- Joined
- Feb 5, 2004
I don't really buy all of that. I like Michelle Kwan, she certainly was a fierce competitor, and a legend, and deserves to be praised. But many criticized her for lack of high technical difficulty and said she was often over-marked, and I have a tendency to agree. Would she have won those piles of world gold medals if she were the same age and competing now, under CoP and facing the Asians, instead of under 6.0 and facing the Russians or whoever else? It's fair to at LEAST say she would have probably won not as many. And honestly, probably a lot less.
But that's just ridiculous coulda woulda shoulda-ing! The whole point of this is that Kwan isn't skating now - she skated when she did, against who she did and she won. That's all you need to do in skating. She didn't win aganist Lipinski or Hughes at the Olympics. Sasha was there for 4 years too (in fact Sasha only did three more competitions than Kwan - 06 Nationals. 06 Olys and 06 Worlds) so if the field was so easy why didn't Sasha have more of those medals? Kwan faced Slutskaya - a formidable opponent and she (Slutskaya) could only take two world gold medals in all those competitions.
Everyone has their own opinions about raising the technical bar and I personally think that she was the first (dare I actually say only since no-one else seems to have managed it since either, granted COP doesn't make it easy by limiting jumping passes) to regularly put down a 7 triple program. I know some people don't think that's all that, personally I do. Did she get overmarked sometimes? Absolutely. But most skaters do benefit from overmarking over the course of their career(Slutskaya and Cohen both benefitted from overmarking over their careers) and quite frankly the last worlds that used 6.0 AND annonymous judging was a complete joke for throwing out 6.0s and to my mind that last 6.0 season shouldn't be included in the tallies for "most 6.0s given".
In short, she was able to shine a lot brighter and longer in the environment she was in. Sasha didn't have nearly as much of that environment, though she did have a few years under 6.0, but our girls today REALLY don't have that. They have to bite and claw for every inch of what they earn, and sometimes lose it at the whim of the numbers game. Sasha can be blamed for failing when she failed, but she can't be blamed for not having 9 nationals and 5 world titles like Kwan. It's a completely unfair comparison. No one will EVER have that with CoP, nor would Kwan have earned even close to that under CoP.
No-one is blaming Sasha for anything - i'm just comparing the records on paper - something that will be done by fans in the future. I'm not sure your crystal ball predictions of how Kwan might have faired under the COP had she been younger and hitting her peak under COP are quite right. Kwan had consistency comparable with Pluschenko - who did phenominally well under COP. My gut feeling is that old reliable would have put down those programs with her quality rotated jumps and would have been left the leader of the pack where others fell and stumbled. It's a moot point though because Kwan won what she did, when she did and nothing can take that away from her.
Yes Kwan is a legend. If you don't think Sasha is a legend, that's fine. But saying "14 vs. 1" as some kind of honest comparison is just basically a joke.
If the question is how many titles have skaters over the years won then that is the truthful answer - that's all there is to it. In that list Kwan isn't at the top either, there are good few skaters ahead of her.
The point is - titles don't diminish anyone's like (or dislike) of a skater. Personally i've never watched a single medal ceremony - I find them boring. Even though she has no significant titles (except maybe som national titles) personally i've watched all of Fleur Maxwell's programs over the years and think she was a truly beautiful skater, I could list several skaters like her who never got those harder triple jumps. Sasha's record absolutely annihilates their records. Does it matter? Not one bit! Was Sasha a better skater/competitor absolutely, does that mean i can't enjoy their skating? Absolutely not.
Ant
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