Anniversary of figure skating tragedy

[sadya]

TURIN, Italy Today marks the 45-year anniversary of the biggest tragedy in U-S Figure Skating history.

On this day in 1961, a plane carrying the U-S team to the 1961 world championships crashed in a field near Brussels, Belgium. All 18 skaters were killed. Sixteen coaches and other judges and international skating figures also died.

One of those killed was Maribel Vinson Owen, who shares the record of nine U-S women's titles with Michelle Kwan.

News of the crash reached the world championships during practice for the women's figures competition.

The world championships were canceled out of respect for the Americans. That's the only time since World War Two that the worlds haven't been held.

[source:http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4505989&nav=5D7r]

[EastonSkater]

Geeez....no way! That's really terrible. I'm glad that air travel has improved so much these days. I didn't even know about that news before. That's a real shocker.

[Kevin Callahan]

Damn.

Nothing else to say. Just... Damn.

[trains]

There is a new book out called Frozen in Time that tells the story.

[blades]

8-)

after 45 years, one could hope that the sinister truth about the crash would finally come out...

meanwhile...may my friends ila ray and ray hadley rest in peace...

[sadya]

^
Gosh, you knew them?

When you know what happened exactly, it's easier to let it go, I guess when you don't have a clear answer as to what went wrong exactly, it can be frustrating.

If anybody is interested in more information about them, this is an interesting website:

http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/history.shtml

Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will find many links about it.

If people are interested in watching these wonderful skaters perform, you can download their programs in the videos section from the same website:

http://www.frogsonice.com/video/1961-nats/

[Bella]

I'm in the middle of reading Frozen in Time right now and it is excellent!! The writing is really well done. There's no unecessary fluff - it's well researched and I can really see the story in my head as I read it. I knew about the 1961 tragedy and a few of the names (like Maribel), but it's really interesting to read about the history at this time in skating more in depth. I'd highly recommend this book.

[dcden]

I've only read parts of the book but I found the part about Maribel Vinson quite interesting. A tough but revered coach, some bitterness about her competitive history with Sonja Henie (but not unfamiliar in the light of more recent controversial skating decisions), and had two national champion daughters (one in singles, one in pairs).

[sadya]

^
Really? Was it on a personal level with Henie or did she have those feelings just towards the judges?

In a documentary Frank Caroll tells how he (when being coached by Owen) and other youngsters used to make fun of Henie's skating style because it had become old fashioned and Owen would always defend Henie.