Winter Olympics in Nagano. Nagano Olympics

Nagano (Japan)

The Winter Games returned to Japan 26 years after the Sapporo Olympics. In the fight for the right to host the sports forum, Nagano overtook the American Salt Lake City, Swedish Östersund, Spanish Haku and Italian Aosta. The competition on the island of Honshu was accompanied by heavy snow with rain and fog, due to which some of the starts had to be postponed. In addition, a magnitude 5 earthquake hit Nagano Prefecture on February 20 - the Olympians were terrified, although no one was hurt. At the same time, the Games themselves left a pleasant impression. First of all, thanks to the hospitality of the Japanese and the wonderful audience. In addition, the organizers of the Olympics managed to restrain the general sponsors of the IOC, who were very intrusive during the previous 1996 Summer Olympics.

Venue - Nagano, Japan
7 - 22 February 1998
Number of participating countries - 72
The number of athletes participating - 2176 (787 women, 1389 men)
Medal Sets - 68
Team Winner - Germany

Three main characters of the Games according to "SE"

Dominik Hasek (Czech Republic),
hockey
Hermann Mayer (Austria),
skiing
Larisa Lazutina (Russia),
ski race

BORE OUTSIDE GREETZKY

The number of participants in the Winter Games in Nagano for the first time exceeded 2,000 athletes. This was due to the new expansion of the competition program. Women's hockey, snowboarding and curling have entered the family of winter Olympic sports. But the main event was the agreement between the IOC and the NHL, which for the first time in history allowed players from the strongest hockey league in the world to compete at the Olympics. The last restrictions on the manifestation of the pros at the Games were canceled, and a break was taken in the regular season of the NHL. The hockey tournament in Nagano has beaten all possible TV ratings. Although CBS, which paid $ 375 million for the right to broadcast the Olympics, was still unhappy about the unsuccessful performance of the Americans and Canadians.

The Russian men's national ice hockey team in Nagano was made up entirely of NHL players, with the exception of the third goalkeeper Oleg Shevtsov. The main stars of the team were considered Pavel Bure, Sergey Fedorov and Alexey Yashin. Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Alexander Mogilny, Nikolai Khabibulin, Sergey Zubov and some other famous hockey players refused an invitation to the national team. In many respects, the refusal was caused by the failed performance of our "dream team" at the 1996 World Cup, as well as the death in the spring of 1997 of the President of the National Ice Hockey Federation Valentin Sych, who was killed by a killer's bullet. Perhaps it was the refusenik stars that the Russian national team lacked to defeat the Czechs in the 1998 Olympics finals.

Decisive match the hockey tournament between the national teams of the Czech Republic and Russia ended with a football score 1: 0 in favor of our rivals. The Czechs, in which Dominik Hasek and Jaromir Jagr shone, became Olympic champions. And the Russian fans could only console themselves with the phenomenal result of Pavel Bure - in the semifinals, the captain of the Russian team sent as many as five goals to the Finnish goal.

But the great Canadian striker Wayne Gretzky, for whom Nagano was the first and last chance to compete in the Olympics, scored only four assists for the entire tournament. It got to the point that the coach of the Canadian national team, Mark Crawford, did not entrust the 37-year-old veteran with the execution of the post-match shootout in the semifinals against the Czechs. In that series, Hasek won all five duels against the "Maple Leaves", depriving the founders of hockey of chances for gold. The frustrated Canadian stars could not get together in the match for third place with the Finns and were left in Nagano without any medals at all.

SKIER TRIUMPH

In addition to hockey, in February 1998, the whole country followed Olympic tournament figure skating. In it, Russia won three gold out of four - Ilya Kulik, a pair of Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, as well as a dance duet Oksana Grischuk and Yevgeny Platov did their best. The latter took the second to Nagano olympic title in a row, despite the fact that Oksana performed with a broken wrist. In addition, two months before the start of the Games, Grischuk unexpectedly announced that now she should be named Pasha (according to one version, so that she would not be confused with the Ukrainian single skater Oksana Baiul). After Nagano-1998, the duo broke up. Grischuk began performing with Alexander Zhulin and returned to the former name.

The performances of our skiers in Japan turned out to be very successful. Representatives of Russia - Larisa Lazutina, Olga Danilova and Yulia Chepalova collected all the individual gold, in addition, the Russian national team won the relay. For 21-year-old Chepalova, this was the first Olympics - it was in Nagano that her star rose. In men, the hero of the ski track was the Norwegian Bjorn Daly, who at the end of the 1998 Games became the most titled athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics - in his collection there are 8 gold and 4 silver medals. Another record was set in the figure skating tournament - 15-year-old American Tara Lipinski became the youngest individual champion in the history of the White Games.

One of the highlights of the 1998 Olympics was the incident with Austrian skier Hermann Mayer. After a terrible fall in downhill, the Austrian not only returned to the start, but also won gold medals in the super-giant and giant slalom. Thanks to this feat, the nickname Herminator stuck to Mayer - by analogy with the invulnerable movie Terminator. In the luge competition, the public applauded the German Georg Hackl, who won the third Olympics in a row. The Hackl medal proved to be an important contribution to the German national team's piggy bank - the Germans won the overall standings, beating the Norwegians by two golds. Our team dropped to third place for the first time. Even the incredible victory of the biathlete Galina Kukleva, who in the 7.5 km race was ahead of the German Usha Disl by only 7 tenths of a second, did not help.

CHAMPION SPIRIT

The scandal marked the Olympic debut of snowboarding. The first ever Olympic champion in giant slalom, Canadian Ross Rebalyatti, immediately fell for marijuana. The athlete explained the presence of the drug in his doping test by a visit to a party - where Ross's friends allegedly lit sensimilia, and Rebalyatti accidentally inhaled intoxicating smoke. The addict champion was disqualified, but, to everyone's surprise, was acquitted two days later. The IOC decided not to escalate the situation and believed the Canadian's excuses. In addition, it turned out that marijuana is not included in the list of prohibited drugs - this misunderstanding was corrected, but they did not retrospectively punish the athlete.

In general, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch did not like to pedal the topic of doping and, according to some reports, even thought about legalizing stimulants. But the competition in Nagano was the last Winter Olympics of the Spanish marquis. Soon, the sport will have completely different times, and the future of many champions of the Japanese Games will not be as bright as it seemed in 1998. Larisa Lazutina and Olga Danilova will end their careers after doping revelations at the 2002 Olympics; in 2009, Yulia Chepalova will fall under the hood of anti-doping services. Another skier - the winner of the 30 km race, Finn Mika Myllyula - two years after Nagano will be in the center of a high-profile doping scandal, addicted to alcohol and in 2011 will be found dead in his apartment. The police will conclude that Myllyula committed suicide.

German speed skater Claudia Pechstein, who won the 5000m race at the 1998 Games, will be disqualified at the end of her career on the basis of her "blood passport", will spend several years in the courts and ultimately prove that her abnormal test results are caused by a hereditary disease. By the way, Pechstein achieved success in Nagano not only thanks to her natural qualities, but also against the background of the technical revolution that took place in the mid-1990s in this sport. On the eve of the 1998 Games, almost all the leading skaters began to use slip-on skates with a breakaway heel. The novelty, combined with a special running technique, made it possible to increase the length of the skater's push and its speed. Best of all with valves by the beginning of the Olympics, the Dutch and the Germans got used to. But Russian athletes were not ready for these changes.

2,176 athletes from 72 countries took part in these Games.

Has been played 68 sets of awards in seven sports. The Olympic championship included competitions in curling and snowboarding... Of the 72 countries that fought for the prizes, only 24 have achieved success, having won 205 medals.

1. Emblem of the 1998 Olympics.
2. Talismans of the 1998 Olympics.

Long before the start of the 18th Winter Olympic Games, experts predicted that any country would need 11-12 gold medals to win a team victory in Nagano. And this forecast was fully justified. After the competitions in all 68 numbers of the program were over, the German delegation won 12 medals of the highest standard, Norway - 10, Russia - 9.

Opening ceremony of the 1998 Olympics.

The main sports facility built for the Olympics is the ice sports arena Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena... Designed and built in accordance with the latest standards and requirements for this type of sports facility, the Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena is one of the most advanced and adapted to host international competitions in the Asian part of the planet, and, in addition, the first indoor ice skating arena in Japan. Competitions of athletes in such disciplines as figure skating, hockey, short track, curling are regularly held here. The spectator tribunes of the sports complex are capable of simultaneously receiving about 10 thousand sports fans.

1998 Olympic champion in men's singles Ilya Kulik.

Three gold medals were added to the common piggy bank by Russian figure skaters. Champions in pair skating became Oksana Kazakova and Arthur Dmitriev, in ice dancing - Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov, in men's singles - Ilya Kulik.

Ilya Kulik- Silver medalist of the 1996 World Championship, European Champion 1995, Honored Master of Sports (1998). Ilya was brought to the rink by his mother when he was 5 years old. The first coach was V. Gromov, but later Kulik trained for a long time with Marina and Viktor Kudryavtsev. In the 1995-1996 season, Tatyana Tarasova began to help Kulik work on the choreography of the programs, and at the 1996 World Championships Ilya became a silver medalist, losing by one judge's vote. In May of the same year, he finally moved on to train with Tatyana Anatolyevna.

It was a unique creative union. Tarasova put a lot of mental and physical strength into Kulik, felt his complex nature, and developed his talent not only as a master of technique and excellent performance of jumps, which is one of the main indicators in single skating. She made his skating beautiful, soulful, emotional.

In Nagano, in a short program in an avant-garde style to the music of Jean-Michel Zhara, Ilya cleanly performed a cascade - a triple axel - a triple toe loop. In the free, to the music of George Gershwin, he showed himself to be a real artist with amazing choreography and the highest technique - he was the only participant who cleanly performed all the jumps and for the first time in international competitions was the first to show a quadruple jump - a sheepskin coat.

In 1999, he finished performing in amateur sports and began a professional career. He performed in various American ice shows, including Stars on Ice, where he still participates. In parallel, he graduated from the Russian Academy physical culture.

In 2002 he married his compatriot Ekaterina Gordeeva- two-time Olympic champion in pair skating, who competed with her husband Sergei Grinkov who died early. Ilya and Katya have a common daughter Liza and daughter of Katya and Sergey - Dasha, whom Ilya brings up, giving everything to the children. free time... Together they live in the American state of Connecticut, in the city of Avon, and train in Newington.

1-2. 1998 Olympic Champions doubles Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev.
3. Silver medalists of the 1998 Olympics in doubles Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

Champions and prize-winners of the 1998 Olympics

Male single skating
Gold - Ilya Kulik (born 1977), Russia.
Silver- Elvis Stojko (born 1972), Canada.
Bronze- Philippe Candeloro (born 1972), France.

Women's single skating
Gold- Tara Lipinski (born 1982), USA.
Silver- Michelle Wing Kwan (born 1980), USA.
Bronze- Chen Lu (born 1976), China.

Sports couples
Gold- Oksana Kazakova (born 1975) - Artur Dmitriev (born 1968), Russia.
Silver- Elena Berezhnaya (born 1977) - Anton Sikharulidze (born 1976), Russia.
Bronze- Mandy Wötzel (born 1973) - Ingo Steuer (born 1966), Germany.

Dance couples
Gold- Oksana Grischuk (born 1972) - Evgeny Platov (born 1967), Russia.
Silver- Angelica Krylova (born 1973) - Oleg Ovsyannikov (born 1970), Russia.
Bronze- Marina Anissina (born 1975) - Gwendal Peizerat (born 1972), France.

Nagano champions in pair skating became Oksana Kazakova and Arthur Dmitriev, and Dmitriev is the only skater in the world who won Olympic gold twice ( 1992 and 1998), with different partners ( previous partner - Natalia Mishkutenok ). The coach of this wonderful couple Tamara Moskvina When asked about Arthur's victory in 1998, she answered: " If you climbed two high, high peaks, and the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Games are huge peaks, and after that you went down into the valley, lived there and then decided: let me climb even higher, but with a new a man in a bundle, to use mountaineering terminology, and not as young as before, it will be, oh, how hard it is for you. Therefore, this last medal for Arthur is the heaviest. But also the most valuable. He overcame not only sports difficulties, but also his own. After all, when you become great, in order to rise even higher, in assessing yourself, on the contrary, you need to go down and climb from scratch.".

Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov for the second time they became Olympic champions in ice dancing - an unprecedented case in figure skating. This brilliant couple are four-time world champions, three-time European champions. They showed the highest skill and fortitude. Only after the end of the competition it turned out that Grischuk had a broken wrist!

As Oksana admitted in an interview, Nagano's gold was special for her. Seven months before the important competition, Platov underwent a complex knee operation. She was completely exhausted - both physically and emotionally: “When you stand on the top step of the podium and they call you invincible, your opponents simply lose heart. Indeed, other athletes tried to fight with us in competitions, but we were technically a cut above them. Even minor inaccuracies could not affect our result. On the other hand, this state of affairs forced all skaters to train to the limit and even beyond their capabilities, which means that we simply had no right to relax. The situation was aggravated by my own injury (as it turned out later, a broken arm), which I told everyone about only at the end of the tournament. I felt wild pain, but I was afraid to find out the doctors' diagnosis and did not want to upset my relatives, coach and partner. Having made the decision to endure the pain, I did not report the fracture to anyone. Immediately after the Olympics, the doctors gasped when I turned to them. A plaster cast was immediately applied to the arm. Needless to say that against such a background, the victory was really hard-won for us, and therefore all the more valuable ?! "

Olympic champions-1998 in ice dancing Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov.

And in the women's single skating, a talented American figure skater won Tara Lipinski- world champion (1997), US champion (1997).

Tara went out on the ice at the age of three and immediately attracted the attention of the coaches. The baby was talented and hardworking. Riding in amateurs, she was distinguished by her children's style of riding, insanely rejoicing in the performed jumps. The judges, contrary to the rules, did not lower the marks for her execution of the triple lutz from the wrong edge (inside). However, 15-year-old Tara did not accidentally become the first in the chosen sport, not only natural data played a role in this, but also a character who does not know how to come to terms with secondary roles.

Receiving gold Olympic medal, she could not hide her tears. It was said that these were not only tears of joy from the victory won. American newspapers did not spare their champion, calling her a "circus piglet." To this was added the divorce of her parents, the illness of the closest person - her grandmother. Almost immediately after the victory in Nagano, Lipinski moved from amateur to professional - at the age of 15, at the height of fame and success.

1. Silver medalists of the 1998 Olympics in ice dancing Angelica Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov.
2. Bronze medalists of the 1998 Olympics in ice dancing Marina Anisina and Gwendal Peizerat.

Notable facts

Unprecedented in Olympic history Russian skiers achieved success, winning all five races on the most difficult tracks in Hakuba. Three gold - two for victories in individual races and one in the relay, as well as silver and bronze medals, brought from Japan to the town of Odintsovo near Moscow Larisa Lazutina... This athlete accomplished a real feat, for which, immediately upon her return to her homeland, by the decree of the President of the country, she was awarded the title “Hero of the Russian Federation”.

The representative of the Vladimir region returned from Japan as a two-time Olympic champion Olga Danilova... It was she who, ahead of her rivals at a 15-kilometer distance, won the first one played in Nagano gold medal and gave extra confidence to her teammates.

1. Silver medalist of the 1998 Olympics in women's singles Michelle Kwan.
2-3. 1998 champion in women's singles Tara Lipinski.

The real discovery of the Games turned out to be Yulia Chepalova... The victory in the 30 km race of this young athlete, who was born in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and studied at the Khabarovsk State Institute of Physical Culture, was unexpected for many. But not for the coaches: they saw in Chepalova the future leader of our women's ski team.

Separate words of gratitude deserve Elena Vyalbe and Nina Gavrylyuk... They did not manage to win in individual races, but they flashed at their stages of the relay and deservedly received gold medals. From now on, both Vyalbe and Gavrylyuk - three-time Olympic champions, since Gavrylyuk in 1988 and 1994, and Vyalbe in 1992 and 1994 already shared with her friends the joy of victory in the relay races.

Another gold medal was won for Russia by a biathlete from Tyumen Galina Kukleva... The 7.5 kilometer race she won was one of the most dramatic. At the finish line, the champion and the silver medalist were separated by just 0.7 seconds. An elusive moment in which years of painstaking work were concentrated.

Closing ceremony of the 1998 Olympics.

The audience very quickly forgets their heroes. They are being replaced by new ones ...

Therefore, it is very good that the blog Ice of Life a cycle dedicated to champions and prize-winners of past Olympiads was conceived. We must know all those who made sports history of our people, fought and defended the honor of the country. Today I want to talk to you about the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.

The last Winter Games of the outgoing century were held in Japan, where they returned 26 years later.

The mascot of the XVIII Winter Olympics was snowlets - four owls - "Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Zucchi" reputed to be wise birds. And the word "Snowlets" itself consists of "snow" (snow) and "let" s "(let's). The number" 4 "symbolizes the fact that the Games are held every four years, as well as four seasons.

Official Olympics 98 emblem - snow flower ... Its creators tried to express the dynamics of sports in the form of an alpine flower, its five multi-colored petals represent the stylized figures of athletes in motion on the snow.

The emblem can also be seen as a flowering alpine plant, highlighting the great importance that Nagano attached to ecology. The bright, festive colors of the Games emblem are an expression of the movement and feelings of the Olympians gathered in Nagano.

And how unique are the medals of these Olympic Games. In the center of the medal is a lacquer miniature with the emblem of the Games against a background of mountains, hand-painted by famous craftsmen from the province of Kiso, who thus sought to realize the idea: Games from the heart - together with love. The medals are made in a combination of Japanese and Western technologies and using metalworking techniques traditional for Nagano.

The method for creating lacquer miniatures is called "Poppies" at its core - the principle of spraying the smallest gold particles onto the lacquer that has not yet hardened. As conceived by Japanese artists - the creators of lacquer miniatures, each Olympic award is slightly different from the others, as it is made by hand and by different craftsmen.Each of them is as unique as the fate of a person, as a victory at the Olympics.

On the obverse of the medals is the emblem of the Games in Nagano, reminiscent of the soft light of the morning sun framed by olive branches. The central part of the reverse side of the medals is also made using the “poppies” technique - the lacquer miniature depicts mountains in the vicinity of Nagano.

Medal weight: 256 (gold), 250 (silver) and 230 (bronze) grams. Diameter 80 mm, thickness 7 mm.

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It is possible that some of you have preserved postage stamps issued on the occasion of the 18th Winter Olympic Games in Nagano in 1998.

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The XVIII Winter Olympic Games were held from 7 to 22 February, at the opening ceremony of which the Emperor of Japan Akihito made an opening speech.

Japanese athletes were invited to the opening ceremony - figure skater Midori Ito lit the Olympic flame, a the double fighter Kenji Ogivarra took the oath of athletes.

But long before the start of the Olympic Games in Nagano, experts predicted that any country would need 11-12 gold medals to win a team victory. And this prediction was fully justified. The German delegation had 12 medals of the highest standard, Norway - 10, Russia - 9, of which 3 gold medals were won by our figure skaters (Champions in pair skating became Oksana Kazakova and Arthur Dmitriev, in ice dancing - Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov, in men's singles - Ilya Kulik.)

By the way, the hosts of the Games took only 7th place in the medal standings, but won five gold medals - two in ski jumping, one each in speed skating, short track speed skating and freestyle.

If you look at the statistics of the performances of our national figure skating team for the period: from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the Olympic Games in Japan, then there is a tendency to return to square one, our skaters again began to occupy leading positions. The country seemed to wake up from all the cataclysms, and gradually we again began to declare ourselves as leaders in the competitions of the highest level.

In general, our skaters at this Olympics won five medals of various denominations:

Ilya Kulik - gold in men's single skating

Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev - gold in sports pairs

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze - silver in sports pairs

Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov - gold in ice dancing

Angelica Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov - silver in ice dancing

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In men's single skating, the places were distributed as follows:

Gold - Ilya Kulik, Russia.

Silver - Elvis STOJKO, Canada.

Bronze - Philippe CANDELORO, France.

In men's single skating at this Olympics, the bright star was Ilya Kulik.

At that time, he had the following titles:

silver medalist of the 1996 World Championship,

1995 European champion,

Honored Master of Sports (1998).

When Ilya was five years old, my mother brought him to the rink. The first coach was V. Gromov, but later Kulik trained for a long time with Marina and Victor Kudryavtsev... In the 1995-1996 season, Kulik began to help work on the choreography of programs Tatiana Tarasova, and at the world championship 1996 Ilya became a silver medalist having lost by one referee's vote. In May of the same year, he finally moved on to train with Tatyana Anatolyevna. Tarasova did not yet have experience of working with single skaters. I didn't really believe in the success of their union. Five months before Nagano, trouble happened to Ilya: during training, he drove into a crack in the ice and punched his right jerk leg with the blade of a skate. The doctors had to insert a metal pin into his leg, because of which they had to forget about training for a long time. Nevertheless, Ilya Kulik continued functional training for the Games on simulators, and by the time the Olympic championship was held he was able to fully recover.

It was a unique creative union. Tarasova put a lot of mental and physical strength into her pupil, felt his complex nature, and developed his talent not only as a master of technique and excellent performance of jumps, which is one of the main indicators in single skating. She made his skating beautiful, soulful, emotional.

His short program in Nagano was done in an avant-garde style with music by Jean-Michel Jard. The athlete cleanly performed the most difficult jumping elements: cascade, triple axel and triple toe loop - and took a leading position.

It remained to unmistakably skate the free program. When preparing for the free program, Ilya Kulik took a serious risk: he included in it the most difficult technical element - a quadruple jump, which very few people could then cope with. Ilya Kulik also did not always succeed in this jump, but a minute before the end of the warm-up, the athlete confidently rode up to the side where Tatyana Tarasova was standing, and told her: “Don’t worry, I’ll make this jump in 4 turns. I’ll do it!” The skater fulfilled his promise. His dance directed to music by George Gershwin , was performed at the highest choreographic and technical level. Ilya Kulik became the only participant in the competition who performed all jumps absolutely cleanly, and the only athlete to make a four-turn jump.

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Sports couples:

Gold - Oksana Kazakova - Artur Dmitriev, Russia

Silver - Elena Berezhnaya - Anton Sikharulidze, Russia

Bronze - Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer, Germany

Nagano champions in pair skating became Oksana Kazakova and Arthur Dmitriev... At the same time, I want to note that Dmitriev is the only skater in the world, winner of Olympic gold twice (1992 and 1998), with different partners ( previous partner - Natalia Mishkutenok).

Kazakova - Dmitriev, Nagano 1998.

The coach of this wonderful couple Tamara Moskvina When asked about Arthur's victory in 1998, she answered as follows: "If you climbed two high, high peaks, and the 1992 and 1994 Olympic Games are huge peaks, and after that you went down into the valley, lived there and then decided: let me climb even higher, but with a new person in a bunch, if you use mountaineering terminology, and not as young as before, it will be, oh, how hard it will be for you. Therefore, this last medal for Arthur is the most difficult. But also the most valuable. He overcame not only the difficulties of sports, but also After all, when you become great, in order to rise even higher, in assessing yourself, on the contrary, you need to go down and climb from scratch. "

Dmitriev was the only one who performed the partner's signature descent, throwing her over her back.

The brilliant performance of this magnificent couple under the leadership of Tamara Nikolaevna Moskvina allowed them to rise to the highest step of the podium.

Moskvina has a well-developed sense of miscalculation of positions, she is an excellent mathematician, she sees further than many of her colleagues. She began to prepare Kazakova's shift to Dmitriev back in Nagano. As usual, I calculated everything accurately and correctly: after the 1998 Olympics, Kazakova - Dmitriev leave, and Berezhnaya - Sikharulidze, her students, silver Olympic medalists come to replace them.

Already at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Lena and Anton laid a solid foundation for victory at the next 2002 Games. Back in Nagano, Berezhnaya - Sikharulidze were worthy rivals to Kazakova-Dmitriev, and as Artur Dmitriev admitted, that they could even have won if they had not made some mistakes.

And now I bring to your attention the performance of the "bronze" medalists of the Olympic Games in Nagano - Mandy Wetzel as Ingo Steuer (Germany)

Winners of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in figure skating among sports couples (from left to right):

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze (Russia, silver), Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev (Russia, gold) and Mandy Wetzel and Ingo Steuer (Germany, bronze) during the awards ceremony, Nagano, Japan. February 10, 1998.

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Dancing couples:

Gold -Oksana Grischuk - Evgeny Platov, Russia

Silver -Angelica Krylova - Oleg Ovsyannikov, Russia

Bronze -Marina Anisina and Gwendal Peizerat(Marina Anissina- Gwendal Peizerat), France

Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov are a unique duet, each performance is a masterpiece.

Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platovbecame Olympic champions for the second time in ice dancing - an unprecedented case in figure skating. This shiny pair - Olympic champions, four-time world champions, three-time European champions ... They showed the highest skill and fortitude. Only after the end of the competition it turned out that Grischuk had a broken wrist!

(watch this unique performance, I'm sure many of you will have tears at the end of this number, and pride in such great athletes will remain in your hearts)

As Oksana admitted in an interview, Nagano's gold was special for her. Seven months before the important competition Platov underwent complex knee surgery. She was completely exhausted - both physically and emotionally: "When you stand on the top step of the podium and you are called invincible, your opponents simply lose heart."

Silver this Olympiad in dance pairs was won by Russian figure skaters Angelica Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov.

Let's watch the beautiful dance "Carmen". How organic and natural Angelica looks in this issue. She is a real Spanish woman: gentle, passionate, sensual, alluring ...

Bronze medalists in dance pairs at the Olympic Games in Nagano - Marina Anisina - Gwendal Peizerat (France) .

"Romeo and Juliet" to music by Sergei Prokofiev.

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Women's single skating:

Gold -Tara LIPINSKI, USA.

Silver -Michelle KWAN, USA.

Bronze -Chen Lu (Lu CHEN), China

Our country was represented by -

Irina Slutskaya, 5th place winner... These were the first Olympic Games in Irina's career. In Nagano, due to the fall, Irina became only fifth. Although a month later with the same program, she won silver at the World Championship. Many different happy and exciting moments will be associated with her name, and that unforgettable unprecedented event at the Olympic Games in the American Salt Lake City ... But that will be later ... In the meantime, let's see Irina's performance in Nagano.

AND Maria Butyrskaya(trainer Elena Chaikovskaya) The athlete's program was distinguished by great originality, excellent skating technique with a sense of rhythm and excellent plasticity of movements.

But then Maria took only offensive 4th place... She still considers the Games 98 in Nagano to be the biggest disappointment in her life. Then Butyrskaya, with just one judicial vote, lost the bronze medal to the Chinese woman Lu Chen.

Bronze went to the figure skater from China - Lu Chen.

Michelle Kwan won the silver medal for this Olympiad.

And the talented American figure skater won Tara Lipinski - world champion (1997), US champion (1997).

An interesting fact is that American figure skater became the youngest Olympic winner winter games, winning gold in singles at age 15.

Receiving the Olympic gold medal, she could not hide her tears. She was still a child, but she had to go through great trials and emerge victorious.

Almost immediately after the victory in Nagano, Lipinski moved from amateur to professional - at the age of 15, at the height of fame and success.

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So our journey into the past ended, in Nagano for the 1998 Olympic Games. Many years have passed since then. These athletes were replaced by new ones, who became the heroes of the next Olympic Games. We rejoiced for them, grieved with them over their defeats and failures, were proud. Time does not stand still. And now the fire will soon be lit at the new Olympic Games, with which we have the brightest hopes. Let this competition be the fairest and fairest in the history of the Games. And we will cheer, worry about our favorite athletes, we will wish them victory. After all, we are fans, we are their support and strength ...

Thank you for attention

What is really worth being proud of for your country is the level of our athletes, and especially the strength of the women's figure skating team. For the first time in history, two Russian figure skaters broke the world record at the Olympic Games with an interval of 20 minutes. Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova skated their short programs so brilliantly that there was almost no doubt: tomorrow they will rise to the podium for medals.

Earlier, until 2002, we did not have a single Olympic medalist, until Irina Slutskaya won silver in Turin. In Sochi, the situation has improved: 17-year-old Adelina Sotnikova became the champion.

The new season has already impressed the world community: Zhenya and Alina are in the piggy bank in the team tournament, and now they are also breaking records, not paying attention to either the complicated refereeing system, in which not a single mistake can be made.

As our athletes in Pyeongchang prepare for the final day of competition, we recall 10 of the most memorable figure skating performances at the Olympic Games of yesteryear. A lot has changed over the years - the scoring system, the level of jumps and the value of the tricks - but figure skating still impresses the audience.

1. Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, 2006 Olympics in Turin

Maxim Marinin and Tatiana Totmianina received their gold in Turin to the music from the famous film by Franco Zeffirelli "Romeo and Juliet". The skaters showed the highest class, even despite the fact that shortly before the performance, Tatyana received a serious head injury. At the moment, this rental is considered a reference number in pair figure skating.

2. Tessa Virtu and Scott Moir, 2010 Vancouver Olympics

This Canadian couple won the first of several gold medals in their homeland in 2010. In this enchanting dance, they not only perform the most complex technical elements at high speed, but also amazingly convey the mood of the melody with their movements. It is worth noting that at their third Olympics in Pyeongchang, they showed such passionate numbers in short and free programs that fans began to joke about how they wanted to smoke after. The result is another set of gold medals.

3.Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City


During the warm-up before the free program, the rivals of this pair from Canada tried to ram and knock the opponents down. Allegedly by accident. Anton was able to push his partner away and take a hit on himself, only injuring his hand, but this was already a wake-up call.

The judges gave the victory to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, but the Canadians demanded to reconsider the results of the tournament. The four-day scandal ended with a re-awarding ceremony, where two couples, ours and the Canadian, received gold at once.

4. Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov, 1998 Olympics in Nagano

This couple became the owner of an impressive record, hitting the pages of the Guinness Book of Records. Only they managed to win the Olympics twice in the entire history of ice dancing.

The preparation was incredibly difficult. The couple constantly quarreled, Oksana dreamed of gold, and considered other options unacceptable, Zhenya panicked so much that he was almost ready to shoot himself. Nevertheless, they received the second well-deserved gold for their number "Memorial".

5.Alexey Yagudin, 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City

Another performance worth really being proud of. Never before have men in singles received all sixes for artistry. The brilliantly performed short program "Winter" is still considered the benchmark in terms of choreography and the creation of an artistic image on ice.

Alexey became the first Olympic champion to complete two quadruple jumps in the program.

6.Nancy Kerrigan, 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer

In Lillehammer, Nancy won the gold medal after a serious knee injury caused by her main rival. The film about this confrontation has already received many excellent reviews, because it perfectly demonstrates the intensity of passion and excitement that accompanies the skaters.

7. Yuna Kim, 2010 Vancouver Olympics

The South Korean figure skater won the women's tournament in Vancouver, breaking her own record by 16 points, which Yevgenia Medvedeva held for 8 years. In Sochi, Yuna received silver, which her fans absolutely disagreed with, creating hundreds of petitions to review the points. The IOC did not find any violations, but the "goddess Yuna" in the eyes of compatriots is considered the winner of the 2014 Olympics. By the way, in Pyeongchang it was she who lit the fire during the grand opening of the competition.

8. Adelina Sotnikova, 2014 Olympics in Sochi

According to the media, the brilliant performance of this skater made it possible to forget about all the failures in other disciplines. The light and airy performance made the audience freeze, and the complexity of the elements performed helped her to bypass figure skater Yuna Kim and get the coveted gold.

9.Margarita Drobyazko and Povilas Vanagas, 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City


Unfortunately, this performance did not bring the pair a single medal, which subsequently erupted into a serious scandal. Margarita and Povilas appealed to the Olympic Committee, but the protest was rejected. Drobyazko and Vanagas said that after this story they had no choice but to immediately leave the big sport.

10. Yuzuru Hanyu, Sochi 2014 Olympics

The Japanese talent regularly appears in the news as a record-breaking figure skater. His coach approached the preparation with all seriousness and taught the ward to ride in any conditions, up to extreme: sparring, darkness, complex jump combinations. The more press around, the better! Stress should become a familiar part of the environment. Judging by how dazzlingly Yuzuru skates, all this is not in vain.

In a world that attracts more and more children - future champions - as well as interesting and beautiful to watch on TV or on an ice rink.

The emergence of figure skating

The first skates on iron runners appeared in the 13-14 centuries in Holland, therefore it is she who is considered the ancestor figure skating.

After the appearance of skates of a fundamentally new type, popularity also came, which incredibly contributed to the rapid development of this sport, which at that time boiled down to drawing various figures on the ice and at the same time not losing a beautiful pose.

The first figure skating rulebook was published in England in 1772 and was called "A Treatise on Ice Skating." It described all the main figures known at that time. Thus, Great Britain secured the authorship of all the figures that are required in figure skating. In addition, in 1742, the first ice skating circles appeared here, and official rules for the competition were developed and approved.

Sports historians unanimously recognize the American Jason Heinz as the founder of the modern style of figure skating. It was he who played a major role in its distribution throughout the world, and, in particular, in Russia.

Figure skating development in Russia

V Russian Empire figure skating was very popular in the days of Peter I, who brought the first skates from Europe. It is noteworthy that the Russian emperor was the first to come up with the idea of ​​attaching skates directly to shoes and created, in fact, the prototype of modern skates.

The first Russian manual for figure skaters was published in 1838 in St. Petersburg and was called "Winter fun and the art of ice skating", compiled by the gymnastics teacher of the military educational institution G.M. Pauli.

Figure skating appeared in Russia in 1865, and at the same time the first skating rink was opened in the Yusupov Garden in St. Petersburg. At that time, it was the most comfortable in all of Russia and immediately became a platform for the professional training of figure skaters. And in 1878 the first competition among Russian athletes was held.

The first skaters of Russia began to appear at the end of the 19th century. The pioneer who took part in international competitions was A.P. Lebedev, who was a lawyer by training.

Nikolai Poduskov took part in the first already official competition, which was held in 1896 and took 4th place in single skating, but at the 1901 Russian Open Championship he took the last place.

Georgy Sanders, taking part in the same competitions as Poduskov, took 3rd place, becoming a bronze medalist. In addition, he was the first to perform complex figures, the author of which was, which in turn helped another famous Russian figure skater - Nikolai Panin, who performed them at the 1908 Olympics in London, to win the first Olympic "gold" for Russia.

Of the Soviet champions who won the highest awards in various competitions in figure skating, the most famous are Sergei Chetverukhin (silver at the Sapporo Olympics, bronze at the 1971 World Championship, silver at the World Championships in Calgary (1972) and Bratislava (1973) and bronze at the European Championships in 1969 year) and Sergei Volkov (in 1975 - world champion, USSR champion in 1974 and 1976).

Famous Russian male figure skaters in single skating

Famous skaters of Russia have repeatedly become champions and won prizes in all kinds of tournaments - from the Olympic Games to championships of various levels, Grand Prix and Cups.

One of the first best figure skaters in Russia was Alexei Urmanov - multiple medalist and champion of the USSR, Russia and European champion, Olympic champion in 1994.

At the 1998 Olympics, Russia again won a gold medal in men's singles, which he won. In addition to the highest Olympic medal, this famous Russian figure skater has “gold” of the Russian championship, “silver” and “bronze” of the world and European championships.

One of the most famous and best athletes in Russia is Alexei Yagudin, who has the main athlete's award - the "gold" of the 2002 Olympics. He is a multiple champion of Europe and the world, winner of the Grand Prix finals in figure skating.



No less famous is the young single skater Maxim Kovtun, who has several serious victories on his account. He is a three-time winner of the Russian Championship and took silver at the 2015 European Championship.

The most famous and titled figure skater in Russia and all over the world is Evgeni Plushenko. He is the owner of gold medals at two Olympics (2006 - in singles, 2014 - in team skating), twice took the "silver" of the Olympic Games. Plushenko won the world title three times, the European champion seven times and the Russian championship ten times. He also has many other awards and titles.



Plushenko has a number of sporting achievements, and his hallmark is the performance of the most difficult single skating figures in competitions. There is no equal to him.

Russian male figure skaters are rightfully considered one of the best in the world.

Famous Russian female singles

Unfortunately, women's singles skating in Russia cannot boast of a long history of performances and awards in this sport.

The history of victories began only in 1976 with the appearance of the figure skater It was she who won the first awards at the European Championship, and later became the third at the World Championship.

The first Olympic medal - "bronze" - was won by single skater Kira Ivanova in 1983.

Success came to the skaters only when, for the first time in the history of Russia, Irina Slutskaya won the 1996 European Championship. And already in 1999, also at the European Championship, Maria Butyrskaya, Soldatova and Volchkova won all the awards. In the same year, Butyrskaya won gold at the World Championship.

Despite the fact that the best skaters in Russia Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya no longer perform, they are the most famous and legendary skaters in Russia to this day.

The current leaders of Russian women's single skating are Yulia Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova.

Sotnikova, the first and so far the only one, won the Olympic gold medal in women's singles. In addition, she became the winner of the Russian championships 4 times, and twice won silver at the European championships.



Figure skating connoisseurs call Adeline a child prodigy, because at the age of 13 she performed the most difficult elements of figure skating.

Yulia Lipnitskaya is also an Olympic gold medalist in team competition. In addition, she has awards of various merit at the World and European Championships, including junior ones.

Julia is now 17 years old, Adeline is 19, and behind them is the future of women's single skating in Russia.

Best in pair skating

Russia in pair skating for titles, regalia and world famous athletes is much more lucky than in singles.

Even those who are very far from the world of sports know Russian pair skaters by their last names and faces.

Our couple Oleg Protopopov and Lyudmila Belousova won their first Olympic "gold" back in 1964, again in 1968. They are the authors of many elements that are still part of the compulsory program of performances around the world. At that time, this couple was the only one who skated in a way that no one else could.

The next couple to conquer the Olympics were Alexey Ulanov and Irina Rodnina - in 1972. Irina Rodnina won the next gold in a pair with Alexander Zaitsev in 1976 and 1980.

The most famous figure skaters of Russia - Olympic champions in pair skating are:

Maxim Marinin and Tatiana Totmianina;

Roman Kostomarov and Tatiana Navka.

The leaders of pair skating today are the figure skaters of Russia Maxim Trankov and Tatyana Volosozhar, who already have 2 Olympic gold medals (in pair skating and team competitions) and they are not going to stop there.



Best Couples in Ice Dancing

Sports ice dancing as a separate discipline was included in the program of international competitions only in 1950.

In this program, Russia (then still the Soviet Union) was represented by the famous couple and Lyudmila Pakhomova, who set the tone for dancing around the world and became world champions 6 times and won gold at the 1976 Olympics.

The first, already Russian, famous dance couple and Evgenia Platova twice became gold medalists of the 1994 and 1998 Olympics, which made them champions in this sport.

A couple are known and among whose achievements there is the bronze of the 2010 Olympics, double gold of the European Championships and the 2009 world champions.



One of the most famous young dancers, Elena Ilinykh, brought Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals from the European and Russian championships to the medal box of Russia. The couple broke up after the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Today the best, strongest and famous skaters Russia in ice dancing - Dmitry Soloviev and Ekaterina Bobrova - champions of Europe and Russia.