Lillehammer 1994

2 Apr

Today’s Kurier has an interview with Oksana Baiul, the 1994 Ukrainian gold medalist in women’s figure-skating. (She beat Nancy Kerrigan in the final seconds of her routine, as I remember it, by adding a rotation to a jump.)

Just seeing her name and the photo of her with her pink costume and frizzy 1980s hairstyle reminded me of how, in those days, no one except Ukrainians knew the Ukrainian anthem. The way I remember it, the award ceremony was delayed because they were searching backstage for the music so the anthem could be played. In the interview, Baiul says it was because the organizers couldn’t find a Ukrainian flag.

We are now all familiar with the anthem and the flag. I wish it for different reasons.

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3 Responses to “Lillehammer 1994”

  1. ecbinvienna April 2, 2022 at 9:22 am #

    Here Baiul is in her final routine at the 1994 Olympics: https://youtu.be/p_fvrG3f0fI
    At the time, I was terribly disappointed that Nancy Kerrigan, after all she had been through with the attack on her knees, didn’t get gold. With almost 30 years of hindsight, I can see how extraordinary this performance is.

    • esauboeck April 2, 2022 at 5:53 pm #

      Thanks for sharing! When I saw the clip, I remembered watching it at the time.

  2. ecbinvienna April 3, 2022 at 6:45 am #

    Here is the award ceremony with interviews (about 9 minutes): https://youtu.be/iFv_tPbTQ2s

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