Who Were the Strange Winners?

Joesitz · May 28, 2003

Who Were the Strange Winners?

There is a thread going right now about Umanov v. Stoyko. This is not the only contest people still talk about.

My Strange Winners:

Umanov - Took the gold and basicly fled.
Annette Poetzch - Took the gold and disappeared
Petrenko - Got into using props.
The gal that beat Lynne - Whatever happened to skating?

Agree? Any others?

Joe

rgirl181 · May 28, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Urmanov tried to stay around, he just kept having problems. First it was inconsistency, then it was injuries, then it was too late to keep up with the eligibles. Pro skating was already dying and when he tried it, he came on with the ultimate hat and the cape and magic tricks and everything except skating. A very sad chapter in skating, IMO, because when Urmanov was skating well, he was beautiful, strong, and unique.

Annette Poetzch: Is she the Russian Olympic medalist who was murdered by her boyfriend?

Victor Petrenko: Actually, Petrenko did use props ever that I saw until three years ago when he did "Mambo Number Five" with the velcro doll partner. From '92 until about '00, he did some great pro programs, such as "Did You Ever Love a Woman?" I think once the jumps started going (I understand he was having back problems), he went to the doll with "Mambo #5" and it was such a hit (those middle aged conservative female COI ticket buyers LOVE it), he went on to "Who Let the Dogs Out"--yeesh. I'd rather see him go the Kurt Browning route of doing an entire program without jumps, such as "Nyah," but make the choreography strong. And Victor can move, so it's not like he's limited. Too bad.

Trixie Schuba: I have no idea what happened to her.

What happened to the German skater who was involved in the collision with Oksana Baiul? I can't think of her name. She was very perky, got sick, came back, and then I don't know.

Josee Choinard: What's she doing?
Rgirl

MSI83 · May 28, 2003

Strange winners

Tanja S won a world bronze at the 1994 worlds. She also was top ten at the 1996 worlds. Her comeback in the 1997-1998 season was one of the greatest comebacks in skating history IMO. She beat all the faves Slutskaya, Butyrskaya etc. At the 98 CSF she landed 7 triples, and almost won over Lipinski. However she got sick again right before Nagano and had to drop out. At worlds that year she fell in her LP and had other problems. So unfortunately her story didn't end the way she would have wanted, but the brief comeback was really great.

Lcp88 · May 28, 2003

Re: Strange winners

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Annette Poetzch: Is she the Russian Olympic medalist who was murdered by her boyfriend?[/quote]

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the women you're talking about is the 1988 olympic bronze medalist, Kira something. I couldn't find out too much information on her.
Laura

SkateFan4Life · May 28, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Alexi Urmanov won the 1994 Olympic gold medal -- and that was the last major title he ever won. He was either injured or made major mistakes at the Worlds between the 1994 and 1998 Olympics.

Annet Poetzsch, who won the 1980 Olympic gold medal, is the former wife of Katarina Witt's brother. Annet was not a "glamorous" figure skater, and she did not perform as a pro skater in North America. I think she was a skating coach in the former GDR (that's what happened to most of the GDR skaters) and perhaps may still be coaching. Annet skated in the first "Skates of Gold" telecast in 1994, and she still looked quite good on skates - double jumps, ets.

Kira Ivanova of the Soviet Union was the 1984 Olympic bronze medalist. She was found dead in her Moscow apartment a few years ago. I don't know if foul play was at foot, but it seems as though that may well have been the case.

Trixi Schuba of Austria won the 1972 Olympic gold medal over Karen Magnussen of Canada and Janet Lynn of the US. Trixi was a master at the school figures but a comparatively weak free skater. I believe she skated professionally in Europe for a few years after winning her Olympic gold medal.

:eek:

Kara Bear · May 28, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Josee still skates in a few shows in Canada. I think she designs clothes and coaches with her husband, Jean-Michel Bombardier. But I may be wrong, feel free to correct me.

AY2006 · May 28, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Urmanov won Europeans and GP Final after his Olympic title.

Poetzch (I have no idea why on earth she is even mentioned here) was a two time World Champion and four time European champion. She didn't skate after 1980 season because East Germans didn't skate in ice shows back then.

More appropriately strange winners are...

Oksana Baiul.

Tara Lipinski.

and probably...

Sarah Hughes. (I would be surprised if she won another medal at Worlds.)

nysk8r · May 28, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Could someone please expand on the term "strange winner"? What makes a winner strange? I hope it's not the fact that they just didn't become famous or continued with their skating careers.

RealtorGal · May 28, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Annet Poetzsch works in a bank.

Ladskater · May 29, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Joe:

Do you mean Trixie Schuba? She beat both Karen Magnussen and Janet Lynn on the strength of her figures. That was the measuring rod in those days. She was probably the best female figure skater of all time ( I am of course referring to tracing figures). Her tracings were perfect.

Ladskater

Set You Stars · May 29, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Josée Chouinard skated professionally in North America for quite a few years...Canadian Stars on Ice, Hallmark Skaters' Championship, multiple shows, etc. She did a 'Farewell Tour' across Canada in summer 2001, but she still skates once in a while.

For example, she's in the cast of Dreams on Ice this September, which is Brasseur & Eisler's charity show. I happen to be going.

I'd like to add the Hartsells, 1999 US pairs champs to the list...that was strange to see them on top...

MSI83 · May 29, 2003

Lipinski and Baiul...

I don't think I understand how Lipinski and Baiul would be considered "strange" winners. Both were reigning world champs going into their Olympics. Both medaled/won in either nats/GP series/Euros. Lipinski won 2 GPF's as well. Strange winner to me is someone who came out of the clear blue (ie: never skated well before or were inconsistent) and then hit a program. Poetzch and Hughes were favorites for gold at their Olympics as well.

For me Sokolova in 2003, and Tanja S in 1997-1998 would fall into this category. Noone expected either to even be skating much less medal or place well at competitions.

Joesitz · May 29, 2003

Re: Lipinski and Baiul...

Strange winners are those gold medalists whom you believe should not have won the Olys. That was my list and just MHO. (I really could not see Annet P. as a figure skater, and I couldn't believe she had such great figures. Just so strange to me.)

There are those who consider Baiul, Lipinski and others as 'strange' winners. In general it means a controversal decision by the judges in one's own opinion.

Jose, and everyone likes her (the Angela of Canada), was never a gold medalist at the Olys.

Joe

Kara Bear · May 29, 2003

Re: Lipinski and Baiul...

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Hughes were favorites for gold at their Olympics as well.[/quote]

Hmmmm...I don't agree. I always thought Hughes MAYBE had a shot at bronze and that gold and silver was a toss up between MK and Irina.

icenut84 · May 29, 2003

Re: Lipinski and Baiul...

Hmm. "Strange winners" seems a little odd to me (no pun intended). If you think about it, there's almost always going to be some people who disagree with who became Olympic champion. As for the skater who won based on the strength of her figures, that was the way competition was back then. While most of us much prefer watching freestyle over figures, figures were the most important aspect of the competition by a considerable margin. Whether they should have been given such prominence or not is another debate, but the skater who won was the best skater, according to the rules and how the competitions were run. I don't see anything strange about that.

AY2006 · May 29, 2003

Re: Lipinski and Baiul...

Baiul... never won Europeans (second to Bonaly in 1993-94), and competed in only one World.

Lipinski... never won a GP Series (although she won the Final twice), and finished second in the Nationals in '98. (The first American to win OGM without winning the Nationals in the same year).

Okay, they are not as strange as Hughes and Urmanov (both won bronze in Worlds year before the Olympics), but they seem more strange than Petrenko or Poetzch to me.

If you expand it to Worlds, Elaine Zayak (1982), Yuka Sato (1994) and Maria Butyrskaya (1999) might be considered "strange" (i.e. unexpected) winners.

Ladskater · May 29, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Joe:

Perhaps, a better title for this post would be "controversial winners" as someone pointed out we are not always going to agree with the judges and as at one time figures were the main discipline in figure skating then there was a whole different basis for the outcome. Actually being the best FIGURE SKATER in the world is not a bad thing. A skater (even at a club level) was judged by how well they could trace figures.

Ladskater

<img src="http://www.yarmouthiceclub.org/Source materials/FIGURES_files/image002.gif" style="border:0;"/>

Figures teach skaters edge control and body alignment, two of the most important elements of skating. Figure eights, loops, circles, brackets, all of these terms mean just one thing: the basis of which this sport began. Being able to control your edges at all times means that your jumps, spins, and footwork will be much more solid.

Joesitz · May 30, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

I agree with those who find the word 'strange' strange.:lol: Beg pardon! As to accepting the conclusions of the judges, that is not my personal rule. It's not just 5-4 decisions. I have my own standards in judging figure skating. Sometimes the I agree with the majority of the judges; sometimes I don't!

The new system produced some strange, oops, different turn of events at the recent Worlds. Last year's worlds, was 3 golds for Russia. This year only 1 obvious. Even in the placements, there were not so obvious placements as one would expect.

Again, this thread was meant for personal views of results.

Joe

Jaana · May 30, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

>AY2006
Baiul... never won Europeans (second to Bonaly in 1993-94), and competed in only one World.>

Yes, but Baiul won that Worlds. There was nothing odd or strange that she won the Olympic gold medal, no surprise win at all.

>Lipinski... never won a GP Series (although she won the Final twice), and finished second in the Nationals in '98. (The first American to win OGM without winning the Nationals in the same year).>

As Lipinski won Olympic gold she had earlier won the World Championships, US Nationals and Grand Prix finals. So her win was no surprise win either, although of course many of us kind of saw Kwan as a much stronger US favourite for the Olympics.

I did not see Urmanov as a big surprise winner in Lillehammer, not after the short programme anyway, LOL, and because he had medalled at Worlds before that. Of course the pros participating were seen as big favourites. I don´t remember thinking that Stojko might win.

As a strange win I would see someone who has not won a Worlds medal and an European medal before winning at the Olympics. That would be a really strange (= a surprise) win.

Marjaana

JillLaQ · May 30, 2003

Re: Who Were the Strange Winners?

Thank you for the lesson on Figures, Ladskater. One can't help but wonder how much better some mediocre skaters might have improved with some good old fundamental figure tracings (Surya, take note).

Who Were the Strange Winners?

Joesitz

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