Imagine for a moment last week's men's figure-skating competition as a feature film in preproduction, with the team of Olympic judges as the venture's casting directors. For the role of leading man, the producers have asked for someone the world can call a champion. But whom to choose? Do they opt for a sinewy 20-year-old talent, all Baryshnikov grace and DiCaprio innocence? Or do they go with a stockily built he-man, a comparative veteran of 25, whose brash moves and manner suggest a cross between Michael Flatley and Steven Seagal?
With the world's current crop of elite male skaters all master technicians and wizardly athletes, the competition at the Nagano Olympics first appeared as though it would amount to a contest of aesthetics: the classical artistry of Russia's ballet-trained Ilia Kulik, a first-time Olympian, pitted against the don't-fence-me-in aggressiveness of Canadian Elvis Stojko, a black belt in karate and three-time world champion. Both men performed well and cleanly during Thursday's short program (the 2-min. 40-sec. execution of eight required elements), but Kulik led the event, suggesting a judicial preference for his traditional brand of physical elegance.
But style mattered little in the end as the contest came down to a rather old-fashioned battle of stamina. Although the world didn't know it, Stojko--as his coach revealed after the competition was over--had been suffering from a groin injury for the past month. The strain on his body became all too evident during the crucial 4.5-min. free skate on Saturday. (The free skate counts for two-thirds of a competitor's final score.) Kulik won the gold with an effortless show, and Stojko was forced to settle for silver, as he did in Lillehammer. Except this time the Canadian hobbled to the medals podium in pain, hugged his rival and went straight to the hospital for treatment.
The tussle for bronze turned out to be an unexpected test of strength as well. In fifth place following the short program, Frenchman Philippe Candeloro, 25, an international heartthrob of the Lorenzo Lamas school, won his second consecutive bronze in the Olympic games, keeping Todd Eldredge, 26, the five-time U.S. national champion, from medaling.
With its ever increasing penchant for mawkish soap opera and garish costuming (and no one is a bigger culprit here than Kulik), figure skating has become camp spectacle. Perhaps as a corrective, the judges of the men's competition sent the message that skating is indeed still an earnest sport where fierce athleticism matters. In other words, yes, the much discussed quadruple jump counts. Of the top medal contenders, only two skaters, Kulik and Alexei Yagudin, also a Russian, attempted one, and only Kulik landed his: a perfectly executed quadruple toe loop.
It was not that move alone, however, that secured Kulik highest honors. His entire routine, skated to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, was playful and precise. He landed every one of his eight triple jumps flawlessly. And when the competition was finished, the generally impassive skater even managed to show a trace of humor. "The shirt won," he joked to reporters, referring to his less-than-becoming giraffe-print top. "It's lucky. I don't think I'll be getting any more questions about the shirt."