Because this is an Olympic year I’ve chosen to start and finish with a well-known lgbt entertainer who has performed at two Olympic Games closing ceremonies, 1) k. d. lang (b.1961).
1) k. d. lang has performed at both of the closing ceremonies of the two Olympics that have taken place in her native Canada. The first was the Winter Games in Calgary in 1988.
The 1988 closing ceremony is one of my favourites. It can be regarded as the first of the modern-style Winter closing ceremonies in that it was more than just the Olympic champions giving a gala performance of their best routines, as was traditional. The gala is now a separate event. The Calgary closing ceremony was a spectacular theatrical production. It had several set pieces, as well as the customary speeches, and had non-skating entertainers for the first time at a Winter closing ceremony.
Fortunately, the whole ceremony is on the Olympic Channel and you can see it here.
For me, one of the highlights of the ceremony is the sequence on the ice that represents a Victorian skating party. Throughout this sequence many former Olympic champions take part, either separately or with other champions. These include lgbt skaters Toller Cranston, Brian Pockar (who was the artistic director of the ceremony) and Robin Cousins.
Brian Pockar wasn’t the only gay skating Brian to make his mark at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Two other Brians provided one of the more anticipated battles over an Olympic title just a week earlier. Naturally, the media called it the Battle of the Brians.
2) Brian Orser (b.1961) and 3) Brian Boitano (b.1963) were the top two male figure skaters of the inter-Olympic period since the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. They had both been in the top three skaters in the world at the World Championships in 1985, 1986 and 1987. By the time the 1988 Calgary Olympics arrived Brian Orser was the world champion. Brian Boitano, the previous champion, came second. Orser was also the first person to land five triple axels in a World Championship (1987) and had become Canada’s first male figure skating singles world champion. Canada had hopes of him winning the Olympic title as well. To show their respect Orser was chosen to carry the Canadian national flag and lead the team into the opening ceremony.
I’ve never made any secret on this blog or on social media that I’m a big fan of Brian Orser, mainly because I like figure skating and also because of my Canadian connections. My grandfather lived in Toronto (in 2017 the city actually named a little community alleyway after my grandfather’s younger brother), and the place where Orser is based, the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, is only two miles from where my grandfather’s farm was in Willowdale.
Some of the big names in international skating were, or still are, trained by Orser. I have a little game at the Olympics. Every time figure skating is broadcast I count how many times in one competition Orser has to change his jacket when he’s sitting next to skater’s he has trained as the points are being announced, a different team jacket for each skater – Canada, Japan, South Korea and Spain at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics (he’ not the only one who does this, other trainers and choreographers also dash around swapping jackets).
Back in 1988 Orser and Boitano were poised to provide an epic showdown, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I wrote very briefly about the Battle of the Brians in my 2012 Olympic series. Below is a YouTube video of the whole battle. There were three elements to the singles figure skating contest in those days. First there were the compulsory figures which gives the sport its name. Skaters have to skate in perfect geometric circles repeatedly. The second element is the short programme. In Calgary 1988 Orser was leading the contest by the end of this. The final element, the long programme, was perhaps the most eagerly anticipated.
Boitano skated first, followed by Orser. In what became the last time a contest was decided on the technical scores Boitano just pipped Orser to take the title.
Boitano’s performance in the short programme was to music from a ballet called “Les Patineurs”. This ballet is reminiscent of the skating sequence at the Calgary closing ceremony mentioned earlier. It is set in the Victorian period and takes place on a frozen pond. It was premiered in 1937 and was an instant success, playing in London every year until 1968 (except 1960). The ballet was choreographed by 4) Sir Frederick Ashton (1904-1988).
In the next “80 More Gays”: A dancing legacy leads us to ancient Greece and two gender-swapping characters.
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