- Joined
- Sep 19, 2006
Then there's Lucinda Ruh, World Spinning Champion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq8lOm0LJ0A
Then there's Lucinda Ruh, World Spinning Champion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq8lOm0LJ0A
Holy cow that girl can spin better than Alissa!!!
You're welcome! I loved Jessica Mills. I never saw her sister, however.
Thanks for all the info! I wasn't sure whether to put Kevin in the "obscure" category or not. He had a long and relatively successful competitive career and appears to have been well liked in the skating community. I decided to ask about him here anyway. He certainly is obscure to non-diehard fans. Then again, the majority of skaters are obscure to non-diehard fans.
Then there's Lucinda Ruh, World Spinning Champion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq8lOm0LJ0A
Holy cow that girl can spin better than Alissa!!!
And that's saying something, Alissa is an amazing spinner!
I don't know what it is but all the Swiss skaters are amazing spinners: Denise Biellman, Nathalie Krieg, Lucinda, Sarah Meier, Stephane Lambiel. All of them. Lucinda is the best, IMO. I think it's her height she can use her long limbs to create all sorts of beautiful and difficult spins. Lucinda never finished in the top ten, but she was great to watch, such joy and appeal. Her height made jumping difficult, but I could watch her do nothing but spin all day. She holds the world record.
I'm friends with Lucinda on Facebook, and she is a really lovely girl! And a VERY talented skater!
Unfortunately for me, Lucinda retired around the time I started watching skating, so I didn't see her in action at the time. But, I too enjoy watching old videos of her, in total amazement! (If I tried to spin at even a 10th of the speed she does, I would fall in a heap... and that's not even trying to do it on ice! )
About a year-and-a-half ago, Lucinda had twin daughters. She is forever posting photos and videos of the twins on Facebook (and even some on YouTube). And I don't blame her one bit - they are absolutely adorable!!!
Mind you, Lucinda and her husband will have their hands full with 2 girls growing up at the same time! So, I wouldn't trade places with either of them!
CaroLiza_fan
I remember Dick mentioned how Lucinda's spinning ability actually hindered her jumping ability. She had an ability to spin on the ground but it's too much for the air.
You may already be aware of this, Coppertop, but just in case, keep in mind that Ruh's book has a certain amount of sad stuff in it. She didn't have an easy time of it earlier on, apparently--another reason I'm glad to hear that her current life, including kids, is so happy. I'd suggest reading a review of it on Amazon or somewhere before searching it out.
Someone else (maybe it was you) said much the same, esp about her mother.
First, thanks to everyone for these great flashbacks, this thread is a real treasure chest!
I wouldn't call her an "obscure skater" (hey, she made it to 3 Olympic Games!), but of those who didn't medal at big events, she's one of those I believe are really worth remembering: Mojca Kopač from Slovenia.
Here's her 1997 Worlds SP to the Pulp Fiction OST where she placed 13th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfZFbzJe4s4
- Dick Button was positively surprised: "She's pretty spiffy(?)! You know? Got nice quality to her skating!"
- Notice the uproar from the audience when they announce her marks: Slovenia didn't exactly have a "big lobby"!
- The 2002 Salt Lake Judging Scandal could have been avoided!!! The French Judge gave her a 27th place. She was the second last to skate, and Chen Lu (who I love) had a really poor performance and ended up as 25th, meaning not qualified for the free and not (yet) qualified for the 98 Olympics. So the french judge disregarded all reality and gave her almost the lowest score of all competitors, since she wanted Chen qualified. Yes, you guessed it: The french judge was Marie-Reine Le Gougne, THE French Judge from Salt Lake. :think:
She fought successfully against the odds in many regards: In the early 90's, she had a really rough time to go through as she wasn't able to practice in Slovenia since Serb Tanks were... in the way, so she had to go creative ways, like train in Oberstdorf, Germany, whenever possible.
I'm a fan of how much thought she put into her programmes, not just doing a "random programme to random music to fit in all the jumps without tiring choreography" like many elite skaters did...
I loved her quality of "gliding", with deep edges - particularly in her last seasons. Those are unfortunately not represented on youtube. Only this, but with Chris Isaak music(?!?), you can see what Mojca's "gliding" abilities have become after a few years. (this was in 2004)
Her music then was - Kojiki by Kitaro (Orochi)/Once upon a time in America (modern arrangement from Apollo Four Fourty - the version Bobrova/Soloviev used last year)/Kojiki by Kitaro (Matsuri)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6HIQjmnBF4
She later earned a university degree in journalism and is now head coach of Uschi Keszler's "team excel national bridge program" at Ice Works in Aston, Pa. She got married and had a little daughter in 2009