Least Talented/Worthy Olympic Champion(s) ever? | Golden Skate

Least Talented/Worthy Olympic Champion(s) ever?

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
My vote is resoundingly for Sarah Hughes. In this era, she wouldn't even have cracked the top 10 with all her under-rotations and weak skating skills.

Men= Alexei Urmanov

Pairs: T & M
 

museksk8r

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Oct 31, 2006
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Men= Alexei Urmanov

Oh no, you didn't! Urmanov is great and fully deserved his Olympic championship!

I agree with you about Sarah Hughes though. Her SP was way overscored in SLC. I had her 7th in that segment behind all of Suguri, Butyrskaya, and Sebestyen. She should have won bronze in Salt Lake, not gold, IMO.

For Pairs, I will say Sale/Pelletier were the most undeserved "dual" Olympic champions. They should have taken silver I think. T/M fully deserved their Olympic win; even though their skating was not my cup of tea, no pair at that event out-skated them. They were the cleanest and they deserved their title!

For Men, I go with Evan Lysacek as most undeserved Olympic champion. Lysacek should have been a more distant 3rd in the SP behind both Plushenko and Takahashi. He didn't have Plushenko's technical merit and he didn't have Takahashi's skating skills, presentation, or magnificent program. Lysacek was conservative and bland, IMO; nothing special. He was overscored in that segment and considering that he only won gold by 1.31, if he had been judged accurately for his short, which was inferior to both Evgeni and Daisuke, I feel he would have finished 2nd behind Plushenko overall. Scratch that, Scott Hamilton is least deserving of an Olympic title with his messy LP; I was totally team Orser. Darn school figures! :bang:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I have to stick up for my girl Sarah. If she competed now…but she didn't. She had a lovely layback spin. She let 'er rip when all the chips were on the table (to mix metaphors ;) ) She trounced figure skating legends Kwan and Slutskaya in their prime. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Go Sarah!

For the men, in the category of forgotten champion, I have a soft spot in my heart for Manfred Schnelldorfer, surprise winner at Innsbruch. He has such a cool name. After his career was over he did a bunch of stuff, including a career as a popular singer and movie actor. He also continued in skating as coach of the German team.

On the bad side, no one compares with Wolfgang Schwartz. Not only did he rob the much superior Emmerich Danzer of gold in the in the 1968 Olympics, but he went on to become a horrible criminal. He was twice arrested for human trafficking -- bringing eastern European women into Germany and forcing them to work as prostitutes. When he got out of jail he went right back in for kidnapping a Romanian teenager. (He is serving eight years as we speak.)
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
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Sarah's performance was wonderful and she only underrotated one jump. Her skating skills weren't very weak at all? She just couldn't do the correct lutz edge.

Anett Potzsch obviously owns this title.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I wanted Elvis to win in 1994 (well, I wanted Kurt, but he had lost his chance after the SP) but can't fault Alexei Urmanov. He did a wonderful job and had meticulous skills. He would have had a more impressive career afterward but was hampered by injuries pretty early on.

It's easy to vote for Wolfgang Schwartz, so I will do so. For one thing, he comes from the school figures era, when one could end up with a winner who had nothing much to recommend him in terms of actual skating. It's easier to diss someone from that more mechanistic day. For another, as a human being, he sounds like a slime.

Speaking of school figures, one could mention Trixi Schuba as another "least deserving" winner, though that would be hardly fair. After all, when she won in 1972, being uncannily good at school figures could get you to the top of any competition, and that's what she did. She may have been the best ever school figures specialist. The fact that she wasn't even top five in the world in actual, you know, skating, seems as if it ought to have counted in the final marks, but that's not the way things were in those days. By 1976, figures counted for less, and there was a short program as well as the free skate. But Schuba won fair and square in 1972, alas. Nevertheless, I'd put her on our list because figure skating by definition should include skating.
 

TontoK

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But Schuba won fair and square in 1972, alas. Nevertheless, I'd put her on our list because figure skating by definition should include skating.

Figure skating by definition should also include figures... but I suppose I lost that argument years ago.

There is so little footage of earlier figures, but from what little I've seen, Schuba was light-years ahead of the competition in this regard, during an era when figures were the majority of the score.
 

Skater Boy

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Joined
Feb 24, 2012
oh no, you didn't! Urmanov is great and fully deserved his olympic championship!

I agree with you about sarah hughes though. Her sp was way overscored in slc. I had her 7th in that segment behind all of suguri, butyrskaya, and sebestyen. She should have won bronze in salt lake, not gold, imo.

For pairs, i will say sale/pelletier were the most undeserved "dual" olympic champions. They should have taken silver i think. T/m fully deserved their olympic win; even though their skating was not my cup of tea, no pair at that event out-skated them. They were the cleanest and they deserved their title!

For men, i go with evan lysacek as most undeserved olympic champion. Lysacek should have been a more distant 3rd in the sp behind both plushenko and takahashi. He didn't have plushenko's technical merit and he didn't have takahashi's skating skills, presentation, or magnificent program. Lysacek was conservative and bland, imo; nothing special. He was overscored in that segment and considering that he only won gold by 1.31, if he had been judged accurately for his short, which was inferior to both evgeni and daisuke, i feel he would have finished 2nd behind plushenko overall. Scratch that, scott hamilton is least deserving of an olympic title with his messy lp; i was totally team orser. Darn school figures! :bang:

ita
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
I have to stick up for my girl Sarah. If she competed now…but she didn't. She had a lovely layback spin. She let 'er rip when all the chips were on the table (to mix metaphors ;) ) She trounced figure skating legends Kwan and Slutskaya in their prime. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Go Sarah!

For the men, in the category of forgotten champion, I have a soft spot in my heart for Manfred Schnelldorfer, surprise winner at Innsbruch. He has such a cool name. After his career was over he did a bunch of stuff, including a career as a popular singer and movie actor. He also continued in skating as coach of the German team.



On the bad side, no one compares with Wolfgang Schwartz. Not only did he rob the much superior Emmerich Danzer of gold in the in the 1968 Olympics, but he went on to become a horrible criminal. He was twice arrested for human trafficking -- bringing eastern European women into Germany and forcing them to work as prostitutes. When he got out of jail he went right back in for kidnapping a Romanian teenager. (He is serving eight years as we speak.)

Well I can see how Sarah won BUT had they rescored the sp which was possible she could been as low as 7th and then gold would be gone. Such as life Lipinski and Hughes had their best skates at olympics they rose to the challenge or got lucky depending on how you view it but one can see how they won. Still they will not go down as wonderful champions only to their fans. Short lived success and nothing special added to the sport.
 

wordsworthgirl

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Sep 12, 2013
Well I can see how Sarah won BUT had they rescored the sp which was possible she could been as low as 7th and then gold would be gone. Such as life Lipinski and Hughes had their best skates at olympics they rose to the challenge or got lucky depending on how you view it but one can see how they won. Still they will not go down as wonderful champions only to their fans. Short lived success and nothing special added to the sport.

Thank you, Skater Boy, this is what I am getting at with Sarah. She had the performance of her life at the Olympics, but even so, she was scored too high in the short (so should not have been in position to win the gold at all) and she contributed nothing to the sport. I kind of feel the same way about Tara, although she did win a World Championship and National Championship too. I actually really liked Sarah as a person and thought she had great potential, but she won too early and thus missed an opportunity to develop and become a really great skater.
 

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
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Sep 12, 2013
Oh no, you didn't! Urmanov is great and fully deserved his Olympic championship!

I agree with you about Sarah Hughes though. Her SP was way overscored in SLC. I had her 7th in that segment behind all of Suguri, Butyrskaya, and Sebestyen. She should have won bronze in Salt Lake, not gold, IMO.

For Pairs, I will say Sale/Pelletier were the most undeserved "dual" Olympic champions. They should have taken silver I think. T/M fully deserved their Olympic win; even though their skating was not my cup of tea, no pair at that event out-skated them. They were the cleanest and they deserved their title!

For Men, I go with Evan Lysacek as most undeserved Olympic champion. Lysacek should have been a more distant 3rd in the SP behind both Plushenko and Takahashi. He didn't have Plushenko's technical merit and he didn't have Takahashi's skating skills, presentation, or magnificent program. Lysacek was conservative and bland, IMO; nothing special. He was overscored in that segment and considering that he only won gold by 1.31, if he had been judged accurately for his short, which was inferior to both Evgeni and Daisuke, I feel he would have finished 2nd behind Plushenko overall. Scratch that, Scott Hamilton is least deserving of an Olympic title with his messy LP; I was totally team Orser. Darn school figures! :bang:

I agree with you that Alexei performed well in that Olympics. However, he never did well again and was not a truly great skater who will be one for the ages. I did want Elvis to win that year (well, I really wanted Brian Boitano or Kurt to win but they were out of it after the short). I thought Brian B was underscored in both segments of that competition despite errors. 1994 Mens was just a tragedy in my opinion since Kurt missed his chance to win a much-deserved OGM (deserved for quality of skating over a year, contributions to the sport, and that Casablanca program!), Brian missed chance to win two Olympic Golds (and I loved his programs that year too), and Todd Eldredge didn't even get to compete, Scott Davis was all about the Mighty Doubles :). Just a sad sad event.
 

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
I have to stick up for my girl Sarah. If she competed now…but she didn't. She had a lovely layback spin. She let 'er rip when all the chips were on the table (to mix metaphors ;) ) She trounced figure skating legends Kwan and Slutskaya in their prime. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Go Sarah!

For the men, in the category of forgotten champion, I have a soft spot in my heart for Manfred Schnelldorfer, surprise winner at Innsbruch. He has such a cool name. After his career was over he did a bunch of stuff, including a career as a popular singer and movie actor. He also continued in skating as coach of the German team.

On the bad side, no one compares with Wolfgang Schwartz. Not only did he rob the much superior Emmerich Danzer of gold in the in the 1968 Olympics, but he went on to become a horrible criminal. He was twice arrested for human trafficking -- bringing eastern European women into Germany and forcing them to work as prostitutes. When he got out of jail he went right back in for kidnapping a Romanian teenager. (He is serving eight years as we speak.)

Mathman, I respectfully agree to disagree re Sarah, who was overscored in the short and won the long with faulty/shaky jumps only to immediately turn pro and never develop into the skater she could have been had she not won too soon.
But on the others- thank you for telling me about a champion I had never known about and who sounds wonderful! and thank you for that update on W Schwartz- how disturbing!
 

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
T/M fully deserved their Olympic win; even though their skating was not my cup of tea, no pair at that event out-skated them. They were the cleanest and they deserved their title!

Scratch that, Scott Hamilton is least deserving of an Olympic title with his messy LP; I was totally team Orser. Darn school figures! :bang:

I agree with you re Scott H over Orser although with the figures he did win fair and square. Orser's 84 programs were so great!
I also want to clarify that although T & M did deserve to win that year, they are not among the most talented pairs ever so their win for me was somewhat clouded. That's why I wrote Talented/Worthy- sometimes I'm talking about least deserving and sometimes least talented- among the OGM winners in pairs, I think most everyone would agree that T & M rank at the bottom for talent.
 

jenaj

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Aug 17, 2003
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I have to go with Sarah Hughes. The Olympics is the only major championship she ever won! I'm not saying she didn't deserve to win in 2002, just that she is the weakest Olympic champion ever in terms of her competitive record and her overall place in the sport.
 

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
I have to go with Sarah Hughes. The Olympics is the only major championship she ever won! I'm not saying she didn't deserve to win in 2002, just that she is the weakest Olympic champion ever in terms of her competitive record and her overall place in the sport.
THANK YOU! That's a large part of the reason I picked her too.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
In no particular order

1 Katarina Witt - 2nd one . well everyone had a not so good event but still
2 Totmianina/Marinin
3 Trixi Schuba
4 Sale/Pelletier
5 Evan Lysacek
6 Sarah Hughes
 

TontoK

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Grishuk and Platov... the first time.

Their stirring rendition of "Rock Around the Clock" beats the sublime, and much more deserving U/Z, as well as T/D on their Olympic comeback.

I really can't say that much about the second OGM, since I had lost so much interest in ice dance by then that I hardly watched it at all.

I didn't enjoy their skating at all. I especially did not like her.
 

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Grishuk and Platov... the first time.

Their stirring rendition of "Rock Around the Clock" beats the sublime, and much more deserving U/Z, as well as T/D on their Olympic comeback.

I really can't say that much about the second OGM, since I had lost so much interest in ice dance by then that I hardly watched it at all.

I didn't enjoy their skating at all. I especially did not like her.

I kind of agree with you. I could appreciate their speed and difficulty, but U and Z were indeed sublime. and I found Pasha superficial and mugging in her presentation-not a true artist. I did like Platov a lot, though.
 
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