Figure skating at the XI Winter Olympics
Type:Olympic Games
Venue:Makomanai Skating Rink
Mikaho Indoor Skating Rink
Champions
Men's singles:
Czechoslovakia Ondrej Nepela
Ladies' singles:
Austria Beatrix Schuba
Pairs:
Soviet Union Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov
Previous:
1968 Winter Olympics
Next:
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]

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 mostly single jumps. 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
1 Soviet Union1203
2 Austria1001
 Czechoslovakia1001
4 Canada0101
5 East Germany0011
 France0011
 United States0011
Totals (7 entries)3339

Participating NOCs

Eighteen nations participated in figure skating at the 1972 Games.

Results

Men

Rank Name Nation CF FS Points Places
1 Ondrej Nepela Czechoslovakia142739.19
2 Sergei Chetverukhin Soviet Union312672.420
3 Patrick Péra France282653.128
4 Kenneth Shelley United States532596.043
5 John Misha Petkevich United States622591.547
6 Jan Hoffmann East Germany4102567.655
7 Haig Oundjian Great Britain972538.865
8 Vladimir Kovalev Soviet Union7112521.680
9 Toller Cranston Canada1252517.280.5
10 John Curry Great Britain8122512.285
11 Gordon McKellen United States1092511.089
12 Yuri Ovchinnikov Soviet Union1562477.5104.5
13 Didier Gailhaguet France11132440.9114
14 Jacques Mrozek France13142401.3126
15 Günter Anderl Austria14162313.6138
16 Yutaka Higuchi Japan16152309.7140
17 Gheorghe Fazekas Romania17172094.0153

Referee:

  • Sonia Bianchetti

Assistant Referee:

  • Masao Hasegawa

Judges:

  • France Monique Georgelin
  • East Germany Helga von Wiecki
  • Canada Donald B. Cruikshank
  • United Kingdom Mollie Phillips
  • Austria Walter Malek
  • Czechoslovakia Emil Skákala
  • Japan Goro Ishimaru
  • United States Dora May Coy
  • Soviet Union Tatiana Danilenko
  • Poland Maria Zuchowicz (substitute)

Ladies

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]

Rank Name Nation CF FS Points Places
1 Beatrix Schuba Austria172751.59
2 Karen Magnussen Canada322673.223
3 Janet Lynn United States412663.127
4 Julie Lynn Holmes United States282627.039
5 Zsuzsa Almássy Hungary542592.447
6 Sonja Morgenstern East Germany832579.453
7 Rita Trapanese Italy662574.855
8 Christine Errath East Germany1152489.378
9 Charlotte Walter Switzerland7132467.386
10 Kazumi Yamashita Japan10102449.993
11 Jean Scott Great Britain9112436.8101
12 Suna Murray United States1392426.2102
13 Catherine Irwin Canada12122383.4116
14 Isabelle de Navarre West Germany16142340.0128
15 Anita Johansson Sweden14152349.3131
16 Dianne de Leeuw Netherlands15162298.7143
17 Sonja Balun Austria17172260.6148
18 Marina Sanaya Soviet Union19182198.6160
19 Chang Myung-su South Korea18192117.0171

Referee:

Assistant Referee:

  • Kinuka Ueno

Judges:

  • Italy Michele Beltrami
  • Soviet Union Valentin Piseev
  • East Germany Walburga Grimm
  • Sweden Ingegärd Lago
  • Austria Han Kutschera
  • Canada Joan MacLagan
  • United States Marcella Willis
  • Japan Ryuchi Obitani
  • Hungary Klára Kozári
  • United Kingdom Pamela Davis (substitute)

Pairs

Rank Name Nation SP FS Points Places
1 Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov Soviet Union11420.412
2 Liudmila Smirnova / Andrei Suraikin Soviet Union22419.415
3 Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann East Germany33411.829
4 JoJo Starbuck / Kenneth Shelley United States44406.835
5 Almut Lehmann / Herbert Wiesinger West Germany56399.852
6 Irina Cherniaeva / Vasili Blagov Soviet Union65399.152
7 Melissa Militano / Mark Militano United States87393.065.5
8 Annette Kansy / Axel Salzmann East Germany78392.668
9 Sandra Bezic / Val Bezic Canada99384.984
10 Corinna Halke / Eberhard Rausch West Germany1010381.187
11 Grazyna Kostrzewinska / Adam Brodecki Poland1111377.895.5
12 Barbara Brown / Douglas Berndt United States1213366.9114
13 Florence Cahn / Jean Roland Racle France1312364.5116
14 Linda Connolly / Colin Taylforth Great Britain1414360.6126
15 Mary Petrie / John Hubbell Canada1515358.5129
16 Kotoe Nagasawa / Hiroshi Nagakubo Japan1616345.5144

Referee:

Assistant Referee:

Judges:

  • Soviet Union Valentin Piseev
  • Canada Joan MacLagan
  • East Germany Walburga Grimm
  • Italy Maria Zuchowicz
  • United States Marcella Willis
  • Japan Kikuko Minami
  • United Kingdom Pamela Davis
  • West Germany Erika Schiechtl
  • France Monique Georgelin
  • Austria Walter Malek (substitute)

References

  1. "Figure Skating at the 1972 Winter Olympics". Olympedia. 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.
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