At the 1986 European Figure Skating Championships, in front of a very enthusiastic audience and millions of television viewers, Czechslovakian figure skater, Jozef Sabovcik, landed what was considered the first quadruple jump. He thought it was a quad, and so did the audience, judges and television commentators, but the
International Skating Union decided it was not a true quad since his
free leg scraped the ice as he
landed the jump. This video shows that historical moment. Did Sabovcik do a clean quad?
Comments
As much as I would love to say it was the first quad it, technically, is two footed. But with todays new judging system would it count as a quad but then be graded down a bit for the two foot landing? Hmmm… Tough one to call but still amazing. Quads, even now, are not common place and with great technique and fabulous control over the body, they are beautiful to watch. In person they are even more breath taking.
I don’t understand why we count Josef as first quad jumper?
Alexander Fadeev from the Soviet Union was a really first to try a quad. At 1983 worlds - touched down by hand, and at 1984 Olympics - was twofooted landing.