Word: skates
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...always goes to the headliners. Tiffany Chin, who at 16 was competing brilliantly in her first Olympics, could bask in a strong showing while cheerfully accepting the virtual impossibility of a medal. She had finished twelfth in the compulsory figures, and even with a runaway victory in the free skating while others faltered badly, a silver medal was the best she could have won. Said Chin: "I skated good figures, but the other skaters ahead of me were all established with the judges. This is the first time they've seen me skate, and it takes a while...
...only other couple with similar ambitions were the Americans. Blumberg, 26, and Seibert, 24, chose to skate to Rimsky-Korsakov's lush symphonic suite Schéhérazade. Under the tutelage of Bobby Thompson, a British coach close to Torvill and Dean, the pair had revamped their style over the past two years. In 1983 the effort paid off with a bronze medal at the World Championships. They had come to Sarajevo with real hopes for a silver, but finished in fourth place after being marked down .3 of a point below the panel's average...
...smart handicappers predicted that Kitty, 22, and Peter, 24, would win friends but not influence judges, six of whom came from Europe (three from the East bloc) and all of whom frowned on the more robust American style in pairs skating. But as happens when no confirmed champion operates from a position of strength, the Soviets and East Germans overreached themselves in technical ambition. Only Valova and Vasiliev managed to skate a short program free of bobbles. The Carrutherses, meanwhile, skimmed through the wreckage, their bloopers merely those of timing, not of standing upright. When the smoke cleared, they were...
After setting the 1,500-meter world record, Enke, 22, was penciled in for all four available golds, even for the 3,000-meter race, which she is not yet certain to skate. But a teammate, Christa Rothenburger, trimmed her by .08 sec. over 500 meters. The snow was thick enough almost to constitute fog, and the spectators were limited practically to those involved, plus a few enthusiastic Dutchmen and flag-waving Japanese. Paired with a slower skater, Enke had to rely on her own metronome, and it must have been off slightly. Still, the sensation of winning and then...
...winning the gold, Hamilton, 25, of Denver, a three-time world champion did not skate his best. In fact, he was outskated in both the short and the freestyle programs by Orser, the Canadian champion...