If The Team Event Always Existed, Olympic Figure Skating History Might Look Different

During the Milano Cortina Games, I received a fascinating question by email: what if the Olympic team event had always existed? Which countries might have stood atop the podium decades earlier? It's impossible to know for certain. Performances, strategy, and athlete selection would all played very important roles in this. However, we can absolutely take look at some data to get a sense of which nations may have excelled under a team format.

To explore this idea, I pulled every country that had at least one entry in each discipline at a given Games and recorded the placement of that country's top finisher in the corresponding individual events. By adding those placements together, we get a rough indicator of overall team strength - essentially a snapshot of how competitive a country was across the board. It certainly isn't a perfect science, but it gives some indication of what teams may have been successful (with a little luck) in different eras. 

There are, of course, plenty of caveats. Under today's rules, countries without an entry in a particular individual discipline can still add one for the team competition. It's impossible to know which countries may have added skaters in historical events, if any, and how they may have performed. In several instances, nations that performed exceptionally well overall were missing a skater in just one discipline. Had they fielded even one entry, they might have been serious medal contenders. It's all hypothetical, of course - but half the fun of figure skating history is asking "what if?" and letting the data spark debate.

With those caveats in mind, here's a look at how countries might have fared if a team event had been contested prior to 2014. If a country isn't listed, they didn't have at least one entry per discipline.

2010 OLYMPICS

Canada had a very realistic chance of winning the team event in their home country at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, but it woul have been a close battle with the United States and Russia.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
CAN	Chan	5	Rochette	3	Dubé/Davison	6	Virtue/Moir	2	16
USA	Lysacek	1	Nagasu	4	Evora/Ladwig	10	Davis/White	2	17
RUS	Plushenko	2	Leonova	9	K/Smirnov	4	D/Shabalin	3	18
ITA	Contesti	18	Kostner	16	DM/Kocon	12	Faiella/Scali	5	51
GER	Lindemann	22	Hecken	18	S/Szolkowy	3	Beier/Beier	18	61

2006 OLYMPICS

With medallists in every discipline, a team event at the 2006 Torino Games likely would have been a runaway victory for Russia.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
RUS	Plushenko	1	Slutskaya	3	T/Marinin	1	N/Kostomarov	1	6
USA	Lysacek	4	Cohen	2	Inoue/Baldwin	7	B/Agosto	2	15
CAN	Buttle	3	Rochette	5	Dubé/Davison	10	W/Lowe	11	29
UKR	Kovalevski	20	Liashenko	17	V/Morozov	12	G/Goncharov	3	52

2002 OLYMPICS

Russia would have likely dominated a team event at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. They were the only country to have medallists in every discipline that year. 

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
RUS	Yagudin	1	Slutskaya	2	B/Sikharulidze	1	L/Averbukh	2	6
CAN	Stojko	8	Robinson	7	Salé/Pelletier	1	B/Kraatz	4	20
USA	Goebel	3	Hughes	1	I/Zimmerman	5	L/Tchernyshev	11	20
UKR	Dmitrenko	18	Maniachen.	12	S/Morozov	15	G/Goncharov	9	54
ITA	Dolfini	26	Fontana	10	Cobisi/De Pra	19	FP/Margaglio	3	58

1998 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano likely would have been dominated by Russia. Their team won medals in three of the four disciplines. Canada failed to qualify for a spot in the women's event that year, but they may have been a factor for a medal if they had.

Nation	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
RUS	Kulik	1	Butyrskaya	4	K/Dmitriev	1	Grishuk/Platov	1	7
USA	Eldredge	4	Lipinski	1	Ina/Dungjen	4	P/Swallow	7	16
FRA	Candeloro	3	Gusmeroli	6	A/Bernadis	6	A/Peizerat	3	18
UKR	Zagorodniuk	10	Liashenko	9	F/Marchenko	11	R/Yaroshenko	9	39
JPN	Honda	15	Arakawa	13	Arai/Amano	20	Kawai/Tanaka	23	71

1994 OLYMPICS

Of the teams with at least one entry in every discipline, Canada would have had a very good shot at a gold medal if a team event existed at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer - with a caveat. Russia won gold medals in three out of four disciplines at the Games, but they didn't qualify for a spot in the women's event. Two Russian women finished in the top five at that year's European Championships. Had one of them participated, a Russian team could have very well won.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
CAN	Stojko	2	Chouinard	9	Brasseur/Eisler	3	Bourne/Kraatz	10	24
UKR	Petrenko	4	Baiul	1	B/Maliar	16	R/Yaroshenko	7	28
USA	Boitano	6	Kerrigan	2	Meno/Sand	5	P/Swallow	15	28
GRB	Cousins	9	von Saher	15	S/Jenkins	15	Torvill/Dean	3	42

1992 OLYMPICS

With gold medals in three out of four disciplines, the Unified Team, consisting of skaters from the former Soviet Union, would likely have dominated in a team event at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
EUN	Petrenko	1	Vorobieva	14	M/Dmitriev	1	K/Ponomarenko	1	17
USA	Wylie	2	Yamaguchi	1	U/Marval	10	S-T/Witherby	11	24
CZE	Barna	3	Kulovaná	11	K/Novotný	4	M/Šimeček	10	28
CAN	Browning	6	Preston	8	Brasseur/Eisler	3	Petr/Janoschak	12	29
FRA	Pétorin	14	Bonaly	5	Haddad/Privé	16	D/Duchesnay	2	37
GRB	Cousins	12	Conway	18	P/Briggs	17	Bruce/Place	17	64
PRK	Li	28	Li	27	Ko/Kim	18	Ryu/Pak	19	92

1988 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary would have been a three-way race between the Soviet Union, Canada and the United States. All three countries had very strong teams that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
SOV	Petrenko	3	Ivanova	7	G/Grinkov	1	B/Bukin	1	12
CAN	Orser	2	Manley	2	B/Johnson	6	Wilson/McCall	3	13
USA	Boitano	1	Thomas	3	W/Oppegard	3	S/Gregory	6	13
FRG	Fischer	9	Leistner	6	Groh/Maletz	11	B/Becherer	9	35
GRB	Robinson	18	Conway	12	Peake/Naylor	12	Jones/Askham	13	55
CHN	Zhang	20	Jiang	26	Mei/Li	14	Liu/Zhao	19	79

1984 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo would have likely been a very close race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
USA	Hamilton	1	Sumners	2	C/Carruthers	2	B/Seibert	4	9
SOV	Fadeev	7	Ivanova	3	V/Vasiliev	1	B/Bukin	2	13
CAN	Orser	2	Thomson	12	U/Martini	7	Wilson/McCall	8	29
FRG	Cerne	4	Ruben	7	M/Azzola	13	B/Schönborn	9	33
GRB	Robinson	22	Jackson	17	G/Jenkins	14	T/Dean	1	54
CHN	Xu	18	Bao	22	Luan/Yao	15	Xi/Zhao	19	74

1980 OLYMPICS

If a team event existed at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, the United States would have had a very strong chance of winning - even moreso if Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, who were forced to withdraw from the pairs event due to injury, would have been participated. East Germany won medals in both singles events and pairs, but ice dancing was so unpopular in the German Democratic Republic that the discipline hadn't even been included in their National Championships since 1970.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
USA	Tickner	3	Fratianne	2	C/Carruthers	5	B/Seibert	7	17
SOV	Bobrin	6	Ivanova	16	R/Zaitsev	1	L/Karponosov	1	24
GRB	Cousins	1	Richardson	12	Garland/Daw	10	Torvill/Dean	5	28
FRG	Cerne	13	Lurz	3	R/Nischwitz	8	F/Steiner	10	34
CAN	Pockar	12	Kemkaran	15	U/Martini	9	W/Dowding	6	42

1976 OLYMPICS

Had a team event existed at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, it would have been a close battle between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union won medals in three disciplines to the United States' two that year, but their Achilles heel would have been the women's event.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Top Placing Dance Team	#	Total
USA	Santee	6	Hamill	1	B/Gardner	5	O/Millns	3	15
SOV	Kovalev	2	Vodorezova	12	R/Zaitsev	1	P/Gorshkov	1	16
GRB	Curry	1	Richardson	15	T/Taylforth	11	Green/Watts	7	34
CAN	Cranston	3	Nightingale	9	Jones/Fraser	14	B/Porter	10	36
CZE	Pazdirek	12	Ďurišinová	19	S/Spiegel	13	P/Pokorný	11	55

1972 OLYMPICS

The gold medals in the singles events at the 1972 Sapporo Olympics were won by skaters from Czechoslovakia and Austria, but their countries didn't field entries in every discipline. Both the United States and East Germany would have had strong chances of winning a team event that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Shelley	4	Lynn	3	Starbuck/Shelley	4	11
GDR	Hoffmann	6	Morgenstern	6	Groß/Kagelmann	3	15
CAN	Cranston	9	Magnussen	2	Bezic/Bezic	9	20
SOV	Chetverukhin	2	Sanaya	18	Rodnina/Ulanov	1	21
GRB	Oundjian	7	Scott	11	Connolly/Taylforth	14	32
JPN	Higuchi	16	Yamashita	10	Nagasawa/Nagakubo	16	42

1968 OLYMPICS

If a team event existed at the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, it would have most likely been won by the United States.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Wood	2	Fleming	1	Kauffman/Kauffman	6	9
GDR	Zöller	11	Seyfert	2	Steiner/Walther	4	17
AUT	Schwarz	1	Schuba	5	Schneider/Bietak	15	21
SOV	Chetverukhin	9	Shcheglova	12	Protopopov/Protopopov	1	22
FRG	Krick	12	Feldmann	10	Glockshuber/Danne	3	25
CAN	Humphry	7	Magnussen	7	Forder/Stephens	16	30
CZE	Nepela	8	Víchová	21	Šrámková/Šrámek	10	39
GRB	Williams	15	Stapleford	11	Bernard/Wilson	18	44

1964 OLYMPICS

If a team event existed at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, it would have likely been a close battle between the United States and Canada.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Allen	3	Fleming	6	Joseph/Joseph	3	12
CAN	Knight	9	Burka	3	Wilkes/Revell	2	14
GER	Schnelldorfer	1	Paul	14	Kilius/Baumler	2	17
AUT	Danzer	5	Heitzer	2	Schönbauer/Bietak	12	19
CZE	Divín	4	Mašková	15	Wlachovská/Bartosiewicz	9	28
SUI	Germann	19	Schmidt	23	Johner/Johner	6	48

1960 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley would have almost certainly been a victory for the United States. The American team was the only one to win medals in every discipline that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Jenkins	1	Heiss	1	Ludington/Ludington	3	5
CAN	Jackson	3	Tewkesbury	10	Wagner/Paul	1	14
GER	Schnelldorfer	8	Martin	14	Kilius/Bäumler	2	24
AUT	Jonas	13	Heitzer	7	Hinko/Döpfl	8	28
AUS	Spencer	17	Shaw	24	Mason/Bower	12	53

1956 OLYMPICS

At the 1956 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the United States would have had a very good shot at winning a gold medal if the team event existed.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Jenkins	1	Albright	1	Ormaca/Greiner	5	7
AUT	Felsinger	7	Wendl	3	Schwarz/Oppelt	1	11
CAN	Snelling	8	Pachl	6	Dafoe/Bowden	2	16
GRB	Booker	6	Sugden	4	Coates/Holles	10	20
GER	Gutzeit	10	Pettinger	10	Kilius/Ningel	4	24
CZE	Divín	5	Kramperová	20	Suchánková/Doležal	8	33

1952 OLYMPICS

"That will put them in very good stead," Dick Button famously quipped. Well, an American team at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo - led by Button - would have been in very good stead indeed.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Button	1	Albright	2	Gerhauser/Nightingale	6	9
CAN	Firstbrook	5	Morrow	6	Dafoe/Bowden	5	16
GER	Stein	8	Busch	8	Baran/Falk	1	17
AUT	Seibt	2	Schilhan	16	Schwarz/Oppelt	9	27
SUI	Pache	9	Wirz	15	Grandjean/Grandjean	7	31
HUN	Czakó	12	Jurek	23	Nagy/Nagy	3	38

1948 OLYMPICS

A team event at the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz would have likely been an interesting battle between the United States, Austria and Canada. All three teams had very strong competitors - as well as disciplines where they weren't as strong.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Button	1	Sherman	6	Sherman/Swenning	4	11
AUT	Rada	3	Pawlik	2	Ratzenhofer/Ratzenhofer	9	14
CAN	Distelmeyer	12	Scott	1	Morrow/Distelmeyer	3	16
GRB	Sharp	7	Adams	7	Silverthorne/Silverthorne	5	19
SUI	Gerschwiler	2	Hug	15	Unold/Kuster	12	29
HUN	Király	5	Saáry	17	Nagy/Nagy	7	29
ITA	Fassi	15	Barcellona	24	Barcellona/Fassi	13	52

1936 OLYMPICS

Though Norway's Sonja Henie was the big star at the 1936 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, her country did not have a competitor in the men's event that year. A team event would have been a close battle between Austria and Germany, though the UK had a very strong team that year as well.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
AUT	Schäfer	1	Stenuf	6	Pausin/Pausin	2	9
GER	Baier	2	Lindpaintner	8	Herber/Baier	1	11
GRB	Sharp	5	Colledge	2	Cliff/Cliff	7	14
USA	Lee	12	Vinson	5	Vinson/Hill	5	22
HUN	Terták	8	Botond	15	Rotter/Szollás	3	26
LAT	Auls	25	Dzeguze	23	Švarce-Gešela/Hiiop	17	65

1932 OLYMPICS

The gold medals in the men's, women's and pairs events at the 1932 Olympics were won by skaters from Austria, Norway and France. However, the only two countries that fielded entries in all three fields were the United States in Canada. Both teams were strong, and it could have gone either way.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
USA	Turner	6	Vinson	3	Loughran/Badger	2	11
CAN	Wilson	3	Samuel-Wilson	4	Wilson-Samuel/Wilson	5	12

1928 OLYMPICS

A team-event at the 1928 Olympics in St. Moritz would have been a runway victory for Austria - the only country to win medals in every discipline that year.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
AUT	Böckl	2	Burger	2	Scholz/Kaiser	2	6
USA	Turner	10	Loughran	3	Loughran/Badger	4	17
FRA	Brunet	7	Joly	11	Joly/Brunet	1	19
CAN	Wilson	13	Smith	5	Smith/Eastwood	10	28
GER	Franke	12	Brockhöft	9	Kishauer/Gaste	8	29
GRB	Page	9	Shaw	14	Muckelt/Page	7	30

1924 OLYMPICS

As in 1928, Austria was the only country to win medals in all three disciplines at the Chamonix Games in 1924. If a team event existed, they likely would have won.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
AUT	Böckl	2	Szabo	1	Engelmann/Berger	1	4
GRB	Page	5	Muckelt	3	Muckelt/Page	4	12
USA	Niles	6	Weld Blanchard	2	Weld Blanchard/Niles	6	14
FRA	Brunet	8	Joly	5	Joly/Brunet	3	16
CAN	Rogers	7	Smith	6	Smith/Rogers	7	20

1920 OLYMPICS

Though Swedish skaters won both singles events at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Sweden didn't field a pairs team that year. Of the three countries that did have entries in all three events, Norway's team was perhaps the strongest.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
NOR	Krogh	2	Moe	5	Bryn/Bryn	2	9
USA	Niles	6	Weld	3	Weld/Niles	4	13
GRB	Williams	7	Johnson	4	Johnson/Williams	3	14

1908 OLYMPICS

At the very first Olympic figure skating competitions, held in conjunction with the 1908 Summer Games in London, only the host country had at least one entry in every discipline. By default, Brittania likely would have ruled the waves.

Team	Top Placing Man	#	Top Placing Woman	#	Top Placing Pairs Team	#	Total
GRB	Greig	4	Syers	1	Syers/Syers	3	8

We'll never really know for sure how things might have played out, but it's always interesting to consider how figure skating history might have looked if the record books had a few more names in them.

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