1. SKATING'S STANDARD: It was a less than auspicious start for the person whose name is synonymous with Olympic figure skating. At the 1924 Chamonix Games, Norway's Sonja Henie placed last among the eight competitors — but she was only 11 at the time. Henie would go on to win 10 world championships and three consecutive gold medals — at the 1928 St. Moritz Games, the 1932 Lake Placid Games and the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games. Turning professional, her entertainment career included starring in 10 films; she died at the age of 57 with a personal fortune exceeding $47 million.
2. RIGHT ON THE BUTTON: American Dick Button perhaps came the closest to being Henie's male counterpart when it came to on-the-ice dominance and off-the-ice accomplishments. Button won his first gold at the 1948 St. Moritz Games with the debut of the double axel jump. He repeated his golden accomplishment at the 1952 Oslo Games, being the first to include a triple jump — a triple loop — in competition. Button soon thereafter turned pro and joined the Ice Capades, with his professional endeavors including broadcast commentary, acting and practicing law.
3. FIRST AND TENS: Often mired in the long shadow of the singles and pairs events, Olympic ice dance competition was front and center at the 1984 Sarajevo Games. In capturing the gold medal, Great Britain's tandem of Jayne Torvil and Christopher Dean collected the first perfect scores of 6.0 in the history of the event. Performing to "Bolero" in the free skate, Torvil and Dean received a dozen 6.0s out of 18 possible marks, including all perfect marks from the nine judges for artistic impression.
4. SCANDALOUS MELODRAMA: The sport never enjoyed a higher profile than at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, thanks to the exploits of American skaters Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan and Ukrainian teen orphan Oksana Baiul. With Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi retiring after her triumph at the 1992 Albertville Games, Harding seemed to have the inside track for garnering national and international prominence — were it not for Kerrigan. Harding and husband Jeff Gillooly conspired with cronies to have Kerrigan taken out — the latter was attacked and clubbed on the knee at the U.S. National Championships in Detroit a month before the '94 Olympics. Implicated by her association with the attackers and her knowledge of the plot, Harding sued the USOC to not be suspended and remain eligible for the Olympics. In Lillehammer, Harding's medal hopes were as short as the bothersome replacement lace on one of her skates during a performance; she finished eighth, returning later to the United States to plea-bargain her way to reduced charges in the assault incident. A crowd favorite following the Detroit incident, a cautious Kerrigan skated well enough for the silver but not for the gold, and some ill-timed comments prior to the medal ceremony and in promotional events following the Olympics cost Kerrigan style points in the eye of the public. And the winner was Baiul, the young Ukrainian whose jumping was inferior to Kerrigan's but who earned more merits on other technical aspects of her free skate. And Baiul had her post-Olympics struggles after turning pro and moving to the United States — the most notable incident being her charges of reckless and drunken driving as she ran her Mercedes off the road in New England.
5. OF TWOS AND THREES: Russian pairs skater Irina Rodnina needed two partners to do it, but she matched Sonja Henie's 10 world championships and three Olympic gold medals. Rodnina teamed with Aleksei Ulanov to win the pairs gold at the 1972 Sapporo Games. However, Ulanov left to marry Lyudmila Smirnova, a Russian skater who had teamed with another partner to win the '72 pairs silver. Rodnina joined forces with new partner and eventual husband Aleksandr Zaitsev to win the gold medals at the 1976 Innsbruck Games and the 1980 Lake Placid Games. Rodnina's third and final gold came a year after taking time off to have a child.
6. FIRST THREE-TIMER: Sweden's Gillis Grafstrom was the first figure skater to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals. His first came at the 1920 Antwerp Games, when figure skating was an event contested at the Summer Olympics. He followed with golds at the 1924 Chamonix Games and the 1928 St. Moritz Games.
7. A RARE REPEAT: East Germany's Katarina Witt became the first since Sonja Henie to successfully defend her Olympic title in ladies' singles competition. A rapidly rising international darling, Witt won the gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Games, holding off a challenge from American Rosalynn Sumners. And at the 1988 Calgary Games, Witt was able to survive a challenge from Debi Thomas of the United States. Thomas, the only person to defeat Witt in competition during a five-year stretch, was awarded the bronze and became the first black athlete to receive a Winter Olympics medal.
8. A 1-2 AMERICAN PUNCH: Americans Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan had traded title tenure, as each had earned national and world championships leading up to the 1999 Nagano Games. Concluding with the free skate, Kwan skated well enough to win the gold but also left the door open for the 15-year-old Lipinski, who responded with an energetic performance that earned her first place and dropped her elder teammate to second place. It was the first 1-2 finish by Americans in more than four decades, and Lipinski became the youngest-ever figure skating Olympic champion, eclipsing Sonja Henie's mark by two months. Lipinski later turned professional, while Kwan vowed to return and vie for the gold at the 2002 Salt Lake Games.
9. RUSSIAN DOMINATION: After winning a gold and silver in pairs in the early 1990s, Artur Dmitriev dumped former partner Natalya Mishkutenok in favor of newcomer Oksana Kazakova. The two returned to the top spot on the podium at the 1998 Nagano Games and extended the Soviet/Russian dominance in pairs. Soviet or Russian skaters have captured every pairs gold medal since 1964.
10. AS THE PROS GO: The International Skating Union bowed to pressure from past Olympians and allowed skaters who had turned professional to return to the Winter Olympics for the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Most returnees didn't fare well, particularly in the singles. American Brian Boitano, who won the gold at the 1988 Calgary Games, managed a mere sixth place, two spots behind Victor Petrenko, who had claimed the gold at the 1992 Lillehammer Games. And two-time Witt placed seventh in the ladies' singles, one spot ahead of Harding. Great Britain's duo of Torvil and Dean did earn the bronze in ice dance competition. However, it was in the pairs where former professionals performed best. Defending champions Natalya Mishkutenok and Artur Dmitriev — Russians who had turned pro after their win at the 1992 Albertville Games — took the silver medal. The gold went to the Soviet couple who won the gold six years earlier at the 1988 Calgary Games — Yekaterina Gordeyeva and Sergei Grinkov. Sadly, while training together for a "Stars on Ice" performance in New York a year later, Grinkov collapsed and died of at heart attack at the age of 28.
