Golden Olympic Performances – Men Singles Figure Skating

Dick Button (United States) – 1948 St. Moritz / 1952 Oslo

At the 1948 St. Moritz Games, Dick Button became the youngest man to win the Olympic title in figure skating and the first to complete the double axel in competition. He defended his Olympic title four years later in Oslo, where he successfully landed the first triple jump in competition, the triple loop.

John Curry (Great Britain) – 1976 Innsbruck

John Curry was credited along with Toller Cranston (Canada) for bringing a new level of artistry to men’s figure skating. Curry’s skating was rather unorthodox in that most of his spins (except for flying spins) were performed clockwise but his jumps were performed in the counter-clockwise direction.

Scott Hamilton (United States) – 1984 Sarajevo

Against all odds, financial and physical, a very determined Scott Hamilton won every national and world competition from 1981 to 1984, capping his career with an Olympic gold.

Brian Boitano (United States) – 1988 Calgary

Brian Boitano, a self-professed “jumping robot,” had always excelled at the technical requirements of his programs, but he was weak on artistic merits. So he decided to hire, Sandra Bezic, a well-known figure skating choreographer, to arrange his programs in order to increase his chances of becoming an Olympic champion. His decision paid off big time.

Viktor Petrenko (Unified Team/Ukraine) – 1992 Albertville

Not only was Viktor Petrenko an Olympic champ attributable to his trademark grace and poise on the rink, he was also an Olympic champ with a heart of gold, having persuaded his coach to act as guardian and coach of a 14-year-old orphan named Oksana Baiul, who would eventually become the champion at the 1993 World championships and 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games.

Alexei Urmanov (Russia) – 1994 Lillehammer

Noted for his flamboyant costumes and balletic style, Alexei Urmanov brushed off stiff competition from Elvis Stojko of Canada to win the gold by a slim margin.

Ilia Kulik (Russia) – 1998 Nagano

Ilia Kulik skated flawlessly to win the gold in a program that included a quadriple toe loop, edging out Stojko, who valiantly skated with a groin injury and still recovering from a flu that struck several other athletes during the Games.

Alexei Yagudin (Russia) – 2002 Salt Lake City

After his perennial rival Evgeni Plushenko committed several errors in his short and long program, Yagudin went on to clinch the Olympic gold and become the first ever male figure skater in fifty years to receive first place votes from every judge in all stages of the competition. He also earned four perfect 6.0 scores for presentation, becoming the only man to earn more than one perfect mark in Olympic history.

Evgeni Plushenko (Russia) – 2006 Torino

As the overwhelming favorite, Plushenko did not disappoint. He skated two solid programs to win by a comfortably wide margin, setting a new ISU record in the process in both the short and long program. He is one of the very few male skaters to perform the Biellmann spin, a move that requires a very great flexibility and spinning ability.

More articles on Greatest Athletes series:

• (Almost) Greatest Female Gymnasts in History
• 10 Greatest Male Gymnasts in History
• 10 Greatest Female Gymnasts in History
• Greatest American Female Gymnasts
• Greatest American Male Gymnasts
• 10 Greatest Female Figure Skaters of All Time
• 10 Greatest Male Figure Skaters of All Time

Articles on the Olympics:

• Unforgettable Summer Olympic Stories
• More Unforgettable Summer Olympic Stories
• Unforgettable Winter Olympic Stories
• More Unforgettable Winter Olympic Stories
• Unforgettable Moments of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
• Unforgettable Moments of The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
• Michael Phelps: The Greatest Olympian of All Time

Golden Olympic Performances:

• Men Singles Figure Skating
• Ladies Singles Figure Skating
• Men’s Gymnastics – Floor Exercise
• Men’s Gymnastics – Pommel Horse
• Men’s Gymnastics – Still Rings
• Men’s Gymnastics – Horizontal Bar
• Men’s Gymnastics – Parallel Bars
• Women’s Gymnastics – Uneven Bars
• Women’s Gymnastics – Balance Beam
• Women’s Gymnastics – Floor Exercise

Olympic Greats:

• Women’s Diving
• Men’s Diving