Previously, the ISU had been accused of rejecting Western professionals, while allowing Eastern Bloc state-sponsored "amateurs" to compete.

Steven Cousins was the other skater in the final draw, but he was not considered to have a realistic chance of making the podium.

Yagudin, who was one of several athletes suffering from the flu during these games, fell on his quad attempt and his triple Axel, which took him out of medal contention.

The countries represented by the podium finishers were the same as in the men's competition at the Lillehammer 1994 games, with Stojko and Candeloro getting their second consecutive silver and bronze medals, respectively.

The primary competitors for the bronze medal were Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya from Russia, and Chen Lu from China.

Tara Lipinski (gold), Michelle Kwan (silver) and Chen Lu (bronze) were the World Champions in 1997, 1996 and 1995, respectively.

Lipinski also became the youngest competitor in Winter Olympics history to earn a gold medal in an individual event.

She performed the unorthodox maneuver as a result of a previous fall and poor program due to an injured foot, however given the illegal nature of the move, her backflip was not considered when grading her technical merit.