Meissner Pulls Out of GP Series | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Meissner Pulls Out of GP Series

jcoates

Medalist
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Sadly this reminds me a great deal of what happened to Jill Trennary. She was certainly young enough to try to compete again in the 94 games, but she had missed so much time due to injury and was falling behind her competition technically a little more each season when she was healthy. She tried gamely to qualify for nationals in the fall of 91, but did not skate well. I think she saw the writing on the wall and made the calculation to cut her losses and move on.

I'm not saying this is the conclusion Kimmie has come to, just pointing out the similarities.

I think the difference between her and the past champions mentioned above is that her technique has not held up in the face of a change in the technical standard of the sport. Trennary won the last worlds with figures (her strength). Kimmie won the last worlds before underrotations became the greatest of sins.

Butyrskaya and Suguri are the closest comparisons in that regard. Suguri has competed ably in the middle rung of skaters not really competing for medals at big events. But she essentially does only three different triples at this stage, a major disadvantage. At this point, she's really competing for the love of the sport. Butyrskaya (whom I loved) peaked at just the right time when Kwan and Slutskaya was vulnerable, then essentially lost ground gradually the last three years of her career as triple-triples became a must to win.

I fear that Kimmie falls squarely in that category. Trennary won her world title under circumstances similar to Butyrskaya and Kimmie (although they had the skates of their lives). She's a tough, delightful person who deserves better than the lot in life she's had. I just think the current system works against her strengths.

Best of luck to her.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
I am happy to see her decide to go with good health over maybe making an olympic team. She's thinking of herself and her potential teammates. Good for her.

I wish her a speedy recovery, and good luck in whatever she decides to do!

(and it's her fault I have let it be stuck in my head, as she had it as her facebook status yesterday, and she thought it was funny when I complained ha ha!)
 

pista04

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Hmm

I really hope this isn't Kimmie's end. Just going back and watching the fluffs of her, like in 2008 about her being the "American angel trying to get her wings back", as well as being in Sasha's shadow and winning, make her seem so special and so different from every other skater. She was so real, so truly American. I've loved every single one of her worlds long programs, and even though 2008 wasn't perfect, she put so much emotion into that program.

Hopefully she keeps her head up, maybe takes a break from competitive skating, and learn to love skating all over again, almost as Sasha seems to have done.
 

Bill508

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 4, 2006
Kimmie: Great but not really that great.

Kimmie is a great skater and a nice girl but I doubt she could stand up to Mao, YuNa, Shasha or Miki. She may even be relieved that she bowed out of the Gd Prix events. Frankly I don't think she was ever in their class. That 2006 Worlds title was a post Oly where the best opted out and Fumie was arguably the winner but for a last minute jump sequence by Kimmie. Kimmie has home team popularity which can cloud objective opinion especially when the US is in dire need of a young Michelle Kwan back on the ice.
 

Kimmie Fan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 6, 2008
Kimmie is a great skater and a nice girl but I doubt she could stand up to Mao, YuNa, Shasha or Miki. She may even be relieved that she bowed out of the Gd Prix events. Frankly I don't think she was ever in their class. That 2006 Worlds title was a post Oly where the best opted out and Fumie was arguably the winner but for a last minute jump sequence by Kimmie. Kimmie has home team popularity which can cloud objective opinion especially when the US is in dire need of a young Michelle Kwan back on the ice.

Body is not even cold yet and the haters are already running amok.
 

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Why all the doom & gloom!?!:confused:

Kimmie Meissner stated herself on her twitter page that she's only out for the season. I, for one, believe her.

There are literally many many examples of skaters coming back from injury to compete, no matter the age, it's par for the course.

I assume she won't ever make a complete comeback mostly because of one word, "recurring." This is not some freak injury or a overtraining thing. She speaks as though she has been healing with this for some time, combined with the hip problem that caused her to drop out of nationals and the fact that she was not in perfect form for a year before even that make me doubt that she will want to continue with the sport (after all she does have a national title and a world title, more than sasha cohen ever got after 6 senior seasons) and persue her other dreams.
 

Trewyn

Medalist
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Very sad news... I was looking forward to see her compete at the GP. Question; is it still possible to find replacement for the events? Will it be a US skater or someone else? Who's decision is it anyway?
 

merrybari

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Why all the doom & gloom!?!:confused:

Kimmie Meissner stated herself on her twitter page that she's only out for the season. I, for one, believe her.

There are literally many many examples of skaters coming back from injury to compete, no matter the age, it's par for the course. Some examples:

1. Fumie Suguri's been known to have knee problems herself over the years & is still competing at age 28 (will be 29 in December)!

2. Shizuka Arakawa won the 2006 Olympics at age 25, not to mention she had struggled with a foot injury two years prior.

3. Sasha Cohen had to sit out a season when she was younger due to a back/spinal injury, and she's still competing at age 25.

4. Michelle Kwan missed the entire 1997 GP due to a fracture to her foot (had to wear a cast), yet she came back to win the silver medal at both the 1998 Olympics & the bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics.

5. Irina Slutskaya struggled with injuries herself throughout her career, most notably her heart condition just prior to winning the bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics at age 27!

6. Maria Butyrskaya had a history of ups & downs throughout her loooong career, but yet managed to become the oldest lady to win the 1999 Worlds at age 26, as well as the oldest lady to win the 2002 Europeans at age 29!

And the list goes on & on & on... You get my point, lol. :D

Kimmie Meissner is a World Champion & a National Champion at only 20 yrs. old! And she has the distinction of being only the 2nd American female to have landed the 3Axel in competition. Heck, she's got plenty of time to come back. In fact, I think this will be good for her, time to sit out & recoup, heal her knee, and slowly come back stronger than ever before! Seriously. It's all up to her. She's got the goods, the mindset, everything she needs. I wouldn't be surprised to see her pull a Shizuka Arakawa at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.:thumbsup:

Well said Nadine!! :clap: Go Kimmie!
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Body is not even cold yet and the haters are already running amok.

:eek: For goodness sake nobody's died!! She has a knee injury that prevents her from competing in the GP which has it's own knock on effect of not excusing her from regionals etc so she's out for one season not dead!

Ant
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Question; is it still possible to find replacement for the events? Will it be a US skater or someone else? Who's decision is it anyway?

The host countries can invite skaters from the seasons best list who don't already have two GP events. They may or may not be American.
 

PolymerBob

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Now I'm starting to wonder ............ Could Kimmie have gone to her Grand Prix events, done only easy double jumps, single jumps even, gone easy on her knee, finished low, but kept her bye intact? That way, she might have recovered in time for Nationals.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
she could have, but Kimmie has more integrity than that. for which I applaud her.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
I don't think it has anything to do with integrity. She simply doesn't have what it takes right now to compete at Nationals. If she thought she could do very well at Nats, I'm sure she would go to the Grand Prix.
 

Pikachuusb

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 27, 2005
I feel bad for Kimmie not being able to compete, HOWEVER she hasnt said she is retiring & she is doing the right thing by taking care of her health first. Had she done the GP she could have made it worse or caused permanent damage, neither of which any of us want. I wish her a speedy recovery. :yes:
 

Nadine

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 3, 2003
My last comment on this subject.

Kimmie, take heart, remember all those that came before you that have had to deal with injuries & came back. It honestly seems par for the course, especially those with longevity in this sport. In fact, I'm positive that 99% of skaters compete with injuries that we don't even hear about, it's part of sport, you know that better than anyone. So I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. :)

But what you have, as evidenced by all the good words about you, is what has & will bring you far ~ A Positive Attitude!:thumbsup: ~ as Scott Hamilton has so famously said throughout his career:

the only obstacle in life is a bad attitude
 

*Sniper*

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
How noble of her to pull out for the good of the team.
I wish her the best and full recovery.
 

dewey

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Even if she doesn't compete again, she does a lot of the charity shows. And as comments so far have indicated, she is very well liked. So I think we will continue to see her after this season.
 

gourry

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Oh my... what a sad news. This and Sasha's withdrawal are both very depressing.
Quick recovery, Kimmie!
 

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Now I'm starting to wonder ............ Could Kimmie have gone to her Grand Prix events, done only easy double jumps, single jumps even, gone easy on her knee, finished low, but kept her bye intact? That way, she might have recovered in time for Nationals.

Yeah she could have- Amber Corwin had done that a few years ago. She had horrible outings- in one event falling on everything except a double axel and her bye was not taken away.
 

dizzydi7

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 31, 2004
Meissner Pulls out of GP Series

I think Kimmie did the right thing. If she attempted to skate and injured herself further or permanently, that could have been the end of her skating forever.

Perhaps her injury will not be fully healed for months and skating at Nationals would not have been possible anyway. She would have to bring out everything she has for Nationals with the other ladies being so competitive. If she reinjured herself at Nationals that would have ended her Olympics bid even if she had made the team which I think was a long shot anyway.

Let's just hope this injury heals.

Dizzy
 
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