Sports Streaks | Golden Skate

Sports Streaks

PAskate

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050510/1054518.asp

Jerry Sullivan writes about sports streaks that will outlast Joe
Dimaggio's hitting streak in 1941...

"Michelle Kwan's eight straight U.S. figure skating titles. We're in
an era when 15-year-olds win and and skate directly to the Ice
Capades. Kwan's streak, still active, is one of the most underrated in
history."

It's always nice to see a regular sports writer give skating some
respect. :clap:
 

mpal2

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Thanks for the article. I love it when longevity is praised in any sport. If I were to create a sports legend list, every single one of them would have proven themselves over time. :thumbsup:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
What about Sonia Henie's streak of 10 straight world championships?

But DiMaggio's record is nothing to sneeze at. Let's say you are a .300 hitter. So at every at bat there is a 70% chance that you won't get a hit. If you have four at bats per game, your probability of not getting a hit is .70 x .70 x .70 x .70 = .24, so your probability of getting a hit in any particular game is 76%.

The probability of doing this 56 times in a row is .76 x .76 x .76 x . . . 56 times, which is equal to .0000002.

Mathman

(Your welcome, LOL.;)
 

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Country
United-States
Mathman said:
The probability of doing this 56 times in a row is .76 x .76 x .76 x . . . 56 times, which is equal to .0000002.
Mathman (Your welcome, LOL.;)
Did you forget your meds again???????? :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Dee
 

Eldredgefan2001

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I'd have to agree with you Mathman. THAT, is a streak that is very much overlooked. Don't forget, she also won 3 Olympic titles in a row. How many sports figures can actually say that they have done the same in their sport. :agree:



Kathie
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Eldredgefan2001 said:
I'd have to agree with you Mathman. THAT, is a streak that is very much overlooked. Don't forget, she also won 3 Olympic titles in a row. How many sports figures can actually say that they have done the same in their sport. :agree: Kathie
I doubt there are any. Sonia was unique, and no one can take credit for making the sport so popular as she did. Some fans like to dwell on the "youngest" fan to win an Oly as the most important statistic in figure skating. Big deal, and those same fans are not thinking about age as being so important now that their new favorite is over 20.

Joe
 

attyfan

Custom Title
Medalist
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Mathman said:
What about Sonia Henie's streak of 10 straight world championships? ... Mathman ...

I don't think the size of the streak alone makes Kwan's streak so noteworthy. Sonia Henie's streak occurred when skaters had to do figures, but only had to do single jumps. This is easier on the body than the triple jumps expected of modern skaters. After all, how many skaters in Henie's era ended their careers prematurely due to injury? Kwan's streak is noteworthy, not merely because of its size, but also because of the physical challenge involved. The increasing physical demands of the sport means that the chances of a skater lasting long enough to equal it are getting smaller and smaller.
 

Skate Sandee

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
attyfan said:
I don't think the size of the streak alone makes Kwan's streak so noteworthy. Sonia Henie's streak occurred when skaters had to do figures, but only had to do single jumps. This is easier on the body than the triple jumps expected of modern skaters. After all, how many skaters in Henie's era ended their careers prematurely due to injury? Kwan's streak is noteworthy, not merely because of its size, but also because of the physical challenge involved. The increasing physical demands of the sport means that the chances of a skater lasting long enough to equal it are getting smaller and smaller.

Look - let's set aside the impressive physical challenges of today versus Henie's time for a moment. I'm not diminishing Sonia Henie's accomplishment, but let's be real.

FACT: She was allowed to wear short dresses because she was a "girl" and the other ladies had to wear floor length dresses - thereby giving Sonia a HUGE physical advantage in all elements of skating being done at the time. (spins, figures and single jumps)

FACT: In those days, the judging panels were often made up of mainly Norwegien judges. In some cases, 4 out of the 5 judges (at that time it was a 5 judge panel) were all from Norway.

Her streak is likely never to be broken, but even excluding the increased technical difficulties of modern skating, Henie's enjoyed advantages that are simply unheard of today (or even 30 years ago). So any ladies skater that comes close to her record is in a class by themselves IMHO.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Skate Sandee said:
FACT: In those days, the judging panels were often made up of mainly Norwegien judges. In some cases, 4 out of the 5 judges (at that time it was a 5 judge panel) were all from Norway.
Not unusual today. Is it?

BTW, can you site where you got the info on Sonia and these judges in all(?) her competitions?

Joe
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Joesitz said:
I doubt there are any. Sonia was unique, and no one can take credit for making the sport so popular as she did. Some fans like to dwell on the "youngest" fan to win an Oly as the most important statistic in figure skating. Big deal, and those same fans are not thinking about age as being so important now that their new favorite is over 20.

Joe


Not only that Sonia did it when figures counted.
 

Skate Sandee

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Joesitz said:
Not unusual today. Is it?

BTW, can you site where you got the info on Sonia and these judges in all(?) her competitions?

Joe

Um no. These days no country gets more than one judge on a panel.

And the judge info was mentioned during the A&E Biography.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Eldredgefan2001 said:
THAT, [ten consecutive world titles] is a streak that is very much overlooked. Don't forget, she also won 3 Olympic titles in a row. How many sports figures can actually say that they have done the same in their sport. :agree:

Irina Rodnina. :)
 

thisthingcalledlove

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Skate Sandee said:
Um no. These days no country gets more than one judge on a panel.

And the judge info was mentioned during the A&E Biography.

LoL of course it still happens today! Example...

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and...Lithuania get to send judges....that's four former Soviets...

Israel, a country that normally has judges from other countries judging for it (most notable, Katalin Alpern of Hungary now judging for Israel, or, even better, Baiul's former coach, Korytek's father, judging for Israel), sends one judge... (that's five)

And finally, Latvia, gets to send a judge...well, that's six...

Yikes!
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
thisthingcalledlove said:
LoL of course it still happens today! Example...

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and...Lithuania get to send judges....that's four former Soviets...

Israel, a country that normally has judges from other countries judging for it (most notable, Katalin Alpern of Hungary now judging for Israel, or, even better, Baiul's former coach, Korytek's father, judging for Israel), sends one judge... (that's five)

And finally, Latvia, gets to send a judge...well, that's six...

Yikes!
Not to mention Armenia, Azerbaiyan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
It's the former Russians who went to these countries and remained. They brought figure skating to these states but they all are faithful to Mother Russia.
They are all entitled to have judges.

BTW, The Russian toe tapper fled to Israel and was reinstated as a legitimate judge. You figure.

Joe
 

Skate Sandee

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
thisthingcalledlove said:
LoL of course it still happens today! Example...

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and...Lithuania get to send judges....that's four former Soviets...

Israel, a country that normally has judges from other countries judging for it (most notable, Katalin Alpern of Hungary now judging for Israel, or, even better, Baiul's former coach, Korytek's father, judging for Israel), sends one judge... (that's five)

And finally, Latvia, gets to send a judge...well, that's six...

Yikes!

Don't be cute. You know very well there's a HUGE difference in the uneven natiopnalistic judging panel from Henie's days versus today. The most obvious difference being that those countries you listed (while once part of one country) still have the option of sending their own skaters and giving generous judging to their own skaters. So the comparison is not exactly valid.

I'm talking about the fact that you don't see judging panels today like the ones Henie enjoyed. If you want a hypothetical comparison in judging panels, it would look like this today (one example):

USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, RUS, CAN
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Skate Sandee said:
Don't be cute. You know very well there's a HUGE difference in the uneven natiopnalistic judging panel from Henie's days versus today. The most obvious difference being that those countries you listed (while once part of one country) still have the option of sending their own skaters and giving generous judging to their own skaters. So the comparison is not exactly valid.

I'm talking about the fact that you don't see judging panels today like the ones Henie enjoyed. If you want a hypothetical comparison in judging panels, it would look like this today (one example):

USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, USA, RUS, CAN

Skate Sandee - I'm totally confused about the judging panels of Henie - 7 US Judges? One Russian in the 1930s under Stalin and no other Europeans - not even Norway? And why on earth would the USA push Sonia ahead of its own skaters?

I can't help but think you are unhappy with Sonia Henie getting so much credit for promoting figure skating. Are there any other reasons than this unusual assembly of judges you have presented.?

Joe
 
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Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Joe, I don't think that's what Sandee is saying; she's saying that today's equivalent of those pannels would be 7 US judges.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Ptichka said:
Joe, I don't think that's what Sandee is saying; she's saying that today's equivalent of those pannels would be 7 US judges.

Pitchka - I understood that. I was just trying to be a smart alec. My original thought was to make a big ado about Joe Inman and Mme LeGougne as being so close, or any US judge and Jan Huffman. :laugh:

Joe
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
How ironic. Tiger Woods' record (listed in the article along with Michelle's) of making the cut in 142 straight tournaments, dating back to 1998, came to an end yesterday. He bogeyed the last hole and missed the cut at the Byron Nelson Classic yesterday. In another twist, it was Nelson who held the old record of 113.

I guess this would correlate with Michelle's streak for making the podium in consequtive events. I wonder how many it was. Did her streak last from 1995 Worlds to 2005 Worlds?

Mathman
 
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