Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010

Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas

You know that feeling where you show up to prom and some girl is wearing the exact same dress (guys, use your imagination here)? That was the experience East Germany's Katarina Witt and America's Debi Thomas faced at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, when they each (independently) chose Bizet's Carmen as the music for their long program. It was this choice that resulted in their face-off being dubbed the Battle of the Carmens and set the stage for an Olympic showdown. Their overhyped duel ended up as a battle that wasn't when both skaters delivered underwhelming performances and Thomas missed three triple jumps during her free skate. Still, Witt, the defending Olympic gold medalist managed to skate well enough for the gold and Thomas took home the bronze.