10 Greatest Skaters Who Never Won An Olympic Medal?

[lamarenee]

Not sure I agree with all, but it's an interesting list. Thoughts?

http://thehairpin.com/2012/03/the-10...-olympic-medal

[orientalplane]

I think the list is ridiculous.

Urbanski and Marval, and no Kurt Browning?

And it's VERY US-centric.

[alij]

Really confused as to how they discuss Kurt Browning in regard to Chris Bowman but he doesn't appear on the list in his own right as for me he is one of the greatest skaters never to have medalled at Olympics

[pat c]

Their opinion, their list. I think they left off quite a few skaters who might be more deserving and didn't lay it down.

[DBZ]

I agree it's ridiculous.

Marval and Urbanski? Seriously?

[Zemgirl]

Ridiculous sounds about right. That list without Kurt Browning cannot be taken seriously.

I take it the authors are not very familiar with non-US skaters? Yeah, I thought so.

The user comments are nearly as bad.

ETA: Re Urbanski - "31 is like Betty White in figure skating years." Uh, not in pairs it's not. Obviously it's older than the average, but it's not that unusual.

[gkelly]

Delete Bonaly, rename the list "10 greatest AMERICAN figure skaters who never won an Olympic medal," replace Urbanski/Marval with Babilonia/Gardiner or Starbuck/Shelley, and add Blumberg/Seibert . . . and then I would have few quibbles with their list.

As is, it's hard to believe they actually followed the sport outside the US media coverage. (And that does include Skating magazine, I'm afraid)

[judgejudy27]

Urbanski & Marvel. Oh my. They would be by far the worst skaters in any discipline to win an Olympic medal if they had.

[wickedwitch]

Not having Kurt Browning makes this more than just a difference of opinions. They're just wrong.

[Zemgirl]

Really confused as to how they discuss Kurt Browning in regard to Chris Bowman but he doesn't appear on the list in his own right as for me he is one of the greatest skaters never to have medalled at Olympics

A very strange explanation of their reasoning appears in the comments:

We definitely thought about Todd. And 4 time World Champ and zero time Olympic Medalist Kurt Browning. And I love them both! But we were putting this list together with "underrated" and "underappreciated" in mind, and those two were always expected to medal, and seemed to be more unlucky than underrated. The "Greatest" title is a bit of a misnomer - it's really just 10 of the greatest that didn't ever medal in no particular order!

So apparently if a skater was actually a medal contender, they don't count as one of the greatest who didn't medal, but those who weren't good enough to be considered real contenders can be considered as the underrated greatest.

Was Todd really "always expected to medal"?

[Cheylana]

I agree it's ridiculous.

Marval and Urbanski? Seriously?

I was a casual fan at best when they competed at the Olympics, and I remember thinking back in 1992 that the name "Rocky Marval" sounded like a character from the Flintstones. Oh, and their SBS spins were never in unison.

[judgejudy27]

Actually the whole list is ridiculous. Tiffany Chin, Elaine Zayak, Surya Bonaly, Tonya Harding, and Jill Trenary could all be on a top 10 ladies singles to never win an Olympic medal, but it is doubtful any of them would have made a top 10 considering all disciplines.

Meno & Sand is quite hilarious as well, despite that i liked them. Bowman and Bobek, the lazy and hard partying underachievers, please.

As for Todd, despite that he would be a worthy inclusion on the list, he was rarely ever expected to medal as it turned out. In 92 and 2002 he wasnt for different reasons despite being the reigning World bronze medalists. In 94 he wasnt expected to make the team and didnt. In 1998 Kulik and Stojko were thought to be a lock on the first 2 medals, leaving Todd fighting with the up and coming Yagudin for the bronze (which Candelero eventually won), and had Urmanov competed he wouldnt have been given much hope of any medal. If he had skated his best in all Olympic the only medal he could have won is a bronze in 1998, or perhaps not with Candelero skating so well that night and getting very high artistic scores. So by that logic (only counting underdog types) he could have been included on the list.

[Sparks]

Before I opened the link, I immediately thought of 2 - Kwan and Browning. This list is bogus.

[Cheylana]

Huh? Kwan medaled twice, what am I missing?

[Sparks]

Sorry. I was thinking Gold. Omit Kwan. Add Tai and Randy.

[mia joy]

Funny that there are no post-2000 skaters on the list, I could definitely think of some who could also make the list. Delobel/Schoenfelder and Brian Joubert come to mind, for example.

[icellist]

We should create a new thread for greatest alters that never made it to the Olympics: yukari nakano. I felt really bad for her and maybe Alissa czisny if she doesn't stick around until Sochi

[julieann]

I would have to leave Rudy off the list as well

[nylynnr]

Bowman and Bobek, the lazy and hard partying underachievers, please.

The coupling of Bowman and Bobek is hardly unique to judgejudy, it happens a lot when fans do retrospectives. But for whatever reason, I just want to point out that whatever Bowman's flaws, he never went to a world championships or Olympics and gave an embarrassing, or even "hot mess," type of performance (on the ice, at least). IIRC in four Olympic programs he fell once and turned out of perhaps two or three other jumps. He was never lower than 7th at worlds, and that 7th was after two really fine free skating programs in 1987. He also had a string of fine Skate America performances and, with the exception of the 1990 Goodwill Games, I don't remember many really poor international programs. Unfortunately much as I like her the same cannot be said of Bobek.

[Susan M]

for me he is one of the greatest skaters never to have medalled at Olympics

For me, Browning is THE greatest skater never to have medalled at the Olympics.

As for Todd, despite that he would be a worthy inclusion on the list, he was rarely ever expected to medal as it turned out. In 92 and 2002 he wasnt for different reasons despite being the reigning World bronze medalists.

I disagree with this. When I saw the subject, Todd was actually the first skater I thought of. Going into the 98 Olympics, I think most folks assumed the podium would be him, Kulik, & Stojko in some order. Folks did not expect Candeloro to come up with programs like that after wandering in the wilderness for the previous couple years.

ITA about the author's logic - make a "best skaters who never medalled" list but exclude the very ones who were actually good enough to be expected to medal. I think they needed a different headline, like "skaters I used to enjoy watching who were not really good enough or dedicated enough to medal at the Olympics or who got really unlucky with injuries". Or maybe "skaters who should have medalled at the Olympics but got jobbed" would have been fun, too.