my favorite example is aways Kurt Browning - yes he's a 4 time world champion and 3 time world pro champ, but he never got a medal at the Olympics.
Still he's constantly someone people compare skaters to, he's talked about, he's loved.
His career as a pro match if not surpassed other Olympic Men's champs - his name is right up there with Scott Hamilton's Brian Boitanos... and I feel he's had a more successful career than that of Viktor Petrenko or Alexi Urmanov...
while many of the champs just continue on the same plane or even dummy down their programs over the years, Kurt continued(s) to expand his range of programs... he's much more versatile now than he was in 94 when he left the competitive side of the sport.
I think in 50 years we'll still be talking about him (and not just because I still plan to be kicking his name into threads)... he's just that good....
there are other skaters that have that sort of 'greatness'... he's just my favorite.
I think the mark of a great skater is great skating. Many times that coincides with medals; often times not, especially those great free skaters who had weak figures.
I think that medals are the measure of a great competitor.
I think that medals are the measure of a great competitor.
...
If you are wanting to make a professional career and are looking for corporate sponsorship then YES, absolutely medals matter. While many great skaters have continued to improved with time like my all time favourite, Kurt Browning , you have to have made a name for yourself in order to get into the great shows like SOI.
Is that still true? After all, IIRC, Steve Cousins did not have a great deal of international success, but he got into SOI -- at least in part because he was a golfing buddy of Scott Hamilton's. Angela Nikodinov is part time, but on her second season.