The Greatest Of All Time

[Marty McFlip]

I haven't seen any threads talking about this.
Who is the GOAT (Greatest of all Time) of figure skating for each discipline ?

Try to answer as objectively as possible. I think it's better to judge on the last 30 years (figure skating before the 80's is too different)

 

[Magill]

I haven't seen any threads talking about this.
Who is the GOAT (Greatest of all Time) of figure skating for each discipline ?

Try to answer as objectively as possible. I think it's better to judge on the last 30 years (figure skating before the 80's is too different)

Ha ha, there is a reason there is no thread on it. It feels like opening a can of worms and inviting everyone to an all-out war on this warm and lazy Sunday afternoon....
I mean, I know it was not your intention but, well...

 

[Marty McFlip]

Ha ha, there is a reason there is no thread on it. It feels like opening a can of worms and inviting everyone to an all-out war on this warm and lazy Sunday afternoon....
I mean, I know it was not your intention but, well...

People are not obliged to start a war for this

 

[Magill]

People are not obliged to start a war for this

Not obliged but can they resist ?
On a more serious note, we all have our sentiments, our faves are the "greatest" to us, the GOATs, no matter what.
But it is always a problem with the "objectively greatest" , especially across times.
If you go for objectivity, it means medals, that's the most objective there can be. Then there is not much space for discussion, is there? Apart from endless and hopeless debates on how many Olympic silvers or how many Worlds golds, or how many GPF golds, if any, equals one Olympic gold,? Etc. With most votes highly predictable if you know who is a fan of which skater(s)....

 

[katymay]

The Greatest jumper of all time is Midori Ito.

 

[Mathman]

The OP is asking for the Greatest of Modern Times rather that the Greatest of All Time. But I am not afraid to take the bull by the horns. The most influential skater of all time was Sonja Henie. Never mind her ten consecutive world championships and three Olympic gold medals, Henie singlehandedly changed figure skating from a man's sport to a woman's sport. Then she took figure skating to Hollywood where it became mainstream entertainment on a larger scale than ever before (or since).

 

[Marty McFlip]

L’OP demande le plus grand des temps modernes plutôt que le plus grand de tous les temps. Mais je n’ai pas peur de prendre le taureau par les cornes. La patineuse la plus influente de tous les temps était Sonja Henie. Peu importe ses dix championnats du monde consécutifs et ses trois médailles d’or olympiques, Henie a changé à elle seule le patinage artistique d’un sport masculin à un sport féminin. Puis elle a emmené le patinage artistique à Hollywood où il est devenu un divertissement grand public à plus grande échelle que jamais auparavant (ou depuis).

Factually if you take the best record, you're absolutly right

 

[Mathman]

The criterion that I favor is who got the most career 6.0s. I think it is Alexei Yagudin and Michelle Kwan.

 

[Marty McFlip]

The criterion that I favor is who got the most career 6.0s. I think it is Alexei Yagudin and Michelle Kwan.

If only Michelle Kwan won an olympic gold medal, I don't think there will be a debate about the GOAT of women's skating. One of the biggest "what if" in my opinion

 

[noskates]

Michelle Kwan

 

[RatedPG]

Men: Yuzuru Hanyu
Women: Anna Scherbackova
Pairs: Han / Cui
Dance: Moir / Virtue

 

[4everchan]

Here we are. I am taking the bait

Men : Patrick Chan : 3 world titles in a row, 5 world medals in a row total. 1 gold, 2 silver at Olympics. Praised for being the skater who had it all and raised the bar : bringing both the beautiful skating and the quads (quote : Tracy Wilson)
Women : Yuna Kim : hard to beat.. not my favourite but she inspired a whole new generation of skaters.
Pairs : in 21st century ? to be decided .... 20th century : Gordeeva and Grinkov ( I cannot give it to my faves Sui and Han because of consistency issues, perhaps due to injuries but still... )
Dance : Virtue and Moir. You cannot dismiss their Olympic medal collection. Most decorated figure skaters of all times... with 3 golds and 2 silvers.

Opening a bottle of wine and making some popcorn until this thread turns sour.

 

[4everchan]

If only Michelle Kwan won an olympic gold medal, I don't think there will be a debate about the GOAT of women's skating. One of the biggest "what if" in my opinion

depends what you value. Kurt Browning has no olympic medal at all... and of course, he is not from this century... but many would pick him
first quad
4 world titles
developed a unique style
perhaps the biggest known pro skater of all times with iconic programs

an olympic gold doesn't mean everything : look at Urnanov... or Sotnikova.

 

[Marty McFlip]

As I know women's skating better, I can give a constructive opinion only for them

For me Yuna Kim, because she's won one and half time the olympics (you know what I mean), maybe "only" two times the world championships but this is all the more impressive against Mao Asada. Her influance about figure skating today still huge.

Of course olympics doesn't mean everything, but for the general public, olympics mean a lot. For the general public, you're more an icon if you win the olympics than winning 3 world championships I think it's important to include the "iconic" career into the "GOAT debate"

 

[4everchan]

As I know women's skating better, I can give a constructive opinion only for them

For me Yuna Kim, because she's won one and half time the olympics (you know what I mean), maybe "only" two times the world championships but this is all the more impressive against Mao Asada. Her influance about figure skating today still huge.

Of course olympics doesn't mean everything, but for the general public, olympics mean a lot. For the general public, you're more an icon if you win the olympics than winning 3 world championships I think it's important to include the "iconic" career into the "GOAT debate"

depends

Some OGM are won
1) because the ultimate favourite messed up the SP or didn't have a good performance
2) with a subpar LP including falls.

Yes, in the end, some fans will remember the gold medal around the neck of their favourite skater... but was their skater that wonderful that day ? Is this what defines a GOAT performance ? Falling twice to get a gold medal ?

If you are willing to give Yuna 1.5 gold medal... is Yuzu's Sochi gold only a half gold ?

I am just being the devil's advocate here.... and you know what, I am not really trying to define who is the greatest or not... but just to show that when one makes an arbitrary choice to say that an olympic gold is worth more than 2-3 world titles... well someone else could argue that a gold medal won at the olympics while not giving a good performance or while others killed their chances in the SP isn't really worthy of being associated to the GOAT

Clearly, the GOAT is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Arigato]

Yuzu. But there's no way I can leave Patrick out of the picture. His skating skills are as inimitable as Yuzu's total package.

 

[Magill]

Here we are. I am taking the bait

Men : Patrick Chan : 3 world titles in a row, 5 world medals in a row total. 1 gold, 2 silver at Olympics. Praised for being the skater who had it all and raised the bar : bringing both the beautiful skating and the quads (quote : Tracy Wilson)
Women : Yuna Kim : hard to beat.. not my favourite but she inspired a whole new generation of skaters.
Pairs : in 21st century ? to be decided .... 20th century : Gordeeva and Grinkov ( I cannot give it to my faves Sui and Han because of consistency issues, perhaps due to injuries but still... )
Dance : Virtue and Moir. You cannot dismiss their Olympic medal collection. Most decorated figure skaters of all times... with 3 golds and 2 silvers.

Opening a bottle of wine and making some popcorn until this thread turns sour.

Ha ha I don't think team medals ever counted for the GOAT debate as they do not depend on the skater but on his fed and what country he comes from which he/she they has/have no control of. When people think of OGMs they mean individual gold only and they do not count Patrick Chan among the OGMs as he clearly never won it on his own. Not to take away from his other skills and accomplishments. But I am sure you know it.

 

[Amei]

The Greatest jumper of all time is Midori Ito.

Ilia Malinin says hello

 

[Magill]

depends

Some OGM are won
1) because the ultimate favourite messed up the SP or didn't have a good performance
2) with a subpar LP including falls.

But that is true of any medal, at any championships, or any accomplishment really. Some of them were won because the competition had a bad day, were injured or even were not there at all due to injury or retirement, or post-olympic withdrawal syndrome.
You might say, if the competition messed up or did not turn up, the competition has only themselves to blame, don't they?

 

[4everchan]

But that is true of any medal, at any championships, or any accomplishment really.

Not really. It happens that the actual winner did have two awesome skates.

Some of them were won because the competition had a bad day, were injured or even were not there at all due to injury or retirement, or post-olympic withdrawal syndrome.
You might say, if the competition messed up or did not turn up, the competition has only themselves to blame, don't they?

I never said that the medals should be marked with an asterisk. They were won fair and square. I have no problem with that. All I am saying is that if you base a GOAT label based on OGM, then you may encounter great performances and not so great performances... which one is truly worthy of being a GOAT ?