Animalympics
Encyclopedia
Animalympics is a 1980 animated film
produced by Lisberger Studios and released by Warner Bros.
. Originally commissioned by the NBC
network as two separate specials, it spoofs the Summer
and Winter Olympic Games
, and features the voices of Billy Crystal
, Gilda Radner
, Harry Shearer
and Michael Fremer.
Unlike the real Olympics, continents are represented rather than countries. The continents featured are North America
, South America
, Eurasia
, Europe
, Africa
, Australia
, and Asia
. Eurasia represented Eastern Europe
(in particular, Russia
, then the Soviet Union
), reflecting the Summer Olympics scheduled to be held in Moscow
, whereas Europe represented Western and Central Europe. South America is only briefly represented in soccer. Australia is represented briefly by a bobsled team.
The only mention of areas other than continents are the New York
Rats soccer team, Dean Wilson being from California
, a Central America
n marathon runner named Pepe Repanosa and an Acapulco
cliff diver, marathon runner Terry Hornsby being from Boulder, Colorado
, René Fromage being from France
, and Kurt Wüfner appearing at the downhill event right before a Scandinavia
n is given a gold medal.
Although many of the segments could easily stand alone, there are a number of recurring events and important characters. The largest such story is the coverage of the marathon, where competitors René Fromage (a French
goat
) and Kit Mambo (an Africa
n lion
ess) are the favorites to win. Both determined to win — Fromage having devoted his entire life to the marathon, Mambo determined to make a name for herself — they find themselves surprised when their minds wander to thoughts of mutual admiration and then to love, culminating in the pair holding hands for the rest of the race and crossing the finish line together. Another important story is that of Kurt Wuffner, German
dachshund
skier
, and his disappearance to Dogra-la (a spoof of Shangri-la
) during a mountain climbing expedition shortly after the slalom
event.
In various parts of the film, references to past medalists and athletics are indicated. Because it is clearly stated that it is the first Animalympics, the highlights of other events must be from other events such as world championships. In fact, figure skater Dorrie Turnell is indicated as having won the Junior World Championship.
Some events are only referenced rather than being covered. In the song "We've Made It to the Top", various events are shown that are otherwise not covered:
Also referenced but not covered:
in 1978, it was produced as two separate shows intended to air along with the network's 1980 winter and summer Olympics coverage. However, only the half-hour winter show made it to the small screen, as the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan caused President Jimmy Carter
to boycott the Moscow Summer Olympics. As America stayed away, NBC canceled its Olympic coverage, and Lisberger's hour-long companion special along with it. However, from its conception, producer Donald Kushner
and director Steven Lisberger intended the project as a feature-length theatrical release. The resulting version, recorded and mixed in Dolby surround sound
via magnetically-striped 35mm film, had its debut at the 1980 Miami Film Festival, where it was well-received. It was released in various countries overseas during the summer season that same year.
Though it never found a theatrical distributor in the U.S., Animalympics was soon acquired by Warner Bros.
for home video and pay-TV release. The film aired in summer 1984 on HBO and Showtime nationwide, as well as intermittently during the early-to-mid 1990's on The Disney Channel, and also on Philadelphia's PRISM.
Considering that the film was produced in 1979, several music-video-like sequences accompany its soundtrack by 10cc
's bassist Graham Gouldman
, uncommon at the time.
Among those who worked on Animalympics were art director/animator Roger Allers
, animation director Bill Kroyer
, and animator Brad Bird
. Allers, who animated Kit Mambo, the lion star of Animalympics, appropriately went on to direct The Lion King
. Kroyer later wrote and directed the animated feature FernGully: The Last Rainforest
. Brad Bird
went on to work as story editor of The Simpsons
, and later achieved even greater success writing and directing The Iron Giant
, The Incredibles
and Ratatouille
.
Director Lisberger went on to conceive, co-write and direct the science fiction classic Tron
, which some of the Animalympics crew were involved in. Its soundtrack supervisor was Michael Fremer, who was involved in Animalympics as a co-writer, voice artist, dialogue/music track editor and sound mix supervisor.
in the USA, and Mercury Records
in Europe released an Animalympics soundtrack
album, which has long been out of print. The music on this soundtrack was written and produced entirely by Graham Gouldman
, who performed the tracks himself along with other members of 10cc
(Gouldman was the bassist for the band at the time).
Pieces of classical music play in the Animalympics Movie. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yagá) from Pictures at an Exhibition
by Modest Mussorgsky
plays during Tatyana Tushenko's floor exercises. March to the Scaffold from Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz
plays during the couple's figure skating. The 3rd movement from Symphony No. 3
by Johannes Brahms
plays during Dorie Turnell's skating performance.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
produced by Lisberger Studios and released by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. Originally commissioned by the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
network as two separate specials, it spoofs the Summer
Summer Olympic Games
The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that...
and Winter Olympic Games
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
, and features the voices of Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
, Gilda Radner
Gilda Radner
Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...
, Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
and Michael Fremer.
Plot summary
The film is a series of vignettes presented as the broadcast of the first animal Olympic Games through the fictional ZOO television network. Because of the combination of the two short cartoons, the Games combine both summer and winter Olympic events. Many of the characters presented, both ZOO crewmembers and Olympic participants, are celebrity caricatures.Unlike the real Olympics, continents are represented rather than countries. The continents featured are North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Eurasia represented Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
(in particular, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, then the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
), reflecting the Summer Olympics scheduled to be held in Moscow
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
, whereas Europe represented Western and Central Europe. South America is only briefly represented in soccer. Australia is represented briefly by a bobsled team.
The only mention of areas other than continents are the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Rats soccer team, Dean Wilson being from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, a Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
n marathon runner named Pepe Repanosa and an Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
cliff diver, marathon runner Terry Hornsby being from Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
, René Fromage being from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Kurt Wüfner appearing at the downhill event right before a Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n is given a gold medal.
Although many of the segments could easily stand alone, there are a number of recurring events and important characters. The largest such story is the coverage of the marathon, where competitors René Fromage (a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
) and Kit Mambo (an Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
ess) are the favorites to win. Both determined to win — Fromage having devoted his entire life to the marathon, Mambo determined to make a name for herself — they find themselves surprised when their minds wander to thoughts of mutual admiration and then to love, culminating in the pair holding hands for the rest of the race and crossing the finish line together. Another important story is that of Kurt Wuffner, German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
dachshund
Dachshund
The dachshund is a short-legged, long-bodied dog breed belonging to the hound family. The standard size dachshund was bred to scent, chase, and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature dachshund was developed to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits...
skier
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
, and his disappearance to Dogra-la (a spoof of Shangri-la
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains...
) during a mountain climbing expedition shortly after the slalom
Slalom skiing
Slalom is an alpine skiing discipline, involving skiing between poles spaced much closer together than in Giant Slalom, Super-G or Downhill, thereby causing quicker and shorter turns.- Origins :...
event.
In various parts of the film, references to past medalists and athletics are indicated. Because it is clearly stated that it is the first Animalympics, the highlights of other events must be from other events such as world championships. In fact, figure skater Dorrie Turnell is indicated as having won the Junior World Championship.
Some events are only referenced rather than being covered. In the song "We've Made It to the Top", various events are shown that are otherwise not covered:
- Hammer ThrowHammer throwThe modern or Olympic hammer throw is an athletic throwing event where the object is to throw a heavy metal ball attached to a wire and handle. The name "hammer throw" is derived from older competitions where an actual sledge hammer was thrown...
- Shotput
- JavelinJavelin throwThe javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...
- CyclingCyclingCycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
- Relay Racing
Also referenced but not covered:
- BoxingBoxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
- only a highlight reel is provided after the match, despite being previewed as "coming up after the basketball game" - Speed SkatingSpeed skatingSpeed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...
- previewed, but not actually shown - Water PoloWater poloWater polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
- mentioned as happening earlier in the week
History
Originally commissioned by NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 1978, it was produced as two separate shows intended to air along with the network's 1980 winter and summer Olympics coverage. However, only the half-hour winter show made it to the small screen, as the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan caused President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
to boycott the Moscow Summer Olympics. As America stayed away, NBC canceled its Olympic coverage, and Lisberger's hour-long companion special along with it. However, from its conception, producer Donald Kushner
Donald Kushner
Donald Kushner is an American producer who has worked with animation, live-action and theater productions.He attended high school in Providence, received an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University in 1971 and a Boston University law degree in 1973...
and director Steven Lisberger intended the project as a feature-length theatrical release. The resulting version, recorded and mixed in Dolby surround sound
Dolby Stereo
Dolby Stereo, is the trade mark that Dolby Laboratories used for the various analogue stereo cinema sound formats that they produced.Two basic systems used this name. The first was the 'Dolby SVA' system used with optical soundtracks on 35mm film...
via magnetically-striped 35mm film, had its debut at the 1980 Miami Film Festival, where it was well-received. It was released in various countries overseas during the summer season that same year.
Though it never found a theatrical distributor in the U.S., Animalympics was soon acquired by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
for home video and pay-TV release. The film aired in summer 1984 on HBO and Showtime nationwide, as well as intermittently during the early-to-mid 1990's on The Disney Channel, and also on Philadelphia's PRISM.
Considering that the film was produced in 1979, several music-video-like sequences accompany its soundtrack by 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
's bassist Graham Gouldman
Graham Gouldman
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English songwriter and musician who is a long-time member of British band 10cc.-Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968:Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, England...
, uncommon at the time.
Among those who worked on Animalympics were art director/animator Roger Allers
Roger Allers
Roger Allers is an Oscar-nominated American film director, screenwriter, storyboard artist, animator and Tony-nominated playwright...
, animation director Bill Kroyer
Bill Kroyer
William "Bill" Kroyer is an award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films. He and Jerry Rees were the main animators for the CGI sequences in Tron...
, and animator Brad Bird
Brad Bird
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an Academy Award-winning American director, voice actor, animator and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille . He also adapted and directed the critically acclaimed 2D animated 1999 Warner Brothers...
. Allers, who animated Kit Mambo, the lion star of Animalympics, appropriately went on to direct The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
. Kroyer later wrote and directed the animated feature FernGully: The Last Rainforest
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
FernGully: The Last Rainforest is a 1992 Australian-American animated film directed by Bill Kroyer, produced by Peter Faiman and Wayne Young, and written by Jim Cox based on a book of the same name by Diana Young. It is a film with a strong environmental theme...
. Brad Bird
Brad Bird
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an Academy Award-winning American director, voice actor, animator and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles and Ratatouille . He also adapted and directed the critically acclaimed 2D animated 1999 Warner Brothers...
went on to work as story editor of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, and later achieved even greater success writing and directing The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant
The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated film produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Brad Bird directed the film, which stars a voice cast of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald and John Mahoney...
, The Incredibles
The Incredibles
The Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
and Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
.
Director Lisberger went on to conceive, co-write and direct the science fiction classic Tron
Tron
-Film:*Tron , a franchise that began in 1982 with the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron** Tron , a 1982 science fiction film by Disney, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor and David Warner...
, which some of the Animalympics crew were involved in. Its soundtrack supervisor was Michael Fremer, who was involved in Animalympics as a co-writer, voice artist, dialogue/music track editor and sound mix supervisor.
Soundtrack
A&M RecordsA&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
in the USA, and Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
in Europe released an Animalympics soundtrack
Animalympics soundtrack
Animalympics was the soundtrack to a children's animated film of the same name, released in 1980. The soundtrack has had a very limited release, only available on LP and cassette. It is not available yet on CD...
album, which has long been out of print. The music on this soundtrack was written and produced entirely by Graham Gouldman
Graham Gouldman
Graham Keith Gouldman is an English songwriter and musician who is a long-time member of British band 10cc.-Early life and 1960s pop career: 1946–1968:Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, England...
, who performed the tracks himself along with other members of 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
(Gouldman was the bassist for the band at the time).
Pieces of classical music play in the Animalympics Movie. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yagá) from Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition
Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...
by Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
plays during Tatyana Tushenko's floor exercises. March to the Scaffold from Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
plays during the couple's figure skating. The 3rd movement from Symphony No. 3
Symphony No. 3 (Brahms)
The Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, is a symphony written by Johannes Brahms. The work was written in the summer of 1883 at Wiesbaden, nearly six years after he completed his Second Symphony...
by Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
plays during Dorie Turnell's skating performance.