Skaters who revolutionized/made an impact in Figure Skating

amazingMao · Apr 19, 2014

kwanatic said:
I do think she made an impact on the sport. Because of Mao the women have the option to do a 3A in the SP...that wasn't an option pre-Mao.

No, not many will follow in Mao's path but it's not b/c they don't want to...it's b/c they can't. It's a testament to how incredibly difficult that element is that only a handful of women in history have managed to do it.

Mao is extraordinary because of that. A 3-3 is a very difficult element but many women are capable of doing it which doesn't make it as impressive as performing an element no one else can. The bar Mao set with the 3A is impossible for most to reach but that doesn't lessen her impact/contribution to the sport.

Mao pushed the boundaries of what a woman can do in this sport from a technical standpoint. That is her contribution and the impact she's had...and it's a pretty big one.

THIS

Many of us also forget, aside from triple axel, Mao also did 3-3 combination jumps in her career till 2008: triple flip-triple toe loop and triple flip-triple loop. And I will never forget that she really push FS to technical (since her junior years to first two seasons during Vancouver quad) and together with artistic boundaries (starting this year, with insane 8 triple layout plus level 4 in all non-jump elements)

sky_fly20 · Apr 19, 2014

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
To be honest, it's pretty lame and rude to call any female skater trying quads and triple axels "a joke". They are attempting elements that men have difficulty mastering and they should be lauded for pushing the technical envelope, not ridiculed for it or being unable to measure up to the great Ito.

Harding was no sweetheart and was very unrefined but her lutzes were huge and her axel was a feat of athleticism that no American woman has even come close to achieving, even Meissner.

Harding though is not on par with Ito, with her 3A attemps with only successful at a National championships which is not under ISU event
Harding was only known for her knee whacking incident with Kerrigan, ask a casual viewer and they will not even know what achievements she has had or if she landed a 3A

Alba · Apr 19, 2014

sky_fly20 said:
while some skaters might be more liked/ talked about
it time we make a thread for the real legends / skaters who revolutioned FS

Ladies
* Cecilia Colledge - the original innovator of ladies FS, enough said
* Sonja Henie - her skating records rival that of her stardom status, the epitome of female hollywood skater, made the trend for short skirt for ladies
* Dorothy Hamil - introduced posture, elegance and refinement in ladies FS
* Elaine Zayak - pushed the number of triples the ladies can attempt in FS, has a rule named after her thanks to that, lol
* Midori Ito - a skater ahead of her time, still the best jumping machine
* Yuna Kim - consistency aside, she boosted CoP relevance for 3LZ-3T and 2Axels
* Mao Asada - her 3A attemps could be more legendary than her whole career history

Agreed, but I don't think Mao should be in this list if the reason is her 3A. Ito did that way before and she did it better.

Men
* Ulrich Salchow - the men's equivalent for Sonia Henie, World gold record holders and invented new jump
* Dick Button - the equivalent of Colledge, introduced innovations in men's FS
* John Curry - equivalent of Dorothy, introduced men's refinement , posture in FS
* Elvis Stojko - the original quad jumper
* Evgeni Plushenko - the face for 6.0 era, a man who has competed in different scoring eras
* Yuzuru Hanyu - the face for CoP, has pushed the envelope for maximing points

I would leave Hanyu out of og this list as well. He has done nothing yet to revolutionize the sport.

Pairs
* the Propotovs - There will be no modern Pairs today if it werent for the Propotovs, the greatest and the prototype of the modern pairs skating
* Mishkutenok /Dmitriev- introduced dynamism, difficulty and charisma in pairs skating

Agreed but I would add Rodnina&Zaitsev to that list as well. They introduced side-by-side double Axels to pair skating.
They were famous for their powerful lifts, unison, and speed. They did a spectacular back outside death spiral.
http://figureskating.about.com/od/olympicchampions/p/zaitsev.htm
Not my preferred pair but I think they deserve to be in the list.

* Berezhnaya / Sikhuralidze- showed pairs skating is elegant, refined posture that every skater should aspire

It was already done by the Protopovs.

* Shen / Zhao - introduced acrobatics in lifts, twists and pairs skating longevity can go up to where you want to go

As someone said before, maybe they revolutionized this sport in China. The things you've listed here were already done. Just have a look of the lifts and twists of Brasseur & Eisler.

Ice Dance
* Pakhomova / Gorshkov forget Torvil/Dean, it was G/P who revolutionized Ice dance, they were the prototypes of what is now Ice Dancing
* Klimova / Ponomarenko - introduced charisma, Ice Dance is not just elements back then, they showed true Ice Dance presentation

Agreed.

* Davis / White - combined dynamism, athleticism and power

I'm not sure. Power, athleticism and speed was already in Ice Dance with G&P, K&O.

trouble77 · Apr 19, 2014

I would say Ekaterina Gordeeva has had an impact on this sport, after all she is the only skater (worth mentioning) who after having a sucessful career in pairs, went to have another sucessful career in singles.

sky_fly20 · Apr 19, 2014

trouble77 said:
I would say Ekaterina Gordeeva has had an impact on this sport, after all she is the only skater (worth mentioning) who after having a sucessful career in pairs, went to have another sucessful career in singles.

no, she didn't. she went to pro after Grinkov's death
but you hardly call that a successful singles career

Meoima · Apr 19, 2014

None of the young skaters (those who are under 20) has done anything truly revolutionary yet. But that does not mean they won't. Well, at least they have the next 4 or 5 to 8 seasons to prove that. I hope they will shine and show the world that they can push this sport further. I have high hope in them.

CanadianSkaterGuy · Apr 19, 2014

sky_fly20 said:
no, she didn't. she went to pro after Grinkov's death
but you hardly call that a successful singles career

She actually had a career with Stars on Ice from 1996-2000 and placed as high as 2nd at the World Pro Championships. She wasn't at an elite level but she made more money and did more shows than most singles skaters could dream of. She also got a pretty reliable 3S and 3T if I recall. More importantly she didn't let her husband's tragedy overcome her and continued to share more lovely skating as a singles skater. And to me, that is successful.

sky_fly20 · Apr 19, 2014

the new ones:
I have hopes for 3 skaters who will be the ones to watch out for next quad:

Yuzuru Hanyu - maximing CoP and pushing technical innovation for FS

Gracie Gold - could push figure skating back as mainstream for US Sports, she has the appeal, beauty and looks that transcends to Hollywood is looking for
she just needs more results to back it up

Julia Lipnitskaya - could be inventing new spin positions in the future

sky_fly20 · Apr 19, 2014

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
She actually had a career with Stars on Ice from 1996-2000 and placed as high as 2nd at the World Pro Championships. She wasn't at an elite level but she made more money and did more shows than most singles skaters could dream of. She also got a pretty reliable 3S and 3T if I recall. More importantly she didn't let her husband's tragedy overcome her and continued to share more lovely skating as a singles skater. And to me, that is successful.

but no innovations there

trouble77 · Apr 19, 2014

sky_fly20 said:
no, she didn't. she went to pro after Grinkov's death
but you hardly call that a successful singles career

Well we will have to disagree. I think Katia had a great impact in this sport, both before and after Sergei’s death.
As for her pro-career, when you think that she managed to be second after Yamaguchi during one competition and 3rd in another by defeating the likes of Katerina Witt, Yuka Sato, Denise Biellmann, Rosalyn Summers, and Caryn Kadevy, how can you not call that successful? After all she was not trained to be a single skater.

trouble77 · Apr 19, 2014

sky_fly20 said:
but no innovations there[/QUOTE

you started this thread with "Skaters who revolutionized/made an impact in Figure Skating"
so Katia didn't innovate the sport, but she had an impact on this sport.

trouble77 · Apr 19, 2014

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
She actually had a career with Stars on Ice from 1996-2000 and placed as high as 2nd at the World Pro Championships. She wasn't at an elite level but she made more money and did more shows than most singles skaters could dream of. She also got a pretty reliable 3S and 3T if I recall. More importantly she didn't let her husband's tragedy overcome her and continued to share more lovely skating as a singles skater. And to me, that is successful.

She also introduce the Lutz with she never perfomed during her entire career with Sergei. And the edge on the Lutz shows her incredible skating skills, it's very deep.

Meoima · Apr 19, 2014

sky_fly20 said:
the new ones:
I have hopes for 3 skaters who will be the ones to watch out for next quad:

Yuzuru Hanyu - maximing CoP and pushing technical innovation for FS

Gracie Gold - could push figure skating back as mainstream for US Sports, she has the appeal, beauty and looks that transcends to Hollywood is looking for
she just needs more results to back it up

Julia Lipnitskaya - could be inventing new spin positions in the future

I agree with you about the 1st and the last. Hanyu and Yulia have the potential to push the boundaries with their jumps and spins. But the middle...

I mean, it's true that all three of them are easy to the eyes but Gracie only, other than her looks, seems to be in short compare to Hanyu's jumps and Yulia's spins.
We will have to wait and see, then.

Alba · Apr 19, 2014

Meoima said:
I agree with you about the 1st and the last. Hanyu and Yulia have the potential to push the boundaries with their jumps and spins. But the middle... I mean, it's true that all three of them are easy to the eyes but Gracie only, other than her looks, seems to be in short compare to jumps and spins.
We will have to wait and see, then.

Gracie is Skyfly's love. She will be in any of her list, no matter what. :biggrin:

sky_fly20 · Apr 19, 2014

Meoima said:
I agree with you about the 1st and the last. Hanyu and Yulia have the potential to push the boundaries with their jumps and spins. But the middle... I mean, it's true that all three of them are easy to the eyes but Gracie only, other than her looks, seems to be in short compare to jumps and spins.
We will have to wait and see, then.

no skater has transcended into big Hollywood stardom since Sonja Henie,
Gracie has unique opportunity to put FS map back in the US map at the same time becoming a hollywood name for herself
she already has the looks Hollywood is looking, blonde, classic hollywood beauty, so we'll see how it goes for her future

definitely Gracie is up there with Yuzuru and Julia
who have the potential to make an impact in the sport this quad
her possible/potential 2016 Worlds win in Boston could boost figure skating popularity back in the US

Meoima · Apr 19, 2014

sky_fly20 said:
no skater has transcended into big Hollywood stardom since Sonja Henie,
Gracie has unique opportunity to put FS map back in the US map at the same time becoming a hollywood name for herself
she already has the looks Hollywood is looking, blonde, classic hollywood beauty, so we'll see how it goes for her future

definitely Gracie is up there with Yuzuru and Julia
who have the potential to make an impact in the sport this quad

okay... I would rather watch a skating movie staring Hanyu and Yulia in which they only jump and spin than a movie in which Gracie cosplaying Elsa from Frozen.

sky_fly20 · Apr 19, 2014

Meoima said:
okay... I would rather watch a skating movie staring Hanyu and Yulia in which they only jump and spin than a movie in which Gracie cosplaying Elsa from Frozen.

Im saying Gracie being American has the unique opportunity to transcend from figure skater to also a Hollywood Actress, that itself will be making an impact this quad
it will be difficult for Julia and Yuzu to transcend because of langauage barriers and they are not us citizens, US media is still the biggest influence in the World

Meoima · Apr 19, 2014

sky_fly20 said:
Im saying Gracie being American has the unique opportunity to transcend from figure skater to also a Hollywood Actress, that itself will be making an impact this quad
it will be difficult for Julia and Yuzu to transcend because of langauage barriers and they are not us citizens, US media is still the biggest influence in the World

Okay, I got your fantasy. Steven Spielberg better gets his eyes on Gracie, rather than Yulia, then. Or Tailor Swift should ask Gracie to star a role in her next MV.

aschiutza · Apr 19, 2014

trouble77 said:
I would say Ekaterina Gordeeva has had an impact on this sport, after all she is the only skater (worth mentioning) who after having a sucessful career in pairs, went to have another sucessful career in singles.

I woudn't call that a sucessful career in singles either. While she is very lovely in her skating qualities, she did nothing extraordinary as a single skater.

CarneAsada · Apr 19, 2014

Franklin99 said:
And yet mao's beautiful 3axel is overly scrutinized. And Harding had one of the most ugliest and choppiest 3axel ever. Her jumps were never on an axel, but straight up and down while she's up in the air. Case in point: http://youtu.be/29SMYaEwGyM

Well it's scrutinized because she's the only one who's done so many under CoP. You'll notice that Meissner and Nakano's were pretty much never ratified so they have it up entirely. Can't exactly scrutinize the nonexistent. Mao on the other hand was good enough to do respectable ones consistently.

Skaters who revolutionized/made an impact in Figure Skating

amazingMao

sky_fly20

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Alba

trouble77

sky_fly20

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Meoima

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CanadianSkaterGuy

sky_fly20

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sky_fly20

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trouble77

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trouble77

Meoima

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Alba

sky_fly20

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Meoima

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sky_fly20

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aschiutza

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