Skaters Underappreciated in their eligible years that you respect more now

**Layfan** · 07-03-2010, 02:27 PM

Lu Chen is the one for me. At the time, I didn't following figure skating close enough to truly notice her and I probably wouldn't have known enough anyway to fully appreciate her. She flew way under the radar of the Tonya-Nancy business, plus Oksana's orphan tear-jerker story, and then under the radar if the Michelle-Tara rivalry. But looking back, I'm annoyed with myself that I didn't pay more attention to such a special skater.

Jeff Buttle is another one for me. I didn't really follow his career and have only just now noticed how many gorgeous performances I missed. :sheesh:

There are many and this forum constantly making me discover skaters/performances that I wasn't really aware of before.

Goebel isn't really a skater I ever loved but now I'm so intrigued ... I'm definitely going to watch that program everyone is raving about.
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**Blades of Passion** · 07-03-2010, 03:53 PM

Yes, watch it! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEbsdvX6lEo

**chapis** · 07-03-2010, 06:02 PM

definitly Shizuka Arakawa and kristi Yamagichi

**Olympia** · 07-03-2010, 06:11 PM

Ooh, Shizuka! Good thought. At that point, she was probably the least prominent Japanese skater. Fumie was there, and Yoshie Onda, who was quite the jumper, and the memory of Midori was still fresh, not to mention the wonderful Yuka Sato.

She kind of snuck up on me. Then I noticed that she had a triple-triple, and that peerless Ina Bauer.

**ImaginaryPogue** · 07-03-2010, 06:40 PM

I wish I liked Goebel's program has much as doris/BoP do, but frankly, I didn't find it all that good a program (though I'd like to see it on something not-youtube before dismissing it). But BoP's defense was lucid and passionate, so thank you for that. I suspect, though, that if I did enjoy this program as much as you, I might enjoy current figure skating a lot less, so I'm fine with that :D

**gmyers** · 07-03-2010, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by skatesindreams

It was said that Scott Hamilton had an ear infection, which affected his jumps.
Considering how poorly he skated in the LP, I believe it.

That performance was horrendously awful I couldn't believe that a culture so free skate oriented like Americans were at the time could be so celebratory of a skater who performed and won gold with that level of skate! He will always be Americas Beatrix Schuba.

**Mathman** · 07-03-2010, 09:48 PM

^ Not that there is anything wring with that! Beatrix Schuba was the greatest figure skater of all time.

Scott Hamilton excelled in school figures at a time when that was what the sport was about. It was only after he turned pro that he became the consumate entertainer/impressario on ice.

**Blades of Passion** · 07-04-2010, 12:11 AM

Except Scott Hamilton didn't deserve Gold even with figures taken into consideration. If his SP had been placed 3rd and his LP 4th, as I think he deserved, Orser would have won.

**gmyers** · 07-04-2010, 03:31 AM

Originally Posted by Mathman

^ Not that there is anything wring with that! Beatrix Schuba was the greatest figure skater of all time.

Scott Hamilton excelled in school figures at a time when that was what the sport was about. It was only after he turned pro that he became the consumate entertainer/impressario on ice.

Schuba was the best and figures and won very legitimately. It was just that the whole Janet Lynn success in free skates would cause the SP.

**lilshorty** · 07-05-2010, 05:29 PM

Two words: Matt Savoie.

**Layfan** · 07-05-2010, 05:43 PM

**dorispulaski** · 07-05-2010, 08:36 PM

Actually, although the judges were not as good to Matt as they might have been, Matt was always salivated over by many skate fans. However, that was because there was a lot to like there.

**Olympia** · 07-05-2010, 08:45 PM

A skater I always liked was Aren Nielsen. He had a loose and easy style that made him tremendously enjoyable to watch, with the right music. He won a National bronze once. It may have been the year he skated to the sound track from Rocketeer. I don't know whether he was literally underappreciated by the judges--he probably earned just the right scores for his quality of performance--but it's nice to think of him in a thread like this.

**gmyers** · 07-05-2010, 10:17 PM

I can't believe NBC's Olympic Figure skating DVD's show all the ladies-Cohen, Meissner and Hughes but the for the men they just do Weir and Lysacek and just ignore Savoie completley! Savoie was the best there.

**Blades of Passion** · 07-05-2010, 11:00 PM

Are you serious? That's absolutely shameful. Savoie skated well at the Olympics.

Originally Posted by Olympia

A skater I always liked was Aren Nielsen. He had a loose and easy style that made him tremendously enjoyable to watch, with the right music. He won a National bronze once. It may have been the year he skated to the sound track from Rocketeer. I don't know whether he was literally underappreciated by the judges--he probably earned just the right scores for his quality of performance--but it's nice to think of him in a thread like this.

I had never seen anything from him before so I went and searched around - yes he was a very good skater! 3rd at Nationals two years in a row, including 1994. Sadly he didn't get to go to the Olympics. I wonder why the U.S. only had 2 spots...the placements of the top 2 American Men were 4th and 6th at 1993 Worlds. That is definitely sufficient for earning 3 spots. I guess the rules for qualification were different back then, though. That's too bad.