Big Guy, Little Lady | Golden Skate

Big Guy, Little Lady

S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
Do any of you remember the days in which the Soviet Union pairs teams sometimes featured a tall, muscular man and a tiny whisp of a girl? I'm thinking of the Soviet pair of Marina Cherkosova and Sergei Shakhrai, who achieved great success as a pairs team, winning the silver medal at the 1979 Worlds and the 1980 Winter Olympics and winning the World title in 1980.

Without being critical, this pair was completely mis-matched, size wise. Sergei was over six feet tall and well built. Marina was no more than, perhaps
four feet, eight inches tall, and weighed about 80 pounds. Seigei threw his partner into the air like a little doll. When they skated across the rink, their size difference was extraordinary, yet they were able to overcome this situation with solid successes.

However, Marina had a growth spurt after the 1980 season, and the following year, she and Sergei were not on the World podium.

Actually, as I'm writing this, it isn't fair to label this "big guy-little lady" as something that was done only by the Soviets. I remember seeing a few American pairs teams who were also mismatched, as far as size is concerned.
And, frankly, they did not achieve the level of success that Marina and Sergei achieved.
 

thisthingcalledlove

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
SkateFan4Life said:
Do any of you remember the days in which the Soviet Union pairs teams sometimes featured a tall, muscular man and a tiny whisp of a girl? I'm thinking of the Soviet pair of Marina Cherkosova and Sergei Shakhrai, who achieved great success as a pairs team, winning the silver medal at the 1979 Worlds and the 1980 Winter Olympics and winning the World title in 1980.

Without being critical, this pair was completely mis-matched, size wise. Sergei was over six feet tall and well built. Marina was no more than, perhaps
four feet, eight inches tall, and weighed about 80 pounds. Seigei threw his partner into the air like a little doll. When they skated across the rink, their size difference was extraordinary, yet they were able to overcome this situation with solid successes.

However, Marina had a growth spurt after the 1980 season, and the following year, she and Sergei were not on the World podium.

Actually, as I'm writing this, it isn't fair to label this "big guy-little lady" as something that was done only by the Soviets. I remember seeing a few American pairs teams who were also mismatched, as far as size is concerned.
And, frankly, they did not achieve the level of success that Marina and Sergei achieved.


they were known as the flea and gorilla pair lol
 

PrincessLeppard

~ Evgeni's Sex Bomb ~
Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
One of the reasons I felt that M&D deserved the gold over G&G in the 1994 Olympics was that Artur was throwing and lifting a real woman. Sergei only had to lift and throw Katya, who was quite tiny. They both skated well, but I thought the added difficulty for Artur should've given them the edge. Oh, well.

Laura :)
 

MasterB

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 18, 2004
Fair

One can also say that the brave little girl being tossed around deserves lots of credit for nailing those jumps from great height.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Yes, MasterB, but it is not esthetically plesing to me. I prefer the lady in a Pairs Team to be no more than 6 inches less than the man. It becomes like Basketball with height as advantage. But hey, that's just me.

Joe
 

MasterB

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 18, 2004
Fair

When I first started skating, pairs use to be about an even match in height (Tai/Randy Jojo/Shelley) except for the Russian pairs. Then everyone started doing it with the Canadians pushing the great Underhill/Martini pair. They were the first team that I really liked that were not an even match. Most pairs did look awful when the girl was 20 inches shorter than the guy.
 

thisthingcalledlove

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
MasterB said:
When I first started skating, pairs use to be about an even match in height (Tai/Randy Jojo/Shelley) except for the Russian pairs. Then everyone started doing it with the Canadians pushing the great Underhill/Martini pair. They were the first team that I really liked that were not an even match. Most pairs did look awful when the girl was 20 inches shorter than the guy.

some of the new US teams are almost too close in height. Varraux and Pelletier are 5'4" and 5'7"...
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
Haven't Varraux/Pelletier split? They aren't in any of the team envelopes for the 2004-2005 season.
 

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
The Chinese teams are also surprisingly close in height. I'm so surprised at how tall the Chinese girls are (5'5, 5'7). Most of the other pair teams have a girl who is 5'0 or 5'1.
 

clairecloutier

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 27, 2003
I personally like the look of pairs who have a substantial height difference (such as Gordeeva/Grinkov, Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze, Brasseur/Eisler, Ina/Zimmerman). These teams are often able to achieve great unison and symmetry, despite their height disparity. And unquestionably, the size difference must help tremendously with throws and lifts. I don't find it aesthetically unpleasing, either. To me, it just has the effect of making the man look stronger, and the woman more feminine (although perhaps this is just perpetuating stereotypes!).

I also like the look of pairs who are closer in height, such as Shen/Zhao and Woetzel/Steuer. I think both types of pairs can work. I would venture to guess, though, that a 6-inch height disparity is probably the minimum, not the maximum, for successful pairs these days.
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
How about Borzenkova & Chuviliav (#4 Russian team)? She is not that small -- 167 cm (5'5"), but he is a full 200 cm (6'5")!

Traditionally in Russia, I think Zhuk picked huge men/ tiny girls (G&G, Rodnina & partners, Zhuk & Gorelik), whereas Moskvina prefered more evenly matched teams (Valova & Vasiliev, Dmitriev & patrners, etc).
 
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Vash01

Medalist
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
Also Zhang & Zhang- the young Chinese pair has a substantial height (and weight) difference.

Without great unison the size difference can become a distraction. Pairs like G&G, B&S used their size difference to their advantage, while maintaining great unison and quality to their skating.
 
S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
When Gordeeva and Grinkov first started to skate together, she was an 11-year-old child - very tiny - and he was a growing 16-year-old. When they won their first World title, in 1986, she was 14 and he was 19. Katia was still very tiny in stature, while Sergei had grown into a much taller young man. Katia grew during that season, and at the 1987 Worlds, she was several inches taller.
While she still appeared to be a whisp of a girl, she was very strong, and she skated with maturity. They were a magical pair, without a doubt, and I miss seeing them!

As for Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, this was a pair was was almost identical in height. Frankly, I wondered how Randy could lift Tai, as she was a very strongly built young woman, and Randy wasn't exactly muscular in stature.
 

IDLERACER

Medalist
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I remember Tai & Randy when he was 15 and she was 13 (this was back in 1972). He was a good five inches taller than her then. Within three years, she caught up to him. Working with her over the course of those three years, must've been somewhat akin to working with a set of barbells that one keeps adding weights to as one gets stronger.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I think it must be true that Varraux and Pelletier have split.

If you go to the USFSA board, athletes, and plug in either name, it comes up with nothing. And as noted, they aren't in any of the US team envelopes.
 

Jenna

Spectator
Joined
May 5, 2004
Varraux and Pelletier announced their split on US Figure Skating's site in May, I believe. The "Ended Partnerships" list isn't posted on the site anymore. They were listed in the C envelope before they split. He's listed on USFS's partner search.

In US Figure Skating media guide, she's listed as 5'1" and he's listed as 5'7", so they weren't too close in height.
 

KatyaFan

Rinkside
Joined
Jun 17, 2004
eyria said:
I personally like the look of pairs who have a substantial height difference (such as Gordeeva/Grinkov, Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze, Brasseur/Eisler, Ina/Zimmerman). These teams are often able to achieve great unison and symmetry, despite their height disparity....


i totally agree. imo i like to see the height difference. to me it shows a lot more feminity in the women and seems to show more controls physically in the men.
i dont enjoy watching pairs that are height matched, to me the men seem ackward throwing, and seems to take away the grace and poise of the pair. this is just my preference.
 

Longhornliz

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
have there been any teams where the lady was taller? If the male was strong enough it might not be an issue if the lady was really thin... but boy would that look funny. Like tom and nicole on the red carpet.
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
Some of my favourite pairs skaters have been more equal in size (Kilius/Baumler, Babilonia/Gardner and Shen/Zhao) and in some pairs the lady has been more tiny (Rodnina with both partners, Gordeeva/Grinkova). It does not bother me the either way. Only if the lady is really, really much shorter, it does not look so good. Both Gordeeva and Rodnina are tiny, but not so much that it would disturb, in my opinion.

Marjaana
 
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