What Was Your Intro to Figure Skating?

[Mohacz]

I discovered figure skating and fell madly in love with it with "Missing" by Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay at 1990 World. I was 10, knew nothing about the rules, judging, etc., but was simply captivated by this program. I felt sorry they didn't win and was crazily happy one year later, when they grabbed the gold. Since then I have not missed any figure skating competition on TV. Over the 90s I used to record every competition on VHS and, believe me, the collection is quite big. Every now and then my mom warns me that one day she will throw all those tapes away because they occupy a lot of room in her house Ice dance is still my favourite discipline and as much as I dislike sibling couples, for me Isabelle and Paul are the only ones that make me forget they are actually brother and sister.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgo5-w7smSM

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Probably stories about Jenna McCorkell on the local news in the late 90's. To the local media, it was a real novelty for somebody from here to take up figure skating.

But, when I really got hooked was during the 2003 European Championships. I was doing my homework in the kitchen, and I needed a break. So, I put on the TV, and the Ladies FS was on Eurosport. And then this happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28djAK9g4-0

And the rest, as they say, is history.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[labgoat]

Probably stories about Jenna McCorkell on the local news in the late 90's. To the local media, it was a real novelty for somebody from here to take up figure skating.

But, when I really got hooked was during the 2003 European Championships. I was doing my homework in the kitchen, and I needed a break. So, I put on the TV, and the Ladies FS was on Eurosport. And then this happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28djAK9g4-0

And the rest, as they say, is history.

CaroLiza_fan

It has been incredible watching Carolina through the years. Always artistic, her challenges controlling her power. For me she is the one I watch from Sochi with a smile. A great lady.

 

[rinkside_user]

Slutskaya in the early noughties, mostly 2005-06ish. Finally someone where you didn't have to worry about falling as she was one of the most consistent and athletic ones in the field. Too bad about Turin, though.

 

[renla]

Yuri on Ice! It led me to actually start figure skating, and then soon after I discovered Yuzuru and that was all she wrote, lol. He was the only current skater I latched onto, and I spent a lot of time watching skaters who had retired already like Plushenko and Yuna. I remember watching Bolero for the first time a couple of months ago and I was pretty much stunned the entire time. I'm not sure if that would hold up in today's environment, but my coach was there during the performance and he said it had a huge impact. They were really enchanting.

Stephane Lambiel plays a big part in my interest too! I honestly haven't watched much of his performances when he was competing because my general impression is that he is much more expressive and artistic when he's not constricted by rules and nerves. If I have a bad practice or am just feeling apathetic abut skating, I can watch a video of him and it's all I need to get inspired again. I get inspired by Yuzuru too, but that's more of a "jump higher!" or "don't be afraid to go faster!" kind of thing. Lambiel's is more of a calm, settling kind of feeling. I would LOVE to see him live but I don't think he comes to the US.

Okay, I'm done rambling now

 

[saphire]

I feel so old. My first memories of watching figure skating was Dorothy Hamill

 

[likevelvet]

My mom and dad both skated. My dad was a speed skater and then took up figures after he met my mom - my mother was a Portlander who had known Tonya Harding casually, though Tonya was obviously a few years younger than her. I remember that year in very small pieces because I was only like 3 or 4, but I definitely remember Michelle Kwan, which is when I think I got really interested in committing to the sport myself. I'll never be Michelle or Tonya but I still have fun on the ice

 

[charlotte14]

Albertville 1992 Mishkutenok & Dmitriev - mesmerizing

Same here. I was 5 when they showed that on tivi.

 

[Ladskater]

I discovered figure skating and fell madly in love with it with "Missing" by Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay at 1990 World. I was 10, knew nothing about the rules, judging, etc., but was simply captivated by this program. I felt sorry they didn't win and was crazily happy one year later, when they grabbed the gold. Since then I have not missed any figure skating competition on TV. Over the 90s I used to record every competition on VHS and, believe me, the collection is quite big. Every now and then my mom warns me that one day she will throw all those tapes away because they occupy a lot of room in her house Ice dance is still my favourite discipline and as much as I dislike sibling couples, for me Isabelle and Paul are the only ones that make me forget they are actually brother and sister.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgo5-w7smSM

Oh thanks for reminding of this wonderful program. Yes, it was one of my favorites too, of course the choreography was done by the great Christopher Dean. I thought Isabelle and Paul captured the true meaning of the music and was also disappointed when they didn't win. Have you ever seen their special they did to the music The Planets - Brian Orser is also a featured skater. It's wonderful. I agree about the brother and sister point as well, I also used to forget that!

 

[FlyingFeather]

I was bored while cornrowing my hair, too disgusted with rhythmic gymnastics's scoring to watch it, and out of ballet DVDs to watch, so I watched 2015 Worlds on Youtube. I loved all of it, but C/L's performances are the ones that stuck out in my mind and made me keep watching.

 

[mau]

I thought this thread would be ideal for my first post.

I remember watching Vancouver, I was a kid at that time and I got fascinated with figure skating, I even pretended I was a skater at my room Unfortunately, my country isn't familiar with the sport, so I just left it behind. However, skating has appeared again in my life some months ago thru the media I follow and I got obsessed with the sport again.

 

[Mrs. P]

Hey mau welcome to Golden Skate! Post often, post long!

 

[steiner]

Michelle Kwan at 1998 Nationals. I was absolutely in love and I haven’t looked back since.

 

[Inessence]

1992 - Albertville. Tuned in because we had a local Portlander going for the gold.

 

[koatcue]

It started in 2002 with Plushenko/Yagudin rivalry. What can I say, I love drama

 

[anonymoose_au]

I first went skating when I was about 6, because at that time the small country town I lived in actually had its own rink! (Sadly it closed down a couple of years later) I seem to remember being a little terrified of setting foot on the ice, but by the end of the session I was loving it!

Alas I didn't do it very often however when my family and I moved to the Big Smoke (aka Sydney) I took lessons for a few terms, but alas, I couldn't pass into Basic 2 because I was too scared to try a bunny hop fail!

Then I didn't go skating for a very long time until I bought a second hand pair of skates at the end of 2014 and since then I try to go once a week, although I haven't taken lessons, because I'm too much of a wuss and I don't want to fall (it's cold and hard down there!) so I just glide around

As for watching it, I'm not sure...although I'm quite certain I watched Surya Bonaly and her backflip at the 1998 Olympics, and I remember the pairs fiasco at Salt Lake. I got behind Plushy in 2006, 2010 and 2014, but it was only after Sochi that the SBS channel down here started showing figure skating highlights and I discovered you could find all sorts of old programs on YouTube and then I figured out streaming.

 

[mau]

Hey mau welcome to Golden Skate! Post often, post long!

Thank you!

 

[Izabela]

Watching Ice Princess at my friend’s house (lol). That’s the first time I found out about figure skating back in 2008 and then she showed me a Mao clip. I instantly got hooked and marathoned her programs. But didn’t seriously follow competition until 2009 with Yuna’s Danse Macabre. She’s the one who really made me realize that figure skating is an art. It’s hard to explain what she made me feel tbh. I only followed Worlds Championships and limited my engagement to ladies figure skating. Branched out to Men when Yuna went to a voluntary exile and followed Patrick, backtracking to Daisuke, and then back to Yuna again in 2013.

Stopped following competition all together after Yuna retired and have only seen yt vids for Mao. I guess when Pyeongchang happened and I’ve seen Yuna lighting up the cauldron I also wanted to come back and seriously follow the sport again. I’m not heavily invested on any skater (Although I’m partial to team Korea and the juniors Eunsoo and Young) so I am riding it more lightly. Honestly don’t think this is the best time to come back since I can no longer see what made me fall in love to the sport but I honestly do want to know what will happen to Zagitova, Miyahara, Dabin and Kaori in the senior, and the exciting batch of junior skaters.

 

[moriel]

I used to watch casually (aka every 4 years), until I randomly found some Liza Tuktik videos during her winning season.
Her jumps turned me into a hardcore FS fan =D

 

[yume]

Mao-Yuna Rivalry. It started with an article about Yuna (mentioning her rivalry with Mao) in a magazine. I was enough intrigued to see an winter sport star in a magazine for young africans to make some researchs and find videos. Mao catch my eye more than Yuna.
But i wasn't so invested in figure skating. It's Yuzuru who made me fall in love with the sport, with his R&J 1 program.