You Know You're a Figure Skating Fan When... | Page 36 | Golden Skate

You Know You're a Figure Skating Fan When...

CaroLiza_fan

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...when you watch antiques programme "Bargain Hunt", and every time they go to a particular auction house in England, you think of a late figure skater from Northern Ireland who set up home in that town. And you wonder whether she or her husband ever went to that auction house.

A week or so ago, there was another episode from that auction house. And when it came to the time for the Blue Team's expert (Ochuko Ojiri) to reveal the Bonus Buy, he produced a pair of Victorian ice skate blades!

How fitting! :)

Ochuko paid £15 for the blades, and the auctioneer put an estimate of £5 to £10 on them. The team were £68 down already, so they decided to go with the blades. But, unfortunately for the team, they only sold for £10. :disapp:

It would have been nice if they had made a profit. But, I suppose there isn't much you can do with a pair of old blades.

CaroLiza_fan
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
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Joined
Jul 28, 2003
When your dad builds you a small skating rink in your back yard so you can practice and your mom has to come out to drag you off your rink when its time for bed.
When you have an entire book shelf devoted to figure skaters and figure skating books and memorabilia
When your figure skates still sit in your closet waiting for you to return to the ice, even when you are no longer able to skate...
 
Joined
May 13, 2020
When your dad builds you a small skating rink in your back yard so you can practice and your mom has to come out to drag you off your rink when its time for bed.
When you have an entire book shelf devoted to figure skaters and figure skating books and memorabilia
When your figure skates still sit in your closet waiting for you to return to the ice, even when you are no longer able to skate...

That’s cool that you have a rink in your backyard!! :points:
 

iluvtodd

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Mar 5, 2004
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If you only tune in to Dancing with the Stars when a figure skater competes (Go, Johnny, go :cheer: )!
 

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
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Mar 14, 2007
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If you only tune in to Dancing with the Stars when a figure skater competes (Go, Johnny, go :cheer: )!

Not without Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews. I predict this will be the last season
 

TallyT

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Apr 23, 2018
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Australia
You are only reading and vaguely listening to the cooking program on the TV, but still your head snaps up so fast your neck feels it when they say the words "add a little bit of yuzu...."
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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Oct 25, 2012
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Northern-Ireland
...when you are watching an episode of "The Chase", and you are presented with the following question:

Which of these seaside towns is furthest north?

  • Whitby
  • Whitstable
  • Whitley Bay

And you think "well, I know that [c.] is near Newcastle Upon Tyne, because Aleksandra Golovkina trains with the Whitley Bay Ice Skating Club when she is in the UK during the academic year. But, I haven't a clue where the other two places are."

So, because I knew that Whitley Bay was in the north-east of England, and I suspected that the other two were also somewhere in England (well, they don't sound Scottish or Welsh), I went for Whitley Bay.

And it was the correct answer!!! :cheer: :clap: :rock: :party2: :hb:

CaroLiza_fan
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
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Joined
Jul 28, 2003
You know you are a figure skating fan when you look out your window in the winter and think, "I wish it would get cold enough for the ponds to freeze"
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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...when you are watching an episode of "The Chase", and a figure skating question comes up. And even though it is something that you had never heard about before, you are able to work out the correct answer quite easily.

Here is the question:

In 1983, at 18 feet, who set the world record for the longest back flip on figure skates?

  1. Robin Cousins
  2. John Curry
  3. Christopher Dean

The contestant (the first to play) chose [a.] Robin Cousins. And then, after the answers were locked in he put his head in his hands, had a big sigh and said "Right, yeah. Put two and two together there far too late." Presenter Bradley Walsh then said "go on", and the contestant said "It's [c.] Christopher Dean". Bradley asked "How do you know that?", and the contestant replied "Torvill and Dean, that's my thought process now".

At this stage, I was screaming in my head: "BUT CHRIS IS AN ICE DANCER!!! ICE DANCERS DON'T DO THAT SORT OF THING!!!"

Bradley then said "Well, they're all skaters. Christopher Dean is part of a double act. And I'm not sure Jayne is gonna chuck him 18 feet!" The contestant and the audience laughed, and the contestant said "Oh, OK. Fair enough."

Chatting over, now came the time to reveal the answer. Bradley said "The correct answer is... It is Robin Cousins", and the contestant almost jumped back with a surprised "ooh!" Bradley then continued through the normal speel "Well played. Step closer to home. The Chaser's put..." and the graphic flashed up to show that Anne Hegerty had also chosen Robin.

Anne then said (with her tongue firmly in her cheek), "That's a ridiculous record to set. Did he just trip over something? Why would you even do that?"

Being the great comedian that he is, Bradley decided to run with this. "That's exactly what he did, Anne, yeah. In an arena, with thousands of people in it and millions watching on telly, he tripped. And flew 18 feet backwards through the air. Extraordinary. Got the World Record. Don't know how he did it."

He continued: "That was part of his schtick - that was his new move. Backwards and he went..." At this point, Bradley made some gestures with his arms to illustrate somebody doing a backflip. Anne giggled. Bradley started speaking again, while continuing to fling his arms about in demonstration: "He went skating round the old doo-dah, and done the old wha-wha-wha-whoop". He then calmed down and said "You've got to watch it. It's unbelievable. I love figure skating - I think it's great."

Anne decided that this was the time to bring us back to seriousness again. "Anyway, John Curry won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1976. Robin Cousins won it in 1980. Dean, as you say, was part of Torvill and Dean, Sarajevo 1984."

They then continued on with the game. The contestant managed to get back with his £4,000 by the skin of his teeth, with Anne one step behind him. The other two contestants that got through brought the total in the kitty up to £9,000. They didn't do so bad in the Final Chase, getting 17 steps ahead of Anne. But, Anne ended up catching them with 37 seconds left on the clock.

Meanwhile, I just felt chuffed that I had managed to work out the answer to a figure skating question, without actually knowing about it already.

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

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You wait around ages for a bus, and then 2 come along at once!

In the very next episode of "The Chase", there was another figure skating question. And in a surreal coincidence, the options were the same three skaters, but in a different order!

Which skater carried the British flag at the 1984 Winter Olympics opening ceremony?

  1. Christopher Dean
  2. John Curry
  3. Robin Cousins

The difference this time was that I did actually know the answer.

Unlike the day before, there was no joking around this time (that came with the next question).

The contestant (the second to play) chose [b.] John Curry. He gave the explanation "He won the Gold Medal in the Olympics before". Now, as we all know, it was actually Robin Cousins that won the Gold in 1980. It was in 1976 that John Curry won it.

It was good logic in theory. Get a reigning Olympic Champion to carry the flag. But, that wasn't what happened. For the simple reason that Robin had retired from competitive skating at the end of the 1979-80 Season (John had also done the same four years earlier). Instead, the British Olympic Committee gave the flag to one of the athletes that was a favourite to win a Gold Medal in Sarajevo, Christopher Dean.

After Bradley revealed the answer, the Chaser, Mark Labbett, commented "That's surprisingly tough, because they're quite close together. Curry won in '76 in Singles, figure skating. Cousins won in '80, in figure skating. And Torvill and Dean won in Sarajevo in '84, where they were the hot, hot favourites. I would have pressed Robin Cousins, except I thought he had retired by then".

They then continued on with the game. Like the contestant that got the figure skating question the day before, this contestant ended up in a one-question-shoot-out. And he got through with his £5,000. The difference is that the other two contestants that got through brought the total in the kitty up to £17,000 (I would like to add that the player that put the most money in, £7,000, was a woman from Belfast). They then proceeded to get 19 steps ahead of Mark, and won the money.

Actually, it was more dramatic than that. Mark was one step away from catching them when he got a question wrong with 1 second left on the clock. And he realised as soon as he said it what the correct answer was. The team didn't get it right when it was passed over to them. So, when the clock re-started and Bradley started reading out the next question, Mark immediately just shouted "Four" in a wild attempt to guess an answer in the hope that by some miracle it would be correct.

I was delighted for the team. They fully deserved to win it.

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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You know, I reckon that "The Chase" now has a die-hard figure skating fan join it's team of question compilers. Because, we have now had 3 figure skating questions in the space of 4 episodes!

The difference this time is that it was not obvious that it was a figure skating question. Well, it was obvious to me, but it wouldn't have been to other people.

Here it is:

Competitors in which sport won the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year in 1976, 1980 and 1994?

  1. Athletics
  2. Figure Skating
  3. Tennis

Now, I am not the sort of person who could tell you who all has won Sports Personality Of The Year, or the year they won it in. But as soon as I saw those dates, I instantly thought "John Curry, Robin Cousins, and Torvill and Dean". So, I was relieved when "figure skating" came up as an option.

The contestant (the last to play) chose [a.] Athletics. This took Bradley by surprise, as he said "Ooh, hello". The contestant replied "I thought they were Olympic years. And figure skating is the Winter Olympics, which would be the years in between. '82 and so on."

Bradley smiled and then revealed that the answer was indeed figure skating. He then said "That's got to be John Curry, Robin Cousins and some other people" (I think he was being cheeky here, due to Jayne and Chris now being colleagues at ITV).

Mark (who was The Chaser again on this episode) added "You're absolutely right. And the third one being the only time there has been dual winners, Torvill and Dean". Bradley then confirmed to us that his tongue was indeed firmly in his cheek, by saying in a sarcastic voice "Ah, Torvill and Dean. Of course. Who can forget Torvill and Dean?"

Mark then explained where the contestant had gone wrong. "In fairness, the Winter Olympics were the same year as the Summer Olympics up until 1992. In 1994, in Lillehammer, was when they moved to the same year as the World Cups".

This last bit took me by surprise, because it had never twigged with me that the Olympics are now held in the same year as the World Cup. Probably because they are by definition held at different times of year (winter sports v. a summer sport), and because I don't have any interest in football, so don't pay much attention to the World Cup.

Anyway, despite getting this question wrong, the contestant did manage to get through with a 2 step lead over Mark. His £2,000 brought the kitty up to £11,000 (player #1 had put £9,000 in). In the Final Chase, they got 17 steps ahead. This increased to 18 when Mark got his first question wrong and the contestants got it right when it was passed over to them. Nevertheless, Mark caught them with 6 seconds to spare.

Now I am wondering if there is going to be another figure skating question in the episode I will be watching at tea-time tonight... 🤔

And, if there is, whether it will deviate from the definite theme that is emerging, i.e. that John Curry, Robin Cousins and Christopher Dean must all make an appearance in some way... :p

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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...when you watch "La La Land" for the first time, and you know all but 2 of the songs in it!

Have to admit, I wasn't keen on the way it ended. But, on the whole, I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to.

Still amazed that I managed to watch it less than 24 hours after I taped it! But, there was nothing else on the TV tonight.

CaroLiza_fan

...when you watch "The Greatest Showman" for the first time, and you know a lot of the songs in it already!

OK, so it was not quite as many as when I watched "La La Land". But still.

I have been waiting a long time to see "The Greatest Showman". Two years ago, it was highly publicised that Sky would be showing it on Christmas Day. I assumed that it would be on one of their movie channels, which we don't get. But, it was actually on Sky 1, which we do get. And it was only afterwards that I found out. And I have been kicking myself ever since. :bang: :bang: :bang:

So, ever since, I have been keeping an eye out for it being shown on Sky 1 again.

And I nearly missed it again today! :drama: I just happened to glance at the TV magazine at dinner time, and spotted that it was being shown tonight on Channel 4.

But, I did one better than "La La Land". I actually watched it LIVE! 😲 (I know. I wouldn't normally watch a film LIVE on Channel 4, because they put on extra long advert breaks during films. But, I had taped a lot on my recorder over the weekend, and knew I wouldn't have enough space for this. Plus, I had plenty to keep me busy during the breaks).

I know some of you guys are getting fed up with skaters doing programmes using music from "The Greatest Showman". But, I have always enjoyed them. So, it is perhaps unsurprising that I really enjoyed the film.

And unlike "La La Land", I actually liked the ending of "The Greatest Showman"!

I would definitely recommend watching the film. Even if you are one of those people that groans whenever they see a skater come out wearing a red jacket!

CaroLiza_fan
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
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^ I really like the music from BOTH films!

So do I! :biggrin: That is why I cannot understand those people who complain whenever skaters do programmes to either of them.

Yes, each film's music was over-used in the season or 2 after the film was released. But, that is perfectly natural. They were both very successful films, and the music in both of them was perfect for skating to. So, why not do a programme?

Since then, it has calmed down. Yet people are still complaining as if every other programme was using "La La Land" or "The Greatest Showman". And that just isn't the case any more.

So, I am just grateful when we do get one or the other now.

CaroLiza_fan
 
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