Least Talented/Worthy Olympic Champion(s) ever? | Page 8 | Golden Skate

Least Talented/Worthy Olympic Champion(s) ever?

deneuved

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 1, 2013
OK, my first post here on this fantastic forum! :) For me, the least worthy Olympic Champion is Tara Lipinski - she was undoubtedly quite talented when it came to her jumps, BUT she was devoid of all musicality, which is the essential point for me. With her, I always had the feeling that the music she was skating too, could be anything random. She didn't ever try to *feel* the music. She was on the verge of being "unwatchable" to me.....
 

deneuved

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 1, 2013
Thanks, I will try, even if I'm probably less of an expert than lots of you are! :) But I love this forum since I discovered it some weeks ago.
 

TryMeLater

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
I think Oksana is among the most talented all-around skaters ever to compete in the sport, and she won a world title, so I don't think she should be considered either the least talented or the least worthy champion. Any champion pre-1994 also would not have won in 1998 so I'm not sure what that has to do with it.

Midori ito and Kristi Yamaguchi could have won 1998 if they stayed.
And no, Ito return in 1996 with anemia doesn't count.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Midori ito and Kristi Yamaguchi could have won 1998 if they stayed.
And no, Ito return in 1996 with anemia doesn't count.

Ito would have been 28 and Yamaguchi 26. They would have to go clean (unlike 1992) to beat a clean Tara or Michelle.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Welcome, deneuved! Many of us here are not experts. I'm certainly not! I just love skating, and if you do also, this is the place for you.
 

TryMeLater

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Ito would have been 28 and Yamaguchi 26. They would have to go clean (unlike 1992) to beat a clean Tara or Michelle.

Yamaguchi continued to compete in professional shows during that time (and win). Her artistic impression has grown so much during that time.
She even beat Kwan at the 1995 (or was it 1996?) ultimate four SP.
Yamaguchi chances were higher than Ito's, but one has to wonder how Ito's comeback would have been had she not suffered from Anemia.
BTW-Either of them could have easily won 1994.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Also, I think Sale and Pelletier became pawns by people who had agendas. Journalists like Christine Brennan and Phil Hersch saw it as a way to make money and write about figure skating. Commentators saw it as a way to stay on the air. The ISU may have seen the S/P situation as a way to push for the new system they were developing.

Skate Canada saw it as a way to get their proposed new judging system incorporated. *dons tinfoil hat proudly*
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Yamaguchi continued to compete in professional shows during that time (and win). Her artistic impression has grown so much during that time.
She even beat Kwan at the 1995 (or was it 1996?) ultimate four SP.

Yes, but could she have skated a clean LP with 7 triple jumps and maintained the artistic improvements at the same time?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Also, I think Sale and Pelletier became pawns by people who had agendas.

Jamie and David tried to skate their best, as did Elena and Anton. As expected the judges split along familiar Cold War lines, with Russia, Poland, China and Ukraine preferring the Russian team and USA, Canada, Germany and Japan going for the North Americans. The French judge broke the tie, then tearfully confessed that she was pressured into voting that way by her Federation chief and her personal friends in the Russian contingent. She later recanted.

None of this is the skaters' fault.

Blue Dog said:
Journalists like Christine Brennan and Phil Hersch saw it as a way to make money and write about figure skating.

But what really got Christine Brennan up in arms was the fact that Irina Slutskaya came within a whisker of winning ahead of Sarah Hughes. Brennan went on and on about how this would have been the most scandalous outcome in the history of skating. ;)
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Skate Canada saw it as a way to get their proposed new judging system incorporated. *dons tinfoil hat proudly*

though they did play a role to foil the old system as corrupt and make a new scoring
doesn't negate as to what S/P, one of the worst pairs to ever exist with especially that Sale with her crocodile tears, what a nasty woman
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
Sale and Pelletier are not deplorable, nasty and vile. Attila the Hun, maybe so, but not S&P. They are just figure skaters. ;)

I can see why people don't like S&P and even why they think they were crybabies in 2002. But they did skate well and had a good competitive record to prove they were not a fluke. I do not put them in the category of "unworthy" or "untalented" winners.
 

jenaj

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Country
United-States
Tech-wise, Arakawa's 2006 win. Didn't she only only have five triples? Lovely in every other way, but this was not a great ladies' event.[/QUOTE]

so true...she had 3x3x3 and did not need to really compete given sasha's mistakes. A shame because her practices showed her athletic prowess. She did not have to go for it-she chose clean ho-hum for an unmemorable win. She is a beautiful skater, really lovely, but her gold will never be replayed or talked of. She should have done more-kinda cowardly win. Still, she did have an arsenal she did not use. too bad for posterity!

I think Shizuka was skating for a medal, not the big win. That is why she didn't pull out all the stops in her program. As it turned out, the other top skaters make mistakes, giving Shiz the gold. Her Olympic program was not her best, but she is still a worthy and talented OGM winner.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
But what really got Christine Brennan up in arms was the fact that Irina Slutskaya came within a whisker of winning ahead of Sarah Hughes. Brennan went on and on about how this would have been the most scandalous outcome in the history of skating. ;)

Scandalous only in the U.S really. Actually come to think of it not even there, Hughes is no Michelle Kwan, she is not beloved or someone people even care about really. The Eurosport commentators were even suggesting Irina might win the gold by winning the LP after she finished, despite her mistakes and subpar performance. They referenced the many weak areas of Hughes technique and skating, even after the skate of her life. Furthermore there are a ton of people who believe Hughes should have been way below 4th in the short program, and most believe Irina should have won the short over Michelle as well, so even for those who felt strongly about Hughes losing the LP to Irina being a wrong result, would not have jumped much knowing that given the short programs the result probably shouldnt have been Hughes winning the overall title over either Irina or michelle to begin with.

Brennan would have been a 1 women army with everyone either ignoring or laughing at her like she is 99% of the time. The Sale & Pelletier case was one of the rare cases anyone else joined her World. Mind you when it came to the Sale & Pelletier thing she had a HUGE agenda. At the time Lori Nichol was basically her best friend, and Lori Nichol choreographs for and is very close to Sale & Pelletier. Anyone who has ever followed Brennan knows that her knowledge on figure skating is close to nil and everything she does is agenda driven. It is just a shame that in this case the media decided to sensationalize a story around a pair who in fact had been grossly overscored and given several gift wins themselves in the last 2 years (S&P) and happen to fall in line with Brennan's own agenda and made her worthwhile for once.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Ito would have been 28 and Yamaguchi 26. They would have to go clean (unlike 1992) to beat a clean Tara or Michelle.

Tara and Midori of 92 transported to 98 and skating cleanly could beat Michelle and Tara. Although Kristi almost never skated cleanly anyway due to the triple salchow.

However Kristi and Midori werent actually going to comeback at 26 and 28 years old and beat Michelle and Tara. That is too old to have been out of amateur competition that long and realistically be in gold contention against skaters like that. They would be fighting for the bronze at best at that point.

As for the people who mention Kristi beat Michelle in the short at the fall 96 Four Continents, well yes she did, but that is a a far cry from doing the 6 or 7 triple LPs with a triple lutz-triple toe and a 2nd triple lutz at the end she used to do. I highly doubt she could do that anymore. As it turned out she couldnt even complete her planned 4 triple LP (she doubled 2 of them and fell on a double axel) to beat Michelle in this silly cheesefest, losing her SP lead. In Pro events by then she was struggling to continue doing 4 or 5 clean triple programs which she had done in her early pro years, and was starting to lose many pro events to Yuka Sato as a result.
 

ManyCairns

Medalist
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Country
United-States
I get a warm glow looking back at the 1998 Nagano ladies free skate event and knowing now that the 16-year-old Japanese representative at that Olympics would fail to make the team 4 years later, but come back EIGHT years later to win gold.

Since it's sad that Michelle, even with her long career, would no longer be at her best by 2006, it's incredible to me to realize that Arakawa was at Nagano and Torino.

And I am unapologetically off topic here.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Brennan would have been a 1 women army with everyone either ignoring or laughing at her like she is 99% of the time. The Sale & Pelletier case was one of the rare cases anyone else joined her World. Mind you when it came to the Sale & Pelletier thing she had a HUGE agenda. At the time Lori Nichol was basically her best friend, and Lori Nichol choreographs for and is very close to Sale & Pelletier. Anyone who has ever followed Brennan knows that her knowledge on figure skating is close to nil and everything she does is agenda driven. It is just a shame that in this case the media decided to sensationalize a story around a pair who in fact had been grossly overscored and given several gift wins themselves in the last 2 years (S&P) and happen to fall in line with Brennan's own agenda and made her worthwhile for once.

you hit the nail clearly, S&P were overmarked throughout their career
the deplorable pair even stole B&S a GPF gold, of course any results not won by S&P was a scandal, yeah right :sarcasm:
Brennan sensationalised as her hidden agenda bragging about the shift of Pairs to NA and end of soviet old dominance,
btw this woman is a moron I agree, didn't you read her 2013 Worlds articles
 
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