Battle of the Carmens

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The Battle of the Carmens is an informal name given to a

The Battle of the Carmens was one of two such "battles" at the 1988 Winter Olympics, the other being the "Battle of the Brians." Heading into the long program, which was worth 50% of the total score, Thomas was in first place (she placed second in compulsory figures and second in the short program) and Witt was in second place (she placed third in compulsory figures and first in the short program).^[1] However, both Thomas and Witt had underwhelming free skates. Despite omitting one of the more challenging jumps in her already technically inferior program, Witt skated well enough for the gold, but Thomas made significant mistakes in three of her planned jumps, bobbling her opening combination jump and falling on jump later on in the program, and came in third place overall.^[1]

As figure skating historian James R. Hines reported, Wiit "presented a dramatic presentation of the seductive Carmen"^[1] from the judges and earned a high score, including seven 5.9s. Hines also said that Thomas, who skated last, was "not at her best" and that her nonliteral interpretation of Carmen did not have the same dramatic portrayal as Witt's version of Carmen.^[2] Canadian Elizabeth Manley won the silver medal over Thomas.^[3] The only standing ovations given were to Elizabeth Manley and Japanese skater Midori Ito, both of whom skated clean long programs which were more technically difficult than either Witt's or Thomas's long programs.

• Figure skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics
• Witt explains her victory in the Battle of the Carmens

• TSN, 1988 Olympic highlights
• The Times, Witt takes gold, but Manley is the heroine

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