John Curry 1973 Worlds LP

[@victoriagill3337]

Fantastic quality from 47 years ago, both the skating and the recording which is as old as I am! Thank you so much for posting

[@sashamars1418]

RIP John Curry! Obviously this is not at the 1976 level, but there is something very special about him that you cannot take eyes off him!

[@kelvincheung7479]

thank you for uploading. absolutely loved this. the middle section to Tchaikovsky was a dream to watch (especially those Ina Bauers!). Perfection. And he just "floated" across the ice.

[@alanawolf1556]

Pure fireworks, esp. 4:50 - 5:22! Just when you thought you knew how it was going to end...HOW on earth did he pull that off? That last jump took my breath away. I can only imagine what it must have been like to witness that in person.

[@DavidTaylor-ue1kg]

Amazing to see the birth of true artistic figure skating thanks to John.

[@npe1]

I really don't know where you dig these gems up from floskate but please keep 'em coming. A great performance by John and sadly very under marked. However, you can still see the difference that going to America made for John when compared to his 1976 programmes and especially so in his jumps after Gus Lussi completely broke his jumps down in a small bubble rink and taught him to jump in a different way.

[@debbiethomas3687]

Wonderful to see this again. His skating always looked so elegant and fluid and graceful, unlike Jan Hoffman who I always thought was very wooden (Craig Revel-Horwood would have had a field day with his spatulate hands!) Oh, and how many skaters made a jump the last element of their long programme? I can't think of anyone else offhand.

[@jillgooner]

God hes like wathching nureyev on ice. Never seen anyone like him since. he puts his feet and arms in ballet positions hard enough in ballet let alone o ice, Incredible. What a sad loss

[@gimichi]

huge talent and beauty

[@natalikorol572]

John was so amazing! I love him

[@JohnCurry1]

Since then I have not bothered to watch anyone else.

[@Laure__Line]

Quel merveilleux danseur !

[@MarlboroBoy123]

Great to see 70s treasures! Any way to find Nepela? Lynn? Or- Julie Lynn Holmes?!

[@npe1]

Terribly under marked. Nepela's long programme at the same event is on YT with only one triple (compared to John's two) and obviously not skated anywhere near as artistically beautiful as John, yet Nepela gets vastly better marks than John. I always felt a bit sorry for Alison Smith because when John had his big year in 1976 nearly all the kudos went to Carlo Fassi for training him, when in fact John improved massively with Alison Smith. It was Alison who was the first trainer John had who encouraged his artistic side, his previous trainers - Arnold Gershwiler especially - tried to discourage it. Alison brought out John's love of ballet in his skating and for that she deserves some credit.

[@jjsmith4829]

these 1973 worlds were the last for Nepela and being in his hometown he was going to get inflated marks as long as he stayed standing up

[@johnorlando9839]

His ending moves, the spread eagle and the 2x axel, was how he ended his Olympic performance, only with greater flare and command.

[@robertsmale3714]

Like John rightly maintained the Soviet bloc voted on mass and always underscored western skaters. There was/is so much politics and fixing that went on Sale/Pelletier debacle). Fortunately, in 1976 one judge from Czechoslovakia had the courage to break ranks and score higher ordinals for John. How could you not, that was one of the most breathtaking Olympic skates in history. To have denied him a gold would have been robbery! This was also an excellent skate a deserved much higher marks also.

[@ralphbourgeois5875]

@floskate, can you explain why his marks are not a lot higher then? Did the judges know it was gay, was it homophobia which was rampant in the sport and in society in general back then? The judges loved Cranston in free skating, and he was gay, but I think he was in the closet, while even if Curry was not neccessarily out I think everyone knew he was gay so maybe the judges brutally underscored him until he became so amazing he could not be denied for that.

[@ralphbourgeois5875]

@@floskate Thanks so much for your answer. I guess that could explain some of the rational to why Cranston was appreciated (he would disagree but it was weak figures that kept him from winning, the judges recognized his free skating brilliance always) while Curry took a lot longer, even though both were super artistic, stylists, groundbreaking, and influential, albeit with different styles. It really dissapointments to hear Essaw and Jelinek would even say he was unartistic, since I am Canadian and always had huge regard for their knowledge on the sport, and generally found their commentary both at the time and in old footage excellent. It does show Curry was almost like the Beethoven of skating in some ways, in that it took a long time for people to appreciate him, but when they finally did they were rightfully in awe and amazed. I agree on there being a real reservation against any kind of overt feminism in how men skated back then. I notice on old tapes even the more stylish mens skaters of the time like Tim Wood, Danzer, are very careful how they position their upper bodies, and to limit the use of their arms, and in how they move. While Cranston could be seen as being somewhat feminine in his skating style too due to its abstract nature it wasnt as outwardly so much as Curry, so some judges probably resented Curry for that and held it against him. It is sad, but atleast he finally got his due in the end, and changed the sport for the better for generations to come.

[@jjsmith4829]

curry and cranston both brilliant; i think cranstons style is more original; curry brought ballet to figure skating; cranston created more of his own style; not better but just different both were excellet and its a matter of preference really

[@laszloczimer3235]

Hol van Regőczy Sallai ketős?

[@JohnCurry1]

What a pity he never got together with Belita, who had retired by then. It would have been an exact parallel to Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn.

[@laszloczimer3235]

Regőczy Sallai keztős!

[@fredrika27]

Ah the 70s, when Marlboro and Jagermeister were acceptable sponsors f sport!🤣🤣🤣🤣 This is at the old Cologne arena where the Cologne Sharks used to play!!!

[@ИндираАятжанова]

Да Булат жайсанбаев говорил что катался за Великобританию лицо надевали резиновую маску