Skaters who smoke....

[Becki]

Are there any skaters who smoke ???

 

[dorispulaski]

Tonya Harding did.

So did Dick Button.

 

[Ruffles78]

Johnny Weir (that's what I've heard and I've seen pictures.)

 

[dorispulaski]

This topic reminds me of a conversation I was having with a friend last week. One of her daughters lived in NY, and used to hang around with ballet dancers. The daughter said that the ballerinas she knew lived on a diet of "champagne, cocaine, & cigarettes" in order to preserve their slender figures.

Skaters who smoke, like the ballerinas my friend's daughter knew, may be smoking in part to stay thin.

In fact, women smoke in France with the same stated objective:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...y-better-dead-than-fat.html?cid=hp:mainpromo9

Better Dead Than Fat
Jun 20, 2010 6:38 PM EDT

“Better dead than fat” or “plutôt mourir qu'être grosse” could be the motto of a growing number of French women.

French men may be putting away their smokes and increasingly avoiding lung cancer, but more women smokers are dying from it in France today than ever before.

The desire to remain slender, many say, is what keeps them puffing.

Nicole Bobek smoked.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/figureskating/columns/story?columnist=nelson_amy&id=4389556

Some of her former skating coaches and associates who spoke with ESPN.com remember this about Bobek: the way she smelled. She was beautiful on the ice, they say, but her smoking habit away from it was jarring.

http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/sk8usa06 m.htm

According to this report from Skate America, 2006, some Russian male skaters smoke.
http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/sk8usa06 m.htm

 

[brightphoton]

The cigarettes' effect on lung capacity won't affect performance. Even the longest skating performances are at maximum 5-6 minutes, so there's no need for endurance or stamina.

 

[Olympia]

A lot of people with substance abuse problems smoke as a kind of substitute for the substance when they become sober, so I wouldn't be surprised if Nicole is smoking just as much now, if not more. One thing that made me sad watching her on that lovely special yesterday was that her skin looked very broken-out under her makeup. I don't remember her having skin problems before. Notwithstanding, I'm so glad she was on the show, looking good and having retrieved a good portion of her skating skills, including some very impressive spins.

 

[skatinginbc]

I saw Takeshi Honda smoking outside Vancouver Pacific Coliseum at 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. I guess he was a Japanese TV commentator at that time.

 

[Jaana]

Skaters who smoke, like the ballerinas my friend's daughter knew, may be smoking in part to stay thin.

Years ago as I was smoking during many years, it did not help in reducing any weight. LOL, my appetite stayed very healthy. I have to admit though that after I stopped smoking the weight went even more up.

 

[Violet Bliss]

The cigarettes' effect on lung capacity won't affect performance. Even the longest skating performances are at maximum 5-6 minutes, so there's no need for endurance or stamina.

You joking?

 

[ks777]

I heard Nichol Bobek smokes pot.... or was it meth? can't remember.

 

[gmyers]

This article is about how Artur Dmitriev stopped drinking but kept smoking

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-02-10/sports/1998041133_1_dmitriev-pairs-skater-smoking

 

[Kitt]

Average weight gain when quitting smoking is 8 lbs. (read it in medical literature some years ago).

 

[Jammers]

I remember when Nicole Bobek trained up here in Oregon with Tonya Harding. She was like a younger Tonya nothing but trouble with questionable work habits. No wonder her career flamed out and she got in trouble.

 

[Becki]

I saw Takeshi Honda smoking outside Vancouver Pacific Coliseum at 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. I guess he was a Japanese TV commentator at that time.

Anyone know if any of the current Japanese figure skaters smoke ??? I sincerely hope not.....

 

[jeff goldblum]

The cigarettes' effect on lung capacity won't affect performance. Even the longest skating performances are at maximum 5-6 minutes, so there's no need for endurance or stamina.

I believe you are mistaken. I feel embarrassed to have to site myself as an example, but as a former competitive skater who took up the habit socially after quitting training I can say that, during any subsequent trips I did make to a rink to train, I got winded significantly easier despite being in the same physical condition otherwise. A five-minute long program is very taxing and requires a great deal of stamina and endurance. For example, we often hear commentators remark that a skater is getting fatigued at the end of the program. Muscles don't fire as fast when they are not as well-supplied with oxygen. I've heard that a men's long program can be likened to a sprinter running a mile in under four minutes. Even without this kind of material evidence, have you never seen otherwise fit people who smoke get winded just from ascending a few flights of stairs?

In regards to Nicole Bobek, I still remember hearing from Kathy Casey many years ago that when she trained Nicole she received an alarming call from Nicole's high school principal: "We know Nicole has a mind of her own, but if she's going to smoke can you please ask her not to do so right in front of school?"

 

[Jammers]

Anyone know if any of the current Japanese figure skaters smoke ??? I sincerely hope not.....

I doubt it since the Japanese seem to care about their health a bit more then Americans.

 

[Rachael]

I believe you are mistaken. I feel embarrassed to have to site myself as an example, but as a former competitive skater who took up the habit socially after quitting training I can say that, during any subsequent trips I did make to a rink to train, I got winded significantly easier despite being in the same physical condition otherwise. A five-minute long program is very taxing and requires a great deal of stamina and endurance. For example, we often hear commentators remark that a skater is getting fatigued at the end of the program. Muscles don't fire as fast when they are not as well-supplied with oxygen. I've heard that a men's long program can be likened to a sprinter running a mile in under four minutes. Even without this kind of material evidence, have you never seen otherwise fit people who smoke get winded just from ascending a few flights of stairs?

In regards to Nicole Bobek, I still remember hearing from Kathy Casey many years ago that when she trained Nicole she received an alarming call from Nicole's high school principal: "We know Nicole has a mind of her own, but if she's going to smoke can you please ask her not to do so right in front of school?"

Wow. She had nerve. I guess sneeking it in the girls rest room stall wasn't an option for her.

 

[CoyoteChris]

FWIW, In Lucinda Ruh's book, she says it wasnt uncommon when she went on tour for skaters to smoke .....
As far as Japanese caring about their health....from Wiki....
Nearly 30 million people smoke in Japan, making the country one of the world's largest tobacco markets.[1] Japan is one of the last industrialized nations in the world where adult smoking is still widespread; statistics show Japanese men smoke at one of the highest rates in the world.[2] The smoking rate among adults was 29% in 2008, 43% of men and 13% of women.[3] As of 2010, the total smoking rate is 24%, 36.6% of Japanese men and 12.1% of Japanese women;[4] this is the lowest recorded figure since Japan Tobacco began surveying in 1965.[4] The law prohibits the smoking of cigarettes by persons under the age of twenty.[5]

 

[brightphoton]

I believe you are mistaken. I feel embarrassed to have to site myself as an example, but as a former competitive skater who took up the habit socially after quitting training I can say that, during any subsequent trips I did make to a rink to train, I got winded significantly easier despite being in the same physical condition otherwise. A five-minute long program is very taxing and requires a great deal of stamina and endurance. For example, we often hear commentators remark that a skater is getting fatigued at the end of the program. Muscles don't fire as fast when they are not as well-supplied with oxygen. I've heard that a men's long program can be likened to a sprinter running a mile in under four minutes. Even without this kind of material evidence, have you never seen otherwise fit people who smoke get winded just from ascending a few flights of stairs?

In regards to Nicole Bobek, I still remember hearing from Kathy Casey many years ago that when she trained Nicole she received an alarming call from Nicole's high school principal: "We know Nicole has a mind of her own, but if she's going to smoke can you please ask her not to do so right in front of school?"

I guess I didn't mean that cigarettes would have no effect on stamina. I was thinking of one co-worker who jogs on occasion who tells me that his social smoking habit doesn't affect his runs, as long as they last less than 10 or 15 minutes. I've never seen him run though, so I'm taking his word for it.

On the other hand, he always says there's no solid scientific evidence that second hand smoke causes lung cancer, and that he will definitely quit smoking - in a month, once he gets over this one stressful thing, so he may be in denial.

 

[Tonichelle]

I never smoked, but grew up (until I was about 10) in a family with smokers and so I had second hand smoke during a lot of developmental years - it definitely effects stamina.