Biggest Skating Busts (USA Ladies Singles)

[Bournekraatzfan]

Naomi Nari Nam and Nicole Bobek are the ones that come to mind. I especially loved Naomi....I really thought she was the next one. but yes, as others have said, I wouldn't say that any of the skaters named here amounted to nothing, but I imagine you didn't mean it that way.

Also, in response to something else here: agree with PeterG, from what I know, there is no evidence that Tonya orchestrated that event. She admitted to knowing about it after the fact, but i would not call that cheating. and I am sympathetic when I consider the situation she was in.

[UGG]

I guess we are talking about skaters that did not live up to expectations? I would say at this point Mirai, and Caroline especially have kind of been busts. Don't get me wrong they have had some great career moments- Mirai especially being a national champion and Olympian. But back in 2008-2009 they were supposed to be the next Kwans of the USA yet Kimmie Meissner still has a more impressive resume even with her very short career.

[escaflowne9282]

I honestly never thought Patrice McDonough, Liang, or Nari Nam were future superstars. Maybe they could have done more, especialy Ann Patrice McDonough who burnt out and retired way too young IMO, but none was ever going to be a World medalist or U.S Champion ever IMO.

Some skaters who did not become what I thought they would are:

-Angela Nikidinov. After I first saw her in 1997 I thought she was a future superstar.

Ann-Patrice is a pretty frustrating story for me; in 2002-2003, she was giving consistent and beautifully skated performances. At the Nationals that year, she, IMHO, outskated both Hughes and Cohen by a country mile and should have been making Kwan look over her shoulder. She had had the only seven triple program of the bunch, had choreography filled with MITF and transitions, and really had wonderful flow and basics. Yet, sloppy performances by Sasha and Sarah were held up to make the world team, and they both turned in lackluster performances at that worlds, Sarah, embarassingly so. After that season, combined with her mother reportedly being the skate-parent from hell, it seemed she lost focus. In her case I really do see a lot of unrealized potential.

Nari-Nam was a cute baby ballerina, but I don't think there was really that much expected from her.

Bebe Liang was probably my favorite of the three; she had wonderful musicality and charisma, and chose terrific themes to her programs. That being said, it was a pleasure just to see her finally make the world team. I don't ever remember anyone predicting her to be the next dominant American star.

As for Angela, I actually had the opposite impression of her the first time I saw her. She seemed like such a blah skater. Dick Button was overly cruel in calling her a 'fridge-break', but I didn't find her to be particularly engaging as a performer. It was circa-2001 that she re-invented herself and was showing herself to be of true caliber.

[Rob]

Jenny Kirk and Katy Taylor each won 4CC -- they are ISU champions so I wouldn't call them a "bust."

In this context, bust is a negative word. Ye Bin Mok was a very talented US ladies skater who didn't make it to many international competitions because she was plagued by injury. She has been skating professionally -Look at this gorgeous picture. Hardly a bust. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news Of note, her castmates have included Ann Patrice McDonough, Andrei Griazev, Chris Mabee.

Like UGG says - "did not live up to expectations" is a nicer phrase.

[DarrellH]

An "R-rated" thread?

[ks777]

Gedevanishvelli and Witt. They have the biggest busts. Tonya Harding did some porn with ex husband Jeff Gillooly(Just like Paris Hilton's "One night in Paris") so she probably does have big busts.

[ks777]

I just watched the Tonya's buts and they were small....

[Rex]

I wasn't sure what this thread was going to be about.

Rob, you must learn to stay abreast of these things .

[snoopysnake]

Now, if you would only stretch the category to allow US men. Dan Hollander's Mrs. Doubtfire, now that's a rack!

[snoopysnake]

duplicate post

[Vagabond]

Do you have links to back up this accusation? It is my understanding that Harding never cheated. Harding did however, associate with the wrong people (major understatement).

Make of this what you will:

Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her former bodyguard, Shawn Eckardt, both of whom have admitted being involved in the attack, have alleged that she was in on the scheme, and Frink agrees with them, never mind that he chose not to prosecute her for that offense. A Portland grand jury wasn't buying Harding's denials, either; on Monday it named her as an unindicted co-conspirator in the planning of the assault.

Frink said last week, "In our view the evidence was clear that Harding was involved and participated prior to the assault, and we were prepared to go forward with charges on each and every crime we believed she was culpable for. But it would have been irresponsible to have continued on with a criminal prosecution to try to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she was involved prior to the attack when so much would be accomplished by a plea of guilty. We felt it wasn't in the interest of the citizens of Oregon to go ahead with a lengthy, disruptive and expensive prosecution. We didn't achieve each and every goal of the prosecution, but we did achieve what we believe to be substantial justice."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...4989/index.htm

In the accounts of Gillooly's interview with the FBI, he told agents that on Dec. 28 Harding approved a final plan to assault Kerrigan.

Harding picked him up after a meeting with Shawn Eckardt, Harding's bodyguard, and Derrick Smith. As they drove away from the meeting, in a truck, Gillooly later told FBI agents that he left the final decision up to Harding.

After Harding pressed Gillooly to make a decision, he said, "I think we should go for it," according to the FBI documents.

"Okay, let's do it," Harding allegedly replied.

Gillooly then described how Harding took a series of steps to try to pin down when and where Kerrigan practiced near her home in Stoneham, Mass. According to Gillooly, Harding called a magazine writer in Pennsylvania and learned that Kerrigan practiced at the Tony Kent Arena in South Dennis and then called the skating rink there and found when Kerrigan practiced.

Gillooly said that Harding later provided Eckardt with a magazine photo of Kerrigan, so that Shane Stant, who had been hired to execute the assault, would know whom to attack.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...ime_020294.htm

[/beating dead horse]

Now, as far as the biggest figure skating bust is concerned, it was clearly when Wolfgang Schwarz was arrested (and later successfully prosecuted) for human trafficking.

[FunnyBut]

In this context, bust is a negative word. Ye Bin Mok was a very talented US ladies skater who didn't make it to many international competitions because she was plagued by injury. She has been skating professionally -Look at this gorgeous picture. Hardly a bust. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news Of note, her castmates have included Ann Patrice McDonough, Andrei Griazev, Chris Mabee.

Like UGG says - "did not live up to expectations" is a nicer phrase.

After you posted about Yebin, I found this stunning pic and self-write up about her:
http://iamkoreanamerican.com/2012/06/12/yebin-mok/
When I see such inspirational articles about former skaters, it's hard to think of them in any way as a 'bust'.

[apatinar]

Yebin is absolutely stunning in the photos... I really miss her competitive skating... She really should have done a lot better!

[dots]

After you posted about Yebin, I found this stunning pic and self-write up about her:
http://iamkoreanamerican.com/2012/06/12/yebin-mok/
When I see such inspirational articles about former skaters, it's hard to think of them in any way as a 'bust'.

I remember hearing stories about her making "noises" in the bathroom if you know what I mean.Now it all makes sense.

I still watch her 2003 SP from time to time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlv6n5EQq3U

[Jot the Dot Dot]

I think we all know who my favorite cutie is. http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/R...bz-AbsCvyl.jpg. And, while winning the Worlds Jr. Championship is certainly a top, heavy achievement, she just hasn't lived up (or out) to her name since then.Although she is no threat to Anna Semenovich, I think we can see more back troubles in her future. I always admired her academic achievements and her being a straight 'A' student, but I understand she got her first 'B' recently (I think I can see where). Oh well, I shall continue to keep abreast of Rachael's career, and hope that her luck this year won't prove me to be a total boob.

Yours truly, Jerry Denton, a/k/a Jot the Dot Dot, skating fan and former leg man........

[Bosha]

Jenny Kirk and Katy Taylor each won 4CC -- they are ISU champions so I wouldn't call them a "bust."

In this context, bust is a negative word. Ye Bin Mok was a very talented US ladies skater who didn't make it to many international competitions because she was plagued by injury. She has been skating professionally -Look at this gorgeous picture. Hardly a bust. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news Of note, her castmates have included Ann Patrice McDonough, Andrei Griazev, Chris Mabee.

Ye Bin Mok was an absolutely beautiful skater. It's so nice to hear that she's still skating. I hope that she gets her dream of having her own artistic skating company! I'll buy the first ticket!

[aftershocks]

As a fan of figure skating, each of these three ladies brought enormous joy to me as a spectator. To refer to them as nothing simply shines the light back on the empty stage where you reside...

...
In this context, bust is a negative word. Ye Bin Mok was a very talented US ladies skater who didn't make it to many international competitions because she was plagued by injury. She has been skating professionally -Look at this gorgeous picture. Hardly a bust. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news Of note, her castmates have included Ann Patrice McDonough, Andrei Griazev, Chris Mabee...

After you posted about Yebin, I found this stunning pic and self-write up about her:
http://iamkoreanamerican.com/2012/06/12/yebin-mok/
When I see such inspirational articles about former skaters, it's hard to think of them in any way as a 'bust'.

Thanks for the links, dot, Rob, and FunnyBut. It's fascinating to find out about the off-ice journey Yebin's life took that eventually brought her back to her passion.

From the Korean-American blog:

I grew up in the States since I was 7 ... and quickly found my passion and breath for life, which is figure skating... I can't really say that going to the Olympics was ever my dream... My love for skating was only to capture the audience by beauty, grace and art, to give the audience feeling of bliss, fresh breath of air, a dream, an inspiration and transcend them to a different dimension, which [is] something I felt when I watched great skating when I was a child ... [After] I left [competitive] skating ... I worked as a hostess, as an ice cream scooper, dabbled into drawing, writing, ballroom dancing, and Bikram yoga, [but] I couldn't find the itch that skating gave me... So, I returned to the ice...

From the IceNetwork article:

My vision is to one day create a premier ice theater/ ice ballet company ... That's one of my long-term goals -- make beautiful art in skating.

[DBZ]

It's kinda funny to me that, of all the skaters touted as the "new Kwan" between 2000-2010, the ones I had the least expectations for ironically went on to achieve the highest acclaim, at least on paper.

Judging by natural talent alone, if you would've told me at the onset that Sarah Hughes, Kimmie Meissner, and Rachel Flatt would go on to win Olympic, World and National titles...while skaters like Naomi Nari Nam, Ann Patrice McDonough and Yebin Mok wouldn't even make a world team, I would've been hard pressed to believe you.

Shows how rarely hype actually plays out in the long run.

[TheIronLady]

I am so glad I didn't have to write a post about Katarina Witt, Victoria Volchkova, and Elene Gedevanishvili. These great skating busts are almost too great to contemplate, especially in terms of their miraculous jumps.

Few in USA skating can really be called busts. Naomi Nari Nam might be one, but she came back from her injury and did pairs. Many fans appreciated Naomi for coming back, and her pairs career wasn't bad while it lasted. It's hard to consider her a let down. In the USA, unlike Canada, Naomi was just one of many outstanding talents who never made it to senior worlds.

[aftershocks]

It's kinda funny to me that, of all the skaters touted as the "new Kwan" between 2000-2010, the ones I had the least expectations for ironically went on to achieve the highest acclaim, at least on paper.

Judging by natural talent alone, if you would've told me at the onset that Sarah Hughes, Kimmie Meissner, and Rachel Flatt would go on to win Olympic, World and National titles...while skaters like Naomi Nari Nam, Ann Patrice McDonough and Yebin Mok wouldn't even make a world team, I would've been hard pressed to believe you.

Shows how rarely hype actually plays out in the long run.

Yeah sure, but Sarah never won a World or National title (medals, yes). Of course, Rachael Flatt never won an Olympic or World title (nor medals). And Kimmie never won an Olympic title or medal, although Rachael and Kimmie were fortunate to at least participate in the Olympics (as per the notion that you are nothing as a figure skater if you don't make it to the Olympics, and worst than nothing if you don't medal, or such a failure if you medal but don't win gold as a favorite). Sarah Hughes' Olympic gold medal win was an unexpected, dream-fulfilled icing on the cake moment.

In any case, there are busts (breasts), and there are busts (rips), and then there are busts (arrests). To defame figure skaters as busts is very low-down and measly. I suppose the OP just can't bust through to face and overcome his/ her own miseries, dramas, failures.

Well at the least, the negative intention of this thread has turned into a few laughs and into providing something enlightening, informative as well as memorable and inspiring re Yebin Mok's journey. No bust, that! And no bust re Ann-Patrice, Naomi, Bebe, or any other athlete who gave it their all.