If Yu Na Kims wins 2nd Olympic Gold at 2014 Olympics would she be best ever?

[RunnersHigh]

Haha I am not upset! Far from it. I am laughing at the whole thing and even enjoy poking fun at the morbid business that is
fan culture > sub culture > under culture > the pit > the gutter > youtube hell > FSU trashcan
hence my tongue in cheek response about Ando in Star Wars gear (Inspired by the best Film Soundtrack in the other thread).

I don't really know what is true fan either, I don't think I am true anything. It is not like I have exactly 'came out' among my family and friends for my love for skating and appreciation for certain skaters, so this is my little guilty pleasure / sin / safety haven place once every blue moon.

Glad to read this. And Merry X-mas!

[Dyu]

I like the name “Kween”. It reads cool and sensible.

The notion that the Korean public or the fans generally call Yu-Na as the “queen” is misconception. I’ve never seen anybody calling her “Queen Yu-Na” in real conversation. It’s true the Korean media usually refer to her as “figure skating queen Kim Yu-Na” in the opening statement of their reports. But it’s not much different from foreign media addressing her as “Korean skating star” or “Korean skating queen” in the beginning of their articles. The Korean media began calling her “the skating queen” after the 2008-9 season, when she spent the whole season healthy and won the WC. I also remember NBC’s Universal Sports headlining her WC win with the phrase “Long Live the Queen”, a year earlier than the exclamation made by Tom Hammond at Vancouver. It’s just a clichéd definer used by the media, I think. Anyway, Yu-Na herself seems not fond of being called the “queen”. She said in an interview after the NRW that she feels rather embarrassed with it.

The nickname given to her by the fans earlier was “Iron Butterfly” during 2006-7, IIRC. “Iron” was not to mean she’s physically superhuman, but to refer to her strong will to skate through injuries. I liked it, since it suited her situation then and conjured up multiple images (her LP of that season was the Lark Ascending). But it was never widely recognized or adopted by the Korean media at the time.

Well said.

[mustafinabars]

My current best skaters ever:

1. Kristi Yamaguchi
2. Sonja Henjie
3. Yu Na Kim
4. Midori Ito
5. Janet Lynn
6. Katarina Witt
7. Carol Heiss
8. Dorothy Hamill
9. Peggy Fleming
10. Tenley Albright
11. Madge Syers
12. Herma Plack
13. Irina Slutskaya
14. Mao Asada
15. Michelle Kwan

So I currently have her 3rd, if she wins another Worlds it might already put her up to 1st, another Olympic Gold for sure would.

[aliceanne]

I agree most of it. However, Gordeeva-Grinkov are still considered the greatest pair ever. I know it will change eventually, but right now they still own the throne.

Among men it's impossible to say greatest ever about anyone, because this discipline is the most rapidly evolving discipline, and the most exciting for that reason, IMO. Among ladies it is the same problem but the sport has not evolved as rapidly as in the men.

Perhaps we should be talking about -e.g.- the greatest jumper, the greatest spinner, the most complete skater (not necessarily based on medal count), the greatest 'figures' skater, and so on.

Many people consider the Protopopovs the standard for pairs skating.

[centerstage01]

I'll consider her ONE of the best skaters ever. But THE best? No. I don't know if there will ever be any one skater or pair of skaters that would be considered the best ever. Such a thing is so subjective.

[mustafinabars]

I'll consider her ONE of the best skaters ever.

She is already is one of the best ever even if she retired today.

[centerstage01]

Okay.

[Cachoo]

No if winning the Olympics is the way you measure greatness then it has to be Sonja Henjie.

[TheIronLady]

I'll consider her ONE of the best skaters ever. But THE best? No. I don't know if there will ever be any one skater or pair of skaters that would be considered the best ever. Such a thing is so subjective.

Yes, and if we are being objective, as Cachoo posted, Sonja Henie is still the best. Yu Na will have to make it to her 2018 home Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

As far as subjective goes, I don't think we should consider a skater to be the all time best who has some major flaws, such as the ugliest spiral and bad feet.

[NadineWhite]

No, Sonja holds that title, however if Yuna wins an unprecedented second Olympic Gold Medal, then for sure she goes into second place. SHE combines beautiful artistry with technical precision, something very very very rare in skating. Jmho.

[theguitarist]

Instead of debating whether Yuna could be the 'best skater ever,' I would like to think about her impact on the skating world and fandom in terms of 'innovation' and 'novelty' she brings to them. For example, those who are on the fence about Yuna often complain that she is not as ' 'balletic' as Mao. 'Balletic' in this sense means for me 'conventional,' 'traditional,' rather than having anything much to do with ballet per sei. 'Balletic' also reminds me of trite musical repertoire, heard a million times on the ice, like Chopin's nocturnes or Swan Lake indeed. Aesthetically speaking, Yuna's greatest quality for me is that she is an out-of-the-box skater, using an entirely different set of expressive tools, and her showmanship has neither the north American flavor or the Russian flavor (of Russian as well as Japanese skaters). This, I believe, is an aspect that should interests skating fans. Just how much longer can figure skating hope to stay relevant with its balletic postures and year-end Tchaikofsky ballet tunes?

[TheIronLady]

I would not consider Bells of Moscow to be representative of a trite musical repertoire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y5mcxHe9Qc

I do consider this SP to a muzak version of James Bond to be the conventional skating kitsch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xeO1qWH1JA

[npavel]

I think different fans has different greatest skaters. A medal don't necessarily make a skater the best ever .
There are performances who are better or much better than others, skaters with different beauty worth to see. I don't see how YuNa is innovative ... but that's personal taste. How will you measure best? The one who got most money, yes, definitively. She is a great technician, that's true, but not the only one. Best ever ... she is quite young, we don't know what she will achieve, but you can't really compare different eras, different expressions. Skating had developed, but injuries too. The best is always the one who catch your attention completely, and maybe the same skater cant catch me. So I think there will never be a best skater ever, but ones who you love most, in that time.

[jatale]

I would not consider Bells of Moscow to be representative of a trite musical repertoire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y5mcxHe9Qc

I do consider this SP to a muzak version of James Bond to be the conventional skating kitsch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xeO1qWH1JA

I feel just the opposite. I find the James Bond music to be clever and exciting and current. This is all a matter of individual taste, that is why you'll never get a consensus on anything "artistic", everybody has their own opinions.

[kuzytalent]

Probably so. Cant think who else it would be. I guess the question is who do most people consider the best now and who would Kim being compared too. I could be wrong but it seems most are thinking Michelle Kwan is the best ever now and Kim with a 2nd Olympic Olympic Gold I would easily say is better than her.

[Karina1974]

The only others who have multiple Olympic Golds are Henjie and Witt, and nobody considers them the best ever.

First of all, it's spelled "Henie", not "Henjie" and any serious figure skating fan knows this. Any serious skating fan is also well-aware of Sonja's accomplishments both as a competitive skater and as a professional skater. She popularized the sport back when the only visual mass-media in existance was the movies (there was TV during the 1930's and 1940's - my hometown boasts the first-ever TV station from 1929 - but access was severely limited) and, if you were lucky, you lived close enough to a venue that was booking her ice show so you could see her live.

[Andofanatic]

I made this thread to jinx Kim since I dont like her and I want Ando to win the next Olympics. Go MIKI!

[ehdtkqorl123]

Well, I think the world "best" is very subjective... everyone has a different perspective and definition regarding what "best" means.
I think "one of the best" would have been a better term to use.

[karlon]

"If someone asked me who they should look at (across the generations)
I would say Janet Lynn, Dorothy Hamill, Katarina Witt and definitely Yuna. There isn't a move Yuna makes that doesn't give her points,"
Robin Cousins

i totally agree with one of the legend, robin cousins's
To me, women legend is katarina witt(first), janet lynn, dorothy hamil, yuna kim.

[RunnersHigh]

I made this thread to jinx Kim since I dont like her and I want Ando to win the next Olympics. Go MIKI!

You're disgracing your favorite skater and yourself. Use your metality!