- Joined
- Feb 13, 2014
This is the main reason I suppose. Figure skating is getting more and more famous in Japan thanks to Mao, Dai... and now Yuzuru. All of them have a star quality that attract Japanese people to the sport. With Korean it's Kim Yuna, what a pity she retired. And currently I see no other ladies have the same star quality as her.Figure skating got intensely popular in the '90s because the whole Nancy-Tonya debacle brought unprecedented attention to the sport. Its popularity declined because after Michelle Kwan retired, there weren't any (female) US stars remaining. Perhaps that is why there is such push/hype behind Gracie Gold--the sport needs another star.
Same thing with Russian skaters, I have to say both Plushy and Yagudin had more star quality than Kovtun and Gachinski will ever have. Yulia has more star quality than Adelina...
Jason Brown also has that star quality, it's just unfortunate for him to join the game when the sport is declining in U.S. And Jason only is not enough. Gracie and Wagner are not remarkable enough for the casual viewer, I suppose. They need different programs, and more successes.