Editing Brian Boitano (section)

===World Champion===
Following the 1984 Olympics, several skaters emerged as likely medal hopes following the retirement of [[Scott Hamilton (figure skater)|Scott Hamilton]].

Boitano won the 1985 [[United States Figure Skating Championships]], the first of his four titles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Eighties {{!}} U.S. Figure Skating |url=https://www.usfigureskating.org/eighties |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=www.usfigureskating.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> At the first [[1985 World Figure Skating Championships|World Championships]] of the post-Hamilton era in 1985, [[Alexander Fadeev (figure skater)|Alexander Fadeev]] won, with [[Brian Orser]] finishing in second place and Boitano in third place. He had injured tendons in his right ankle a few weeks before the 1986 U.S. Championships but went on to win his second national title.<ref name=si021786>{{cite magazine |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1064528/1/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104113530/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1064528/1/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |title=Books Or Blades, There's No Doubting Thomas |first=E.M. |last=Swift |date=February 17, 1986 |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |access-date=June 18, 2011}}</ref> At the [[1986 World Figure Skating Championships|1986 World Championships]], Boitano took the title,<ref name=":3" /> while Fadeev had a disastrous free skate despite having been in an excellent position to win; Orser finished in second place once again.

During the 1986–87 season, Boitano had introduced three new elements to his programs: the 'Tano triple [[lutz jump|lutz]] and a quadruple [[toe loop jump|toe loop]], as well as wearing a blindfold, although he never succeeded in landing a clean quadruple jump in competition. The 1987 World Championships were held in [[Cincinnati]], giving the defending world champion a home-field advantage. The outcome of the event would set the tone for the 1988 Olympics. He fell on his quadruple toe loop attempt and placed second.

After losing the world title to Orser at home, Boitano and his coach [[Linda Leaver]] decided that some changes needed to be made if he was to become the Olympic champion.<ref name="passiontoskate">{{Cite book |last=Bezic |first=Sandra |author-link=Sandra Bezic |author2=Hayes, David |author-link2=David Hayes (author) |title=The Passion to Skate: An Intimate View of Figure Skating |year=1998 |publisher=Andrews McMeel Pub |isbn=0-8362-6452-5}}</ref> He had always been good at the technical requirements ("The first mark"), but he was weak on the artistic ("the second mark"). He was a self-described "jumping robot." In order to help his growth as an artist, he hired choreographer [[Sandra Bezic]] to choreograph his programs for the 1987–1988 Olympic season.<ref name="passiontoskate" />

Bezic choreographed two programs that featured clean lines and accentuated the skating abilities of the 5' 11" Boitano.<ref name="passiontoskate" /> The short program was based on [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]]'s ballet ''Les Patineurs'', in which he plays a cocky young man showing off his tricks, using movements dating to the 19th century.<ref name="passiontoskate" /> In one moment, he wipes ice shavings, also called snow, off his skate blade and tosses it over his shoulder after landing a triple Axel combination. The free skating program was based on the film score, ''Napoleon'', detailing various phases of a soldier's life.<ref name="passiontoskate" />

Boitano debuted his new programs at 1987 [[Skate Canada International|Skate Canada]], held in the [[Saddledome]] in [[Calgary]], [[Alberta]], Canada. This was where he would compete against Brian Orser for the Olympic title three months later. His new programs were received with standing ovations by the audience. Although Orser won the competition, Boitano skated clean, landing seven triple jumps, including a footwork section into a jump, but popped his planned second triple Axel. The team was so confident about the strength of his new programs that they omitted the quadruple toe loop which, if landed, could have put him a shoulder above Orser in technical merit.

The short program at the 1988 [[United States Figure Skating Championships]] proved to be a highlight. Boitano received marks of 6.0 from eight of the nine judges for presentation, the second mark. His free skate was flawed.<ref name="passiontoskate" /> Due to delays, he did not skate until after midnight. Still, he won the competition, and went into the Olympics as the national champion (U.S.), as did Orser (representing Canada).