Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

[Joesitz]

Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

In your opinion which skater among the Ladies who turned pro kept your interest as a continuing important figure skater:

 

[Glacierskater]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

I have to say that Kat was my favorite skater unitl I discovered Sonja. But I have always kept up with Oksana. She and I both had a habit of learning things the hard way...all of our own doing, but the hard way none the less. Oh to be all grown up!

 

[Kara Bear]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

None

 

[RealtorGal]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

<span style="color:teal;font-family:comic sans ms;font-size:small;">Kat's career has probably been the longest and most visible among the ladies. I really enjoy watching her, but every time he sees her, Mr. RG complains that she should retire already! (But he says that about Michelle, too!)</span>

 

[sk8ing lady2001]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

I'll go with Tara, because she has had such beautiful programs like "My Fair Lady" and "To Where You Are". I enjoyed those a lot.

 

[SHINE2002]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

How could Yuka Sato have been left off this poll?

 

[mathman444]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

Kristi was the world's best as an amateur and an Olympian, then as a pro she just kept getting better and better.

Mathman

 

[Joesitz]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

Those listed were all Oly gold ladies, but I would go along with your view on Yuka. Incredibly beautiful skater still, and so versatile.

Joe

 

[BronzeisGolden02]

Kristi

I'm not a huge fan of professional skating but I would say Kristi Yamaguchi kept my interest the most. Unlike most of the other ladies mentioned, she didn't scale down her technical content until much later. She showed that she had a true love for what she was doing by refusing to waterdown her programs and do only what was expected in a less demanding atmosphere. I remember being so impressed by her "Madame Butterfly" number in 95(?), so demanding technically and really a mature, dramatic program. Oksana had some nice programs in 95..."Meditation" and "The Feeling Begins" were interesting, but she lost the jumps and began to show signs of fatigue far too early.

 

[patsue]

Re: Kristi

Gotta go with Kristi. She grew and developed musically while maintaining the technical side. I love when skaters branch out and do fun programs as well as classical. I have always liked Brian Boitano's skating but really enjoyed him so much more when he finally "let his hair down" and had FUN! He has maintained his technical side. If only all the pros would do this we would still have the pro competition circuit that would keep us coming back for more.

 

[LAVENDER]

Re: Kristi

To me Kristi blossomed as a pro and not so much as a amateur.

 

[stilldizzy7]

Re: Kristi

I voted for Kristi because after turning pro her skating continued to improve, she won many professional championships and managed to skate with SOI for ten years without any major injuries.

Oksana and Tara, have not had stellar pro careers. Oksana self destructed and Tara has been plagued by injury.

I've never been a fan of Katarina Witt, ever.

Dizzy

 

[Pookie]

Re: Kristi

Definitely Kristi. While the others have had their moments, Kristi is consistently wonderful and she can skate to just about anything.
In my opinion, Katarina doesn't have much range or just doesn't stretch herself. She just wiggles, smiles and winks. There's not much skating in that.

 

[BronzeisGolden02]

Katarina

I'm glad to find I'm not the only one that has never been in raptures over Katarina Witt. I did enjoy her "Carmen" from Calgary, but aside from that, I can't say she ever really impressed me all that much. Her professional career certainly did little for me. She seemed somewhat of a "heavy" skater and I agree that she never demonstrated much range. Yet, I do applaud her accomplishments. Two Olympic Golds and Four World titles is impressive.

 

[eltamina]

Re: Life After Turning Pro (Ladies)

A tie b/w Kristi and Yuka

IMHO Yuka's Spartacus is the BEST ladies pro program. In terms of PURE skating, Yuka's Spartacus beat any program Kristi had offered. OOucchhh... I am a HUGE Kristi fan, really , I love Kristi. Yuka explores pair skating, and does a decent job at it, so she is setting an example for other lady skaters that there are alternatives in pro skating. Don't forget Yuka beat Kristi at least twice, maybe 3 times during their pro career.

Kristi also did a lot for ladies pro skating. Her program Passage : Ink Dark Moon is a trail blazer, in terms of using mininalistic music, just a solo Japanese flute + some lady reciting a translation of an ancient Japanese poem. Kristi is the only lady skater who can skate to Bezic sex kitten programs w/o looking cheesy.

So it is a tie, but if someone really put a gun to my head to vote just for one...

Hmmm....... YUKA

 

[LAVENDER]

I guess I didn't notice the other box

but it IS hard for me to pick between Kristi and Yuka. However Yuka's still going. Both were nice as amateurs but blossomed as pros.

Kat's the opposite. Kat was captivating as an amateur but not as a pro in my opinion. I don't really like Kat's skating now and I rather not see her skate in her blue dress again.

 

[NanSinger2]

My vote goes to Kristi and Yuka. It was always so much fun to see what Kristi would do next, and I loved watching Yuka in the pros because she seemed so much more relaxed. That being said...really enjoyed Oksana's first year being pro (the arabian lamp program). I hope to see her back in good form again in the future. She had such fun artistry.