Figure Skating Champions SURVIVOR: Ladies RESULTS AND REACTIONS..

[SamuraiK]

Thank you guys for participating in all the rounds but Oh Well, all good things must come to and end and the first of many survivors has finally declared it's ultimate winner:

1ST PLACE: MICHELLE KWAN.

02nd Place - Yuna Kim (59.91% votes)
03rd Place - Irina Slustkaya (51.00% votes)
04th Place - Mao Asada (48.60% votes)
05th Place - Lu Chen (38.61% votes)
06th Place - Shizuka Arakawa (39.06% votes)
07th Place - Tara Lipinski (37.15% votes)
08th Place - Carolina Kostner (41.39% votes)
09th Place - Maria Butyrskaya (32.67% votes)
10th Place - Miki Ando (24.90% votes)
11th place - Sarah Hughes (53.06% votes)
12th place - Kimmie Meissner (50.26% votes)

Now tell me how YOU would have placed the champions. Who was robbed, who was held up?? Tell us how you feel about the results

If it were only on me this would have been the ranking

1Yuna
2Michelle
3Irina
4Shizuka
5Chen
6Tara
7Mao
8Miki (Most screwed)
9Maria
10Carolina (Biggest held up)
11Sarah
12Kimmie

[Macassar88]

I would have done:

Yuna
Irina
Michelle
Chen
Shizuka
Mao
Maria
Carolina
Ando
Tara
Sarah
Kimmie

[satchelpooch318]

Michelle
Yu-Na
Irina
Tara
Shizuka
Mao
LuLu
Miki
Maria
Carolina
Kimmie
Sarah

(I may not have been my most objective at the very top and very bottom of this list... )

[falling_dance]

Kwan
Kim
Asada
Arakawa
Slutskaya
Lipinski
Chen
Ando
Butyrskaya
Kostner
Hughes
Meissner

[flipforsynchro]

I would've switched Miki and Caro.

[gingercrush]

Ya'll just keep hating on my Sarah Hughes and my honeybunch Tara Lipinski cause my girls have Olympic Gold.

In all seriousness the winner wasn't a surprise. I think Chen overachieved herself but nevermind she was a great skater. For me the weakest arguments are those where skaters are for some reason penalised because they were expected to win and didn't or because certain competitors were no longer around and thus there was less competition. I don't get those arguments. I also felt the way people diminished Ando saying she was a weak skater to be particularly strange and Kim being penalised for not beating such a weak skater like Ando to be really weird.

I won't do a list because opinions changed as skaters who I hold in higher regard are removed from the game.

[kathy sullivan]

As any of you know who have seen my posts on this forum, I became a skating fan because of Michelle. Since I first saw her skate Salome I was intrigued and the more I watched her the more of a fan I became - because of what I saw as the beauty of her skating, and because her competitiveness and ability to deliver, because of her grace and presence under pressure both when she lost and as a representative of the skating world. It was my fandom of her that got me involved in watching skating and appriciating the sport, art, and other competitors. I have always thought she was amazingly special. And now years after she is no longer on the scene competitively I am still a skating fan. I joined FSU because I it was the most comprehensive skating forum I could find, but I remember all to well being skewered, and practically assaulted so many times by other posters here who wanted her to quit and seemed to do nothing but devalue her, and me, dare I say anything nice about her. I know much of that was part of a dynamic with MK fans at one point being equally hostile or overly gushing But I was never one of those fans and at one point I became so numb that I would make posts general and indicate that they were mostly for those interested in Michelle to avoid attacks. There was always a fan base here for MK here - but in the past there was also so much negativity toward her and anyone who defended her. I realized that all skaters get the skewer treatment here sometimes and I learned so much from posters on this forum that I have stayed both supported and posted on the forum anyway. My point of this longwinded post is that is really nice to know how much so many on this forum value Michelle's contributions to skating at this point. I think it is fitting she won this poll and having FSU posters validate the importance of her contributions makes me really happy.

[shady82]

1. Kwan
2. Kim
3. Slutskaya
4. Asada
5. Lipinski
6. Arakawa
7. Chen
8. Butyrskaya
9. Ando
10. Kostner.
11. Hughes
12. Meissner

A couple notes:
- Kwan is without doubt the best. She produced so many preformances for the ages, and her technical ability really was no slack either. It's pointless to compare her and Yu-na when they skated under different systems.
- Slutskaya lacked the complete package. I don't understand why some people put her 2nd or over Kwan.
- Lipinski should've been higher.
- Kostner was overmarked, as she is in real-life competition.

[sk8ingcoach]

Kim
Kwan
Slutskaya
Asada
Lipinski
Arakawa
Ando
Kostner
Chen
Hughes
Butyrskaya
Meissner


Kim beats kwan

[Vagabond]

Before this started, I would have had it something like this:

Kwan
Slutskaya
Kim
Asada
Chen
Ando
Arakawa
Kostner
Lipinski
Butyrskaya
Hughes
Meissner

After watching videos and reading everyone else's comments, I would have it:

Kwan
Kim
Slutskaya
Chen
Asada
Arakawa
Kostner
Lipinski
Butyrskaya
Ando
Hughes
Meissner

... which isn't that far off from the actual results. If I had to do it over again in six months, I might come up with different rankings yet again.

I think the voting was remarkably level-headed. Good job, everybody!

[berthesghost]

I voted

1. Kwan
2. Kim
3. Chen
4. Asada
5. Slutskaya
6. Arakawa
7. Butyrskaya
8. Lipinski
9. Ando
10. Kostner
11. Meissner
12. Hughes

[centerstage01]

1. Kwan
2. Kim
3. Slutskaya
4. Chen
5. Arakawa
6. Asada
7. Lipinski
8. Kostner
9. Ando
10. Hughes
11. Butyrskaya
12. Meissner

[ali_dorate]

This was fun!
Although I can't agree with the result, it was fun because I read lots of interesting comments from the supporters of various skaters and also I enjoyed the videos I had never seen before.

Thank you SamuraiK and all!
(Still I think Arakawa has one of the best skating skill in ladies. )

[skateboy]

My rankings:

1. Kim
2. Kwan
3. Lipinski
4. Slutskaya
5. Asada
6. Chen
7. Arakawa
8. Ando
9. Butyrskaya
10. Kostner
11. Hughes
12. Meissner

[l'etoile]

As any of you know who have seen my posts on this forum, I became a skating fan because of Michelle. Since I first saw her skate Salome I was intrigued and the more I watched her the more of a fan I became - because of what I saw as the beauty of her skating, and because her competitiveness and ability to deliver, because of her grace and presence under pressure both when she lost and as a representative of the skating world. It was my fandom of her that got me involved in watching skating and appriciating the sport, art, and other competitors. I have always thought she was amazingly special. And now years after she is no longer on the scene competitively I am still a skating fan. I joined FSU because I it was the most comprehensive skating forum I could find, but I remember all to well being skewered, and practically assaulted so many times by other posters here who wanted her to quit and seemed to do nothing but devalue her, and me, dare I say anything nice about her. I know much of that was part of a dynamic with MK fans at one point being equally hostile or overly gushing But I was never one of those fans and at one point I became so numb that I would make posts general and indicate that they were mostly for those interested in Michelle to avoid attacks. There was always a fan base here for MK here - but in the past there was also so much negativity toward her and anyone who defended her. I realized that all skaters get the skewer treatment here sometimes and I learned so much from posters on this forum that I have stayed both supported and posted on the forum anyway. My point of this longwinded post is that is really nice to know how much so many on this forum value Michelle's contributions to skating at this point. I think it is fitting she won this poll and having FSU posters validate the importance of her contributions makes me really happy.

Your post and this poll tell me that all in all, or whatever the circumstances you cannot deny MK's greatness which is very unheard of and so extraordinary after all.

I forgot to mention, thanks for starting such exciting and fun polls, SamuraiK! All these survival polls going on right now are real charm and adequately good for spending this off-season

[FunnyBut]

1. Kwan
2. Kim
3. Lipinski
4. Arakawa
5. Chen
6. Asada
7. Slutskaya
8. Ando
9. Butyrskaya
10. Hughes
11. Kostner
12. Meissner

...and I'd give SamuraiK the gold for 'best offseason diversion'

[miki88]

1. Michelle
2. Yuna
3. Mao
4. Lulu
5. Irina
6. Tara
7. Shizuka
8. Maria
9. Carolina
10. Miki
11. Kimmie
12. Sarah

[kwanatic]

The poll was a lot of fun, though I think a shorter voting time and more castoffs per round (at least in the first few rounds) would have made it a bit better. I'd have voted as such:

1. Michelle - FSU got it right...All hail...
2. Yu-Na - Originally, I said I'd have Irina 2nd. But when I thought about it, despite Irina's longevity, she never had the whole package. Yu-Na did (does) so I picked her...
3. Irina - For reasons listed above. Never my cuppa, but I respect her...
4. Mao - Mao's inconsistent performances in these last few years are why she's not higher up.
5. Lu Lu - Beautiful skater, good consistency...I do agree with her placement.
6. Tara - Despite her short run and lack of a mature presence, her competitiveness and record place her higher in my book.
7. Carolina - Beautiful skating, impeccable skating skills...in the overall sense, I place her higher...
8. Miki - Not the best by any means but the fact that she's won two world titles speaks to her ability to deliver and that is key in this sport...
9. Maria - She stayed competitive with the two greatest competitors of her era (Michelle and Irina). I agree with her placement.
10. Shizuka - Great skating skills and technical ability, but she had one spectacular performance (2004 worlds) and stayed on her feet in Torino. Compared to the consistency and competitiveness of most of the ladies on this poll, she doesn't compare IMO. I'd have had her much lower...
11. Sarah - Nice layback but if there is a lucky skater on this poll, it's her.
12. Kimmie - She won during a transitional period but she still won so kudos to her...

[UGG]

I would have had Tara in 4th place but I understand her elimination was due to her short career. All others seem ok to me.

[Badams]

I would've had it:

1. Kwan
2. Slutskaya
3. Kim
4. Lipinski
5. Mao
6. Miki
7. Chen
8. Shizuka
9. Maria
10. Kostner
11. Kimmie
12. Sarah