and you are now on my ignore list. Good riddance.Originally Posted by Blades of Passion
and you are now on my ignore list. Good riddance.
While all this is valid and true, I much prefer the skating of someone like Tenley Albright even from that era than Heiss. She won less medals and titles than Heiss (although both dominated their respective eras for the most part, with their careers crossing briefly, and the older Tenley usually winning as expected) but her skating was far more pleasing to watch of the two.
But Michelle did win 5 golds and 3 silvers and 1 bronze at Worlds; Heiss 5 golds and one silver.
Last edited by Icey; 12-16-2012 at 09:13 PM.
Peggy Fleming got a big boost in popularity (over Carol Heiss, for instance) because she was the first U.S. skater of the television age.
Michelle is in the same position. She is the first popular U.S. lady of the YouTube era. All of her greatest hits are available at the click of a mouse, and they all have hundreds of thousands of views.
Heiss has Olympic Gold and silver though so her World/Olympic record is easily better than Michelle. Plus she won 5 Worlds in a row, Michelle only won 2 Worlds in a row ONCE. However I easily consider Michelle a better skater than Heiss still, which just shows my point, it isnt all about medals sometimes. However Kim with a 2nd Olympic and 2nd World would really have it all- an impeccable historic resume, one of the highest technical standards of skating of all time (probably only Midori Ito was higher), a very high artistic level of skating, longevity, consistency, and impact on the sport.
Youtube started in 2005 and was popular by mid-2006, after Kwan's success. While it's true all her greatest hits are available, Youtube means that everyone in the television age has their skates on that domain.
It's hard to compare skaters from different eras technically. But I do agree with the the point about Witt not being technically the best of her own era. It was indeed her determination and coolness under pressure that made her the best, not the advanced quality of her jumps. Everyone crumbled before her laserlike determination. As a result, she looks great on paper, with an amazing record--the only postwar singles lady to win two Olympic gold medals so far. But she's not someone I enjoy going back to see on YouTube.
Someone like YuNa really is technically ahead of her time, as was Midori Ito. There's a wonderful video of Ito and Kurt Browning doing simultaneous jumps, and Ito jumps just about as high as Browning. It's breathtaking. I'm not sure anyone's caught up with her yet, even twenty years later. Maybe YuNa, but that's about it.
This doesn't mean that everyone's going to find Ito more enjoyable to watch than her contemporary, Kristi Yamaguchi, or even more moving to watch than Janet Lynn, who was several skating generations earlier. Some skaters just have a bewitching quality, which they retain because of their silky technique and musicality, and Lynn is one of them. I've noticed that many people (not just me!) still go back and watch her with interest and even awe, despite the fact that forty years have passed. I suspect from viewing YouTube photos that had Laurence Owen survived to dominate her Olympic cycle, she too would have had that quality. Toller Cranston once listed Janet Lynn and Laurence Owen as his two favorite lady skaters.
Of course I count Michelle in that group of forever-interesting skaters. Various of you may or may not agree with me. I suspect that in future generations, we will feel that way about YuNa. (And, I'm hoping, about Mao as well.)
Last edited by Olympia; 12-16-2012 at 11:36 PM.
Tremendous post, excellent assessment all around!
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