In March of 1975, About.com's Figure Skating Guide, Jo Ann Schneider Farris, was a freshman at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She was asked by the editor of the college's newspaper to review the 1975 World Figure Skating Championships. This article was published on March 14, 1975 in the Colorado College Catalyst.
The price of an all-event ticket for the competition was $32.00. The event took place at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Dance Win Gives Skating Championship to Russian Pair
March 14, 1975 - The Catalyst - Volume 6, Number 23by Jo Ann Schneider
On March 4--8, 1975, the World Figure Skating Championships were held at the Broadmoor for the fifth time. It was a truly exciting competition, and in all but one event, a new champion was crowned.
The number of competitors each country could send was based on how well their best skater had placed in the world championships of the previous year. The United States was limited to two representatives in each division except in the ladies event. Dororthy Hamill, the United States ladies champion, was 2nd place in the world championships in 1974. This entitled the United States to send three ladies this year.
The competition began at 8 a.m., Tuesday, March 4, with the men's compulsory figures. The men performed three figures which accounted for 40% of their total score. Sergei Volkov, of the Soviet Union, took a commanding lead.
The excitement had just begun. That evening, the pairs event began. Fourteen couples performed a short program in which they did certain prescribed moves. This part of the competition counts for 25% of the total score. The first to perform in this event were Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner of the United States. After a big send-off cheer from their home audience, they did what seemed a beautiful program, but the judges did not agree, and they received low marks. Afterwards, many other pairs skated with obvious mistakes and received higher marks than Tai and Randy. Talk began of politically motivated judging with the communist bloc dominating this event. Irina Rodnina and Aleksandr Zaitsev, of the Soviet Union, took an overwhelming noncontroversial first place, however.
On Wednesday morning, the women's compulsory figures were held. Karin Iten, of Switzerland was expected to win the figure event, but Dianne DeLeeuw, a girl from Los Angeles who represents the Netherlands by virtue of dual citizenship, placed first. The Americans were upset to see the United States Champion, Dororthy Hamill, down in 5th place. Christine Errath of East Germany, last year's world champion, was down to 6th place. Besides this upset, Kath Malmberg, the 3rd ranked woman from the United States, placed 4th, ahead of Dorothy. Everyone began to anticipate an interesting and different competition.
The pairs competition was completed that evening. No one had much doubt that the Russians, Rodnina and Zaitsev, would win. The fight was on for 2nd and 3rd place. There was still hope that the American team, Militano and Johns, could get a medal. All hope was lost, however, after they skated a very poor program. Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner who were in 10th place, also skated badly, finishing any chances of a pair medal for the Americans. Manuela Gross and Uwe Kagelmannn of East Germany, skated a tremendous program which pulled them into third place. The other East German team remained 2nd. Militano and Johns dropped to 6th.
The ice dance event started on Thursday. The reigning champions, from the Soviet Union, unexpectedly had to drop out of the competition because of illness. The event began with the excited anticipation that one of the teams would be the new world champion. The dancers performed two compulsory dances that day. Compulsory dances are ballroom dances skated on ice.
The following day they performed another compulsory dance, and an original set pattern dance, which is a dance that each team makes up themselves to a prescribed tempo. This year the tempo was "The Blues." At the end of the initial round, a big surprise was in store for the United States. Colleen O'Connor and Jim Millns, of Colorado Springs and the Broadmoor Skating Club were in first place! They were closely followed by two Russian teams and a team from Great Britain. This first portion of the competition counted 50%. The remaining portion, the free dance, would determine the ultimate decision on the winner of the ice dance event.
