Top 10 Ladies in Skating History?

[christinaskater]

Michelle Kwan is one of if not the greatest skater for me!

 

[Mathman]

Related to this ramble is that some people have said YuNa's skating lacks soulfulness or enough emotion...but somehow I feel she can elicit emotions from me without herself getting emotional.

I totally understand what you mean here. The vibe I get from Yu-na is like, OK, folks, it's just figure skating. I'm not healing the sick and walking on water. (Well, actually, I guess I am walking on water, sort of. )

 

[Olympia]

I prefer Michelle's programs not because of the fact that they are 6.0 programs, but because I believe Michelle was probably the ultimate vessel for Lori Nichol's choreography... Lori Nichol and Michelle Kwan (and I guess you can throw Frank Carroll in here too) were a perfect combination of talent and artistic vision that probably cannot be entirely replicated under 6.0 or CoP because, well, there is only one Michelle Kwan.

I completely agree. An incredible chemistry was created by the combination of Kwan, Nichol, and Carroll. The results was one of those situations where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, like Lennon/McCartney, or Dionne Warwick singing Burt Bacharach's music, or Lillian Gish directed by D.W. Griffith. There was such electricity and originality in what those three skating luminaries made together. I selfishly wish Kwan had remained with Carroll and Nichol through the 2002 Olympics. I doubt any of the three will ever talk about why Kwan walked away--they all seem too mature to make a public fuss, thank goodness--but what they left us from the years they worked together is both great sport and great art. All three of them went on to other memorable accomplishments, including Nichol's choreography for Sale and Pelletier's Olympic victory, and Kwan's 2003 World gold, but when they were together, lightning struck.