World/Olympic medalists that never won a national title

Vash01 · Oct 23, 2011

There are some skaters that were good enough to medal at worlds or Olympics but they never won the title in their own nationals, in their entire career.

Yagudin- never won the Russian nationals.

Never won the US title:

Paul Wylie (Oly silver)
Caryn Kadavy (world bronze)
Sarah Hughes (OGM, world bronze)
Holly Cook (world bronze, 1990)

Tonya Harding 'won' in 1994 but it was stripped from her due to her involvement in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan, so I am going to count her as 'did not win'.

Did Tim Goebel ever win the US national title?

Did the Zhangs ever win the Chinese national title?- may be after S&Z briefly retired?

jcoates · Oct 23, 2011

Harding won Nationals twice and was stripped of one of those titles. She won first in 1991, when she became the first US woman to land a 3A.

Goebel won nationals once in 2001.

Most famous non-nationals winner of all time is Yagudin. Always lost to Urmanov, Kulik, Plushenko or injury at home.

Others:
Shibutanis
Gachinski
David Santee
Barbara Roles
Julie Lynn Holmes
Ronnie Robertson
James Grogan

Vash01 · Oct 23, 2011

jcoates said:
Harding won Nationals twice and was stripped of one of those titles. She won first in 1991, when she became the first US woman to land a 3A.

Goebel won nationals once in 2001.

Most famous non-nationals winner of all time is Yagudin. Always lost to Urmanov, Kulik, Plushenko or injury at home.

Others:
Shibutanis
Gachinski
David Santee
Barbara Roles
Julie Lynn Holmes
Ronnie Robertson
James Grogan

I forgot about Tonya's 1991 national title. Thanks for reminding.

I am not counting current skaters like the Shibutanis and Gachinski, because they are still competing and are still young enough to win a national title.

Out of others, I have only heard of David Santee. Will have to look up info on others.

jcoates · Oct 23, 2011

Please strike Barbara Roles from the list. Forgot that she came back at the request of USFSA in 1962 after the 61 tragedy to help jumpstart the sport. She won nationals that year. During her main career, she was always #2 behind Carol Heiss at home, won World and Olympic bronze in 60.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSigV09v1sU (check out the summary below the clip.)

Julie Lynn Holmes was Lynn's main rival at home. Janet always won there. But for most of the 72 Olympic cycle, Holmes won internationally. 4th in 1969 Worlds, 3rd in 70 and 2nd in 71. 4th at the Olympics. Second best at figures behind Schuba at the time. Coached bu Fassi and often compared to Fleming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNP6VaJZzE0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Lynn_Holmes

Ronnie Robertson was the most famous and acclaimed male spinner in the history of skating for decades until Scott Davis and later Lambiel came along. He was a rare talent in that category. Always finished behind Dick Button and Hayes Jenkins. (world silver in 55, Olympic and world silver in 56).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9x3SvU85U
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Robertson_(figure_skater)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZmXw49Kz-I&feature=related

James Grogan was a 4 times world silver medalist, 52 Olympic bronze medalist, multiple national medals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Grogan

US men were ridiculously deep in the 50.

mousepotato · Oct 23, 2011

The Zhangs have won three nationals in 2003, 2008 and 2011. Chinese nationals are not very important to skaters as they are in other countries.

Artur Dmitriev never won a Solviet or Russian nationals with either partner.

Vash01 · Oct 23, 2011

mousepotato said:
The Zhangs have won three nationals in 2003, 2008 and 2011. Chinese nationals are not very important to skaters as they are in other countries.

Artur Dmitriev never won a Solviet or Russian nationals with either partner.

I thought Artur (M&D) would have won in either 91 or 92. I know Bechke & Petrov won one of the two years.

So who won if not M&D?

K&D were together for a relatively short time, so that's not surprising. The 1998 Russian title went to Yeltsolva-Bushkov. I am guessing Shishkova-Naumov won in 97, and 96 was the first year K&D skated as a pair.

jcoates · Oct 23, 2011

Vash01 said:
I thought Artur (M&D) would have won in either 91 or 92. I know Bechke & Petrov won one of the two years.

So who won if not M&D?

K&D were together for a relatively short time, so that's not surprising. The 1998 Russian title went to Yeltsolva-Bushkov. I am guessing Shishkova-Naumov won in 97, and 96 was the first year K&D skated as a pair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Figure_Skating_Championships#Pairs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Figure_Skating_Championships#Pairs

Olympia · Oct 23, 2011

Almost impossible to believe that neither Yagudin nor Dmitriev won national titles in their respective disciplines! They're among the greatest ever. That's the fascinating thing about skating: there's always room for a surprise or two. It also shows that how good you are isn't the only thing that governs what you win. It's also how good, how almost-good, or how lucky or unlucky someone else is.

I was going to guess that Shizuka never won her country's national singles title, but she actually did win twice according to Wiki, in 1997 and 1998. So did Kulik, though he never won a World gold.

I remember Dick Button praising Ronnie Robertson as a spinner. I think Robertson won his Olympic silver behind one of the Jenkins brothers, with the other Jenkins brother winning bronze, making an American sweep in 1956. (And Tenley Albright won ladies' gold, with Carol Heiss winning silver. What a year!)

This stuff is such fun!

Serious Business · Oct 23, 2011

Yagudin never winning Russian nationals likely had a lot to do with politics.

evangeline · Oct 23, 2011

Serious Business said:
Yagudin never winning Russian nationals likely had a lot to do with politics.

Agreed. Wasn't Plushenko favoured by the Russian Skating Federation because he was regarded as the loyal skater who stayed in Russia with Mishin instead of running to the US?

ciocio · Oct 24, 2011

Yagudin´s performances at Russian Nationals weren´t outstanding.:disapp:

Jaana · Oct 24, 2011

ciocio said:
Yagudin´s performances at Russian Nationals weren´t outstanding.:disapp:

Yes, that is why he did not win the gold medal at the Nationals, not the politics :laugh:

. Kulik won the Nationals twice and he trained in USA and was coached by Tarasova. Just the way Yagudin was....

seniorita · Oct 24, 2011

Serious Business said:
Yagudin never winning Russian nationals likely had a lot to do with politics.

I wonder how much politics Plushenko had by the time he was 19 cause thats his age when they last competed at RN. So which Russian Nationals title Yagudin should have won instead of Plushenko or whoever according to his performance if it wasnt for the politics?

Bluebonnet · Oct 24, 2011

jcoates said:
Most famous non-nationals winner of all time is Yagudin. Always lost to Urmanov, Kulik, Plushenko or injury at home.

In the last a couple of years, at least, he has just bypassed Russian Nationals, neither lost to anyone nor injured. He stated clearly that he didn't want to go to Russian Nationals. I quess Russia had policy to allow one to compete internationally without going through National Championship.

jcoates · Oct 24, 2011

He only skipped Nationals during the 2002 Olympic season. He was 5th in 94 & 95, 4th in 96, 3rd in 97 and second from 98-2001.

blue dog · Oct 24, 2011

Bluebonnet said:
In the last a couple of years, at least, he has just bypassed Russian Nationals, neither lost to anyone nor injured. He stated clearly that he didn't want to go to Russian Nationals. I quess Russia had policy to allow one to compete internationally without going through National Championship.

Yes. For a while, Grishuk/Platov stopped attending RN, which provided a clear path for Krylova/Ovsiannikov to win it.

World/Olympic medalists that never won a national title

Vash01

jcoates

Vash01

jcoates

mousepotato

Vash01

jcoates

Olympia

Serious Business

evangeline

ciocio

Jaana

seniorita

Bluebonnet

jcoates

blue dog

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