Boitano's spread eagle alone was worth the gold. No one in the world has ever done it like he does it!

Boitano had a triple axle and a triple triple but his spread eagle was magical. I had not to this day see anybody leaning that far into the ice like Boitano. Orser was rewarded later in his career with Gold metal students, that's his magic and glory.

It’s often been said that the difference between winning gold and winning silver has a lot to do with how the skaters skate. Some people skate to not lose or to not make a mistake, and other people skate to win. I think that’s what happened here. To me, it appeared that Boitano put his entire heart and soul into his program on this night. He didn’t hold back at all and he charged into every element at 100%. Orser seemed tense and he skated very cautiously. Boitano deserved the gold for sure.

It was a nice performance, especially given Orser's history of nerves. In any other year, he might have won the gold. But that night belonged to Boitano. That spread eagle, those splits, and that death drop--stunning.

I was pulling for Boitano very hard in 1988. I watched both again today for the first time since then, and I was expecting that I might see it differently, but no. Boitano was far and away the better of the two that night.

Boitano did 2 triple axels- Orser did one- that's the gold.

can't believe they interviewed him straight in the kiss and cry, after he lost out on a gold medal. Like give him time to process first!

This was good, but didn’t have the drama and perfect changes (and perfect skating!) that Boitano’s did.

His choreography was beautiful but Brian did earn his Gold.

Orser skated very well and deserved his silver. Boitano was clearly the superior skater and the best in this competition. I don't think it was as close as the scores; Boitano's entire presentation had a better arc, was technically brilliant, and the skating was more confident. However, I don't like the long wait at the beginning of Boitano's program and that idea has become too popular. Great competition and congrats to both men!

You can really tell a resemblance in performance when it comes to Yuzuru Hanyu. Kudos to a great coach!

Kinda charming to see Orser mouth "SH#T" after learning he was second, and then his coach immediately and discreetly elbowing him in the ribcage to collect himself before Santee interviewed him.

I’m glad they stopped doing these interviews in the kiss and cry. How brutal for Brian to see those marks, think he probably won, be told he was narrowly second and have zero time to process that before he needs to be in an interview. Brutal

In retrospect, it's funny and entertaining to listen to them down play the triple flip and the doubled triple axel in order to prepare the audience for what they expected as the anticipated result. Too funny

BOITANO IS SO HARD TO BEAT BECAUSE HE IS ESPECIALLY CONSISTANT.

That interview in the K and C was cruel and unusual. Thank God they don't do this anymore.

I can't believe this got 4 first place votes.

I would have given Orser 5.6/5.9 & Boitano 6.0/5.7. Boitano rightly won.

I remember watching this. All these years later I watch it again, and think that the right man won. I hated this choreography. His arms flailing and choppy movements. He seemed out of control for much of the routine and demonstrated very little grace. Again, I attribute that to the choreography, and the music didn't help. His split jumps were nowhere near as high or graceful as Boitano's. Comparing the two routines, Boitano's was more measured, controlled, which I'd normally think subtracts from connecting with the audience and judges emotionally. However, in this case it works because it reflects military precision. If Orser could have presented a skate that was more controlled, or at least more graceful and artistic, it would have elevated it to another level. But it had none of that. It was an inferior routine. So the gold went to the USA, and rightfully so.

Slightly better artistry than Brian’s program but the technical precision and stamina belongs to Brian 🇺🇸 🥇 🙌🏾

Boitano gave everything he got during the night where it mattered the most, and it paid off. Orser's jumps look so floaty and effortless in the air, and he put up a great fight

0:51 BEST use of music + technical element for beautiful dramatic effect 🤯

Excelente recuerdo y ejecución. Todo un digno patinador

EXCELENTE!!!! EN ESE TIEMPO NO LO VI, Y AHORA QUE PUEDO VERLO ES REALMENTE FANTASTICO!!

Yuzuru's coach was a fun to watch..just like how yuzu entertained his audience...superb artistic impression

this happens to be one of my all time favourite programs , I don't care about how boitano skated or who won the gold medal ... we can still appreciate talent and beautiful skating , and you can definately root for boitano without having to make orser look like he doesn't know a damn about skating ... this is total nonesense -_-

I loved Brian Orser!

If you read Wiki on this competition, the Canadian skating federation had a secret pact with the East Euro judges. It nearly worked. The Russian judge later backed out on the deal and voted for Boitano, that made the difference in the 5-4 decision in his favor.

USA Judges make me proud. They gave Canadian Bryan great marks even though Brian B had been cheated a bit. I love my country and am proud of us.

When Orser gets the news that he came in second, there's a jerk with a microphone asking him how he "feels".

Yes Dick Button - "It did make a difference" - two foot landing/and step out, no 3x3, and one 3 axel, and 6 triples vs 8 (BB) too many 2 axels. I like Orser ALOT, but the lack of technical difficulty, and more obvious mistake, and lack of energy at end comes in 2nd to Boitano. I'm surprised it was even a 5-4 split, should have 7-2 IMO.

Nobody’s fault but the fact they both did military programs - makes it easier to compare and Orser doesn’t come out on the right side of that one choreography and artistry wise. Boitano’s overall program was more dramatic and engaging. But this program has grown on me and Orser faced such enormous pressure he did phenomenal.

Without a second 3A I’m not sure why this was close. Smart if he felt tired (and lord knows the pressure on him after 4 years was something he handled beautifully to earn the silver and present so well) (pressure most people will never face in their lives) but BB was no slouch in composition either. What they did for skating was awesome but the skating skills necessary now (not just stand up and skate across the ice with arm movements until your next jump) by comparison (plus harder jumps) shows how far it’s come in 32 years. Canada deserves a men’s champ tho, when it happens that’ll be wonderful on the shoulders of Cranston Orser Stojko Chan...

Brian B. just seemed to have more energy and artistry than Brian O. Both great performances.

Overscored. No way he deserved such high marks in artistic merit. It was choppy, simplistic execution and choreography. There was collusion amongst the judges for Orser to win. He'd came in 2nd at the previous Olympics to the American Scott Hamilton, and these Olympics were on his home turf of Canada. One judge didn't go along with the plan and voted his conscience. That was the difference. Fortunately, the more deserving man won.

The battle of the Brians. Classic. Both were great but this night Boitano was a little bit better.

C8toujours avec un imm plaisir que je regarde ce programme fantastique du maître B. O

These guys were clearly the best of their era. In the long program at this competition, I think Boitano won the jumps by a large margin. Boitano had two triple axels and one double axel (compared to one triple and two doubles for Orser). The other jumps were comparable (with Boitano having better height and distance) except for Orser's two-foot and step-out on the triple flip. I did not see a two-foot landing from Boitano; the landing of the second 3A just looked heavy on the toe pick. In the spin department, some of Orser's spins travelled noticeably where Boitano's did not. I liked Boitano's spin positions somewhat better, and nobody, not even Orser, had as much fly on the death-drop as did Boitano. I think Orser's footwork sequence was better than Boitano's. Thus, Boitano clearly deserved the higher technical marks. Regarding presentation marks, I would have given Boitano higher marks. Orser's skated almost every note of the music and did so extremely well. I found, however, that the program was rapid-fire from beginning to end, showed us only a kind of military parade ground routine, and expressed little emotion. Boitano's program had more artistic breadth. We saw, of course, a military aspect, but also some playfulness and some romance. His program changed tempo four times, as well, and Boitano expressed the music's emotions really well. So, I think Boitano's performance was better in almost every respect. While I rate neither Orser nor Boitano above the other over their entire careers, I think the decision for this program should have been 9-0 in favor of Boitano. I did not find the two performances, in comparison, merited a 5-4 decision.

It's no wonder the silver recipients sometimes feel a bit cheated. They are so stunning but I did really love boitano. I can't even stand up in ice skates

BOITANO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRAVO DOLL!!!!!

To all you people here arguing about the Battle of the Brians and who won it -let me tell you this - and then you decide: I am what you call "younger generations", I was not around to watch this back in 1988....I do however know very well who Brian Orser is (he coached Yuzuru Hanyu, Yuna Kim, Javier Fernandez and for a while even Evgenia), so I know him as the greatest coach of our era, and I know they have a Brian Orser Arena in Canada...But when I first heard about the "Battle of Brians", I had to GOOGLE who the other Brian was - because we have no clue who Brian Boitano is, we never heard of him. Older Millenials apparently heard of him through South Park - but they also had to Google him back then, because they didn't know who he was either. Now maybe that will help you put things into perspective. One gold medal at the Olympics in the 1980's is just that - one gold medal VEERRRY long time ago. What matters though is your LIFETIME achievement. I would say there is no doubt which Brian won that one.

In my opinion - he couldn't hold a candle next to Boitano

Surprising to hear Dick Button's disappointment in the outcome (as least that's how I felt it sounded). Dick always seemed to roll with the favorites tho, which to his audience sometimes left them shocked when the favorites didn't win. We all learned a ton about figure skating from Dick, but I always appreciate honest critiques no matter who was skating.

I love the way he now trains yuzu, who's great

Yuzuru has a lot of Brian's style..

I like Dick Button but he was wrong in his commentary of this program's mistakes. The mistake on the flip was glaring and ugly, and it impacted the overall presentation of the program... The only minor technical glitch with Boitano was the two footed landing on the second triple Axel which was not anywhere near as glaring, and some say it was not two-footed at all... Then you factor in the fact that Orser had no second Triple Axel and it is really not a contest at least technically...

Brian Orser nice young man, brilliant Skater. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👍🏼👍🏼

Великий спортсмен стал великим фигуристом.

Why do they always have to “leave room” when judging? Call a spade a spade and give them the high marks deserved regardless of skating order

He messed up, so Boitano deserved the gold.

Now he is training the greats.

Beautiful

Прекрасная интерпретация Музыки Шостаковича. Замечательное катание.

From what I heard. Button had a side business representing champion skaters, and was intending to do same with Orser, which explains his adoring and mitigating comments about Orser's performance. Knowing that, you can hear the conflict of interest in the whole of his commentating for this event.

If the artistic mark had been the "tie breaker" (and not the technical mark), then Orser would have won. Six years later, the tie breaker would switch to the artistic mark, which resulted in Baiul winning the gold against Kerrigan.

After rewatching this choreography, I'd love to see him and Zhenya do a mime off.

Wonderful 3Lz with short preparation at the beginning...the rest not as good lol

Toe Pick.....The Cutting Edge.

The jazz hands at 1:10 tho 🖐🤚

It’s interesting to see how the complexity of spins has changed from back the To now most of these spins would only be lvl 1 or 2 and he dosnt hold them for that long

Outstanding skater. He bears an uncanny resemblance to Robert Powell, the actor who played Jesus in the classic film "Jesus of Nazareth" by Zeffirelli.

Felt badly for Brian😢

I'm sure Brian Orser has looked back at the toe pick of his triple flip jump entrance and realize he made a stupid silly mistake of not reaching far back enough on his toe pick for the flip jump take off. It's the ABC's of jumping. That's just the basics of figure skating that Orser botched. I'm sure it was nerves. Even with that I don't know if it would have been enough to overtake Boitano and win. I don't think so. At the World's a month later Orser skated a clean free long and Boitano still beat him.

The artistic marks were a little too high for this performance

David Santee was one of the worst interviewers ever. I remember he told Kristi Yamaguchi “You’re skating so well this week, you should buy a lotto ticket. What’s was the key move in your estimation?” Then here he tells Brian Orser, “I have both good news for you, and bad news.” Like what the F ?! 🤦🏻‍♂️🙄🤦🏻‍♂️

😭😭😭😭

Just a case of he was very good, but someone else was better. Doesnt mean he was not good.

it all came down to the triple axel. Orser did 1 and boitano did 2, and therefore Boitano edged out Orser by 1 judge with 5 judges for Boitano and 4 judges for Orser.

BOITANO DID NOT HAVE A 2 FOOT LANDING ON HIS SECOND TRIPLE AXEL. BUTTON YOUR EYES ARE FAILING YOU.

Wow he was better than his students.

This is mean to say, but at this time, the United States had zero gold medals and it was becoming increasingly likely that our country would go through this olympics without any. So here we are at home hoping he'd screw up just so Brian Boitano would get it. Then Bonnie Blair surprises in speedskating later in the last week.

In some moves he reminds me of Victor Pietrinko.

God these announcers …. I have good news & bad news…. Wtf

That's one way to get the Russian judges to mark you well.

I don’t know why people see it as even being close. Boitano had 2 3A, and had more speed, better landings, and better skating skills.

Awesome skater!

That choreography at 1:41 is awful, looks like something a clown would do.

It’s easy to see why he’s become a top coach ... I wonder why Boitano didn’t do the same!😽

Orser's choreography was always too busy for my taste. It felt like his choreographer threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Only the costume and the music matched the military theme. Everything else about the choreography was WTH ?

when I watched robin cousins winning 1980 olympics despite a mistake , over a clean jan hoffman , scott hamilton in 84 with his awkward skating and omitted his 3flip , over a clean Brian orser . viktor petrenko in 92 with so many mistakes over paul wylie .. and that was okay , but here Orser , stepped out of a triple flip , but skated otherwise a clean program , came in SECOND .. Yet recieving such comments here for why he was a close second ...... really?!! , where is logic , people ?

Смотреть приятно, но некоторая хаотичность, танец непонятен. А фигурист красавчик

I watched this live in 1988 and I knew he wasn't going to win the Gold. His goofy music never was attractive.

I think his choice of music was not as impressive as Boitano's.

Am I the only one who does not care for this music? The beginning sounded almost like music you would hear at a circus, the tuba and horns and maybe xylophone. I thought the closing music was dramatic.

I know it's very unfair to judge past skaters by today's standards, but this skating would not even put you in the final group today. The technical is worlds apart, but so is the artistic. Fun to watch though.

It's a great performance, but the choreography and especially the frenetic arm movements do not evoke a "soldier."

Always hated how Orser held his hands..cupped...not outstretched and flowing. Takes away from his skating.

Боже, вот это катание!!!! А какой красавец!!!?изумительно!

Шикарное скользение, высокие уверенные прыжки, артитизм, задорство и все это Брайн Орсер! Красавчик👍👏👋

A beautiful skater, but Boitano has the artistry and his "spread eagle" is one of the most gorgeous moves in figure skating.

I liked both Brian's skating but I do think that in Calgary Boitano was head and shoulders better. I could never agree with the result being so close. I had Boitano ahead in both the short and free. His jumps were better, his spins were in a different class and I have to say Boitano's artistry was better. Boitano's short to 'Les Patineurs' was an artistic masterpiece.

In my opinion, this is part of where Yuna and Yuzuru get their greatness from..

Gosh, I love that opening move when the music halts and he nails that triple lutz. Gives me chills

I'm glad they stopped doing those interviews in the kiss and cry. How awkward. "So, yeah, you just barely lost the gold medal. How do you feel?" Ugh.

Бесспорно, в прошлом ВЕЛИКИЙ ФИГУРИСТ!!!!!

Брайн Орсер, круче, и программы интереснее! Легенда!!! дай бог ему по больше олимпийских учеников!!!!

Врайан Орсер великолепен!!!Такая лёгкость, устойчивость и потрясающий контакт с залом!! Восторг!!

David Santee, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that you were once an interviewer. The good news is that you were only an interviewer for a really, really short time.

Brian Orser is a cool dude and all but good god those spins were horrific

Orser only did "1 minor mistake", which was not really a mistake (Dick Button): Stepped out 3Flip, downgraded 3Axel to a 2Axel, horrible spins, and almost seemed a two-footed 3Toe at the end. And Orser still wondered for many years how he lost to Boitano?