You can't honestly compare Alina to Yuna. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that Yuna was GOAT and deserved all her wins and reputation, and more; while there's plenty of skepticism among many people about Alina's true place in the pantheon of figure skating legends.
If you want to compare Alina to anyone, compare her to Sotnikova. Anyone remember her? Not as well as Yuna, that's for sure. Out of the three of them, which one's exquisite skating will continue to be remembered and revered by all, the entire world, not just "patriots"?
In other words, there're medals... and then there's reality.
1. Sotnikova's career is one good performance(at the best possible time, but still). Alina's career is ~2 seasons and half.
2. Sotnikova is an Olympic Champion, Alina won everything there is to win.
3. Sotnikova retired after Olympics,Alina won worlds after Olympics and won it without any questions.
4. Nobody questions Alina's OGM medal except Medvedeva's immediate family and few delusional fans.
5. Who remembers Sotnikova? Uh,Ms King to begin with. Figure Skating another site and how about Nation of Russia ? Also, I don't know but you seem to remember Sotnikova.
6. Alina is the best Russian lady in History, trust me, that will ensure she is remembered until at least, Russia will have another winner of every major Trophy of FS.
7. Sotnikova isn't true champion... lol, if anybody here thinks that in 10 years ANYBODY except Ms King and few her followers will remember Sochi Controversy... I am sorry but you are dead wrong. How many people remember all these fight Floyd Mayweather 'deserved' to lose? Yeah, nobody except probably his most devout haters. That isn't how any of it works, When Brian Scalabrine in his famous post-NBA winning interview said that in 20 years nobody would care if he played only 5 seconds or won MVP, he was right. So sorry but, as time passes,less and less questions will be asked about Sotnikova's Gold, Ms King can burn down 100 CPUs making new youtube videos but it wont change anything
8. Sotnikova was perfect example of one hit wonder (well, she had that one hit at perfect time) Alina had lengthy career filled with a rise, rivalry, problems and getting World Gold medal after all these troubles. She is a legend and as unfortunate as it may sound for her fans, she has very few reasons to return. There will always be people who question anything, even if she returns and wins everything second time, but she has medals which regardless of how many people 'question' them, ensures her place among legends of FS.
9. I understand that there are some people (who mostly, coincidentally of course, come from countries which don't exactly enjoy perfect times in FS right now ) who think that a 'true legend' needs to stay active for 'at least' 2 olympics, but again, that isn't how any of it works (or will ever work), Athletes aren't measured according to length of their Carer but to the achievement they had and as Eteri and Co. rightly put it "Alina won more in these 3 years than most skaters win in 10" :agree:
