Nobody skates like her today, or ever. Her movements are graceful and deliberate, not flailing around and rushing from one jump to the next. Other skaters look like busybodies trying to cram everything in a program but she performs a ballet on ice. She is unmatched.
This was like watching a ballerina on ice. There has been absolutely no one that comes close to her grace and beauty as an ice skater since she left this sport.
Her persona and great confidence (but not cockiness), commands your full attention and respect. Every movement is so on the spot, and her timing and synchronization are unbeatable. Seriously the best.
Artistically in all of her programs Oksana Baiul's "artistic presentation" was better than Nancy Kerrigan's by far more than one tenth of a point. The girl deserved 6.0 for her complex artistry. Artistically, there's never been anyone like her since & perhaps there never will. Oksana's genius was robbed. The girl was far more precise, polished, flexible & musical than anyone else including Kwan the 6.0 queen. Baiul's presentation stands alone--bar none. Its stood the test of time. Her skating transports you to another world!
Wow! The claws were out even then. The 3lutz jump combo was definitely NOT a two-footed landing. Because the landing foot & the free leg continue gliding out of the jump as can be seen in the slow motion shot. THIS is the distinction between a "touchdown" vs. a "two-footed jump." If the jump had been truly two-footed then both skating feet would have come to a complete stop on the ice right after the jump and you'd see where the foot would have been used to stop balance the skater to prevent her from falling over. This is not the case. Its a "touchdown" 0.1 deduction. They manipulate the audiences rather than educate them about the sport & its rules. A reason why figure skating couldn't hold the big audiences Baiul captured. The hate level directed towards that great champion & the gifts she brought to the sport is appalling & disgusting. Shameful.
I totally agree. I watched this on TV when this was going on. I was so enthralled. And thrilled she won the gold. Couldn't understand how anyone would think Nancy Kerrigan was better. To me, figure skating shouldn't be a jumping and landing competition, which is what it has become today. Jumping should be equally measured against spins and other technical moves and not more. And artistry and technical merit should count equally. Nancy Kerrigan might have been better technically, but her artistry was way below Oksana. Actually I don't even care about stupid jumps.
JJ truth--please check your understanding of terms in figure skating. Someone who touches down the non-landing leg in a jump is someone who two foots the jump. Sorry... you are not correct. Some one who two foots a jump does not mean both their feet come to a stop. That's called, well... uh... stopping.
Bitch? A blade skimming the ice in the code of points was a touchdown worth 0.1 deduction. Next question you lousy bullshitting liar? Check your understanding of two-footing I have judged events. Now sit down and stay down. What in the hell have you ever achieved? Zero, yeah I thought so. I'm fed up with haters & liars. Guns are ablazing.
Say what you will about Baiul. But she's one of the greatest talent the sport has ever seen. And this video absolutely attests to that. No other female singles skater has come close to her combination of truly balletic form and musicality.
Simply breathtaking! It's as if you are watching the New York Ballet, or Geofrey Ballet on ice. Can you believe she is in skates? And yes, she won the Olympic Gold by one tenth of a score. It was the artistic mark which was higher then Nancy K. that gave her the Gold. Oskana is an artist. It is obvious. She is Olympic Champion forever.
@@jjtruth3507 , your comment is several years old - but it is still valid. Baiul was one of the best artists on ice by a long shot! She was not a jumping robot - although at the time she was a good jumper - but her whole body was full of expression. Her beautiful performances would stand out even today - or especially today! I really do not like how very talented little Russian girls are turned into anorexic and joyless cookie cutter jumping robots who all look alike! And the rest of the world follows!
I still can't believe she was only 16 when she skated to this. The artistry and musicality was just out of this world. I've never seen such expressive arms in figure skating.
Such artistry. Just exquisite. The New York Times published an article (during the Sochi Winter Olympics) on ice skaters called "In Olympic Figure Skating, 'Compete' has replaced 'Perform.'" And the visibility of it is so obvious, even to untrained eyes - such as mine. But after watching ice skaters since 1965, I've seen most of them, and no performance I have seen on tv comes close to Oksana Baiul's. That is why I return to this video (I saw it on tv when she performed it). Because it shows the beauty that is inherent in ice skating. The swan is a fragile creature in the Swan Lake ballet - which is beautiful to watch as well - but to convey the tenderness and fragility on ice? Breathtaking. It's hard to believe this was 20 years ago. And some people have claimed this is not by Tchaikovsky. The confusion is understandable. There is a movement in Swan Lake that sounds almost exactly like this, especially in the first minute of the movement It is cut 12 on Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet. But this one, as skated to by Baiul, is indeed Saint-Saens.
mobrion1951, your comment is beautiful, and still valid after all these years! IMO Baiul was one of the best artists ever on ice. She didn’t have a triple axel or quads - although at the time she was also known for being a good jumper - but her performances were about so much more than just the jumps. Her artistic merits would be oustanding even today - actually especially today. The current system doesn't produce artists like Baiul anymore. Even those young girls who have the talent to be artists, are turned into anorexic jumping robots with a very limited shelf life. Baiul was very slim, but she was well toned, and she didn’t look as painfully emaciated as many current teenage skaters. She could also express genuine emotions. It's a pity that she turned pro soon after the Olympics in order to earn big money. She could have become a skating legend. But those who love figure skating still remember her, because she was really special.
It seems since the point system was standardized, no one cares about artistry anymore. All the programs seem the same! Jump, jump, jump and the same spin combinations. Figure skating got boring and tries now to be gymnastics! It's too bad because it was first about the artistry, to me anyway. What would a ballet look like if pple mostly only cared about technical difficulty all the time, with all the moves ranked in a hierarchy? That wd be figure skating today. The point system change ruined it.
Oksana Baiul was one of the most artistic figure skaters ever! Even today her performances look brilliant and perfectly beautiful. She was a primaballerina on ice! I don't know any other female skater who could do that as well as Baiul! She could probably have become a successful ballerina in the classic Russian tradition, if she hadn't started to skate as soon as she could walk. Too bad, that she turned pro soon after the Olympics and then developed personal problems during her years on the pro circuit. If she had been around for a few more competitive seasons, she might have become a skating legend. And while she was still a teenager, when she won her medals, she had heeps of personality and her overt joy was infectious. While she was very slim, her body was well toned. She didn’t have at all the anorexic appearance of today's pale Russian wonderkids who all look alike and who have been turned into joyless jumping robots by an exploitative training regime. Baiul was a good jumper, btw, and while she may not have been able to produce a triple axel or quads, her performances were about so much more than just the jumps. I remember that in 1994 I was glued to the tv screen - like people all over the world - when I watched the highly anticipated ladies final. I remember that I initially rooted for Kerrigan, bur also felt sorry for Harding, since the complete background of the attack wasn't made public, yet. But when I saw Baiul’s performance, I hoped she would win. She had this special extra ingredient which cannot be taught. IMO she absolutely deserved the gold medal because her artistic achievements were better than Nancy Kerrigan's, who admittedly performed perfectly, too. But I always found her a bit boring. She could not connect with the audience that easily, and a lot of the media attention and her elevated position which she had achieved, were the results of the viscious criminal attack against her which had been organized by Tonya Harding's ex-husband and people from her entourage. This was of course not Kerrigan's fault, and she dealt admirably with the added pressure. But it's nevertheless true, that without the attack she would have just been one of many silver medalists in the history of figure skating. She would never have become a household name, and her financial opportunities and the endorsements after the Olympics would have been scarcer. It’s a cosmic joke that this clumsy attack which should have stopped her from competing, backfired completely. While it elevated Kerrigan, it destroyed Harding's career forever.
The song is magnificently beautiful and there is something different about her performance... can u feel/see it? There is no "mind" in her performance. She's all heart and divine grace. Best skate performance of all time.
This program single handedly got me interested in figure skating. I loved the music, and played it over and over again. Simply beautiful. Whatever you think of Oksana, for these 4 mins, she was breathtaking.
This was a strikingly beautiful and moving performance. She successfully combined the art and movements of ballet with the athleticism and moves of skating. And her head movements mimicking the swan were loveley. This was the first ever gold medal for Ukraine; as a Ukrainian-Amereican it was just as moving to hear my ancestors' anthem played while the Ukrainian flag was raised over the Olympic arena.
wow I´ve watching a lot of championship ice figure skating videos...I have to say she is the Best :O as someone say before...how she can put all together and you barely can see stiffness in her body...AWESOME :)
Ukrainians are some of the best ballet dancers in the world. Oksana Baiul's performance perfectly mirrors their talents, only on ice, especially with the more or less identical choreography at the beginning to Fokine. :)
isn 't this meditation? which begs the question why her short and exhbition show such maturity over her long? I like this almost as much as the short. Ah! that short. still gives me goosebumps
Well, you're entitled to your opinion. I fell in love with this young lady's performance. I thought it was perfection, and lots of folks agree with me. This girl captivated a lot of hearts that day, and I'm afraid your pooping all over it isn't going to change our minds.
I remember seeing this live and thought "this is art". I was transported to another world. So lovely. Some ppl begrudge her the gold and believe Kerrigan shouldve gotten it, really I think because of all the knee-whacking shenanigans. But Oksanas had her own tragedies. Nevertheless, that's really not what it comes down to- if you didn't know the histories behind either skater and just saw the programs for what they were, any fair-minded person cd see Oksana's performance was far, far superior. On a tiny tangent, I wish all skaters who transform from a back spin camel (after my time, sorry, I'm sure there's a name for this) wouldn't let their free leg drop down like that while reaching to grab the blade, only to bring it back up again. It'd look so much better to keep the free leg at least just as high! I never could understand why that never happens. Anyway, bravo Oksana. One of the best performances ever.
I keep crying of joyous entanglement every time I see this. I was 9 when she performed it and since then I have been hooked on figure skating. Perfection.
I remember seeing this at the time - it just so embodied grace and beauty. She is wonderfully light on those skates when going into the spins. This performance is a classic in every way.
the best ever. she knows how to use her arms - unfortunately no one has come anywhere near her in arm movement. today's skaters have forgotten - or maybe just don't know - how to use the arms which finish and perfect the body line. i could watch this a million times and not grow tired of it. and the costume is perfect. especially the headdress.
Hi, no shibby, this was not in the competition part - she had already won the gold. It was the Exhibition in '94. Its beauty makes me cry.. There will never be another one like her... as ViVi said, truly MAGICAL. she HAD to win...it would have been the biggest travesty had she not. She was a true artist. Best ever, to me.
also, the moment where she places her hands over her heart during the Ina Bauer and then extends them overhead is just so poetic and perfectly placed - the perfect visual development for the sudden intensity of the music
this radiant, transcendent performance by this poor orphan girl is moving beyond words. if i were a religiously inclined person, i would say it constitutes proof of the existence of a loving god -- in any case, Oksana makes me proud to be a member of the human race.
Incredibly elegance! Incredibly performance! She is so simple, but she shows that she love to skate and the public is so silent. It seems like they want to hear her skates on the ice! By the way... "Perfect Quality" That's right!
If someone can say that some people are born to do this or that... Well then, we can say that Oksana Baiul she is definitely born to do just that dance and skate. She is so artistic perfect she is a joy to watch and inspire.
Oksana had a real God-Given otherworldly something that the judges rewarded-and rightly so. Here, here her exhibition skate to "The Dying Swan" is masterful. Right up there with Anna Pavlova's imo.
See ladypamela2's comment below. The costume is a skater's interpretation of a classical ballet swan costume and thus is absolutely appropriate--and she looks lovely in it.
All I see today are a bunch of cheerleaders wearing ice skates flailing around, rushing from one jump to the next cramming everything in. No long pauses and breathtaking moments the way Oksana gave us. Oksana is the ultimate skater in history.
Violayan, it's you again! Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. Violayanさん、またあなたですね！アップ本当にありがとう。 I am not sure if you are Japanese or not, so I typed in both English and Japanese. あなたが日本人かどうかわからないので、英語と日本語両方で書きました。
In addition to Katrina's Carmen, this is the performance I always wanted to watch again. カトリーナ ビットのカルメンとともに、この演技をずっとずっとまた見たいと思っていました。 This performance is unrealistically beautiful and makes me cry. 現実離れしたあまりの美しい演技に、涙がでます。
The best story I heard about her concerned her warm-up before a performance. Most skaters warm up a little bit, and when the announcer gives their name, they skate right to their spot. Oksana, however, would continue to skate around a little bit before finally settling into her pose. It often lasted quite a long Moment or two. She was asked why she did this, and her answer was “ I’m waiting for my skates. When my skates tell me to skate, I skate.” I remember the finals, when Oksana had barely beaten Nancy, a colleague and I were talking about it, and she thought Nancy had actually done very well with the artistic presentation, where she was considered to be at a considerable disadvantage. Then the next night they had the exhibition and they showed this. I went to work the next day and she said, “I’ve changed my mind about Oksana, that was beautiful.” So glad they’ve posted this. It’s Really everything skating should be.
Thank you, MissThingSings (a.k.a. daz0I09) for invoking Sasha on every single video on youtube, figure skating o no. U define the concept of a schizophrenic Troll. Btw, Oksana Bayul was a Skating Glory during the Lillehammer Games, though Nancy Kerrigan finished 2nd by the smallest margin ever.
The lifetime movie of her story was on awhile back and it was pretty cheesy to say the least but Okasana herself skated the swan at the end of the movie and it was beyond words. Incredible.
Not trying to 'poop' on your memories lol. Im still entitled to my opinion as you say and that opinion is this is incredibly corny. I am not an 11 year old girl so execute me if I don't think this is anything but fluff of the worst variety. Sasha Cohen's version of this does not include excessive wing flapping or swim caps covered in plastic feathers and still manages to be good without being gratuitously pathetic. You like it? great Im glad. Im stating MY opinion and not what is right or wrong.
Doesn't make it any less corny. If she cut the flapping in half it would have still been too much. In addition ive seen many people use this music and they managed to do it without looking like a flightless bird in need of medical attention.
I thought it was perfect. If you watch videos of Maya Plisetskaya in Swan Lake, you'll see that during the Black Swan pas de deux she uses a lot of quirky, angular movement. Swan ballerinas often rely on angular, frenetic or rawly emotional port de bras to convey characterization or relay emotion. You might not like it but it's a recognized ballet tradition. For me it's saved from corn by the pure simplicity of her line and the delicate tilt of the head - the pathos-filled glances extend, but do not break, alter or distort the classical line.
Oksana always looks so beautiful in all of the moves she does, however, she makes mistakes when she does them. Her technique is very weak--she double foots all of her jumps, her jumps aren't difficult--she will often make them doubles or singles, and she spends too much time NOT skating during her routines. Replay this video and compare the minutes she spends standing still or on her toe picks (tip-toes) just flapping her arms. This isn't skating...this is covering up for jumps she can't do. Oksana should NOT have won the gold medal. Look at how she has fallen since then. She should have won the silver or probably the bronze and then had to continue skating for another 4 years. This would have made her a better skater and person in the end. All of her programs contain so much NOT skating and arm waving. That's a very, very shallow skater. She technically makes mistakes all over the place. Plus, watch her back when she pumping to go faster (going backwards with the free leg pumping to increase her speed). Her back pumps up and down. Now watch somebody like Kerrigan when does that. Her back doesn't move. Sinice when does posture not count in figure skating? Look at Kerrigan's Olympic FS vs. Oklsana's Olympic FS. Nancy's was unarguably more difficult--and had complete and total maturity artistically. Kerrigan had 6 triple jumps--2 in combination--with no deduction. Bauil had 4 triple jumps--with no combination. AND, she 2-footed 2 of those jumps (probably 3). So Oksana looks pretty on the ice... good for her. Her win started a huge spiral downward of figure skating and judging. She was 16 when she won... in 1998 the winner was 15... in 2002 the winner was 16... and so on. Why does this sport idolize youth? Rachel Flatt summed it up perfectly... when she retired at age 20, she said, "I'm a grandma. I can't compete with them in what the judges are looking for." I would re-evaluate your thoughts on Oksana winning. One of the worst losses for Kerrigan in the history of the sport.
She was in a league of her own that has never been equaled. Watch her hands! She is a dancer first, skater second. No one has ever showed the grace and beauty of this ballet on ice. She doesn't just make gestures and sets up for the jumps; she connected everything together to make a performance. The greatest ever IMHO.
