We're just days removed from V/M winning their second individual gold medal, so people are making statements about the greatest ever. Though I have the highest respect for V/M I think there's some heavy recency bias involved. I think trying to prove any one team is the greatest is a futile exercise.
Instead I thought it would be more interesting to hear opinions on a Mt. Rushmore. Rules being: 1) you can only include 4 teams (or less) and 2) you have to sit back and give historical teams a fair shot (YouTube allows for this quite easily).
I hope this is not against the rules, but we had a mini discussion about greats in the Canadian Nationals Free Dance thread and I read one of the most beautiful contributions ever (note that I love history and stories and I've added my own emphases):
My list is similar to markovai's with a big exception: Moisseeva/Minenkov, Torvil/Dean, Virtue/Moir and Klimova/Ponomarenko. I add K/P because of how they handled that 8 year progression of the sport and reached their peak with that masterpiece at the 1992 Olympics.
My alternates (should someone not be willing or able to serve ): Usova/Zhulin (Four Seasons and Blues for Klook) Davis/White (Bollywood, Die Fledermaus, Giselle, NDP), Papadakis/Cizeron (they'll move up over the next quad but Build a Home and their glide already has them up here)
The more the merrier. Lurkers please come out of hiding and drop your knowledge. Dorispulaski I'm patiently waiting for your post :luv17:
Instead I thought it would be more interesting to hear opinions on a Mt. Rushmore. Rules being: 1) you can only include 4 teams (or less) and 2) you have to sit back and give historical teams a fair shot (YouTube allows for this quite easily).
I hope this is not against the rules, but we had a mini discussion about greats in the Canadian Nationals Free Dance thread and I read one of the most beautiful contributions ever (note that I love history and stories and I've added my own emphases):
I watch figure skating since 1966 and I remember very well all great ice dance teams and champions, starting with the first Olympic champions Ludmila Pohomova and Gorchkov. So, I think I have the right to give my opinion about the greatest ice dance teams. Once back in 1981 I even took a train for 3 days and 3 nights to go to Moscow for the only reason to watch in person Irina Moisseeva and Andrei Minenkov. They were and still are my personal all time favorites, even though judges didn't even give them an Olympic gold.
Although everybody has his/her own favorites, objectively I think that the ice dance World and Olympic champions had/have different influence on the development of this sport, they were on the top of the ice dancing world for a shorter or longer period, etc. That is why it makes sense to put them into different categories. There were Olympic champions who received a gold medal, but didn't influence significantly the future development of the sport. They won because they were the best at that competition/that season, or because of political reasons or other circumstances (for example Lininchuk/Karponossov, Navka/Kostomarov). There were Olympic champions who left a more significant and longer trace in the sport - Bestemyanova/Bukin, Klimova/Ponomarenko, Davis/White and a few more.
And there are the greatest champions ever - I would put in this group Pohomova/Gorchkov, Moisseeva/Minenkov, Torvil/Dean and Virtue/Moir. Pohomova/Gorchkov were the first Olympic champions, Moisseeva and Minenkov transformed ice dancing from its baby steps to a mature combination of a sport and a piece of art and influenced Torvill and Dean who then fully developed in this direction and became the greatest ice dancers of the past century. And in the 21 century we have Tessa and Scott who are on the top of this sport for a decade, who influenced young ice dancers all over the world, who proved that they are equally beautiful in interpreting music like Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and Moulin Rouge. This variety in the programs is one of the reasons we can think of them as one of the greatest. Being able to look different, to dance perfectly on any kind of music and not repeat yourself over and over again - this is also one of the ultimate signs of greatness. So, I don't disagree with Tracy Wilson's statement about Tessa and Scott.
Finally, my daughter is lucky enough to skate now at the same rink with Tessa and Scott and Gabby and Guillaume and every time I had the chance to watch them in practice (both teams) they made me cry. Watching in person, not on TV - it is unbelievably beautiful,it's magical, it's another universe. I am sure one day in the future Gaby and Guillaume will fit in the group of the greatest ever champions, too.
My list is similar to markovai's with a big exception: Moisseeva/Minenkov, Torvil/Dean, Virtue/Moir and Klimova/Ponomarenko. I add K/P because of how they handled that 8 year progression of the sport and reached their peak with that masterpiece at the 1992 Olympics.
My alternates (should someone not be willing or able to serve ): Usova/Zhulin (Four Seasons and Blues for Klook) Davis/White (Bollywood, Die Fledermaus, Giselle, NDP), Papadakis/Cizeron (they'll move up over the next quad but Build a Home and their glide already has them up here)
The more the merrier. Lurkers please come out of hiding and drop your knowledge. Dorispulaski I'm patiently waiting for your post :luv17: