Favorite Figure Skating Memories: #5 Alexei Yagudin Wins Olympic Gold

Notice a theme? Many of my favorite skating memories were from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the mens final was no exception. Alexei Yagudin of Russia gave a memorable performance in a win over his countryman and rival Evgeni Plushenko. His program to the music from The Man in the Iron Mask was a perfect combination of athleticism and artistry. He included a quad toe loop and a quad toe loop combination, but his jumping ability did not detract from his performance quality as it does with many other skaters. My favorite element of this program is the footwork which was almost ahead of its time. We see incredible footwork from a lot of skaters these days, but in 2002 under the old 6.0 judging system, footwork like this was rare. 

Favorite Figure Skating Memories #3: Sale and Pelletier's 2002 Olympic Free Skate

Unless you were living under a rock during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, you should remember the pairs free skate. Sale and Pelletier of Canada were a close 2nd after the short program to Russian rivals Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. When the Russian's bobbled in the free skate, the Canadians needed a clean program to secure the gold medal. They did exactly that, but they did not win gold, much to the surprise of the commentators and viewers worldwide. The Russians stood atop the podium, but as we later found out, the French judge had been bribed by her federation to give the nod to the Russians and when her vote was discounted, the Canadians and Russians were tied. A few days later, they were awarded co-gold medals. Here is Sale and Pelletier's free skate to "Love Story," a program that is as close to perfect as I have ever seen and one of my favorite figure skating memories.

Favorite Figure Skating Memories #1: Sarah Hughes' 2002 Olympic Long Program

I remember this moment like it was yesterday. I was 13 years old and I was watching the ladies free skate at home with my mother. I have been a dancer for my entire life and until a few years ago, there were no dancing shows on television so I gravitated toward figure skating at a young age because the movements and the artistry seemed similar to dancing to me. Like the rest of the world, we were expecting Michelle Kwan to win her long awaited Olympic Gold Medal. But when the 16 year old Sarah Hughes took the ice and gave this phenomenal performance, we knew we were in store for a dramatic evening of fierce competition. I still remember gasping out loud when Scott Hamilton, that evening's commentator exclaimed that Sarah Hughes had won Olympic Gold. I was shocked, amazed, and inspired. I thought to myself, "she is only 3 years older than I am and she is an Olympic champion. If she could work hard that hard and be so successful in figure skating, then maybe I could be that successful as a dancer." While I'm much older now, I still remember her performance and what an inspiration she was and to this day, I still credit Sarah Hughes' Olympic gold medal winning performance with inspiring me to put all of my energy and passion into dance. If you've never seen this program or if its been a while, do yourself a favor and watch it. In all my years of watching dance and figure skating, I don't believe I've ever seen a performance filled with more passion and joy that this truly one-of-a-kind program.