I'm only posting to say that if this was an official ISU list, or something along those lines, like in a highly respected encyclopedia of figure skating book about the history of the sport, et al, then I would say only a couple of those names listed would make the grade, period.
But since this isn't, rather a figure skating fan's own personal list, I see nothing wrong with her list. I actually enjoyed reading her list(s), and was rather amused that we both agree on Sarah Hughes, who in my mind had the best FS ever, bar none, man or woman. It was one for the ages,
magical, a once-in-a-lifetme event wherein she skated the best she has ever skated in her life, something not only figure skaters, but all athletes can only dream about, to skate the best ever at the Olympics.
Now if I were to do a list, I would categorize it from A to D. Lol, kinda like what they have in Hollywood ~ there's the A-list, then everybody else.
And on my A-list would be the following:
Gillis Grafstrom -- holds the record for the most ever medals won at the Olympics (4 = 3 gold, 1 silver); most successful figure skater in Olympic history, 3-time World Champion, 3-time National Champion, inventor of the Grafstrom Pirouette and the Flying Sit Spin.
Evgeni Plushenko -- second only to Gillis Grafstrom for most medals ever won at the Olympics (3 = 1 gold, 2 silver); most successful Russian figure skater in history (man or woman), 3-time World Champion, 6-time European Champion, 8-time National Champion, first skater to land a 4/3/2 in competition, first skater to land a 4/3/3 in competition, has consistently landed over 100+ quads in competition, youngest male skater to receive a 6.0. And those are only some of his accomplishments, he's not done yet...
I'll stop for now, not enough time to list all the stupendous accomplishments of Ulrich, Karl, and Richard, whom also make my A-list, and that's it. Only 5. The rest are either on my B, C, or D list, depending on several circumstances, one being which event they medalled at, as the oldest of the four annual figure skating competitions is Europeans, which began in 1891, thus has far more prestige than the others. Next would be Worlds, which began in 1896 (btw Jr. Worlds began in 1976). After that the Winter Olympics, which began in 1908. And finally 4CC, which is the newest amongst them all (began in 1999), thus hasn't gained the prestige and respect of the others just yet.
Anyhow, my personal list takes into account factors such as I listed above, for what it's worth.
That's like saying, for example, in tennis, "oh all the players serve above 200 kilometers per hour and all those old people clearly can't do all that the players are doing today, so how could they be in the top 10 of all tennis players?" You can't cross-compare between drastically different times. Now, people are fitter, technology has made more things possible.
