Who were the most talented skaters to never reach their true potential?

hydroradi · Mar 30, 2004

Who were the most talented skaters to never reach their true potential?

The big one that comes to my mind is Tonya Harding.

She was one of the most naturally gifted skaters that ever lived.

If she only grew up in a loving and supportive family, it boggles the mind what she could have accomplished.

Others that come to mind...Christopher Bowman. Amazing talent and he threw it all away with drugs.

Namoi Nari Nam. She was never the same after her injuries.

Joesitz (RIP) · Mar 30, 2004

The list is huge: Abt, Nikidinov,Lynne, etc., etc.

Joe

Kateri · Mar 30, 2004

I'd second a vote for Abt!

k

Sk8n Mama · Mar 30, 2004

Josee Chouinard.

RealtorGal · Mar 30, 2004

I disagree about Janet Lynn. Although she never won a World or Oly title, she took home Oly bronze with a string of 5.9's & 6.0s for presentation (I think it was called "artistry" back then), which was very telling in the age of figures. She was also 5 times national champion. She is still remembered today as one of the greats, and many consider her as perhaps the greatest female skater ever.

When I think of someone who never reached true potential, I either think of someone who messed up his/her personal life and hence his/her skating life (Tonya, Bowman), someone taken by injury (NNN, possibly Stellato) or someone who couldn't seem to put together those 2 back-to-back programs that we all know they had in them to do. These people showed glimpses of brilliance, but nerves probably ruled in their performances, but had they had the breakthrough that skaters such as Rudy and Paul did, they, too, could have been considered as one of the greats. Angela and Josee are excellent examples, as already mentioned. I don't know Tiffany Chin's full story, but she fits in there somewhere--in either category #2 or #3.

SK8GR8 · Mar 30, 2004

I nominate Nicole Bobek

soogar · Mar 30, 2004

Defiitely Nicole Bobek. Also Christopher Bowman. I would also add Vyachaslav Zagorudniuk and Alexei Urmanov as well. When I saw Slava at junior worlds, I thought he was the next Viktor Petrenko but he never delivered. Alexei won gold but he had the potential to win worlds b/c he was a great skater but never did. As a result he's the forgotten gold medalist and it's a shame.

Scott Davis
Naomi Nari Nam (but maybe she'll come back)
Tiffany Chin

JonnyCoop · Mar 30, 2004

I'd go with:

Scott Davis
Alexander Abt

Nicole Bobek
Lisa Ervin
Vanessa Gusmeroli

Tiffany & Johnnie Stiegler

lavender · Mar 30, 2004

So far NNN.

Lillehammer 94 · Mar 30, 2004

Lisa Erwin, Weight control is not as simple to correct as people may assume. It also may be that Lisa was simply "burned out" as cliched as that may be. However, with everything that was going for Lisa in a positive direction, I'm not sure being "burned out" was a problem for Lisa. I saw her up close at Skate America in Dallas Texas in October of 1993 and was taken aback at her weight gain. It was not long after that she faded from the scene as an elite skater. Many people thought Lisa should have been an Olympian in 1992 based upon her performance at Nationals that year. She was simply skating better than Tonya Harding.

SusanBeth · Mar 30, 2004

ITA RealtorGal

During Lynn's career, figures were worth (at first) 60 %. Later, that was changed to 50%. In 1973, the short was introduced and it became, I believe, 40-20-40. Figures were also judged much more harshly than free skates. Those who were good at figures could amass such a huge lead, no one could catch them. At Sapporo, Schuba placed 1st in figures and 7th in the free skate and still won the gold. Janet was 4 th in figures and 1st in the free skate and got the bronze. So, Janet accomplished wonders in that system.

As for the rest, Bowman and Harding head the list for the most foolish waste of talent.

Tiffany Chin and NNN - Most talent wasted through injury

Nicole Bobeck heads the Huh??? list.

mike79 · Mar 30, 2004

Abt, Chouinard, Bobek, Kulik(as an eligible skater), Bowman, Michael Weiss(because of his wife's choreography), Laetitia Hubert, Bechke&Petrov, and countless others.

clairecloutier · Mar 30, 2004

Scott Hamilton once said that Caryn Kadavy was "probably the greatest U.S. skater never to win a national championship." I think she was always viewed as never quite living up to her potential.

Would it be too controversial to put Sarah Hughes on the list? Considering how well she skated in SLC, just imagine how much better she might have gotten if she'd competed several more years.

And alas, I think Jenny Kirk will be making the list soon as well. Everyone has such high hopes for her . . . but it never seems to quite happen.

SusanBeth · Mar 30, 2004

I think Sarah's perfect for the list. I've always wondered about her potential. Her Olympic skate was so amazing. I keep wondering if that was a gift of fate. Maybe, it was always there and she just hadn't tapped into it. Maybe, there's more there, but she doesn't want it.

I'd have to add her to the list as: the skater with the most potential for having the most hidden potential.

guinevere · Mar 30, 2004

mike79 said:
Abt, Chouinard, Bobek, Kulik(as an eligible skater)...

Kulik? You lost me there. Had his 1997-98 season not happened, I would agree, but he managed to pull himself together over the course of the fall competitive season and win the Olys with some very fine performances!

I would definitely agree with Nicole Bobek - such amazing talent and personality on the ice, and no work ethic when it came to training.

SANDHU

I would also make a case for Weiss - he has lots of talent and a few years ago, I thought that his jumping problems (2-ft quad, doubling jumps in comp) would be overcome, and he would become a fine skater. Now I think it's too late.

guinevere

Tonichelle · Mar 30, 2004

Sk8n Mama said:
Josee Chouinard.

ITA ITA ITA!!!

Put Nicole Bobek on my list as well...

clairecloutier · Mar 30, 2004

What about Tiffany Chin? She came in 4th at the 84 Olympics, and everyone thought she was going to be the Next Big Thing in ladies' skating. But then her career just flamed out. (I still don't know why.)

Ptichka · Mar 30, 2004

I think we are mixing together two things here: reaching one's athleteic potential vs. number of medals. For Abt, I would argue it was the case of the latter.

I certainly agee with Bobek, Hughes.
I would also add Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze. I think they had the potential to be one of the all-time-greatest, but were too plagued by inconsistency.

soogar · Mar 30, 2004

I don't agree about Hughes not reaching her potential. First of all, Sarah was a very consistant skater who always put out good performances. She won 2 bronze medals in Worlds and the OGM. I don't think that Sarah would have every become that really *great* memorable skater b/c she just didn't have the personality but she definitely reached her potential: how much better could she get? Nicole Bobek on the other hand was a spectacular skater much like Sasha Cohen who never quite put together the performances people expected of her. So many people call Nicole lazy but I don't see how they can. She never found the right relationship with a coach and when she did with Fassi, he died. Plus Nicole suffered many injuries as well (esp under Callaghan). A lot of her coaches *said* she never worked but her skating ability wasn't all natural. I mean , she didn't just skate like that without putting time at the rink.

RealtorGal · Mar 30, 2004

mike79 said:
Michael Weiss(because of his wife's choreography)...

I totally agree about the choreography problem. If only he could get with a masterful choreographer, we might see something incredible from him. He needs that challenge. He thought he'd get it by switching to Don Laws as a coach, but I believe that the truth is that his biggest challenge is to find a way to have someone else choreograph for him while hanging on to his marriage. :eek:

Who were the most talented skaters to never reach their true potential?

hydroradi

Joesitz (RIP)

Kateri

Sk8n Mama

RealtorGal

SK8GR8

soogar

JonnyCoop

lavender

Lillehammer 94

SusanBeth

mike79

clairecloutier

SusanBeth

guinevere

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

clairecloutier

Ptichka

Forum translator

soogar

RealtorGal

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