Giving 'Em the Old One-Two

By B.J. Phillips

U.S. figure-skating rivals prevail at the World Championships

In the world of figure skating, few are more accomplished--or more mutually competitive--than Scott Hamilton and David Santee. But in that most icily competitive of sports, Santee and Hamilton have usually looked on while others received the medals. Santee, 23, finished fourth in last year's Winter Olympics; Hamilton, 22, placed fifth. And so it has been since the two began competing in the mid-'70s. But all three of last year's Olympic medal winners retired after Lake Placid, and suddenly the old rivalry between Hamilton and Santee took on new drama: they could be the world's best, but in what order?

Hamilton took the first major post-Olympic confrontation in February, when he won the American championship, and Santee finished second. Last week, at the World Figure-Skating Championships in the Hartford, Conn., Civic Center, Santee set out to even the score. But Hamilton came out on top once again, winning the World Championship by the thinnest of margins. Santee placed second, Igor Bobrin of the Soviet Union third. As the three finalists mounted the victory stand, Hamilton and Santee treated their international audience to a good old American high-five handclasp, then stood side by side, gold and silver medals around their necks, and sang The Star-Spangled Banner. It was the first double-medal performance by Americans in a single event since Carol Heiss and Barbara Ann Roles won gold and bronze in 1960.

That photo finish was not the only dramatic moment in a competition of many twists and triumphs. Handicappers looking to the 1984 Olympic Games could find much to ponder in the World Championships. Elaine Zayak, the 15-year-old American buzz saw who hurtles into triple jumps with wild abandon, served notice that she will soon be a major force in figure skating (see box), finishing second in the women's competition. A stylish Swiss, Denise Biellmann, 18, showed a few complicated moves of her own and took the gold. And once more, the Soviets proved that at least one factory is meeting its production quota quite successfully: Irina Vorobieva and Igor Lisovski won the gold medal for pairs, joining a line of Russian couples champions that stretches back five Olympiads.

Indeed, the only sure bet at the World Championships was the triumph of the Soviet duo. Within seconds after Vorobieva and Lisovski took the ice, their claim was clear to the legacy of Irina Rodnina and her two successive partners, Alexei Ulanov and Alexander Zaitsev, as well as that of Ljudmila and Oleg Protopopov. The liquid balletic expressiveness, the finesse and harmony that is the hallmark of Russian pairs skating has been handed down intact to the latest heirs. Vorobieva and Lisovski took a comfortable lead after the short program, two minutes of compulsory jumps and lifts. Even a near collision on their dual camel spins (twirling on one leg with the other leg stretched out, arm tight against it, so that the body forms a T) during the free skating could not diminish their domination. "I was satisfied with the results," Lisovski allowed later, "but not with my skating. We can skate better." That is hard to imagine.

The outcome of the women's competition was less predictable. Biellmann, fourth-place finisher at the 1980 Olympics, is the most seasoned skater of the current crop. She carried the day with a blend of experienced sang-froid and virtuoso spins. In a contortionist move of her own contriving, she grabbed her left leg behind her back with both hands and stretched it high overhead, while spinning at dazzling speed on her right leg. The Biellmann spin is breathtaking, but she lacks the athletic triple jumps that have become the sport's new measuring stick. With the new emphasis on athleticism, led by young crickets like Zayak, Biellmann may be the last women's champion in the grand style. Those elegantly expressive skaters, best personified by Peggy Fleming and Sandy Lenz, made figure skating a romantic art form, Giselle on a vast frozen stage. Biellmann is capable of sculpting her movements on the ice in that expansive manner. For all the excitement of her spins, it was in her program's slow movements that she was most striking, her skating style fluid, her blades sweeping with graceful, elongated strokes.

Zayak has more than her share of triple tricks but needs to learn how to cope with world-class pressure and to master the school figures, those slowly executed moves that are judged partly by examining the skate marks left after a competitor has finished. Zayak came in only seventh in that category, and was unable to make up enough ground in the four-minute free-skating event, which is her forte, to overtake her rivals.

Hamilton, the Haverford, Pa., wonder who took up skating as therapy after suffering a near fatal digestive disorder as a child, was in third place going into the free-skating competition, the climax of his duel with Santee. But he trailed Santee by just .4 (out of a possible 6) and was clearly within striking range. (In second was France's Jean-Christopher Simond, who later skated poorly and finished fifth.)

A few hours before they were to take the ice, Santee reflected on their mutual past: "We've known each other from the first competition I ever skated in. We always considered one another to be like brothers." Santee has been the prodigy, a flash who entered senior competitions at 14, only to have his spirit broken by repeated defeats by older skaters. Santee helped revive his confidence by imagining himself as Sylvester Stallone preparing for the big bout in Rocky. He even made the film's sound track his skating music. Now he prepared for one last fight. "I'm going to go out and at least show them that if [Hamilton's] going to beat me, he's going to feel it. I've worked my whole life to be in this position, and I'm not backing down."

The last person who would wish that fate on Santee was Hamilton. He recalled Santee's inspired charge at the National Championships and hoped for a repeat: "I want David to be at his best. It would be an empty title if everybody didn't skate his best."

In the end, they both committed errors. Hamilton, wheeling around the ice in a simple stroking move, pushed too hard, slipped and fell. Because it was a simple move, he was not penalized severely, though he did not know that at the time. He snapped his fingers in surprisingly good-natured dismay, like a man who had just dropped his keys, not his chances at a world championship. Hamilton later said that he had become so excited by the crowd response after he completed his most difficult triple jump that he told himself, " 'Okay, here we go.' I was really wanting to pour it on then and I just skated too hard."

Santee likewise tried too hard. On his first jump he failed to land properly, brushing the ice with his free foot, a serious fault. Santee said later, "I wanted it to open with a bang, and the only mistake I made was being too aggressive on the jump."

Until last week, Hamilton had usually finished behind Santee, and the view from the top led to a reminiscence: "I remember my first competition in my home town of Bowling Green, Ohio. David did three single axels in a row, and I was following him around trying to see how he did it. He was in intermediate, and I was in subjuvenile class. They invented a class for me, and I still finished second."

Santee, who had just announced that he would now consider retirement, laughed at the memory. The smiles died when Hamilton added: "If David retired, I'd be devastated. It wouldn't be the Nationals, it wouldn't be the Worlds if David were gone. I'd be sad." So would the figure-skating world, which has profited from their courage and tenacity as much as Hamilton and Santee have thrived on their rivalry. --By B.J. Phillips, Reported by Jamie Murphy/Hartford

With reporting by Jamie Murphy/Hartford

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