Convince me!

[Tinymavy15]

Hughes (both)

Emily Hughes:

She loves the sport. She may not be a dainty ballerina, but remeber that this is a sport. She tries hard, and even when it dosen't work out she is happy, but resoves to try harder. She stays true to herself and her family, is a straight A student and can play a mean violin.

 

[Kwanford Wife]

pssttt quick, KW, before *I* chime in the with boys about the typo, go and edit your post and fix the error

anyway...

Sarah Hughes survived Robin Wagner... I think that's enough lol Robin just seems so smothering

not only that she stuck it out, hit her major goal, and then continued on and is achieving her next goal = that degree from an ivy league school... even though it seemed the skating world - most especially her former coach - went after her with torch and pitchfork that she dare 'make a mistake' and leave skating (Wagner was completely out of line in that article)

She had a joy and a love for skating... but she also had a level head and was fortunate enough to have a family that didn't make it the end all be all and you will do this and succeed and that's all there is to it... she was a breath of fresh air in that respect.

Toni - this is soo very true. I'm not Sarah fan, but this is one thing about both her and Emily that I always loved and appreciated. I also never understood this idea of fans that she and her sister were somehow wrong for placing great value on an ivy league education... so many skaters don't seem to have a plan for their real lives after skating is done and that's unfortuante... Just like its unfortuante that some fans believe that SOI is the best use of skaters' futures...

I will always remember when following her olympic win, Sarah said that while the gold medal was cool - she was much more concerned with getting a 1550 on her SAT to ensure her place at Yale... Now, that's cool.

(I'm too lazy to edit my original post Brian... so tease away...)

 

[Bennett]

Kimmie Meissner is an atheletic, talented skater. She has great speed and good jumps. She is also happy and adorable. It is always refreshing to watch her skate and happy smiles. She is now transforming to a more mature senior skater. Off ice, she is attending a college. She is also working on cool kids project through which she raises funds for kids with cancer.

 

[BelleFilleYuna]

YuNa Kim

Technically she's superb. She comes from a country where there are less than 100 registered skaters, where she cannot be protected by a strong federation, where there's not much training facilities and it's just a wonder that she managed to have sound and textbook technique on her jump. She'll get only stronger whenever the rules go stringent. I personally don't mind if she can't turn out her legs in her layback or if she can't stretch her body more...she's not a baby-ballerina and I hope she can be more unique than a baby'ballerina. I believe she already has a unique beautifulness in her skating.

She has such a grounded and down to earth personality that if you get to know her, you can't help but love her even more. She donated large sum of money when she got her first endorsement last year to her younger fellow skaters because she knows what they are going thru financially and she feels for them. She donated half of her school uniform endoresement money, a million dollars to supply school uniforms to less privileged kids this year. If you're passionate enough to follow every moves that she make here in Korea, Yuna and her mother welcome you as their friends and if you stay until late at night with them, Yuna offers a ride home. She doesn't have any Diva in her. When asked it isn't hard to train everyday, she said if she was a normal kid who goes to school everyday, she would be studying hard to go to college so there's nothing really easy in this world. I don't know if any of you noticed, but she extremely refrains from saying the word 'winning'. She wrote on her homepage that she was rather surprised to see how ppl and her fans feel dejected to see her not winning the competition. If she cares about anything, it would be to deliver a clean program and nice presentation. And you see she doesn't lose her persona while performing, she stays in her persona even when she makes mistakes and falls several times. And lately she wanted to speak English fluently so there can be no language barrier in communicating with her coach, and I see an instant improvement in her interview and kudos to her effort.
Yes, she's such a sweet heart!!

 

[Bennett]

Thank you for your great post, BelleFilleYuna! I am touched.

 

[R.D.]

Toni - this is soo very true. I'm not Sarah fan, but this is one thing about both her and Emily that I always loved and appreciated. I also never understood this idea of fans that she and her sister were somehow wrong for placing great value on an ivy league education... so many skaters don't seem to have a plan for their real lives after skating is done and that's unfortuante... Just like its unfortuante that some fans believe that SOI is the best use of skaters' futures...

I will always remember when following her olympic win, Sarah said that while the gold medal was cool - she was much more concerned with getting a 1550 on her SAT to ensure her place at Yale... Now, that's cool.

(I'm too lazy to edit my original post Brian... so tease away...)

I assume you mean 1600 (which was the perfect score at the time, now it's 2400 or something like that).

This may sound mean/snarky/whatever, but here goes...I know education is valued, but I'm really tired of it being rubbed in my face by the Hughes'- and to be fair to them it's not totally their fault, it's mostly the media's for continuing to trumpet it time and time again, as well as posters who need to say it again and again (I don't mean to single you out KW, it's just a general statement).

They aren't the only skaters going to college, BTW. So many seem to forget that.

 

[R.D.]

Entire Post

I got about halfway through... nah, j/k

Anyway, I'd imagine in Korea she is well liked (and not-so-liked by certain Japanese fans lol). However, due to the language barrier I'm not too familiar with her deeds or what she has done otherwise. But I can only go by what I see- and it's really not that much.

I think my interest in international skating must be at an all-time low, but that's without an American in the mix, which virtually has been the case for a long time. (To be fair to the skaters out there, part of it can also be attributed to me not having cable this year, and therefore not being able to see the performances; however, to be quite honest even if I was able to, I probably wouldn't watch). I know I'm looking forward to US Nationals, but I think I could care less what happens at Worlds, because I think we all know which two (three?) are in the mix.

 

[Ravyn Rant]

I didn't want to take the time to go back through the thread to see if anyone had spoken for Sandhu, but if no one has, allow me. Yes, he's a headcase when it comes to competing. However...
I could watch that man skate for days and he wouldn't have to attempt a single jump to keep things interesting. There is no other male skater about whom I can say this. Sandhu dances on ice, and when he's on (yes, I know it's been a while, but I have a good memory), he makes the rest of the boys look like stiff, plodding jump machines.
Yay, E-man! I miss you!
xoxo
Rave

 

[Kwanford Wife]

I assume you mean 1600 (which was the perfect score at the time, now it's 2400 or something like that).

This may sound mean/snarky/whatever, but here goes...I know education is valued, but I'm really tired of it being rubbed in my face by the Hughes'- and to be fair to them it's not totally their fault, it's mostly the media's for continuing to trumpet it time and time again, as well as posters who need to say it again and again (I don't mean to single you out KW, it's just a general statement).

They aren't the only skaters going to college, BTW. So many seem to forget that.

She needed 1550 to get into Yale... not a perfect score. And while I do get where you're coming from ~ its also remarkable and its not the school per se, but more her attitude that Yale trumped the OGM... that's simply cool. Just like its cool that Alyssa attents Bowling Green on academic scholarship, etc. It shows a balance that is missing from most elite skaters' lives...

 

[Bennett]

YuNa Kim

If you're passionate enough to follow every moves that she make here in Korea, Yuna and her mother welcome you as their friends and if you stay until late at night with them, Yuna offers a ride home. :

Do you mean Yuna and her mom let her fans visit her at home and Yuna drives them home?

 

[Treasures17]

So many !
It’s more easy to write who I care than I don’t.

I care for the following skaters .

Johnny Weir, ( He is the reason I started watching men’s skating )
Stephane Lambiel,
Emanuel Sandhu
Daisuke Takahashi
Evgeny Plushenko
Alexi Yagudin
Sasha Cohen
Irina Slutsukaya
Shizuka Arakawa
Miki Ando
Mao Asada
Oksana Baiul’s swan
Tatiana Navka / Roman Kostomorov
Jana / Sergei
Totmyanina / Marinin

I sometimes watch Jeffrey Buttle and Brian Joubert’s skating when I have time.
Yu na Kim's last season's SP was interesting.
And Patrik Chan looks interesting, too since this season.

and I don’t care much for all the other skaters who I don’t list above.

 

[R.D.]

She needed 1550 to get into Yale... not a perfect score. And while I do get where you're coming from ~ its also remarkable and its not the school per se, but more her attitude that Yale trumped the OGM... that's simply cool. Just like its cool that Alyssa attents Bowling Green on academic scholarship, etc. It shows a balance that is missing from most elite skaters' lives...

needed? I guess I don't understand. Of course you want to get as high a score as you can but did Yale have a cutoff SAT range of 1550? IOW, wouldn't something like 1500 be a strong enough score for consideration?

 

[BelleFilleYuna]

Do you mean Yuna and her mom let her fans visit her at home and Yuna drives them home?

Oops, I wasn't clear about that.
Actually it was a story about my cyber friend from korean skating board.
She went to see Yuna's commercial shooting last summer and she happened to stay there past midnight. She bumped into Yuna's mom and they started to chat then Yuna came along and they instantly became close. When the shooting was over, Yuna and her mom offered her a ride since it was late at night and there were not many public transportations available except for taxi. And after that, I noticed they became quite close (for a fan) to exchange greetings through Cyworld(it's kind of a korean version of My Space).
I guess I wanted to say that it was really nice to see Yuna letting her devoted fans into her life, and I soooo envy them!!!!! I can't go to Yuna's place whenever she's here because my boss probably won't let me to!!

 

[Bennett]

Oops, I wasn't clear about that.
Actually it was a story about my cyber friend from korean skating board.
She went to see Yuna's commercial shooting last summer and she happened to stay there past midnight. She bumped into Yuna's mom and they started to chat then Yuna came along and they instantly became close. When the shooting was over, Yuna and her mom offered her a ride since it was late at night and there were not many public transportations available except for taxi. And after that, I noticed they became quite close (for a fan) to exchange greetings through Cyworld(it's kind of a korean version of My Space).
I guess I wanted to say that it was really nice to see Yuna letting her devoted fans into her life, and I soooo envy them!!!!! I can't go to Yuna's place whenever she's here because my boss probably won't let me to!!

Thank you! Very nice story

 

[Mathman]

needed? I guess I don't understand. Of course you want to get as high a score as you can but did Yale have a cutoff SAT range of 1550? IOW, wouldn't something like 1500 be a strong enough score for consideration?

Yale does not have an official cutoff score. George Bush had 1206.

Bill Bradley supposedly has the all-time record for low SATs at Princeton -- a 485 in Verbal. He graduated Magna Cum Laude, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, later won an NBC championship in basketball with the NY Knicks, served as Senator from New Jersey, and was a candidate for President in 2000.

 

[qazwsx]

Brain Joubert
He's also the one male skater my husband can watch without having a million comments becuase he makes skating look like an xgame sport... He makes men's skating cool for all and he also provides the eye candy that I like in my male athletes... and that's a good thing... And he's hot to death... :yes:

well said!!
male skating needs someone like Joubert to make it naturally masculine, with nothing forced.

 

[mizu_iro]

Yale does not have an official cutoff score. George Bush had 1206.

Bill Bradley supposedly has the all-time record for low SATs at Princeton -- a 485 in Verbal. He graduated Magma Cum Laude, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, later won an NBC championship in basketball with the NY Knicks, served as Senator fom New Jersey, and was a candidate for President in 2000.

And I have friends who had a 1600 or 2400 (perfect by their respective scales) and were rejected from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. It's not just the score that matters- it's always a combination of factors. I imagine that with an OGM, Sarah wouldn't have needed a very high score on the SATs. The fact that she worked so hard both athletically and academically is something that I really admire.

 

[nubka]

Michelle Kwan

After the post I read about her on this thread, I'm still not convinced, and probably never will be. Loads of talent to be sure, but I just don't get the hype...

 

[Bennett]

Shizuka Arakawa is known for the quality of edges. Her skating skills are really great. When she did Y-shaped spiral sequences at the Olympics, she had only small spread eagles and a few cross run as an entrance. Then she skated large two curves at the top speed with change edges. This was even more impressive to me than the stretch and extention in her free leg and the exquisite balance that allowed her to let go of the hand that held the free leg.
She is known for her techniques in spins, steps, and jumps. All of her spins and steps got either level 3 or 4 at the Olympics. She also has natural talent in jumps. She can do 3-3-3.
Off ice, she seems very mature in her personality. She seems to be very considerate and thoughtful. She also seems to have great humility.

 

[Wrlmy]

Shizuka Arakawa is known for the quality of edges. Her skating skills are really great. When she did Y-shaped spiral sequences at the Olympics, she had only small spread eagles and a few cross run as an entrance. Then she skated large two curves at the top speed with change edges. This was even more impressive to me than the stretch and extention in her free leg and the exquisite balance that allowed her to let go of the hand that held the free leg.
She is known for her techniques in spins, steps, and jumps. All of her spins and steps got either level 3 or 4 at the Olympics. She also has natural talent in jumps. She can do 3-3-3.
Off ice, she seems very mature in her personality. She seems to be very considerate and thoughtful. She also seems to have great humility.

Yes! Her non-jumping element score was actually higher than Sasha's. Shizuke Arakawa, IMO, has the best skating skill. The way she glides on the ice is just magnificient. Soft and flawless. I'm just glad that we finally had a graceful, mature olympic champion!