Favorite Performances Mashup -- Rudy Galindo and Yuzuru Hanyu

Two of my favorite performances, the first by the less successful half of the adorable and brilliant pair, Yamaguchi and Galindo. After the loss of their coach from cancer, Kristi Yamaguchi dropped pairs skating and went on to win the 1992 Olympics in Ladies Singles skating. Galindo, now without a partner, was forced to train in a new discipline, where he enjoyed the artistry, but did not meet with success as a single skater. His life was in turmoil, he lost another coach and his brother and father. There were always financial problems, and the judges were harsh on Rudy for his, in their opinion, "flamboyance" (code word for "gayness"). Short on money, coaching and the skating community&belief in his skating, he persevered to skate "one last time" for his home crowd with his sister as his coach. I watched this live, I was a fan since the Kristi days, and I was skating every stroke with him. As it turned out, this was not his final performance. This was his second-to-last performance as an amateur; in his final skate, equally charming and captivating and technically perfect as he did at Nationals, he won the world bronze medal.