Figure Skating Champions SURVIVOR: Ladies SEMI-FINAL

[Marco]

I started voting for Slute even before Bute was out. She has the most flaws out of the remaining three.

[Badams]

So....basically it took irina twice as long to reach Kwan and Kim's level. Doesn't that make her the weakest skater?

No. It makes it a different time and a different field.

[Excidra]

I see that everyone is buying into this longevity crap, so I decided to compare the results of their first 5 senior years, as that's how long Kim has skated, SO FAR

1st worlds
Kim bronze
Kwan 4th
Irina 7th

2nd worlds
Kim bronze
Kwan gold
Irina bronze

3rd worlds
Kim gold
Kwan silver
Irina 4th

1st olys
Kim gold
Kwan silver
Irina 5th

4th worlds
Kim silver
Kwan gold
Irina silver

5th worlds
Kim silver
Kwan silver
Irina not qualified

Also, by this time Kim had stop competing at nats already having won, Kwan had 3 nat tiles and irina had 0.

I started Kwan off in 95 to even it with the others, but even then, the current discussion seems to be irina vs Kim.

So....basically it took irina twice as long to reach Kwan and Kim's level. Doesn't that make her the weakest skater?

Not at all. Slutskaya was competing against a tougher field, which included Kwan. Where as Mao was Yunas main competition. If Yuna faultered, she was almost guaranteed a medal because she was far ahead of the rest of the ladies; while Slutskaya in the 90s had to fend off at least 4-5 other ladies( Lipinski,Kwan, Bute, Chen, Boanly) for medals and if she messed up in competition then a medal was out the window for her if the other ladies skated cleanly.

[TripleWallie]

I'm sure we'll have this poll again after 2014 Sochi. Who knows if Kim, Kostner and Ando get any higher...

Anyways, I vote for Slutskaya. Yuna's accomplishments when taken in its full context are more stunning. And unlike Slutskaya or Kwan she did not falter at the biggest competition of her life.

From an obscure federation with only a few, overcrowded ice rinks and hardly any coaching/training expertise in a country that didn't know anything about figure skating, she took home all these medals:

Gold
2010 Winter Olympics
2009-2010 ISU Grand Prix Of Figure Skating Final
2009 ISU Grand Prix Skate America
2009 ISU Grand Prix Trophée Bompard
2009 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
2009 ISU Four Continents Championships
2008 ISU Grand Prix Cup of China
2008 ISU Grand Prix Skate America
2007-2008 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final
2007 ISU Grand Prix Cup of Russia
2007 ISU Grand Prix Cup of China
2006-2007 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final
2006 ISU Grand Prix Trophée Bompard
2006 ISU World Junior Championships
2006 South Korean National Championships (Senior)
2005-2006 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final
2005 ISU Junior Grand Prix, Bulgaria
2005 ISU Junior Grand Prix, Slovakia
2005 South Korean National Championships (Senior)
2004 ISU Junior Grand Prix, Hungary
2004 South Korean National Championships (Senior)
2003 South Korean National Championships (Senior)

Silver
2011 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
2010 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
2008-2009 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final
2004-2005 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final
2004 ISU Junior Grand Prix, China

Bronze
2008 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
2007 ISU World Figure Skating Championships
2006 ISU Grand Prix Skate Canada International

She has a medal from every competition she entered, and as you can see above--most of them are gold. Kwan and Slutskaya each have more gold medals for sure, but they stayed around a lot longer.

It helped that her mom was a big Kwan uber. She might even favor Kwan over her daughter in this poll.

[Simone411]

Forgive me for laughing. Some of these polls are just too funny.

[johnny158]

Forgive me for laughing. Some of these polls are just too funny.

I saw same things in this movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtgdZ8jhhdA

[bartek]

Voted for Yu-Na. No way Irina should left before her for many different reasons, however I know that Irina is not liked at this forum thus she'll probably be voted out no matter how many arguments I would provide.

[berthesghost]

I figured there would be a bunch of excuses made.

Kim skated in an easier time when all she merely had to do was beat a woman throwing down record breaking 3axels! It wasn't hard for her to compete against losers like two time WC Ando, or current WC Kostner. No, poor poor Irina had to skate against super heros like Surya Bonaly who had 0 basic skating skills and tons of URed triples, or Chen Lu and her completely powerless politically impotent federation.

[Simone411]

I saw same things in this movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtgdZ8jhhdA

Thanks for the video! It was quite amusing.

[bartek]

I figured there would be a bunch of excuses made.

Kim skated in an easier time when all she merely had to do was beat a woman throwing down record breaking 3axels! It wasn't hard for her to compete against losers like two time WC Ando, or current WC Kostner. No, poor poor Irina had to skate against super heros like Surya Bonaly who had 0 basic skating skills and tons of URed triples, or Chen Lu and her completely powerless politically impotent federation.

No, poor poor Irina had to compete against Michelle Kwan, possibly the best lady in figure skating history. That's a big difference. Yet, Irina was able to beat great Michelle MANY MANY times and actually she was the one who won most of the time when they met.

[attyfan]

Voted for Yuna..

Kwan/Slutskaya Show down is much more exciting than Yuna /Kwan.

I did the same ... and for the same reasons.

[flipforsynchro]

Kim because even though she was able to keep it together at the most important competition, she gave away like three WC.

[DimaToe]

1st worlds
Kim bronze
Kwan 4th
Irina 7th

Wasn't Michelle 8th in her 1st worlds?

[TripleWallie]

Kim because even though she was able to keep it together at the most important competition, she gave away like three WC.

She gave away 2010 and 2011. But in 2007 and 2008 she was badly injured.

[judgejudy27]

She gave away 2010 and 2011. But in 2007 and 2008 she was badly injured.

Even injured she didnt have to miss the triple lutz 4 times. If she missed only 1 of them both years she would have won both times.

[TripleWallie]

Forgive me for laughing. Some of these polls are just too funny.

This is an off-season battle of ubers/popularity contest! Vehree seeryus stuff!

[Zokko!]

Miracles just happen - for the very first time ever ... I've voted for ... Kwan ...

[berthesghost]

Miracles just happen - for the very first time ever ... I've voted for ... Kwan ...

Really? I could have swore you voted for her in both the "skater I have the most irrational hatred for" poll and the "Skater you'd most think ran over my puppy, I hate on so often" poll. Huh. My memory must be slipping.

[dawnie]

The first few rounds were fun but it's been clear for a while now that Kwan is going to be the sole SURVIVOR. Next game!

[Cherub721]

I voted for Kwan last time but this time I had to go with Slutskaya. She just doesn't beat either girl head to head.

With Kwan vs. Kim, it comes down to how much you weigh the OGM against multiple world titles and how you view dominance under the 6.0 system vs. CoP. Slutskaya loses against Kim because she lacks the OGM, and loses against Kwan because she has less world titles. Slutskaya did very well under both systems, but didn't dominate in either. I think her career would have been very different had CoP come about earlier.

But anyway, even though I voted her out, I will never forget her win at Moscow Worlds. That was one of the greatest moments ever, and I give her huge props for 2004 Worlds also. I just couldn't believe she made it through that competition and finished in the top 10, with all her health problems. I'm glad she at least waited to retire until the day when pants were allowed, because she rocked them and they enabled voidier programs.