WINTER OLYMPICS : ‘Carmen’ Tragic for Thomas as Witt Is Awarded the Gold

There was supposed to be a duel Saturday night between two women who were skating to the opera “Carmen,” a tragic tale of a Spanish femme fatale. But in the end, both Carmens were upstaged by the French tart Irma la Douce.

One of the Carmens, East Germany’s Katarina Witt, 22, still won the gold medal, becoming the first woman in 52 years to repeat as the Olympic figure skating champion. Norway’s Sonja Henie won in 1928, ’32 and ’36. The other Carmen, Debi Thomas, 20, of San Jose, became the first black to win a Winter Games medal, although she was disappointed it was bronze.

But it was Canada’s bouncy and brassy Elizabeth Manley who won everything else there was to win--the loudest ovation from the capacity crowd of 19,000 at the Olympic Saddledome, the highest marks from seven of the nine judges for her virtually flawless performance and an unexpected silver medal.

Manley, 22, began her four-minute long program to upbeat music from “Irma la Douce,” then ended with the stirring “Canadian Concerto.” She could not have made a more appropriate choice as she gave Canadians their proudest moment of the Games.

Canada became the only host country ever to win no gold medals in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. With one day of competition remaining in these Winter Games, Canada again will win no gold medals. But Manley’s silver was as as good as gold because on this one night she outskated the world’s two best women skaters, Witt and Thomas.

Manley, who was third through the first two phases of the competition--the compulsory figures and the short program--won the long program, which accounts for 50% of the final score. Five of the nine judges gave her 5.9s out of a possible 6.0 for technical merit, while she received two 5.9s and six 5.8s for artistic impression.

That was not enough for her to overcome Witt, who was second to Thomas entering Saturday night and finished second for her conservative long program. But Manley did leap past Thomas, who made three major errors and finished fourth in the long program.

“I knew I had to skate like that to beat Katarina,” said Manley, who was so overwhelmed by the pressure in figure skating earlier in her career that she had a nervous breakdown and lost most of her hair. “Standing in the middle of the ice there after I finished, the feeling was just overwhelming.”

The only other skater who came close to captivating the crowd as Manley did was Japan’s Midori Ito, who landed seven triple jumps and finished third in the long program. She was fifth overall, due to her 10th place finish in Wednesday’s compulsory figures, but she is only 18 and is expected to be a force for at least the next four years.

Jill Trenary, 19, of Minnetonka, Minn., was fourth overall after a fifth-place finish in the short program. The third U.S. skater, Caryn Kadavy, 20, of Erie, Pa., withdrew from the long program with the flu and a 102-degree fever. She was in sixth place through the short program.

After Witt won Thursday night’s short program, Thomas’ coach, Alex McGowan, speculated that some of the judges had decided before they arrived to favor the defending champion. But if McGowan had an excuse Saturday night, it was that Thomas drew the last position to skate. That forced her to wait about 25 minutes after her warmup before she was able to return to the ice.

It was immediately apparent that she was not at her best. Her first move, a demanding triple toe-loop, triple toe-loop combination, is her most difficult. She has said that if she completes it cleanly, she is inspired for the remainder of her program. But she missed it Saturday night, landing after the second jump on both feet.

She was off balance upon landing another triple toe-loop later in the program and had to put her hand on the ice to prevent falling after a triple salchow.

When she left the ice, she put her arms around McGowan and said: “I’m sorry.”

“After I didn’t land that first combination, I really didn’t want to stay out there any more,” she said later. “My heart wasn’t in it.

“I’m really not that devasted. I thought it would hurt a lot worse than it does. I thought I would cry and throw things. But I didn’t. I went for everything, and I wasn’t quite there. I tried everything in my power to keep my legs going, but I couldn’t.”

As the second skater among the last group, consisting of the five medal contenders, Witt also was in a difficult position because she did not know how aggressively she would have to skate to win. She decided to play it safe, turning one of the five triple jumps she planned into a double.

That was reflected in her scores for technical merit. She received three 5.8s, four 5.7s and two 5.6s. But the judges were impressed with her artistic impression, giving her seven 5.9s and two 5.8s.

Asked how she would like to be remembered, the three-time world champion said: “As a figure skater, I did something for artistic impression. I hope I will be remembered as a good skater and a good human.”

As for what she may remember about this gold medal, she won it despite losing the long program for the first time in five years.

“In the competition, there are three parts,” she said. “There are the figures, the short program and the long program. I did everything very well. So I’m happy with the gold medal, and I think it’s fair that I got it.”

But Manley probably was more satisfied than anyone Saturday night.

“All I know,” she said, “is that I’ve seen enough of ‘Carmen.’ I’m not going to see the opera.”