The performance that got you hooked

[merrywidow]

It's been so long ago I don't remember the exact programs but the skaters that drew me in were Peggy Fleming & Tim Wood, late 80's.

 

[nguyhm]

The program that got me hooked was Liebenstraum by M&D at the 1992 Olympics. That program was so magical it literally mesmerized me. The 1992 Olympics were also memorable in a sense that it was during the "break-up" of the Soviet Union and the athletes did not have a particular "country" to call home. They were called the Unified Team and used the Olympic flag/anthem as theirs. Back to skating, I never knew what figure skating was prior to that time. Then I started watching more and more skating - whatever was available on tv, taking interests in other disciplines although pair was my favorites. I was also looking for skating magazines, books, video tapes, etc.... anything I could find. Subscribed to Blades on Ice and IFS - don't think neither one exists anymore. Then came the internet and the abundance of available videos on Youtube. I was actively following the sport until 2002 then came the scandal that gave skating a "facelift", a new scoring system. One of my favorites B&S retired and I found myself a bit lost in the new system, no longer interested. Until this day I still can't find my interest in pair skating as I used to. However the ladies have grown in leaps and bounds and I started getting renewed. I have been rooting for Mao, Julia and Liza. It's always a learning process and I'm excited for the years to come.

 

[Tutto]

Now, you're making me get misty-eyed! What a wonderful bookend to my part of the story!

It's the magic of sport, and skating in particular, that can unite people of such different backgrounds.

Ok, so are you like me? Still chasing the high from that competition? Many great champions have come and gone, but those Olympics were so special. Nearly 40 years have come and gone, and I'm still waiting for a repeat! It was an absolute four-for-four on the Olympic podiums, such amazing champions in every event.

My very best to you, and to your mother and sister, as well.

Many thanks and best regards to you too! I agree it were special Olympics (I had a serious crush on Toller Cranston so imagine how I felt!) but I always get a thrill of watching live competitions maybe even more now when there is less excitement in life than it used to be in younger days. Also I have more time to follow the sport and with Internet so much info available now we could not dream back then, so I think I am actually a happier fan now, also this forum is great especially as Ireland is definitely a wrong place to live in for a fs fan.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Many thanks and best regards to you too! I agree it were special Olympics (I had a serious crush on Toller Cranston so imagine how I felt!) but I always get a thrill of watching live competitions maybe even more now when there is less excitement in life than it used to be in younger days. Also I have more time to follow the sport and with Internet so much info available now we could not dream back then, so I think I am actually a happier fan now, also this forum is great especially as Ireland is definitely a wrong place to live in for a fs fan.

Couldn't agree more with that final comment you made!


This thread has been incredibly interesting to read. And not just for the actual answers to the original question (which are very interesting in themselves), but for the stories that go along with those answers.

A thing that has been noticible that I find particularly interesting is the variety of ages that people have been when they got interested in figure skating. Some have been interested their whole lives, others when they were teenagers, others in their twenties, and some even older than that.

It was surprising to find out that some members are actually older or younger than I thought they were. And I'm not just talking about those that remember the 76 Olympics! There are some members that I have discovered are around my own age, but because they have different memory spans, I didn't realise.

For example, one member who is exactly the same age as me got hooked around 12 years before me. Meanwhile another member, who I worked out from a comment in a (now-deleted) previous thread is at most 2 years younger than me, has only been a fan since Vancouver (7 years after me).

So, thank you Layback11 for starting this thread. It has turned out to be fascinating reading!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Imagine]

The program that got me hooked was Liebenstraum by M&D at the 1992 Olympics. That program was so magical it literally mesmerized me.

That program is so severely underrated...

 

[LegalGirl82]

This thread has been a thoroughly enjoyable read. Many thanks to the OP!

Count me among the dinosaurs. According to my mother, I was mesmerized at three years plus several months old by Peggy Fleming and the Protopopovs during the 1968 Olympics. I have one fuzzy memory of watching Peggy at that time; and I know that later on during the '70s I saw those performances repeated during flashback/highlight spots on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.

From ’68 on I watched skating whenever we were home (in those pre-VCR and DVR days) and there was coverage; early on, that was basically the U.S. Nationals, the World Championships and the Olympics. I remember sitting through many installments of Wide World of Sports waiting on the skating segments. I watched all four disciplines and had many favorites among the different nationalities of skaters over the years. Particularly memorable for me from early on there was Janet Lynn at the Olympics in ’72; and then Dorothy Hamill, John Curry and Rodnina/Zaitsev at the Olympics in ’76. Ice Dance first really clicked for me with Regoczy and Sallay in the mid to late ‘70s…which is not to say that I didn’t appreciate the dominant Soviet teams during that time…I did, but I just really loved R&S’s style of dance.

Skating was always there, for me, through the '70s and '80s. Competitions, shows, professional and amateur, I watched it all.

By the early '90s, of course there was more coverage, more events. And then we had the Winter Olympics in ’92 and ’94. While at first I was very happy we would have Olympics only two years apart, by the end of the Lillehammer Games, I admit, I was fatigued (during those two Olympics I had watched many different sports and many, many hours of coverage) and I was very close to walking away from skating. The politicking, bloc judging, the glacial movement in the ice dance rankings…my dislike of all of this outside stuff had built up over time and I just wasn’t enjoying skating so much anymore. The Tonya Harding business added to it; plus it didn’t help that I strongly disagreed with the gold medal results in three of the disciplines, and mildly disagreed with the gold medal results in the fourth discipline (Pairs). I figured I would watch Worlds in ’94 and then take a break for awhile or, maybe, for good.

And then during Worlds I watched Michelle Kwan, the alternate in the stands in Lillehammer, who bore the weight of the hopes of the USFSA for that top 10 finish so we would be able to send two ladies to the ’95 Worlds. I had seen her before, sure, in ’93 and earlier in ’94 at Nationals, but the smiles on her face during her performances at ’94 Worlds, the control on those double Axel landings (particularly in the Short Program), the hands, with extension out to her fingertips…and just like that, just when I thought I was out, she pulled me back in.

For another 12 years, anyway. To say that I was devastated when Michelle had to withdraw from the Olympics in 2006 is putting it mildly. I was even more heartbroken for Michelle than I had been for Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner when they had to withdraw in 1980. I couldn’t bring myself to watch any of the Turin Olympics. Since then, I’ve mostly been away from skating. I thought I would take a break and eventually get back to it. It just hasn’t happened. The lack of, and inconsistency of, television coverage has made it difficult to get back into the routine. I don’t care for the judging system, which is somewhat ironic, because I remember thinking many, many years ago that a judging system that awards points for elements done properly would be a good thing. I feel like, somehow, the judging system has taken something out of skating. I intensely dislike Ottavio Cinquanta and feel his tenure as head of the ISU should have been over years ago. Since he seems intent on staying, I wish the Figure Skating division of the ISU would leave and set up its own shop.

Finally, I have to give a shout out to the posters who mentioned Mishkutenok and Dmitriev’s exquisite Liebestraum program. I watched it earlier and, after all this time, it can still bring tears to my eyes.

 

[cheerknithanson]

This thread has been a thoroughly enjoyable read. Many thanks to the OP!

Count me among the dinosaurs. According to my mother, I was mesmerized at three years plus several months old by Peggy Fleming and the Protopopovs during the 1968 Olympics. I have one fuzzy memory of watching Peggy at that time; and I know that later on during the '70s I saw those performances repeated during flashback/highlight spots on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.

From ’68 on I watched skating whenever we were home (in those pre-VCR and DVR days) and there was coverage; early on, that was basically the U.S. Nationals, the World Championships and the Olympics. I remember sitting through many installments of Wide World of Sports waiting on the skating segments. I watched all four disciplines and had many favorites among the different nationalities of skaters over the years. Particularly memorable for me from early on there was Janet Lynn at the Olympics in ’72; and then Dorothy Hamill, John Curry and Rodnina/Zaitsev at the Olympics in ’76. Ice Dance first really clicked for me with Regoczy and Sallay in the mid to late ‘70s…which is not to say that I didn’t appreciate the dominant Soviet teams during that time…I did, but I just really loved R&S’s style of dance.

Skating was always there, for me, through the '70s and '80s. Competitions, shows, professional and amateur, I watched it all.

By the early '90s, of course there was more coverage, more events. And then we had the Winter Olympics in ’92 and ’94. While at first I was very happy we would have Olympics only two years apart, by the end of the Lillehammer Games, I admit, I was fatigued (during those two Olympics I had watched many different sports and many, many hours of coverage) and I was very close to walking away from skating. The politicking, bloc judging, the glacial movement in the ice dance rankings…my dislike of all of this outside stuff had built up over time and I just wasn’t enjoying skating so much anymore. The Tonya Harding business added to it; plus it didn’t help that I strongly disagreed with the gold medal results in three of the disciplines, and mildly disagreed with the gold medal results in the fourth discipline (Pairs). I figured I would watch Worlds in ’94 and then take a break for awhile or, maybe, for good.

And then during Worlds I watched Michelle Kwan, the alternate in the stands in Lillehammer, who bore the weight of the hopes of the USFSA for that top 10 finish so we would be able to send two ladies to the ’95 Worlds. I had seen her before, sure, in ’93 and earlier in ’94 at Nationals, but the smiles on her face during her performances at ’94 Worlds, the control on those double Axel landings (particularly in the Short Program), the hands, with extension out to her fingertips…and just like that, just when I thought I was out, she pulled me back in.

For another 12 years, anyway. To say that I was devastated when Michelle had to withdraw from the Olympics in 2006 is putting it mildly. I was even more heartbroken for Michelle than I had been for Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner when they had to withdraw in 1980. I couldn’t bring myself to watch any of the Turin Olympics. Since then, I’ve mostly been away from skating. I thought I would take a break and eventually get back to it. It just hasn’t happened. The lack of, and inconsistency of, television coverage has made it difficult to get back into the routine. I don’t care for the judging system, which is somewhat ironic, because I remember thinking many, many years ago that a judging system that awards points for elements done properly would be a good thing. I feel like, somehow, the judging system has taken something out of skating. I intensely dislike Ottavio Cinquanta and feel his tenure as head of the ISU should have been over years ago. Since he seems intent on staying, I wish the Figure Skating division of the ISU would leave and set up its own shop.

Finally, I have to give a shout out to the posters who mentioned Mishkutenok and Dmitriev’s exquisite Liebestraum program. I watched it earlier and, after all this time, it can still bring tears to my eyes.

That's so cool that you became a fan of skating at such an early age! By the way you're not THAT old. I went to your profile and saw your birthdate and you're younger than both of my parents. And I'm almost 20.


It'll be interesting for me to see the changes of skating as I get older.

 

[Alchamei]

I have watched figure skating since I was a child and I can remember names such as Plushy, Brian, Stephane, Evan, Mao, Carolina, S/S etc... I knew the results and the marks but I never understood them and I wasn't able to tell who was the best and why that skater won. Around 2010 my interest in all winter sports lowered and even though I watched Vancouver Olympics, I remember almost nothing of it.

However, around 2012 I probably looked on Wikipedia for some info for my homework and maybe wanted to learn something new about winter sports, and on the page about IJS I saw the World record holders. Yuna was there. A completely unknown name for me. I clicked on her Wiki and saw her records, her accomplishment in the Olympics and I saw she was sitting out the 2011-2012 season. Another one-competition-wonder I thought, as I didn't really know her and nationality seemed exotic for figure skating.

Nevertheless, when I looked on the page few months later, I guess I decided to look for her performances on Youtube. I saw her FS to Concerto in F. And I was amazed. Stunned. She was the first skater about I could immidiately say she was good. Her jumps were high with great flow. Her spins were fast and well-centered. I was close to tears during the spiral sequence. And her acting, her movements, her steps - all done with a great sence of music. I have never fully gotten over the first watch of that performance.

I also watched her SP in Vancouver and I liked it as well. I senced that ,,it'' factor. I didn't look for other perfomances or watched competitions, but I had her wonderful programs in mind. During the Worlds 2013 I found out she competed there. I didn't watch the competiton because of the time zones, but I the day after I watched her performances on Youtube and thought: ,,She is still as good as in Vancouver!'' I adored both of her programs. In Sochi, she was one of the few skaters I knew and I wanted her to win the Gold again. During the year between Worlds 2013 and Sochi 2014, I learned something about elements and jumps but still wasn't really able to tell the difference. I didn't like her programs that much at first but I immidiately thought she should have won. I still feel sad about this particular night.

Since then, I began to like a lot of other skaters due to the Olympics - I fell in love with Kevin Reynolds, I discovered Mao Asada is a great figure skater as well, I was happy for Carolina, I felt sad dor Patrick at first but now I'm glad Yuzuru won, I felt sad because V/M didn't win and I knew V/T were great champions. I actually remember these names from 2012 and 2013 Worlds as well, and they also made me like the sport more. Nevertheless, it was Yuna who was the first skater I loved and the first skater about whom I knew she was good. I think that's the way you can regognize who is the best - if you know nothing about jumps, spins and elements and about figure skating in particular, but still enjoy someone's performance and feel moved by it, that's the way how you can tell who's the best.

 

[cheerknithanson]

Am I allowed to take something I wrote in another thread and put it onto here?

 

[cheerknithanson]

I found it in the archives, but I could quote it so I'm copying and pasting what I said:

"And also new generations of fans. Like people who were witty-bitty during the 1998 Olympics. Then I was an awkward 2 1/2 year old and my parents didn't know why I was different from the others my age though clearly I was different.

And 4 Olympics later, we have new ways to connect with skaters. Even more and more non-skaters are interested in the sport of skating like myself (I'm a cheerleader though I can find analogous similarities to cheer and skating).

While people bickered over the ladies event from SLC 2002, my dad showed me a picture in the newspaper from the medal ceremony and showed me who Michelle Kwan was (Cause a few days prior I watched an episode of the children's show "Arthur" where she guest-voiced herself) and I was a weird first grader who didn't really have lots of interest though from an early age I've been interested in medicine in some minute way or form.

Then the 2006 Torino Olympics happened. I was in 5th grade which was my last year of elementary school. I was 10 1/2. And around that time, I sprained my ankle in PE class (I must have landed on it funny when I was doing skipping exercises. All I pretty much remembered about the extent was that it hurt a LOT). I think around a little before that, I heard of Sasha Cohen from some girls in my religious school class because Sasha Cohen is Jewish like me.

Then the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympics happened. I was 14 1/2 years old, was a 9th grader (Freshman) in high school, had braces, a back brace due to scoliosis, a pink flip phone that was over 2 years old, was bad at cheerleading, had started taking weekly tumbling lesson for over a month, I knew where I wanted to go to college, and I was still under 100 pounds. Snomaggedon happened in the Washington DC area and it snowed 30 inches. I had no school for a WHILE. I was cooped inside for a while. That was the first time I watched SOME figure skating. Not a lot. Probably not even a full program. But that's where I really started to hear about it more. I learned names such as Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek, Yuna Kim, Joannie Rochette, Paul Poirer and Vanessa Crone (I happened to tune into ice dancing on TV when it came on and I thought then he looked sort of cute. Oh ME oh my. I was weird), and Plushenko. Heard about them as a result from medal ceremonies, the story on that Rochette's mother died from a heart attack days before she was going to compete, People Magazine preview on the Olympics (And on Weir's fashionable outfits), watching some programs, and some news. And I'm very sorry to offend ANY uber Plushy fans out here, but when I was watching an interview on the results from the men's event when they asked Plushy if he thought he deserved gold or not, after he gave his reason, I thought to myself, "Wow, he's such a drama queen and crybaby." AGAIN, I was 14 1/2 at the time so I'm sorry, but that's how I came across it. And well, now I respect him, but I'm not a fan if you know what I mean.

I didn't really invest into it again until the Sochi Olympics. 2014. I was 18 1/2 years old. A lot of life changing moments happened to me in those 4 years. Enough to make another story. When the Olympics were about to start, I was freshman (first-year) college student. I was (and still am) majoring in biology. I was (And still am) a cheerleader at my college. I was (And still am) active in fandoms. But I haven't found a fandom following in a way that I could talk to other people about and not feel weirdish. By that I mean in the sense of that "I'm a new fan. I don't know too much. I can talk endlessly about it." That changed. I knew I wanted to see the figure skating events on TV. So I started by watching the first night of the team event. And I think the commentary on NBC was so fine and dandy on educating me on some skaters. I saw Plushy again and at first I though, "Oh him again..." Then once Yuzuru Hanyu stepped onto the ice and skated his short program, my life had started to change for the better. Then I became fans of Jason Brown and Kevin Reynolds. Then I watched more of the team event. I watched the men's short and free program livestreamed on NBC. The WHOLE thing (Thanks to we had two snow days perfectly on those two days). I learned more about other skaters. I started to make new friends from being fans of those three. By the end of those Olympics, my life had changed for the better. I learned more about the sport, the rules for programs, created some of my own, though two of them I co-created with a friend whom I met on Instagram, I eagerly awaited competitions, joined here and on FSU, watched competitions on shaddy livestreams with ads that take forever to go away, I found connections, and a belonging.

I've liked skating in some way or form since elementary school but I didn't have the sense of following it until over a year ago.

I know it's not about me on this forum per-say, but it's my journey of me and liking skating throughout the years since Golden Skate has been up and running."

 

[dorispulaski]

cheerknithanson, thanks for telling your story again!

 

[cheerknithanson]

cheerknithanson, thanks for telling your story again!

No problem!

 

[cheerknithanson]

And now to celebrate my 1,500th post, I will further tell how I got hooked.

On Thursday, February 6, 2014, I watched the 1st night of the team event on NBC. When Yuzuru came on and skated, it captivated me. The way he skated, jumped, spun, and moved overall was so beautiful and amazing. By the end of it, I was a fan. After that I thought, "I want him to win gold!" I wondered if I was weird for doing that because he wasn't American. But then I was like, "Whatever, I don't care."

The next day, on Friday, February 7, 2014, I was home on the computer and watched a video on YouTube saying who from the USA was skating in the Olympics. I don't remember how I got to that video, but I'm glad I did. Why? Keep reading. They mentioned the name Jason Brown. I got curious so I looked him up on YouTube. Then I saw the video of his FP from 2014 US Nationals. I watched and I got drawn in. The skill, passion, and spirit caught my attention and mind. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I declared myself a fan right after it was over.

Two days later, it was Sunday, February 9, 2014. I heard that Jason was going to be skating in the men's FP for the team event so I got excited. Unfortunately, since at the time I was working on Sundays 8:30 am-10:45 am at religious school at my synagogue as a teacher's aide, I couldn't watch the livestream. So I had to wait to get home to see the replay. After I got off of work, I got in the car and my dad took me home. I went onto wikipedia on my phone to see the results of the men's event. I saw Jason got 4th out of 5 skaters and I was like, "What? No he had a fall?" Then I saw the name Kevin Reynolds in 2nd place and Tatsuki Machida in 3rd. I angrily said to myself, "Who is this Kevin Reynolds? Taking 2nd place?" So when I got home, I was working on a lab report for chemistry and then also watched the replay of the team event. I saw the replay of the men's FP. And I saw what Kevin Reynolds looked like. My first impression was that I thought he was 16 or 17. Then when the commentators said he was 23, I was like, "No he's not!" So I looked him up on wikipedia and saw that sure enough he was. And I wondered (And still do) how he looked SO young lol. I then thought he looked kinda cute, but I said, "No no no! Stay mad! Stay mad!" So after seeing the Italian skater and Jason skate, I watched Kevin's performance. I tried not get draw in, but I failed miserably. And I'm darn glad I did. I was captivated on the skills he displayed and the way he carried that program. After the whole replay of the rest of the team event was over, I watched Kevin's FP at least 3 more times. After that, I was like, "Okay I can't be mad anymore. I'm a fan now!"


So yeah. More detail.

 

[owl]

Oooh, fun question!

Okay, basically I have a huge Olympic obsession (like with the bidding process, opening ceremony preparations, etc.), so I always watched figure skating during the Winter OG, even before I became a fan of the sport. What first piqued my interest in specifically figure skating was Yuzuru's PW in the Sochi team event. But what actually turned me into a fan was this forum! The interest Yuzuru's SP planted in me made me join goldenskate and when I first made an account, I literally spent hours reading through the archived discussions, and that was what really got me hooked

 

[LiamForeman]

Finally, I have to give a shout out to the posters who mentioned Mishkutenok and Dmitriev’s exquisite Liebestraum program. I watched it earlier and, after all this time, it can still bring tears to my eyes.

Mishkutenok and Dmitriev's Liebestraum was a perfect work of art. I've always wondered if they went in the same direction for 1994 if it would be good enough for the gold. I still think they should have won 1994, but with a vehicle like Liebestraum they'd be close to unbeatable. https://youtu.be/13U6eBsaycY

 

[LegalGirl82]

That's so cool that you became a fan of skating at such an early age! By the way you're not THAT old. I went to your profile and saw your birthdate and you're younger than both of my parents. And I'm almost 20.


It'll be interesting for me to see the changes of skating as I get older.

Thank you, cheerknithanson; that's nice of you to say. I enjoyed reading your story, too.

I agree, it will be interesting for you to see where skating goes as you get older. Hold on to your enthusiasm and enjoy the ride!

 

[cheerknithanson]

Thank you, cheerknithanson; that's nice of you to say. I enjoyed reading your story, too.

I agree, it will be interesting for you to see where skating goes as you get older. Hold on to your enthusiasm and enjoy the ride!

Which story? From the points of life during each of the winter olympics that I was alive for, how I became a fan of Yuzuru, Jason, and Kevin, or both stories.

And I'm glad you liked the stories (whichever one you were talking about).

 

[Ladskater]

For me it was not watching any particular skater's performance, all though I do recall watching Donald Jackson skate when he won the World's way back in 1962 and landing the first triple lutz jump in competition. It was getting my first pair of figure skates and practicing for hours and hours in my back yard on the rink my dad made for us. Of course, Karen Magnussen did become my skating hero after watching her skate and then wanting to be able to skate as magnificently as Karen....

 

[cor]

Virtue and Moir - Umbrella of Cherbourg

Epitome of young loveee :

 

[LegalGirl82]

Which story? From the points of life during each of the winter olympics that I was alive for, how I became a fan of Yuzuru, Jason, and Kevin, or both stories.

And I'm glad you liked the stories (whichever one you were talking about).

Sorry; that should have been "stories". I read, and was referring to, both of yours.