Robin Cousins is one of the greatest artistic performers and entertainers in the history of the sport. The 1980 Olympic Champion from Great Britain has some of the best deep edges, soft knee bend, and most beautiful double axel and delayed axel jumps that I've ever seen. (Just watch his 1980 Olympic freeskate for proof!) I remember watching the video "Magic Memories on Ice" when I was about 10-years-old, and being transfixed by the clip shown of Robin's skating. I've since read his official biography, written by Martha Lowder Kimball and enjoyed watching other performances by Robin on You Tube.
As commentator Scott Hamilton said, "You know he's not just skating to the music, it's a part of him." Robin's musical expression, fluidity and mastery on the ice is evident in this powerful rendition to Luther Vandross' "Impossible Dream."
Everything Robin does is marvelous, from his double axel to his back spiral-backflip-back-spiral combination (at 3:30 in the video clip), to his toe-Arabian, to his scratch spin at the end. As Tracy Wilson said, "It's not the degree of difficulty of his moves, it's the way in which he does them that's so great."
This number gives me chills. Bravo, Robin! What an inspiration!
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