Skaters who'll be remembered with time as among the greats | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Skaters who'll be remembered with time as among the greats

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
^^ A great post on Ali, Robeye. :yes: BTW, congrats on your hometown team's clinching win at Fenway Park. :biggrin:
Thanks :yay:. Yes, the duck boats will be strutting the parade route yet again this week. It's almost becoming routine, now. (NOT!!! hahaha)

I pity the other major sports towns that aren't named Boston. How do they live with themselves?


(Yes, I know I am being obnoxiously and annoyingly triumphalist, but that's what sports is all about :biggrin:. And after almost a century of living under the Curse, God knows we have reasons for self-indulgence)
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Great sports figures are remembered by whom they competed against, as well as for what they did, and could do themselves. One of the reason that Navka & Kostomarov are not immediately though of when we remember skaters & teams as greats (so far) is because the level of competition during their dominant years was not all that high.

Well they were only top contenders for a few years and during that period of "dominance" many felt they should have been beaten by other teams - Denkova/Staviski and Delobel/Schoenfelder.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I do. Actually, I don't even know who are they latter two :S

To me, it's what athletes accomplish after their sports career is over that keeps them in the public eye and makes them memorable. George Foreman makes the worlds greatest grill.

http://thomascartron.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/george_foreman_grill-300x300.jpg

George Foreman has five sons, all of them named George. He did this because when he was growing up he scarcely knew his father. He wanted to make sure that all of his sons knew who their father was.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
To me, it's what athletes accomplish after their sports career is over that keeps them in the public eye and makes them memorable. George Foreman makes the worlds greatest grill.

http://thomascartron.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/george_foreman_grill-300x300.jpg

George Foreman has five sons, all of them named George. He did this because when he was growing up he scarcely knew his father. He wanted to make sure that all of his sons knew who their father was.

I don't know if it's the worlds greatest, but definitely ubiquitous! So many people in my college dorm had one!
 

FlattFan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Of the ladies currently competing
Both Asada and Kim are all time great. If Kostner can finally deliver clean programs at the Olympics, I would put her up there with Asada and Kim, too.
Dai made the all time great even a few years ago. If Chan can skate cleanly, I think he should be all time great as well. I love his skating skills and his speed and flow across the ice.

D/W, V/M are all time great.

No current pairs are all time great. S/S are so sloppy for me. V/T are just good. No 3x3, no hard triples, no hard throws. Basically everything was good and they add up. Trankov is also a weak male pair skater compare to the males of all time great.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Thanks :yay:. Yes, the duck boats will be strutting the parade route yet again this week. It's almost becoming routine, now. (NOT!!! hahaha)

I pity the other major sports towns that aren't named Boston. How do they live with themselves?


(Yes, I know I am being obnoxiously and annoyingly triumphalist, but that's what sports is all about :biggrin:. And after almost a century of living under the Curse, God knows we have reasons for self-indulgence)

My dear, you're entitled! Give yourself a few days of absolutely smug preening and strutting. For the World Series, that's an entirely suitable reaction.

In terms of your earlier post, your list of criteria for greatness is a good one. On those terms, both YuNa and Mao belong on the roster. I'd love to add Davis/White for many of the reasons you cite, and because they've spearheaded, along with Virtue/Moir (and Belbin/Agosto a bit earlier) a flowering of North American ice dancing. The consistency and longevity of both these couples is especially admirable.

I don't know a lot about boxing, but the little I know makes me agree with your evaluation. Years after their careers ended, Foreman spoke with great respect about Ali's sheer doggedness.
 

SimplyLex

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 22, 2013
Well they were only top contenders for a few years and during that period of "dominance" many felt they should have been beaten by other teams - Denkova/Staviski and Delobel/Schoenfelder.

Yes, I said it elsewhere, but both these teams were far more talented than N/K.

I think naming V/M without D/W is riddiculous. Both teams have two World golds each. V/M do have three World silvers as opposed to D/W's two and a bronze, but that bronze is very questionable and only won by 0.04 i.e. nothing. D/W defeated V/M numerous times during the past couple of years and V/M have never managed to beat them at the GPF. So yeah, even if V/M do win in Sochi, D/W will still be remembered as the only ones actually capable of defeating those 2-time Olympic champions. And two Olympic silvers would still be quite an achievement.

I think it is the rivalry between the teams that will go down in history. I strongly believe these teams are that great because they have each other. They have dominated the world of ice dance for 5 straight years. That alone makes both of them worthy of a place among all time greats and the thing they have been winning golds back-to-back makes it special and fascinating.

Mao and Yuna definitely belong there too. Agreed also about Daisuke. Plush is there already.

I am totally voting for S/S too. They have changed the sport, made it more interesting to watch, made programs more complex than simple crossovers from one element to another.
V/T haven't been together long enough to get there IMO. Their mediocre programs and relatively safe jump selections don't help either.

Chan is definitely NOT going to be there. Too many people are too annoyed with him winning despite messing up and falling to make him an all time great. He's just too controversial, regardless of his skating quality and number of titles.
 

Matt K

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 3, 2013
I don't buy into the notion/thought of some here, who are saying that one cannot be considered great without the other. Piggybacking off another rival's legacy should not be considered something of a great feat.
As for controversy, if Davis/White become Olympic champions that will most likely be the most controversial decision in ice dancing history. (Current and past skaters/coaches and skating royalty would most likely agree, NBC/and the American media and fans will disagree of course). Besides, even if they win the Olympics, several ice dancers before them have done so too. Yet not all of them are remembered as among the greats.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
^ ? Davis and White are the current favorites. It would hardly be controversial (though it might be boring) if they maintained their current lead throughout the season all the way to Sochi.
 

Matt K

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 3, 2013
^ ? Davis and White are the current favorites. It would hardly be controversial (though it might be boring) if they maintained their current lead throughout the season all the way to Sochi.

That is what is controversial. ;)

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if D/W win, but I think there will be a LOT of backlash over their win by the ice dancing community worldwide (with the exception of their fans (aka Goldenskate), NBC, and the American media).
 

chloepoco

Medalist
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
That is what is controversial. ;)

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if D/W win, but I think there will be a LOT of backlash over their win by the ice dancing community (with the exception of their fans (aka Goldenskate), NBC, and the American media).

:confused:
 

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Yu Na Kim
Mao Asada
Possibly Carolina if she performs well at this year's Olympics and Worlds

Patrick Chan, especially if he gets gold in the Olympics
Takahashi (2nd tier all-time greats unless he medals at Olympics or Worlds)

Davis and White AND Virtue and Moir

Hopefully we'll see Jason Brown, Josh Farris, Hanyu, and Lipnitskia blossom into being worthy of all-time great status in the years to come! I don't think Ashley Wagner is gifted enough.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
That is what is controversial. ;)

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if D/W win, but I think there will be a LOT of backlash over their win by the ice dancing community worldwide (with the exception of their fans (aka Goldenskate), NBC, and the American media).

Well, since I'm too clueless to be a "real" ice dance fan, I'll just have to settle for being someone who has loved ice dancing for more than thirty years, and stay with Davis/White.

I never understand a statement like this. Is there such an excess of fans for figure skating that all but the finest, most perceptive ones must be weeded out? And in any case, what influence do we even have with who wins the Olympics? Or did I miss the message about where to send my write-in instructions to the Sochi judges?

As for "the American media," I hate to disappoint you, but they have nothing to do with ice dancing or even ice skating as a whole. They don't report on skating, don't care about it, and probably don't know who the skaters are.
 
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