Which skaters “changed the course of figure skating?” | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Which skaters “changed the course of figure skating?”

Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Doris, thanks so much for the link to that Cecilia Colledge video! I knew about her of course, but I had never seen anything but still photos of her. What a gorgeous spread eagle. I'm sure she would have won the Olympics but for the war-years suspensions in '40 and '44.

And thanks to the person who mentioned Toller Cranston. Interestingly, though Cranston and John Curry weren't exactly buddies, together they changed men's skating during about the same era. (I think they were even born the same year, which means they both made it to their Olympic glory rather late for men, at the age of 26.) This is because both were mature artists, not just well-trained athletic machines. During the Olympics, Button said that Curry was the dancer of the ice, while Cranston was the artist of the ice. That's a pretty good distinction. Both skated with feeling, command, and meticulous technique.

John Curry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79TMsYRnEc

Toller Cranston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZJr7g0C9S0

Cranston was undone by school figures. He was either seventh or ninth after figures in the '76 Olympics, clawed himself up to fifth after the short program, and ended up in bronze position after this long. Curry developed a ballet-based classical style, while Cranston added all sorts of individual positions--he was famous for the broken-leg sit-spin, for example. I've often thought of them as the Apollo and Dionysus of skating: one celestial, cerebral, and classical, the other emotional and Bohemian. What a pair for the ages!

And it says something about the breadth and depth of Canada's skating tradition that the same country's pantheon of male skaters could include both Toller Cranston and Elvis Stojko, not to mention the Gene Kelly dynamism of Kurt Browning. What a grand history Canada can boast!
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
No matter who came later, no one but Sonia Henie drew more interest in figure skating as a competitor and an Ice Star. She brought more awareness to the sport and to the public's past time. Love her or hate her, that's the facts. Was she the best skater in the world? Hardly, but rinks begain to open all over the world and professional ice shows now had new glamour. Every mother would allow her daughters to study ice skating.

If you can not believe this, or do not want to believe this, then by all means tell me who was it then, who got the ball rolling to make it a Big Time spectacle. There was precedence in the sport before Sonia, like Evans, Colledge, and my favorite, Helen Belita Jepson, but they were only for fans already 'in the know' They were not the Babe Ruth of the sport.

All the other names mentioned in the thread did their thing to asist in promoting figure skating, if this is what the thread is asking. For me, it was Sonia first and all others followed with their contributions. It shouldn't be about revising history.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
In addition to those already listed, Midori Ito, definitely.

After all, she is (or rather her performances as 1990 Worlds are) the reason why they no longer have compulsories!

Well, no, her 1990 performances obviously were not the reason why they no longer have compulsories. The process of devaluing and eliminating compulsory figures had started long before 1990, as mentioned in this thread -- even before the early 1970s and the Trixi Schuba-Janet Lynn contrast, although that certainly galvanized the development of major changes.

The decision to eliminate figures entirely was voted on at the 1988 ISU Congress, to take effect 2 years later. So by the time Ito gave her 1990 performances, everyone already knew that was the last competition with figures. It wasn't the catalyst for those changes.

Quite likely Ito's facility with all the different triple jumps, even before she landed triple axel in competition, was part of the context for the decision to finalize the end of figures at the 1988 vote. Of all the strong freestylers, especially strong jumpers, of the 1980s and early 90s, she was probably the most iconic of the increased importance of jumps in women's freestyle that coincided with the end of figures.

I agree with most of the names mentioned before Ito and probably none of the names from the past 20 years. There have certainly been influential skaters during that period on smaller points, but I don't think we've seen an individual skater responsible for a major paradigm change in that time. The biggest change of the last few years has been the change in judging system, and if we have to single out one individual responsible for making that happen it would have to be Ottavio Cinquanta. (He's not the source of every major decision the ISU makes, but my understanding is that he really was pushing for this kind of change at least since 1997.)


P.S. Oh, and I'd also add Axel Paulsen.
 
Last edited:

Big Deal

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
If we are talkin about LEGACY, I'm happy how many times I've read the name of Toller Cranston and John Curry. I totally agree that they changed the men skating.

In pairs:
Protapopovs (art, edges, synchron, beauty)
Shen-Zhao ( acrobaticism)

Dance:
Pahomova-Gorshkov : they have been the reason, why the sport became Olympic eligible.
Torvil-Dean : total change of the sport
( in some way Virtue/Moir and Davis/White, because they madi it again enjoyable by a mass of people)

Ladies:
Sonia Henie (brought the glamour and the "celeb" business )
Janet Lynn (never won, but the rules changed because of her talent)
Denise Bielmann( needless to say why. also had the longest carrier-mainly as a professional skater)
Michelle Kwan (capable to re-bring a mass attention)
Yu-Na Kim ( a never seen technique, gracefulness and quality made again millions of die-hard fans all over the World)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Country
United-States
maybe Plushenko for making the quad a "must-have" there for a while
I would have to say Alexei before Plushenko only because Alexei is older. I don't know if any of you ever saw a competition called Top Jump. The competition was based on just jumps and of course Alexei won it. I also think that Alexei changed men's skating by showing passion, artistry, footwork and great jump technique. He was a man's man skater.
 

kappa_1

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 2, 2003
I'd like to add a contemporary skater who I predict will change the course of figure skating:

Laura Lepisto.:eek:

Watch upper level triples vanish from Ladies' skating! I'm being a little cheeky, but it doesn't hurt to make a prediction.
 

Wicked

Final Flight
Joined
May 26, 2009
Yao Bin. His experience as a skater led him to become a pairs coach and then China to become the pairs powerhouse it is today.
 

chrissy51

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 11, 2003
Tara Lipinski, after she won US and Worlds, the age limit was changed, they were afraid we would have twelve year olds trying to do very difficult jumps, and probably winning
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Tara Lipinski, after she won US and Worlds, the age limit was changed, they were afraid we would have twelve year olds trying to do very difficult jumps, and probably winning

Again, you have to be aware of when these decisions were made.

The age rules were changed at the 1996 ISU Congress.

Lipinski won Worlds at 1997 Worlds after the rules had been changed. The reason she was allowed to compete there was because the rule included a "grandfather clause" so that skaters who had already competed internationally as seniors before the rule change, and who were still too young after the rule change, would not be excluded from continuing as seniors.

Winning US Nationals has nothing to do with international age requirements. Just ask Mirai Nagasu and Keauna McLaughlin.
 

wallylutz

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
I agree with most of the names mentioned before Ito and probably none of the names from the past 20 years. There have certainly been influential skaters during that period on smaller points, but I don't think we've seen an individual skater responsible for a major paradigm change in that time. The biggest change of the last few years has been the change in judging system, and if we have to single out one individual responsible for making that happen it would have to be Ottavio Cinquanta. (He's not the source of every major decision the ISU makes, but my understanding is that he really was pushing for this kind of change at least since 1997.)

Except that this thread asks for (figure) skater, not speed skater. ;) Cinquanta was never a figure skater as far as I know. :)
 

pista04

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
I agree with all the names mentioned, especially the inclusion of Yao Bin. While I don't believe that the following are "gods" of figure skating like Henie, I must say they taught us some valuable lessons (and, being pretty young they are modern skaters, haha)

Evan Lysacek - While personally not a huge Lysacek fan, he shook the cage that is modern figure skating. He showed that, after years of "Quad means win" skaters, one can even win an Olympic gold over 2 Quads without 1.

Michelle Kwan/Irina Slutskaya - You can become seen as figure skating's greatest without an olympic gold.
 

Bijoux

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 8, 2004
mm nailed them all with the exception of the aforementioned Zayak whose inredible limitless jumping if not restrained by rules would have made ladies an 8 triple/no other skating skills competition. Had skating thus progressed in that direction, MAO would be the greateast female ever and we'd be saying Kim who?
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
definitly Midori Ito, and I don´t know why nobody mentioned to Sasha Cohen:think: when is obvious her influence in the actual ladies field, before her, the girls no put too much atenttion in the flexibility, and after her, I dont need to say anything just to watch to Caroline, Mao, Mirai, even Yuna looks more flexible than the 90´s fs girls.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Ito and Browning and Stojko were all about jumping progression and now you have Lepisto and Lysacek all about jumping regression. Figure skating could be entering a real jumping regression period the leaders of that being Lepisto and Lysacek.
 

aurora100

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Back in the early 70s Sonia Bianchetti was the ISU official who took took the Janet-Trixie thing by the horns and actually did dsomething about it.

Bianchetti was elected to the ISU Figure Skating Committee (the first woman elected to high position in the ISU) in 1967 and served until the ISU reorganized in 1988, rising to the powerful position of chairman. (Afterward, she served on the ISU Council from 1988-1992, and was poised to become President of the ISU, but lost out on a coup the the speed skating side led by Ottavio Cinquanta.)

In the early 1970s when Janet Lynn s was competing, it was Sonia Bianchetti who conceived of the short program, wrote the rules for scoring it (assisted by Tamara Moskvina), and then campaigned tirelessly for the rules changes that came into being for the 1973 world championship in which Janet Lynn competed the ladies short program for the first time.



I don;t think so. There were plenty of artistic skaters -- Sonia Henie, Celia Colledge, Barbara-Ann Scott, Jacquelune Du Bief, Peggy Fleming, not to mention pairs teams like Wagner and Paul and Belousova and Protopopoff -- long before the "modern era." Janet was the best, but I would say a long way from the first.

Jackson Haines really did come up with something that no one had ever imagined before. He was a ballet master who was forced to "take his show on the road" when he could not stir up any interest in "fancy skating" in New York. He settled in Austria and soon the "Austrian-style, or "continental style" of skating completely took over from the then dominant "British style."

Eventually the British style skating pretty much dropped out of the competition altogether. The British attitude was, how can this new style of skating possibly have any merit if we didn't invent it? :)

Interesting information about this lady Sonia Bianchetti. The only time I ever saw her name mentioned was a quote in one of Yuna Kim videos where she was speaking about what a special skater Yuna Kim was. I never knew who she was and why she was being quoted along with other names that I knew. You learn something new about the skating world in this forum every day. Thanks.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Tara Lipinski, after she won US and Worlds, the age limit was changed, they were afraid we would have twelve year olds trying to do very difficult jumps, and probably winning
Definitely. The powers that be were afraid that the stigma of a Little Girls Sport would linger on. But it doesn't really matter. Interests in Figure Skating is basically all about teenage girls, and it shows in attendance when more Ladies than Men show up for the girls events, and the Forums' discussions afterwards are all about Ladies as the principal members of these Forums.

Yagottabelieve it was a shocker when NBC showed the Ladies Event at the Olympics, at the end of the evening. That has to mean No More Prime Time. Keep prayers going for Universal Sport.
 

mikiandorocks

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
I think Midori Ito had a huge impact in ladies skating. I shall never forget this performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Pdqu7l2V0
Sonja Henie was, as mentioned, someone that became a superstar and brought a lot of attention to figure skating.
Maxi Herber and Ernest Beier were also very important to pairs skating since they were the first team to perform side by side jumps and nowdays that's mandatory.
In ice-dance, the Duchesnays were one of a kind. Their free dance at the 91 Worlds left a mark in the sport and in the idea of pushing the boundaries. Off course that Christopher Dean has to be mentioned as well, not only for his achievements as an ice-dancer, but also because of his impact as a choreographer. Just watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI5qruMhmpA
 

let`s talk

Match Penalty
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Yag and Plush duel was the best time in men`s skating. They put it on a very high level that we will not see soon again.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
:laugh::laugh: :confused: :confused:

It was not the brightest of topics, but we got an entire list of figure skaters' names all of whom CHANGED THE COURSE OF FIGURE SKATING

I believe from the posts, that Figure Skating had no particular course except to zig zag after each skater mentioned. Mind blowing!

Not an important issue at this time.
 
Top