? about tall skaters and jumping

SkateFan4Life said:

IMHO, I would rather see women reach the top in their twenties, when they have grown into mature young women, rather than reach the top at 15 or 16, when, in many cases, they are still maturing and have not yet developed an adult body.
Just my own opinion, of course.

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ITA. I for one prefer watching a woman skate, instead of a prepubescent girl. It doesn't help the sport knowing that these girls may no longer be competitive once they've gone through puberty. Tara is a prime example - her hip was too damaged to allow her to continue to compete and develop as an artist. Michelle is lucky to have avoided these types of injuries, and I personally think that Sasha may risk reinjuring her back if she works too hard for a consistent quad. I hope all of the young jumping beans out there thinking that a quad is the surest way to win are lucky enough to not suffer permanent injury. It may be a shock, but there is life after a skating competition.

As far as being a "tall" skater is concerned, Karen was actually not "tall" - she is around 5'4" I believe. Compared to her sister, of course, she looked "tall".

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I just looked it up to be sure and Karen is listed as being 5' 7'' in several sources. That wouldn't be tall for a woman, but it is for a skater. In pictures with Michelle, she is taller by a head. So, I believe 5' 7'' is accurate.

BittyBug said:

Joe - Here's a video clip of Sasha landing her quad sow in practice.

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Hi Bitty Bug - I never thought that Sasha did not land a quad in practice. A close friend of mine saw Todd Eldridge land a few and I watched Johnny Weir land one in practice I've only seen Miki Ando's in competition and she underroted the jump but I can believe she lands it in practice. Practice and Performance are really two different things. Sometimes Performance wins out.

Hi Spinner - Nice to know we have a former skater in the Forum. I believe your description of Cathy Casey explaining the technique used to execute a quad is more than likely the way it goes. But I think that technique will work only for those who are blessed with natural rotation. It]s the genetic thing. Some people can jump high because of the natural spring in the legs and other can rotate in the air because of the innate ability to do so. I really believe the only quads we will see are from those who have the natural talent to rotate together with the technique as taught by someone like Cathy Casey.

I do not see everyone executing quads in future as we saw with double axels. Just my thoughts.

Joe

Sarah Hughes wasn't all that tall when she won her OGM. She was about 5'3", only an inch taller than Kwan, and Sarah probably looked taller because she was very thin during her Olympic season. During the 2002-2003 season, it was mentioned that she had grown an inch and her USFSA bio showed her at 5'4". She is even taller than that now.

Joesitz said:

Hi Spinner - Nice to know we have a former skater in the Forum.

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Thanks! A bit more background on me...I competed against John Zimmerman once in novice pairs.

Spinner said:

Thanks! A bit more background on me...I competed against John Zimmerman once in novice pairs.

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You're modest you should say you competed against a Worlds bronze medalist!! Hope you are still skating and learning to be a judge. We need them.

Joe

Don't forget National champ! LOL Yup, I still skate when I can, but not as much as I'd like to. Not sure if I want to be a judge though--lots of time involved (which I don't have) and I don't know if I could take the pressure!

"compact" skaters do have the advantage over taller skaters; however, being a good jumper really has not much to do with height as it does with ability. One has to have lots of "spring." I am short (5' 1") and jumping was not my strength in skating. I just did not possess enough "spring" and it does take some real courage at times to go into a jump.

I think tall skaters look better as ice dancers (especially the men); a bit of a cliche, but they do look better than shorter skaters in this discipline.

As was mentioned "jumping Joe" is quite tall and there have been other champions over the years who fall into the "tall" category for figure skating. So really it depends mostly on ones abilities in the end.

euterpe said:

Sarah Hughes wasn't all that tall when she won her OGM. She was about 5'3", only an inch taller than Kwan, and Sarah probably looked taller because she was very thin during her Olympic season. During the 2002-2003 season, it was mentioned that she had grown an inch and her USFSA bio showed her at 5'4". She is even taller than that now.

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The stats in dianesrink.com put her as 5'5". The Sports Illustrated for Kids trading card of her put her as 5'6". So now I'm confused. *lolz*

It always seemed to me that the perfect shape for rotating is a sphere. Quad? the earth can do a quadrillion, and is training for a quint. It seems like the physics ought to favor skaters who have as much of their mass as possible in the plane through their center of gravity perpendicular to the axis of rotation. Like a gyroscope, which can spin virtually forever.

I just checked it out on my desk. The short, round top is still spinning. But when I tried to spin a pencil on its point he only managed a double.

Maybe jumps are different from spins. I don't see how long, tall, beautiful Lucinda Ruh can spin at all!

Mathman