Figure skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics

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Figure skating at the XI Winter Olympics
Type:Olympic Games
Venue: Makomanai Skating Rink
Mikaho Indoor Skating Rink
Champions
Men's singles:
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Ondrej Nepela
Ladies' singles:
Flag of Austria.svg Beatrix Schuba
Pairs:
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov
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1968 Winter Olympics
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1976 Winter Olympics

The figure skating events at the 1972 Winter Olympics were held at the Makomanai Skating Rink and the Mikaho Indoor Skating Rink. [1]

Contents

The results of both the men's and ladies' singles events were dominated by placements in the compulsory figures, which at the time were nominally worth 50% of the total score but in fact weighted more heavily than the free skating due to being judged using a wider range of marks.

In the men's event, Ondrej Nepela, the winner of the compulsory figures segment, took the gold in spite of placing only 4th in the free skating after falling on his triple loop jump. The free skating winner was Sergei Chetverukhin, who skated one of his best performances at this event to take the silver medal. Patrick Péra, second in the figures, had a poor free skating in which he fell on a triple salchow jump early in his program and then made other mistakes. Nonetheless, the weight given to figures allowed him to take the bronze medal ahead of John Misha Petkevich, Kenneth Shelley, and Toller Cranston, who all skated dynamic programs with at least one cleanly landed triple jump apiece. [2]

The effect of the figures was even more pronounced in the ladies' competition, where gold medal winner Beatrix Schuba placed only 7th in the free skating, performing most of the double jumps, however no double axel or double loop. The free skating was won by Janet Lynn, who received a perfect mark of 6.0 despite falling on a flying sit spin. Lynn's skating captivated the Japanese audience, especially when she got up smiling from her fall. Lynn took the bronze while Karen Magnussen, second in the free skating with a strong performance, took the silver. The third place skater in the free skating, Sonja Morgenstern, included a triple salchow in her program, which at this time was very rare for a female skater. She placed 6th overall. [3]

The pairs competition was a tight battle between the two top Russian teams. Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov did not skate their best, with Ulanov missing his required double salchow jump in the short program and Rodnina making an error in the jump combination at the beginning of their free skating. They eventually won a 6–3 decision over their teammates Liudmila Smirnova / Andrei Suraikin. The bronze medal team of Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann made no major errors and received the highest technical merit marks from some of the judges for their program. Their elements included a throw double axel which at this time was rarely attempted. [4]

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1203
2Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 1001
Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 1001
4Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 0101
5Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 0011
Flag of France.svg  France 0011
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 0011
Totals (7 entries)3339

Participating NOCs

Eighteen nations participated in figure skating at the 1972 Games.

Results

Men

RankNameNationCFFSPointsPlaces
1 Ondrej Nepela Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg  Czechoslovakia 142739.19
2 Sergei Chetverukhin Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 312672.420
3 Patrick Péra Flag of France.svg  France 282653.128
4 Kenneth Shelley Flag of the United States.svg  United States 532596.043
5 John Misha Petkevich Flag of the United States.svg  United States 622591.547
6 Jan Hoffmann Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 4102567.655
7 Haig Oundjian Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 972538.865
8 Vladimir Kovalev Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 7112521.680
9 Toller Cranston Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1252517.280.5
10 John Curry Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 8122512.285
11 Gordon McKellen Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1092511.089
12 Yuri Ovchinnikov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 1562477.5104.5
13 Didier Gailhaguet Flag of France.svg  France 11132440.9114
14 Jacques Mrozek Flag of France.svg  France 13142401.3126
15 Günter Anderl Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 14162313.6138
16 Yutaka Higuchi Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 16152309.7140
17 Gheorghe Fazekas Flag of Romania (1965-1989).svg  Romania 17172094.0153

Referee:

Assistant Referee:

Judges:

Ladies

Lynn, Schuba, Magnussen 1972.jpg

In the ladies' event, American skater Janet Lynn won not only a bronze medal, but also tremendous popularity among Japanese audiences because of her artistic free program, as to make appearance on the cover of "Olympic Winter Games, Sapporo 1972" photo books published in Japan, and even on Japanese TV commercials later. [5]

RankNameNationCFFSPointsPlaces
1 Beatrix Schuba Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 172751.59
2 Karen Magnussen Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 322673.223
3 Janet Lynn Flag of the United States.svg  United States 412663.127
4 Julie Lynn Holmes Flag of the United States.svg  United States 282627.039
5 Zsuzsa Almássy Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 542592.447
6 Sonja Morgenstern Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 832579.453
7 Rita Trapanese Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 662574.855
8 Christine Errath Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 1152489.378
9 Charlotte Walter Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland 7132467.386
10 Kazumi Yamashita Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 10102449.993
11 Jean Scott Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 9112436.8101
12 Suna Murray Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1392426.2102
13 Catherine Irwin Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 12122383.4116
14 Isabelle de Navarre Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 16142340.0128
15 Anita Johansson Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 14152349.3131
16 Dianne de Leeuw Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 15162298.7143
17 Sonja Balun Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 17172260.6148
18 Marina Sanaya Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 19182198.6160
19 Chang Myung-su Flag of South Korea (1949-1984).svg  South Korea 18192117.0171

Referee:

Assistant Referee:

Judges:

Pairs

RankNameNationSPFSPointsPlaces
1 Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 11420.412
2 Liudmila Smirnova / Andrei Suraikin Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 22419.415
3 Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 33411.829
4 JoJo Starbuck / Kenneth Shelley Flag of the United States.svg  United States 44406.835
5 Almut Lehmann / Herbert Wiesinger Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 56399.852
6 Irina Cherniaeva / Vasili Blagov Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 65399.152
7 Melissa Militano / Mark Militano Flag of the United States.svg  United States 87393.065.5
8 Annette Kansy / Axel Salzmann Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 78392.668
9 Sandra Bezic / Val Bezic Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 99384.984
10 Corinna Halke / Eberhard Rausch Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 1010381.187
11 Grazyna Kostrzewinska / Adam Brodecki Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 1111377.895.5
12 Barbara Brown / Douglas Berndt Flag of the United States.svg  United States 1213366.9114
13 Florence Cahn / Jean Roland Racle Flag of France.svg  France 1312364.5116
14 Linda Connolly / Colin Taylforth Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 1414360.6126
15 Mary Petrie / John Hubbell Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1515358.5129
16 Kotoe Nagasawa / Hiroshi Nagakubo Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 1616345.5144

Referee:

Assistant Referee:

Judges:

References

  1. "Figure Skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  2. Figure Skating at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Men's Singles Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine . sports-reference.com
  3. Figure Skating at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Women's Singles. sports-reference.com
  4. Figure Skating at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Mixed Pairs Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine . sports-reference.com
  5. Litsky, Frank. (26 October 2003) FIGURE SKATING - Rewards Become Focus Of Scoring Experiment. NYTimes.com. Retrieved on 2016-07-18.