Late Bloomers

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SkateFan4Life

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• Dec 18, 2004

• #1

While some champion figure skaters have taken up the sport at a very tender age - perhaps 2 or 3 - others who began skating relatively late became champions. Just a few examples:

Peggy Fleming began skating at age 9. Within five years she was US National champion and finished sixth at the 1964 Winter Olympics. Ten years after she started skating Peggy won the Olympic gold medal.

Linda Fratianne also started skating at age 9. At age 15 she finished a strong second to Dorothy Hamill at the US Nationals and made the first of two Olympic teams. Linda won the first of four consecutive US titles in 1977, at age 16, the same year she won the first of two World titles.

Johnny Weir started skating at age 12. With an incredible amount of natural talent and wonderful coaching, he won World Junior title in 2001, at the age of 16. He won the US title this past season at the age of 19.

From what I've read of the above skaters, each was a very active child and was interested in a variety of sports and other pastimes before concentrating on figure skating.

 

icy fresh

On the Ice

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Sep 11, 2004

• Dec 19, 2004

• #2

Thanks for sharing these!

Jennifer Don started skating when she was 10 and a half and has won medals on the novice (2001 at 16 yrs. old) and junior levels (2002 at 17 yrs. old) at Nationals. This past season she also finished 4th in Senior pairs at Nats.

 

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merrywidow

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Jan 20, 2004

• Dec 19, 2004

• #3

Most of you have heard of the choreographer, Lea Ann Miller. Her pair partner, Bill Fauver, IIRC, began skating at the age of 14. They were our #2 team back in the days of Peter & Kitty Carruthers. They placed 10th at the '84 Olympics.

 

Vash01

Medalist

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Jul 31, 2003

• Dec 19, 2004

• #4

Svetlana Lapina, Russian ice dancer, started skating at age 15.

IIRC Miki Ando started skating at age 9. At age 14 she landed a quad salchow in a competition.

Vash

 

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soogar

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Dec 18, 2003

• Dec 19, 2004

• #5

Didn't the Protopopovs start skating at 18 and 19?

 

ks777

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Aug 15, 2003

• Dec 19, 2004

• #6

Vash01 said:

Svetlana Lapina, Russian ice dancer, started skating at age 15.

IIRC Miki Ando started skating at age 9. At age 14 she landed a quad salchow in a competition.

Vash

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Miki also won the jr GP finals at the age of 13.

 

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SkateFan4Life

Guest

• Dec 19, 2004

• #7

soogar said:

Didn't the Protopopovs start skating at 18 and 19?

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I'm not sure exactly when they started skating, but they did start at a relatively late age. They won the first of their two consecutive Olympic pairs gold medals in 1964 when Ludmilla was 29 and Oleg was 32. They defended their title four years later at age 33 and 36. That's almost ancient in the world of figure skating. Of course, in those days, the pairs performed double twist lifts, single and double side by side jumps - usually the most difficult being a side-by-side double flip, and few performed throw jumps. Technically speaking, they were light years behind today's pairs, so perhaps "late bloomers" could learn the tricks with relative ease.

 

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hockeyfan228

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• Dec 19, 2004

• #8

According to Uwe Preiser's book Born to be a Star/Sternstunden des Eislkunstlaufs, Oleg Protopopov was 15 when he started to skate, having been rejected by the conservatory in Leningrad. (I'm assuming the one associated with the Kirov, where Balanchine studied piano concurrently with his ballet studies.)

 

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SkateFan4Life

Guest

• Dec 19, 2004

• #9

hockeyfan228 said:

According to Uwe Preiser's book Born to be a Star/Sternstunden des Eislkunstlaufs, Oleg Protopopov was 15 when he started to skate, having been rejected by the conservatory in Leningrad. (I'm assuming the one associated with the Kirov, where Balanchine studied piano concurrently with his ballet studies.)

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Thanks for the specifics! In any case, Oleg was a "late bloomer", and he become one of the greatest pairs skaters of all time.

 

dlkksk8fan

Medalist

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Jul 26, 2003

• Dec 19, 2004

• #10

Oleg was 15 when he started skating and Ludmila was 16 years old when she started.

 

TRAxel

On the Ice

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Jul 26, 2003

Country

• Dec 20, 2004

• #11

Don't quote me on this, but I think Ben Ferreira was 12 when he started skating as well.

 

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Evdokia

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Oct 24, 2003

• Dec 20, 2004

• #12

Roman Kostomarov started skating at age 9, which is pretty late for Russian standards at that time. Ten years later, in 1996 he became World Junior World Champion in Ice Dancing with Ekaterina Davydova.

 

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icenut84

Final Flight

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Jul 27, 2003

• Dec 22, 2004

• #13

Christopher Dean started relatively late too - I think he was 10, and didn't have a lesson for a year, so didn't start lessons till he was 11. And he went on to win the Olympics and become one of the best & most successful ice dancers ever. I think Jayne Torvill was 8 or 9, so late-ish too.

 

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SkateFan4Life

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• Dec 22, 2004

• #14

icenut84 said:

Christopher Dean started relatively late too - I think he was 10, and didn't have a lesson for a year, so didn't start lessons till he was 11. And he went on to win the Olympics and become one of the best & most successful ice dancers ever. I think Jayne Torvill was 8 or 9, so late-ish too.

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Jayne Torvill was a pairs skater before she switched to ice dancing with Christopher Dean. They were paired in their mid-teens, I believe. They won their first competition together in 1976, when she was 18 and he was 17.

 

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Linny

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Aug 13, 2003

• Dec 22, 2004

• #15

Still Blooming

The Protapopovs may have been late bloomers, but their rose is the longest lived of any skater I am aware of. Linny

 

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SkateFan4Life

Guest

• Dec 23, 2004

• #16

Linny said:

The Protapopovs may have been late bloomers, but their rose is the longest lived of any skater I am aware of. Linny

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Absolutely! The Protopopovs won the World Profesisonal Figure Skating Championships in the 1980s when they were in their in their mid-40s. OK, perhaps the judges gave them the slightest benefit of the doubt, but their performance was masterful, and, IMHO, it was worthy of the 10's they received.
They were legendary, without a doubt.

 

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MasterB

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Jul 18, 2004

• Dec 26, 2004

• #17

Late it is.

Brian Boitano began at 9 also. Ye Bin Mok I think started at 10 and within three years was already a novice champion and then injuries struck. These folks have tremendous talent. I guess when you got the goods it doesn't really matter if you start at the age of 3 or 12.

 

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SkateFan4Life

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• Dec 26, 2004

• #18

icy_fresh said:

Thanks for sharing these!

Jennifer Don started skating when she was 10 and a half and has won medals on the novice (2001 at 16 yrs. old) and junior levels (2002 at 17 yrs. old) at Nationals. This past season she also finished 4th in Senior pairs at Nats.

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Dorothy Hamill was 8 1/2 when she started to skate. A neighbor gave her a pair of ice skates for Christmas, back in 1964. While she wasn't really "old" to start skating, and she obviously showed strong potential from the beginning, she wasn't a two-year-old on skates, either.