Who was the greatest ladies singles figure skater never to become Olympic champion?

[ZuZu]

From a quite European point of view and in no particular order:
Lu Chen, Irina Slutskaya, Midori Ito.

[Excidra]

Irina Slutskaya.

[floskate]

Do you know how she skated her SP at Nationals. Did she make a mistake or was she just outskated by baby Hamill.

I finally found the information you were looking for. According to the April 1973 edition of skating magazine:

Nearly everyone expected Janet to take the lead after the new compulsory program. She did - in the combined results - but the short program alone went to 16 year old Dorothy Hamill. In her first time with the short program, Janet slid a bit in the middle of her combination, a double axel double loop. Then, almost incredibly, she two-footed her single axel as she overcompensated for her miss in the combination. Dorothy, althoughfaltering a bit in the same jump combination, showed some fine serpentine stepwork and a high, lingering delayed axel.

Janet had finished 2nd in figures to another 16 year old, Diane Goldstein who fell away after a 6th place finish in the SP and an overall 4th place. Dorothy was 3rd in figures, 1st in the SP and 2nd in the LP for overall second. Janet got 3 6.0's for the free and 1st place ordinals overal from every judge.

Hope all this is informative.

[judgejudy27]

Thanks. I figured Lynn had to have problems to lose the short program to Hamill at that point in time. Especialy given how champion friendly and protocal based figure skating scoring was back then.

[giselle23]

I finally found the information you were looking for. According to the April 1973 edition of skating magazine:



Janet had finished 2nd in figures to another 16 year old, Diane Goldstein who fell away after a 6th place finish in the SP and an overall 4th place. Dorothy was 3rd in figures, 1st in the SP and 2nd in the LP for overall second. Janet got 3 6.0's for the free and 1st place ordinals overal from every judge.

Hope all this is informative.

Floskate, thank you for this. I wish there were videos of Janet's and Dorothy's short programs. I guess I should be thankful that we have as many videos of Janet and others from earlier eras as we do.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I disagree with the idea that Kwan brought nothing to figure skating. She blended technical difficulty and artistic-level presentation. For her tech, she has consistently landed more 6-7 triple routines with two Lutzes and a full arsenal of jumps than most skaters, and it's not just her longevity that accounts for it because it was considered a disappointment if Kwan completed 5 triples even without falls or stumbles. I mean look at Nagano. Kwan did a clean routine with 7 triples, received straight 5.9s for presentation, and people are still saying she played it safe when Olympic champions prior and even after her did less than that. She was also THE standard set for her competitors for almost a decade who wanted to beat her as she did not place lower than second for 8 seasons straight and not lower than 4th for 10. Skaters wanting to dethrone her had to do more triple-triples, spin better, work on their presentation, and work on their basic skating skills in order to beat her outright.

I also disagree with a poster who said Kwan did face contortions without following through with her body. Kwan's artistry is not lauded because of her facial expressions but because she moves with her blade deeply and matches it with her bodyline. When she does emote in a routine, I find that they are usually very appropriate for her choreography and overall coherence of her programs. Being over-the-top is a new criticism I heard about Kwan (and I think we have heard them all).

[t.mann]

Kwan or Janet.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

And she wasn't bad at 16 either:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8i-KY1nuHY

This is one of my favorite exhibition pieces - period. In the end of the video, the announcer told Kwan that they'd like to see her do an encore. I wonder what she ended doing.

It's a shame Kwan messed up in the SP because apart from the stumble on the combo, Kwan looked like she was an excellent shape throughout this competition. That exhibition was full of difficulty.

BTW, I love your username.

[Vash01]

Kwan never winning an OGM is one of the biggest injustices of life. Ito and Slutskaya too, but at least they lost because of their own mistakes in the Oly performances (Michelle in 2002 because of her mistakes). I am not trying to rehash whether Tara or Sarah should have won. I think Tara earned her win; Sarah was more lucky than anything else, but I am digressing.

Kwan is leading this poll and that's the way it should be.

[judgejudy27]

Ugh I cant believe Rosalyn Sumnerzzz got a vote from someone (I cant even believe she is on the poll over people like Debi Thomas, Karen Magnussen, Gaby Seyfert, who were much better skaters).

[FigureSpins]

I don't know if I voted for her, but I really liked Roslyn Sumners in the years leading up to the Olympics and I rooted for her, but even as a fan, I could see that she was being outskated.

[knolefan]

Vash -- so true about one of the injustices in life. So close, so close, with such beauty and flow. Talk about two incredible programs with unbelievable pressure.

For me, it's Kwan, Lynn, and then Ito. Irina for her longevity, but not for being a "great" skater.

[Maofan7]

Kwan never winning an OGM is one of the biggest injustices of life. Ito and Slutskaya too, but at least they lost because of their own mistakes in the Oly performances (Michelle in 2002 because of her mistakes). I am not trying to rehash whether Tara or Sarah should have won. I think Tara earned her win; Sarah was more lucky than anything else, but I am digressing.

Kwan is leading this poll and that's the way it should be.

Its a shame injury prevented Kwan from having one more shot at it in 2006