S
SkateFan4Life
Guest
Do any of you remember the days in which the Soviet Union pairs teams sometimes featured a tall, muscular man and a tiny whisp of a girl? I'm thinking of the Soviet pair of Marina Cherkosova and Sergei Shakhrai, who achieved great success as a pairs team, winning the silver medal at the 1979 Worlds and the 1980 Winter Olympics and winning the World title in 1980.
Without being critical, this pair was completely mis-matched, size wise. Sergei was over six feet tall and well built. Marina was no more than, perhaps
four feet, eight inches tall, and weighed about 80 pounds. Seigei threw his partner into the air like a little doll. When they skated across the rink, their size difference was extraordinary, yet they were able to overcome this situation with solid successes.
However, Marina had a growth spurt after the 1980 season, and the following year, she and Sergei were not on the World podium.
Actually, as I'm writing this, it isn't fair to label this "big guy-little lady" as something that was done only by the Soviets. I remember seeing a few American pairs teams who were also mismatched, as far as size is concerned.
And, frankly, they did not achieve the level of success that Marina and Sergei achieved.
Without being critical, this pair was completely mis-matched, size wise. Sergei was over six feet tall and well built. Marina was no more than, perhaps
four feet, eight inches tall, and weighed about 80 pounds. Seigei threw his partner into the air like a little doll. When they skated across the rink, their size difference was extraordinary, yet they were able to overcome this situation with solid successes.
However, Marina had a growth spurt after the 1980 season, and the following year, she and Sergei were not on the World podium.
Actually, as I'm writing this, it isn't fair to label this "big guy-little lady" as something that was done only by the Soviets. I remember seeing a few American pairs teams who were also mismatched, as far as size is concerned.
And, frankly, they did not achieve the level of success that Marina and Sergei achieved.