Sarah Hughes (USA) - 2002 Salt Lake City, Figure Skating, Ladies' Short Program

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA - 2002 Winter Games, Figure Skating, Ladies' Short Program - Sarah Hughes of the United States placed 4th in the Short Program despite having some minor errors with her elements. (Apologies: Long Program is not available as the IOC filed a copyright claim on the clip, and it was removed by KZbin.)

[@ChristineTheHippie]

Agreed. She was fourth here, b/c of some jumping issues (flutzing, slightly shallow spiral). However, she skated the lights out at the LP, Kwan and Slutskaya both were tenative. Sasha had mistakes too. IMO, the placements were correct in the podium.

[@suihan1540]

Prerotations, underrotation and two footed jump too , she made all mistakes a skater can do on jumps

[@psychstudentrip]

@@suihan1540 you clearly have no idea what you're talking about when you used the term "pre-rotation". But who cares really, we're just idiots on the Internet, and Sarah Hughes is an Olympic gold medalist.

[@figulapt3784]

@@suihan1540 You are literally describing kwan HAHAHHA

[@punchingkwan3052]

@@psychstudentrip irina should have placed above michelle, michelle should not get 5.9 for her technical marks, underroated flip and wrong edge on the lutzs

[@dragonv2110]

A VERY VERY VERY TALENTED GIRL. I LOVE HER!

[@mammac4333]

This was a complete farce! Always under rotations and huge flutz!

[@dc19921000]

I would have given her 5.3/5.6. Small deductions for flutz, URed lutz, slight two foot on flip, and somewhat incomplete spiral pattern.

[@tyronebranch2946]

Her triple flip wasn't two footed.

[@skatingcanuck9837]

After all these years I only noticed now her resemblance to Dorothy Hamill. Her back position in her layback is stunning and hard to match even to this day.

[@Shrinksjp]

What is the jump at 1:36?

[@dane7451]

Lasso jump

[@Shrinksjp]

Thanks. @@dane7451

[@taktshi3036]

1st irina 5.8/5.8 2st michelle 5.7/5.9 3st sasha 5.7/5.8 4st fumie 5.6/5.6 5st maria 5.4/5.7

[@TT-ee4qp]

Michelle and Irina both made mistakes, not as well as ever, unfortunately.

[@b0rtie]

I reckon if Michelle had been second after the short program, it would’ve lit a fire under her bum. It would’ve given her the motivation to skate with fire and passion, instead of the tentativeness she had.

[@Zuranthium]

That's much too high for Irina on artistry.

[@jb7644]

I feel like she would've done a 3 luts and 3 loop combo if she wasn't close to that wall.

[@TT-ee4qp]

She never did.......before or after....

[@jb7644]

@@TT-ee4qp I said she would've, not she had done it before.. SMH

[@jamesbent8335]

@@jb7644ate

[@thomstephens]

So nice to see that overall - the star system didn’t work and the right skater won. Thrilled for her!

[@TT-ee4qp]

Sarah won the Olympics with good lucky, she did a good job never happened before, and the other better skaters made mistakes one by one.

[@user-yn1uw6yx7t]

Она выиграла по той простой причине, что она была лучше и интереснее всех!😁

[@pennywise8041]

Сказ о том, как один и тот же прыжок выдать и за лутц и за флип.

[@timw7256]

You mean like every Russian skater now?

[@koc_moc]

Просто жесть какая то))) детское катание)))

[@basik_tv05]

Согласна, а платья какие? Девочка с тренировки зашла

[@koc_moc]

Во всех прыжках недокруты. И не держит ось. Мой шок в шоке... Это даже не пьедистал...

[@user-os8ly5yd4u]

​@@koc_mocЯ помню как Слуцкая ещё говорила на той Олимпиаде что у неё недокручены прыжки

[@basik_tv05]

@@koc_moc это даже не 1 спортивный, бы сказала

[@basik_tv05]

@@user-os8ly5yd4u тогда была система 6:0. Поэтому на недокруты особенно никто не смотрел

[@joejoematic8206]

You can become olympic Champion with a 5.1 in the SP....

[@Person-mh6xq]

It was just one judge.

[@TT-ee4qp]

Well....Sarah was cute, but she was a middle skater.

[@ANEL8]

​​@@TT-ee4qpThat's right... She was made olimpic cham, but wasn't her in reality. Irina and Michell were better...

[@tanyarobinson1146]

The score doesn't matter, the ordinals did.

[@user-ez8yp4zr6b]

По сравнению с нашими нынешними девочками да и вообще в целом, она катается как утка в проруби

[@basik_tv05]

Нормальное попите в в Америке не могли купить?

[@kellianderson4044]

Sometimes I can't believe they let someone who under - rotated 90% of their jumps win the gold medal. smh

[@TT-ee4qp]

The other better skaters made mistakes one by one.....that's why.....

[@scottw6704]

They couldn't let someone who fell (Michelle, Sasha) or someone who didn't attempt and land two triple-triples (Irina) so what could they do. Besides, it wasn't unanimous. 5 judges to 4. Seemed pretty fair to me based on what the top four did (or didn't do) in their free skate.

[@elenajako6733]

Ну,это катание не олимпийской чемпионки.

[@TT-ee4qp]

It's a accident that Sarah Hughes won the 2002 Olympics. Sarah was lucky to be the winner because the other better skaters like Michelle and Irina made mistakes.

[@user-os8ly5yd4u]

Да! Титул подтверждается годами,множеством соревнований,а у неё одна вот эта медаль и больше особо нигде не было её видно.Есть ощущение что старательная,крепкая,стрессоустойчивая,но не тот тип таланта...

[@basik_tv05]

В борт чуть не въехала

[@user-ue1sk8sy5x]

Написано рост 165см+коньки 7см вот и дылда в 12,5лет.Формирование по женскому типу ещё нет,"окороков"нет ещё.

[@user-ue1sk8sy5x]

Настоящая Сара Никогда Не Кланялась Зрителям.Юридические Королевы Не Пресмыкаются и Не Кланяться!

[@ec5582]

She is terrible should never have won

[@drissabderrhamane7948]

Under rotated jumps, slight two foot landing and flutz... look at the Flip slow motion when she tried to take off : that’s just a total joke : her hideous extreme inside edge + she cheats on a quarter turn. no need to mention her lack of maturity artistry. With the new system she couldn’t have cheated and would have finished in 10th or 15th position !!

[@dc19921000]

And?

[@tyronebranch2946]

Her flip wasn't two footed.

[@Zuranthium]

Her artistry was okay. Clearly behind Kwan + Cohen in the SP, but competitive with the others. Her spins, spirals, and double axel are beautiful, and there's some difficult turns sprinkled throughout the program; uncommon in this era. Her Long Program is far superior though, magical.

[@SquirrelTrapper]

Overrated skater - skates so SLOWly and underrotates all of her jumps. This would score very poorly in the modern system.

[@tanyarobinson1146]

Everyone scores poorly when judged against the new system.

[@skatergirl4921]

I love her dress and music ! It was perfect for the program and really showed her long legs and features for the program.

[@Rav3r916]

Wow... they found those little errors? This was the time when the US Women were at the height of Figure Skating. The quality nowadays is far from this. Obviously, the scoring has changed.

[@stevebbuk]

Yes and not for the better.

[@iceroby72]

Elegant skater, beautyfull lines, wonderful spirals and spins, good edging quality ... embarassing jumping technique.

[@FlabbyTitmuss]

I agree...she had some wonderful qualities but virtually every triple jump she ever landed was questionable in some way. Either pre rotated, under rotated, flutzed, lipped, two footed...you get the picture.

[@abrahamlora329]

People rightly commenting that she shouldn’t have been 4th here well the judges didn’t think so either. A majority of them had her 5th and lower; she was only 4th here due to the ordinals for everyone being all over the place

[@hhluvzmagik]

And Scott was correct in his critique on her serpentine footwork sequence as well

[@crazyasianman07]

Yeah, she is a beautiful well-rounded skater. Shes good both technical merit and in presentation. She was underscored. She really deserved better marks.

[@sherryanng19]

There's more going on in the short program than most people realize. The competitors are not just out there skating to the music. There are required spins, steps, and jumps. Sarah was marked correctly and could have even been lower based on the short program requirements.

[@crazyasianman07]

+sherryanng19 I hear you. I think what cost her here was that she took off on the wrong edge on the lutz. & Sandra said she needed to make a full circle when it came to the footwork...& the flip..landing was a bit tentative...

[@hhluvzmagik]

Sandra was spot-on! Her marks for this short program were fair! It was a strong program, but it was a sloppy short. She flutzed her lutz, & two-footed her flip. And the judges could've deducted as much as 0.08 for those small mistakes. Sandra was correct.

[@tyronebranch2946]

Her Triple Flip wasn't two footed.

[@Person-mh6xq]

@@tyronebranch2946 yes, it was. Her right toe ticked the ice as she landed. Quickly camouflaged it, but that counts as two-footed.

[@tyronebranch2946]

@@Person-mh6xq No it wasn't. If you look at her program in CBC Broadcast it shows the replay of that jump at a different angle, where it CLEARLY shows that it WAS NOT two footed

[@auntiechercher4266]

@@tyronebranch2946 I agree, I watched it in slow motion and while the free foot was low to the ice, she didn't rake the ice with it. No two foot on the flip. I believe the other three gave a better short than Sarah (Michelle, Irina and Sasha), but Sarah overcame and killed them all in the long!

[@carlyburgess5018]

She makes this program look so easy ;D JUST LOOK AT IT

[@stalemate123matt6]

Everyone getting on her for flutz but literally like 90% of skaters flutzed at the time in the ladies event

[@achnix3167]

Still do

[@FlabbyTitmuss]

I agree although hers was particularly egregious. Kwan and Slutskaya at least entered into the jump on the flats of their blade rather than the wrong edge totally.

[@figurativeartistbenjaminel8395]

Michelle’s was a little flutz-y. Not as bad as Sarah’s but still.

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@figurativeartistbenjaminel8395 Tara Lipinski was the Flutz queen. （∩▽∩）

[@figurativeartistbenjaminel8395]

@@TT-ee4qp Michelle was to

[@LigaSvobodu]

come on, placing it higher then Butyrskaya short was crazy.

[@keithjones9546]

LigaSvobodu you are butras crazy. Butra fell on her ass. Period.

[@snopesshop1903]

5.1 from the Russian judge LOL

[@NIQ31]

This mark is correct.

[@skatefan9495]

I'm wondering why she was apparently penalized here for the flutz but not in the long program. I think she skated pretty well here--the judge who put her in 10th must have forgotten his/her glasses. I don't like the program much-it seemed like it was mostly spirals!

[@Dylvente]

I think the flutz is less significant in the long program because it's one jump out of many more elements (jump and otherwise) than in the short program. In the long program she was able to impress the judges with two triple-triple combinations, more than offsetting the effect of the flutzing.

[@crazyasianman07]

And it wasn’t mostly spirals she only did it twice before she went into her combination spin.

[@anne91276]

Sarah clearly had the best skate yet. That was her night. And as for Michelle Kwan winning bronze isn't really much but its better than having one having all the bragging rights. So people should just leave the final decision to the judges who I think did a wonderful job with the placement of these three figure skaters.

[@RedbeardNC]

This is an arrangement of the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria (there are a lot of Ave Marias)

[@coreyadkins8775]

It's Bachs Meditation. I learned it on piano.

[@scottw6704]

@@coreyadkins8775 Gounod wrote the melody (in the 1800s) over Bach's Prelude in C major (written in the 1700s). So however you want to look at it. From a piano perspective - it's a Bach piece. From a violin (or vocal) perspective, it's Gounod's arrangement of Bach. Also a pianist here, playing for 48 years, teaching piano students for 27 of them. I'm assuming you are talking about the original Bach Prelude?

[@coreyadkins8775]

@@scottw6704 maybe so. I was in 7th grade it was something a teacher of piano got me to play. I thought it was called Meditation. Could be wrong.

[@intldawn]

Does anyone know the name of this music? It's really beautiful.

[@marym2583]

Ave Maria

[@larisamaksimova1839]

Боже, и с такими программами выигрывали Олимпиады?! Непостижимо!

[@patysuarez2842]

Rusia saludos desde Mexico

[@falconeddie4109]

I agree, the only skater there that wasn’t boring was Sasha Cohen.

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@falconeddie4109 Sasha always gave people surprise.....fell...again....and again....

[@crazyasianman07]

@intldawn this music is called. Ave Maria.

[@ADEAL918]

crazyasianman07 interesting choice of music since she's actually Jewish.

[@tarantala111]

Such adn elegant skater. Beautiful legs and arms.

[@marmiteyousuck94]

@intldawn It's an arrangement of Ave Maria :)

[@Ivan-lr8ut]

which arrangement tho

[@edwarda.7761]

Wondering why she waited/wasted the first 10 seconds. I've never seen anyone do that in a short program.

[@SweetSirenia]

Young skaters often take a few seconds at the start of their first Olympics (or Worlds) routine. It's a smart coaching strategy to help ground them. Clearly paid off for her!

[@tally1604]

It's called even distribution of highlights.

[@scottw6704]

I can understand the reasoning, but it does make my stomach seize up. Do something! This is awkward!

[@user-ky9ze1fs3k]

программа просто изумительна! Сара Хьюз абсолютно в музыке.Артистичное исполнение! Оценки конечно придержали для других. Но Аве, Мария в ее исполнении-это что-то! Даже спустя много лет, в 2018 году далекое катание Олимпийской чемпионки 2002 года в короткой программе просто завораживает, от монитора нельзя было оторваться. Такой был магнетизм программы. В итоге фавориты- Мишель Кван и Ирина Слуцкая проиграли по делу.В тот год сильнейшей была Сара Хьюз.

[@TT-ee4qp]

Sarah was lucky, because the other better skaters like Michelle and Irina made mistakes. （∩▽∩）

[@Prince_Charmless]

flutz and underrotated

[@carlyburgess5018]

WAIT SRRY talking about the long program il such a noob >:D

[@snowballwannabe]

This was an excellent short program from Hughes. Very interesting. She was definitely after a medal, after this. Butyrskaya had maturity, EXCELLENT music choices and I loved her womanly sexiness, but honestly here she was past her prime. She could have medalled in Nagano, though, instead of Chen Lu.

[@mattg.812]

Robin Wagner was the personification of the word, "avariciousness".

[@Person-mh6xq]

Why do you say that?? Have first-hand knowledge?

[@mattg.812]

@@Person-mh6xq Mmm hmm

[@andreyshubnikov1106]

Unfair victory))

[@pinkfrezya5671]

Her lutz, flutz and ur.

[@HaRacycEBLErAtIng]

Is she 16 ?. Nope looks like 26

[@fbueller]

LOL!

[@Bronze349]

Those of us from the hood would have a field day with that one. I swear

[@olgaleybovich3125]

She was much better, than Kwan and Slutskaya! So elegant, so beautiful!!!

[@TT-ee4qp]

Sarah was lucky to be the winner because the other better skaters like Michelle and Irina made mistakes. 😎

[@TT-ee4qp]

Michelle's artistry was much better than Sarah.....

[@arthurverso175]

Everyone knows how it should be in all fairness - 1 Irina Slutskaya, Sasha Cohen, 2, 3 Michelle Kwan. Medal was stolen from Slutskaya ... Not what Sarah Hughes was not to be ...

[@psychstudentrip]

ARTHUR VERSO sorry but I believe Sarah deserved to win. Sarah completed her free skate cleanly, while the others made errors that were enough for Sarah to take gold. Yes the short program wasn't perfect, but she definitely recovered in the free skate, especially with the 2 triple-triple combinations.

[@finderskeepers7346]

Piece of wood

[@sherryanng19]

The short program requires footwork into a single jump and as Sandra Bezic pointed out she broke the cadence going into the flip and had a slight 2-footed landing. Her flutz was terrible and whenever she actually stayed on the outside edge she fell. Why would anyone choreograph a program to start your footwork hunched over like you're gonna throw up? Actually, she should have been lower than 4th. Her spiral sequence was slow with a small pattern.

[@psychstudentrip]

sherryanng19 if you watched the free skate, you can see why Sarah jumped from 4th to 1st.

[@xmykeyx]

She certainly did not deserve to be placed ahead of Butyrskaya’s perfect short program !

[@abrahamlora329]

A majority of the judges had her 5th and lower here; she was 4th only because the ordinals were all jacked up..

[@50781975]

She should have been out of medal contention

[@TT-ee4qp]

@@psychstudentrip Sarah did a good job never happened before, and the other better skaters made mistakes one by one.

[@locomadre3520]

I don't know about the short...that was GIFTED to Kwan but while I thought that Sasha should have been in first after watching Irina I would have placed Sasha second in the short but after the long SASHA earned that Bronze that Kwan took home to add to her vast collection of given and unearned medals!! I don't get Sarah's scores in the short at all. HIGH STANDARD is a joke where Kwan is concerned, isn't it!!

[@victorserrano8294]

Cute girl but ughh that haircut

[@dinh5532]

I don't think she's that elegant. Rather awkward in fact, bad back and too fidgety in her movements.

[@annecohen8927]

You know nothing. Do you? I know more what having a bad back is like because I have spinal stenosis. There is nothing wrong with the way Sarah skated other than you shown extremely poor judgment. Sarah wouldn’t be able to skate if she had a bad back. Look at Yu Na Kim for example. She almost didn’t make it because of problems with her back. Let’s see you try to figure skate with spinal stenosis.

[@dinh5532]

@@annecohen8927 I don't think you get the concept here. Bad back means it's haunched over, everybody who knows the basics of skating knows that.

[@lillyanlubean4502]

I wasn't impressed

[@TT-ee4qp]

Even Sarah won the gold, she was a middle skater.