Brian Boitano - 1988 U.S. Nationals, Men's Long Program

Denver, Colorado, USA - 1988 United States Figure Skating
Championships, Men's Long Program - First, a profile on
Brian Boitano, followed by his Long Program which helped him win the Gold Medal.

[@carolinemitsuko]

Addendum: He peaked at the perfect time: the Olympics! And what a peak that was. Still hasn't been matched, in my opinion.

[@theresabollman8061]

The judges baby the Canadians and are so hard on the US guys. I watched Brian Urser from Canada make 3 errors (falls) and they gave him 10s! Brian B was skating against him and had a perfect night...and they gave the win to Brian Urser....and he took the win like he desereved it. I would have hung my head. God bless Brian B he can out and hugged him and shook his hand...big smile. Brian B is a real sportsman and real man.

[@will74lsn]

Even he feels uncomfortable seeing those ridiculous marks lol

[@will74lsn]

what???!!!! 5.9 for technical merit from all judges? Is that a joke? Why having a competition?

[@galileocan]

Stiff. Awkward. Robotic. Jerky movements. Ugh.....the marks were ridiculously high. Laughable. And then you add in an incredibly egotistical interview at the end.... this was a train wreck

[@marygouker687]

Abolutely the best skater then & Now My favorite skater of all times

[@metsdudenj]

How anyone could say he didnt deserve gold in Calgary is absurd

[@MissFit29]

Don't forget this Nationals was marred by scheduling issues. I think Brian's program was skated after 11 pm. His comment after his win was that he was tired.

[@3Axel1996]

@MissFit29 That's right. Brian ended up skating around 11:55pm. The Men's LP was delayed by the Pairs' LP going overtime. Much of it was blamed on the need for the flower girls to spend so much time picking up loose flowers and the debris they left behind on the ice. That's why there have been limitations as to what's allowed to be tossed onto the ice as gifts for the skaters now.

[@trav16z]

All 5.9s LOL too funny

[@carolinemitsuko]

I agree, his Olympic performance, to me, pretty much deserved all 6's. But they had to leave room for Orser's performance, who was favored going into the Olympics. Goes to show you how subjective judging can be. But the correct outcome in both cases, I believe. I think the judges in Denver wanted Boitano to go to the Olympics with the National Championship under his belt and they were correct. He had the potential for a gold medal and won it in great style. Perfection, in my opinion!

[@kamwrites]

This version, this music, seems faster than the Olympic cut, and he seemed off-balance and racing to catch up. I prefer the Olympic choreography. The change worked for him.

[@3Axel1996]

He skated at Midnight (due to a long delay from the Pairs Long Program earlier in the afternoon -- flowers tossed onto the ice unwrapped left debris on the ice, and it took a long while to clean them off before the next pair can skate) which was why he was off.

[@XxsmoshysydxX]

Anyone look this up because of South Park what would Brian boitano do lol

[@TheDJEmre18]

what would brian boitano do?

[@galileocan]

Say something self complimentary when you just had a disastrous free skate combined with the largest overmarking in figure skating history

[@3Axel1996]

@trav16z Sadly, back then, if a country like the US, Canada or Russia had a skater who was considered a medal contender at the Olympics, the thing to do then was to send that skater off not only with the national title, but also awarding high scores to give the impression that that skater had done well and was going to be a tough competitor for the Olympic Gold. Remember, this was back in the era before the internet and KZbin, so such spreading of news by word of mouth can be helpful.

[@mikeg8375]

3Axel1996 interesting.

[@pdmm99]

Can anyone tell me where I can find his 1988 Olympic long program? I found his short program and even the figures! But the long is missing! Thanks!

[@russianskatingfan]

@premierrules you cant compare scores from Nationals vs the Olympics. Here he was being judged vs other American men who were not contenders on the World stage this year all under an inflated National scoring scale. At the Olympics he was being judged vs his main rivals in the World under Olympic standard scoring.

[@jacksonross2242]

Any other skater would have gotten lower marks he should got 5.6 5.5 5.7 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.5 5.7 5.7