VGThuy
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I was researching old World Championship videos this week and this video of the 2001 Worlds Free Dance (CTV):
First of all… the judges totally robbed Anissina/Peizerat of the title. Second, Tracy Wilson commentary during Fusar-Poli/Margaglio’s skate was like a level-and-a-half below Judy Blumberg’s scathing commentary for Bourne/Kraatz’s 1998 Worlds Original Dance. Then when Wilson was so pissed off at the 5/4 split in FP/M’s favor that she did not talk for like almost 6 minutes straight during Lobacheva/Averbuk’s skate. Whether that was due to her rooting for Bourne/Kraatz or even Drobiazko/Vanagas to overtake L/A or if she was still reeling from her disapproval of FP/M’s win over A/P or a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B, it was quite funny to watch.
The crowd, already riled up by FP/M’s placement over A/P and D/V’s inability to place over L/A, almost went full soccer/hockey hooliganism mode after B/K’s 4th place finish behind L/A.
It was true that protocol judging was in full swing and out of the 24 teams, 4 of them did not change placements at all between the Original Dance and the Free Dance (and the OD ranks were close to the Compulsory Dance rankings).
I just remember people at the time being sort of numb and thinking this was just part of ice dance culture. I admit I was very perplexed by some of the CD results from the videos I’ve watched and I don’t get the OD rankings much. I also think Krylova/Ovysiannikov’s retirement due to injury during the 1999-2000 season did politically propel L/A into gold medal contender status by 2002, which I never understood except for the fact that those 2002 free dances were so awful by the most part that you have to kind of get it (and L/A had one of the better ODs that season while everyone else not A/P….).
I also remember 1999 Worlds and the crowd being supportive of A/P and angry over that result, but at least there was a change from OD to FD rankings.
The judges having all the power and being more brazen about using it really messed with the skaters’ heads during this era, I believe and the fans were seemed to be becoming angrier about it. It got to the point where I remember when
was first being reported and before any of us had enough info to determine if there was any validity to Marina Anissina and her mom using a Russian mafioso to help broker a deal to ensure a victory in 2002 SLC, most people actually understood and were kind of okay with it because, after seeing 2001 Worlds, many fans understood if she felt like she had to do something to get the gold she would have deserved anyway. It was more the fact that the pairs event got embroiled into it that was much less acceptable for people.
That all said, I had to say the dances were really fun to watch even if at the time the ISU found them depressing and overly dramatic that they put an “uplifting” or some sort of entertainment mandate for the 2001-02 season… that A/P and L/A didn’t really follow, and they placed 1 and 2 anyway (much to Barbara Fusar-Poli’s chagrin in a skating book I read). And there was a lot of shredded shirts and ripped shirts, etc.
Speaking of ripped shirts, shredded skirts, and melodramatikkks…although we knew the ISU had already decided that no other style but the Russian style was going to be rewarded in ice dance after 1990 or whatever (killing the old Western Euro and North American styles/technique that used to be competitive for titles and medals for many decades prior), that “Russian and only Russian” message seemed to have exploded by this era with all the messy dramatics. Every team had to have a Russian on their team to have some success. Even A/P took in Natalia Dubova after this season. Bourne/Kraatz went from Dubova to Tarasova and was starting their process of becoming more Tarasovaed… and introducing us to Morosovian ice dance choreography before his choreography became a template. Linichuk still had the power in this decade, which ended after 2009-2010, when Igor/Marina and their IJS focused training started to pay off.
Back to enjoying the actual dance during period though, I mean… talk about personalities! Marina Anissina (her arabesques!) and Gwendal Peizerat (his extension!)… Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio not being shy about how they felt (especially after A/P snubbed them and “did not recognize them as world champions”. Shae and Viktor were also good for drama and complaining about how they were robbed as were Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas…
Overall, I honestly think this period was such a boiling pot of frustration among all the competitors due to the judges’ antics that it all boiled over by 2002 Worlds with that near-universal supported (by the competitors) petition over the bronze medal incident.
So do you think of this era? Was it the most corrupt era of a pretty accepted corrupt discipline? Was it just as corrupt as others? Did you find it as entertaining as I did? Do you think the ISU giving so much power back to the judges in terms of determining results will bring back what we saw from this era?
Also, does anyone else miss the overall bounciness and fast steps, and dense and complex content of older ice dance and miss that dance wasn’t just relegated to the basic choreo sections that are itemized? I also miss watching free dances where I couldn’t predict the structure of the program and see the choreography as “elements” throughout the whole program.
Anyway, this era gave us so many FSU emoticons.
…
P.S. that video for some reason showed the full commercial for Kraft Mac n’ Cheese and the woman squeezed ketchup onto her mac n’ cheese… is that something people do? Is it common in Canada? I need to know.
First of all… the judges totally robbed Anissina/Peizerat of the title. Second, Tracy Wilson commentary during Fusar-Poli/Margaglio’s skate was like a level-and-a-half below Judy Blumberg’s scathing commentary for Bourne/Kraatz’s 1998 Worlds Original Dance. Then when Wilson was so pissed off at the 5/4 split in FP/M’s favor that she did not talk for like almost 6 minutes straight during Lobacheva/Averbuk’s skate. Whether that was due to her rooting for Bourne/Kraatz or even Drobiazko/Vanagas to overtake L/A or if she was still reeling from her disapproval of FP/M’s win over A/P or a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B, it was quite funny to watch.
The crowd, already riled up by FP/M’s placement over A/P and D/V’s inability to place over L/A, almost went full soccer/hockey hooliganism mode after B/K’s 4th place finish behind L/A.
It was true that protocol judging was in full swing and out of the 24 teams, 4 of them did not change placements at all between the Original Dance and the Free Dance (and the OD ranks were close to the Compulsory Dance rankings).
I just remember people at the time being sort of numb and thinking this was just part of ice dance culture. I admit I was very perplexed by some of the CD results from the videos I’ve watched and I don’t get the OD rankings much. I also think Krylova/Ovysiannikov’s retirement due to injury during the 1999-2000 season did politically propel L/A into gold medal contender status by 2002, which I never understood except for the fact that those 2002 free dances were so awful by the most part that you have to kind of get it (and L/A had one of the better ODs that season while everyone else not A/P….).
I also remember 1999 Worlds and the crowd being supportive of A/P and angry over that result, but at least there was a change from OD to FD rankings.
The judges having all the power and being more brazen about using it really messed with the skaters’ heads during this era, I believe and the fans were seemed to be becoming angrier about it. It got to the point where I remember when
was first being reported and before any of us had enough info to determine if there was any validity to Marina Anissina and her mom using a Russian mafioso to help broker a deal to ensure a victory in 2002 SLC, most people actually understood and were kind of okay with it because, after seeing 2001 Worlds, many fans understood if she felt like she had to do something to get the gold she would have deserved anyway. It was more the fact that the pairs event got embroiled into it that was much less acceptable for people.That all said, I had to say the dances were really fun to watch even if at the time the ISU found them depressing and overly dramatic that they put an “uplifting” or some sort of entertainment mandate for the 2001-02 season… that A/P and L/A didn’t really follow, and they placed 1 and 2 anyway (much to Barbara Fusar-Poli’s chagrin in a skating book I read). And there was a lot of shredded shirts and ripped shirts, etc.
Speaking of ripped shirts, shredded skirts, and melodramatikkks…although we knew the ISU had already decided that no other style but the Russian style was going to be rewarded in ice dance after 1990 or whatever (killing the old Western Euro and North American styles/technique that used to be competitive for titles and medals for many decades prior), that “Russian and only Russian” message seemed to have exploded by this era with all the messy dramatics. Every team had to have a Russian on their team to have some success. Even A/P took in Natalia Dubova after this season. Bourne/Kraatz went from Dubova to Tarasova and was starting their process of becoming more Tarasovaed… and introducing us to Morosovian ice dance choreography before his choreography became a template. Linichuk still had the power in this decade, which ended after 2009-2010, when Igor/Marina and their IJS focused training started to pay off.
Back to enjoying the actual dance during period though, I mean… talk about personalities! Marina Anissina (her arabesques!) and Gwendal Peizerat (his extension!)… Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio not being shy about how they felt (especially after A/P snubbed them and “did not recognize them as world champions”. Shae and Viktor were also good for drama and complaining about how they were robbed as were Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas…
Overall, I honestly think this period was such a boiling pot of frustration among all the competitors due to the judges’ antics that it all boiled over by 2002 Worlds with that near-universal supported (by the competitors) petition over the bronze medal incident.
So do you think of this era? Was it the most corrupt era of a pretty accepted corrupt discipline? Was it just as corrupt as others? Did you find it as entertaining as I did? Do you think the ISU giving so much power back to the judges in terms of determining results will bring back what we saw from this era?
Also, does anyone else miss the overall bounciness and fast steps, and dense and complex content of older ice dance and miss that dance wasn’t just relegated to the basic choreo sections that are itemized? I also miss watching free dances where I couldn’t predict the structure of the program and see the choreography as “elements” throughout the whole program.
Anyway, this era gave us so many FSU emoticons.
…P.S. that video for some reason showed the full commercial for Kraft Mac n’ Cheese and the woman squeezed ketchup onto her mac n’ cheese… is that something people do? Is it common in Canada? I need to know.
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