Any of you root for skaters due to nationality/religious connections?

iluvtodd · Aug 27, 2015

I will be bringing a number of international flags to Worlds, in addition to my American one. Let's see, I have a Canadian one, Spanish, Czech, Japanese (bought it @ 2003 Worlds), UK, French, Israeli, Chinese (a Chinese speaking friend got me one that I've used for Shen & Zhao & their countrymen & women), Portuguese, Mexican, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Italian, ... I need one for Russia, Kazakhstan, ...

ordinary person · Aug 28, 2015

Zahra Lari because unlike many other hypocritical religious figure skaters she actually looks like a religious figure skater even though i'm not a fan of the headscarf it's totally ok to me.

Meoima · Aug 28, 2015

There is a skater (I won't tell who) that has original root like me but I am not very fond of that skater's attitude on social networks, and the skills are not that very good to begin with, so I never root for that skater.

Eclair · Aug 28, 2015

ordinary person said:
Zahra Lari because unlike many other hypocritical religious figure skaters she actually looks like a religious figure skater even though i'm not a fan of the headscarf it's totally ok to me.

I wouldn't call other figure Skaters religious hypocrites just because they are not showing off their religious beliefs in their programms...

Warwick360 · Aug 28, 2015

Love Yuna so....ended up loving So-youn as a result. :love:

Hope she delivers this coming season. :bow:

leoncorazon · Aug 28, 2015

I admit that I like skaters from my hometown area...even if they are the worst...I'm looking at you Rozilla (mostly because I lover her double axel) and Tonya. Finding out the Joshua Farris is from Kent didn't hurt but I liked him anyway...he seems like a swell guy and skates like an angel...sometimes...

Ahh the the irony of name calling from the religiously virtuous...just delicious...please, tell us more while I put on the tea kettle.

Warwick360 · Aug 28, 2015

ordinary person said:
Zahra Lari because unlike many other hypocritical religious figure skaters she actually looks like a religious figure skater even though i'm not a fan of the headscarf it's totally ok to me.

Don't really mind about the headscarf on the ice. I think it isn't noticeable even.

Her skating skills on the other hand....

When I googled her, I was expecting much better than what I had expected. :slink:

On another note, I'm surprised that her clothing that gives illusion of revealing skin hasn't been much controversial around her.

RABID · Aug 28, 2015

Warwick360 said:
Love Yuna so....ended up loving So-youn as a result.

Hope she delivers this coming season.

Same here but part of that is because I want to believe So-youn is a result of YuNa's legacy; that YuNa singlehandedly raised figure skating in Korea to such a degree that it couldn't ignore the sport any more and had to step up its game. I know I never paid any attention to them before YuNa and now I watch them like I do the Americans, Japanese and Russians. Lots of promising talent in all those countries. I'm Canadian but I find I don't pay nearly the same degree of attention to our senior and junior ranks as much. But that is also a "Canadian" thing to (not)do.

OS · Aug 28, 2015

Funny thread... uhmmm... I have no problem with skaters who act arrogant or little bit odd, as long as they have the goods to back it up. I find Genius are by nature all a bit eccentric and socially inept anyway. It is the extreme aspect that made them outstanding. I'd rather them being themselves than some PC machine rehearsed by PR agency script.

I don't require the skater to have some amazing personality, sob story, religion, race, gender, national affiliation for me to appreciate what can bring on the ice. It is the only thing matter at the end of the day, which is whether they can deliver what they set out to do, do their best when it matters the most, and then go beyond that every time they step on the ice, no matter how big the size of competition or the occasion. I don't like all this skating smart, skate for points thing we see often now in COP, but good skating speak for itself, what is a great program people want to revisit years after the competition, even ones that doesn't win competitions. It is what should motivate the skaters the most I believe... it is what is good for the soul!

As far as I am concerned they can all be aliens (1 or 2 for sure... or at least possessed supernaturally for 3-4 minutes) :biggrin:

karne · Aug 28, 2015

I'm still trying to figure out why a skater's religion has anything to do with anything...

el henry · Aug 28, 2015

karne said:
I'm still trying to figure out why a skater's religion has anything to do with anything...

I am not Jewish, so I hope I am not out of line, but I have found that my Jewish friends may tend to get excited over Jewish athletes and even Israeli athletes. Completely natural and understandable IMO, and sometimes I tend to get excited with them.

Episcopalian athletes are pretty darn rare. But I admit, as someone who roots for a skater just because he came from the town where my sister lives, if I knew of one, I'd root for him. It's just another degree of affinity. :biggrin:

Now I'll try to go look me up some Episcopalians

cheerknithanson · Aug 28, 2015

el henry said:
I am not Jewish, so I hope I am not out of line, but I have found that my Jewish friends may tend to get excited over Jewish athletes and even Israeli athletes. Completely natural and understandable IMO, and sometimes I tend to get excited with them.

And I'm one of those Jews who get excited about it!

MaxSwagg · Aug 28, 2015

I saw one comment "Is Yuzuru Christian?" because of his pre-skate preparations and I laughed out loud at that. He does that to, as he said, center/align his body or something like that.

Daniel1998 · Aug 28, 2015

Hm... Religion has nothing to do with it for me, but I do sometimes for someone from my own country. For example, I always wanted V/M to defeat D/W. I tell myself that it's because I believe V/M to have more elegant edges and fluidity, but I do wonder if country has anything to do with it. Would I still like V/M better if I were American?
However, I do not root for D/R in pairs, even though they are Canadian. I root for S/K and V/T, and S/S when they were still active. I also don't easily prefer Chan over Hanyu. I go back and forth regarding them.
So... Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Hard to explain.

Spiral · Aug 29, 2015

os168 said:
I don't require the skater to have some amazing personality, sob story, religion, race, gender, national affiliation for me to appreciate what can bring on the ice. It is the only thing matter at the end of the day, which is whether they can deliver what they set out to do, do their best when it matters the most, and then go beyond that every time they step on the ice, no matter how big the size of competition or the occasion. I don't like all this skating smart, skate for points thing we see often now in COP, but good skating speak for itself, what is a great program people want to revisit years after the competition, even ones that doesn't win competitions. It is what should motivate the skaters the most I believe... it is what is good for the soul!

As far as I am concerned they can all be aliens (1 or 2 for sure... or at least possessed supernaturally for 3-4 minutes)

:agree:

Same here! I always say that, as far as figure skating is concerned, I'm from planet Earth, but, truth be told, if some extraterrestrial landed at Worlds or Olympics and won the gold, it wouldn't have upset me one bit, as long as I had enjoyed that alien's skating.

Maybe because figure skating is the only sport that I follow, I look at it in the same way I look at music, books, films, etc. It's the aesthetic pleasure rather than competition that draws me to it. The only reason I much prefer watching competitions to watching shows is that both the technical level and the choreography in competitions tends to be far superior.

Skategmt · Aug 29, 2015

Ive been rooting for Zahra Lari, the UAE's first international figure skater. Lari, a muslim, wears costumes that are modest and don't showant any akin. Since one of my friends wears a hijab and is always dressed mosldestly, I've started to root for her.

WeakAnkles · Aug 29, 2015

Snow63 said:
I personally think there is nothing wrong with patriotic/nationalistic biases. People can root for someone just because he/she speaks their language, and they are from the same country etc.
The only thing that bothers me sometimes is when people who biased towards any nation start to bash, 'hate' and disrespect skaters from any other nation for no reason, or for a reason which is not connected with figure skating at all (politics, religion, ethnic appearance features, national traditions, hobby, favorite books etc.), or just because these other nation skaters have beaten their favourites.

You mean like an entire arena chanting Rossiya! Rossiya! Rossiya! And then walking out when their Russian skater had to withdraw?

Yeah, I hate that too.

iluvtodd · Aug 29, 2015

cheerknithanson said:
And I'm one of those Jews who get excited about it!

I'm another one. I have encouraged my synagogue peers who may not seriously watch figure skating to cheer on Max & Jason (pointing out to them that Max is our first Jewish Senior Men's US Champion & Jason is our 2nd one), hoping that watching them will also spur them on to watch all of the competitors. It doesn't always work, but I figure it can't hurt. Apart from that, I cheer on skaters of different nationalities because I enjoy what they bring to the ice. There are many US skaters I admire, but that is also true of skaters from other countries. Personality,demeanor, & good sportsmanship are important to me, as well.

usethis2 · Aug 30, 2015

I don't care about skaters' nationalities. I do however pay attention to certain judges from certain part of the globe. Especially Tech Specialists.

nieves · Aug 30, 2015

The short answer is no, but it is nice when it happens! I mostly root for skaters based on their artistry and performances. For a while I wasn't into any American skaters because I didn't see anyone I necessary thought was amazing, but now I root for Josh Farris and Karen Chen. I also pay close attention to Korean skaters now because that's my background.

Any of you root for skaters due to nationality/religious connections?

iluvtodd

ordinary person

Meoima

Match Penalty

Eclair

Warwick360

leoncorazon

Skating on through

Warwick360

RABID

OS

Sedated by Modonium

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

cheerknithanson

MaxSwagg

Match Penalty

Daniel1998

Spiral

Skategmt

WeakAnkles

iluvtodd

usethis2

nieves

Similar threads

Connect with us