What Was Your Intro to Figure Skating?

[Sportfan]

Evgeni Plushenko and Sasha Cohen :agree2:

 

[invisiblespiral]

2006 Olympics, Michelle Kwan, and then the 2010 Olympics.

 

[friedbanana]

Something Michelle Kwan

 

[musicfan80]

I would say I became an uber over 1992-1993 - I swear I'm not old!

1992 Olympics - Kristi Yamagauchi and Paul Wylie
1993 Professional Circuit - Yamagachi, Wylie were INSANELY good! Boitano was great as always.
1993 Worlds - Kurt Browning's Casablanca. Enough said. The ladies final group was pretty epic. The Nancy Kerrigan meltdown was jaw dropping to watch.

 

[Ziotic]

I was 7 and my brothers girlfriend was a figure skater, my parents put me in skating and the rest is history. I actually used to skate/compete with a couple of the people who just won some nice hardware at the games.

I stopped when I moved away to university and didn’t really get back into it until I graduated and got some more free time!

 

[littlesnow]

I can’t remember the exact moment I first saw figure skating, but I remember being enamored with Oksana Baiul performing her Black Swan program at the Olympics. I was 8 at the time and in the midst of what would become a 16 year pursuit of ballet. My sister also taped many skating competitions from TV, so I watched a lot of Kristi Yamaguchi, Paul Wylie, Scott Hamilton, Kurt Browning (who I was a fan of because his wife is a ballerina, hehe), Brian Boitano, the whole gang. I would say I truly become a fan when Michelle Kwan hit the scene and I followed both her and Sasha’s careers avidly.

 

[bluebell0710]

Lu Chen
From the broadcasting news when she won the 1995 worlds champion.

 

[yesienna]

I watched Yuri on Ice and wanted to try skating. Not figure skating - just skating next to the boards on public session and have some fun with friends. I've never skated before so I decided to take 2 or 3 lessons to learn how not to kill myself on ice. Those 2 or 3 lessons quickly changed into regular figure skating classes.

 

[cruzceleste]

First, Yagudin versus Plushenko, in 2002 Winter Olympics. Then I tunned out.

Then I remember that one day while changing channels I saw Meryl Davis/ Charlie White in 2007 -2008 season performing to Eleonor Rigby´s LP and I fell in love with Ice Dance, and starting following that, and for them on I got in to the men.

I do like to watch the ladies and pairs, but I don´t have an emotional attachment to them, so I suffer less...

Edit.
I´m sure I have hear about Yamaguchi and Kwan, and also the Tonya/ Nancy´s scandal. But I don´t have a strong memory of this events...

 

[prorussian fan]

Elena Radionova <3

 

[Dee4707]

As a small child I remember my family all loved figure skating. I loved the Olympics and got more into the competitions in 1998 when Philippe Candeloro did his D'Artagnan program.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDb3fuvslfc

So many skaters became my favorites and each competition would be a nail biter.

I love the 2002 Olympics especially because Alexei won the gold.

In 2003, I had the opportunity to go to Skate Canada and saw my absolute favorite lady skater, Sasha Cohen. I also had the opportunity of seeing Shen & Zhao.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDb3fuvslfc

And now, Papadakis & Cizeron have that spelling binding effect on me.

 

[padme21]

I remember watching Kwan at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002.

 

[moonvine]

Watching TV with my mom. The first I remember is Dorothy Hamill but I'm sure I saw others.

 

[FanFan3256]

I got really into figure skating when Michelle Kawn was skating, she was just so effortless, the way she skate across the ice, her choreography, how she connects to the music and the audience, fans wanted her to win, we loved her! She was a gem. To me she won that allusive Olympic gold medal. https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL9CD745CA0A8CAA3C&v=mfDWTCxa7l0

 

[Fruitpie]

I heard about Usova-Zhulin-Grishuk-Platov saga, a whole Yagudin/Plushchenko thing, but never actually watched figure skating. But then I saw this and fell in love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFWPrWcNu-U

 

[rugbyfan]

I lived in another country, but my grandparents taped Torvill and Dean's Mack and Mabel and some TV intro to Torvill and Dean to show to me when I was tiny. We flew into Britain and that summer and I curled up and watched them with my grandparents. We didn't have a TV at the time, and so the very fact of watching TV was exciting; the skating was amazing. I already skated as much as I could (hence them recording it for me), but it was the first time I had ever seen "proper skating". We didn't have a TV until the Calgary Olympics so i only got to watch skating at friends houses until then, but by 1988 I was having a binge fest on figure skating. Ice dancing always remained my favourite, however, thanks to that introduction. I still have my grandparent's video tape in the attic.

 

[eriecold]

The first event in which I actually paid attention to the competitors and started following was the Goodwill Games in Seattle in 1990. G/G did a fantastic Mambo short that I still remember, we taped it and played over and over on our VHS machine.
I do remember 92 and Midori doing a fantastic skate, (do remember the rest as well), but I had no idea about Axels back then.

 

[alyssamarie]

My mom used to skate when she was younger (public skating level), so she signed me up when I was 5 so I could learn how to public skate. Well, lets just say, I haven't stopped skating )

 

[Warwick360]

Watched the movie "Ice Princess". Not a great movie but I presumed it would be funny like Princess Diaries. Wasn't bad and was fun enough. It was then I realised who Midori Ito was when the commentator mentions "comeback since Midori Ito's mid program disaster".

Googled Midori Ito, and it was nothing short of awesomeness.

 

[iorii]

My tropical country never aired FS or any winter game on TV so before the internet era it would be almost impossible for me to naturally stumble upon FS.

Heard about Yuzuru and Yuna around Sochi 2014, checked them and thought they were super cool but didn't get deep into FS. Then watched Yuri on Ice because I thought it was interesting that they did anime about FS, got hooked into the anime, then FS.