Anonymous ID: ef9eff Jan. 30, 2025, 8:01 a.m. No.22467616   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun

>>22467570

REMEMBERING FLIGHT 548

Pushed to the rink

The disaster in Belgium crippled the American program and immediately forced unproven kids onto the world stage

 

By John Powers, Globe Staff, 12/30/2000

 

The Skating Club of Boston went into a deep freeze that winter.'The ice was empty for a long time,remembers Paul George, who was a junior skater in 1961. It was very quiet. There was a state of numbness.''

 

American skating stopped cold four decades ago when the entire US team, with five members from the Boston area, was killed in a plane crash en route to the world championships in Czechoslovakia. The best skaters were gone. The best coaches were gone. The best judges were gone. The ice was empty.

This was a triple whammy, says Dick Button, the former Olympic and world champion who became the sport's top TV analyst. It was a devastating time for everyone.

In a few awful seconds, the most dominant skating program on the planet was wiped out in a Belgian field. The Americans had ruled the sport since the end of World War II, winning the men's gold medal at all four Olympics and the women's gold at the previous two. Now, they were building from the bottom. We lost about eight to 10 years, reckons Ben Wright, a longtime international skating official and historian.

 

The crash would have crippled the US program whenever it happened, but it was far worse coming that year, because it was the season after the Olympics in Squaw Valley.

 

https://graphics.boston.com/sports/packages/usfigureskating/stories/123000_pushed_to_the_rink.htm

Anonymous ID: ef9eff Jan. 30, 2025, 8:27 a.m. No.22467845   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun   >>7874 >>8108 >>8175 >>8233

Trump

Hour of anguish for our nation

Real tragedy.

Leveraging every asset at our disposal.

So quick so fast mobilized immediatly

No survivors

Dark and excruciating night

Our country is in mourning.

Other countries

Russia contingents ..Russians were on the plane, very sorry about that.

icey, icey Potomac., cold cold water.

Strong opinions as to what may have happened.

We will state certain opinions.

I changed Obama standards