If Kim wins the Olympics next year she will probably be considered the greatest skater ever. I think that is what she is aiming for. She will have the best modern day record of any skater with 2 Olympic Gold, 2 (or even 3) World titles, 3 (or 4) Grand Prix final wins. That plus her extremely high technical and artistic level of skating, the fact that her best performances (2010 Olympics, 2013 Worlds) would beat any skater in history at their best, especialy under COP
The U.S has never disregarded the National results thus far
Yes they have - Todd Eldredge!
I don't think she's the greatest skater ever even if she wins two more Olympics Gold.
I don't think she's the greatest skater ever even if she wins two more Olympics Gold. Her TES is extremely high, probably higher than anyone since Midori Ito, but artistically, she's behind quite a few girls for me. I don't think she's as musical and adventurous as Carolina Kostner. I don't think she's as balletic and graceful as Mao Asada. I don't think she got me as excited and on the edge as Midori. And overall, none of her programs move me the way some of Michelle's program moved me. So no, she's A+ on the TES and A- on the PCS. When combined both TES and PCS, extremely hard to beat, but the greatest ever? Nope, not seeing it. I don't think I will be bothered to rewatch any of her performance this year.
Had it been marked right, her CH and IN should never come near Caro's this year. Her P/E and TR should be better than Caro's. And Caro's SS is just better, flaws and all.
really gimble, i was being silly. Yuna is not greedy, she is very ambitious. She sees a spot in history bigger than what she has. She is the penultimate CoP skater. She doesn't suffer edge calls or urs. She is a clean jumper good at the other requirements and she wins under current rules. She is a competitor. She carefully surveyed the field while taking time off and correctly sees she at her best with her jump arsenal, experience and cool, collected skating could grab another gold. Yuna Kim 2 x gold medalist. How many Olympians, esp skaters can say that? Greatest of all time will be her moniker and who will do it again?
This may be less of a coronation than last time. Really, she will be held up and overscored in PCS. I think she left Asada in the dust by 30 points last Olympics despite great skating, 3 triple axels. I found it really unfair scoring. As I said in the pre-worlds thread, if she still has the difficult, oh so clean jumps, she really cannot be beaten unless she has a fluke fall on her combination. World's was impressive despite an unappealing SP. She still won. Judges love her. I'd bet money on her now. I am hoping Caro is so cleanly magnificent but how likely is that at her 3rd ? Olympics. Mao can't do the pressure anymore. Only Grace Gold has the jumps, speed, ice coverage, great body, ice princess look and well, we all know what she is up against. Maybe in 4 years. Yuna is gonna repeat if at this level, barring injuries. She won 2013 worlds. The great oz has spoken.
If Kim wins the Olympics next year she will probably be considered the greatest skater ever. I think that is what she is aiming for. She will have the best modern day record of any skater with 2 Olympic Gold, 2 (or even 3) World titles, 3 (or 4) Grand Prix final wins. That plus her extremely high technical and artistic level of skating, the fact that her best performances (2010 Olympics, 2013 Worlds) would beat any skater in history at their best, especialy under COP, and that she came from a country with no history and did all that would make her the consenus best ever. The only one in the post World War 11 years with a better record would be Katarina Witt, but lets face it nobody considers Witt the caliber of skater Kim, Kwan, Ito, Yamaguchi, Asada, probably even Slutskaya and others are, no matter how many medals she shook her boofy and triple toed to.
I don't think "greatest ever" means "perfect in every single way" (better jumper than Midori Ito, more balletic than Mao Asada, more moving than Michelle Kwan, etc.). For Yuna to be considered the greatest ever in general, the bar is a bit lower and actually achievable. Michael Jordan's stats, for example, is beaten in certain respects by several basketball players. Nevertheless, in the history of basketball he is the "greatest ever" by acclamation.
I have to say, though, that when I watch Yuna, especially the height and travel of her jumps, her footwork, and okay maybe not so much her spins, but just about every other minute during her programs -- I kind of DO get that "da*n, she's the best EVER" feeling. Program after program she just looks so effortless at it all, and the technical goods are so strong, and she can also project a mood well, too (Lark, her two Oly programs had a strong but different flavor to them).
Well obviously individuals will have their own opinions. However my comment was that I am pretty sure most people will think of her as the greatest ever if she wins her 2nd Olympic Gold, even if you personally dont (I think Ito is the greatest ever for instance but I know few think that), and I think she believes that way too, and hence was agreeing with the previous poster that she is indeed mostly staying in to cement her place in history further. Of the skaters you mentioned there is nobody that will ever consider Kostner or Asada close to the best ever as neither has the dominance, impact, or competitive record to even come close, so you might as well compare Kim to other people who could actually be legitimately argued as that against her like Kwan, Ito, Lynn, Yamaguchi, etc...and how she falls short to them.