The most popular/beloved skater/s worldwide recently?
- Thread starter All that Jazz
- Start date
Woah, too many good names to pick from. I could have chosen anyone from that list.
Elvis Stojko is perhaps my all time favorite male skater, but Plushenko has been much more succesful in recent years and I like him very much too so my vote went for there.
You can't compare ladies and men... It was hard to leave Michelle and Sasha out but they are definitely my favorite female skaters.
Elvis Stojko is perhaps my all time favorite male skater, but Plushenko has been much more succesful in recent years and I like him very much too so my vote went for there.
You can't compare ladies and men... It was hard to leave Michelle and Sasha out but they are definitely my favorite female skaters.
Careless1506 said:
Dear friend,
regarding popularity of skaters worldwide:
Zhenia Plushenko is the only figure skater nowadays who has over 50 websites dedicated solely and strictly to him ( leave alone lots of sites where he is included as a sectiion) Georaphicallly those sites cover our whole Globe,
and I think this fact cries that Plushy is the most popular skater today - and I hope in many years to come!
Libra - from Russia, with love
This statement made me really curious and I decided to do a research just to see if Evgeni Plushenko really has as many sites devoted to him. I counted only the sites dedicated solely to him and fan message boards that are active. I came up with the following results:
Total 27 sites/fan pages/message boards
4 Japanese sites
3 Russian sites (+one forum)
3 Hungarian sites
2 Spanish sites
2 Czech sites
1 Korean site
Other sites and forums are in English, although it doesn't mean their creators are native English speakers.
For the sake of comparison I made the same type of research on two leaders of the poll: Michelle Kwan and Alexei Yagudin.
Michelle Kwan - 39 sites/pages/forums
3 Japanese
1 Chinese
Alexei Yagudin - 58 sites/pages/forums
9 Russian (+3 forums)
8 Japanese
3 French
2 Polish
1 UK
I realize I might miss something, but at least I can prove my statistics by providing the links to all the sites I've found
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Thanks for the statistics, Toffee. 
That's very interesting. I guess I am not really surprised that almost all of the Michelle Kwan sites are U.S. based (or at least in English), while Alexei and Evgeny have a lot of appeal in Europe.
It will be interesting to see whether Alexei fans stay loyal now that Alexei has moved on to the pro ranks, or whether there will be a big surge to either Plushenko or Joubert.
Mathman
That's very interesting. I guess I am not really surprised that almost all of the Michelle Kwan sites are U.S. based (or at least in English), while Alexei and Evgeny have a lot of appeal in Europe.It will be interesting to see whether Alexei fans stay loyal now that Alexei has moved on to the pro ranks, or whether there will be a big surge to either Plushenko or Joubert.
Mathman
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2003
Nuica said:I agree with Joe.
But I think that Alexei is well known and beloved in Europe as well as in US and Canada. Don't forget Japan, and in Asia.
I am from Europe, and I think that I like more European skaters. So sometimes surprises me to hear from fan of Slutskaya from US. Yes she is super skater, but somehow I tend to think that in US fans only support their skaters, and few the best from Asia and Europe. Well that is probably because how the crowd supports competitors during their skate. I will never forget Vancouver 2001, Irina and Ilia s free program. You could not hear a bee in audience. They skated very well but audience did not respond. The same happened in 2003 in Washington.
I love watching Euros because everybody is supported.
dunja
There is some truth in what you said. I was at the 2001 worlds in Vancouver . The reason the audience was so quiet during Irina and Ilia's performance was - I am guessing- they were in direct competition with Bourne & Kratz. You don't always see such a partial audience in other countries. At the 2002 worlds, which were in Japan, I heard that the crowd cheered Sasha Abt even though he was competing against Takeshi Honda.
I think Yagudin's popularity in North America is an exception, but it may be because he is not competing against a top N.American at this point. His main competition was Plushenko, a fellow Russian who lives in Russia.
I believe Michelle is respected world wide, but not everyone really gets in to her skating, outside of North America. She does not skate that much outside this continent either. It is not to say she is not a great skater, but in terms of crowd appeal I am unsure about how she would be received in Europe or Asia. She was received very well in Dortmund, I think, but it may have been because of the streaker incident just before she skated. May be some people realized at that point what a great competitor she is and how artistic she is.
On th whole, I have to agree with you that if you leave out the big name skaters, it is hard to be truly popular in another part of the world. Katarina Witt, G&G, Midori Ito, Yagudin, Plushnenko, and perhaps Michelle are exceptions.
Vash
I have to praise my countrymen in Dortmund. During the last group of the men's-LP they're supporting and cheering for everyone, the atmosphere was amazing then. Just to think about what a huge crowd reaction Lambiel received (and rightly so!), even though he was the direct competitor of Lindemann for Bronze, still makes me proud. 
Anke
Anke
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2003
I vote for Bennith...ha ha, I just thought that corny word up to be Ben and Tanith!
No Sarah Hughes?!?!
She would rank in the top 5 I think.
Right now I would have to go with Michelle Kwan. Not a favorite of mine, but fans love her. The response to her in Europe was amazing. I read how much Europeans disliked her and would boo her and stuff, but what I saw was the opposite. They either fell in love with her that night, or have always liked her.
I know they like Sarah too.
I think Europeans like Sasha Cohen too, because after teh Olympics, when she got with TT, she acted to be more proud o her Russian heritage than her American. That got lots of brownie points.
She would rank in the top 5 I think.
Right now I would have to go with Michelle Kwan. Not a favorite of mine, but fans love her. The response to her in Europe was amazing. I read how much Europeans disliked her and would boo her and stuff, but what I saw was the opposite. They either fell in love with her that night, or have always liked her.
I know they like Sarah too.
I think Europeans like Sasha Cohen too, because after teh Olympics, when she got with TT, she acted to be more proud o her Russian heritage than her American. That got lots of brownie points.
The very special Dortmund audience received every skater well, an awful lot of them got a huge applause, big cheers and standing o's, including Kwan, but by far not only Kwan! And it doesn't say anything about her real fan base here (no European fansite for example).
Anke
Anke
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Kwan is pretty popular in Asia as well. It doesn't really matter who the most popular in the world is...I mean is there really a difference whether or not you're number one, as long as you are well-respected and admired? Anyways popularity is fleeting and people are fickle. In a couple of years, we're going to have a new crop of skaters who will be the most popular in the world.
I guess that's why this poll has the little word "recently" in it!VIETgrlTerifa said:
Naaa, don't think so. Can't say anything about Asia, but she's neither popular nor unpopular among European skating fans. She's, like Tara Lipinski, just another "won & gone" from USA.
Anke
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2003
Are you asking why American gals don't think Yags and Plushy are all that? Could be we are not as easily impressed as you European ladies, LOL
.Not a thing! IMO John Zimmerman
is the hottest guy in skating. Mike Wiess is a great looking guy too. Too bad both are married (not to mention young enouigh to be my sons). You need to take into consideration that skating (other than ladies singles) is not one of the top sports in the U.S. Our sports idols are more likely to come from baseball, basketball, football, or NASCAR.Similar threads
