Trolling is serious business!Is this really necessary? I thought somebody was joking around.
Trolling is serious business!Is this really necessary? I thought somebody was joking around.
Both have great career, any skater will dream to have.
I don't think anyone can compare one with the other. They skated in different era with different requirements. They learned different skills to maximise their winning potential.
Had a clean Michelle Kwan been there instead there would be nothing Putin could do. While Sotnikova winning over Kim was wrong, Kim was still weak enough he thought he could get away with it (and did, so was obviously correct). Michelle if she skated cleanly would simply be strong for it to even be possible and get away with. The gap between the two skaters would simply be too much to pull it off without a scandal that even exceeded what it did in this case.
I must have missed Michelle Kwan skating CLEANLY and losing to Hughes. Oh yeah that is since it never happened. Kim skated cleanly and still lost to someone like Sotnikova which would never have happened to Kwan. I also have disagreed with the Sochi results so no I am not oblivious to the fixed judging in Sochi, but the fact is that is the final result of the Sochi Games. Kim skating cleanly and still losing to a skater like Sotnikova.
I agree. I have seen Michelle Kwan skate live numerous times and there is simply nothing like here, before or since. Maybe Janet Lynn in her prime, but I am far too young to seen that live, and maybe Midori Ito due to just sheer excitement and out of the world man like athleticsm, but that would be it.
Except that controversial decisions and results happen in skating all the time. So y cant single out the Olympicresults without reopening all others. You can say Kim should have won the 2014 OGM, but then say Kwanmaybe should have won the 98 OGM, 2002 OGM, 95 world title, 2004 world title, so what is the difference? Fact is Kim has only 1 OGM and 2 world titles. Michelle has 5 world titles, 2 Olympic medals like Kim, and 9 world medals. Kwan's record is way superior.
Now that Yu Na Kim's career is likely over it is time we concede she is nowhere near the legend of the great Michelle Kwan. The only way the two would maybe be even comparable is if Kim had won her 2nd OGM, which she failed to, skating cleanly and still losing to a mediocre skater no less. Yu Na has only 2 world titles, less than half what the vastly superior Michelle Kwan managed, even with much tougher competition. I am not sure if Yu Na is even the best skater of her own era anymore. Mao has more world titles, more grand prix final titles, more grand prix wins, more Four Continents titles, basically everything on Yu Na minus the Olympic gold. She also is a much more artistic and polished skater, with much better spins and spirals, who pushed the envelope much more technically than Yu Na Kim.
Michelle competing years earlier regularly did 7 triples vs Yu Na who only does 6, had better spins, much better spirals, better footwork, and more artistry. She was equally good at toe jump and edge jumps, unlike Yu Na who is far better in toe jumps than edge jumps. The two are not in the same league, now that Kim has failed (in miserable fashion no less) to win her 2nd OGM.
:thumbsup:Ugh. This whole thread is a joke and neither Michelle nor Yuna would approve...
I'd say she is not in the same league, but she has come closer than anybody else.
They are pretty close. But where Yuna has solid 3/3's and difficult jump combinations Michelle had an artistry and presence on the ice that can't be matched. A lot of skaters try to appear to be so lost in the music and the program but it doesn't look authentic, they look as if they are working at it. Michelle really felt the music and she made you watch her, she (quoting Peggy Fleming here) "cast a spell over the audience". Even if she was faking it ( which I don't think she was, she loved the sport and loved to be on the ice competing and that joy she had for her sport could be seen in her movements and in her facial expressions) It is something you can't teach. It has to come from within the skater.
Schuba is still deserving of respect though. The sport is called FIGURE skating. That is its true origins. So it is hard to deny the greatness of arguably the greatest figures skater ever. Even Lynn concedes under the scoring system of the time Schuba fully deserved all her titles over her and the other more dazzling free skaters, and called Schuba's figures a work of art, something to behold. I would even say Schuba is probably a greater champion in the sport than Yu Na, although probably not as great as the 4 greatest ever- Asada, Lynn, Ito, and Kwan.
I didn't mean to imply that Schuba doesn't deserve respect or that she didn't earn her titles under the scoring system of the day. She certainly did, and her figures were indeed gorgeous. My only point was that the color and/or quantity of medals a skater has isn't necessarily indicative of all-around greatness.
I agree, my only point was Schuba should still be considered great as well IMO. It annoys me when people talk about the weakest Olympic Champions ever anyone would put her in the same category as Poetzsch, Hughes, and Sotnikova. Based on her figures excellence, the foundation of the sport, she is light years beyond ones like those.
We should watch the Hero program they skated together. That says it all.