How good is Joannie Rochette as a skater?

[MR-FAN]

She's my favorite of the past 6 years, and I'm a very hard-to-please figure skating fan. Her programs since 2005 were the best of any lady every single season. She is very versatile with her program choices, and her commitment to the choreography every time she gets out there. I love watching her skate around, and her jumps are my spectacular. I can't think of any lady who has a better 3toe, 3sal, 3loop, or 3flip. Her edges and speed blow me away, and whenever she's in a competition I find myself looking forward to her performances more than any of the other ladies.

[Triple Butz]

I'm surprised people are knocking Joannie's posture. She's not Sasha Cohen, but she's certainly above average in that area IMO. The only real weakness, as another poster pointed out, is her limited flexibility, which matters to get levels in CoP. I think her musical interpretation was excellent as were her skating skills.

[Japanfan]

She's a very complete skater who has all the goods. What she lacks is the 'it' factor that gave skaters like Michelle or Sasha an edge, or the high-level jumping content of some of her contemporaries (Asada, Kim, Ando, Kostner). I think this is what she would have needed to climb to the very top. In this sense, I would consider her to be somewhat stronger Suguri, and a little bit weaker than Arakawa.

ITA. Except when she was on, Arakawa had the 'it' factor.

Joanne was well-packaged and David Wilson created beautiful and complex programs that worked to her advantage. But I never found her to be an exciting skater.

Her Olympic bronze was well earned and poignantly timed, given her loss of her mom. Her clear SP at the Olympics was a moment both amazing and sad which many will always remember.

However, I will always think of Joannie as one of the best, not 'the best' or a great skater. It was her relative consistency that stood her apart. Kostner, Nagasu and Alissa are equally good, if not better skaters, they just lack Joannie's consistency.

[ainouta]

I think one thing that stands out to me about Joannie's skating is her edges. When Joannie skates, I always watch her feet, and how deep and smooth her edges are. The musicality and complexity in her skating comes from her use of edges and footwork, which is something I can't say for any other ladies' skater today.

[judgejudy27]

IMO she is a better skater than Nancy Kerrigan who won an Olympic silver (and was probably robbed of the gold that year) and Miki Ando who is a 2 time World Champion. If anything she is unlucky to not have achieved more compare to some others. It is too bad she didnt skate at Worlds this year, she probably would have won unless she had a really off competition.

Czisny is definitely not a better skater. She is slow, has mediocre skating skills, and her jumps are much weaker even with a cleanish skate. Nagasu skated lights out in Vancouver and easily lost to Rochette who didnt skate cleanly so obviously she isnt better yet either, she has potential and talent to become better if she puts in the work of course. Kostner is hard to evaluate since she has never skated cleanly with her top jump content ever.

[Proustable]

I'm surprised to hear people call Joannie's consistency one of her strong points. This is the woman who won qualifying at the 2006 Worlds with a seven triple free skate but disappointed in the free and short to miss the podium. This is the lady who has an eleven spot difference between her short and her free at the 2007 worlds (she was 16th after the SP, 5th in the free, 10th overall). Her Olympic season was marred by faulty skates throughout.

For me, Joannie never had "it" - but so few skaters do that it doesn't bug me. What she does have is lovely artistry/interpretation (I particularly love her Aranjuez), strong jumps, gorgeous edges and some lovely programs that highlight her strengths. She may not be an all time list skater, but I'll certainly revisit some of her programs.

[Japanfan]

IMO she is a better skater than Nancy Kerrigan who won an Olympic silver (and was probably robbed of the gold that year) and Miki Ando who is a 2 time World Champion. If anything she is unlucky to not have achieved more compare to some others.

Agreed

It is too bad she didnt skate at Worlds this year, she probably would have won unless she had a really off competition.

Agreed.

Czisny is definitely not a better skater. She is slow, has mediocre skating skills, and her jumps are much weaker even with a cleanish skate.

Here I disagree. She didn't become GFP champion with poor skills. Her spins are the best in the world and when she is on, her jumps are fine. She's not as powerful as a skater as Joannie, but she has a soulful, gentle quality which elicits the wow factors.

I'm surprised to hear people call Joannie's consistency one of her strong points

It's relative. Although it was rare for Joannie to skate two clean programs - in fact, I don't know that it ever happened - she stayed on her feet more than others did.

[Blair]

All her jumps are spectacular and technically perfect, but her 3loop is such a corker. On the approach to that jump I'm always thinking "3...2...1...Takeoff!"

IMO, her 3loop easily rivals Midori's and Tonya's.

When it comes right down to it, Joannie's only weakness is her flexibility. All her other skills are stellar and she deserves her place among Olympic medallists.

[pinky166]

However, I will always think of Joannie as one of the best, not 'the best' or a great skater. It was her relative consistency that stood her apart. Kostner, Nagasu and Alissa are equally good, if not better skaters, they just lack Joannie's consistency.

Since when was Joannie ever known for consistency?? She was always a hot and cold skater, and rarely put two very strong programs out at a competition. She's no headcase, but not a Miki Ando either when it comes to triple jump consistency.

[blue_idealist]

Since when was Joannie ever known for consistency?? She was always a hot and cold skater, and rarely put two very strong programs out at a competition. She's no headcase, but not a Miki Ando either when it comes to triple jump consistency.

Yeah, I've gotta agree with that, I always found her rather inconsistent, at least up until the last two seasons she competed..

[Jenna]

Yeah, I've gotta agree with that, I always found her rather inconsistent, at least up until the last two seasons she competed..

For that matter, when has the word consistent and a Canadian lady skater ever appeared in the same sentence?

[Japanfan]

For that matter, when has the word consistent and a Canadian lady skater ever appeared in the same sentence?

I did say 'relative' consistency. I mean, take a look at the current state of Canadian ladies and the sub-par performances of the final flight at Worlds.

Top Ten Jen Robinson is probably the most consistent lady Canada has had in the past 20 years. Unfortunately she didn't have much else - no offense intended, she was, as they say 'a good ambassador for the sport'.

[judgejudy27]

Here I disagree. She didn't become GFP champion with poor skills. Her spins are the best in the world and when she is on, her jumps are fine. She's not as powerful as a skater as Joannie, but she has a soulful, gentle quality which elicits the wow factors.

She became GPF champion since she had the competition of her life, the field was incredibly weak, and Ando who easily won the LP skating first had bombed the SP. Dont get me wrong, I was very happy for her when it happened. Czisny couldnt even medal at Worlds despite again being close to her best in the season of her career, and it being arguably the worst womens Worlds in skating history.

I like Czisny alot and enjoy her skating, but she is not a better skater than Joannie. The only thing she does better is spins and spirals. If both skated their best Joannie would crush Czisny.

[b-man]

She became GPF champion since she had the competition of her life, the field was incredibly weak, and Ando who easily won the LP skating first had bombed the SP. Dont get me wrong, I was very happy for her when it happened. Czisny couldnt even medal at Worlds despite again being close to her best in the season of her career, and it being arguably the worst womens Worlds in skating history.

I like Czisny alot and enjoy her skating, but she is not a better skater than Joannie. The only thing she does better is spins and spirals. If both skated their best Joannie would crush Czisny.

True, Czisny didn't medal at worlds, but Rochette had but a single medal in seven appearances, not such an exemplary record. And her path to an entry at worlds was much easier than Czisny, which gave her greater international exposure and more chances to leave positive impressions with international judges.

[Jammers]

Yes Joannie was great in Vancouver but overall she wasn't that great.Yes she could be great but she was inconsistent. Mira for instance was much more accomplished at 16 then Joannie was. It took till she was 21 to finish higher at Worlds then Mirai did for instance. Let's face it Mirai would be going to Worlds every year if she faced the competition Joannie did in Canada.

[Skate Talker]

Joannie was an early bloomer but then took the extra-ordinary step of re-working all her jumps which took her out of the game for a couple of years before she started showing the results. Unfortunately imho it took the judges quite a while to catch on to the quality of her skating after that and she had to fight hard to get their attention. I have nothing but admiration for her and the difficult path she took.

[Proustable]

Flatt accomplished more by sixteen than Rochette. So did Caroline Zhang. Would you argue they're better skaters as well.

[Marco]

Rochette is a great skater, but not without her weaknesses. Her spins for example tend to slow down quite evidently and are quite dull. Her jumping technique, jump quality, edge quality and ability to display complex choreography on the other hand are quite amazing.

She was clearly in medal contention going into Vancouver with Ando and Kostner. Everyone else had an outside shot only. Then Kostner bombed and Ando skated conservatively in the free and that was that. If Nagasu had skated better internationally that season she might be a threat for the bronze. And if Lepisto had done a 3/3 instead of 3/2 in the short I probably would have given her the bronze. So, she earned her bronze, but not without some luck and politiking on her side.

[skfan]

i don't see the argument that joannie's skating is weaker than alissa's. i could care less about the medal counts--for me, joannie's skating (in general) has much more speed, power, emotional conviction, connection with the audience. joannie also has a wider emotional / theatrical range.

i don't find alissa's spins as amazing as other posters do, because even though her spins are fast they don't strike beautiful positions a la sasha cohen, and since i'm an MK fan i'm used to weak spins LOL i'll give up the spins for a sense that the skater is truly _with_ the music. joannie and akiko are the ladies in recent years whose musical interpretation and connection to the audience impressed me, so i must stick up for joannie here

[leafygreens]

Czisny couldnt even medal at Worlds despite again being close to her best in the season of her career, and it being arguably the worst womens Worlds in skating history.

Czisny's placement was just wrong. She should have been 3rd or at least 4th. She only messed up one jump in the whole competition, which is a lot less than people placing above her. Everything else about her was superb. Way undermarked.

i don't find alissa's spins as amazing as other posters do, because even though her spins are fast they don't strike beautiful positions a la sasha cohen,

I love Sasha but I have to disagree that she has beautiful positions in any of her non-flexy spins. Alissa's camel has a beautiful arched position - a lot better than Sasha's.