Skater's superstitions

dorispulaski · Jun 14, 2008

A lot of skaters have superstitions, apparently, and so do their parents.

Johnny Weir's mom left a sweater in a hotel room in Russia because she believed it had bad luck stuck to it.

And Stevie Nicks gave Tai Babilonia a pendant that she still wears all the time for luck. The only time she didn't skate with it was the Olympics SP that she and Randy had to withdraw from.

http://www.taibabilonia.com/asktai.html

Dear Jodi...... so many people are curious about my crescent moon, i came in
contact with Stevie for the first time in the summer of '79, i think she
happened to be watching t.v. when randy and i won the world championships
that winter. Stevie had stopped by the ice rink in Santa Monica where we were
training and gave me the very special 24-karat gold crescent moon charm for
good luck at the upcoming Olympics in lake placid. i have only taken it off
once and that was the eve. randy and i were to compete in lake placid.....
well we all know what happened that night, needless to say that moon has not
left my neck since...... stevie inspires me in so many ways, she is as magical
in person as she is on t.v. love, tai

Michelle Kwan had a lucky pendant she always wore, given to her by her grandmother.

http://espn.go.com/classic/s/add_kwan_michelle.html

And I read that Patti Weir, Johnny's mom, left a sweater in Russia because she associated it with the bad luck that he had in a competition there.

I would think that having a particularly ritual before skating would be calming, at the very least, even if you didn't believe in luck.

Tinymavy15 · Jun 14, 2008

Well I always put my right boot on first, and when I don't it sticks in my mind and I have to take them off and put them on again. I used to have a superstition that i could not land my axel unless i did all my singles first, but learning the 2 axel made me drop that habit.

Fossi · Jun 14, 2008

Didn't Sasha Cohen have something going on one season where she just absolutely had to be the first to get on the ice and the last off? I think it was the 2002-2003 season? I remember some fuss about it.

skatergirl45 · Jun 15, 2008

I have to put my left boot on first and at competition be the first one around the rink in the warm up lap.
I also have to go through a specific warm up routine off the ice when I compete...........

Simoner119 · Jun 15, 2008

the skaters at my club have a TON of superstitions but we don't get too hung up on them, most of them are just for fun.

But I always do a backward outside three turn before I get off the ice after warm up. I have a good luck elephant i bring to every competition (she watched competitions on tv with me too lol) and one thing I ALWAYS do is watch Michelle Kwan's Fields of Gold program the night before a competition.

attyfan · Jun 15, 2008

IIRC, MK wore a good luck necklace given to her by her grandmother. According to her autobiography, Michelle Kwan's childhood superstition involved not changing the condition of her skates after skating real well (she didn't even polish them) -- until Frank Carroll taught her that the judges do notice such things.

dorispulaski · Jun 15, 2008

Also there have been several skaters who have their skates autographed or have stuff drawn on them.

At this moment, I can't recall who, although I have a vague memory that at one point Michelle Kwan had her skates autographed by Michael Jordan, and that Rena Inoue has Tweety Birds on her skates.

http://www.inoueandbaldwin.com/photos/fourrena3.jpg

Simoner119 · Jun 15, 2008

i believe Tara Lipinski had a picture or her and her friend put into the heel of her boot. Does anyone else remember this. I vaguely remember seeing her skates at the world figure skating museum about six years ago.

Kypma · Jun 15, 2008

This video (2007 Worlds fluff by CBC) shows a few of the top skaters' superstitions, which are mostly about which boot is put on first, but also some about water bottles

Kypma

AwesomeIce · Jun 15, 2008

I remember Denis Petukhov saying once that he always steps onto the ice with the same foot first, but I don't remember which foot it was. And Melissa started giggling because she had never noticed before that he did that! It was cute.

skatergirl45 · Jun 15, 2008

I watch fields of gold too........
And Emily Hughe's Sylvia because that is my music. I also do a flip before I leave the ice to feel confident.

sillylionlove · Jun 16, 2008

Totally off topic for a moment...but there was recently an article on the local news channel internet site regarding athletes superstitions. Anyway it mentioned that Tiger Woods always wears red on Sundays....and guess what, yesterday he was wearing red.

dorispulaski · Jun 16, 2008

Absolutely, then, red it is. Tiger's last putt yesterday was so, so lucky.

Skater's superstitions

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win

Fossi

skatergirl45

Simoner119

attyfan

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dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl

Simoner119

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AwesomeIce

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skatergirl45

sillylionlove

dorispulaski

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