In these last weeks before Sochi, we’ll be revisiting a few notable Olympics past, and the 1988 Calgary Olympics seem as fair a jumping-off point as any — delivering dance and pairs bronze for Canada and the U.S. alike in historic fashion.
With their footwork-focused and rhythm-heavy “Elite Syncopations” ragtime free dance, choreographed by the National Ballet’s Vanessa Harwood, and ballroom-oriented tango OSP, seven-time Canadian champions and then two-time World bronze medalists (they’d capture medal number three in 1988) Tracy Wilson & Rob McCall became the first Canadians to medal in ice dance at the Olympic Games — albeit in only the sport’s fourth Olympic appearance. But they would also remain the only North Americans to make the podium until Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto for the U.S. in 2006, and the only Canadians until Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir captured 2010 gold.
In pairs, meanwhile, Jill Watson & Peter Oppegard became the fifth American team to medal, following in the path of duos like 1984 silver medalists Kitty Carruthers & Peter Carruthers and 1932 pioneers Beatrix Loughran & Sherwin Badger. The athletic Watson & Oppegard saw fair success, including three national titles and 1987 World bronze, and each would proceed to establish significant careers in the coaching field. While their on-ice achievements were notable, though, also notable is what came for the next generations of U.S. pairs: no team has obtained an Olympic medal since that 1988 bronze, with the best finish a fourth place for Kyoko Ina & Jason Dungjen in 1998.
At those same games, as a sidenote, a couple of other skaters — both North American and otherwise — are worth highlighting for their significance in particular to this year’s Games. Canada’s Lyndon Johnston, who placed sixth in pairs with partner Denise Benning, now coaches and serves as director of Ellenton Ice in Florida, where Sochi-bound Canadian bronze medalists Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers and U.S. silver medalists Felicia Zhang & Nate Bartholomay both log training time. And Soviet ice dancer Natalia Annenko, who finished in fourth with Genrikh Sretenski, is on the Detroit Skating Club coaching team of Canada’s number two and three couples Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje and Alexandra Paul & Mitch Islam.