- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
Slutskaya was a dominant female Russian skater for about a decade and Russia had a few other female single skaters who could compete internationally. Because of this situation, Putin invested heavily on nurturing the next generation of figure skaters who could make the country proud. Just in time for Sochi, Yulia Lipnitskaya emerged dramatically in this environment, followed by the quad generation.
Russia had Maria Butyrskaya who was the 2002 European Champion heading into 2002. They also had Viktoria Volchkova who was a brilliant jumper in her day. Not the best choreography unfortunately.
We should also remember that Sarah had beaten both Michelle and Irina at Skate Canada 2001 leading up to the games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34MEuKKyZa8