Source: Page 7 of White Noise Keywords: "she's," "before," "she," "keeps"

From: "Amy or Brian" <amers@NOSPAM.dot.post.harvard.edu> Subject: Re: Michelle Kwan should retire & turn pro Date: 2 Feb 2004 Newsgroups: rec.sport.skating.ice.figure

"Alain" <alain707@free.fr> wrote in message news:401e05e4$0$11342$636a55ce@news.free.fr... [snip] > These are very young ladies with a career ahead of them. Suguri and Arakawa > are the established skaters in the Japanese team (BTW I remember Shizuka did > a 3Z-3T in the short at the 98 OG - already - another one with difficult 3-3 > combos). And Kwan (and LOTS of other skaters) beat her there because she skated like a novice skater.....poor posture, extremely slow, ran out of gas by the end of her long program. >Ando and the other ones I mentionned (add Ota to the list) are the > rising stars. No doubt they'll go to Worlds in the very near future. If they don't get injured, don't hit puberty/lose their jumps/don't get overtaken by another young skater. Don't forget, when Kwan was the "little kid" in skating, she was known as the one with the jumps. She was one of the first to come on the scene with a consistent seven-triple program, and the triple-triple was most likely responsible for the outcome of both the 96 Worlds and the 98 Olympics. Through the years, she's gone from being the jumping bean with no artistry to the old fogey with no jumps. The truth is obviously somewhere in between. >In my > previous post I was meaning that the technical standard of elite women's > skating is increasing very quickly now (as it has been for the men for a > couple of years with the generalization of quads) NOT that it has already > gone up a lot ... Well, it's been up and down. I remember hearing and thinking back in 1992 that soon all the skaters would have up to the triple axel, but twelve years later it hasn't happened. What has happened is that many skaters known for their outstanding technical (aka jumping, which is all the mass media considers "technical merit") abilities hvae struggled with injuries. Lipinski, who was known for her loop combo, now has hip problems in her early twenties. Bonaly had an achilles injury. As someone else mentioned, many of the other skaters you mention struggle with consistency, even a lot of the top skaters, like Sokolova and Kostner. Even if these skaters hit their harder content more consistently, the cost might be a greater risk of injury. And then, too, if CoP is adopted, it tends to reward the program with strengths in ALL the elements of skating, not just the jumps. >Kwan may not be quite overtaken now, but if she keeps the > same contents in her programs (3t-3t being the most difficult combo) she > will be at the 06's OG for sure, maybe before. See above. This season, I think a few of the skaters could nab her, but who knows what the skaters will show up with at Worlds? And as far as 06 goes, it's WAY too soon to tell. When anyone tries to handicap the Olympics more than a season ahead, all I can think of is Oksana Baiul and Tara Lipinski. >Of course, MK does have other > qualities to compensate (but her spins are not the best), her name and so > far achievements being one of them when the judges come to giving her marks > (and this is nothing personal against MK, just the way FS judging goes ...). Well, I'll agree with you about the "other qualities" and the spins, but you still seem to think that jumps are more important than all those other qualities put together. It may seem that way, but it's not. It's the overall package. And landing all of the jumps when it counts. As far as judging goes, yes, there are corrupt, cheating judges, but there are a lot who aren't. There's also the downside of Kwan's longevity......many people resent her for staying eligible as long as she has; a lot of people don't like her style or criticize her for not changing it more over the years. So I think that one is a draw. > But she's definitely not out of reach for the young generation. I'd even say > she would be happy enough to be in the top 6 at the Turin's OG with her > current jumping contents. Again, I'd reserve judgement on that one until some of these other skaters start beating her a little more consistently. Of the skaters who are still eligible and contenders (ie, I'm not including Slutskaya in this batch), only Cohen has ever beaten Kwan in any competition, and then only in one cheesefest at the beginning of this season. Suguri and Sokolova have come close in various phases of competition, but never actually beaten Kwan. The other people who have beaten Kwan at the big competitions (Worlds, Olympics) had all beaten her at a previous competition. Hughes won Skate Canada, Slutskaya at numerous GP events, Lipinski at Nationals, and the GPF. The only one I'm not sure about is Butyrskaya, and don't forget, Kwan fell in the short program of that Worlds and it was impossible for her to catch up in the long. So I'd put my money on Cohen, Suguri or Sokolova before any of these youngsters......especially Cohen. But who knows? -Amy

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