News of Emily Hughes (and Joey Cheek) | Golden Skate

News of Emily Hughes (and Joey Cheek)

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Interesting, thanks for sharing. Could do without the article "spin" though, trying to make it seem as if Hughes was (romantically) interested in Cheek.
 

Eeyora

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
I have had my doubts about Hughes.IMy gut has been that others will progress in front of her However A David Wilson choreographed program will be a step in the right direction.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Joey Cheek is 27 and Emily is 17. I can't imagine why he would have been even slightly interested in her, even if he didn't have a girlfriend.

What I find interesting is that she is seeking coaching advice from other sources, not just from Retzinger. But I have my doubts if that will help. Audrey Weisiger has worked with Tim Goebel, but we saw no improvement in his jumps.

Emily says she wants to keep skating for 4 more years to go back to the Olympics, but also wants to go to college. If she tries to mix college with competitive skating, she might find it a bit difficult to stay in the top ranks of US skaters. As it is this season, she will be in a neck-and-neck battle with Katy Taylor for that #2 spot, and BeBe Liang and Christine Zukowski are not pushovers either. There are new, younger skaters on the rise (Rachael Flatt and Caroline Zhang) for future years.
 
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Sylvia

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 25, 2003
chuckm said:
What I find interesting is that she is seeking coaching advice from other sources, not just from Retzinger. But I have my doubts if that will help.
Emily Hughes has travelled widely for outside coaching for many years now, including to Frank Carroll in LA, IIRC. From the article: "Bonni Retzkin has been Hughes' coach since she was about 4, but Hughes has spent a lot of time in Fairfax over recent years. Likewise, [Nick] Perna has made numerous trips to Long Island."

Trivia: Three-time Olympic speedskater Nathaniel Mills, who helped organize the Fort Dupont rink charity event, is the brother of figure skater Jessica Mills (1989 Junior World champion) and Phoebe Mills (1988 Olympic gymnast).
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Joey Cheek is 27 and Emily is 17. I can't imagine why he would have been even slightly interested in her, even if he didn't have a girlfriend.

I wouldn't put it past many guys. You have 50-something year old guys marrying 20 year old girls. 10 years is nothing, man...or at least now it seems.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I think Hughes is going to go the route of Hughes. Emily, just like her sister Sarah seems to want to go to college and live the life of a normal university student. I think it will depend on her level of success in the coming years. Maybe if she thinks an OM is within her reach, she'll go for it. Or maybe she'll just be content with a National or World medal. WIth Cohen and Kwan gone, she'll have a clear shot at a national title, and that's something big hughes doesn't have. As for the world scene, I think she still has some "developing" to do. Exactly what kind of developing? the experts can say it much better than I can.
 

babyoscar

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Emily

Sylvia said:
Emily Hughes has travelled widely for outside coaching for many years now, including to Frank Carroll in LA, IIRC. From the article: "Bonni Retzkin has been Hughes' coach since she was about 4, but Hughes has spent a lot of time in Fairfax over recent years. Likewise, [Nick] Perna has made numerous trips to Long Island."

Trivia: Three-time Olympic speedskater Nathaniel Mills, who helped organize the Fort Dupont rink charity event, is the brother of figure skater Jessica Mills (1989 Junior World champion) and Phoebe Mills (1988 Olympic gymnast).


You are correct. I saw Emily out here in LA last summer.
 

SeaniBu

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
Red Dog said:
I wouldn't put it past many guys. You have 50-something year old guys marrying 20 year old girls. 10 years is nothing, man...or at least now it seems.

That's true, Catherine from AI is dating someone twice her age. And look at Sienfeld and McCartny. Now 17 might have quite a bit of "interest differences," maybe even culture and activities, but Emmie is as individual as any situation might dictate for anyone. Plus they have in common "love of the ice." Not to far fetched, and everyone can dream or have a crush. I swear if Katie Couric just would have met me.....:rofl:

Fumie is almost 12 years younger than me, don't crush my hopes!!!!!:biggrin: :laugh:
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Sure there are lots of men dating much younger women. But a 27-year-old dating a high school girl? I don't think so. Emily is not particularly good-looking, and she seems younger than she actually is. I believe Joey Cheek's actual girlfriend is a college senior, which would make her 21 or 22.

Emily will have to outskate Kimmie Meissner to win a US title. I don't think that is in the cards. Kimmie wants that title, too, and she has a couple of 3/3s and maybe a 3A in her arsenal. Emily has an ordinary jump repertoire, and worse, she has yet to skate a clean FS in a Senior event. I thought Katy Taylor should have won the bronze medal last season, and I think she has a good shot at winning silver this coming Nationals. Emily will have to fight for a podium placement, and it is very unlikely to be at the top.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Emily is not particularly good-looking, and she seems younger than she actually is.

Remember that beauty is always in the eye of the beholder

Emily will have to outskate Kimmie Meissner to win a US title. I don't think that is in the cards. Kimmie wants that title, too, and she has a couple of 3/3s and maybe a 3A in her arsenal. Emily has an ordinary jump repertoire, and worse, she has yet to skate a clean FS in a Senior event. I thought Katy Taylor should have won the bronze medal last season, and I think she has a good shot at winning silver this coming Nationals. Emily will have to fight for a podium placement, and it is very unlikely to be at the top.

I think Hughes has a good chance at being on the national podium again. And one has to remember that the ice is always slippery. And if you have 3-3's in your "arsenal" it can be even more slippery.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Um, Kimmie was 3rd at Nationals in 2005 and 2nd in 2006. She is now the reigning World Champion. I think she has pretty much proven she can not only land those 3/3s when it counts, but also handle herself well under pressure, be it National or International, slippery ice or not.

Emily has no 3/3s and has been unable to land a triple loop.in competition this past season. Emily has proven to her peers that she can get still get high placements Nationally even when she has clumsy falls. Unfortunately, Emily hasn't proven much internationally, at least not at the Senior level, due to her inability to skate a clean FS when it counts.

Seems the ice has been far more slippery for Emily than for Kimmie.....
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
KM certainly seems to have "nerves of steel", but how will she handle being the chased rather than the chaser? Anything can happen, anyone can fall.

And yes Hughes has an uphill battle to fight- internationally that is. But she's still in the top 3-4 nationally.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Except for Meissner's remarkable LP at 2006 Worlds, I think Emily has done a pretty good job of keeping up with Kimmie internationally.

At the Olympics Kimmie was 6th, Emily 7th. In the Grand Prix, Kimmie got 4th at Trophee Eric Bompard and 4th at NHK, while Emily got 4th at Skate America and 4th at Cup of Russia. On the tie-breaker, Kimmie was ranked 14th and Emily 15th in the final GP standings.

In the U.S., I think the judges like Emily a lot and are hoping to be able to reward her efforts with high marks this season.
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Red Dog said:
I wouldn't put it past many guys. You have 50-something year old guys marrying 20 year old girls. 10 years is nothing, man...or at least now it seems.

the 10 years between 17 & 27 is a lot bigger than the 15 years between 40 and 55.
 

dizzydi7

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 31, 2004
Emily Hughes......

In my opinion, much of Emily's appeal is her personality. Emily has sparkle and love of skating written all over her face when she performs. I can't help but smile each time she takes the ice.

Not to take away from Kimmie in any way, but she does not have that sparkle on the ice. Although I acknowledge and admire Kimmie's skating, she has not yet surfaced as a "performer" in my opinion.

Dizzy
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Mathman said:
Except for Meissner's remarkable LP at 2006 Worlds, I think Emily has done a pretty good job of keeping up with Kimmie internationally.

At the Olympics Kimmie was 6th, Emily 7th. In the Grand Prix, Kimmie got 4th at Trophee Eric Bompard and 4th at NHK, while Emily got 4th at Skate America and 4th at Cup of Russia. On the tie-breaker, Kimmie was ranked 14th and Emily 15th in the final GP standings.

14th and 15th, by GP points maybe. But look at the difference in ACTUAL POINTS scored. Kimmie scored 307.90 total points, while Emily scored only 252.54. Pointwise, Kimmie had the 10th highest total points scored, Emily 19th highest.

Emily lucked out by drawing into two much easier competitions than Kimmie. At both SA and CoR, there were numerous withdrawals so that the fields were way watered down from their original rosters. Kimmie skated at TEB, probably the toughest competition of last year's GP, and at NHK, a fiercely competitive event which decided who would go to the GPF and who would not.

Emily:
Skate America - 126.75 beaten by Sokolova (163.02), Czisny (159.30), Onda (150.98) and Liang (133).
Cup of Russia - 124.76 beaten by Slutskaya (198.06), Ando (172.30), Onda (142.4) and Poykio (131.3).

Kimmie:
TEB - 155.72 beaten by Asada (182.42), Cohen (175.12), Arakawa (173.3), Rochette (167.72). TEB was so tough that their finishes there kept Arakawa and Rochette out of the GPF.
NHK - 152.18 beaten by Nakano (158.66), Suguri (158.48), Liashenko (156.52), Ando (154.34). This was a very tight competition with only 6.5 points separating 1st and 5th.

Kimmie would have won bronze at both SA and COR with her TEB or NHK scores, while Emily would have finished eighth at TEB with her SA and CoR scores, and 8th at NHK with her SA score, 10th with her CoR score.

The big difference between Kimmie and Emily competitively was that Emily dropped off quite a bit after her surprisingly successful Olympic performances, while Kimmie improved on hers. Emily bombed her Worlds SP after finishing 3rd in her QR group, and her FS was flat and devoid of energy, barely edging Joannie Rochette's disastrous FS. Kimmie built on her top-6 Torino performance and won the World championship, while Emily had to settle for 8th place.

Emily has a pleasant personality, but all the Ta-Da's in the world won't make up for barely muscled-through combinations and failed or doubled jumps.
 
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lisadotdash

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 26, 2004
Emily

I'm thinking that Meissner got so much accolade, parties, parades, interviews, I think she even rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, she has so much pressure on her and will fold. Hughes with mere mentions in skating mags, dodged that bullet and she can start with a clean slate, much better position.

I'm always the one who doesn't want her to put on any more weight. I agree with the person who said, she's not going to take any off, she's used to that weight. But it's a matter of physics. What is it, one pound takes off 6 centimeters of jumping height?

However, Hughes has the cultural background. That's aside from her will to succeed and her competitiveness. Between the two, I choose Emily. Hands down. Now, Taylor, Liang can be a threat, and the twin from Ohio, I wish them well, certainly. But I think Emily has it.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Mere mentions in skating mags? Emily Hughes was featured on the front page of the NY Times Sunday Magazine section, before she even won a medal at Nationals, and every Olympic figure skating article in the Times heavily featured Hughes as a medal threat with little or no mention of Meissner. The NY Times didn't even do a real story on Meissner when she won Worlds.

Meissner has been competing at the international level since the 2004 season and she has learned to handle the pressure. Hughes was the one who folded at Worlds, not Meissner.
 
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