Some parallels among Sasha Cohen, Kristi Yamaguchi, & Dorothy Hamill?

heyang said:

I just remember that commentators rambling on about the importance of being US Ladies National champ in an Olympic year. Perhaps it was that she always ended up somewhere on the podium. When was the last time that US Ladies champion was not on the Olympic podium in any spot?

2002 MK Bronze1988 Thomas bronze
1998 MK Silver
1994 Kerrigan Silver
1992 Yamaguchi gold

1984 Sumners silver (was Roz or Zayak national champ that year?)
1980 Fratianne silver
1976 Hamil Gold

The rest is before I was old enough to stay up and watch.....

1972 Janet Lynn - bronze
1968 Fleming - gold
1964?
1960 Heiss - gold
1956 Tenley Albright - gold, Heis - silver
1952 Tenley Albright - silver

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Nancy Kerrigan was not the US champion in 1994. She was whacked at Nationals, remember? Had she not been attacked, Kerrigan most likely would have won her second national title.

As for 1964, that was the first Olympics following the horrendous air plane crash of February 1961, which took the lives of the entire US World Figure Skating Team. All of our national champions in all disciplines, plus coaches, family members and friends, not to mention the entire crew and other passengers, perished in that tragedy. The US skating program was decimated, to put it mildly, and we were fortunate to send a young, talented team to the 1964 Innsbruck Games. Scott Ethan Allen, aged 14, who had won the US title, became the youngest male singles skater to win an Olympic medal, as he won the bronze. Peggy Fleming, aged 15, won the first of her five consecutive US titles, and she finished a very respectable sixth at the Olympics - her first major international competition.

As for your comments - "the rest is before I was old enough to stay up and watch", I had to smile. Believe me when I say that I do not remember all of the wonderful skaters I write about. Many of the greatest skaters of figure skating history were in their prime and competed long before my time, but I've enjoyed seeing footage of them, and also reading about them.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our sport has a long, rich, and varied history!

shine said:

They are all overrated, boring American ladies champions?

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Hmmm.....who are you writing about? :scratch:

rob43 said:

And has a US dance team ever medalled?

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A bronze in 1976.

1964

Sjoukje Dijkstra, NED - Gold

Regine Heitzer, AUT - Silver

Petra Burka, CAN - Bronze

It's possible any of these streaks could be broken- or not. Also Dorothy and Kristi were pretty darn consistant. I think Sash is more an odd cross between Katarina Witt and Nicole Bobek.[/QUOTE]

I love Nicole,but she is the epitome (right after Cristopher Bowman!) of talent unfullfilled...compared to her Sasha has been very consistent since 2000--always top 3 nationals, always top 4 in major world competitions....so how is that comparable to Bobek who from 95-98 has one bronze world medal?

And don't see any comparison to Kat either--kat had nerves of steel in competition--we know Sasha doesn't--but she is getting better!

SkateFan4Life said:

Hmmm.....who are you writing about? :scratch:

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I think shine was giving you the parallels between Cohen, Yamaguchi, and Hamil.

JonnyCoop said:

I think it is absolutely laughable to even imply that Sasha is inconsistent. She was 4th in her first 2 Worlds (02 and 03) and 2nd in the last 2; has ended up on the podium in all 6 of her National appearances as a Senior, and has a pretty good record of almost always medalling in her GP competitions as well. And yes, a cross between Witt and Bobek would be pretty darn odd.

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Sasha has consistently been on the podium and usually has been a contender for the gold medal, but she has not been consistent in coming through with gold-medal winning performances. She's let a number of competitions slip through her fingers with mistakes in her long program. Hopefully, she will be consistent and error-free in Torino.

I don't think Cohen will be error-free. But hopefully the mistake she WILL make will be relatively minor and won't hurt her a whole lot.

Shine said:

They are all overrated, boring American ladies champions?

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SkateFan4Life said:

Hmmm.....who are you writing about? :scratch:

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SkateFan4Life,
Shine is talking about about Dorothy, Kristi, and Sasha. Our Shine may be serious or she may be making a funny. I don't think DK&S are always boring. Have you ever heard Dorothy talk about her scumbum of a second husband? Weee-doggies! But Angelina Jolie they ain't. I like DK&S and I thought Shine's post was funny. Shine on Shine!

Rgirl

Parallels among Sasha, Kristi & Dorothy?

There is no comparison or paralles at all. Kristi and Dorothy skated clean programs, Sasha does not.. And the most important thing of all they did not have to face Irina.

diamond

diamondqueen said:

There is no comparison or paralles at all. Kristi and Dorothy skated clean programs, Sasha does not.. And the most important thing of all they did not have to face Irina.

diamond

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Please , Kristi didn't skate clean programs. She fell in almost every competition she did and at the games she fell on a jump and doubled another. And Dorothy only did double jumps.

As for Irina, she makes her share of errors as well. Most of those errors come on her spins and footwork after she hits her jumps.

soogar said:

Please , Kristi didn't skate clean programs. She fell in almost every competition she did and at the games she fell on a jump and doubled another. And Dorothy only did double jumps.

As for Irina, she makes her share of errors as well. Most of those errors come on her spins and footwork after she hits her jumps.

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Kristi, indeed, fell on her nemesis jump, the triple salchow, in a number of competitions. She nearly fell on a triple loop at the 1992 Olympics, and she watered down the next jump - triple salchow - to double salchow so she would not fall twice in the long program.

Dorothy Hamill performed double jumps, which was what most of the women did in those days. A few did perform triple toes or triple salchows, but not many. Dorothy crafted very intelligent programs that highlighted her athletic ability and her musicality. But she also fell on occasion, too, as in the 1975 Worlds. Her costly fall in the short program cost her the title.

Let's face it - it's pretty difficult to skate perfect programs when they are loaded with six or seven triples. The slightest error in takeoff can cause a spill. What makes a winning program, in my opinion, is the ability to recover quickly from a mistake and continue on with the program.