Obscure figure skaters you remember even if no one else does | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Obscure figure skaters you remember even if no one else does

Brandenburg

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Shishkova and Naumov teach in Simbury and have for years. Their son, Maxim, competes in men's singles (USFSA) at I think the Juvenile level now - he's 12.
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
I remember in Vancouver, Rod Black said that S/M were Ksenia's parents and coaches.

I would say the same about Petrova/Tikonov. Shows you how good the Russian pairs were in the 90s, when two great teams like that are "Footnotes" anywhere else they'd be stars in their country.
 

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Shishkova and Naumov teach in Simbury and have for years. Their son, Maxim, competes in men's singles (USFSA) at I think the Juvenile level now - he's 12.

I didn't realize that Shishkova and Naumov were married with child/ren. How sweet. I always liked them.

It is hard to believe the depth of Russian pairs back then. Shish/Naum, Elts/Bush, Pet/Tikh to name a few of the somewhat forgotten pairs, and they all won World championship titles!
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
I didn't realize that Shishkova and Naumov were married with child/ren. How sweet. I always liked them.

It is hard to believe the depth of Russian pairs back then. Shish/Naum, Elts/Bush, Pet/Tikh to name a few of the somewhat forgotten pairs, and they all won World championship titles!

Shishkova/Naoumov married several years ago. I liked them too.

I know, it's crazy the depth Russia had in pairs. It's like the only one world title and no Olympic medals and that's a footnote!

Who remembers Karen Kwan? A lovely skater, just not a strong jumper.
 

ajjcanada

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Back to the 80's:

Josef sabochuk (sp?) - I remember being fascinated by his jumps...
Gregor filipowski -he did make his way back int the 80's, but you don't hear him spoken of much anymore. I believed he is married to Tracey Wainman and working in Ottawa...:)

And more recently, Joey Russell - wonderful skater, just never got control of that 3A...
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Jumpin Joe! I enjoyed him as a pro! He won the bronze in 1984

Joey also came from a country with a LOT of good men, I liked him. Too bad he never got the hang of that dang 3A.
 

blue dog

Trixie Schuba's biggest fan!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Jumpin Joe! I enjoyed him as a pro! He won the bronze in 1984

Joey also came from a country with a LOT of good men, I liked him. Too bad he never got the hang of that dang 3A.

Jumpin' Joe was once married to Tracey Wainman.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
I remember most of the ones listed, but I'll add some Canadian ones people may or may not have heard of, depending on how big a fan you are:

Jean-Francois Hebert
Christopher Mabee
Angela Derochie
Michelle Currie
Annie Bellemare
Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon/Luc Bradet (LOVED them!!)
Jessica Miller/Ian Moram
Jacynthe Lariviere/Lenny Faustino
Elizabeth Putnam/Sean Wirtz
Lauren Senft/Leif Gislason
Chantal Lefebvre with Michel Brunet, Justin Lanning and Arseniy Markov (and, vaguely, Michel Brunet with Jennifer Boyce)
Pascal Denis with Josee Piche and Martine Patenaude
Brenda Key/Ryan Smith
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
Oh, and Juliana Cannarozzo and Kirsten Olson of Ice Princess fame. Juliana skated at 2007 U.S. Nationals. Not sure what level Kirsten got to, but she's not skating anymore.

Thanks for reminding me about Cannarozzo! I used to be a fan, but all I can remember is one LP now.. and vaguely.
 

blue_idealist

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 25, 2006
I remember Pliuta from Skate Canada in 1998. He tried the quad lutz, but took a nasty fall!

Anyone else remember Julia Lautowa of Austria?

That's the only competition I remember Pliuta at.. can't remember the fall though for some reason. Speaking of a fall in '99, I'm now recalling Dorota Zagorska-Siudek's major fall in the pairs competition at '99 Worlds.. or wait, that was 2000 I think. I just remembered that they medalled in 1999.. IIRC.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
Back to the 80's:

Josef sabochuk (sp?) - I remember being fascinated by his jumps...

I was just looking at the Facebook profile of a certain Russian skater that now lives in Switzerland (mmmm, I wonder who that could be... :cool: ), and found this photo of the perfromers from the 2013 edition of "Music On Ice", held in May in Geneva:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd....0x720/970962_546132052104204_1676377337_n.jpg

Jozef Sabovčík is standing in between Samuel Contesti and Nathalie Péchalat. (Can't say I like Joe's shirt!)

Unfortunately, I can't find a video of his 2013 routine on YouTube. :disapp:

HOWEVER, here is a video of Jozef's routine at the 2011 edition :biggrin:

Jumpin Joe! I enjoyed him as a pro! He won the bronze in 1984.

If you want to re-live it, I just found his 1984 Olympic FS on YouTube! Although the quality of the video is awful at the start (that's the problem with digitising 25 year old tapes!), it fortunately does not stay like that.

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan
 
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LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Alizah Allen, made it to TV once at US Nationals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zud9TGXO_yU

I LURVE LURVE Alizah Allen. You do not have to starve yourself to be a beautiful artist. She is amazing in this program. Not one toe, foot, leg is out of place. My best friend named his daughter Alizah because I thought it was a beautiful name (Hebrew for Joyful). They trusted me on this! Yikes! The jumps weren't really there, but she embodied beautiful skating.

Thank you gkelly.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Back to the 80's:

Josef sabochuk (sp?) - I remember being fascinated by his jumps...
Gregor filipowski -he did make his way back int the 80's, but you don't hear him spoken of much anymore. I believed he is married to Tracey Wainman and working in Ottawa...:)

And more recently, Joey Russell - wonderful skater, just never got control of that 3A...

His signature as a pro was the delayed axel. He leaps into the air with total abandon.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Vakhtang Murvanidze! :rock: He always took the ice like he was the master of ceremonies introducing the other skaters. :laugh:

Like Liashenko, he had a cult following. People rooted for him. He competed for ages and was a wonderful skater.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Shishkova and Naumov teach in Simbury and have for years. Their son, Maxim, competes in men's singles (USFSA) at I think the Juvenile level now - he's 12.

I read an interview with S&N, but I can't find it anymore. :no: It was very interesting. They were considered to be competent, but somewhat bland skaters, but their insights on skating were spot on. Basically, they said skating is not only a sport but an art where you have to convey emotion while performing difficult technical elements that require hundreds/thousands of repetitions to get right. They said the demands on skaters can be at times unfair, especially when perfection is expected.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Aren't Selezneva/Makarov the parents of Ksenia Makarov?
I remember Etlsova/Bushkov and Shishkova Naumov!

All underrated skaters. The most underrated out of that bunch were S&M. Their Michael Jackson SP one year was just awesome. They outskated everyone but didn't have the cachet to win or be rewarded properly. The Canadian audience gave them a standing ovation and that was towards the end of the Cold War.
 

iluvtodd

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
"Jumpin' Joe" just celebrated his 50th b'day, according to his wife, Jennifer, on Facebook.

I remember Chris Mabee very fondly from 2005 Skate America in Atlantic City, NJ. I enjoyed his skating, and got to meet him together with Kurt @ the end of the evening (of the men's competition). IIRC, Chris was/is skating on one of the cruise ship lines. I think we got to see Annie Bellemare skate @ Skate America in Reading, PA (2003). I waved my Canadian flag for her when she was in the K&C (our seats were in the section next to the K&C). She saw it, smiled back to us! I think she & her husband recently had a baby.
 

coppertop1

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
I remember most of the ones listed, but I'll add some Canadian ones people may or may not have heard of, depending on how big a fan you are:

Jean-Francois Hebert
Christopher Mabee
Angela Derochie
Michelle Currie
Annie Bellemare
Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon/Luc Bradet (LOVED them!!)
Jessica Miller/Ian Moram
Jacynthe Lariviere/Lenny Faustino
Elizabeth Putnam/Sean Wirtz
Lauren Senft/Leif Gislason
Chantal Lefebvre with Michel Brunet, Justin Lanning and Arseniy Markov (and, vaguely, Michel Brunet with Jennifer Boyce)
Pascal Denis with Josee Piche and Martine Patenaude
Brenda Key/Ryan Smith

I remember all of them! Annie Bellemare had such talent but a hard time with her nerves (our women used to have a lot of trouble with that, something Jennifer Robinson and Joannie overcame. Kaetlyn doesn't seem to have a problem at all, I think always being in front of a crowd helps, plus she's a natural competitor and performer). Angelia went to Worlds in 1998, but had a hip injury and finished 20th. It was a bad time for women's skating in Canada. Chantal and Michel were good, I always felt they were undermarked. Interesting to note, Chantal was Patrice Lauzon's former partner until Patrice teamed with Marie France Dubreuil. I remember Boyce and Brunet's flintstone routine!
Marie-Claude and Luc were good, I felt bad for them in Nagano when they had the Nagano flu. They really fought to keep their dream alive.
From that same era, there was Ravi Walia. Again, never really broke through at nationals, but always seemed like a nice guy. He coaches Kaetlyn Osmond, of course.
Stephane Yyvars, who looks just like Eric Millot

Dorota had a nasty fall in 1998 Worlds, she fell into the boards. Yup, they medalled in 1999. There was a team that had a horrible fall in the 2000 Worlds on a lift. That was Julia Obertas and Dmitri Palamarchuk. They split after that, Julia has had other partners since but never broke through.

Thanks for the pointer, CaroLiza. Yeah, old tapes aren't great quality.

Some more lesser known Canadians (some before I started watching)
Lisa Sargeant (Kristy Sargeant-Wirtz's older sister)
Charlene Wong (I believe she is a former coach of Mirai Nagasu)
Michael Slipchuk (of course, now the director of Skate Canada High Performance)
 
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