What's the Story?

In 1994, Russia returned. Russians competed as part of the EUN (the Unified Team) in 1992, but since the definitive end of the Cold War and its aftermath, Russia was once more represented, as were all of the former Soviet nations. New flags, new national anthems, new representation—1994 saw it all. Countries like Belarus, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine finally had independent representation at the Olympic Games, separate from any Soviet affiliation. And Ukraine showed up powerfully, with Oksana Baiul earning the gold medal. She remains the only Ukrainian woman to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games.

Completely unrelated to anything Soviet, there was a massive news story in 1994 surrounding American skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. Harding was accused of planning a vicious assault on Kerrigan shortly before the Olympics. The story has never quite reached a conclusion—the 2017 film I, Tonya doesn't even provide a complete resolution two decades later. So, naturally, most of the 1994 headlines featured Kerrigan and Tonya rather than our former Soviet winners, Urmanov and Baiul.

Alexei Urmanov was born in Leningrad, Russia, and began skating at a young age, as most elite figure skaters do. He moved through the ranks and competed for the Soviet Union at the 1992 Olympic Games in Albertville, France, before making his true mark in the figure skating world in 1994. His path to Olympic fame and figure skating greatness was bumpy. The L.A. Times wrote in 1994: "Urmanov, 20, overcame considerable adversity to win. His father has disappeared, perhaps, according to his coach, to prison while his mother lost her job in a munitions factory with the breakup of the Soviet Union, becoming a restaurant cook. Money has been so tight that Urmanov and his coach had to decide whether it was worth it to continue in the sport after the skater broke his ankle in April of 1992" (Harvey). The breakup of the Soviet Union allowed for Russians to compete under their own flag, to compete as Russians rather than Soviets. But it also caused economic and political problems that often left people without sufficient support. Urmanov was one of those. While the judges praised his magnificent technique on the ice, they also said he was without the passion and fire of the western skaters like Brian Boitano. Perhaps it was simply that Urmanov had to face too much, to endure too much, to make it to these games that he could give no more emotion to his performances. Whatever the case may be, his technical skills took the day over the personality and charisma of the other men.

Oksana Baiul had to keep a cool head at these Olympic Games while the media flounced about covering the Kerrigan-Harding scandal. Any news story separate from that was given little international attention. Despite the hectic nature of the women's competition, Baiul stayed level and performed her best when it mattered, snagging the gold in a historic moment for Ukraine. These games were the first in which Ukraine was represented under its own flag, so for Baiul to show up and win gold was a huge victory for the entire nation. Her life had never been easy nor simple, with tragedy striking her family again and again, and with the effects of independence impacting her ability to skate, eat, and live. Baiul ended up living with her coach, Galina Zmievskaya, after her mother and grandparents passed away when she was young. Baiul rarely had access to the luxuries that many western skaters had—available and clean ice, sharpened skates, sufficient nutrition. But, as one writer writes, she "has an animated sparkle that projects to the upper tiers of the arena" (Swift). Her love and passion for the sport were undeniable and gave her strength, helping her seize the day when it mattered most.

Food for Thought

The International Skating Union changed the scoring system in time for the 2002 Olympics in the attempt to have a more equitable and unbiased system. All the same, the artistic and performance aspects of the scores still weigh heavily in determining a victor. Should the performance scores be given less importance compared to the technical scores at the Olympic level? How might skating change if the performance aspect has less importance?