagudin won Olympic gold, and Plushenko became the silver medalist.
In the men's singles tournament, there was also a fierce struggle, albeit between Russian figure skaters. As a result, 21-year-old Alexei Yagudin won difficult victory over 19-year-old Evgeni Plushenko.
Fourfold Bjoerndalen
Biathlon brought the Russians just one gold medal, which was won in the pursuit by Olga Medvedtseva-Pyleva, for whom this was the first victory in the competition.
She took away from Salt Lake City and relay bronze, which Galina Kukleva, Svetlana Ishmuratova and Albina Akhatova shared with Pyleva.
German luger Georg Hackl became the first athlete to win medals at five Olympics in a row (from 1988 to 2002). In Salt Lake City, Hackle was the silver medalist, and in total he has three gold and two silver medals.
Hockey revenge for Nagano
The Russians also failed to turn their 1998 hockey silver into gold 2002. despite the fact that Vyacheslav Fetisov attracted almost all Enkhalov stars to the team.
But Igor Larionov was already 42, and Pavel Bure was no longer the same as four years ago, when he scored five goals in the semifinals in Finland.
In the group stage, this Russian team drew with the Americans and lost to the Finns. In the quarterfinals, the Russians took revenge for Nagano from the Czechs, beating them with the same score 1: 0, and in the semifinals they could not cope with the US team.
Pavel Bure in the match for bronze with Belarus
As a result, the Russians were content with the third place, beating Belarus in the match for bronze, whose performance became a sensation of the tournament. A Olympic champions for the first time since 1952, the Canadians became, under the leadership of Mario Lemieux.
The Salt Lake City Olympics dealt a serious blow to Russia's pride and was very painful - even the theory of “conspiracy against Russian sports", Which, like most conspiracy theories, was completely untenable.
The next part of our Olympic series is the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.
The 2002 Winter Olympics were held in the United States. These were the nineteenth games in which 77 countries took part. Eighteen of them received the highest awards. Norway took the first place in the unofficial team competition. This event is also interesting because at it China and Australia won the first gold medals for the entire time of their participation in the Winter Games.
Preparation
Salt Lake City is the capital of the American state of Utah. It is a very developed center with a population of about 1 million people. It occupies an advantageous transport and geographical position. Before the start of the games, construction work was carried out in it. A special light rail system was created, and highways were modernized. The emblem of the games was a drawing in the form of a bright snowflake. Symbolically, the image signified the natural contrasts of the state, the diversity of its culture, as well as the courage of the athletes participating in the competition. The mascot of the games was three animals: a hare, a bear and a coyote, which meant speed, height and strength. The official poster features a flag waving over the state's snowy peaks. For the first time, representatives of some Asian countries came to the games: Hong Kong, Nepal, Cameroon. Another interesting fact is that the Ukrainian national team had twice as many participants as during its debut.
Innovations
The 2002 Olympics were remembered by the audience for the fact that some changes were made to it. The organizers returned the skeleton to the program, in which both men and women took part. The latter got the opportunity to compete in bobsleigh. Races were added to biathlon, and sprints were added to biathlon. In addition, a new distance of 1,500 meters has appeared in the short track. Another innovation is the fact that, for the first time, each sport has its own medal design.
Problems
The 2002 Olympics were accompanied by a whole series of scandals. It all started with choosing a venue for the games. The American city was immediately selected, in the first round of voting by the international commission. After Salt Lake City became the capital of the games, some IOC members were suspected of receiving rewards for their decision. In addition, the competition was accompanied by doping scandals, as a result of which some athletes were stripped of their titles and gold medals. But the most unusual incident occurred during the performance of sports couples on the ice, when the 2002 Olympics were held. Figure skating remembered for a long time because of an unusual incident associated with the determination of the winner. Gold won Russian athletes however the Canadian couple lodged a complaint and the results were revised and the jury awarded them first place.
Other victories of Russians on ice
The 2002 Olympics were marked by several more important events for Russian figure skaters. In women's singles skating, the controversial victory was won by the American athlete S. Hughes, bypassing by just one vote. But in men's skating the first and second places were, of course, for the Russians. A. Yagudin won gold, gaining record number points for his free program... The second place went to E. Plushenko. 2002 (Olympics) became a landmark year for him in his career, since it was at this time that he established himself as the future king of ice. His brilliant performance left no doubt about who would be the next champion. Indeed, in 2008 he was already the first in the competition and the absolute leader at the box office.
skiing
Enough interesting victories I remember the 2002 Olympics in racing. Biathlon became a landmark event thanks to the participation of the famous Norwegian athlete U. Bjoerndalen, who won three starts at once, as well as the relay. In addition to him, mention should be made of the outstanding achievements of the Croatian athlete J. Kostelic, who won three gold medals and one in spite of a recent operation. The participation of Russians in this sport was marked by serious problems: domestic athletes who took gold, after some time were accused of doping and deprived of their awards.
Bronze
Not entirely successful for Russians in game types turned out to be the 2002 Olympics. Hockey is one of the most developed sports in our country. The performance of the players, however, turned out to be difficult. A stellar team was assembled especially for the competition, however, despite this, at first the Russians drew with the Americans, then lost to the Finns and eventually took only third place, although the expectations, of course, were very high. Canadians became champions, and Belarus got the fourth place, which was a real achievement for this country.
The 2002 Winter Olympics were remembered for several notable events. One of them is the victory of the Australian athlete in the race. Then the leaders of the competition clashed with each other twice, which allowed Stephen Bradbury to take Another interesting fact is a victory for black athletes from the USA and Canada in hockey and bobsleigh. At the same event, Germany took a record number of awards, although it could not beat Norway in gold. In terms of organization, it can be noted that the competition was held in conditions of increased security measures.
Victories and difficulties of Russians
At the beginning of the competition, the domestic skier in a hard and stubborn struggle lost gold to the Italian in the race. However, the championship was won by a Russian figure skating pair. V individual race Russian skier took bronze. After a while, the female pair took second and third places, losing only to the Norwegian skier. The following days also brought our country medals in skiing and racing. However, it was not without setbacks: the women's national team in skiing was disqualified, and according to experts, it was she who should have taken the gold medals. The same fate befell the ski jumpers and the doubles. On the other hand, the Russian skier won the silver medal in the marathon race, but after a while he received gold, since the winner was found to have illegal drugs in his blood.
Record on ice
But the most memorable victory is the achievement of A. Yagudin. He performed brilliantly short program, the execution of which is still considered the reference. His performance received the highest marks from the judges. Everyone awarded him a victory, besides, he was the first to receive the maximum mark for artistry. Yagudin became the first athlete who performed two quadruple jump, one of which was included in the cascade. For the athlete himself, this was the peak of his career.
Speed skating and bobsleigh
In this sport, which is one of the leading ones, our country, unfortunately, did not win a single medal. But it is interesting that world records were set at almost all distances. The Netherlands took the first place in the unofficial classification in this category. The German and American teams finished the top three, taking the first places, but they had fewer silvers and Germany's achievements should be noted in bobsleigh. The German deuce took first place for the fourth time. This country also dominated the fours race. The Americans and the Swiss rounded out the triplets.
Skeleton and sleigh and other types
This sport was first introduced at these games after 1948. At the same time, women took part in these competitions. In the first place was the American team, the British and Canadians closed the top three. Our country took one gold medal and finished fourth. V luge sports Germany was also in the lead. At the games, several sets of awards were played for men (double and single sleds) and women (single sleds).
In ski jumping, the first place was taken by the Swiss and the Germans. Also, prizes were taken by Polish, Finnish, Slovenian athletes. In snowboarding, the Americans have won all three sets of awards in the men's category. This was the first time since 1956 that US representatives won the entire podium.
Meaning
The 2002 Games were important if only because they were the first competitions in the new millennium. However, unfortunately, this event was overshadowed by scandals, controversy and doping problems. Our country came to the capital of the games with a strong squad, but several setbacks led to the team losing a number of awards. Nevertheless, there is more than one remarkable moment in the memory of the fans. These are, first of all, the magnificent performances of A. Yagudin and E. Plushenko in men's skating and I. Slutskaya in women's. In addition, the biathlete's gold pleasantly pleased the domestic spectators and acquired a double price after the scandal around our skiers. In a number of sports, more was expected from domestic athletes (for example, in hockey). Nevertheless, the performance of the Russian team was worthy. As for the strongest countries, their positions in the unofficial team event turned out to be quite expected (first of all, this concerns Norway, in which So, the 2002 Olympics, the results of which, in principle, were logical, despite all the contradictions, generally left pleasant impressions for the audience.
Under the heading "Stars of the Winter Olympics" - Salt Lake City-2002. It was there that an unprecedented case in figure skating took place, when two couples at once climbed to the highest step of the podium - champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, whom the judges unconditionally put in first place, and the Canadian duo, which scandalously filed an appeal and challenged the jury's assessments.
In biathlon, there was no equal to our girls!
“It was my first victory, and she immediately ended up at the Olympic Games. And then I was just stunned with happiness. I rode there and was so pleased, as if not to tears. I cried only at the press conference, because they passed the phone to me, and it was from Krasnoyarsk that my mother called, "recalls biathlete Olga Medvedtseva-Pyleva, two-time Olympic champion 2002 and 2010.
"Excitement - in any case, it should always be present. Who can fight it as much as possible. Many nights do not sleep, they even suffer, who has what happens. I went to my victorious number without giving up, of course, but already with such a feeling - This Olympics would have ended sooner. Because I didn’t succeed in the races I was counting on. And here it’s just a contact fight, and the state of health is already so hard, my legs are getting cottony, and the sun is hot, I started at lunchtime, it's hot outside, and the snow is knee-deep, the snow is so damp in general, the skis are stuck. I already went out - if only I could get there, realizing that I don't have much strength, and I should not go into the penalty loop. I just I worked for shooting, "- says the athlete.
“Coaches always teach that you don’t need to set yourself up in advance. You have to set yourself up for work. once it interferes psychologically. And when you don’t wait, only then it works, ”Olga Medvedtseva-Pyleva is sure.
Elena Berezhnaya, 2002 Olympic champion in figure skating, began the Olympics in Salt Lake City with trouble: “We arrived at the Olympic Games. not touch ... God forbid to make some kind of joint element. I understood that I let the whole team down, this is the Olympic Games. In general, I was very ashamed, but one way or another, I put up with it. "
“After the draw, Anton came, we got the third number, in front of the entire steam locomotive, which is possible. All our rivals were behind, this is more honorable, because it is much more prestigious to play last, let's say. And Anton also said - the worst is over, now everything will be fine . And in fact - these words very reassured, made such confidence that in fact, much worse, "- recalls the skater.
"The moment when the awarding ceremony had already happened, so many emotions were experienced that there was nothing left but sarcasm. The fact that we stood twice on the podium and our flag was raised twice and we sang the anthem twice - that's cool "- the athlete tells about the story of the double award.
“I really envy the guys, because they will perform in our country. This roar of the stands, when the country in which they participate is sick, is a very strong feeling, like an earthquake,” says Elena Berezhnaya.
Salt Lake City (USA)
The Olympics in the Mormon state of Utah went down in history as the most scandalous of all time. This was largely due to the change of power in the IOC. The 2002 Winter Games were the first for a new chapter of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge, who in a number of episodes did not cope with the pressure of the media, and also chose the most painful option of tightening anti-doping policy. For journalists, an endless series of scandals was a godsend, but the reputation of the IOC was greatly shaken. The Olympic movement was on the brink of a severe crisis - it would have erupted if the Russian delegation had followed the lead of the radicals who demanded that our athletes leave Salt Lake City because of the "anti-Russian conspiracy."
| Z | WITH | B | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 13 | 5 | 7 | 25 |
| 2 | Germany | 12 | 16 | 8 | 36 |
| 3 | USA | 10 | 13 | 11 | 34 |
| 4 | Canada | 7 | 3 | 7 | 17 |
| 5 | Russia | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 |
Venue - Salt Lake City, USA
8 - 24 February 2002
Number of participating countries - 78
The number of athletes participating - 2399 (886 women, 1513 men)
Medal Sets - 78
Team Winner - Norway
Three main characters of the Games according to "SE"
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway),
biathlon
Janica Kostelic (Croatia),
skiing
Alexey Yagudin (Russia),
figure skating
FIGURISTS AND FIGURANTS
The flames of scandals began near Salt Lake City back in the late 1990s, when information about the fund, with the help of which the organizing committee "paid off debts" to the members of the IOC, who voted in favor of the American proposal, became public. This revealed the secret of the beautiful victory of the capital of Utah in the competition for the right to host the 2002 Olympics, in which Salt Lake City received almost twice as many votes as the Swedish Östersund, Swiss Sion and Canadian Quebec combined. As a result of the corruption case, 10 members of the organizing committee resigned or were suspended from work. The proceedings also affected the IOC, where new rules for working with candidate cities were adopted.
Five months before the start of the Olympics, terrorists attacked the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, which forced the US authorities and the organizing committee of the 2002 Games to dramatically increase security measures in Salt Lake City. This added nervousness to the already difficult atmosphere around the competition. Remembering the organizational strangeness of the previous Winter Olympics in the United States, many expected a catch this time too. Alas, reasons for indignation were not long in coming. The story of the conquest of the champion title in short track speed skating by the American of Japanese descent Apolo Ono was indicative. His Korean rival Kim Dong Soon was unexpectedly disqualified for crossing Ohno's trajectory. This controversial decision by the judges sparked an outcry in Korea. On next year Apolo was even forced to refuse to travel to the Korean stage of the World Cup due to physical threats received from local fans.
But the main judicial incident happened in the competition of sports pairs in figure skating. At first they were won by the Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. But after that, the North American media made a real hysteria, demanding to explain why the judges put Canadians Jami Sale and David Pelletier only in second place. Unable to withstand the onslaught, the IOC and the International Skating Union went to revise the initial results and presented the Canadian pair with a second set of gold medals. This unprecedented case, which received the name "Scandal on Ice" in the American press (by analogy with the hockey "Miracle on Ice-1980"), will later become a reason for revising the entire rating system in figure skating.
The FBI will investigate the "Scandal on Ice" for several more years. Interest in the case will be fueled by the statements of the French arbiter Marie-Ren Le Gun, who asserted that during the 2002 Olympics she was allegedly under pressure. But the investigation will die out after one of the main defendants - Russian businessman Chevalier Nusuev - is shot dead by hired killers in Moscow in 2005.
DISTRIBUTED RECORD
Offended by the "Scandal on Ice" Russian fans will try to organize a rematch in women's singles skating, where 16-year-old Sarah Hughes won a controversial victory over Irina Slutskaya thanks to just one referee vote. There was no loud protest, but after the Olympics, Slutskaya will be awarded an alternative medal "For an Honest Victory" in her homeland, which will be cast from a kilogram of 750-carat gold. The men's singles tournament was also unusual in Salt Lake City. Alexei Yagudin, a 21-year-old Russian, won a difficult victory over his 19-year-old compatriot Evgeni Plushenko. At the same time, in addition to the famous coach Tatyana Tarasova, Yagudin was assisted by psychologist Rudolf Zagainov, who allegedly "hypnotized" Plushenko during his speech.
With a personal psychotherapist I was preparing for the 2002 Olympics and Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Perhaps it was this that helped the unique athlete to first take sixth place in the 30 km ski race, then calmly win all three biathlon starts and crown his triumph with the relay title. An athletic feat can be considered three gold and one silver medals for ski slopes Salt Lake City of Croatian Janica Kostelic. A brave girl on the eve of the 2002 Games underwent three operations on her injured knee. Despite the colossal health problems, Yanitsa will compete for another five years and at the 2006 Olympics will become the most titled alpine skier in history.
Theoretically, she could claim an eternal record in 2002 and a five-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Larisa Lazutina. But her plans were canceled out by doping scandals. First, Lazutina was removed from the relay because of an increased level of hemoglobin, and the Russian team received information about this on the eve of the start and, not having time to make a replacement, missed the race. Lazutina nevertheless completed her sixth Olympic title in the 30 km race, catching up with the great Lyubov Egorova and Lydia Skoblikova. But then in the analyzes of Larisa and our other champion Olga Danilova they will find darbepoetin, both will be deprived of gold medals and disqualified. Next year, Lazutina will become a deputy and will settle in the Moscow Regional Duma for more than ten years.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST RUSSIA
The performance of our hockey players did not please at the 2002 Olympics either. Vyacheslav Fetisov, who will soon become the head of all national sports, gathered under the banner of the Russian national team almost all of our stars from the NHL - only Sergei Zubov, Alexander Mogilny and Alexey Zhitnik refused. Even 42-year-old Igor Larionov returned to the team. But in the group stage this “dream team” drew with the Americans and lost to the Finns, and in the semifinals they failed to put the squeeze on the US team. The Russians were content with the third place, which clearly did not correspond to their level. And for the first time since 1952, Canadians, led by Mario Lemieux, became champions. But the main hockey sensation is the fourth place of the national team of Belarus, which was only 14th at the world championship a year earlier.
Disqualifications and sporting failures have severely undermined Russia's position in the medal standings. With five gold medals, we took only fifth place - at that time the lowest in the history of the Games. The loss of a leading position against the background of doping and referee scandals was very painful in the country - the idea of a "conspiracy against Russian sports" was seriously discussed. Although, for example, doping revelations affected not only Russians - a bronze medal in alpine skiing Briton Alan Bexter was deprived, and the Spanish skier of German origin Johan Mülleg, after a positive doping test, was taken away at once three gold medals. One of them, by the way, passed to our Mikhail Ivanov.
Among the main events of the 2002 Olympics, it is customary to celebrate the gold of American bobsledder Vonetta Flowers and Canadian hockey player Jerome Iginla, who became the first black champions of the Winter Games. But the most unusual thing in Salt Lake City was the victory at the 1000 meters in short track by Australian Stephen Bradbury. This little-known athlete first reached the semifinals due to the disqualification of an opponent, and then made his way to the final due to the fact that three of his competitors clashed with each other. In the final, Bradbury was significantly behind all the participants in the race. But the four leaders dropped each other again just before the finish line. Stephen calmly passed the fallen rivals and became the first winter champion from the Southern Hemisphere. This victory is recognized as one of the most comical in the history of sports.
Very often one hears: "Ah, Slutskaya, who was sentenced to Salt Lake City".
Or vice versa, "A, the Salt Lake City Olympics, the same one where Slutskaya was condemned.
And how many times it has been said that in fact Slutskaya is a real Olympic champion!
It seems that Irina herself believes in it.
This stereotype confirms the universal rule: image is everything.
First, a few general words. It is not for nothing that many athletes say that Olympic medal- mean. It does not always go to the one who deserves it the most. More precisely, there are, as a rule, more worthy medals than medals themselves. The Olympics is somewhat similar to an anecdote about an exhibition of tractors, where in English it says "the best tractor in Europe", in the American - "the best tractor in the world", and in Russian - "the best tractor in this hall." Olympic gold goes to whoever is the best in this hall, here and now.
There is always a certain element of subjectivity in figure skating.
It is no coincidence that the whole team puts out the marks, and often the opinions of experts differ. Probably, the talk about the queue for the podium, about the agreements between the judges and the federations, did not arise out of nowhere. But one must understand that the possibilities of such behind-the-scenes methods are also very limited, only if the strength of the athletes is approximately equal, if each has both undoubted advantages and undoubted disadvantages. As Tarasova rightly said after Yagudin's brilliant and undoubted victory in the same 2002, one must be two heads taller than everyone else, then no one will have any doubts.
What happened in 2002? Of course, the main contender for the Olympic throne was the legendary Michelle Kwan, the favorite of all Americans, it was she who was predicted to win. Following her, they considered not less, and in many ways even more talented Sasha Cohen, incredibly light, flexible, airy, perhaps less experienced and eminent at that time (by the way, now our miracle - Lipnitskaya is called Russian Cohen). The third in the American team was the best in this room, Sarah Hughes, who does not fade in the shadow of her worthy rivals. At that time, she was the winner of the world championship, had the most difficult arsenal of jumps in the world, and, unlike most rivals, was stable. By the way, not long before the Olympics, in the same season at the Skate Canada International tournament, Sarah beat both Slutskaya and Kwan with the same programs. So talking about her as an accidental misunderstanding in any case is not entirely fair. It should also be noted that the rating system was fundamentally different from the current one. And the point is not only in the range up to 6.0, but also in the fact that the value of jumps was much higher than now. Thanks to one difficult jump won competitions, won a place in the national team. Athletes remember: jumped - won, did not jump - did not win.
As far as I remember, Tchaikovskaya (maybe not the first one) said in an interview that the Americans then invented and implemented a simple and ingenious, but despicable combination - they pulled all three of their athletes up in a hitch at any cost: if one falls, the others will still not let anyone seep. This idea was often repeated later. But my question immediately arises: if the combination is simple and ingenious, why have few people tried to repeat it? The answer is simple. Such a combination is possible only when there are three extra-top athletes. But if there are already three extra-top athletes, they (in the sense, one of them) already have great chances to take gold without any intrigues and combinations. It would never occur to anyone to talk about "combinations" when, for example, three Soviet couples won the entire podium. They were just stronger.
And further. The question is for those who believe that Slutskaya was then condemned. Let's imagine that it was not there at all. We have: Hughes the first, Kwan the second, Cohen the third. Do you think Kwan and Cohen sued in this case? Well, yes, they flopped, the jumps were not difficult, but what artistry, what gliding, what a program! But why should Americans condemn their favorites, worthy of the highest awards, in favor of some kind of misunderstanding! That is, after all, Hughes was stronger than the great Kwan. So maybe she was better than Slutskaya?
Now let's look at the program. Hughes jumped two cascades 3 + 3, Slutskaya - none! Let me remind you once again that this is happening at a time when jumping was first of all appreciated. And 3 + 3 is more difficult than 3 + 2, well, probably almost the same as a quadruple is more difficult than a triple.
Hughes did not make a single visible blot, Slutskaya - at least two: she almost touched the ice with her hand during the flip, and made a "raskoryaka" in the cascade, which the commentator Averbukh tactfully called an oiler. Bottom line: Hughes has undoubtedly a more complex and undoubtedly cleaner executed program. Isn't that enough to at least doubt the fact of the condemnation?
Some rightly point out the oddities with the ratings, the discrepancy between technical and "for artistry" in comparison with other competitions. But here you can, after all, here is some unaccounted for argument: Sarah was the first among the leaders, and her grades were simply held back, as always the first in the last warm-up. After all, she was not the favorite, and the judges hoped that others would be better. That is, if she were (before) the last, her grades would have been even higher. And Irina is disingenuous, speaking in many interviews about the world championship that took place after the Olympics, where she had higher marks with exactly the same skating and won. Not the same skating was, at least a couple of the aforementioned gross mistakes were missing.
Now about the artistry. Many people think that Irino skating is heavy, unfeminine. She has no graceful ease in movement. Preparing for a half-skating jump, rough swings, all movements are some kind of powerful, sharp. I know that many disagree with me on this.
And the wrinkled hands and the "passionate" look, when there is no acting professionalism and depth behind them, IMHO, look at the skaters pretentiously. Some couples have sinned and are still doing this, but for Ira it looks just fake, it's not even like a provincial theater, but like a parody of a provincial theater. All the same, Tosca obliges, sets a certain level. In this sense, Sarah's program is much less pretentious, which means that it does not carry unjustified expectations.
However, judge for yourself.
Irina Slutskaya
Sarah Hughes
I consider Slutskaya a great athlete who deserves Olympic gold... She has unique qualities of character that can and should be learned, and not only for athletes. But despite this, when asked if Sarah won the fair in 2002, I personally would answer "yes". Five out of nine judges thought the same. The other four thought Irina was better.
Olympic medals are awarded in different ways. It happens that there is an undoubted leader, from whom everyone expects victory. He really is a cut above everyone else, and no one doubts his victory. And he lives up to expectations. It happens that there are two main contenders, and the competition turns into a duel between them. It happens that there are several favorites with approximately equal chances, and the one who skates cleanly and accurately wins. And it happens that recognized leaders make unforgivable mistakes, and the strong middle peasant wins, who managed to take advantage of the chance that was given to him (perhaps this category includes, for example, the victory of Urmanov and Navka with Kostomarov). But is that why his medal is less valuable?
P.S. I hope that one of our girls will be able to do in 4 years what Irina did not succeed in 2002.