- Joined
- Jun 16, 2010
An alternate universe :think: Do you think GS is the real world
If we compare their records Elvis won three WC's and three other Worlds medals and two OSM's.
What did Ilia win in his career? His record is not even as good as Tara's as a competitive skater.
And if Ilia was such a titan of skating I certainly didn't see it at Nagano. Do we blame his program or was it more about his lack of musicality or a little of both?
Comparing lines is always easy as Elvis was short and built like a bull.
But he did the best with what he had. I saw him Live a couple of times and none of the guys I ever saw projected as much energy to the crowd as Elvis.
When we talk about the innovators it is Elvis who was first with jump combos many of the guys still can't do today.
Funny, because I have never been much of a fan but Elvis certainly worked hard to earn his place in skating history.
You have a very short memory. Elvis's 97 World title was gifted to him by Urmanov's withdrawal (Alexei would have had to only come 2nd in the long to win which would have been easy seeing the skating that night), as well as the meltdowns of Eldredge and Kulik in the long program. He skated cleanly in the short and still placed only 4th so obviously was never set to win that Worlds and go into the Olympic season as World Champion in the first place. If anyone was lucky it was him.
Yeah Elvis won alot but it is mostly the inconsistency of Urmanov and Kulik. Those two skating cleanly would always beat him, but almost never produced. When they did they always beat Stojko- 94 Olympics, 96 Grand Prix final, 96 Worlds, 98 Olympics, etc..The only rival of Stojko who was consistent was Eldredge, but he just wasnt good enough. Had Elvis been born 4 or 5 years earlier or later he woud have won virtually nothing, in the Petrenko-Browning or Yagudin-Plushenko eras. He won his titles over rivals who were either headcases (Urmanov, Kulik) or second tier skaters (Eldredge, Zagorodniuk, Candelero).
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