What PROGRAM made you a fan of figure skating?

[Tonichelle]

Am I the only one who fell in love with the sport simply watching one program? I hope not.

Mine was Scott Hamilton's Georgia On My Mind (can't find a youtube vid, would love someone forever if they found it). I was turning four, and the idea of him talking to a radio was just mesmerizing, and then the backflip sealed the deal. It's one of my first true memories of my childhood. I've been hooked ever since.

So what PROGRAM grabbed your interest and turned you to the sport?

 

[Lightbulb]

Mine was Shen and Zhao's Turandot.

Randomly, I removed Joy Goodwin's book "The Second Mark" from a shelf in a Houston library. It was about figure skating, a sport I enjoy watching whenever I catch it on TV. The book proved to be a good read and the epilogue talked about S/Z's performance at Worlds 2003. I was intrigued by what was written in the book - that many former pairs champions acknowleged this program as one of the best of all time.

Then I got to see it in Youtube, and oh man, my reaction to it was even more than I imagined. It was magical! S/Z were technically perfect, and yet they reached this higher plane artistically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qqHEd0Bq9o

 

[Tonichelle]

what a neat story, Lightbulb! thanks for posting that!

 

[Olympia]

I agree about that Shen and Zhao program, Lightbulb. If I hadn't already been a fan of skating, that would have done it for me. The Second Mark is a great book, too. I should reread it now that Shen and Zhao have grown so splendidly as artists as well as athletically.

With me, it was John Curry's Olympic program. Many others have kept me here along the way. Browning's pro programs, Kwan of course, lots of ice dancers, and now Mao and YuNa. I realize that skating isn't going downhill, despite less visibility on TV. It's rising and growing. I think I'll hang around it for the foreseeable future!

 

[Lightbulb]

It was really serendipitous. I was just scanning the shelves of the library, and decided which books to borrow by reading the summary or reviews on the back cover. I passed over Lance Armstrong's book and selected The Second Mark.

I watched the Turandot program again and again. It's funny to remember now. I was then in the middle of perhaps the most difficult rotation in medical school. And everytime I got tired of reading this very thick textbook, I'll go to youtube, watch this program that was very uplifting, then I can go back to studying!

 

[1795]

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder's "Carnival in Venice" Free Dance 2006 Torino Olympics- sublime.

 

[Tinymavy15]

Sasha's Swan Lake as performed at the 2003 Campbells.

 

[princess9]

Peggy Flemings LP at Grenoble. I recall the green dress mostly.

 

[pista04]

Sasha Cohen's 2006 Olympic performance of "Romeo and Juliet". While not perfect, it truly moved me, as it did so many others. =]

 

[Mafke]

Probably Linda Fratianne's 1976 nationals LP. Don't remember much of it now. Fratianne was also the first skater whose career I kind of followed (not easy to do given the lousy media infrastructure of the times).

 

[Ivana]

1998 Olympics, Grishuk & Platov and their free dance Memorial. Even after 12 years I've still chills when I watch it.

 

[Jaana]

I became a fan of figure skating by watching pairs: The freeskate of Marika Kilius/Hans Jurgen Baumler in 1964. The skating of men started to interest me since John Curry came onto the scene and in ladies Peggy Fleming.

 

[GiuliaPlum]

Cancion Triste by Fumie Suguri, 2006 Olys

 

[Ren]

I can't remember anymore what program it was that first made me a fan, as I was quite young then. I have this really vague memory of watching pairs skating ; it might have been during the 1988 Winter Olympics, so maybe (I'm not sure if it's wishful thinking or I'm revising my personal history...) it was one of G&G's programs. I seem to recall watching ladies, too, circa late 80s-90s. Skating was irregularly shown on TV in my country, so the ignorant little me probably watched Kristi Yamaguchi/ Oksana Baiul/ Chen Lu/ Michelle Kwan and wasn't even aware of who they were. To be perfectly honest, the only real clear memory/landmark was watching the film The Cutting Edge (mid-90s, I think?).

I only got back into skating last year because of the convenience of Youtube. The skating program that had me from the get-go? Yu-Na Kim's Scheherazade at Worlds. And from then on, it was a slippery slope into everything figure skating.

 

[iluvtodd]

Watching the "Battle of the Brians" and Midori Ito in the 1988 Calgary Olympics did it for me!

 

[Mathman]

Michelle Kwan, Rachmaninov short program at the 1998 Goodwill Games.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Virtue/Moir - "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" - a rebirth of my affection for the sport.

 

[disneygal 2001]

Boitano's Long Program in Calgary. I have never seen him skate before. After that, I was hooked-on skating in general and Boitano's skating in particular.

 

[gkelly]

I skated for a few years in the early-mid 1970s. So I also watched on TV to see elite skaters doing well what I was only just learning. But I wouldn't say that any specific program back then made me a fan. I guess I was most impressed by John Curry.

Then after I quit doing it myself, for many years I paid no attention to skating, or only during the Olympics.

It was in 1991-92 that I first started following the sport closely again.

These were the programs that excited me the most that year:

Tonya Harding 1991 Skate America LP

Duchesnays 1992 Olympics FD

 

[janetfan]

I skated for a few years in the early-mid 1970s. So I also watched on TV to see elite skaters doing well what I was only just learning. But I wouldn't say that any specific program back then made me a fan. I guess I was most impressed by John Curry.

Then after I quit doing it myself, for many years I paid no attention to skating, or only during the Olympics.

It was in 1991-92 that I first started following the sport closely again.

These were the programs that excited me the most that year:

Tonya Harding 1991 Skate America LP

Duchesnays 1992 Olympics FD

Thanks for the clips. The Duchesnays were the first Dance team I really followed and still my favorites.

Would Tonya have been better off in the CoP era?