Word: zayak
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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FOUR years ago Peggy Fleming introduced another rival pair of skaters, both Americans, to Olympic fans. Before the competition began, the network showed clips of both stars. Rosalind Summers was spotlighted waving her arms balletically in slow, elegant moves. Elaine Zayak, a short, muscular New Jersey girl who had twice won the World Championships, was shown in falls that had marred her performances in the previous year...
Fleming noted that Zayak was one of the most athletically tough skaters in Olympic history, but said she simply didn't have the refined, elegant beauty of Summers; as shown by the clips, even Zayak's athletic talent was backfiring. Zayak continued on her streak of bad luck; she fell during the Olympics and didn't place, while Summers won the silver medal. The former World Champion later criticized the sports press for according her disrespectful treatment...
...arguing for the elimination of artistry and elegance in the sport of ice skating. However, when athletic prowess is shown as a defect--as in the negative clips of Zayak--something about standards on women's ice skating should be questioned. In the Olympic gymnastic events athletes compete in teams, all wearing the same uniforms and little makeup. The women are judged not by their facial beauty or their "well-built" bodies, as Witt said she wished to be judged by, but by a true combination of graceful strength and athletic elegance...
Among the Americans, Elaine Zayak, 18, dropped quickly out of contention with a weak showing in the school figures. Though she had no hope of a medal, Zayak refused to hang her head. She turned in a charming short program that scored higher on technical difficulty than did Sumners', and in the free skating, she put on perhaps the best performance of her life, cleanly landing four triples, including one in a combination with two other jumps. Her farewell was an emotionally satisfying slam dunk in her critics' faces, and earned admiration for her tenacious spirit...
...room," says Rosalynn Sumners, whose most important week is finally here. "The air's O.K. there. But the only problem is that I've had too much time to think." When she has ventured outdoors, occasionally she has been seen in the company of Archrival Elaine Zayak and young Tiffany Chin. Figure skating can be a mean business, but at least they walk and laugh like friends...