The power and the glory.

Full Text COPYRIGHT Maclean Hunter Ltd. (Canada) 1992

When figure skater Barbara Ann Scott of Ottawa captured Canada's first individual gold medal in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, she did it by combining breathtaking artistry with the physical prowess of a great athlete. Dressed in a white fur costume, she glided across the ice to music by Victor Herbert. Then, she swept the judges away with a series of powerful double-Axel jumps and dizzying spins. As she skated off the ice and into a national love affair with Canadians, Scott had accomplished what every Olympic skater desperately strives for: a seamless display of artistry and athleticism.

Now, even though more than four decades have passed since the beautiful ice ballerina seized Olympic glory, the sights, sounds and sensations of the Olympic figure skating arean remain much the same. I had the privilege of taking part in the Olympic Games at Calgary in 1988, and at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in 1984. When I close my eyes, I can still hear the crunching sound of my skate blades ripping into the ice and the great roar of the crowd when I finished my routine in the Olympic Saddledome. Even today, my stomach tightens as I reflect on the skaters' private struggles with their doubts and hopes as they prepare for the greatest battle of their lives.

The atmosphere of intense competition will be the same in Albertville for Canada's threetime world champion Kurt Browning as it was for Scott decades earlier in St. Moritz. Still, I cannot help realizing how dramatically the sport of figure skating has changed over the years--both artistically and in its rules.

The biggest change has occurred in the women's and men's singles events, where the dreaded words "compulsory figures" will never terrify a skater again. The compulsories, which required skaters to trace intricate patterns into the ice, were designed to prove to the judges that the performers had mastered the fundamentals of their sport. But the repetitive demonstrations of technical competence had little fan appeal, and in 1989 the International Skating Union decided to drop them from the world championships--and the Olympics. The once-critical component of any champion's routine required so much tedious and tiring practice that few skaters lamented its passing. Personally, I hated the compulsories and cannot help wondering if I would have taken the gold medal in Calgary had they had been dropped in time. Somewhat cruelly, from my perspective, the decision to kill the compulsories came just one year after I retired from amateur figure skating.

But being set free of the demanding compulsories has also taken a toll on the sport, as its top skaters abandon the artistry of routines that were built on the intricate compulsory patterns in favor of gravity-defying leaps. The most important thing for skaters to do now, it seems, is to place as many difficult jumps in their programs as possible, without concern for artistic impression.

Coaches and skaters who defend the trend argue that when two skaters are of equal merit, the one who delivers the most artistic program will win. But it is much easier to earn an extra tenth of a mark simply by adding another triple jump to a routine than it is to elevate artistic content. Until the International Skating Union comes up with a way of awarding marks for unique artistic impression, the quality of basic skating will continue to be overlooked.

I also cannot help noticing that the jumping craze has led to a number of injuries, particularly to skaters' backs and knees. The problems are caused not only by the impact of landing, but also by the pressure that twisting in the air puts on the lower back. Browning is experiencing major back problems and had to skip the Canadian championships just two weeks ago in Moncton, N.B. Todd Eldredge, the 1990 U.S. champion, had to miss the American finals and will have difficulty at Albertville because of his back injuries. Midori Ito of Japan, the 1989 world champion, has had continuing problems with her ankles. Watching her take flight into a triple jump, it is immediately apparent why.

I strongly believe that with the compulsory figures eliminated, athletes are no longer properly doing the strengthening and flexibility exercises for the back, knees and ankles that they were accustomed to doing in training for the routine events.

In the future, I believe that the trend will shift back towards more artistry and creativity, but at Albertville, the jumpers will still dominate. And that will be good for Canada because, in Browning, we have one of the most athletic and dynamic skaters in the world. Even with his bad back, he nearly always produces his best performance when he is under the most pressure. He is an amazing jumper; his spins are fast and his choreography is sincere and from the heart. That is why he is a three-time world champion. If he has a weakness, it is his inability to perform at a high level for a long period of time--but fortunately, he usually peaks at the right moment.

Heading into the Olympics as the reigning world champion will be both advantageous and disadvantageous for Browning. In my case, being world champion in the year before the Calgary Games was a great motivator. Every day that I trained during that Olympic season, I stepped onto the ice and said to myself: "I am the world champion, the very best in the world." Not only did it help me train like a champion, but I felt like one and acted like one.

Browning's drive for gold could be aided by the fact that his main rival, Victor Petrenko, has had a tumultuous year. Petrenko left his home in Ukraine last fall to train in Houston. But he has since returned home and will appear at Albertville under the Olympic flag as part of a team representing the new Commonwealth of Independent States. Whether those upheavals will hurt him remains unknown.

Canada's women's team will be led by newly crowned national champion Karen Preston of Mississauga, Ont., and runner-up Josee Chouinard of Laval, Que. But Preston will have a difficult time winning a medal against stiff international competition. And Chouinard's sights may be set not on these Winter Games but the next, coming up in Lillehammer, Norway, in just two years.

While the men's and women's freestyle has turned into a jumper's competition, at least the pairs event is staying true to its traditions. But even with that, the world's great pairs skaters are executing all the double jumps with the speed and grace of a singles champion, and some are even attempting breathtaking triple jumps while skating side by side. But what is encouraging is that the judges in the pairs are still awarding marks based on creativity, and not just the skaters' technical merit.

If there is one team in the world that reflects the balance between technique and artistry, it is Canadian champions Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler. They are ranked second in the world, and their power and artistry are matched only by Artur Dmitriev and Natalia Mishkuteniok, representing the Commonwealth of Independent States. Technically, Brasseur and Eisler are the strongest in the field. If they have one inconsistency, it is in the individual jumps and spins in their program. And even though they have improved dramatically in that area, I will still be holding my breath as they leap into their side-by-side double-Axel jumps. But with a clean performance, Brasseur and Eisler could be standing on top of the victory podium.

While tradition still dominates in the pairs competition, the world's great ice dancers have gone off in a new direction--but not necessarily a better one, in my opinion. It seems that the traditional holds, tempos and intricate footwork that marked ice dancing in the past have gone by the wayside.

In the meantime, Canadians can take some pride in the fact that the ice dancing team that is leading this innovation is that of Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay. When the Duchesnays did not make the world team for Canada in 1985, they moved to France. Soon after, the brother-and-sister team resurfaced at the world championships representing that country. Their non-traditional, intensely dramatic programs quickly caught the attention of the entire skating world--including the judges. Now, they are the reigning world champions and it is up to them to either continue with the trend or take a more traditional approach. While Canada's dance champions, Jacqueline Petr and Mark Janoschak, are ranked well below the Duchesnays, they are young and talented and may one day be setting trends of their own. But I do believe that, once the skating competitions end, some lucky Canadian competitors will be clutching gold medals to their chests--a tradition that began with the wonderful artistry of Barbara Ann Scott in St. Moritz 44 years ago.