Tonight we let the Talent take shape.
A golden chain from Albright to Liu
by Philip Barker at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, Assago Forum
The performance of figure skating gold medallist Alyssa Liu in Milan delighted her legions of fans but few were more pleased than Tenley Albright who won gold when the Winter Olympics were first staged on Italian soil 70 years ago in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
“What we see tonight is the best skating in the entire world the things they are doing now we could not even have thought of a number years ago,” Albright said.
The competition was very different when Albright was competing. The skating was held in the Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio which also hosted the 1956 Opening Ceremony and ice hockey in the open air.
“When I was competing there, we had snow and sun and I remember taking off on my double axel in the sunshine and landing in the shade,” Albright recalled.
Albright’s gold medal winning routine was to Offenbach’s music from “Tales of Hoffman.” She sustained an injury which prevented her from taking part in the Opening Ceremony. As a result, she never wore the special sweater issued for the occasion but did wear it here in Milan. She attended the competitions with her family in a city where she had first skated at a World Championship in 1951.
In Milan this month, Albright was also a special guest at a gathering organised by the United States team which included 1976 singles champion Dorothy Hamill, 1992 gold medallist Kristi Yamaguchi, Sarah Hughes who won in 2002 and the latest member of this distinguished group in Liu.
“There has never been as much pressure on the skaters as there has been at this Olympics,” Albright insisted. “It is phenomenal, not only their schedules, all the media, being asked all sorts of questions. They have stood it very, very well.”
Albright watched Liu win her singles gold skating to an arrangement of Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park.” Since the performance, demand for streams of the music used have increased tenfold. Liu wore a gold costume for her free skate but for the gala, she selected a dark blue outfit with buttons in the colours of the Olympics rings.
An extended version of this interview with Tenley Albright will appear in the next issue of the Journal of Olympic History.
Olympic Champions Dorothy Hamill, Tenley Albright and Kristi Yamaguchi in Milan.
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