Michelle’s jump consistency: fact or nostalgia?

[Kwanford Wife]

She was more consistant than most skaters because her programs were not as hard as a world champions should have been. Her grace was impressive but her jumps and spins were not.

This is just silly... visit youtube and watch her world champion skates and then tell me about what's hard and what's not and pay close attention to not only how techincally difficult the skates were, but also to her ability to link elements together from the beginning to the end...

 

[christinaskater]

Michelle is stunning! Her jumps are brilliant

 

[gkelly]

Here's what I think.

If you transplanted Michelle with the skills she had in her late teens/early 20s to today and gave her elements and choreography based on today's rules, she would do just fine. I'd expect level 4 spirals with +2 GOE, and spins and steps at levels 2-4 often +1 GOE. Also she'd get a lot of +1s and even 2s on her jumps, and she would get high component scores. I don't think she would win everything in sight, but I think she would be a consistent medal contender.

If you go back and score her actual programs from those days, she didn't have all the higher level elements because they weren't constructed according to rules that hadn't yet been written, although they often did come closer than what many of her competitors were doing. (For example, she would get credit for her spiral sequence because she did hold at least one position for >3 seconds, whereas most of the other skaters at the time just hit each position and moved on to the next.)

If Michelle in her late 20s were to return to competition, she probably wouldn't do as well as she would have with a younger body just because of the toll that the years of pounding have already taken. Also it's harder to develop flexibility as an adult than as a child or teenager; my understanding was that trying to learn new flexibility moves in 2005 was part of what led to her being unable to compete in 2006.

If extreme back-flexibility moves had been rewarded as heavily 10-15 years ago as they are now, I'm sure she would have developed more of them but, that wouldn't have been her forte. Instead, maybe she'd have used the opposite-direction spins more often and would have popularized that spin feature as well as the change of edge spiral.

 

[nubka]

This is just silly... visit youtube and watch her world champion skates and then tell me about what's hard and what's not and pay close attention to not only how techincally difficult the skates were, but also to her ability to link elements together from the beginning to the end...

"Linking elements?" You mean with all those "artistic" cross overs?

 

[Kwanford Wife]

"Linking elements?" You mean with all those "artistic" cross overs?

Again, visit youtube and watch her competitive skates. And then judge. Or continue to live in your bubble of denial... But whatever... I'd rather watch her "artistic" crossovers than wobbly, sloppy skating anyday of the week - but that's just me. You do you.

 

[gkelly]

Kwan had more connecting moves in the 1990s than the 2000s, and more in 2000-2002 than in 2003-2005. If you only watched the more recent performances, you might have missed all the moves she was doing earlier in her career.

 

[fml99]

a bit of both

I think this is a question of what period of her career you are looking at. During her peak years (e.g. late 90s, perhaps through '01), she was quite consistent. But what champion in any sport has had a long career and has been equally consistent throughout? Of course champions go through slumps and / or decline somewhat in their later years. You certainly don't remember Michael Jordan, Martina Navratilova, etc. for the twilight of their careers but for their peak years.

 

[Fossi]

How many of the current competitors have named Michelle Kwan as their idol? I'd say quite a few,and there's good reason for it.

 

[nubka]

Again, visit youtube and watch her competitive skates. And then judge. Or continue to live in your bubble of denial... But whatever... I'd rather watch her "artistic" crossovers than wobbly, sloppy skating anyday of the week - but that's just me. You do you.

I've watched her on Youtube many times. I just don't consider endless crossovers to be "linking moves."

 

[icestar]

Allot of clean skates at Worlds, and that is where it counts most. Who has more clean skates at worlds?

 

[laceup]

How many of the current competitors have named Michelle Kwan as their idol? I'd say quite a few,and there's good reason for it.

This is very true - she is an idol to soooo many good skaters these days

 

[Phobiamaster856]

I think michelle is consistent because shes been able to come back after making mistakes and not fall apart in the middle of her program. Also whenever she did attempt the triple/triple in competition she landed or two footed it.