2002 Olympic Winter Games

Men

Short Program, February 12
Free Skating, February 14

Following the European Championships it looked as though the Russians had a good chance of sweeping the men's event.  It was thought that Alexei Yagudin and Evgeny Plushenko would vie for the first two spots and that Alexander Abt would have a good chance to take the bronze.  Those hope were dashed, however, in the short program with Plushenko placing a surprising fourth and Abt fifth.

Yagudin was the first of the top skaters to perform and he executed magnificently.  He landed a clean quad toe loop - triple toe loop combination, a triple Axel, and triple Lutz.  His presentation was as strong as any of his skates this season, delighting the audience with his interpretation of his winter themed program, and received unanimous first place marks in the 5.8-5.9 range from the judges.

Immediately following Yagudin, Takeshi Honda took the ice.  Honda, though to be a dark-horse contender for the bronze medal here gave one of his best performances of the season.  He landed a quad toe loop - triple toe loop combination with a reach on the quad, but still clean, without a touch.  Hr then landed a clean triple Axel and later a triple flip.  His program was deduction free though a little sloppy, but still skated with nice speed and presentation.  His marks were one to two tenths below Yagudin's, with six of the judges placing him second and the remainder third and fourth.

Last to skate in the same warmup as Yagudin and Honda was the other favorite for the gold medal, Evgeny Plushenko.  On his opening combination Plushenko fell on a quad toe loop and did not get off the second jump.  He went on to complete a triple Axel and a triple Lutz.  His program was well done except for the combination, but the four tenths deduction was devastating, landing him in fourth place and leaving him little chance to gain the gold medal here.  To displace Yagudin from the top spot would require Plushenko win the free skate and Yagudin place no higher than third, an unlikely scenario.

In the fourth warmup Timothy Goebel and Alexander Abt were the skaters to watch.  Goebel skated second in the group and executed flawlessly.  He landed a quad Salchow - triple toe loop combination, triple Axel and triple flip in quick succession and then went on to complete the spins and step sequences without deductions.   Six of the nine judges placed him second or third and he ended up in third place for the short program just behind Honda on a five-four split.  His Salchow was the first quad Salchow landed in Olympic competition.

Last to skate in Goebel's group was Alexander Abt, who had placed second at the European Championships and was thought to have a good chance for the bronze medal here.  Abt opened with a successful quad toe loop - triple toe loop combination.   On a subsequent triple Axel, however he had a big reach for the ice but pulled back at the last moment to barely avoid touching the ice.  His solo triple Lutz was clean.   He received placements of third through seventh to place fifth for this segment of the competition.  Although mathematically still in the running for the bronze medal his low marks were not encouraging for that outcome, with his presentation marks only on the mid-5s.

In the last warmup group, the two old men, Todd Eldredge and Elvis Stojko, got their chances.  The group was led off by Eldredge.  Eldredge appeared to land a quad toe loop and then stumbled through a double toe loop for the second jump of the combination.  Later, however, the quad was not ratified by the referee and the combination was marked as a four tenths deduction.  On his subsequent triple Axel Eldredge pressed too hard and fell.  His solo triple Lutz was clean, but the deductions in the two elements pushed him down into ninth place, and only some nice presentation marks prevented him from being placed even lower.

Last to skate was Stojko.  On his opening quad-triple combination he stepped out of the quad toe loop and then landed the triple toe loop.  His triple Axel was clean as was the solo triple Lutz, but the Lutz was not executed out of footwork for a minor deduction.  He did a nice job and skated with decent speed, but the judges were not cutting the old-timers any slack and he ended up in seventh place.

The third American in the event, Michael Weiss, had led off the skating and placed eighth.  He two footed a quad toe loop which was combined with a double toe loop.  His triple Axel was clean but had a poor quality landing, while his triple Lutz was well done.  Except for the first two elements it was a decent skate which improved as it went along, but from his marks it was clear he, like Eldredge and Stojko now had little chance of cracking the top five.

Canadian Emanuel Sandhu withdrew from the competition prior to the event due to injury.

Alexei Yagudin capped his overwhelming victory with a free skate that earned four marks of 6.0 for presentation, record for a skater in singles and pairs.  At the end of a stunning performance he fell to his knees, waved a victory sign with each hand and then leaned over and kissed the ice.  Getting back up on his feet he leapt with delight as he left the ice.  It was a more subdued Evgeny Plushenko who pulled up to the silver medal and both skaters were as cold to each other as the skate center ice during the awards ceremony.

The first of the top five men to skate was Takeshi Honda who had an unexpectedly good chance of medaling after his second place finish in the short program.   As for much of his career, however, he could not put two good programs back to back and fell to forth place in the free skate to finish just out of the medals.  He landed five triple jumps, but stepped out of a quad toe loop and later in the program a triple loop.  He skated with decent speed and a nice presentation but the several quality problems in his jumps were fatal on a night when perfection was required to win a medal.

Next up was Evgeny Plushenko who needed to win the free skate to retain even the chance of winning the gold medal.  He opened by attempting a quad toe loop - triple toe loop - triple loop combination.  The first two jumps were successful but the triple loop was two footed and stepped out of.  He went on to complete a solo quad toe loop and four other triples, but doubled a planned triple Salchow.  He also made the error of repeating three triple or quad jumps when only two may be repeated, for a required deduction.  His marks were mostly 5.8s, good enough to win but also with plenty of room for Yagudin.  Ultimately they did not hold up and he ended up placed a unanimous second by the panel.

Timothy Goebel had the U.S.'s best shot at a medal in this event and he delivered, skating fourth in the last warmup.  Goebel landed three quadruple jumps (two Salchows and a toe loop) and five triple jumps.  On a sixth triple jump, a solo Axel, he stepped out of the landing.  Goebel's presentation has improved throughout the season and that was true even in the last month from U.S. Nationals to here.  His presentation marks could not rival the top two skaters, but on the strength of the first mark seven of the nine judges placed him third.

Following Goebel, Alexander Abt needed a clean skate if he was to move up into the medals.  On his opening combination, however, he fell on quad toe loop and two jumps later stepped out of a triple Lutz.  He landed a total of seven triple jumps, including triple Axel - triple toe loop.  But in this competition, no qaud meant no medal and he remained in fifth place.

TV could not have asked for a more dramatic start order to close the show.  Last to skate, Alexei Yagudin gave a magnificent performance landing two quad toe loops and six triple jumps.  His program included an opening quad toe loop - triple toe loop - double loop combination, which was his only combination.  On triple flip he had a reach on the landing but the jump was otherwise clean.

Todd Eldredge led off the third warmup with a well skated program with eight triple jumps.  His only error was a fall on an opening quad toe loop.   He received respectable marks in the mid-5s and pulled up to sixth place.

Elvis Stojko landed two quad toe loops in combination, the first as part of a quad toe loop - double toe loop combination and the second in quad toe loop - double toe loop - double loop.  On the latter combination he had a turn out of the loop.  Stojko has been working on quad Lutz but did not attempt the jump in the competition, throwing a triple Lutz instead.  He landed a total of two quad jumps and three triple jumps.  On a triple Axel - double toe loop combination he stepped out of the Axel and on triple loop he put a hand down.  He skated with decent speed and presentation but it was obvious it required all his effort to get through the program and on style and presentation men's skating has passed him by.  He fell one place in the standings to end up eighth.

Michael Weiss surprised all, and maybe even himself, by landing an opening quad toe loop - triple toe loop - double loop combination.  It looked like the double loop was a spontaneous decision after he landed the first two jumps with good speed out of the triple toe loop.  Following that, however, he ran into a few problems.  Triple Axel was completed with a reach for the ice and a triple loop was doubled.  On triple flip he stepped out of the landing.  He landed a total of one quad and five triples to move up one place to finish seventh.

Referee:   Sally-Anne Stapleford 

          J1:  Wendy Langston  (AUS)
          J2:  Merja Kosonen  (FIN)
          J3:  Janet Allen  (USA)
          J4:  Nicolae Bellu  (ROM)
          J5:  Yury Kliushnikov  (UKR)

Asst. Referee:  Junko Hiramatsu

          J6:  Volker Waldeck  (GER)
          J7:  Alexander Penchev  (BUL)
          J8:  Mieko Fujimori  (JPN)
          J9:  Evgenia Bogdanova  (AZE)

Short Program

Free Skate