A quote from this interesting read:
Back in his day, Button chalked up a profusion of “firsts,” “onlys” and “youngests.”
Seventy years ago he was the first person to land a double axel – 2 ½ revolutions – in competition at the Olympic Winter Games St. Moritz 1948.
“By the way, that jump had a cheat on it,” Button said with a laugh, noting that he would not have gotten full credit under today’s rules. “But listen, I did it and that was what counted.”
Four years later, Button was the first skater to land a triple jump in competition, this time at the 1952 Winter Games, for his second straight gold medal.
Button also is known for inventing the flying camel spin, formerly known as the Button camel. That came about by necessity rather than an urge to push the envelope.
Button said skaters used to practice camel spins in a roped off area because they were so dangerous that “you could slice one of the other skaters very easily. I skated too close to the rope and knew that I would probably spin around and twist the rope in my legs and kill myself, so I just jumped over it and – lo and behold – the flying camel was born.”
Button is still the only U.S. skater to win back-to-back gold medals and the only American to win the European championships. After he and Canada’s Barbara Ann Scott won in 1948, skating officials decided to limit the event to Europeans.
“I’m the only person to have won all the titles, which is the U.S. title, North American, European, world and Olympic,” Button said. “Scott Hamilton (1984 Olympic champion) couldn’t equal the European championship and I love noodling him about it.”