Maofan7
12-20-2011, 09:09 PM
Back in September, I ran a poll on who was the best ladies singles figure skater of the 1930's - Sonja Henie, Cecilia Colledge, or Megan Taylor?
The thread can be found at the following link: Best Ladies Figure Skater of the 1930's (http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?t=80114)
The following is the final paragraph from the initial post that set up the aforementioned thread
World War 2 (WW2) practically finished both Colledge's and Taylor's competitive careers, although Colledge returned after WW2, but then turned professional after just 1 year. Colledge drove an ambulance in the Motor Transport Corps during the London Blitz, moved permanently to the United States in 1951 (saying of Britain that "there was nothing left for me there except unhappy memories" - due to her experiences during WW2 and the death of her brother during the war), and pursued a distinguished career as a coach with the Skating Club of Boston between 1952 and 1977, coaching skaters such as Ron Ludington. Taylor spent much of the early 1940's with Ice Capades. However, after finishing with Ice Capades, not much is known about what she did thereafter and she died in Jamaica in 1993. Does anybody know what happened to Taylor after Ice Capades?
It will be noted that I asked what had happened to Megan Taylor after Ice Capades and I have now been able to find out a little bit more from Katarina Witts book, Only with Passion. An excerpt from the book reads:-
"Some coaches just teach to make a living. Other coaches, like Frau Muller, live for the sport. She skated in the 1950's, but was never a star herself. In those years the GDR never did well internationally. At one point they hired an English coach, Megan Taylor, to try to improve their performances at the World Championships, but she left after one season. "Those East German skaters have what it takes to go to the World Championships, all right," the Englishwoman told a reporter after she'd left. "But only as ticket takers." Frau Muller never forgot that slight, and it motivated her in her career as a coach. She proved the Englishwoman wrong, too. Under her tutelage, GDR skaters won ten World Championships between 1969 and 1980. Her daughter, Gabriele Seyfert, and Anett Potzsch and Jan Hoffmann all won twice, and I won four times. Frau Muller was the most successful coach of her generation."
Wow - I was never aware of this before and I had no idea that Megan Taylor took up a career as a coach in East Germany (does anybody know whether she coached elsewhere as well and what else she did post world war 2?). It also says a lot about what motivated Jutta Müller to become the great coach that she became. I've always noticed that with so many athletes and coaches, their drive and ambition emanates from a desire to prove wrong those that have slighted them at an early stage of their career.
Of course, one of Müller's most successful students was her own daughter, double world champion and olympic runner up, Gabriele Seyfert. Here are some of her great performances:-
Gabriele Seyfert - 1968 Olympics - Free Skate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z8-5Tnwodw)
Gabriele Seyfert - 1970 World Championships - Free Skate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3LMb_4kTY8)
Gabriele Seyfert - 1968 European Championships - Free Skate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPZsEFhTN7Y) - features the first ever triple loop by a female figure skater
Documentary on the 1967 European Championships (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4g49oNlLqw) - features both Müller & Seyfert
Its still a mystery to me as to why Seyfert retired after the 1970 world championships. I think that one of the explanations, that Trixie Schuba's school figures were allegedly becoming too good to compete against is a complete nonsense. Seyfert also had very good compulsory figures and throughout the 3 years prior to her retirement, she had consistently beaten Schuba by getting close enough to her in the school figures to overtake her in the Free Program (indeed, Seyfert's free skating was almost in the same league as Janet Lynn's). Moreover, on several occasions, Seyfert had actually beaten Schuba in the compulsories. Hence, there is absolutely no reason why this trend would not have continued and in my view, had Seyfert not retired she would have gone on to win the Olympic title in 1972.
About a year ago, Aliceanne in another thread provided the following explanation as to why Seyfert may have retired:-
According to Toller Cranston Gaby Seifert told him that she was forced into retirement by the GDR with her mother's complicity in order to make way for the next generation. Apparently this is the way it was done in the GDR. Katarina Witt was the first to break the mold.
I've no idea whether this is true or not, but if it is then the GDR literally threw away a gold medal as they would not have another genuine female singles medal contender until Anett Pötzsch came onto the scene and won the 1980 Olympic title - 10 years after Seyfert's retirement.
Whatever the reason's for her daughters premature retirement, Jutta Müller was certainly a force to be reckoned with and one superb coach. Ultimately, her student's would go on to win 3 Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships. Carlo Fassi's students, by contrast, won 4 Olympic gold medals and 8 world championship titles. Quite simply, Müller, by any analyses, was one of greatest coaches of all time. And it certainly came as a surprise to learn of Megan Taylor's role in her development.......!
Here are some new videos I found of Megan Taylor & Cecelia Colledge:-
Megan Taylor - Tour of Australia 1939 - Melbourne Ice Show (http://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/detail/melbourne_footage_of_the_ice_skater_megan_taylor_o n_the_ice_in_melbourne_australia/93607f2a-1d9e-c16b-27ba-e1c89ee28ee0.html)
Megan Taylor & Cecelia Colledge - 1937 World Championships (won by Colledge) (http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist/BHC_RTV/1937/03/04/BGX407222192/?s=*)
The thread can be found at the following link: Best Ladies Figure Skater of the 1930's (http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/showthread.php?t=80114)
The following is the final paragraph from the initial post that set up the aforementioned thread
World War 2 (WW2) practically finished both Colledge's and Taylor's competitive careers, although Colledge returned after WW2, but then turned professional after just 1 year. Colledge drove an ambulance in the Motor Transport Corps during the London Blitz, moved permanently to the United States in 1951 (saying of Britain that "there was nothing left for me there except unhappy memories" - due to her experiences during WW2 and the death of her brother during the war), and pursued a distinguished career as a coach with the Skating Club of Boston between 1952 and 1977, coaching skaters such as Ron Ludington. Taylor spent much of the early 1940's with Ice Capades. However, after finishing with Ice Capades, not much is known about what she did thereafter and she died in Jamaica in 1993. Does anybody know what happened to Taylor after Ice Capades?
It will be noted that I asked what had happened to Megan Taylor after Ice Capades and I have now been able to find out a little bit more from Katarina Witts book, Only with Passion. An excerpt from the book reads:-
"Some coaches just teach to make a living. Other coaches, like Frau Muller, live for the sport. She skated in the 1950's, but was never a star herself. In those years the GDR never did well internationally. At one point they hired an English coach, Megan Taylor, to try to improve their performances at the World Championships, but she left after one season. "Those East German skaters have what it takes to go to the World Championships, all right," the Englishwoman told a reporter after she'd left. "But only as ticket takers." Frau Muller never forgot that slight, and it motivated her in her career as a coach. She proved the Englishwoman wrong, too. Under her tutelage, GDR skaters won ten World Championships between 1969 and 1980. Her daughter, Gabriele Seyfert, and Anett Potzsch and Jan Hoffmann all won twice, and I won four times. Frau Muller was the most successful coach of her generation."
Wow - I was never aware of this before and I had no idea that Megan Taylor took up a career as a coach in East Germany (does anybody know whether she coached elsewhere as well and what else she did post world war 2?). It also says a lot about what motivated Jutta Müller to become the great coach that she became. I've always noticed that with so many athletes and coaches, their drive and ambition emanates from a desire to prove wrong those that have slighted them at an early stage of their career.
Of course, one of Müller's most successful students was her own daughter, double world champion and olympic runner up, Gabriele Seyfert. Here are some of her great performances:-
Gabriele Seyfert - 1968 Olympics - Free Skate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z8-5Tnwodw)
Gabriele Seyfert - 1970 World Championships - Free Skate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3LMb_4kTY8)
Gabriele Seyfert - 1968 European Championships - Free Skate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPZsEFhTN7Y) - features the first ever triple loop by a female figure skater
Documentary on the 1967 European Championships (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4g49oNlLqw) - features both Müller & Seyfert
Its still a mystery to me as to why Seyfert retired after the 1970 world championships. I think that one of the explanations, that Trixie Schuba's school figures were allegedly becoming too good to compete against is a complete nonsense. Seyfert also had very good compulsory figures and throughout the 3 years prior to her retirement, she had consistently beaten Schuba by getting close enough to her in the school figures to overtake her in the Free Program (indeed, Seyfert's free skating was almost in the same league as Janet Lynn's). Moreover, on several occasions, Seyfert had actually beaten Schuba in the compulsories. Hence, there is absolutely no reason why this trend would not have continued and in my view, had Seyfert not retired she would have gone on to win the Olympic title in 1972.
About a year ago, Aliceanne in another thread provided the following explanation as to why Seyfert may have retired:-
According to Toller Cranston Gaby Seifert told him that she was forced into retirement by the GDR with her mother's complicity in order to make way for the next generation. Apparently this is the way it was done in the GDR. Katarina Witt was the first to break the mold.
I've no idea whether this is true or not, but if it is then the GDR literally threw away a gold medal as they would not have another genuine female singles medal contender until Anett Pötzsch came onto the scene and won the 1980 Olympic title - 10 years after Seyfert's retirement.
Whatever the reason's for her daughters premature retirement, Jutta Müller was certainly a force to be reckoned with and one superb coach. Ultimately, her student's would go on to win 3 Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships. Carlo Fassi's students, by contrast, won 4 Olympic gold medals and 8 world championship titles. Quite simply, Müller, by any analyses, was one of greatest coaches of all time. And it certainly came as a surprise to learn of Megan Taylor's role in her development.......!
Here are some new videos I found of Megan Taylor & Cecelia Colledge:-
Megan Taylor - Tour of Australia 1939 - Melbourne Ice Show (http://www.wpafilmlibrary.com/detail/melbourne_footage_of_the_ice_skater_megan_taylor_o n_the_ice_in_melbourne_australia/93607f2a-1d9e-c16b-27ba-e1c89ee28ee0.html)
Megan Taylor & Cecelia Colledge - 1937 World Championships (won by Colledge) (http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist/BHC_RTV/1937/03/04/BGX407222192/?s=*)