Which Skaters From Which Country (Other Than Your Own) Are You MOST Drawn To?

[PeterG]

I think about this topic every now and then, and while I have favourite skaters from pretty much every country that has figure skaters, I think I've liked pretty much every skater or team from France that's had any international success. I started thinking about the various French skaters and realized, "I have never found any French skater or team to be boring". I know the song is about the U.S.A., but the thought that just went through my head was, "God Bless The French" (says the devout atheist!).

So which country, other than your own, has the skaters that you just looooove?

P.S. I made the poll multiple choice, so you can pick as many countries as you like (love).

[Vash01]

For me:

Russia- G&G, B&S, M&D, Protopopovs, T&M, S&N, V&T, K&S, Plushenko, Yagudin, Kulik, Urmanov, Abt, Slutskaya, Butyrskaya, Tuktamysheva, Radianova, Lipnitskaya, K&P, B&B, K&O, U&Z, A&S, N&K

Japan- Ito, Asada, Arakawa, Takahashi, Sato, Hanyu, Nakano

Ukraine- Petrenko, Baiul, Volosozhar

Canada- Orser, Browning

[love_skate2011]

from the current and new crops

Russia - women/girls, pairs, some ice dancers
USA - men/boys, women/girls
China - men/boys, pairs
Japan - men/boys, women/girls ( especially to Hanyu the Prince of FS )
Canada - maybe ice dance ? but I don't watch much ice dancing

[spikydurian]

My country is not listed so it is easy to make ticks without feeling like a traitor! Peter G, I assume 'skaters' include CURRENT Seniors and Juniors. I like to be specific.

[skateboy]

I loooooove the Japanese skaters!

[misskarne]

Russia - Plushenko, Gachinski, Yagudin, Kulik, Abt, Tuktamysheva

USA - Brown and Farris, with a small fondness for Abbott

[l'etoile]

Michelle Kwan! B Boitano! Peggy Flemming! Jeremy Abbot! A Yagudin! Evgeny Plushenko! Irina Slutskaya! K/O! oh, and I forgot to vote for Canada which has produced V/M, Chan, Kurt Browning, B Orser, B/K

[Loves_Shizuka]

I don't care where a skater is from. If i like them I like them. I'm a Brit - I can't say I'm "drawn" to British skaters anymore than I am anyone else. At all.

That being said I do have a thing for Finns (Korpi, Lepisto, R/K ) and Japanese ladies.

I also love the Frenchies - Bonaly, Hubert, Gusmeroli, A/P, Duchesnays, Joubert, Amodio, Dambier, Abitbol/Bernadis

Finally, I do pretty much love ALL the Russians

[flipforsynchro]

Russia and Canada.

And the Czech Republic. Verner and Brezina are so sexy and talented. And that dance team was full of voids.

[centerpt1]

Japan for sure. So much talent.
Second: tie Canada and Russia
Hon Mention- love the Italian Ladies (used to love their dance teams- but not so much lately)

[ChelleC]

Japan and Russia.

[nuge]

Always been drawn to the Russian skaters and the French

[skfan]

i saw hwi choi at JGP courchevel, and youtube linked up a lot of suggested vids of korean skaters. i must say i like the attention to beautiful arm and hand movements from many of the korean ladies in these videos--thank you ms. kim for your legacy.

it's not just the korean ladies though--ziquan zhao and zijun li have near lu chen level arm movements, too

OTOH i will always favor the US ladies because they have the nicest layback spins the world over and some of the nicest spirals.

i like many of the japanese ladies, too--mao asada, haruna suzuki, shion kokubun, haruka imai. daisuke takahashi is my favorite among the men (kozuka is second).

and i like ms. viljanen from finland--i prefer her to korpi, maybe even lepisto. back in the day i loved baiul and swevcenko and M&D. so i guess the country doesn't matter after all, unless you're talking about layback spins

[zilam98]

i tend to immediately look for russian skaters for their classical styling and sometimes voidiness

[Zokko!]

In this order: Russia - Japan - China - France - Johnny Weir!

[Shyjosie]

I don't care where a skater is from. If i like them I like them.

Yes.

The ones who I feel drawn to are from a lot of different countries:
Russia/Soviet Union: Rodnina/Zaitsev, Klimova/Ponomarenko,
Canada: Cranston, Orser
Great Britain: Cousins, the Kerrs
Switzerland: Biellmann, Lambiel
France: the Duchesnays, Bonaly, Anissina/Peizerat, Candeloro
Italy: Fusar-Poli/Margaglio, Faiella/Scali
Bulgaria: Denkova/Staviski (who else?)
Finland: Rahkamo/Kokko and the fabulous synchro teams from Finland
Japan: Ito, Oda

[os168]

I see the skater and don't see the nationality. They could be martian for all I care (Actually I do wonder sometimes, some of them seems unreal.)

Given the size of the market in Korea that financially benefit the sport, I do think it deserve to be listed properly and not discounted as some 'other'.

Not to mention the amount of times the flag or the anthem showed up these past 5 years except the last year relative to many countries on that list.

[The Accordion]

I too adore skaters from many countries outside Canada!

like
Finland Rahkomo and Koko
France Annisina Peizerat
Switzerland Stephane Lambiel
China Chen Lu and Shen and Zhao
Great Britain Torvill and Dean, Robin Cousins
USA Michelle Kwan, Paul Wylie, Old school Johnny Weir, Davis and White and many more
etc. etc.



But I have LOVED THE MOST from
Japan --- Ito, Honda, Oda, Arakawa, Suzuki, Takahashi, Hanyu to name a few
and Russia ---- too many to mention them all but here are a few Yagudin, Usova Zhulin, Slutskaya, Gordeeva Grinkov, Fadeev, Petrenko and Baiul who I know are from the Ukraine but represented USSR

[Simone411]

I don't care where a skater is from. If i like them I like them.

Same here! I'm glad we could choose multiples this time. I chose all the countries listed. The list of skaters I like would probably take up a whole page in this thread.

[AndyWarhol]

USA, Russian and Japan.

I have a joke with a friend that I think of US Nationals like my own nationals haha.