Ladies skaters everyone should know?

This could be a multi loaded question and interpreted in many ways. Good, bad, famous, infamous...many reasons.

Michelle Kwan, Sonja Henie, Mao Asada,Yuna Kim, Kristi Yamguchi, - all for being wonderful skaters.

Katarina Witt the best competitor ever.

Midori Ito for starting the jumping and triple axel.

Oksana Baiul for her pure magic in skating.

Nancy Kerrigan for her dresses and being the victim of Tonya Harding and friends

Tonya Harding for her association with the blow heard across the world.

Josee Chouinard for the biggest talent who kept choking.

Sotnikova, Lipinskaya, Pogoloraya, Zagitova, Medeveda, Radinova for the Russian wave of excellence

Maria B and Irina S for really putting Russia onthe map for ladies

Kira Ivanova for winning Russia's first women Olympic medal

Lucinda Ruh for her magical spins.

Ashley Wagner for her honesty and being forthwith

Gracie Gold for her great skates and struggles


Trixie Schuba for her school figures

Skater Boy said:

Lucinda Ruh for her magical spins.

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Did you know her constant spinning actually caused her brain damage? She writes about it in her biography "Frozen teardrop"

Mr Cat said:

Did you know her constant spinning actually caused her brain damage? She writes about it in her biography "Frozen teardrop"

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Ugh ... I didn't know that. What a shame. I hope she's able to work with and rise above any difficulties that may cause her.

Karen Magnussen of Canada. World champion in 1973 and Silver Olympic champion in 1972 and 5 time Canadian Ladies champion plus Canadian Jr. champion. Not to mention her famous "Magnussen" spiral.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Magnussen

Alina Zagitova, obviously.

Mao Asada - for the technical abilities but also for the skating skills, the best steps sequences in ladies figure skating and the programs were all great: she had the privilege to work with both Tatiana Tarasova and Lori Nichol, she had a bit of the russian style, a bit of the north american and a bit of the japanese.

Sasha Cohen - as someone who started to follow figure skating after 2006, i have to make a confession: most programs pre-IJS aged pretty bad. I find most of them too empty it makes figure skating look too easy. Sasha thanks to her charisma, her spins, and most importantly her spirals, she was very impressive to watch even back then.

Carolina Kostner - great personality, for her it was always about the performance, the emotions, she was never all business.

Kaetlyn Osmond - to show how great musicality makes things more impactful.

Midori Ito - mostly for the 3A and how enourmous that was.

Kamila Valieva, Alexandra Trusova, Julia Lipnitskaya, Alina Zagitova, Alena Kostornaya, Evgenia Medvedeva to show how impressive are the new generations.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva - to show that today's figure skating doesn't end at the age of 18-19.

Kaetlyn Osmond. There was power and a great presence, not just technical details. There is no other skater like that at the moment (apart from Carolina). And she seems to be a very balanced and good person also.

I interpreted this thread as relatively unknown skaters who should be better known...

1) Nana Takeda (JPN) Sublime triple loop and probably the best layback ever to come out of Japan. Her surprise NHK Trophy bronze was her career highlight.

2) Mai Asada (JPN) the lesser known of the Asada sisters, gorgeous posture and carriage, gentle ease and musical to boot. Her "Amethyst" long program was my favorite. Would have been much better suited to 6.0 system IMO

3) Anna Kondrashova (USSR) the only 80's Soviet skater I enjoyed. Loved her sense of drama, style, and theatrical flair. Dick and Peggy were fans! Check out her Zorba the Greek and wonderful Fantasie Impromptu sp from 1984

4) Nathalie Krieg (USA) Everyone knows Lucinda Ruh but Nathalie was the other phenom Swiss spinner. Triple jumps were her nemesis but I loved her spunk, speed, and energy! A total energizer bunny

5) Ye Bin Mok (USA) the first "great" Korean lady skater (although she moved to the US in her early teens). Supremely graceful and elegant, I wish we got to see more of her in the 90's and early 00's. Her Swan program was a favorite!

6) Shirene Human (RSA) Still the most talented skater to come out of Africa. BEAUTIFUL edges and basic skating skills, check out her 1998 Nagano SP

7) Julia Sebesteyen (HUN) The Hungarian powerhouse! Sky-high jumps but also a mature and non-superfluous style, solid skating skills

8) Zijun Li (CHN) struggled with injuries and a deep field, but her wonderful Sleeping Beauty long program from Worlds shows she could have been a big contender

9) Olga Markova (RUS) Was shamefully denied a spot on the 1994 Olympic team (although IIRC Butyrskaya blew it at 1993 worlds). Campy, gorgeous, and stylish. Had some entertaining (and slightly demented) exhibitions in her day

10) Rory Burghart (USA) A rather unsuccessful amateur career gave rise to professional skating stardom after the great skating boom in the 90s. First rate performer and incredibly flexible! Best Russian splits in the business

Don't think I saw these names yet:

Caryn Kadavy
Jeri Campbell
Samantha Cesario

One of my favorites Sarah Hughes.

Mr Cat said:

I interpreted this thread as relatively unknown skaters who should be better known...

1) Nana Takeda (JPN) Sublime triple loop and probably the best layback ever to come out of Japan. Her surprise NHK Trophy bronze was her career highlight.

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I am glad that someone mentioned Nana Takeda. Thanks Mr. Cat. After falling in love with Mirai Nagasu and her coach in Juniors at 2007 U.S. Nationals (where Mirai was junior champion), my wife and I decided to go to Junior Worlds in Oberstdorf to watch Mirai again in case we never saw her again. One of the three Japanese junior ladies was Nana. I have never seen someone with as wonderful a smile as she had. She seemed to walk around in a joyous bubble and it made you happy just to see her, either on the ice or just walking around the concourse. I am sorry that she never really made it as a senior but I am so glad I saw her as a junior.

I just did a search on YouTube and found the following videos of her. It warmed my heart just to see her big smile again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDZskKW8C4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH4KEIo-vBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tah8Diw6p5w

Two words..."Kaetlyn Osmond". The most complete skater of her skating generation, if there ever was one.

Osmond4gold said:

Two words..."Kaetlyn Osmond", an example of THE complete skater of her generation, if there ever was one.

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I bumped into Kaetlyn Osmond the other day!!

There are many, so I will just name 5

Evgenia Medvedeva
Sasha Cohen
Mao Asada
Janet Lynne
Peggy Fleming

Osmond4gold said:

Two words..."Kaetlyn Osmond". The most complete skater of her skating generation, if there ever was one.

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Just my thought. Complete is the right word. No one compares to her at the moment.

rain said:

Michelle Kwan — I'm shocked she hasn't been mentioned.
Mao Asada
Lu Chen
Yuna Kim
Kaetlyn Osmond

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I was tabbing through this thread and was also shocked that Michelle Kwan wasn't mentioned earlier. And would definitely agree about Julia Lip and her Schindler's List.

Mr Cat said:

Sandy Lenz...watch her 1980 Olympic long program. No triples but first rate quality, Dick Button goes gaga over her style and finesse. And watch for the LONG circular spiral at the finale of the program. Takes my breathe away every time !

Coached by the Scotvolds IIRC

https://youtu.be/UTSLta1p0jg

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Thanks for the Sandy Lenz link. I watched the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics as a kid, but missed out on the 1980 Olympics during my first year of college and no access to a TV. My 1980 memories are of after the games highlights. I didn't remember Lenz.