Sarah Hughes

[Dee4707]

Emily chose Sarah

And who did Michelle model her skating after?

Tonya Harding

[janetfan]

Tonya Harding

Are you sure you didn't mean Rudy Galindo?

[Layfan]

I like that idea, that Michelle is so reliable. The neat thing is that she's also mysterious and profound. Somehow she combines the two poles and becomes more than the sum of those parts. Usually, "reliable" skaters are a bit dull, while artistic skaters have a bit of the head-case about them. It's rare that you find the two traits at their best in one person. I think Peggy Fleming was another one who had both sides to her. She was a poetically beautiful skater, very musical--John Curry skated with her a few times, and he wouldn't choose just anyone as a partner--but she was also a master of school figures. In fact, in the 1968 Olympics, she won partly because of the lead she had built up in school figures. And of course Curry himself was both. He trained like a demon with Gus Lussi on his jumps, so that by 1976, he had technique to back up his artistic vision.

Hmm... It's true there are some skaters who always land their jumps but are rather blah. Still, maybe they don't necessarily have the same sharp edge technique as Michelle. Someone who knows way more about skating than me can tell me if I'm off my rocker but I always thought to myself that Michelle had reliable technique, which enabled her to let go and enjoy her skating more than other skaters, even those who coulld do more difficult jumps than her. Of course, I'm sure her years of years of competitions helped her gain confidence but that doesn't happent to all skaters. If anything, most deteriorate a lot faster than Michelle did...

I didn't know that about John Curry .. thanks for that. I'm only now going back and discovering his skating more. And I have to say it's hard for me to think of skater today who matches that sort of quality, or artistic vision, not sure how to put it.

[Mathman]

Tonya Harding

Are you sure you didn't mean Rudy Galindo?

Actually, Tonya Harding was Michelle's idol and role model back when Michelle was a young jumping bean of 11 or 12. There is a famous clip somewhere of Tonya doing a triple Axel in practice right in front of Michelle, and Michelle is going, WOW! (Maybe 1991 Nationals, if Michelle was there as a novice?)

When Michelle started to work with Lori Nichol, Nichol wanted her to look at some tapes of Janet Lynn skating. Michelle's first response was, "Who's Janet Lynn?" (In Christine Brennan's book on Michelle and the 1998 Olympics, that's one of the chapter titles, "Who's Janet Lynn?" to describe that stage in Michelle's journey.)

Anyway, the young Michelle found out who Janet Lynn was (and the rest is history. ) But. yeah, Michelle's first dream was to jump like Tonya Harding and have a spiral like Nicole Bobek.

[janetfan]

Actually, Tonya Harding was Michelle's idol and role model back when Michelle was a young jumping bean of 11 or 12. There is a famous clip somewhere of Tonya doing a triple Axel in practice right in front of Michelle, and Michelle is going, WOW! (Maybe 1991 Nationals, if Michelle was there as a novice?)

When Michelle started to work with Lori Nichol, Nichol wanted her to look at some tapes of Janet Lynn skating. Michelle's first response was, "Who's Janet Lynn?" (In Christine Brennan's book on Michelle and the 1998 Olympics, that's one of the chapter titles, "Who's Janet Lynn?" to describe that stage in Michelle's journey.)

Anyway, the young Michelle found out who Janet Lynn was (and the rest is history. ) But. yeah, Michelle's first dream was to jump like Tonya Harding and have a spiral like Nicole Bobek.

When it came time to really work Michelle's artistry - quotes from Carroll like this make it evident who he admired the most.

"Janet Lynn is the most beautiful skater who ever lived. She flew, she really flew."

"She skated for some other reason, giving herself up to the movement that other people had never been able to do."

We do see Nicole's spiral - but the style Michelle was taught was not based on the more traditional and formal 50's and 60's style of Carol Heiss and Peggy Fleming which Frank knew very well.

The use of the full body to express the music with such nuanced recognition of the dynamics and tempo changes was Janet's contribution and legacy.

Michelle was taught that along with Janet's abilty to skate with such emotion and abilty to draw the crowd into the performance. Maybe that has to be in a skater - but looking at how Orser and Wilson guided Yuna from a somewhat wooden young performer into a skater with superb abilty to express and convey an emotional feeling shows the right coaches with the right skater can produce wonderful results. And Orser has mentioned how he used Janet's tapes when teaching Yuna and with all students at the Cricket Club.

Michelle's skating was patterned very closely after Janet's because she was the skater who her coach and choreographer admired the most. It is evident how much of Janet we see in Michelle. I see absolutely nothing of Harding in Michelle and believe if we did it would have come over Frank's dead body."

I have been on a big Janet and John Curry kick the last week. What wonderful skaters and artists they both were. Can you imagine them skating under the CoP? What a loss that would have been for future generations.

[lavender]

I totally agree Janetfan. Michelle spoke of Janet more later so I assume that she was her role model. I don't blame her after watching Ms. Lynn float across the ice so smoothly. Anyone know who was Michelle's favorite before Tanya.

Tonya Harding was Michelle's idol and role model back when Michelle was a young jumping bean of 11 or 12.

[Mathman]

Anyone know who was Michelle's favorite before Tanya.

I believe her first inspiration was Brian Boitano.

[janetfan]

What a great cover - but did the infamous SI jinx get Michelle?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...9624/index.htm

And here is the article that accompanied it:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...1935/index.htm

and here is her spectacular SP from '98 Natls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHfgjszz_Tk