Oksana Baiul (UKR) - 1994 European Figure Skating Championships, Ladies' Free Skate 

I don’t think it was shade but rather a factual statement. I will say that in my opinion it was the Vera Wang dresses that really upgraded Nancy. Without them her awkward positioning really showed.

@@omar505I agree. Kerrigan was beautifully packaged and had some great short programs over the years but overall she was a rather insipid skater. Baiul was infinitely more charismatic, was far more musical but was also much, much quicker over the ice (which doesn’t always show on TV).

Look back at all the Olympics over 20 years, the Judges have always been funny at times. The neat thing about Oksana is she connected with the audience and they LOVED her. You see more of her best performances here on you tube more than any other female skater. Its been HOW many years ago? Tells us a lot about her. Magic like that doesn’t come along often. This sport needs the grace, charm as well as the jumps.

That's because Surya Bonaly skated a better Free Skate at this competition. At the Olympics she a had couple of costly mistakes

but her skating is a dull as Kerrigan's.

Gag her

I agree that they both had a lot of self-confidence and they both sold their programs well (hence their success, I would venture to say). They were also young and had a similar "look" I guess (not a fan of either of the dresses they wore in their Olympic long programs). But I their "style" was very different. Oksana was in many ways a dancer on ice; she really knew how to perform (I actually prefer watching her exhibition skates). Technically, she was ok...as Jill commented she had a lack of combination jumps. But when she landed her jumps cleanly, they were beautiful. I would not say the same of Tara. Her jumps were very quick and small and she while she had some artistry, she wasn't nearly the performer that Oksana was.

But she won the olympics, so her strategy worked in the end...

@@twizzle99 She was overrated and was held up by the judges when she shouldn't have been.

You would think, right? Just 5 triples with no combos? I personally don't think she had the stamina. This program had so many built in breaks where she just poses and prances slowly after spins. It must be that she was never able to get through anything more difficult in practice with any consistency. As for those saying it was better than olympics, Im not sure. Both axels were sloppy here, and several other jumps were scratchy and almost another 2foot on the 3flip.

I agree ... Oksana clearly wasn't all that great . . . I think her style and look gave her the impression of grace at a certain moment with this music, but it wasn't that substanisal.

Ivan M. Simply amazing

@@tyronebranch2946 Simply prancing around the ice without adding anything to the program.

@@Will_3000 totally agreed!!! what a "performance" haha

Well, every top lady in 1994 lacked originality then. Nancy Kerrigan repeated the same LP in the 1991 and 1992 seasons, the same SP in the 1992 and 1993 seasons and the same LP in the 1990 and 1994 seasons. Chen Lu, Yuka Sato and Surya Bonaly all repeated the same LP in the 1993 and 1994 seasons as well. Jill Trenary’s commentary is so accurate; Oksana was a better performer than Nancy and Baiul skated with a lot more heart.

@@horrormuseksk8r641 Yes, Jill's point is also well received here at 1:01 . . . . ". . . my only concern is that she still skating to this music that she used last year and it's very young."

Because Bonaly skated better at this competition. Baiul overall skated better than Bonaly at the Olympics..Bonaly had two costly errors in Lillihammer

@@tyronebranch2946 but it doesn't look like Surya outskated Oksana here, unless Bauil had several two foot landings the announcers missed.

Tristan Ferguson no combinations done at all in the spins or in the triple jumps and juvenile choreography

I didn't see one two footed landing. Another sore Nancy fan?

BS

@@vistaprime Triple flip was two-footed from her like she pretty much always did.

give her a fucking break lol, love to see you win the olympics at 16. and loads of championships

Your obsession with hating on GDR gymnasts/skaters and Soviet/Russian/Ukrainians skaters and gymnasts is so weird. Don’t you ever give it a break.

@Keith Valdez NK was stiff and robotic and that is never a characteristic of the great ones. Her sportsmanship stank too.

@@MTknitter22 she was graceful and elegant and her attitude was actually justified in my opinion

@@ragepie292 her attitude was quite understandable

When oksana skates she reached the audience with her face and her body emotions . Nancy never excused that

@@debrakateri2979 hogwash