I guess we take it for granted now that skaters should interpret their music fully, integrate jumps and spins with the choreography, use their full body to express their music and skate in the moment. We can thank Janet Lynn for pushing the free skate to an art.
I first heard the name Janet Lynn maybe 10 or so years ago. Why is it I had not heard the name before? Or maybe I had, but it didn't register because back then, Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming -- these were the faces on television that I saw all the time. Now when I watch skating, commentators will often bring up Janet Lynn's name in conjunction with Michelle Kwan, or Sasha Cohen, or any lyrical skater who brings spirituality to their performance. Brian Boitano has said
I never had a skater I idolized when I was growing up. Now, I realize I should have idolized Janet Lynn. (link)
Janet Lynn was the U.S. National Figure Skating Champion from 1969 to 1973 and also won an Olympic bronze medal in 1972. To some, she is considered the best freeskater of all time never to have won a World or Olympic title. Partly because of her, compulsory figures (originally 50% of a skater's score; the freeskate comprising the other 50%) were devalued by introducing the short program. Compulsory figures were not generally televised and viewers were confused (and somewhat angry) when Janet Lynn did not win a competition when she had skated a perfect, awe-inspiring freeskate.
In 1975, she retired from skating and started a family and returned to skate professionally in a few shows in the 1980s. Currently she lives in Illinois with her husband and five boys and is also a Christian motivational speaker. Below is Janet's freeskate in the 1972 Olympics where her beautiful edges, perfect posture and overjoy in skating are on full display: