Today's blog comes as a request from 'suki' on the Figure Skating Universe forum, and I'm not going to lie... tackling this particular biography was a bit of a challenge, to say the least. A lot of the sources I was able to find relating to Hana Mašková were contemporary articles in Czech or blogs in Russian - not primary sources - and there were some really conflicting stories out there relating to two major parts of her story: her mother and her tragic death. After sifting through a lot of the 'he said, she said' and contradictory information out there, I decided to give her story the old college try... and believe me, it's fascinating stuff! Born September 26, 1949 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Hana Mašková was the daughter of Joseph Mašek, a hotel waiter, and Marie Mašková, who worked as a cook at a kindergarten. She started skating at the age of five in 1955 at the Štvanice Stadium. A year later, she began taking lessons from a former pairs skater named Karel Glogar, who had previously worked with Ája Vrzáňová and Dagmar Lerchová. From the get-go, her mother Marie was always rinkside. She soon developed a reputation as a bit of a stage mother and taskmaster. In a 2006 article, journalist Martina Bittnerová claimed, "The lady was something abnormal. Indeed, in the last years of her life she was plagued by severe mental illness." However, other accounts paint Hana's mother as a woman who (understandably) suffered from severe depression after her first husband, a technical officer named John Kubata, murdered two of her children and then committed suicide. Whatever the case may have been, no one can accuse Marie of being an absentee skating parent. Hana idolized Sjoukje Dijkstra and took training very seriously, getting up at four in the morning every day before school. More interested in free skating than spending time toiling away at school figures, she was constantly trying difficult jumps in practice but was often painted as a talented jumper who struggled with self-confidence when it came down to competing. Through work with coaches Jaroslav Sadílek, Míla Nováková (Doe) and Dr. Vladimir Koudelka, she soon developed into quite the little athlete. She competed in her first competition at the age of eight and won her first title at the age of ten. At the age of fourteen, Hana competed in her first major international competition, the 1963 European Championships in Budapest. Though she finished fifteenth, she landed a double Lutz and double Axel and the Dutch, Polish and Soviet judges had her in the top four in free skating. What really hurt her in Budapest was a less than stellar showing in school figures and the fact she didn't skate with the panache and artistry of her competitors. To improve the artistic side of her skating, Hana was sent to study ballet from one Madame Aubrechtové, who had a home studio at Wenceslas Square. She also studied piano to gain a better appreciation of music and began creating new programs every year to try her hand at a variety of styles of music. This was unique in that many of her competitors would often rework the same free skating program for at least two seasons rather than create new programs every season. Her efforts didn't go unrecognized. Czechoslovakian news sources began comparing her 'new style' to that of Ája Vrzáňová. In the years that followed, Hana made a progressive rise in the standings. After placing out of the top ten at both the 1964 Winter Olympic Games and World Championships, she finished fifth at the 1965 European Championships in Moscow, defeating all three of the medallists in free skating. After an unlucky thirteenth place finish at the 1965 World Championships in Colorado Springs, she finished just off the podium in fourth at the 1966 European Championships in Bratislava and sixth at the 1966 World Championships in Davos. However, her most impressive accomplishment during this period was undoubtedly her win at the 1966 Czechoslovakian Championships... with a cast on her arm after breaking her hand. Hana on the podium with Gaby Seyfert and Zsuzsa Almássy at the 1967 European Championships At the 1967 European Championships in Ljubljana, Hana won the silver medal behind Gaby Seyfert, soundly defeating the East German skater in the free skate. At the World Championships in Vienna that followed, she won the bronze medal. At that event, the Canadian and Czechoslovakian judges had her first in free skating, ahead of Peggy Fleming and Gaby Seyfert. With three of her five Czechoslovakian national titles under her belt at that point, it appeared she had a legitimate chance at a medal at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck. Left: Hana Mašková and Jiri Štaidl . Right: Hana Mašková Then Hana began dating lyricist, screenwriter and musician Jiri Štaidl, much to her mother's shagrin. By accounts, it was quite the rocky relationship. Her coach Míla Nováková recalled, "In the year that they were dating, she seemed to have aged ten years. But she could not escape from the captivity of that relationship." While her mother and coach seemed to point fingers at her boyfriend, Štaidl's friends had a different perspective. In an interview for the 2000 publication "Unexplained Deaths VI", one wrote, "Jiri changed. He became more serious, more responsible, restricted [his] benders and pranks and his lyrics began to return to depth and poetry." As if the outside influences on her relationship weren't enough, it didn't help that when Hana went to competitions she had to contend with the well-documented mind games of Jutta Müller, Gaby Seyfert and friends. Gaby Seyfert, Peggy Fleming and Hana Mašková at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games At the 1968 European Championships in Västerås, Sweden, Hana soundly defeated Gaby Seyfert and Trixi Schuba. At first it seemed that she was carrying that momentum into the Winter Olympic Games. She was actually the leader after the first three figures in Grenoble but floundered in the latter trio, finding herself in fourth entering the free skate. She rebounded to snatch the bronze from Trixi Schuba and followed her medal win in France up with a bronze at the 1968 World Championships in Geneva. Then came an offer from Ája Vrzáňová to turn professional, which she soundly declined. With Peggy Fleming out of the picture, Hana wanted to take one final stab at a World title. Whether it was self-confidence or the distraction of her relationship with Jiri, things started to unravel for Hana in 1969. At the European Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, she told her coach before she got on the ice that she couldn't feel her legs. Urged on to compete anyway, she landed two double Axels and a double Lutz, then just stopped her program. Her coach yelled at her to finish. She did, finishing second and leaving the rink in tears. She arrived in Colorado Springs for the 1969 World Championships injured after a nasty fall in an exhibition in Winterthur, Switzerland. After skating the figures in excruciating pain, she opted to withdraw after doctors refused to give her further sedative injections. Míla Nováková claimed by that point, Hana was just drained physically and psychologically. A la Toller Cranston years later, legend goes that she threw the skates she used for figures in a river.... and that was the end of Hana's amateur career. Hana went on the ISU's 1969 World Champions Figure Skating Exhibition tour of North America then joined Holiday On Ice and the Vienna Ice Revue. Bittnerová wrote, "In the beginning she felt satisfied, she had time for a lot of others, and for most normal and common hobbies. Love blossomed with Štaidl... However, this period did not last a long time [as] it seemed performances in ice revues were tiring." Life wasn't all doom and gloom from the Czechoslovakian ice queen though. She relished her independence and told one Czechoslovakian reporter, "I am happy that [I can] finally [read] books, which I have for years had [not been able to]... The packages that I get from Prague, contain the books and sometimes, of course, apple pie from Mom. My hotel room is like a library." She won the World Professional title at Wembley and depending on which Czechoslovakian source you read, she either broke up with Jiri or she didn't. On the night of March 31, 1972, Hana was on her way from Paris to Poitiers, France with her dog and fellow skater Kveta Celflová. They stopped at a party thrown by a fellow skater. She had a drink or two (as one does) and her friend Milena Kladrubská tried to convince Hana and Kveta to stay the night and sleep it off, but they refused. On her drive to Poitiers, they stopped and picked up a French soldier who was hitchhiking. In the village of Vouvray, Hana lost control of her vehicle going around a sharp bend at at least one hundred kilometers an hour and collided with a truck with a trailer attached. The soldier and dog were killed instantly. Kveta was badly injured but survived after several operations. She said Hana died in great pain, with severe chest injuries and both of her feet crushed. She breathed her last breath in a French ambulance and was buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery. A beautiful statue designed by Jan Štursa decorates her final resting place. Jiri took Hana's death very hard and started drinking and driving himself. On October 9, 1973, he was on his way to his parents home near Prague and wanted to dazzle his newest female companion with his 'fancy driving skills'. What did he end up doing? Crashing into a truck. She survived; he didn't. Following Hana's death, there was a whole decade of debate and speculation about the crash between the police, insurance companies, Milena Kladrubská and Hana's mother. The whole matter fizzled out by 1981 but rumours persisted that someone cut her break line. Hana Havránková of the National Museum of Czechoslovakia claimed, "When the Treasury Department ordered to vacate [Hana's] apartment, they found [the] bronze medal [from] Grenoble. That got to us." Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. The conflicting accounts that exist out there surrounding Hana's mother, relationship with Jiri, mental state and the crash itself serve as wonderful examples of how there are always fifteen sides to every story. Wherever the truth may lie, the fact remains that one of skating's most talented and underappreciated skaters was lost far too soon and I think it is important that she is remembered for the contributions she made to the sport and not primarily for her untimely premature death. All too often in this world people are reduced to headlines, and Hana's story is so much more complex than that. Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Od chvíle, kdy se odehrály první zimní olympijské hry v Chamonix v roce 1924, uspělo na zimních olympijských hrách celkem patnáct našich sportovkyň.

Today's blog comes as a request from 'suki' on the Figure Skating Universe forum, and I'm not going to lie... tackling this particular biography was a bit of a challenge, to say the least. A lot of the sources I was able to find relating to Hana Mašková were contemporary articles in Czech or blogs in Russian - not primary sources - and there were some really conflicting stories out there relating to two major parts of her story: her mother and her tragic death. After sifting through a lot of the 'he said, she said' and contradictory information out there, I decided to give her story the old college try... and believe me, it's fascinating stuff! Born September 26, 1949 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Hana Mašková was the daughter of Joseph Mašek, a hotel waiter, and Marie Mašková, who worked as a cook at a kindergarten. She started skating at the age of five in 1955 at the Štvanice Stadium. A year later, she began taking lessons from a former pairs skater named Karel Glogar, who had previously worked with Ája Vrzáňová and Dagmar Lerchová. From the get-go, her mother Marie was always rinkside. She soon developed a reputation as a bit of a stage mother and taskmaster. In a 2006 article, journalist Martina Bittnerová claimed, "The lady was something abnormal. Indeed, in the last years of her life she was plagued by severe mental illness." However, other accounts paint Hana's mother as a woman who (understandably) suffered from severe depression after her first husband, a technical officer named John Kubata, murdered two of her children and then committed suicide. Whatever the case may have been, no one can accuse Marie of being an absentee skating parent. Hana idolized Sjoukje Dijkstra and took training very seriously, getting up at four in the morning every day before school. More interested in free skating than spending time toiling away at school figures, she was constantly trying difficult jumps in practice but was often painted as a talented jumper who struggled with self-confidence when it came down to competing. Through work with coaches Jaroslav Sadílek, Míla Nováková (Doe) and Dr. Vladimir Koudelka, she soon developed into quite the little athlete. She competed in her first competition at the age of eight and won her first title at the age of ten. At the age of fourteen, Hana competed in her first major international competition, the 1963 European Championships in Budapest. Though she finished fifteenth, she landed a double Lutz and double Axel and the Dutch, Polish and Soviet judges had her in the top four in free skating. What really hurt her in Budapest was a less than stellar showing in school figures and the fact she didn't skate with the panache and artistry of her competitors. To improve the artistic side of her skating, Hana was sent to study ballet from one Madame Aubrechtové, who had a home studio at Wenceslas Square. She also studied piano to gain a better appreciation of music and began creating new programs every year to try her hand at a variety of styles of music. This was unique in that many of her competitors would often rework the same free skating program for at least two seasons rather than create new programs every season. Her efforts didn't go unrecognized. Czechoslovakian news sources began comparing her 'new style' to that of Ája Vrzáňová. In the years that followed, Hana made a progressive rise in the standings. After placing out of the top ten at both the 1964 Winter Olympic Games and World Championships, she finished fifth at the 1965 European Championships in Moscow, defeating all three of the medallists in free skating. After an unlucky thirteenth place finish at the 1965 World Championships in Colorado Springs, she finished just off the podium in fourth at the 1966 European Championships in Bratislava and sixth at the 1966 World Championships in Davos. However, her most impressive accomplishment during this period was undoubtedly her win at the 1966 Czechoslovakian Championships... with a cast on her arm after breaking her hand. Hana on the podium with Gaby Seyfert and Zsuzsa Almássy at the 1967 European Championships At the 1967 European Championships in Ljubljana, Hana won the silver medal behind Gaby Seyfert, soundly defeating the East German skater in the free skate. At the World Championships in Vienna that followed, she won the bronze medal. At that event, the Canadian and Czechoslovakian judges had her first in free skating, ahead of Peggy Fleming and Gaby Seyfert. With three of her five Czechoslovakian national titles under her belt at that point, it appeared she had a legitimate chance at a medal at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck. Left: Hana Mašková and Jiri Štaidl . Right: Hana Mašková Then Hana began dating lyricist, screenwriter and musician Jiri Štaidl, much to her mother's shagrin. By accounts, it was quite the rocky relationship. Her coach Míla Nováková recalled, "In the year that they were dating, she seemed to have aged ten years. But she could not escape from the captivity of that relationship." While her mother and coach seemed to point fingers at her boyfriend, Štaidl's friends had a different perspective. In an interview for the 2000 publication "Unexplained Deaths VI", one wrote, "Jiri changed. He became more serious, more responsible, restricted [his] benders and pranks and his lyrics began to return to depth and poetry." As if the outside influences on her relationship weren't enough, it didn't help that when Hana went to competitions she had to contend with the well-documented mind games of Jutta Müller, Gaby Seyfert and friends. Gaby Seyfert, Peggy Fleming and Hana Mašková at the 1968 Winter Olympic Games At the 1968 European Championships in Västerås, Sweden, Hana soundly defeated Gaby Seyfert and Trixi Schuba. At first it seemed that she was carrying that momentum into the Winter Olympic Games. She was actually the leader after the first three figures in Grenoble but floundered in the latter trio, finding herself in fourth entering the free skate. She rebounded to snatch the bronze from Trixi Schuba and followed her medal win in France up with a bronze at the 1968 World Championships in Geneva. Then came an offer from Ája Vrzáňová to turn professional, which she soundly declined. With Peggy Fleming out of the picture, Hana wanted to take one final stab at a World title. Whether it was self-confidence or the distraction of her relationship with Jiri, things started to unravel for Hana in 1969. At the European Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, she told her coach before she got on the ice that she couldn't feel her legs. Urged on to compete anyway, she landed two double Axels and a double Lutz, then just stopped her program. Her coach yelled at her to finish. She did, finishing second and leaving the rink in tears. She arrived in Colorado Springs for the 1969 World Championships injured after a nasty fall in an exhibition in Winterthur, Switzerland. After skating the figures in excruciating pain, she opted to withdraw after doctors refused to give her further sedative injections. Míla Nováková claimed by that point, Hana was just drained physically and psychologically. A la Toller Cranston years later, legend goes that she threw the skates she used for figures in a river.... and that was the end of Hana's amateur career. Hana went on the ISU's 1969 World Champions Figure Skating Exhibition tour of North America then joined Holiday On Ice and the Vienna Ice Revue. Bittnerová wrote, "In the beginning she felt satisfied, she had time for a lot of others, and for most normal and common hobbies. Love blossomed with Štaidl... However, this period did not last a long time [as] it seemed performances in ice revues were tiring." Life wasn't all doom and gloom from the Czechoslovakian ice queen though. She relished her independence and told one Czechoslovakian reporter, "I am happy that [I can] finally [read] books, which I have for years had [not been able to]... The packages that I get from Prague, contain the books and sometimes, of course, apple pie from Mom. My hotel room is like a library." She won the World Professional title at Wembley and depending on which Czechoslovakian source you read, she either broke up with Jiri or she didn't. On the night of March 31, 1972, Hana was on her way from Paris to Poitiers, France with her dog and fellow skater Kveta Celflová. They stopped at a party thrown by a fellow skater. She had a drink or two (as one does) and her friend Milena Kladrubská tried to convince Hana and Kveta to stay the night and sleep it off, but they refused. On her drive to Poitiers, they stopped and picked up a French soldier who was hitchhiking. In the village of Vouvray, Hana lost control of her vehicle going around a sharp bend at at least one hundred kilometers an hour and collided with a truck with a trailer attached. The soldier and dog were killed instantly. Kveta was badly injured but survived after several operations. She said Hana died in great pain, with severe chest injuries and both of her feet crushed. She breathed her last breath in a French ambulance and was buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery. A beautiful statue designed by Jan Štursa decorates her final resting place. Jiri took Hana's death very hard and started drinking and driving himself. On October 9, 1973, he was on his way to his parents home near Prague and wanted to dazzle his newest female companion with his 'fancy driving skills'. What did he end up doing? Crashing into a truck. She survived; he didn't. Following Hana's death, there was a whole decade of debate and speculation about the crash between the police, insurance companies, Milena Kladrubská and Hana's mother. The whole matter fizzled out by 1981 but rumours persisted that someone cut her break line. Hana Havránková of the National Museum of Czechoslovakia claimed, "When the Treasury Department ordered to vacate [Hana's] apartment, they found [the] bronze medal [from] Grenoble. That got to us." Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine. The conflicting accounts that exist out there surrounding Hana's mother, relationship with Jiri, mental state and the crash itself serve as wonderful examples of how there are always fifteen sides to every story. Wherever the truth may lie, the fact remains that one of skating's most talented and underappreciated skaters was lost far too soon and I think it is important that she is remembered for the contributions she made to the sport and not primarily for her untimely premature death. All too often in this world people are reduced to headlines, and Hana's story is so much more complex than that. Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Hana Mašková zazářila jako kometa. Spolu s Věrou Čáslavskou patřila k našim největším sportovním idolům 60. let. Dvacátého šestého září by oslavila teprve šedesáté sedmé narozeniny.

The Luna 9 spacecraft made history as the first object to make a controlled landing on the moon. The deaths of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper and silent film star Buster Keaton and the deadly crash of Lufthansa Flight 005 in West Germany were front page news. A pint of milk delivered to your door in England cost 4p and everyone was mesmerized by Simon & Garfunkel's hit "The Sound Of Silence". The year was 1966, and from February 1 to 6, the eleven thousand seat Zimný Štadión in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia played host to the European Figure Skating Championships. It marked the second time in history the picturesque city played host to the European Championships, the first time being in 1956. Three of the defending European champions managed to defend their titles that year. Skaters from fifteen countries competed in Bratislava and the ISU celebrated an important milestone - the thirtieth women's event at the European Championships. History was also made on the technological front. Helmut Strohmayer's report of the event for "Skating World" magazine noted, "Results were issued from the computer centre of the Research Institute of Economics and Organization of Building Industry very promptly - the evaluation of each category was processed by the computer in less than one minute. This was the first time a computer had been used in connection with a sports event in Czechoslovakia. Printed and bound copies of the protocol were available less than fourteen hours after the completion of the competitions." Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive Eurosport provided coverage of the event to millions of viewers in twenty two countries. The BBC broadcasts commentated by Alan Weeks totalled about three and a half hours of coverage, including a repeat of the dance event. British viewers chuckled at the fact 'Towlerová' and 'Sawbridgeová' flashed up on their screens. The competition was extremely well skated and full of fascinating stories and familiar names. Let's hop in the time machine and see how it all played out! THE MEN'S COMPETITION In the school figures, Wolfgang Schwarz pulled off quite the upset in defeating reigning European Champion Emmerich Danzer quite soundly, five judges to three. Danzer had led after the first three figures, but bumbled a counter and lost concentration. Czechoslovakia's Ondrej Nepela sat in third after the figures, followed by France's Robert Dureville and Patrick Péra. Twenty two year old Emmerich Danzer rebounded with one of his stronger free skating performances, landing a triple Salchow and a novel double Lutz with arms folded. He earned two 6.0's for artistic impression. Wolfgang Schwarz landed a triple toe-loop, double Axel and double Lutz and received good marks, but lost the free skate to Danzer by exactly twenty points. Overall, Emmerich Danzer bested Wolfgang Schwarz by a margin of just over six points and five ordinal placings. Fifteen year old Ondrej Nepela won the bronze - his first European medal - in his home city. In "Skating World" magazine, Howard Bass wrote, "Every time he skates, this slim Czech youngster looks better and tonight was no exception. Hardly marred by just one rough landing, double jumps of every kind abounded from his light frame and his cross-foot spin finale brought a well-deserved ovation from his delighted home rink crowd." Emmerich Danzer, Wolfgang Schwarz and Ondrej Nepela with their medals France's Patrick Péra and Robert Dureville followed in fourth and fifth, though they were both defeated by East Germany's Ralph Borghardt in the free skate. Future Olympic Medallist Sergei Chetverukhin of the Soviet Union placed twelfth in his second trip to the European Championships and Great Britain's representative, twenty one year old Malcolm Cannon, placed a discouraging fifteenth with two falls in the free skate. The men's podium. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive. Enroute to Vienna following the event, Dick Button - who was there covering the event for American television - told sportswriter Howard Bass that he thought Emmerich Danzer would be the next World Champion. He was right. THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION With Eva Romanová and Pavel Roman having turned professional, the field of sixteen ice dance teams in Bratislava was wide open. Diane Towler and Bernard Ford, teenage students of Miss Gladys Hogg at the Queen's Ice Club in London, took a decisive lead in the compulsory dances over fellow Britons Yvonne Suddick and Roger Kennerson but the teams nipping at their heels couldn't have been closer. Brigitte Martin and Francis Gamichon, Jitka Babická and Jaromír Holan, Gabriele and Rudi Matysik and Janet Sawbridge and Jon Lane all received third place ordinals in the compulsories. The dances performed were the Foxtrot, American Waltz, Kilian and Tango. Dance medallists. Photo courtesy "Skate" magazine. To the delight of British fans, Towler and Ford's fancy feet won them their first European title. Seven judges had them first, the Hungarian judge tied them with their training mates Suddick and Kennerson. The West German judge placed twenty year old Suddick and twenty one year old Kennerson first. Summarizing the event in "Skating World" magazine, Dennis Bird remarked, "As soon as Bernard Ford and Diane Towler started it was evident that we were about to see skating of a noticeably higher standard. Their carriage, precision, and harmony of line were impeccable." Gabriele and Rudi Matysik. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine. In the battle between the rest, the Austrian, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian, Dutch, Polish judges all placed the Czechoslovakian team third; the French, British and Italian judges went with Martin and Gamichon and the West German judge opted for their entry, the Matysik's. The Czechoslovakians took the bronze, followed by the French and West German teams, Sawbridge and Lane, Lyudmila Pakhomova and Victor Ryzhkin and nine other teams. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves recalled, "Deftly timed tempo changes in [Towler and Ford's] free dance music accompanied traditional and original footwork and moves, such as Diane's head on Bernard's boot while lying parallel to the the ice... Jon [Lane] skated with a painfully infected foot. Gladys Hogg was able to attend, travelling over land, and the NSA officials, competitors, and Betty Callaway (there with the Matysiks) paid her tribute as the backroom star." THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION Gabriele Seyfert in Bratislava. Photo courtesy the German Federal Archive. Twenty two year old Regine Heitzer, the daughter of a wealthy Austrian businessman, took a massive lead in the school figures with first place scores from every judge ahead of Diana Clifton-Peach, a talented twenty year old from Great Britain. Nicole Hassler of France, East Germany's Gaby Seyfert and Sally-Anne Stapleford of Great Britain rounded out the top five after the first phase of the competition. Sally-Anne Stapleford. Photo courtesy "Winter Sports" magazine. Eleven thousand spectators showed up to watch the women's free skate, which was decisively won by Seyfert, with Czechoslovakia's Hana Mašková second and Heitzer third. Seyfert's program included two double Axels, a double Lutz and a double loop. Dennis Bird reported that she was landing triple loops in practice. Mašková had suffered an injury in practice and skated with her left hand in a plaster cast. Heitzer had caught a virus so severe that she lost ten pounds, but her free skate in Bratislava was far from a disaster. She landed a double Axel and double Lutz. The women's podium. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive. Adding the free skating totals with the figures, Regine Heitzer received overall first place ordinals from every judge and a score of 2244.4 points to Seyfert's 2168.5 and Hassler's 2136.1. Mašková, Clifton-Peach and Hungary's Zsuzsa Almássy placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. Clifton-Peach earned ordinals ranging from tenth through nineteenth for her free skate, but her low marks were loudly booed by the Bratislava crowd. Howard Bass said he'd "seldom seen her free-skate so well." Sally-Anne Stapleford dropped to seventh - and it was a miracle that she skated at all! Just hours before the free skate, she cut her instep with her skate blade. She performed her free skate with a bandaged foot and fell twice. THE PAIRS COMPETITION Emmerich Danzer, Ludmila Belousova, Viennese mayor Bruno Marek, Oleg Protopopov and Gabriele Seyfert. Photo courtesy German Federal Archive. It's extremely rare when an entire panel agrees on the result of a competition but in Bratislava in 1966, every single judge placed Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov and Tatiana Zhuk and Aleksandr Gorelik first and second in the compulsory short program, free skate and overall. The same couldn't have been said for the rest of the field. Margot Glockshuber and Wolfgang Danne, Tatiana Tarasova and Georgi Proskurin, Irene Müller and Hans-Georg Dallmer and Gudrun Hauss and Walter Häfner all received third place ordinals in the compulsory short program. The East German team of Heidemarie Steiner and Heinz Ulrich Walther received ordinals ranging from fifth through seventeenth! The seemingly erratic judging perhaps had something to do with the fact there were nineteen pairs - a number that officials in the sixties simply weren't used to. In the free skate, sixteen year old Glockshuber and twenty four year old Danne separated themselves from the pack with a fine performance that earned them the bronze over Tarasova and Proskurin seven judges to two. It was a redeeming moment for the West Germans, who had finished only third at their Nationals three weeks earlier. Twenty one year old Sonja Pfersdorf and twenty five year old Günter Matzdorf delivered an outstanding free skate that earned high marks. They perhaps the most unusual off-ice jobs of the field. She worked as a secretary at a biscuit factory in Nuremberg; he was a sports car driver. The pairs podium. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive. After the event Rudi Marx, then President of the DEU, complained about the fact the judges chose to reward the balanced, artistic style of the Protopopov's and not the more rough and tumble West German pairs. "Where will it end? That's artistry without power," he bemoaned in the February 28, 1966 issue of "Der Spiegel". The article neglected to mention that the Protopopov's skated a clean and balanced free skate in Bratislava that received two perfect 6.0's. They also showed off their athletic side in an exhibition program to "Rock Around The Clock". Sylvia Oundjian, Diana Clifton-Peach, Sally-Anne Stapleford, Malcolm Cannon, Diane Towler and Bernard Ford being serenaded at their Bratislava hotel. Photo courtesy "Winter Sports" magazine. On February 6, 1966, a four hour gala was held that was attended by eleven thousand spectators. At the very end, the skaters lined up down the center of the rink, the lights went out and the audience lit up thousands of sparklers... Because that's safe, right? Alan Weeks wrote, "The building was a mass of flickering lights and the skaters lapped round the rink in this memorable fairyland. Unfortunately, our television transmission had ceased before this quite moving moment. Otherwise, it would have been as dramatic as the closing day of the 1960 Olympics in Rome." The good news is that the people of Bratislava didn't burn down their rink that day. Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

In preparation for the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, The Daily Beast looks back at some of the most delightful uniforms of Winter Olympic's past.

Peggy Fleming At The Figure Skating World Championship In Geneva 1968. Genève - mars 1968 - A l'occasion des Championnats du monde de patinage artistique, sur un podium sur la glace d'une patinoire,...

If only all sports utilized this much chiffon and glitter