I have never skated at a competitive level however, I am a former professional dancer and continue in the activity as a judge. In 1999 I attended several skating competitions with a good friend who's daughter was quite good.
We'd be sitting together and at times I just couldn't help myself. I used to complain constantly about the horrible camel positions during spins. I'd say things like....
"Take a dance class" or "It's all about those hips ladies"
" Fine, they can't point in skates but is anyone talking to these girls about how to turn out ???? "
Well, in 1999 ( I'm old ) I saw Maria Butyrskaya win worlds and I called my friend and said "Now that girl knows how to do a real camel !!" Unfortunately, her daughter said she didn't like the way Maria skated and couldn't believe that of all the skaters to chose from, I chose Maria. I didn't know skaters by name back then and I know she wanted me to say Kwan but IMO Maria's camel was the best of any skater I'd seen.
Her free leg rotated out while the hips remained square. She also had beautiful turnout. When Mr Button commented on her wonderful position I thought to myself. I knew I wasn't crazy, that is a good camel......
i will speak as a fan who only knows what she finds aesthetic and doesn't know the technical details that go into it.
yes, for me too, maria b. had an amazing camel spin. of course sasha cohen had nice camel spins too, but nearly all sasha's spins were superlative. i can't say maria's other spins stood out the way her camel spin did. maria had a rigidity about her skating that looked sexy and commanding to some, but didn't appeal to me--i prefer my dominatrix to look like nicole bobek
the other skaters whom i remember for their one truly outstanding spin were: angela nikodinov for the best layback ever, elena sokolova for the best sit spin ever
because unlike sasha cohen their other spins weren't nearly so amazing as their one great spin--as much as peggy waxed eloquent about that camel where angela joined her hands behind her back it just didn't look so nice to me.
to me, the position is #1 and no one struck a better position than maria b IMO. nicole bobek, when she felt motivated, could equal maria
nicole had so many spins that were lovely, as did yuka sato. i sometimes liked MK's camel for the position, even though the speed wasn't always amazing--although in the 98 season she had decent speed in both directions and a fairly good position. i liked the camel variations from the taj mahal and winter programs. spins were not MK's strong point.
i love dorothy hamill and caryn kadavy, but i didn't find the hamill camel that attractive to look at (i appreciate it overall, but it isn't one that sticks in the mind), and i didn't much like kadavy's camel spin, which always threatened to turn into that not-so-lovely donut spin. i think jill trenary and debi thomas also had nice camel spins. ekaterina gordeeva too, as both single and pair skater.
i like miki's camel spin very much--i prefer hers, mirai's and mao's to the other COP ladies.
)
(first worlds I remember vividly was 94, but I know I watched all the way back to 89) 
