Skaters you Felt Stayed Past their Prime | Golden Skate

Skaters you Felt Stayed Past their Prime

icy fresh

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 11, 2004
This is a run-off from the other thread about skaters leaving the amateur ranks too soon. Now, what skaters do you think stayed past their prime?

Elvis Stojko- he wasn't the same at the 2002 Olympics. I think he reached his peak in the mid-90s.
Katarina Witt- Although she skated lovely at the `94 Olympics, it was obvious that she was no longer on the top of her sport.
Brian Boitano- Again I think he was better in the `80s.

A lot of former champions came back in '94 for the Olympics. I think that they stole spots away from other skaters who'd been competing since the former Olympiad. I know some people feel that whoever is the better skater will make the team, but I think some of these skaters already had great success as amateurs and professionals and it wasn't necessary for them to come back.
 

demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
Todd Eldrige
Michael Weiss

Julia Sebasaton (sp)
Amber Corwin
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
UnsaneLily87 said:
Kwan.

I believe that after 2002, she should have retired. Just my opinion.
I hope you meant 2003. Past her prime or not, she won the world championship that year.

MM :)
 

JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Good topic! I've actually wanted to start one like this for quite some time, but was afraid it might be misconstrued as a potential bashing thread.

MEN:
Christopher Bowman. Unfortunately, his prime was about the time he was skating against Boitano. By the time his moment had arrived, he was already starting to unravel from his erratic training habits. Except for maybe 1989.

Todd Eldrege. Sort of. It's hard to know where to place him. On the one hand, by about 2001, he was starting to fall into the "Oh, for heaven's sake are you STILL here?" category, BUT -- he was still skating well and making the World and Oly teams, and won the bronze at the 01 Worlds. So it's hard to imagine him as being TOO past his prime. [I have yet to figure out, regarding the fact that Eldredge was still making the Nats podium 11 years after his initial victory, whether or not that said a lot about Eldredge or very little about the rest of the US men. Perhaps a little of both.]

Elvis Stojko. Love Elvis, but he should have gotten out before things REALLY unravelled. But then again I think most of us were quite taken aback by the fact he really didn't recover from his injury as well as was expected.

Michael Weiss. GO. JUST GO. I cannot sit through one more program "choreographed" by your wife. And I cannot for the life of me figure out why he stayed around this long. (I'm gonna stop there, or that will turn into total bashing, which I would rather not do.)

LADIES

Elena Vodorezova. As a junior in the late 70s, she was to be the Next Hot Thing. Due to various illnesses and injuries, she wasn't seen on the Worlds scene again until 1982, and by then she was a shadow of her former self.

Much as I hate to say it, I kind of have a bad feeling about Michelle, too. But the jury is still out. Kind of.

PAIRS

Petrova & Tikhinov. They did actually seem to be picking up some of the ground they had lost to other pairs over the last couple of seasons, but now they seem to be losing it all over again.

DANCE

Fusar-Poli & Margaglio. As far as I'm concerned, they peaked about 1999; Worlds victory notwithstanding, what they did in Torino wasn't up to what they were doing 7 years earlier.

Krylova & Ovsiannakov. 1997- Masquerade Waltz. BRILLIANT. 1998-Carmen. Totally flippin bizarre and way too much standing around doing nothing. 1999- that tribal thing. Total ripoff of the Duchesnays and if you really analyze the footwork there, there was NOT much going on there at all. They CERTAINLY had the talent, so what happened????


I'm sure I'll think of more....
 

Zuranthium

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 30, 2006
No way should Kwan have left after 2002. Then we would have been robbed of the brilliance that was TOSCA.

Weiss is the worst offender for this category. I've never loved his skating, honestly. He's so joyless. Stojko staying after 1998 was a mistake as well.

I'm happy Eldridge stayed for the sole fact that he skated to Lord of the Rings in 2002. Excellent performance to the best music ever written (and completely underscored by the judges).
 
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Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Past their prime is one way to put it. At one time skaters did not stay in competition for as long as the skaters of today do. They usually moved on for financial reasons and also they wanted to give the younger skaters coming up a chance to improve and move up to the top as they did. It was sort of an honour to pass on the batton as it were to the next set of skaters. It was always sad to see your favorite competitor step off the podium and move on to an ice show or turn pro (coaching), but it was pretty much the way things were.

It was unheard of for a skater to stick around as long as Michelle Kwan for instance. Also, skaters were not allowed to earn money in the amateur ranks and still compete so if they did not have the money to continue they pretty much had no choice. Things changed drastically when skaters started to be allowed to retain their amateur staus and earn money in between seasons by joining an ice show - like stars on ice.

Was this a good idea? I think the jury is still out on this one. Skaters have to deal with injury. It does not take long for them to sustain an injury or two. Now they seem to hang in there despite their injuries - it's almost stoic. One does have to admire them.

I always thought that they should move on once they become World champion or Olympic champion. What more do they have to prove?

Figure skating has undergone a great deal of changes over the years. Whether or not this change regarding competition is a good thing remains to be seen.

Great topic.
 

gio

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Ladskater, this was just the case of American and Canadian skaters. Skaters from the East block competed more years. Irina Rodnina with her two different partners was around more than 10 years. Katarina Witt competed from 1980 to 1988. Same with Anna Kondrashova, Moiseva and Minekov, Pakomova and Gorshkov ... And also skaters from Western Europe competed more years than their American counterparts (Sonja Henie, Emmerich Danzer, Alain Giletti, Dagmar Lurz, Claudia Leistner... all competed from 6 to more than 10 years).
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
I'm still in two minds about Stojko though - his SLC LP had two successful quad jumps in it and as an LP, for him, was one of his better ones. He wasn't winning medals but he still kept those skills up despite the injury.

Ant
 

CDMM1991

Medalist
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
And also it was probably tempting for Stojko to stay in because he would always come up with these stellar performances at the Canadian championships and come out on top once again. I think he was another one of those skaters that just loved to compete.
 

flowjo35

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
Mathman said:
I hope you meant 2003. Past her prime or not, she won the world championship that year.

MM :)

ITA. Besides worlds in 2003 Michelle won a couple more United States Championships also. :)
 

iluvtodd

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Mar 5, 2004
Country
United-States
Todd competed very well at 2001 Worlds (and should have won the silver medal there, IMHO, but that's a whole other discussion). Despite the lack of a consistently landed quad, he kept up his skills through that time & into the SLC Olympics. I do believe that had he not had that fall in the SLC short program, that he might have still medaled there. I realize that he fell on his quad attempt in the SLC free skate, but everything else went very well in that program, and he did move up in the standings. I, for one, am glad that he kept his eligiblilty for so long. There's more to skating than the quad.

For that matter, I'm glad that Elvis stayed in the mix for all that time too!
 

Kwanford Wife

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
:laugh: I cannot believe the skaters on this list... all of whom competed at top levels & WON ~ yup... totally past their prime ~ espcially that Michelle Kwan... what was she thinking?!? I mean she totally ended up 4th at the '05 Worlds, and racked up three more national champioships and then had the nerve to get injured & not compete this past season... such a disgrace to the sport ...

I don't mean to disregard anyone's opinion, but these threads, regardless of intent, always end up being about an individual's favorites vs. actual performance levels. Which is unfortuante & kinda sad to this particular fan of great skating & skaters.

But whatever... have at it and I wish everyone a great holiday weekend...
 
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76olympics

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
Kwanford, I agree with you and that's why I hesitated to post. If I didn't care for a skater's style, I might feel like I have seen them forever (Slutskaya, Weiss, etc.). But , if they were placing high enough in the sport, there really is a reason for them to stay. Plus, their fans would disagree with me anyway! Some skaters, like Shepherd Clark, stayed around a long time without medaling. Some would say they shouldn't have lingered. But, if they were able to qualify and could afford the expenses of the sport, then I feel that decision rested with them, the Federations and the judges (though I can certainly have my opinion! :laugh: ).

To illustrate how we can all differ:

I have to say Boitano was skating at a very high level in the early 1990s. His artistry was really even better than it was during most of his amateur career ( with the exception of 1988 and those incredible programs). It was just his bad fortune that he injured himself during that year he reinstated for the Olympics. That one year was an anomaly for him; he skated as well or better than most of the amateurs before and after ( with the exception of the quad., but some eligible didn't have that either). I always felt bad for him about 1994 and I think he handled that situation with a lot of grace.

Plus, I have to add that LOTS of people outside and inside the skating world felt Wylie stayed too long without obtaining the results he wanted. Then, look what happened at Albertville! I still get excited every time I see those performances from him!
 
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Kwanford Wife

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Dec 29, 2004
76olympics said:
But , if they were placing high enough in the sport, there really is a reason for them to stay. Plus, their fans would disagree with me anyway! Some skaters, like Shepherd Clark, stayed around a long time without medaling. Some would say they shouldn't have lingered. But, if they were able to qualify and could afford the expenses of the sport, then I feel that decision rested with them, the Federations and the judges (though I can certainly have my opinion! :laugh: ).

Boitano was skating at a very high level in the early 1990s. His artistry was really even better than it was during most of his amateur career ( with the exception of 1988 and those incredible programs). It was just his bad fortune that he injured himself during that year he reinstated for the Olympics. That one year was an anomaly for him; he skated as well or better than most of the amateurs before and after ( with the exception of the quad., but some eligible didn't have that either). I always felt bad for him about 1994 and I think he handled that situation with a lot of grace.

Plus, I have to add that LOTS of people outside and inside the skating world felt Wylie stayed too long without obtaining the results he wanted. Then, look what happened at Albertville! I still get excited every time I see those performances from him!

Exactly! And you're right... Brian and Paul are probably better examples of my arguement anyway (us Kwan fans have that weird dna issue when anything negative is said about the Kween we get an attitude...:laugh: )

Its a good thing the skating fans have little to no say in the matter because look at how many great performances we would've missed if we did...
 

UnsaneLily87

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Mathman said:
I hope you meant 2003. Past her prime or not, she won the world championship that year.

MM :)

I'm not the biggest Michelle Kwan fan. I don't mean to troll, or to flame anyone, but she just doesn't grab me. While staying into 2003 was a good idea, and I had forgotten that she had won the WC that year, staying after 2003 was a bad idea in my opinion. Why?

Well, for one thing, it's always best to leave on top. Michelle's battled injuries etc for the past few years. I think it may have been best for her, condfidence-wise, to NOT have to deal with the injuries, the problems over the past few years.

THIS IS ALL JUST MY OPINION! (I feel as though I need to say this many times because Michelle Kwan is so loved here by everyone and I'm not being all flattering).

The feeling I'm getting as I've been watching her is that she's phoning in performances over the past few years as well. In the past, (1998 Nat'ls, etc.) Michelle has worn her heart on her sleeve, and when I (and this is JUST me, folks) watched her skate over the past few years, I didnt' get that same feeling. I don't know...I felt like I was watching her do the same thing over and over. I was ready to see someone new rule the roost for a while. I think that this year at Nationals was one of the most refreshing years I had seen in a long time. Even though the performances weren't great by anyone's standards, beyond Sasha, ANYTHING could have happened.

Although I appreciate Michelle's talent and believe that she's done great things, I believe that she should have gone professional after her win at the 2003 world championships...

...AGAIN, JUST MY OPINION! I don't want ANYONE to get offended by what I said. I'm sorry if I insulted you in any shape way or form.
 

attyfan

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Medalist
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Mar 1, 2004
I disagree that Michelle should have retired. In 2003, she tied for second place on the all time most-world-titles list; she didn't tie the record for most US titles until 2005 -- and I think she wanted to tie that record.

More importantly, MK in Moscow -- 4th place, which (when combined with Sasha's 2nd place) got 3 slots for US ladies in Torino; if MK had not been in Moscow, then Sasha's 2nd place would have been combined with Jenny Kirk's placement would only have gotten two US ladies to Torino. (Bebe Liang, or whoever was next-in-order-of-the-age-eligibles, is not likely to have come in 11th place or better). Since MK has been instrumental in securing spots for US ladies at the next year's events since 1994, I think this could well be important to her (when people have been doing a job for a long time, they often think it is their "special responsibility")
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Hi, UnsaneLily (great name, LOL!). Hey, you never have to apologize for having an opinion!

Attyfan just made some good points, IMHO.

Yet, going along with what UnsaneLily said, hindsight is always 20-20. I wonder what Michelle would have chosen to do if she could have foreseen that, starting in 2004 her aches and pains would start escalating to the point where it affected her training and performances.

(Well, like Zuranthium said, I wouldn't have wanted her to retire before 2004 Nationals and her breathtaking performance of Tosca.)

Young athletes live with pain all the time. At that age, with the optimism of youth, you always think, this is nothing -- I can play through this. Then one day, you can't.

Still, I think that Michelle will be glad that she pushed through to 2006, regardless of the outcome. This way, she can rest content that she gave everything she had. Otherwise, she would always be left wondering what might have happened.

JMO.

Mathman :)
 
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