Top 10 ladies 1989 to present

[longingfornia]

1 Michelle Kwan USA

2 Yuna Kim SK

3 Mao Asada JPN

4 Irina Slutskaya RUS

5 JShizuka Arakawa JPN

6 Kristi Yamaguchi USA

7 Sasha Cohen USA

8 Midori Ito JPN

9 Maria Butyrskaya RUS

10 Tara Lipinski USA

[attyfan]

I don't think there will be a lot of dispute about the names, although maybe the order? I am curious ... why do you think Butyrskaya outranks Lipinski? Since Ito was a trailblazer, I think I would have her second or third on the list.

[olympic]

I think Chen Lu belongs on there

[ks777]

Top 10 ladies based on what?

[judgejudy27]

1 Michelle Kwan USA

2 Yuna Kim SK

3 Mao Asada JPN

4 Irina Slutskaya RUS

5 JShizuka Arakawa JPN

6 Kristi Yamaguchi USA

7 Sasha Cohen USA

8 Midori Ito JPN

9 Maria Butyrskaya RUS

10 Tara Lipinski USA

Mine would be:

1. Midori Ito
2. Yu Na Kim
3. Michelle Kwan
4. Kristi Yamaguchi
5. Irina Slutskaya
6. Mao Asada
7. Tara Lipinski
8. Shizuka Arakawa
9. Lu Chen
10. One out of Sasha Cohen, Maria Butyrskaya, Jill Trenary, Sarah Hughes, Miki Ando, Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan

[julieann]

I am curious ... why do you think Butyrskaya outranks Lipinski?

Look at the medal record.

I'm not sure what the criteria was for the list but some are missing and I don't see the hype surrounding others, ie Lipinski.

[judgejudy27]

Lipinski at 14 or 15 could already beat Butyrskaya in her sleep. She was winning major events where Butyrskaya wasnt even making the podium. And Tara achieved more in 15 months than Maria did in her decade long career. There is no comparision really. Tara at her short peak won 4 of 5 major meetings with Michelle Kwan. Butyrskaya managed 2 wins over Kwan her whole career.

[ks777]

Sasha Cohen hasn't won any Major title(Olympic gold or world gold) so I wouldn't put her in the top 10 if it's based on accomplishments.

[julieann]

Lipinski at 14 or 15 could already beat Butyrskaya in her sleep. She was winning major events where Butyrskaya wasnt even making the podium. And Tara achieved more in 15 months than Maria did in her decade long career. There is no comparision really. Tara at her short peak won 4 of 5 major meetings with Michelle Kwan. Butyrskaya managed 2 wins over Kwan her whole career.

It's sometimes about longevity in a career not just about winning one Worlds, one Olympics and one Nationals and not much else then calling it quits. Some athletes just like to compete for a decade no matter what color medal they get. I would much rather have Kwan's or Slutskaya's career than Lipinski's.

Besides we have no idea how her career would have turned out. She could have been a legend or never live up to that hype ever again, who knows.

[iarispiralllyof]

1 Michelle Kwan USA

2 Yuna Kim SK

3 Mao Asada JPN

4 Irina Slutskaya RUS

5 JShizuka Arakawa JPN

6 Kristi Yamaguchi USA

7 Sasha Cohen USA

8 Midori Ito JPN

9 Maria Butyrskaya RUS

10 Tara Lipinski USA

agreed with your list, but in terms of the top 4 it's quite hard to determine the exact order. depends on your personal opinion of what should be weighted more heavily

[blue_idealist]

1) Michelle Kwan

2) Yu-Na Kim

3) Lu Chen

4) Irina Slutskaya

5) Mao Asada

6) Midori Ito

7) Kristi Yamaguchi

8) Tara Lipinski

9) Shizuka Arakawa

10) Sasha Cohen

Hard to leave Baiul, Kerrigan, Hughes and Butyrskaya off the list but Butyrskaya has no Olympic medal, and the other three didn't thrill me in the least even though they do.

[judgejudy27]

It's sometimes about longevity in a career not just about winning one Worlds, one Olympics and one Nationals and not much else then calling it quits. Some athletes just like to compete for a decade no matter what color medal they get. I would much rather have Kwan's or Slutskaya's career than Lipinski's.

Besides we have no idea how her career would have turned out. She could have been a legend or never live up to that hype ever again, who knows.

I am not talking about Kwan or Slutskaya though. I am talking about Butyrskaya. I would much rather have Taras career than Marias even with her longevity as mostly a second tier wannabee contender. I think nearly every skater would too.

I actually think Taras career might well have fizzled out had she continued. It is irrelevant though, she easily did enough in 15 months to trump Marias whole career. And it is not like Maria left any kind of mark on the sport beyond her medals. First Russian to win Worlds but years from now most people probably will assume that was Slutskaya and would need to be told it was Maria. Tara will always be the youngest to ever win Olympics or Worlds and has invented 2 triple-triple combinations. And to most who followed the sport at the time will mostly remember Maria winning Worlds since Kwan fell and the rest of the field was really weak that year, she was never at any point considered the best skater in the World, or even arguably so.

[miki88]

This again? How many of these lists have we had already?

[julieann]

I am not talking about Kwan or Slutskaya though. I am talking about Butyrskaya. I would much rather have Taras career than Marias even with her longevity as mostly a second tier wannabee contender. I think nearly every skater would too.

I actually think Taras career might well have fizzled out had she continued. It is irrelevant though, she easily did enough in 15 months to trump Marias whole career. And it is not like Maria left any kind of mark on the sport beyond her medals. First Russian to win Worlds but years from now most people probably will assume that was Slutskaya and would need to be told it was Maria. Tara will always be the youngest to ever win Olympics or Worlds and has invented 2 triple-triple combinations. And to most who followed the sport at the time will mostly remember Maria winning Worlds since Kwan fell and the rest of the field was really weak that year, she was never at any point considered the best skater in the World, or even arguably so.

I think you are selling Maria a tad short. She has medaled at the Soviet/Russian Championships every year for 11 years; those being 6 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze. She won 6 European medals including 3 gold - one at the age of 29. She won a myriad of Grand Prix medals including 4 golds at Trophee Lalique (in a row) one a Skate America, Skate Canada, NHK and 3 medals at the Grand Prix Final. She had respectable showings at the Olympics with a 4th place and a 6th place. Just because one doesn’t come home with a medal doesn’t mean it’s not an accomplishment. If that is how the IOC saw it they would only invite the top 10 skaters. She has 3 medals from the World Championships including one gold; which you pointed out she only won because Michelle Kwan fell.

Well, if all the medals were taken from those who won them because of a weak field or someone didn’t do well, not many athletes in any sport would have medals.

[longingfornia]

i just watched Lu Chen's 95 Wc long and think maybe i had forgot how great she was. Sasha could have been top five if she got gold in Turin plus i think she is a stronger skater then Shizuka. Omg Kwan's long in Nagano OG98 was some much better then Tara's IMHO

[longingfornia]

Sasha Cohen hasn't won any Major title(Olympic gold or world gold) so I wouldn't put her in the top 10 if it's based on accomplishments.

Are saying That Sarah Hughes,Miki Ando,Kimmie Mes... are better

[julieann]

Are saying That Sarah Hughes,Miki Ando,Kimmie Mes... are better

I think some may be putting a little too much weight on the "Olympic" gold medal. After all when put into perpsective....it's just winning one program in four years.

So if a skater A won gold at every competition for six years except a silver at the Olympics and skater B got 4th place at every competition for six years except a gold at the Olympics, skater B would be considered more successful? Not buying it...

[BigB08822]

In no order:

Kwan
Slutskaya
Yu Na Kim
Mao Asada
Yamaguchi
Ito
Lu Chen
Baiul
Lipinski
Kerrigan

This is just for me, personally. Somewhat based on results and somewhat based on other factors such as talent and longevity of career.

[AnnieBgood]

Not in order: This is just opinion, and not based on anything but.

-Kristi Yamaguchi

-Irina Slutskaya

-Kim Yu Na

-Michelle Kwan

-Sasha Cohen

-Tara Lipinski

-Angela Nikodinov

-Shizuka Arakawa

-Viktoria Volchkova (or could've been IMO)

-Alissa Czisny

[Jenny81]

- Michelle Kwan

- Yuna Kim

- Kristi Yamaguchi

- Irina Slutskaya

- Midori Ito