Triple-Loop Your Way Through This Figure Skating Quiz

Scott Hamilton had won four straight U.S. National Championships heading into the Sarajevo Games, where he edged out Canadian Brian Orser for gold. His victory was the first U.S. men's gold medal since David Jenkins’ win in 1960. Hamilton went on to a hugely successful professional career, as both a broadcaster and cofounder of the “Stars on Ice” tour.

U.S. figure skating was in a state of flux in the 1960s, due to a 1961 plane crash that claimed the lives of the entire national team. Seven years after the tragedy, in a dress sewn by her mother, 19-year-old Peggy Fleming won America’s heart — and its only gold — thanks to her flawless artistry on the ice. Fleming’s victory helped revitalize the sport in the U.S., and made her a cultural icon far beyond the ice rink.

Lovingly known as “G&G,” Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov were partners both on and off the ice. The Russian pair began skating together in 1982, when Gordeeva was just 11. They won their first gold in 1988, and married three years later. They won their second gold in 1994, but their career tragically ended just a year later, after 28-year-old Sergei Grinkov suffered a fatal heart attack during training.

Renowned for her technical ability, including her triple jump combinations, Tara Lipinski blazed onto the scene when she won the 1997 world championship title. The following year, at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, she surprised everyone by taking home Olympic gold at just age 15, over favorite Michelle Kwan. She became the youngest gold medal winner of a women’s singles event, breaking a 70-year record held by Sonja Henie.

British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were the clear favorites going into the 1984 Olympics, thanks in part to their rhythmic, hypnotic new long program skated to “Boléro,” by French composer Maurice Ravel. They received a record 12 perfect 6.0s for their Olympic performance, and “Bolero” remains one of the most innovative and influential programs in skating history.

Norway’s Sonja Henie won the first of her three consecutive Olympic gold medals in 1928, and forever changed the sport with her spinning skills and ballet-inspired movements. She is credited with popularizing the sport with new audiences, thanks to her post-competitive career as an ice show skater and her box-office success in Hollywood films, such as 1941's "Sun Valley Serenade" and 1948's "The Countess of Monte Cristo."

In the months leading up to the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, fascination surrounded the rivalry between American Brian Boitano and Canadian Brian Orser, with many predicting Orser to win on home ice. The “Battle of the Brians” lived up to the hype: Boitano won a series of decisive tie-breakers to defeat Orser in one of the closest competitions in Olympic skating history.

Michelle Kwan was 12 when she made her first competition appearance at the 1993 U.S. Nationals — and she never looked back. During her legendary career, she won nine U.S. titles, five world championships, and two Olympic medals (silver in 1998 and bronze in 2002), and became beloved for her passionate skating and artistic style.

A two-time Olympic champion (1984 and 1988), Katarina Witt began skating for an East German skating club at age five. Her graceful style and good looks saw her dubbed “the most beautiful face of socialism.” But while Witt’s success afforded her privileges out of reach of many East Germans, she faced constant surveillance by its secret police and was used as a propaganda tool in the waning years of the Cold War.

While much of the world’s attention was focused on the dramatic allegations surrounding U.S. rivals Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, it was 16-year-old Ukrainian Oksana Baiul who edged out Kerrigan for gold at the 1994 games in Lillehammer. Despite an on-ice injury in training the day before, Baiul landed five triple jumps and won over the judges — and audience — with her artistry.