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Linda Fratianne
Fratianne in 1979
Born	(1960-08-02) August 2, 1960 (age 64) Northridge, California, U.S.
Height	153 cm (5 ft 0 in)
Figure skating career
Country	United States
Skating club	LAFSC
Retired	1980
Medal record Ladies' figure skating Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1980 Lake Placid Singles World Championships 1977 Tokyo Singles 1979 Vienna Singles 1978 Ottawa Singles 1980 Dortmund Singles

Linda Sue Fratianne (born August 2, 1960) is an American former figure skater known for winning two world-championship titles (1977, 1979), four consecutive U.S. championships (1977–1980) and a silver medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Career

Throughout her figure-skating career, Fratianne was coached by Frank Carroll.

Fratianne became the first female skater to land two different types of triple jumps (toe loop and Salchow) in her free-skating programs in 1976 at the U.S. National Championships, finishing in second place. The next year, Fratianne won the gold medal.

At the World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo in 1977, Fratianne won her first world title by upsetting the favorite, Anett Pötzsch of East Germany, despite having fallen following a triple-Salchow jump in her free-skating routine.

In 1979, Fratianne regained her world title, which she had lost to Pötzsch in 1978 in Ottawa, Canada.

Fratianne's chief rivals were Pötzsch (East Germany), Emi Watanabe (Japan) and Dagmar Lurz (West Germany). Her compulsory figures were considered to be significantly weaker than her free skating; consequently, she frequently placed well below Pötzsch and Lurz in the compulsories and compensated with strong short and free programs. In the short and free programs, Fratianne never placed lower than Pötzsch or Lurz between 1977 and 1980 in any competition. However, as the rules at the time placed much weight on compulsory figures, she only won a major title twice.

At the 1980 Winter Olympics, Fratianne placed third in the compulsory figures, first in the short program, and second in the free skate to place second overall, while Pötzsch took the gold with first in figures, fourth in the short program and third in the free skate. Fratianne and others have implied that she was robbed of the gold medal by political voting among Eastern-bloc judges, but in fact only two of the nine judges on the panel were from Eastern-bloc countries, and only the judges from Japan and the U.S. placed Fratianne first. All others placed Pötzsch first, mainly because of her substantial lead in the compulsory figures.

After the 1980 Winter Games, Fratianne turned professional and, at the 1980 World Figure Skating Championships, won the bronze medal behind Anett Pötzsch and Dagmar Lurz from West Germany.

In 1981, the scoring system used in figure skating was modified to combine the results of the compulsory figures, short program and free skating by adding placements instead of employing raw scores. This lessened the capability of skaters to accumulate large leads in the compulsory figures.

After the 1980 season, Fratianne retired from competitive skating and performed in touring shows, including ten years as a lead skater of Disney on Ice. In 1993, she was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

Fratianne was known for "cementing the importance of triple jumps in skating." She also popularized simple but elaborate ornamentation and the use of sequins on skating costumes.

Personal life

Fratianne was married to ski racer Nick Maricich.

Results

References

1. ^ Linda Fratianne. sports-reference.com
2. Hersh, Philip (August 3, 2018) Frank Carroll: At 80, he retires from a "frozen life" of transcendent coaching success in figure skating. Globetrotting
3. ^ Bruce, Jeannette. "Great, big wonderful whirl". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
4. "Outside the Lines: Judging the Olympics". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
5. Figure Skating at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games: Women's Singles. sports-reference.com
6. U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame Members. United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame
7. ^ Kestnbaum, Ellyn (2003). Culture on Ice: Figure Skating and Cultural Meaning. Middleton, Connecticut: Wesleyan Publishing Press. p. 116. ISBN 0-8195-6641-1.
8. Olympic Medalist Linda Fratianne Engaged. Associated Press. February 25, 1987

External links

• Linda Fratianne. IMDb
• Fratianne-Poetzsch: Clearing the Record
• Detailed results from the 1980 Olympics

• 1960 births
• American female single skaters
• American people of Italian descent
• Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics
• Olympic silver medalists for the United States in figure skating
• Living people
• Olympic medalists in figure skating
• World Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics
• 20th-century American sportswomen