Skaters who do not miss competitions | Golden Skate

Skaters who do not miss competitions

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
Some skaters are relentless and attend so many competitions when they dont have too. Why is that? endorsments, money or love for the sport
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Michelle Kwan never missed a chance to skate in ten years. I think her motivation was love of the sport, money, and endorsements. ;)
 

minze

Medalist
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
attend as in participants, or to watch?

To compete. For example, Mao asada after the 2010 olympics and Worlds championship, could have taken a break from skating. But she did not, even when her jumps where not there in the 2011 season, she chose to compete. My question is it pressure from their federation? sponsors? or love for competing
 
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Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Michelle Kwan never missed a chance to skate in ten years. I think her motivation was love of the sport, money, and endorsements. ;)

um... GPs? she skipped out on the circuit towards the end didn't she? Other than Skate America, of course. ;)


As for the reasons I think it's all of the above. Especially with how things work now with the world standings and all that. Gotta keep getting brownie points to keep the ISU happy.
 

prettykeys

Medalist
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
I am pretty sure Michelle's love for the sport and performing for fans who loved her pre-dated her pocketbook concerns...and by the time she was 18 I heard she had gathered enough to retire. So her continued skating for 7 more years likely had reasons that trumped money (although money never hurts, of course!) :p
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Didn't she skate in SA at least once because she was guaranteed $$ just to show up though? that's all I was getting at. ;)
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
At Skate America 2002 the Big Star, Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, withdrew shortly before the event. So did the other Big Stars, Olympic champions Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze and Sale and Pelletier. (Men's Big Star, Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin showed up and won the short program, then withdrew with injury.)

So USFS, instead of having a star-studded show, suddenly was faced with a dud. What were they going to do with all the Sarah Hughes banners flying about town?

So they appealed to Michelle to swoop in and save the day. Which she did, due to her love of skating. At the time Michelle said she felt like Michael Corleone in the Godfather: "Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in." As I recall the usually reticent Shep Goldberg let slip something about "an offer we couldn't refuse" -- I don't think he was talking about a horse's head in his bed. :laugh:

(In the event, teen sensations Jenny Kirk and Ann Patrice McDonough stole the show and became media darlings for a week. I don't know what their cut was. :) )

Michelle won Skate America and got 15 Grand Prix points. This turned out to be enough to qualify for the Grand Prix Final, even though it was only one event. The ISU rules say you have to compete in the final if you qualify, unless you fake an injury. But Michelle had fine print in her contract -- good old Shep -- that said she didn't have to. The next year the ISU changed its rules to say you have to skate in two events to make the finals.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I don't think it was that simple, Toni. At that point, she was quite a money-earner for the USFSA. I think she felt an obligation to skating to contribute her services. Some people feel good when they're depended on, and they come through for that reason. Christine Brennan said in one of her "Edge" books (Inside Edge or Edge of Glory) that in the early years of Michelle's career, she and the Kwans could always be counted on to show up to functions and suchlike when asked. So while I'm sure the money was great to receive, she knew that her presence would boost ticket sales, and that might have been a factor in her acceptance of the invitation.


Edit: Mathman got in ahead of me and confirmed what I thought I remembered, but in far better detail.


By the way: remember Worlds 2001 where her boot broke, and her father repaired it? It was a bit higher than the other boot, and she skated anyway, and won.
 
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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Olympia said:
At that point, she was quite a money-earner for the USFSA. I think she felt an obligation to skating to contribute her services.

I think this was especially true of the cheesefests. It was literally, no Michelle, no show. Part of the three-way agreement among USFS, ABC TV, and Michelle, according to Phil Hersh.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
If you say so. ;)

Didn't Yags pull out of the LP in Skate Canada, though, not Skate America?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
The next week at Skate Canada he did not compete, but skated a "farewell exhibition" in the gala.
 

aftertherain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
By the way: remember Worlds 2001 where her boot broke, and her father repaired it? It was a bit higher than the other boot, and she skated anyway, and won.

The "correction" made about a 1/8 inch difference which can affect a skater's jumps (AJ and Jenny Kirk recently did an interview with Tim Goebel and be confirmed that even the smallest changes in a skater's boot can lead to disastrous results and injuries). Do you think her experience with the Riedell boots helped her here with the heel difference or do you think it was her experience in skating for so long?
 
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