YES, YES, YES, EVERYONE IS A VICTIM
Prejudice against Russian figure skaters started long ago.
Translation of an interview by Dmitry Nadezhdin (DN) with Alexey Mishin (AM) printed in a Russian Language newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” on October 29, 2008.
On October 29, 1908, one hundred years ago today, Russian figure skater Panin-Kolomenking won with some difficulties the first Russian Olympic gold medal in figure skating at the London Olympics.
As it also was in recent years, a big scandal surrounded that event. The judges and competitors created tremendous difficulties for the Russian skater who was competing with the strongest skaters in the world.
The Swiss and Swedish judges were doing anything they could to give the first place to the famous Swedish skater Ulrich Salchow, in whose honor one of the jumps in figure skating was named. But at the London Olympics, Mr. Salchow acted not as a honorable gentlemen at all. When Panin-Kolomenkin performed his program, Mr. Salchow stood at the side of the rink and made loud comments designed to make Mr. Panin- Kolomenkin lose his concentration and make mistakes. When it did not help, he started hysterically yelling at the judges, and was officially reprimanded. Nevertheless the Russian figure skater received low marks and ended up second in the compulsory program. In protest he skipped the free program and the gold medal went to Mr. Salchow.
Panin–Kolomenkin won in a different competition, where the judges could not fix the results – in actual “figure” skating, where the sportsmen were presenting drawings of figures on paper to the judges and then reproducing the figures on ice. When the Russian skater presented his drawings, the judges could not believe that such figures could be performed on ice without taking the skate off the ice, and when he was able to do it, Mr. Salchow withdraw from that event and the Russian skater got the gold medal.
DN – Alexey, how are you going to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of Russian figure skating?
AM – But of course with a shot of vodka, as Mr. Panin – Kolomenkin would like to do himself.
DN – You wrote a whole book about him. Is it true that the judges even that long ago were prejudiced against Russian skaters?
AM – Actually the problem was not only with the judges. He was not very strong in free program, but he was outstanding in figures.
DN – Who do you think was the most outstanding Russian figure skater in the last century?
AM – Irina Rodnina. Of course different people have different tastes and it is hard to have a universal opinion. One has to compare the results – and Irina has the highest results in the sport. Besides her we do not have a three time Olympic Champion. That is why I would call her the Figure Skater of the Century.
DN – These days our figure skating became mostly a TV show on ice. Do you think that in this sport we will make progress in the future again?
AM – I think that it is nice to have the TV shows on ice. They are promoting figure skating. Success will come back as well.
List of Russian Olympic champions
Men’s single skating:
1908 – Nikolay Panin – Kolomenkin;
1992 – Victor Petrenko;
1994 – Alexey Urmanov;
1998 – Ilja Kulik;
2002 - Alexey Yagudin;
2006 – Evgeny Pluschenko.
Pairs skating:
1964 – Ludmila Belousova - Oleg Protopopov;
1968 - Ludmila Belousova - Oleg Protopopov;
1972 – Irina Rodnina – Alexey Ulanov;
1976 – Irina Rodnina – Alexander Zaitsev;
1980 - Irina Rodnina – Alexander Zaitsev;
1984 – Elena Valova – Oleg Vasiliev;
1988 – Ekaterina Gordeeva – Sergey Grinkov;
1992 – Natalia Mishkutenok – Artur Dmitriev;
1994 – Ekaterina Gordeeva – Sergey Grinkov;
1998 – Oxana Kazakova – Artur Dmitriev;
2002 – Elena Bereznaya – Anton Sikharulidze;
2006 - Tatiana Totmjanina – Maxim Marinin.
Ice dancing:
1976 – Ludmila Pachomova – Alexander Gorshkov;
1980 – Natalia Linichuk – Gennady Karponosov;
1988 – Natalia Bestemjanova – Andrey Bukin;
1992 – Marina Klimova – Sergey Ponomarenko
1994 – Oxana Grishchuk – Evgeny Platov;
1998 - Oxana Grishchuk – Evgeny Platov;
2002 – Marina Anisina – Gvendal Peizera (Marina skated under French flag);
2006 – Tatiana Navka – Roman Kostomarov.
There were no Russian Olympic Champions in women’s single skating.
Translation of an interview by Dmitry Nadezhdin (DN) with Alexey Mishin (AM) printed in a Russian Language newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” on October 29, 2008.
On October 29, 1908, one hundred years ago today, Russian figure skater Panin-Kolomenking won with some difficulties the first Russian Olympic gold medal in figure skating at the London Olympics.
As it also was in recent years, a big scandal surrounded that event. The judges and competitors created tremendous difficulties for the Russian skater who was competing with the strongest skaters in the world.
The Swiss and Swedish judges were doing anything they could to give the first place to the famous Swedish skater Ulrich Salchow, in whose honor one of the jumps in figure skating was named. But at the London Olympics, Mr. Salchow acted not as a honorable gentlemen at all. When Panin-Kolomenkin performed his program, Mr. Salchow stood at the side of the rink and made loud comments designed to make Mr. Panin- Kolomenkin lose his concentration and make mistakes. When it did not help, he started hysterically yelling at the judges, and was officially reprimanded. Nevertheless the Russian figure skater received low marks and ended up second in the compulsory program. In protest he skipped the free program and the gold medal went to Mr. Salchow.
Panin–Kolomenkin won in a different competition, where the judges could not fix the results – in actual “figure” skating, where the sportsmen were presenting drawings of figures on paper to the judges and then reproducing the figures on ice. When the Russian skater presented his drawings, the judges could not believe that such figures could be performed on ice without taking the skate off the ice, and when he was able to do it, Mr. Salchow withdraw from that event and the Russian skater got the gold medal.
DN – Alexey, how are you going to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of Russian figure skating?
AM – But of course with a shot of vodka, as Mr. Panin – Kolomenkin would like to do himself.
DN – You wrote a whole book about him. Is it true that the judges even that long ago were prejudiced against Russian skaters?
AM – Actually the problem was not only with the judges. He was not very strong in free program, but he was outstanding in figures.
DN – Who do you think was the most outstanding Russian figure skater in the last century?
AM – Irina Rodnina. Of course different people have different tastes and it is hard to have a universal opinion. One has to compare the results – and Irina has the highest results in the sport. Besides her we do not have a three time Olympic Champion. That is why I would call her the Figure Skater of the Century.
DN – These days our figure skating became mostly a TV show on ice. Do you think that in this sport we will make progress in the future again?
AM – I think that it is nice to have the TV shows on ice. They are promoting figure skating. Success will come back as well.
List of Russian Olympic champions
Men’s single skating:
1908 – Nikolay Panin – Kolomenkin;
1992 – Victor Petrenko;
1994 – Alexey Urmanov;
1998 – Ilja Kulik;
2002 - Alexey Yagudin;
2006 – Evgeny Pluschenko.
Pairs skating:
1964 – Ludmila Belousova - Oleg Protopopov;
1968 - Ludmila Belousova - Oleg Protopopov;
1972 – Irina Rodnina – Alexey Ulanov;
1976 – Irina Rodnina – Alexander Zaitsev;
1980 - Irina Rodnina – Alexander Zaitsev;
1984 – Elena Valova – Oleg Vasiliev;
1988 – Ekaterina Gordeeva – Sergey Grinkov;
1992 – Natalia Mishkutenok – Artur Dmitriev;
1994 – Ekaterina Gordeeva – Sergey Grinkov;
1998 – Oxana Kazakova – Artur Dmitriev;
2002 – Elena Bereznaya – Anton Sikharulidze;
2006 - Tatiana Totmjanina – Maxim Marinin.
Ice dancing:
1976 – Ludmila Pachomova – Alexander Gorshkov;
1980 – Natalia Linichuk – Gennady Karponosov;
1988 – Natalia Bestemjanova – Andrey Bukin;
1992 – Marina Klimova – Sergey Ponomarenko
1994 – Oxana Grishchuk – Evgeny Platov;
1998 - Oxana Grishchuk – Evgeny Platov;
2002 – Marina Anisina – Gvendal Peizera (Marina skated under French flag);
2006 – Tatiana Navka – Roman Kostomarov.
There were no Russian Olympic Champions in women’s single skating.
posted by Alina Adams at 5:27 AM
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