athletes’ transformations, including meeting Kristi Yamaguchi when she was still a shy girl and watching her mature into a “confi dent woman.” Hersh was in Albertville, France, when Yamaguchi won the 1992 Olympic gold medal.
But chronicling the 10-year development
of a local boy into an Olympic champion re- mains one of the most special moments in Hersh’s journalism career. Hersh met Evan Ly- sacek at age 14, recognizing the skill and work ethic of what one day would become a cham- pion. Hersh was in Vancouver for the Chicago Tribune when Lysacek upset defending Olym- pic champion Evgeny Plushenko. Hersh aptly shared the drama and emotions with readers of the Tribune, Lysacek’s hometown newspaper.
PHIL HERSH’S TOP FIGURE SKATING
a code that they do not cheer in the press box. Hersh did not applaud, but said, “It was all I could do not to cheer in the press box.”
Watching South Korean Kim Yu-Na at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver: “When you combine the pressure from South Korea with the technical diffi culty and artistry, she performed the greatest Olympic program I have ever seen.”
Alexei Yagudin winning the 1999 World Championships in Helsinki: “I wrote that af- ter Yagudin kissed the ice, the ice should have kissed back for the beautiful way he treated it.”
Brian Boitano winning the “Battle of the Brians” for the 1988 Olympic gold medal in Calgary: “Nearly 30 years later, that program is as impressive as the day he skated it.”
MOMENTS: These moments are not in any particular order of importance, Hersh said … nor are they the last he plans on covering.
Rudy Galindo’s stunning upset at 1996 U.S. Championships in his hometown of San Jose, California: Leading up to the event, Galindo had lost his father to a heart attack (1993), a brother to AIDS (1994) and a coach to AIDS (1995). Unmotivated to train, he was such a late entry that he missed the deadline to be fea- tured in the media guide. Yet Galindo pulled off one of the most remarkable performances of his life to score perfect 6.0s and win the title before a hometown crowd. Sportswriters have
Michelle Kwan claiming the World title in Edmonton in 1996. “T e combination of guts — by adding a triple toe at the buzzer — and performance quality still make me feel that it was the best skate of her career.”
Russian pairs team of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov winning their second Olympic gold medal in 1994: “Even though their Olympic performance was fl awed, it was as if they were in tune with celestial harmony.”
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, who won the 1984 Olympic ice dance champi- onship and earned straight 6.0 scores for ar- tistic impression for their “Bolero” routine. “We had a contest among the writers to see who could get the word ‘lubricious’ into a story about their free dance. I did.”
Katarina Witt winning the 1987 World ti- tle in Cincinnati: “T e way she played to the
crowds in practice and competition… her fi ve — OK, 4 ¾ — triple jumps, beating Debi [T omas] on her home soil. Impressive.”
Evgenia Medvedeva’s free skate at the 2016 World Championships in Boston: “Flat-out brilliance in every way.”
T e rivalry between American ice dancers Meryl Davis & Charlie White and Canadi- ans Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir: “Together, they produced some of the most powerful, en- tertaining ice dance I have ever seen.”
Watching Japan’s Midori Ito fall out of the rink in Munich: Ito got up, fi nished her pro- gram and then went back to apologize to the TV camera person she nearly hit.
Chicago-area native Jason Brown’s “River- dance” free skate at the 2014 U.S. Champi- onships in Boston: Not only was the perfor- mance riveting, but it earned Brown a coveted spot on the U.S. Olympic Team in Sochi.
Seeing Paul Wylie “fi nally realize his enor- mous potential” in the 1992 Albertville free skate and earning an Olympic silver medal.
Tonya Harding becoming the fi rst American woman to land a triple Axel in competition: She did so in impressive fashion at the 1991 U.S. Championships in Minneapolis.
T e Tonya-Nancy scandal of 1994: T e most- watched drama in sports history, Hersh was at the epicenter of the scandal. From the infamous “whack on the knee” at the U.S. Champion- ships in Detroit to fi ghting the media throngs at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lille- hammer, Norway, to the aftermath and Hard- ing’s lifetime ban, Hersh’s reporting is still con- sidered a main source on this story.
Recognized as an au- thority on the sport, Hersh is interviewed by Korean television at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Below is Hersh’s press credential from his fi rst Olym- pics, the 1980 Lake Placid Games
SKATING 41
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