what skaters do you love who never really made it? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

what skaters do you love who never really made it?

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Indeed. It was especially wrenching at the 2006 worlds, when she should have run away with the gold.

Despite many negative comments posted here about Sasha from time to time- she has never been one to make excuses or show bad sportsmanship.

She skated in '06 Torino with an injury and then in practice picked up another injury. She never complained - or made excuses. She was a gracious Silver medalist and a few weeks later at Worlds she was neither physically or mentally prepared to do her best.

Think of Yuna after 2010 Vancouver - and how she was not prepared to do her best at Worlds. Sasha was not only battling lingering injuries, but also has a major Olympic hangover.

So Kimmie had the SOHL and won......... :) again - that is just skating.

I think as years go by Sasha will have a very strong legacy. Just watch so many of today's skaters - especially the newest ones coming up. Who do they skate like? Sarah, Shiz, Irina, Michelle?.....................

It is easy to see that many of today's young skater's have been influenced by Sasha's exquisite skating - and her beautiful flexibilty - what more could a skater hope for?

I don't think Sasha needs more medals - or better medals - to be remembered as one of the very most uniquely gifted skaters to ever grace the ice.

I watch Sasha's clips from when she was 14-15 - and still compare most new "baby skaters" using Sasha as the standard. I think many of us do - whether we admit it or not.

Sasha changed the standards for beauty and grace in Ladies skating and that is quite a legacy.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Despite many negative comments posted here about Sasha from time to time- she has never been one to make excuses or show bad sportsmanship.

She skated in '06 Torino with an injury and then in practice picked up another injury. She never complained - or made excuses. She was a gracious Silver medalist and a few weeks later at Worlds she was neither physically or mentally prepared to do her best.

Think of Yuna after 2010 Vancouver - and how she was not prepared to do her best at Worlds. Sasha was not only battling lingering injuries, but also has a major Olympic hangover.

So Kimmie had the SOHL and won......... :) again - that is just skating.

I think as years go by Sasha will have a very strong legacy. Just watch so many of today's skaters - especially the newest ones coming up. Who do they skate like? Sarah, Shiz, Irina, Michelle?.....................

It is easy to see that many of today's young skater's have been influenced by Sasha's exquisite skating - and her beautiful flexibilty - what more could a skater hope for?

I don't think Sasha needs more medals - or better medals - to be remembered as one of the very most uniquely gifted skaters to ever grace the ice.

I watch Sasha's clips from when she was 14-15 - and still compare most new "baby skaters" using Sasha as the standard. I think many of us do - whether we admit it or not.

Sasha changed the standards for beauty and grace in Ladies skating and that is quite a legacy.


Well, I agree, of course. Sasha is one of my all time favorite skaters and I agree she has a legacy. Still, one of the saddest moments of figure skating for me was when she fell in her LP in Torino and let the gold slip. But I'd definetely categorize her career as successful.
You make a good point about how difficult it is to skate at worlds after the Olympics.

And I so agree that Sasha never whined or made excuses. She only ever blamed herself so I'm sometimes confused about why some people think she was so ungracious. She never was the type to burst into tears after a great or bad skate, maybe that bothers people. Not me though.

p.s. Despite her not winning gold at 2006 worlds, I think Sasha's legacy is stronger than Kimmie's. So yeah, in the end I definitely wouldn't say she was a skater who didn't make it. Just one of the most talented skaters never to win a world or OG.
 
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HCOSurfer

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Matt Savoie and Katrina Hacker. Matt won me over with his Mission LP and I fell in love with Katrina's Aranjuez, especially her 4CC skate.
 

elinmand

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Rohene, for sure. I've seen him skate in a couple of exhibitions and he blew me away. He does some things that few male skaters do-- like Ina Bauers and layback spins, but still looks totally masculine out there on the ice. If only he could have conquered his nerves and made his mark competitively, or better yet--if there were still some high-profile skating tours besides SOI. He's one of the best show skaters around.
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Yukina Ota and Matt Savoie.

People do want to skate like Sasha but they also want to skate like Michelle. Still no one has mastered the change of edge of the spiral that Michelle does but almost everyone continues to do it.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Janetfan, I absolutely agree with you about Sasha. She's a pretty successful skater by most standards, especially for someone who does have a bit of the "head case" gene. Several world medals, an Olympic silver, and, as you say, a legacy--a few moves that she seems to have been the first to do are now almost standard, though her version is still the best. Like you, I compare the new skaters with Sasha when she first came onto the scene. Few of them measure up. When I look back at that first senior skate of hers, where she won the silver, I see nothing juniorish about her. She wasn't primordial or "promising." She delivered right away.

As for skaters who didn't have the hoped-for career, certainly Naomi Nari Nam is near the top of that list. She seemed to have it all, and were it not for the injury, she would only have gotten better. I was thrilled to see her back as a pairs skater, even if only briefly. In that league is another promising lady I saw only once, Deanna Stellatto. (I'm not sure of the spelling.) She had a career-ending back injury way too early.

Alissa is a magnificent skater in so many ways, but she never was able to achieve consistency or a cool head under pressure. I hope she chooses a show-skating career for awhile, because when the heat is off her, she's going to be wonderful.

Another skater who was around briefly and seemed to have an interesting style was Aren Nielsen, who won a bronze in men's singles somewhere in the nineties, I think. I was impressed with him. He did a great long program to the sound track for The Rocketeer.
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Matt Savoie (but I'm so happy he went to 2002 Worlds and 2006 Worlds, and made the US Olympic team in 2006), Katrina Hacker, Yukina Ota, Alexander Abt, Naomi Nari Nam,
Shawn Sawyer, Chris Mabee.

I'm sure I'll think of others...
 

cjsk8fan

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 11, 2005
I don't think anyone could do the difficult entances to jumps the way Matt Savoie did. His 2006 Nationals long program to the Mission was a masterpiece and so close to flawless. I was sad to see him retire. I also would have liked to have seen NNN grow into a mature singles skater. Too bad her hip injury was so severe, I had always hoped she would come back.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Shawn Sawyer, Lesley Hawker, Ryan Bradley, Kimberly Navarro & Brent Bommentre

I know they made it nationally, but I think they should have done better on the world level.. for Lesley it was really Canada's lack of spots for women that did her in (and a boring but then-consistent Mira Leung)
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Oh, goodness, yes, Silverstein and Pekarek. They were amazingly expressive. I think Silverstein was something like 16 when they first showed up in seniors, and Justin wasn't much older.

Tiffany Stiegler was another one who had a huge impact when she first showed up. She began as a preteen skating with her brother Johnnie and later had another partner when he quit skating. Then for a while she tried ice dance. She was a terrific performer with charisma to spare, and I was sorry that things never worked out for her.
 
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rain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Nikodinov for sure, as well as Chouinard, Shawn Sawyer, Alexander Abt, Lucinda Ruh, Emmanuel Sandhu.

That's all for now.

I do not consider Cohen in this group, as she was highly successful internationally.
 

TtonyV7

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Oh My....Great post though!

US
1. Andrea Gardiner
2. Nikodinov
3. Matt Savoie
4. Nicole Bobek (you know she could have accomplish more...)

International
1. Anna Rechino (the talent this girl had.....)
2. Krisztina Czako
3. Diana Poth
4. Stanick Jeannette (Best footwork Male Skater to this day, and most unique entry spinner ever, who would think to do a 3-turn / walley jump / backward slide/ into a Sit Spin!! Talk about +3 GOE!)
5. Mikkeline Kierkgard
 
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iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Shawn Sawyer, Lesley Hawker, Ryan Bradley, Kimberly Navarro & Brent Bommentre

I know they made it nationally, but I think they should have done better on the world level.. )


Oh, yes! Plus the US ice dancers on the world level - Roca & Sur, Punsalan & Swallow, Naomi & Peter, Melissa & Denis (undermarked on the World level, anyone?)
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Of the ice dancers you mention, I especially love Roca and Sur, and I'm glad we got to see them in Stars on Ice for such a good long time. They had a wonderful flow, and their moves always seemed to come out of the music rather than being done for effect.
 

RUKen

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Mikkeline Kierkgaard

Exactly the skater who came to my mind.

My wife and I saw her at Junior Worlds in 2000, and she became our favorite skater at that entire event. To our frustration, we never got to see her in competition again. Her skates at international performances were never included in the television coverage we received at home. She did not skate at Europeans 2002 (which we attended) because of injury. She switched from singles to pairs (and from Denmark to Germany) and was entered into the 2004 Nebelhorn Trophy, which we attended, but she and her partner dropped out at the last minute because of illness or injury. (There was a consolation prize--they were replaced by Savchenko and Szolkowy in their first international competition together.) She then retired from competitive skating a year later, just a couple of months before we attended the German national championships. She did appear as a skating double for Claire Danes in the movie "It's All About Love"; this is the only other place in which we've seen her skate.

Does she still skate in shows, or has she moved on to other things?
 

Wicked

Final Flight
Joined
May 26, 2009
Christopher Bowman. I think he would have been one of the greats of all time if he could have kept his demons at bay.
 
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