Who is your skating idol?

[Neverdull44]

Who is your skating idol?

   I would be absolutely star struck if I met . . . . Linda Fratianne and Dorothy Hamill.

[AgnesNitt]

Johnny Weir.

[ONskater74]

John Curry

[Doubletoe]

Mao Asada.  Elegance, grace, and a fricken' triple axel!  I did get to meet her, at 2009 Worlds when I was ice monitor on practice ice.  She was absolutely adorable.

[sampaguita]

Yuna Kim. And Mao Asada. The best of the best in 21st century figure skating, in my honest opinion.

[Neverdull44]

I'll have to add .. . . Lu Chen to my list.

[Bunny Hop]

Torvill & Dean. They first sparked my interest in skating. Still love their Paso Doble OSP from 1984.

[Bill_S]

Right now it's Patrick Chan.

I'd love to be able to just move across the ice with knees like Chan's.

Actually, I'd take any knees without %#& arthritis. 

[Mergen Tatara]

Elvis Stojko   

The combination of athleticism with balletic elegance.

Pity he missed out on Olympic gold....

[AgnesNitt]

Torvill & Dean. They first sparked my interest in skating. Still love their Paso Doble OSP from 1984.

T&D? REally?! What happened to your passion for Mr. Petrenko?

[Bunny Hop]

T&D? REally?! What happened to your passion for Mr. Petrenko?

The question was about skating idols not skating crushes! 

And although I would always drool over the lovely deep knee bend and running edges on Petrenko's jump landings, I was never going to be a jumper, so my idols really have to be ice dancers!

[karne]

Plushy! And I think I would go all tongue-tied and shy around Max...or Joshua...or Jason...or Artur...but that isn't all to do with their skating (although most of it is!) 

[techskater]

Right now?  Carolina Kostner!!!     Lovely edgework, gaining control over her jumps finally!! 

[Weeze]

Yuna Kim and Johnny Weir.

And a soft spot for Peggy Fleming - I was a young girl when she won Olympic Gold, and I met her after a show.

[Bill_S]

And a soft spot for Peggy Fleming - I was a young girl when she won Olympic Gold, and I met her after a show.

Me too. I was an 18 year old teenage boy when Peggy won the Olympics, and I was truly smitten by watching her on TV back then. She was amazingly beautiful.

It certainly motivated me to practice skating endlessly on the frozen ponds of my youth, just in case I ever got the chance to meet her in person and had to impress her somehow. (As you get older, you realize how futile/foolish some of your youthful daydreams can be. But then again, that's what made life interesting back then.)

[FigureSpins]

I remember watching Fleming on TV during that Olympics and thinking "I want to do THAT!"  (My old coach skated against her, but came in much further down in the rankings in those Games!)  Skating wasn't in the cards for me until I turned 16, bought a car and could drive myself to rinks.

I was very disappointed when I met her in real life...maybe she was just having a bad day but she wasn't friendly towards the kids in my skating club at all.  While I also liked Dorothy Hammill, Janet Lynn was my favorite. 

Of the men, I think Hamilton is inspiring with all the off-ice obstacles he's overcome and his upbeat attitude.  Plus, he kicked *** for years, so it was easy to be impressed by his skating.

Is it sacrilege to say that Sonja Henie never impressed me?  I thought her skating lacked grace, but she was way before my time so it was probably graceful for that period.  Amazing when you consider the skates she wore.  I did like the spectacle parts of her movies, but Esther Williams' films were just as eye-boggling.

[Icicle]

Right now?  Carolina Kostner!!!     Lovely edgework, gaining control over her jumps finally!!

I love Carolina Kostner! In addition to what you mentioned, she is also tall, and I know from my personal experience how much harder it is for a tall skater to jump.

I'm also inspired by Patrick Chan's skating skills. He's not of this world, really.

[Loops]

In addition to what you mentioned, she is also tall, and I know from my personal experience how much harder it is for a tall skater to jump.

And that's exactly why I've always loved Robin Cousins!  He's something like 6ft, which is even taller than me!!!!!  [aside- I do like Carolina, too, plus she's a leftie like me!!]

I have to say in addition, Torvill and Dean never cease to amaze me (I see purple every time I hear Ravel's Bolero....can't believe people still skate to it).

In terms of programs I can watch over and over, in addition to T and D, Klimova and Ponemerenko's dance to Bach's Concerto in G (1992) and Usova and Zhulin's four Seasons, also from '92.

[SynchKat]

Torvill & Dean. They first sparked my interest in skating. Still love their Paso Doble OSP from 1984.

Wasn't that the BEST OSP EVER!!  They really were/are one of a kind.

[ONskater74]

Carolina Kostner has the loveliest footwork around, seems to really flow and surprise...fascinating. Watching the slow-mo of her falls on her jump landings I think she seems to have trouble getting her legs round, Those lovely long legs seem to lag behind somehow. Her upper body gets around fine but if you look at her feet just before she crashes to the ice, they are still crossed and they tangle up. Is this a lack of height on the jumps? She seems to have the speed, but perhaps too much speed is compromising altitude and not giving her the time to fully rotate her entire body? She has no issues on doubles that I can see, it is just the triples.
She did an interview where she indicated that she has a difficult time getting her body to do what she wants, takes a lot of constant work. I think a lot of tall people struggle with the jumping. John Curry was 5' 11" and struggled with his jumps. There must be some sort of physics involved relating to a long vertical axis and distribution of weight/rotation/etc/etc

[Loops]

There must be some sort of physics involved relating to a long vertical axis and distribution of weight/rotation/etc/etc

Ha!  I'm 5'8' and would agree with this wholeheartedly!  Works for spins, too- in particular on my camel spin, I used to feel my skating foot lagging behind my torso/free leg. 

And I just thought it was all a lack of ability.    And yes, I know my spinning technique probably left a lot to be desired. 

[techskater]

Being 5'10", I can tell you learning and landing jumps is a heck of a lot harder than being 4'10". 

[ls99]

Curry, Belita, Baiul, Mandjavidze, Gordeeva.  Generally I like to watch those with superb artistic skating skills. And they must be on time with the music.

I have no interst in skaters busy winding up for jumps even even if they could do triples non stop, or even a quad. Ho hum. Yawn.

[Qarol]

Caryn Kadavy

I would be seriously star struck. She is the benchmark for me in skating.

[mamabear]

Paul Wylie and Kristi Yamuguchi-I have no idea what I would think of their skating if I watched it now.  These were the skaters that I watched when I watched figure skating far more often than I do now.  They were the people who really had me interested in the activity.