Figure Skating: The Soaring, Spinning Battle Of the Brians

"We are a lot alike."

-- Brian Boitano

"We have a lot of similarities."

-- Brian Orser

That's a lot of understatement. Brian Boitano and Brian Orser are linked circles in a perfect figure eight -- they mirror each other. It is not just because they have the same name, the same lean look and the same longish hairstyle. The two are both homebodies who enjoy the pampered slot of youngest in a long line of siblings. Each took up skating before his tenth birthday, and (unlike most skaters) still trains with his first and only coach. Both have captured a string of national figure-skating titles, Boitano in the U.S., | Orser in Canada. Each has reigned as world champion; each is capable of serious bobbles. And awkward as it may be for the two friends, each is one of his country's best hopes for gold at Calgary.

Of course, there are differences. The American child started after seeing an ice show; the Canadian was first attracted to hockey. As they matured, so goes the rinkside chatter, Boitano became the "technical" Brian, long on consistency, short on artistry. Orser is the "theatrical" Brian, capable of delivering explosive performances when he isn't unhinged by nerves. But such nugget-size insights are misleading. Boitano can also stun the crowd with his flare, and Orser can draw gasps for his technical brilliance. So when the battle of the Brians is settled in the Olympic Saddledome on Feb. 20, barring cataclysm, injury or a Soviet upset, predicting the outcome is a matter of Yogi Berra-like simplicity: whichever Brian has the better night will carry home gold.

How did they get to Calgary? Practice, practice, practice. For Boitano, 24, that has meant, year in and year out, six days a week, five hours a day at some fairly shabby rinks in the San Francisco area. "The part I love is the day-to-day improvement," he says, "not the competition." Maybe that explains his reputation for perfectionism. Only rarely does he flub a figure or miss one of his eight triple jumps. Such determination helped him win the world championship in 1986. A year later though, that same grim correctness contributed to the loss of his title to Orser. Not demonstrative enough, needs more panache, tut-tutted pundits.

Enter Choreographer Sandra Bezic of Toronto, and it was goodbye Tech Weenie, hello Elegance Whiz. Out went the bouncy pop-rock medley. In came sobering, dramatic theme music. Also, more practice, this time emphasizing artistry. The results were startling. Last month in Denver as he collected his fourth consecutive national title, Boitano made history when eight of the nine judges awarded perfect 6.0s for composition and style on his two-minute program.

Boitano hands most of the credit to Coach Linda Leaver. When she spotted him at age eight in Sunnyvale, Calif., Leaver was initially struck by how "tiny and adorable" he was. She was most taken, however, by his rapid improvement. "I came home and told my husband that Brian would be a world champion," says Leaver. "It just took a little longer than I thought." After 16 years of working together, Leaver and Boitano hardly need to speak. They simply sense. "It's kind of like one person split in half," he says.