This video showcases one of America’s most elegant athletes to ever perform….figure skater Peggy Fleming…who was sent as an unofficial ambassador for the opening of US / China relationships…..and she chose to perform a Chinese written piece called The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto….which has since become a universally performed piece….and the people of China loved it….as…
DOG ASIDE: Richard Totten “Dick” Button (born July 18, 1929) is an American former figure skater and skating analyst ….who is a two-time Olympic champion in 1948 and 1952….and five-time World champion from 1948 to 1952. He is also the only non-European man to have become European champion. Button is credited as having been the first skater to successfully land the double axel jump in competition in 1948….as…
DOG ASIDE: This 1980 figure skating special on NBC with host Dick Buttons was titled “Athletes in Review” was a dual purpose production that was used to showcase the top US figure skaters and to raise continued awareness and salute to the 1961 US Figure Skating Team that was lost in the 1961 plane crash in 1961. …
DOG ASIDE: After the tragic place crash known as Sabena Flight 548, a Boeing 707 aircraft that crashed en route from New York City to Brussels, Belgium, on February 15, 1961….which killed all 72 on board and one person on the ground….including the entire U.S. figure skating team who were travelling to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia….there were many special figure skating events that were staged…
DOG COMMENTARY: Barrel jumping was never an Olympic sport….although it is a sport indeed….which has been covered on ABC’s Wide World of Sports….as seen in this video herewith….and as the name implies….it’s all about jumping over barrels on ice skates. The skater circles the rink a few times to pick up speed….when at about 30…
DOG ASIDE: The 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics provided some wonderful highs and disheartening lows….which is typical of any Olympic Games…..for the talent is so expansive….causing the challenges to be greater and the risks to be higher. The figure skating pairs competition short program at these 1988 Calgary Games certainly provided one of these wonderful…
DOG COMMENTARY: On this day of ABC’s broadcast of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics….the viewer get to see coverage of the men competing in figure skating, speed skating, hockey and slalom in skiing. This was possibly the most wide-open men’s Olympic championship…..with nobody that had established himself as the world’s best figure skater since…
DOG COMMENTARY: On this day at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics….the outstanding crew of ABC Sports broadcasters….including the elegamt and eloquent Jim McKay as the host of the telecast….with figure skating being covered by a young Jim Lampley….plus the ever so talented mens’ figure skating Olympic champion and absolutely “spot on” analyst of figure skating competition, the…
