Figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics

Thirty-five nations competed in the figure skating events at Nagano.

The favourites and top two after the short program were Ilia Kulik and Elvis Stojko, who would skate first and last, respectively. Medal contenders Alexei Yagudin, Todd Eldredge and Philippe Candeloro went in between. Steven Cousins was the other skater in the final draw, but he was not considered to have a realistic chance of making the podium.

Kulik skated a flawless program which included a quad toe loop to open the last session. Yagudin, who was one of several athletes suffering from the flu during these games, fell on his quad attempt and his triple Axel, which took him out of medal contention. Eldredge was skating cleanly until he popped what was to be his second triple Axel, and then he fell again when he tried to complete the jump again in the closing seconds. Candeloro, with the exception of a step out on his triple Axel, skated his program flawlessly to end up second in the free skating. Stojko, who skated last, originally intended to perform a quad toe loop/triple toe loop combination. However, a partial groin tear and the flu prevented him from attempting the combo, so he downgraded his quad to a triple. Despite his injury, he skated a clean program but finished the free skating third, placing second overall behind Kulik.

The countries represented by the podium finishers were the same as in the men's competition at the Lillehammer 1994 games, with Stojko and Candeloro getting their second consecutive silver and bronze medals, respectively. In a noteworthy instance, Stojko had to limp to the podium on sneakers at the medal presentation. He also did not skate at the figure skating gala, although he did take the ice briefly to announce that he would skip the World Championships next month.

Rank	Name	Nation	SP	FS	TFP
1	Ilia Kulik	Russia	1	1	1.5
2	Elvis Stojko	Canada	2	3	4.0
3	Philippe Candeloro	France	5	2	4.5
4	Todd Eldredge	United States	3	4	5.5
5	Alexei Yagudin	Russia	4	5	7.0
6	Steven Cousins	Great Britain	6	7	10.0
7	Michael Weiss	United States	11	6	11.5
8	Guo Zhengxin	China	10	9	14.0
9	Michael Tyllesen	Denmark	9	11	15.5
10	Viacheslav Zagorodniuk	Ukraine	16	8	16.0
11	Ivan Dinev	Bulgaria	7	14	17.5
12	Jeff Langdon	Canada	17	10	18.5
13	Szabolcs Vidrai	Hungary	12	16	19.0
14	Dmitri Dmitrenko	Ukraine	8	16	20.0
15	Takeshi Honda	Japan	18	12	21.0
16	Igor Pashkevich	Azerbaijan	13	15	21.5
17	Yamato Tamura	Japan	15	17	24.5
18	Michael Shmerkin	Israel	14	18	25.0
19	Roman Skorniakov	Uzbekistan	20	19	29.0
20	Margus Hernits	Estonia	19	20	29.5
21	Cornel Gheorghe	Romania	21	21	31.5
22	Patrick Meier	Switzerland	22	22	33.0
23	Gilberto Viadana	Italy	24	23	35.0
24	Lee Kyu-hyun	South Korea	23	24	35.5
Free skating not reached
25	Anthony Liu	Australia	25
26	Róbert Kažimír	Slovakia	26
27	David Liu	Chinese Taipei	27
28	Yuri Litvinov	Kazakhstan	28
29	Patrick Schmit	Luxembourg	29

Referee:

• Britta Lindgren

Assistant Referee:

• Junko Hiramatsu

Judges:

• Margaret Worsfold
• Vladislav Petukov
• Sally Rehorick
• Mariana Silvia Chita
• Mieko Fujimora
• Sviatoslav Babenko
• Evgenia Bogdanova
• Paula Naughton
• Marie-Reine Le Gougne
• Zsofia Wagner (substitute)

The primary contenders for the gold medal were Americans Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan.[4] Kwan and Lipinski were in first and second place respectively after the short program. In the free skating, both Lipinski and Kwan skated clean. 6 judges placed Lipinski ahead of Kwan, and three placed Kwan ahead of Lipinski, which meant Lipinski won the gold medal, and Kwan took the silver.

The primary competitors for the bronze medal were Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya from Russia, and Chen Lu from China. In the free skating, they all skated well, but had mistakes. The final placements were very close. The 3rd–5th place votes were split unevenly between Chen, Butyrskaya, and Slutskaya. Chen beat Butyrskaya by the tally of 5 judges to 4 and beat Slutskaya 6 judges to 3, giving Chen her second straight bronze medal in the Olympic Games.

Tara Lipinski (gold), Michelle Kwan (silver) and Chen Lu (bronze) were the World Champions in 1997, 1996 and 1995, respectively. Lipinski also became the youngest competitor in Winter Olympics history to earn a gold medal in an individual event.[5]

While not a medal winner, France's injured Surya Bonaly, who placed 10th, completed an (illegal) backflip during her long program, making her the fourth person and only woman to ever land a backflip in competition. She is the only person to land on one foot and to do a split mid-air (now colloquially referred to as a 'Bonaly'). She performed the unorthodox maneuver as a result of a previous fall and poor program due to an injured foot, however given the illegal nature of the move, her backflip was not considered when grading her technical merit. Youtube video

Rank	Name	Nation	SP	FS	TFP
1	Tara Lipinski	United States	2	1	2.0
2	Michelle Kwan	United States	1	2	2.5
3	Chen Lu	China	4	3	5.0
4	Maria Butyrskaya	Russia	3	4	5.5
5	Irina Slutskaya	Russia	5	5	7.5
6	Vanessa Gusmeroli	France	8	6	10.0
7	Elena Sokolova	Russia	10	7	12.0
8	Tatiana Malinina	Uzbekistan	9	8	12.5
9	Elena Liashenko	Ukraine	7	10	13.5
10	Surya Bonaly	France	6	11	14.0
11	Yulia Lavrenchuk	Ukraine	15	9	16.5
12	Joanne Carter	Australia	11	12	17.5
13	Shizuka Arakawa	Japan	14	14	21.0
14	Julia Lautowa	Austria	21	13	23.5
15	Júlia Sebestyén	Hungary	19	15	24.5
16	Yulia Vorobieva	Azerbaijan	18	16	25.0
17	Nicole Bobek	United States	17	17	25.5
18	Lenka Kulovaná	Czech Republic	16	18	26.0
19	Anna Rechnio	Poland	13	20	26.5
20	Laëtitia Hubert	France	12	21	27.0
21	Alisa Drei	Finland	20	19	29.0
22	Marta Andrade	Spain	24	22	34.0
23	Mojca Kopač	Slovenia	22	23	34.0
24	Shirene Human	South Africa	23	24	35.5
Free skating not reached
25	Ivana Jakupcevic	Croatia	25
26	Helena Grundberg	Sweden	26
27	Tony Bombardieri	Italy	27
28	Sofia Penkova	Bulgaria	28

Referee:

• Sally-Anne Stapleford

Assistant Referee:

• Tjasa Andrée-Prosenc

Judges:

• Frank A. Parsons
• Judit Furst-Tombor
• Karin Ehrhardt
• Jan Hoffmann
• Susan A. Johnson
• Anatoli Bogatyrev
• Alfred Korytek
• Maria Miller
• Anne Hardy Thomas
• Liliana Strechova (substitute)

Artur Dmitriev of Russia won his second Olympic gold here. He had previously won in 1992 with a different partner. He was the first man to win the Olympics more than once with different partners.[6] The first woman to do so was Russian skater Irina Rodnina, who won three Olympics with two different partners.

Rank	Name	Nation	SP	FS	TFP
1	Oksana Kazakova / Artur Dmitriev	Russia	1	1	1.5
2	Elena Berezhnaya / Anton Sikharulidze	Russia	3	2	3.5
3	Mandy Wötzel / Ingo Steuer	Germany	2	3	4.0
4	Kyoko Ina / Jason Dungjen	United States	4	4	6.0
5	Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo	China	8	5	9.0
6	Sarah Abitbol / Stéphane Bernadis	France	7	6	9.5
7	Marina Eltsova / Andrei Bushkov	Russia	5	7	9.5
8	Jenni Meno / Todd Sand	United States	6	9	12.0
9	Peggy Schwarz / Mirko Müller	Germany	9	8	12.5
10	Dorota Zagórska / Mariusz Siudek	Poland	10	11	16.0
11	Evgenia Filonenko / Igor Marchenko	Ukraine	13	10	16.5
12	Kristy Sargeant / Kris Wirtz	Canada	11	12	17.5
13	Danielle McGrath / Stephen Carr	Australia	15	13	20.5
14	Marina Khalturina / Andrei Krukov	Kazakhstan	16	14	22.0
15	Kateřina Beránková / Otto Dlabola	Czech Republic	14	15	22.0
16	Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon / Luc Bradet	Canada	12	16	22.0
17	Sabrina Lefrançois / Nicolas Osseland	France	17	17	25.5
18	Inga Rodionova / Aleksandr Anichenko	Azerbaijan	19	18	27.5
19	Maria Krasiltseva / Alexander Chestnikh	Armenia	18	19	28.0
20	Marie Arai / Shin Amano	Japan	20	20	30.0

Referee:

• Walburga Grimm

Assistant Referee:

• Ronald T. Pfenning

Judges:

• Yang Jiasheng
• John Greenwood
• Heinz-Ulrich Walther
• Anna Sierocka
• Roger A. Glenn
• Olga Záková
• Donald McKnight
• Marina Sanaya
• Alfred Korytek
• Marie-Reine Le Gougne (substitute)

Grishuk and Platov became the first pair ever to repeat as champions in Olympic Ice Dance. They won 21 straight events before they won in Nagano.[7]

The judging was marred by accusations that the Europeans colluded in "bloc voting" (where judges tend to favor skaters from their regions), so that the dance teams representing their countries would take the medals, while keeping the Canadians off the podium.[8][9]

Rank	Name	Nation	CD1	CD2	OD	FD	TFP
1	Pasha Grishuk / Evgeni Platov	Russia	1	1	1	1	2.0
2	Anjelika Krylova / Oleg Ovsyannikov	Russia	2	2	2	2	4.0
3	Marina Anissina / Gwendal Peizerat	France	3	3	3	4	7.0
4	Shae-Lynn Bourne / Victor Kraatz	Canada	5	4	4	3	7.2
5	Irina Lobacheva / Ilia Averbukh	Russia	4	5	5	5	9.8
6	Barbara Fusar-Poli / Maurizio Margaglio	Italy	6	6	6	6	12.0
7	Elizabeth Punsalan / Jerod Swallow	United States	7	7	7	7	14.0
8	Margarita Drobiazko / Povilas Vanagas	Lithuania	8	9	8	8	16.2
9	Irina Romanova / Igor Yaroshenko	Ukraine	9	8	10	9	18.4
10	Kati Winkler / René Lohse	Germany	11	11	9	10	19.8
11	Sophie Moniotte / Pascal Lavanchy	France	10	10	12	11	22.2
12	Sylwia Nowak / Sebastian Kolasiński	Poland	12	12	11	12	23.4
13	Kateřina Mrázová / Martin Šimeček	Czech Republic	13	13	13	13	26.0
14	Galit Chait / Sergei Sakhnovski	Israel	17	14	14	14	28.6
15	Elena Grushina / Ruslan Goncharov	Ukraine	15	16	15	15	30.2
16	Tatiana Navka / Nikolai Morozov	Belarus	14	15	17	16	32.0
17	Diane Gerencser / Pasquale Camerlengo	Italy	16	17	16	17	33.2
18	Albena Denkova / Maxim Staviski	Bulgaria	18	18	18	18	36.0
19	Chantal Lefebvre / Michel Brunet	Canada	19	19	19	19	38.0
20	Dominique Deniaud / Martial Jaffredo	France	20	21	21	20	40.8
21	Jessica Joseph / Charles Butler	United States	22	20	20	21	41.4
22	Elizaveta Stekolnikova / Dmitri Kazarlyga	Kazakhstan	23	22	22	22	44.2
23	Aya Kawai / Hiroshi Tanaka	Japan	21	23	23	23	45.6
24	Ksenia Smetanenko / Samuel Gezalian	Armenia	24	24	24	24	48.0

Referee:

• Wolfgang Kunz

Assistant Referee:

• Alexander Gorshkov

Judges:

• Jean Senft
• Halina Gordon-Półtorak
• Eugenia Gasiorowska
• Yuri Balkov
• Ulf Denzer
• Jarmila Portová
• Alla Shekhovtsova
• Walter Zuccaro
• Jean-Bernard Hamel
• Robert J. Horen (substitute)