A favorite of mine, Yebin Mok!!
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)
She is one of a few skaters who don't need to jump to have a great program. A child skater and then a gold medal winning ballerina when she was a teen, a good actress too had she chosen to continue acting.Definitely Katherine Healy! Love her style, though she never had the jumps needed to reach the top in competitive skating. She was a wonderful exhibition skater.
I agree that Karen Kwan was an interesting skater, very different from Michelle in style and affect. She didn't reach out to the audience but was more interior. I remember that one commentator at U.S. Nationals called her style "personal, almost private." I thought that was the perfect way to characterize her skating.
Yeah, it was heartbreaking when Angela lost her national title in 1999, after skating an LP during which she didn't land a single triple. I forgot that Chantal had skated with Patrice as well.
It was the Obertas/Palamarchuk fall in 2000 that I was thinking of, I'm pretty sure, since I remember the girl falling almost on her head, not just into the boards. I also don't think I even watched the '98 Worlds since I only became a big fan from 1999 on. Btw, I remember that Obertas and Sergei Slavnov were doing decently and then they just kinda disappeared.
Of course! She now coaches Caroline Zhang.
Elizabeth Kwon (this girl was hyped when she was a kid; sadly she never materialized) - http://youtu.be/Qu8G3OaINOs
Stephanie Rosenthal! Not sure what happened to her...
SP - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2J_d9XksU
LP - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMwXYdkSK4g
A favorite of mine, Yebin Mok!!
Mikkeline Kierkgaard Denmark: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZrrbMsRmNk
Ivan Dinev Bulgaria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-zgxactTiY
Kevin van der Perren (Belguim) - His programs did nothing for me artistically but, wow, what a powerful jumper! His last skate (Worlds 2012) shows this. What is he doing now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqS6l3xoyas
Thanks for all the info! I wasn't sure whether to put Kevin in the "obscure" category or not. He had a long and relatively successful competitive career and appears to have been well liked in the skating community. I decided to ask about him here anyway. He certainly is obscure to non-diehard fans. Then again, the majority of skaters are obscure to non-diehard fans.Kevin... obscure?! I'd hardly use that word to describe him!
As you probably know, Kevin is married to Jenna McCorkell. They are currently coaching quite a few young skaters in Belgium, where they live.
If you look at this thread that I started in October, and click on the link in Trewyn's reply, you will see that Kevin's name features very frequently in the coach's column.
Also, last January, he and Charissa van Dipte won the 2012/13 series of “Sterren op de Dansvloer”, the Belgian version of "Strictly Come Dancing".
Here is a photo of them holding the trophy.
Hope this helps
CaroLiza_fan