The figure skating events at the 1972 Winter Olympics were held at the Makomanai Skating Rink and the Mikaho Indoor Skating Rink.
The results of both the men's and ladies' singles events were dominated by placements in the compulsory figures, which at the time were nominally worth 50% of the total score but in fact weighted more heavily than the free skating due to being judged using a wider range of marks.
In the men's event, Ondrej Nepela, the winner of the compulsory figures segment, took the gold in spite of placing only 4th in the free skating after falling on his triple loop jump. The free skating winner was Sergei Chetverukhin, who skated one of his best performances at this event to take the silver medal. Patrick Péra, second in the figures, had a poor free skating in which he fell on a triple salchow jump early in his program and then made other mistakes. Nonetheless, the weight given to figures allowed him to take the bronze medal ahead of John Misha Petkevich, Kenneth Shelley, and Toller Cranston, who all skated dynamic programs with at least one cleanly landed triple jump apiece.Figure Skating at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Men's Singles . sports-reference.com
The effect of the figures was even more pronounced in the ladies' competition, where gold medal winner Beatrix Schuba placed only 7th in the free skating, performing most of the double jumps, however no double axel or double loop. The free skating was won by Janet Lynn, who received a perfect mark of 6.0 despite falling on a flying sit spin. Lynn's skating captivated the Japanese audience, especially when she got up smiling from her fall. Lynn took the bronze while Karen Magnussen, second in the free skating with a strong performance, took the silver. The third place skater in the free skating, Sonja Morgenstern, included a triple salchow in her program, which at this time was very rare for a female skater. She placed 6th overall.Figure Skating at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Women's Singles. sports-reference.com
The pairs competition was a tight battle between the two top Russian teams. Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov did not skate their best, with Ulanov missing his required double salchow jump in the short program and Rodnina making an error in the jump combination at the beginning of their free skating. They eventually won a 6–3 decision over their teammates Liudmila Smirnova / Andrei Suraikin. The bronze medal team of Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann made no major errors and received the highest technical merit marks from some of the judges for their program. Their elements included a throw double axel which at this time was rarely attempted.Figure Skating at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Mixed Pairs . sports-reference.com
Medal table
Participating NOCs Eighteen nations participated in figure skating at the 1972 Games.
Results Men Rank Name Nation CF FS Points Places 1 Ondrej Nepela 142739.19 2 Sergei Chetverukhin 312672.420 3 Patrick Péra 282653.128 4 Kenneth Shelley 532596.043 5 John Misha Petkevich 622591.547 6 Jan Hoffmann 4102567.655 7 Haig Oundjian 972538.865 8 Vladimir Kovalev 7112521.680 9 Toller Cranston 1252517.280.5 10 John Curry 8122512.285 11 Gordon McKellen 1092511.089 12 Yuri Ovchinnikov 1562477.5104.5 13 Didier Gailhaguet 11132440.9114 14 Jacques Mrozek 13142401.3126 15 Günter Anderl 14162313.6138 16 Yutaka Higuchi 16152309.7140 17 Gheorghe Fazekas 17172094.0153
Referee: Sonia Bianchetti
Assistant Referee: Masao Hasegawa
Judges: Monique Georgelin Helga von Wiecki Donald B. Cruikshank Mollie Phillips Walter Malek Emil Skákala Goro Ishimaru Dora May Coy Tatiana Danilenko Maria Zuchowicz (substitute)
Ladies
In the ladies' event, American skater Janet Lynn won not only a bronze medal, but also tremendous popularity among Japanese audiences because of her artistic free program, as to make appearance on the cover of "Olympic Winter Games, Sapporo 1972" photo books published in Japan, and even on Japanese TV commercials later.Litsky, Frank. (26 October 2003) FIGURE SKATING - Rewards Become Focus Of Scoring Experiment. NYTimes.com. Retrieved on 2016-07-18.
Rank Name Nation CF FS Points Places 1 Beatrix Schuba 172751.59 2 Karen Magnussen 322673.223 3 Janet Lynn 412663.127 4 Julie Lynn Holmes 282627.039 5 Zsuzsa Almássy 542592.447 6 Sonja Morgenstern 832579.453 7 Rita Trapanese 662574.855 8 Christine Errath 1152489.378 9 Charlotte Walter 7132467.386 10 Kazumi Yamashita 10102449.993 11 Jean Scott 9112436.8101 12 Suna Murray 1392426.2102 13 Catherine Irwin 12122383.4116 14 Isabel de Navarre 16142340.0128 15 Anita Johansson 14152349.3131 16 Dianne de Leeuw 15162298.7143 17 Sonja Balun 17172260.6148 18 Marina Sanaya 19182198.6160 19 Chang Myung-su 18192117.0171
Referee: Karl Enderlin
Assistant Referee: Kinuka Ueno
Judges: Michele Beltrami Valentin Piseev Walburga Grimm Ingegärd Lago Han Kutschera Joan MacLagan Marcella Willis Ryuchi Obitani Klára Kozári Pamela Davis (substitute)
Pairs Rank Name Nation SP FS Points Places 1 Irina Rodnina / Alexei Ulanov 11420.412 2 Liudmila Smirnova / Andrei Suraikin 22419.415 3 Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann 33411.829 4 JoJo Starbuck / Kenneth Shelley 44406.835 5 Almut Lehmann / Herbert Wiesinger 56399.852 6 Irina Cherniaeva / Vasili Blagov 65399.152 7 Melissa Militano / Mark Militano 87393.065.5 8 Annette Kansy / Axel Salzmann 78392.668 9 Sandra Bezic / Val Bezic 99384.984 10 Corinna Halke / Eberhard Rausch 1010381.187 11 Grazyna Kostrzewinska / Adam Brodecki 1111377.895.5 12 Barbara Brown / Douglas Berndt 1213366.9114 13 Florence Cahn / Jean Roland Racle 1312364.5116 14 Linda Connolly / Colin Taylforth 1414360.6126 15 Mary Petrie / John Hubbell 1515358.5129 16 Kotoe Nagasawa / Hiroshi Nagakubo 1616345.5144
Referee: Elemér Terták
Assistant Referee: Donald H. Gilchrist
Judges: Valentin Piseev Joan MacLagan Walburga Grimm Maria Zuchowicz Marcella Willis Kikuko Minami Pamela Davis Erika Schiechtl Monique Georgelin Walter Malek (substitute)
References
External links Official Olympic Report results "XI Olympic Winter Games", Skating magazine, Apr 1972