Who is the greatest ladies singles skater of all time (revised poll) | Golden Skate

Who is the greatest ladies singles skater of all time (revised poll)

Greatest ladies singles skater of all time

  • Sonja Henjie

    Votes: 1 2.3%
  • Katarina Witt

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Michelle Kwan

    Votes: 7 16.3%
  • Janet Lynn

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Yu Na Kim

    Votes: 22 51.2%
  • Mao Asada

    Votes: 5 11.6%
  • Irina Slutskaya

    Votes: 1 2.3%
  • Midori Ito

    Votes: 6 14.0%
  • Kristi Yamaguchi

    Votes: 1 2.3%
  • other (Dorothy, Carol Heiss, Peggy Fleming, etc...)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    43

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Since a poll including Oksana Baiul (LOL) and excluding someone like Midori Ito for example is ridiculous I decided to remake the poll about the greatest ladies single skater of all time.
 

Mao88

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Only a Midori Ito fan could have set this poll up. Are they serious!!
 

Mao88

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
So did I. Both on the other thread and on this one!! ha ha ha ha LOextremelyL Why I should BOTHER voting again is beyond me - just because Midori's not there. To be quite frank, the other person should have limited the poll to the 5 usual suspects - Yu Na, kwan, witt, asada, and henie - because in all of these polls I have ever come across it seems to come down to one of those 5 and I doubt anybody would argue beyond that group. Why should anybody care who makes up the rest of the placings? But Midori Ito, the jumping bean extraordinaire!. Miss couldn't be bothered with the choreography or interpretation, lets just pack in the jumps! No way. She wouldn't even make my top 20, never mind my top 5 or 10.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Yeah the crowds in Calgary, Cincinnati, Paris, Halifax, Landover, and many other places who Ito brought to their feet must have thought she was only jumps. And who cares even if you think she was, jumping is arguably the most important part of the sport as far as competitive success goes, it is the one thing you cant get by without some very high standard in after all, and she is the best ever at it. In polls on other forums she usually ends up 2nd or 3rd in votes so excluding her is silly.
 

prettykeys

Medalist
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Whoa, what's this animosity towards Midori Ito? She had some decent choreography and some very interesting/difficult transitions, alongside her amazing jumps. I'd say she belongs on a top-10 list.
 

oksanafan

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Yeah the crowds in Calgary, Cincinnati, Paris, Halifax, Landover, and many other places who Ito brought to their feet must have thought she was only jumps. And who cares even if you think she was, jumping is arguably the most important part of the sport as far as competitive success goes, it is the one thing you cant get by without some very high standard in after all, and she is the best ever at it. In polls on other forums she usually ends up 2nd or 3rd in votes so excluding her is silly.

Pangtongfan, I dug my my old VHS videos out of the 1989-92 Worlds and 92 Olympics. I must say that I have not seen them in a very long time. I have to admit that Midori was absolutely amazing, especially at 89 and 90 Worlds. Hence, to leave her out of my list was a very bad omission for which I apologise. Once you take out compulsory School Figures from the 89 and 90 world championships, she was completely unbeatable. Indeed, I noticed from the 89 LP that she included a complete set of all 6 triples! I think (and correct me if I am wrong) that that is unique in Worlds. I don't believe anybody has done that either before or since, plus she also pulled out a triple toe triple toe combination! All in all, 7 triples including a triple triple combination. For 1989, that was truly incredible and no wonder the crowd were so rapturous. It was a truly ground breaking performance. Moreover, she almost pulled off the same feat of performing all 6 triples in the LP the following year but, unfortunately, doubled out on the Salchow. Couldn't help noticing also that her artistry had improved considerably between 89 and 90 (looking at my videos today, she was also a really good artistic skater as well - typically getting marks in the region of 5.8, 5.9).

I seem to also recall that there was an NHK Trophy event from around 87 (where they did not have a school figures section) in which there was a great deal of controversy where she should have beaten Katarina Witt (and only didn't due to politics)

Was also very impressed by Jill Trenary. Clearly, she was second best to Midori in 89 and 90 when you remove the school figures. However, she was a very graceful and elegant skater. One of the items I watched was a documentary in which she pointed out that she was very much a skater from the old era in which school figures played a part and artistry was much more to the fore. In that respect, Jill was a very good skater and did deserve to finish with at least 1 world title to her name. Nevertheless, she retired at just the right time. Without school figures, she was unlikely to ever become world champion again. Not just because of Midori, but also because Kristi, Tonya, and Nancy were all on the rise. Essentially, by 89, ladies skating was going through a transformation in which technical content and jumping ability were moving ahead (with school figures being removed altogether in 1990). Hence, the period 89-92 was a watershed/transitional moment for ladies skating in which Midori (who was very much ahead of her time) led the way in enhancing the technical level of the sport. Before 89, you hardly ever saw a triple lutz in a ladies program. After Midori, it became commonplace. Nevertheless, triple Axel's remain rare with only a few ladies since Midori performing them.(e.g. Harding, Asada)

89 and 90 were Midori's peak years. After that, she seems to have been blighted by injuries and a dip in form. She did however rally to win silver at the 92 Olympics. However, what I would say is that Yamaguchi had very much closed the gap by 91/92 - although Yamaguchi did seem to struggle with the triple Salchow and obviously did not have the triple axel. However, she very much made up for that with her artistry and beautiful skating. Indeed, the rivalry between Midori and Kristi reminds me of that between Kim and Mao, with Kristi playing the Kim role and Midori playing the Mao role. Who was the best? I would say Kristi and Midori were on a par with each other. Midori was by far the better technical skater, but Kristi was the much more elegant and graceful. However, if Midori had skated at the 92 Olympics at the level she did at 89 Worlds, then yes she would have won the Olympic title. The unfortunately thing for Midori is that she was unable to sustain her 89/90 form right up to 92. Had she done so, then she would be challenging Michelle and Kim in terms of greatest ever ladies skater.

I'm not sure why I had forgotten so much about Midori - she seems to have become almost a forgotten skater. Probably, its a combination of the long passage of time and the fact that she did not go on to become Olympic champion (thereby being eclipsed by Kristi).
 
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miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
I'm not sure why I had forgotten so much about Midori - she seems to have become almost a forgotten skater. Probably, its a combination of the long passage of time and the fact that she did not go on to become Olympic champion (thereby being eclipsed by Kristi).

Midori a forgotten skater? Well judging from skating forums, it sure doesn't seem so! I think she may not be as popular in North America but she's like a legend in Asian skating circles, esp Japan. A lot of Kristi's fame came from her show skating. Her amateur career was impressive but it was really in show skating that she made her mark. She isn't as well known outside of North America though. So I think they're pretty much even.
 

oksanafan

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Midori a forgotten skater? Well judging from skating forums, it sure doesn't seem so! I think she may not be as popular in North America but she's like a legend in Asian skating circles, esp Japan. A lot of Kristi's fame came from her show skating. Her amateur career was impressive but it was really in show skating that she made her mark. She isn't as well known outside of North America though. So I think they're pretty much even.

I imagine she remains a superstar in Asia. But everybody has different backgrounds. I'm from Europe and am nothing more than a fan. I was a very young Kid when Midori was skating. I caught the tail end of Katarina Witts career and that really got me interested in figure skating. I then lost interest for a few years. It was Oksana Bauil's 93 World's performance that got me back interested again. Hence, Midori's performances as they occurred live are a bit of a blur. However, fortunately I have old videos that have been passed down to me. For me, Midori is like Janet Lynn. I never saw her live as it happened as it were (although I have a vague recollection of seeing something of Midori winning in 89 but it not really registering - my attention must have been on something else at the time!). Hence, as with any history lesson, gradually over time you fill in the blanks and you begin to see the true wider picture. As for the forums, its only in the last month that I've started looking at them as you will note from my join date

Thanks again to Pangtongfan for giving me a more indepth appreciation of Midori!
 
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pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Glad to see you appreciate what an amazing skater Ito was. Slutskaya I agree was an overrated skater pumped up for years by a political federation, but Ito was amazing in her peak years. Not the most artistic skater ever of course but still incredible.
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Impossible for me to vote. In my heart it's always Michelle Kwan but in my mind I know there are ironclad arguments to be made for several other skaters above her ... Sonia and Katarina. Midori would DEFINITELY make my list of greats. Personally, I think her 89 worlds FS was athletically stunning but also artistic. She was musical, she could spin, she had speed, the choreo was terrific.
All of the ladies on this list are on my personal list of greats, without ranking them or thinking whether they should be top 10 or 20 or top 5. I'd also add Chen Lu to the greats and perhaps Denise Bielman. Also, what about Maribel Owen or Tenley Albright???

I'd certainly include Oksana, Sarah, Tara, Sasha and Shizuka as among the memorable skaters of my time but not on the list of all time greats. Probably Shiz is the most underrated of all them (at least in the West) and the most talented. Oksana might have been a great if she had not retired from competitive skating so early and pushed her technical scope over the years.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Sarah Hughes was a one event fluke who happened to have the skate of her life (still complete with flutzes, underrotated jumps, mule kicks, and bad posture) in an event where the better skaters all had their worst outings. She wouldnt even make the top 50 skaters of all time I am pretty sure (I could easily name 50 better than her), never mind the top 10.
 
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