Figure Skating Champions SURVIVOR: Ice Dance Round 1

[Shyjosie]

Magical rewriting of the Olympic Games hurts some, unfortunately. But yes, I prefer the three Russian teams to the Duchesnays that year.

Magical rewriting after 20 years or so shouldn't hurt that much, I know, and I must admit that G/P were strong competitors. But I enjoyed them most after '92. I think they were deserving of the Olympic title at least in '98 (in '94 I would have voted for U/Z, who were robbed IMO) But I'm off topic now.

I don't like to mark Fusar-Poli/Margaglio as a "weak link" among the champions, it's simply that Barbara was a lot stronger than Maurizio.

[Cherub721]

I don't like to mark Fusar-Poli/Margaglio as a "weak link" among the champions, it's simply that Barbara was a lot stronger than Maurizio.

I feel the same. At least they had the "dance" part over most other teams, and they were fast, exciting, and interesting to watch. I'm glad Barbara got a world title, and I've always had a soft spot for teams with a strong female.

[casken]

Yeah, I always felt Maurizio was underrated in the sense that he could pull off ballroom dance styles better than most male ice dancers (98,2000,2001 ODs are all excellent), could skate close to another partner in hold more comfortably than most male ice dancers, had decent power and run to the blade, seemed solid in compulsories, etc. He also had excellent expression.

He just sucked at twizzling. If you go back and watch their 2006 OD, the first part of the sbs footwork where he's doing the edge changes one foot, he's performs them pretty well. It's just when he gets to the twizzles that it starts getting They really needed to go to Shpilband for the 2006 comeback so he could work his twizzle magic on Mauri like he did on Drabiazko, becuase that was really the only thing holding them back from challenging for the gold.

Like I said before, I voted L&A. I always felt that Lobacheva was more of a hindrance to Averbuch than Margaglio was to Fusar-Poli. In comparison to Ilia, Irina always seemed stiff, both in skating quality and expression, and I found that it really clashed with Ilia's wild expressiveness and loose skating style. He always seemed like he had problems lifting her too. Her lines would make for excellent positions in the air, but getting into and out of them always seemed like a chore.

[satchelpooch318]

People need to embrace Domnina & Shabalin's OD from the Olympics. I can't believe people still go on about that. It wasn't even that bad.

Umm, yes it was that bad. Ooga-booga caveman hair-pulling and brownface do not make Australian Aboriginal. But we can open up that can of worms for another time. First thing's first...voting off Maury and Babs.

[SkateBlades17]

Grishchuk & Platov fully deserved their 4 world championships and the 1998 OGM. Although I like Krylova-Ovssianikov a lot, their FD was not as good as G&P's Memorial. Tracy Wilson's biased commentary created a lot of negativity. G&P were the rightful winners in 98. In 94 I did not feel they deserved the OGM, but then who did? U&Z went so far away from their strengths that they opened the door for G&P. I did not feel that Torville-Dean were good enough for a gold, although they were very very good for someone returning after such a long break from competition. G&P may have won by default in 94 (but I am still disappointed with that result).

I totally agree with this. Tracey Wison's commentary really bothers me. She always seemed to hate Grishuk & Platov from 94 on. I normally liked Tracey, but her Grishuk & Platov commentary really bothers me. Anyway, I voted for Fusar-Poli/Margaglio and on a side note, I don't like Barbara at all, especially after how she acted to her partner after they fell in the OD at the 2006 Olympics.

[SkateBlades17]

I think that Pasha is a bitch. (I've already put up the ESTA defenses...)

Why exactly do you think this? You're by far not the only one who has this opinion, but I'm just curious why exactly you think this.

[Proustable]

Magical rewriting after 20 years or so shouldn't hurt that much, I know, and I must admit that G/P were strong competitors. But I enjoyed them most after '92. I think they were deserving of the Olympic title at least in '98 (in '94 I would have voted for U/Z, who were robbed IMO) But I'm off topic now.

I don't like to mark Fusar-Poli/Margaglio as a "weak link" among the champions, it's simply that Barbara was a lot stronger than Maurizio.

... I didn't mean it to sound like a personal attack or anything.

1994 is one of those years where I'd just give the top three a tie for silver and be done with it. No one GOT the gold like Klimova/Ponamarenko did two years earlier. I agree G/P deserved it in 1998 - that FD was a remarkably tense piece (and no one else really skated flat-out). And I really only LOVED G/P in 1997 and 1998.

[Macassar88]

Why exactly do you think this? You're by far not the only one who has this opinion, but I'm just curious why exactly you think this.

She thinks she's really good looking when she's not (there's a bunch of fluffs of her trying to be like Marilyn Monroe because she thinks that she's as pretty)
She has a really annoying voice.
She seems really fake in interviews and stuff.
Probably more that I can't think of at the moment.

[eurodance2001]

There is a whole thread on divas where you can discuss Pashas bitchness.. Take it there.. As for FP/M, you are the weak link: GOODBYE!

[SkateBlades17]

She thinks she's really good looking when she's not (there's a bunch of fluffs of her trying to be like Marilyn Monroe because she thinks that she's as pretty)
She has a really annoying voice.
She seems really fake in interviews and stuff.
Probably more that I can't think of at the moment.

Yes, I'm not a fan of the fluff pieces where she acts like Marilyn Monroe, even though they were funny. I think they are really embarrassing and I was embarrassed for her. She has also said she is embarrassed by them and that she looks back at that time in horror or something like that. I really can't even believe they made those fluff pieces, I mean who's idea was that to actually produce them? I think they were also trying to make fun of her and that the media was really obsessed with her and the whole Pasha name change thing. I do think she acted different around 98 and I wasn't a fan of the whole 98 look and different behavior. I also think the annoying voice was fake, probably at the recommendation of her agents. She doesn't talk like that now and didn't before that. That being said, even though a lot of people disagree with me, I think that before the 97/98 season and in recent years she always seemed nice, from what I could see, even though there is much said to the opposite. She is very nice to fans (so much that it's surprising) and I really never saw her bahave badly on camera (excluding the 98 Marilyn phase). Also, a lot of people who have taken lessons from her in recent years say she is very nice and have nothing but positive things to say. She also seems like a great mom and you can tell is very devoted to her daughter. It also always seemed funny to me because I know that her and Evgeny didn't get along very well when they skated together, but at competitions, at least on camera, they were always very nice to each other and acted like they got along very well, even more than some teams who were close and got along well. That seemed a little odd to me since they supposedly didn't get along and had explosive arguments. If I'm going to discuss this more though, I should take the suggestion and probably move it to the Diva thread.

[nuge]

I remember at the olympics 98 gala ES commentaters were saying the mail she got from fans at the rink just said PASHA and they were going on about her going to go on to a big movie career in Hollywood
She certainly got herself noticed and talked about at that time
I really miss her .

[lauravvv]

That's one of the problems with young and current skaters being on such polls - the most recent events play a far too big role in many people's votes. Are Davis/White really better than Virtue/Moir? I think that if you're objective, you have to admit that they're pretty much equal, because both teams have their stronger points. Yet almost twice as much people have voted for Virtue/Moir. And all because of (or mostly because of) their perceived unfair win at Worlds this year, and Davis/White's subsequent fair win at WTT. I think, if Virtue/Moir had won the worlds with a completely clean skate and a more public friendly program/music, most of these people wouldn't have the guts to vote them off now.

[Cherub721]

Yeah, Virtue & Moir might have done better if this poll were taken in 2010 or 2011. It's also inherently unfair to compare skaters who are done with their careers to younger teams who still have a couple of seasons left to come up with signature FDs. How would Grishuk & Platov be rated as of 1996, after the Latin FD, but before The Feeling Begins and Memorial? Probably not as highly.