2002 Olympic Winter Games

Ladies

Short Program, February 19
Free Skate, February 21

The short program proved far more important to determining the results of the gold medal in the ladies event than anyone could have imagined prior to the Games.  The top five favorites going into the event all held the five top spots after the short program with four of the five positions determined by the slimmest of margins.

Of the top five favorites, Sarah Hughes was the first to perform, skating last in the first warmup.  She presented her program, skated to Ave Maria beautifully, with the only obvious technical defects a flutzed Lutz and a forced landing edge on the loop in her triple Lutz - double loop combination.  Three of the nine judges took large deductions, but for what it is not clear, with technical merit marks four to five tenths below the presentation marks, while some of the other judges may have taken small deductions as well.

Next of the top ladies to skate was Sasha Cohen, who had drawn to skate first in the second warmup.  She opened with a flutzed triple Lutz - double toe loop combination and then landed a clean triple flip.  Her double Axel was also clean but landed a little on the toe.

Just prior to being called to skate and then at the start of the program Cohen looked nervous, but settled down quickly.  Still, her performance overall looked a little restrained and not as confident as at U.S. Nationals last month.   Nevertheless, it was still a strong performance and she was rewarded with marks of 5.5 through 5.8.  She was placed an unambiguous third by the judges,  unlike the other places in the top five that were not so clear cut.

The main fireworks in the ladies short program took place in the third warm-up group with Maria Butyrskaya, Irina Slutskaya, and Michelle Kwan all performing in that group.  Of those three, Butyrskaya went first, skating second in the group.

Butyrskaya opened with a stiff triple flip and followed with an awkward looking triple Lutz - double toe loop.  Her double Axel was the best looking of the three jump elements but still a little stiff and on the toe.  The remainder of the program was decently skated, though restrained and cautious.  Two judges took obvious deductions, placing her as low as eighth and sixth, while the judges from Russia and Belarus placed her third.  Overall she placed fifth on a five-four split of the pane, just behind Hughes who placed fourth.  IT was a critical decision for Hughes, for had the split not gone her way she would not have won the gold medal.

Immediately following Butyrskaya, Slutskaya took the ice.  She skated a clean program that was well done, but like all the other top ladies nerves showed through and her skating was a little restrained.  She landed a clean triple Lutz - double loop combination, double Axel and then triple flip.  Her step sequence was a difficult diagonal sequence executed on on foot.  Following her performance she held a six-three lead over Cohen with marks in the 5.7-5.8 range -- good enough to win but with plenty of room left for Kwan.

Kwan was last to skate among the top ladies.  She opened with a clean triple Lutz - double loop combination and then landed a clean double Axel.  Her triple flip, however, was cheated on the landing which cost her in the first mark.   Eight of the nine judges placed Slutskaya equal to or above Kwan in technical merit but all nine judges placed Kwan equal to or above Slutskaya in the second mark.  On a close five-four decision Kwan won the short program.

In the remaining two warmup groups the only skater who had a chance of cracking the top five was Viktoria Volchkova.  She opened with a triple Lutz - double toe loop combination with a turn out of the Lutz and another turn before the toe loop.   She doubled a triple flip and landed the double Axel on the toe but managed to hold on.  She was buried in 12th place and effectively knocked out of the running.

First to skate in last warmup was Butyrskaya.  She skated with decent speed and expression but her jumps was riddled with errors.  She landed only three triple jumps.  On her other attempts she two-footed a triple Lutz, stepped out of a toe loop in a triple-triple sequence and doubled another triple Lutz that she also stepped out of.  She received technical merit marks as low as 4.9 and did not even wait for her presentation marks, walking out of Kiss and Cry in disgust.  She dropped to sixth in the free skate to sixth overall, bypassed by Fumie Sugurie who gave a fine performance in the fourth warmup group.

Next up was Sarah Hughes who, not expecting to be in the running for the gold medal, went all out without restraint.  Her program underwent some major changes after U.S. Nationals, with the addition of a second triple-triple and the rearrangement of the other elements.  She landed both triple Sachow - triple loop and triple toe loop - triple loop with very small cheats on some of those jumps.  She also landed a triple Lutz - double toe loop combination and solo triple flip and triple toe loop.   She skated with good speed and nice expression with total abandon.  She received marks of 5.6 through 5.8, which at the time she skated seemed good enough for a medal but not high enough to knock off the top contenders.  How wrong that proved to be.

Following Julia Sebestyen, who placed sixth in the short program but dropped to eighth in the long, it was Sasha Cohen's turn to skate.  Cohen attempted a triple Lutz - triple toe loop combination, but fell on the second jump.  It was the only major error in her program, but enough to drop her out of the medals.  She landed a total of six triple jumps and skated with good speed and expression and without the appearance of nervousness she showed in the short program. While technical up to the level of the ladies who ended up placed ahead of her, she was marked lower in the second mark to end up in fourth place for the free skate and fourth overall.

T.V. couldn't have asked for a better start order with Michelle Kwan and then Irina Slutskaya closing the show.  During the warmup period both skaters looked to be bundles of nerves, and both of their performances appeared to suffer for it.

Kwan opened with a clean triple toe loop.  In warmup she had landed triple toe loop - triple toe loop but in the program she threw a triple double with the triple slightly two-footed.  She landed triple Lutz - double loop and a double Axel but then fell on triple flip.  She kept up fighting for it landing three more solo triples for a total of five.  She gave a good rendition of the program, but not as strong as U.S. Nationals and not as effortless as Hughes.  She received soft technical merit marks of 5.6-5.7 but good presentation marks of 5.8-5.9.  Even with the strong presentation marks it was not enough to beat Hughes who held on to first place on a six to three decision ahead of Kwan.

When Irina Slutskaya took the ice her fate, and the outcome of the entire podium, was in her hands (or feet, so to speak).  If she won the long program the gold was hers.  If she placed second, Hughes would take top honors and Kwan would drop down to third.  A third place result from Slutskaya in the long would give the gold medal to Kwan.

Slutskaya had a triple-triple combination planned in her program but in competition did not attempt it.  She opened with a clean triple Lutz - double loop.   Her second element in previous competitions had been a triple Salchow - triple loop combination, but here she threw a triple Salchow - double loop - double Salchow combination.  The two Salchows were clean but she stepped out of the double loop.   She went on to land four solo triples, though one of them was a near disaster.   On a solo triple flip she had a break forward and a big reach for the ice but avoided touching.  Like Kwan she gave a good performance of her program, but not her best for the season.  In a close five-four decision Slutskaya was placed behind Hughes giving Hughes a huge come-form-behind gold medal victory.

Referee:   Britta Lindgren

          J1:  Sissy Krick  GER
          J2:  Tatiana Danilenko  RUS
          J3:  Maria Hrachovcova  SVK
          J4:  Ingelise Blangsted  DEN
          J5:  Paolo Pizzocari  ITA

Asst. Ref.:  Charles Foster

          J6:  Irina Absaliamova BLR
          J7:  Pekka Leskinen  FIN
          J8:  Deborah Islam  CAN
          J9:  Joseph Inman  USA