Calgary 1988 Ice Dance FD (ABC) Final Group & Medals | Bestemianova & Bukin win Gold

HDp60fps format from vhs, American coverage (commentators: Dick Button, Jim McKay), with supplementing Australian coverage for medals (commentators: Ken Sutcliffe, Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean) The final group (no. 4) of the ice dance free dance (FD) event, 1988 Calgary Winter Games. Skating order and final ranking in ( ): 1. Marina Klimova / Sergei Ponomarenko Soviet Union (2) 2. Natalia Bestemianova / Andrei Bukin Soviet Union (1) 3. Tracy Wilson / Robert McCall Canada (3) 4. Kathrin Beck / Christoff Beck Austria (5) 5. Natalia Annenko / Genrikh Sretenski Soviet Union (4) Group 3:    • 1988 Calgary | Free Dance | Group 3 (of 4)...   --- [NY Times] Soviet Gets Gold In Ice Dancing, Feb. 24, 1988 The Soviet Union made its [Winter Games] superiority in the couples events in figure skating complete tonight when Natalya Bestemianova and Sergei Bukin, the world champions of the last three years, won the gold medal in dance. The silver medalists four years ago in Sarajevo, ''B and B,'' as they are known, won the highest marks of all nine international judges - including perfect scores of 6.0 for artistic impression from the judges of the Soviet Union, Italy and France - to capture the third and final element of the competition. Their work tonight was worth 50 percent of their overall score. They had led the 20-couple field after the compulsory dances, 30 percent, and the original set pattern, 20 percent. Another team from the Soviet Union, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, won the silver medal. Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall, the Canadian champions, who received loud and long applause from the capacity crowd in the Saddledome before and after their performance, took the bronze. Their scores enabled them to hold their lead over the third Soviet couple in the competition, Natalya Annenko and Guenrikh Sretenski, who finished fourth. -- The winners' excellence was typical of their performances in recent years, with their movements highlighted by extreme emotions. The audience could almost feel the range from disdain and pain to love and joy that the two tried to convey to music by the Russian composer Borodin. At the end, one almost felt drained. Adding to their success is their similarities in look, despite the fact that he, at 6 feet 1/2 inch, is more than a head taller. Each has a healthy mane of sandy blond hair and, in performance, enough makeup to make their coloring exact. Their costumes were perfectly complementary, black with gold lame. He's 30 years old; she's 28. They have been dancing together for more than 11 years. Each of the nine judges gave them a 5.9 for technical merit; besides the three 6.0's for presentation, they got four 5.9's, one 5.8 and - oddly - a 5.5 from the West German judge. #figureskating #フィギュアスケート #eiskunstlauf #фигурноекатание #pattinaggioartistico #patinageartistique #icedance