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. Most of the top competitors by 1998 were now openly professional.
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 Exhibition gala: 21 February 1998
Medal summary Medal table
Medalists Men's singles Ladies' singles Pair skating Ice dance
Participating NOCs Thirty-six nations competed in the figure skating events at Nagano.
Results
Men 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 1 Ilia Kulik 111.5 2 Elvis Stojko 234.0 3 Philippe Candeloro 524.5 4 Todd Eldredge 345.5 5 Alexei Yagudin 457.0 6 Steven Cousins 6710.0 7 Michael Weiss 11611.5 8 Guo Zhengxin 10914.0 9 Michael Tyllesen 91115.5 10 Viacheslav Zagorodniuk 16816.0 11 Ivan Dinev 71417.5 12 Jeff Langdon 171018.5 13 Szabolcs Vidrai 121319.0 14 Dmitri Dmitrenko 81620.0 15 Takeshi Honda 181221.0 16 Igor Pashkevich 131521.5 17 Yamato Tamura 151724.5 18 Michael Shmerkin 141825.0 19 Roman Skorniakov 201929.0 20 Margus Hernits 192029.5 21 Cornel Gheorghe 212131.5 22 Patrick Meier 222233.0 23 Gilberto Viadana 242335.0 24 Lee Kyu-hyun 232435.5 Free skating not reached 25 Anthony Liu 25 26 Róbert Kažimír 26 27 David Liu 27 28 Yuri Litvinov 28 29 Patrick Schmit 29
Referee: Britta Lindgren
Assistant Referee: Junko Hiramatsu
Judges: Margaret Worsfold Vladislav Petukov Sally Rehorick Mariana Silvia Chita Mieko Fujimora Sviatoslav Babenko Evgenia Bogdanova Paula Naughton Marie-Reine Le Gougne Zsofia Wagner (substitute)
Ladies The primary contenders for the gold medal were Americans Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan. 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.
While not a medal winner, France's injured Surya Bonaly, who placed 10th, was the first skater to perform a backflip since it was declared an illegal maneuver in 1977. Knowing she was not going to win a medal, Bonaly chose to execute a backflip, landing on one skate, in lieu of two triple jumps at the end of her free skate during the 1998 Winter Olympics, knowing she would receive a point deduction.
Rank Name Nation 1 Tara Lipinski 212.0 2 Michelle Kwan 122.5 3 Chen Lu 435.0 4 Maria Butyrskaya 345.5 5 Irina Slutskaya 557.5 6 Vanessa Gusmeroli 8610.0 7 Elena Sokolova 10712.0 8 Tatiana Malinina 9812.5 9 Elena Liashenko 71013.5 10 Surya Bonaly 61114.0 11 Yulia Lavrenchuk 15916.5 12 Joanne Carter 111217.5 13 Shizuka Arakawa 141421.0 14 Julia Lautowa 211323.5 15 Júlia Sebestyén 191524.5 16 Yulia Vorobieva 181625.0 17 Nicole Bobek 171725.5 18 Lenka Kulovaná 161826.0 19 Anna Rechnio 132026.5 20 Laëtitia Hubert 122127.0 21 Alisa Drei 201929.0 22 Marta Andrade 242234.0 23 Mojca Kopač 222334.0 24 Shirene Human 232435.5 Free skating not reached 25 Ivana Jakupcevic 25 26 Helena Grundberg 26 27 Tony Bombardieri 27 28 Sofia Penkova 28
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 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: Sally-Anne Stapleford
Assistant Referee: Tjasa Andrée-Prosenc
Judges: Frank A. Parsons Judit Furst-Tombor Karin Ehrhardt Jan Hoffmann Susan A. Johnson Anatoli Bogatyrev Alfred Korytek Maria Miller Anne Hardy Thomas Liliana Střechová (substitute)
Pairs 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. The first woman to do so was Russian skater Irina Rodnina, who won three Olympics with two different partners.
Full results Rank Name Nation 1 Oksana Kazakova / Artur Dmitriev 111.5 2 Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze 323.5 3 Mandy Wötzel / Ingo Steuer 234.0 4 Kyoko Ina / Jason Dungjen 446.0 5 Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo 859.0 6 Sarah Abitbol / Stéphane Bernadis 769.5 7 Marina Eltsova / Andrei Bushkov 579.5 8 Jenni Meno / Todd Sand 6912.0 9 Peggy Schwarz / Mirko Müller 9812.5 10 Dorota Zagórska / Mariusz Siudek 101116.0 11 Evgenia Filonenko / Igor Marchenko 131016.5 12 Kristy Sargeant / Kris Wirtz 111217.5 13 Danielle McGrath / Stephen Carr 151320.5 14 Marina Khalturina / Andrei Krukov 161422.0 15 Kateřina Beránková / Otto Dlabola 141522.0 16 Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon / Luc Bradet 121622.0 17 Sabrina Lefrançois / Nicolas Osseland 171725.5 18 Inga Rodionova / Aleksandr Anichenko 191827.5 19 Maria Krasiltseva / Alexander Chestnikh 181928.0 20 Marie Arai / Shin Amano 202030.0
Referee: Walburga Grimm
Assistant Referee: Ronald T. Pfenning
Judges: Yang Jiasheng John Greenwood Heinz-Ulrich Walther Anna Sierocka Roger A. Glenn Olga Žáková Donald McKnight Marina Sanaya Alfred Korytek Marie-Reine Le Gougne (substitute)
Ice dance 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.
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.Canadians dig for gold on ice: Bourne and Kraatz will battle opponents and judges in Nagano , Steve Milton, 7 February 1998Skating federation to investigate judging , sportsillustrated.cnn.com, 12 February 2002
Full results Rank Name Nation 1 2 1 Pasha Grishuk / Evgeni Platov 11112.0 2 Anjelika Krylova / Oleg Ovsyannikov 22224.0 3 Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat 33347.0 4 Shae-Lynn Bourne / Victor Kraatz 54437.2 5 Irina Lobacheva / Ilia Averbukh 45559.8 6 Barbara Fusar-Poli / Maurizio Margaglio 666612.0 7 Elizabeth Punsalan / Jerod Swallow 777714.0 8 Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas 898816.2 9 Irina Romanova / Igor Yaroshenko 9810918.4 10 Kati Winkler / René Lohse 111191019.8 11 Sophie Moniotte / Pascal Lavanchy 1010121122.2 12 Sylwia Nowak / Sebastian Kolasiński 1212111223.4 13 Kateřina Mrázová / Martin Šimeček 1313131326.0 14 Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovski 1714141428.6 15 Elena Grushina / Ruslan Goncharov 1516151530.2 16 Tatiana Navka / Nikolai Morozov 1415171632.0 17 Diane Gerencser / Pasquale Camerlengo 1617161733.2 18 Albena Denkova / Maxim Staviski 1818181836.0 19 Chantal Lefebvre / Michel Brunet 1919191938.0 20 Dominique Deniaud / Martial Jaffredo 2021212040.8 21 Jessica Joseph / Charles Butler 2220202141.4 22 Elizaveta Stekolnikova / Dmitri Kazarlyga 2322222244.2 23 Aya Kawai / Hiroshi Tanaka 2123232345.6 24 Ksenia Smetanenko / Samuel Gezalian 2424242448.0
Referee: Wolfgang Kunz
Assistant Referee: Alexander Gorshkov
Judges: Jean Senft Halina Gordon-Półtorak Eugenia Gasiorowska Yuri Balkov Ulf Denzer Jarmila Portová Alla Shekhovtsova Walter Zuccaro Jean-Bernard Hamel Robert J. Horen (substitute)
References
External links 1998 Winter Olympics at Skate Canada 1998 Winter Olympics at Ice Skating International Judges Scoring of Ladies Free Skating-all skaters
Men "THE XVIII WINTER GAMES: FIGURE SKATING; Kulik of Russia Rides His Quad to Figure-Skating Gold", The New York Times "Stojko wins silver for second time", Los Angeles Times Ladies Kwan Lipinski Short program, The Washington Post Lipinski wins, Sports Illustrated Pair Dmitriev Kazakova, The New York Times "Gold and Silver go to Russia", The New York Times Dance "Grishuk and Platov win again!", Los Angeles Times