what skaters do you love who never really made it? | Golden Skate

what skaters do you love who never really made it?

Bijoux

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 8, 2004
I'll start with the usa ladies who broke my heart. I love Allyssa. Enuff said there. Ouch and OHHH! Also Jenny Kirk was not scored highly when she did her triple/triples and I feel she felt an also ran to the big 2. I felt she should have had a long, lovely career. And Nikidinov was often so disappointing for such a natural talent. Lastly I'll have to mention the terrible-ly good at times total sad story Tonya. Oh one more. I adored Bobeks skating...sigh. Men? Pairs? Dance teams who broke your heart?:cry:

I forgot to mention the very good skater who despite her triple/triple was not held in much high esteem by the judges...amber corwin. She really hung in there and I wish she could have done better as she was so dedicated. She was quite versatile.
 
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Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
They may not have the BIG medals, but they came close.

Angela Nikodinov, Ryan Bradley, Jenny Kirk, Josee Chouinard, Scott & Dulebohn, Gregory & Petukhov,
 

babyalligator

On the Ice
Joined
May 18, 2009
Yukina Ota and Naomi Nari Nam

The latter case was affecting me to the point of being unable to fully enjoy Mirai until now. Mirai really reminded me of Naomi, that same wonderful cheeriness and spirit. I'm just happy that Mirai has proved me a plain old scaredy cat. :laugh:
 
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Bijoux

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 8, 2004
Yukina Ota and Naomi Nari Nam T^T

yeah. NNN. One magical year. For the men I feel really sorry about Bowman. What a talented guy who had so many enablers in the sport, IMO.

As for the ladies internationally, I loved Josee but cringed when she competed. I watched Caro at 16, she was great. Now I just wish she had retired after Torino. What a disappoiintment. Biggest Russian lady heartbreak? Viktoria! So talented, awful competitor. Pairs....I think Meno and Sand never got their due as amateurs. I like them so much as people, tho and think they did SOI proud. tho they are not exciting skaters.

I hate seeing Joubert past his prime and remember his youthful confidence the most.
 

ks777

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
Yebin Mok, Bebe Liang, AP McDonough, Viktoria Volchkova. Ludmila Nelidina. Yukina Ota
 

Dramahkween

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 19, 2010
Definitely loved Scott & Dulebohn, Huff and Ladret, Meno and Sand, Angela, Josee, Nicole Bobeck & Bowman (truly heartbreaking IMO). There's so many more but at the moment I'm still a bit groggy and haven't finished my coffee yet lol...I anticipate this post being edited when I fully wake up!
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Bebe! Her jumps are so big! And Alissa during the 05-07 period before her skating became so slow and cautious.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Looking back in time I think of American skater John Misha Petkevich - who was one of the greatest freeskaters of his era - and deserves to be remembered for his contributions to skating despite never winning a World or Olympic Gold medal.

Those of you not familiar with him could think of Tomas Werner - as Petkevich was both athletic and elegant - but had difficulty skating clean programs when it counted the most.

He skated in the era of Janet Lynn - when USA singles skaters were pushing free skating into an art.
Petkevich was always a big favorite of Dick Button and here is an interesting bit of skating lore:

"Petkevich was the recipient of an unusual trophy. At the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships, Ulrich Salchow was particularly impressed by Dick Button's skating, and gave him one of his own trophies. Following the 1972 Olympics, Button passed on Salchow's trophy to Petkevich, who has stated that he also intends to keep up the tradition by presenting it to another young skater someday."

I was wondering - does anybody know if Petkevich has passed on this trophy ?

Here is a link to a performance from 1972 - wish it was better quality but I think it gives an idea to what a special free skater he was:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmVr...926E79C3F&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=4
 

reynycpr

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
Alissa of course...(btw, is she definitely calling it quits?)

Sydne Vogel, Nikodinov, NNN.

Although they have World medals I've always wished so much more for Tanja Shewchenko and Bobek. Every time I watch Bobek's 95' worlds LP, I can't bring myself to watch it past the 1st 2axel.:cry::cry: Argh... who knows, maybe Lulu still would have won, but at least it would have been fairly close and gone either way had Bobek gone clean, Imo.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I really like Blake Rosenthal and Samantha Cesario, I think they are both gorgeous skaters, unfortunately they didn't place very well at nationals this year, I don't know why Samantha was 14th though, she landed all her jumps in the LP and has nice spins, spirals, and footwork too. I'm still hoping that she will have a breakthrough in the future, I really enjoyed watching her at the last two nationals.
 

Bijoux

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 8, 2004
Looking back in time I think of American skater John Misha Petkevich - who was one of the greatest freeskaters of his era - and deserves to be remembered for his contributions to skating despite never winning a World or Olympic Gold medal.

Those of you not familiar with him could think of Tomas Werner - as Petkevich was both athletic and elegant - but had difficulty skating clean programs when it counted the most.

He skated in the era of Janet Lynn - when USA singles skaters were pushing free skating into an art.
Petkevich was always a big favorite of Dick Button and here is an interesting bit of skating lore:

"Petkevich was the recipient of an unusual trophy. At the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships, Ulrich Salchow was particularly impressed by Dick Button's skating, and gave him one of his own trophies. Following the 1972 Olympics, Button passed on Salchow's trophy to Petkevich, who has stated that he also intends to keep up the tradition by presenting it to another young skater someday."

I was wondering - does anybody know if Petkevich has passed on this trophy ?

Here is a link to a performance from 1972 - wish it was better quality but I think it gives an idea to what a special free skater he was:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmVr...926E79C3F&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=4

so interesting janetfan...I was in love with this harvard man, georgeous skater in high school. he is still alive? what is he up to, i wonder?:love:
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Anyone else a big fan of Amanda Dobbs? I really, really like her skating - she's pretty and elegant but she also has speed and nice powerful jumps. I actually think she might "make it" so to speak if she can get her 3flip consistent and add a 3lutz to her arsenal. Anyone else feel the same way? She was one of the pleasant surprises at nationals this year :love:
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
so interesting janetfan...I was in love with this harvard man, georgeous skater in high school. he is still alive? what is he up to, i wonder?:love:

His accomplishments - on and off the ice - dwarf most skaters mentioned on this thread.
From wiki:

"Following his competitive career, and after Harvard, Petkevich attended Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, earning a Ph.D. in cell biology. Later he pursued a career in investment banking[citation needed].

Petkevich is the author of Figure Skating: Championship Techniques (ISBN 0-452-26209-7), one of the standard reference works on figure skating technique. He has also served as a figure skating analyst for NBC, CBS, and ESPN.
 

jennylovskt

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Sasha Cohen is on the top of my list. Then it's Alissa Czisny and Alexander Abt. Ryan Bradley wasn't my favorite, but now I like him a lot. I hope Jeremy Abbott won't be on this list.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
His accomplishments - on and off the ice - dwarf most skaters mentioned on this thread.
From wiki:

"Following his competitive career, and after Harvard, Petkevich attended Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, earning a Ph.D. in cell biology. Later he pursued a career in investment banking[citation needed].

Petkevich is the author of Figure Skating: Championship Techniques (ISBN 0-452-26209-7), one of the standard reference works on figure skating technique. He has also served as a figure skating analyst for NBC, CBS, and ESPN.

that video was special. Thanks Janetfan! I think men skaters used to care more about carriage and lines. Also, hardly any of them do split leaps anymore and it looks so good on the men. the musicality in this piece is amazing...

I'm sure my list would be longer if I had a longer time of reference but only Alissa Czisny and Ryan Bradley are on mine for now. They are just lovely skaters and it's so heartbreaking that they had such little success on the international stage.
We'll see how Jeremy Abbott does next season but for no he's also on my list, although I'm not as drawn to his skating as Ryan's or Alissa's.

I guess "making it" is a relative term. I knew someone would mention Sasha Cohen at some point but I wouldn't say she didn't "make it." It was very disappointing to see her fall short of gold so many times but three world medals and an Olympic silver medal plus all her national and Grand prix medals - I'd say most skaters would love to have that career.
It's a far cry from Alissa or Ryan who never came close to medaling at worlds and never even made it to the Olympics.

I mean, Sasha is arguably more accomplished than Johnny Weir since she has an Olympic medal and he doesn't. Does Johnny qualify as someone who didn't make it? Not to me, but I guess you could say his career didn't quite meet expectations. Sasha's didn't either but the expectations were gold.
 

jennylovskt

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
I guess "making it" is a relative term. I knew someone would mention Sasha Cohen at some point but I wouldn't say she didn't "make it." It was very disappointing to see her fall short of gold so many times but three world medals and an Olympic silver medal plus all her national and Grand prix medals - I'd say most skaters would love to have that career.
It's a far cry from Alissa or Ryan who never came close to medaling at worlds and never even made it to the Olympics.

I mean, Sasha is arguably more accomplished than Johnny Weir since she has an Olympic medal and he doesn't. Does Johnny qualify as someone who didn't make it? Not to me, but I guess you could say his career didn't quite meet expectations. Sasha's didn't either but the expectations were gold.

Yes, I believe Johnny Weir should be on this list too.

I guess "never made it" means that you think/believe where the skater should belong to but she/he has never reached to there. With Sasha Cohen's talent, she ought to be on the top of many international podiums. She never has.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Yes, I believe Johnny Weir should be on this list too.

I guess "never made it" means that you think/believe where the skater should belong to but she/he has never reached to there. With Sasha Cohen's talent, she ought to be on the top of many international podiums. She never has.

Indeed. It was especially wrenching at the 2006 worlds, when she should have run away with the gold.
 
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