Kwan was lucky because
She was born in America.
She was labeled as a tragic heroine through the events surrounding 1994 olympics.
When she was 15, every prominent US skater was gone.
When she was 15, the top of the world was Lulu (a relatively weak skater).
Younger and stronger rivals have retired early (Lipinsky & Sarah Hughes)
The only real rival (Slutskaya) was rather inconsitent.
No one did triple axels at that time.
Belatedly, I just want to add my protest here.Kwan was lucky because
When she was 15, the top of the world was Lulu (a relatively weak skater).
...
I would suggest perhaps, albeit as an admitedly biased Slutskaya fan, that Irina may feel she could have won the short program, which would have given her the gold as well. The 2 seasons leading up until that point Irina had always won the short when she skated cleanly, even many times Kwan had, often by clear margins. Yet in SLC that was not the case as she lost a 5-4 split in the short, strongly contradicting what had happened between Kwan and Slutskaya in short program for those 2 seasons. ...
Obviously I can take it, as I started a whole thread about how I can't stand the Zhang kid. So I'll say it here, too. She is the most overscored lady (er... child? toddler?) in recent history. 20+ points ahead of all the rest? She's consistant and flexible but she's not THAT great.
FWIW, Sasha would be my second pick.
At this point in time, Caroline is one of the best female skaters at any level. From my assessment at seeing her in Spokane, she is capable of beating any of our National medalists. Her artistry is fully developed. She, like Alissa, casts an aura over the ice the minute she takes her pose. Her spins and spirals are par excellent. If she continues to develop her technical (jumps) arsenal, she will be a contender in 2010! (If you had seen the junior comps in Spokane, you would fully understand why USFS is including these junior skaters in the Spring Cheese Fest. At Spokane, I looked upon them, not as future stars, but present stars. Caroline and Mirai were certainly treated as stars at the Nationals Exhibition telecast! Caroline's exhibition was the highlight of that show!)
I think Yu-na Kim was overscored in her SP for the 2007 Worlds. She was wonderful but I don't think she should've gotten that high...
Why, yes. You are missing the sheer Kwanliness of it all. It's simply Kwanderful.Am I missing something? :think: