yamaguchi and the 3 sal

[catija]

i read that she cant do the 3 salchow...is that true? why not? :) thanks in advance!

did she win the olympics free in 92 w/o the sal? what did she land?

[Aussie Willy]

I never saw her do a 3salchow in any of the videos I have of her and apparently when she retired she was happy that she would never have to do one again. She absolutely hated the jump.

IIRC in her olympic program in 92 she did (in no particular order) 3lutz/2toe, 3flip, 2axel, 3loop (bad landing), 3lutz (by itself), 3toe and fell on the 3salchow. But then no-one skated perfectly either or if they did they were too far after the SP to make it into the medals. However I am sure someone has a better memory of it than me. Having said that she really did have a beautiful program to Malaguena and that gold dress was gorgeous.

[lemondrop]

The only time I recall Kristi landing the 3 sal perfectly was at Nationals in 92 prior to the Olympics. She was obviously quite thrilled with it, and the commentator told a story about how her mother had promised her $100 if she could land it.

If I'm remembering correctly, at the Olympics she fell out of the 3 loop and then doubled the sal, but it's been a long time since I've watched the video.

Cheers,
Sherry

[bcskater]

dont forget that she landed the amazing 3lutz/3toe in that long program also.

[Spinner]

She used to land some nice 3Sals....as a throw with partner Rudy Galindo. ;)

[Alexeiskate]

For some reason, Kristi just couldn't get any lift off for the 3sal take-off. Her free leg swung wide and out instead of out and up. She ususally does a beautiful throw 3sal with Rudi though. I think Kristi was probably too used to getting that extra lift from the force of her partner that she just couldn't do it consistently when trying a solo 3sal.

[purplecat]

I heard that she sort of lost the triple salchow because of the throw triple salchow. I've seen her land the triple salchow on tape about five times. Probably the best one I've seen her do was at the 1989 Worlds long program. Interestingly she says it was one of her first triples she got as a young skater. And in an online chat (maybe a year ago) she expressed desire to land it again someday (as well as a triple triple combo). :D

Oh and her Olympic long program...off the top of my head (could be wrong in the order) was:

3 lutz/3 toe, 2 axel, 3 flip, split flip into 3 toe, 3 loop (fall, though Kristi is very proud of the fact that her butt did not touch the ice ;)), 2 salchow, 3 lutz, russian split into 2 axel

[Aussie Willy]

I thought Kristi was brillant as a pairs skater. She had the jumps and throws and had a fantastic death spiral - really close to the ice. I think that if her and Rudi had stayed together they definately could have medalled at worlds.