rupertsurvive
Banned Member
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The pairs has been the U.S least successful discipline now with the recent U.S surge in dance. In my time following the sport, they have had some interesting teams, even if none was ever a dominant team. What do you think of some of them.
Meno & Sand- I always enjoyed them, a friend of mine could not stand them. She called them Barbie & Ken on the ice. It is too bad there were reinstated pros for the 94 Olympics as they might have medaled otherwise, they had some of their best skates ever there. They were most known for their Nessum Dorma program which they resurrected numerous times in their career. They were most criticized for not having side by side triple toes at a time nearly all the top pairs were starting to do them, they finally acquired them in 97 but probably a bit too late. They had a pretty good pro career after their successful amateur career of 3 world medals and 3 U.S titles.
Ina & Dungen- They were the main rivals of Meno & Sand. They finally beat them for the U.S title in 97 and repeated in 98. They were the opposite of Meno & Sand, a very athletic team but never had the unision, polish, or consistency needed to break into the medals at the world level. They just missed in 4th at the 97 worlds and 98 Olympics. They probably could have medaled at both the 98 worlds and 99 worlds but they had to withdraw from the 98 worlds with injury and then Ina dumped him soon after. They never seemed to get along very well, she had much better chemistry and style with Zimmerman, even if they were a much less athletic team and nearly as inconsistent and struggling in unision.
Ina & Zimmerman- They were an interesting team. They were never technically the strongest or really a true top team on the world stage, but I enjoyed watching them. They really had only a 4 year career as amateurs, so had a relatively short time to gel as a team. They seemed to be a one step forward two steps back or two steps forward one step back sort of theme for most of those 4 years but they finally got it all together in their final season in 2001-2002. Unfortunately for them they were up against an insanely strong field of Sale & Pelletier, Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, Shen & Zhao, Totmianina & Marinin, Petrkova & Tikhonov, and numerous other teams who have a world medal so had few real opportunities of medals. They skated brilliantly in Salt Lake City to finish 5th where some felt they should have finished 4th or even 3rd. They finally get a medal at the 2002 worlds with a subpar free skate but that event was a splatfest. They had a pretty good pro career, always innovative and interesting to watch as they were as amateurs.
Carruthers- They were the successors to Babiliona & Gardner who retired very young after the heartbreak of Lake Placid. They are most known as the surprise silver medalists of the 84 Olympics where they had the skate of their lives in the long program. They went into those Games as a long shot medal chance with Valova & Vasiliev, Baess & Theirbach, Underhill & Martini all favored above them, and a couple other strong Soviet teams at the Games. They had a stellar pro career, including winning the prestigious Challenge of Champions 3 times, and being on Champions on Ice for years. I believe they also were on Stars on Ice awhile.
Meno & Sand- I always enjoyed them, a friend of mine could not stand them. She called them Barbie & Ken on the ice. It is too bad there were reinstated pros for the 94 Olympics as they might have medaled otherwise, they had some of their best skates ever there. They were most known for their Nessum Dorma program which they resurrected numerous times in their career. They were most criticized for not having side by side triple toes at a time nearly all the top pairs were starting to do them, they finally acquired them in 97 but probably a bit too late. They had a pretty good pro career after their successful amateur career of 3 world medals and 3 U.S titles.
Ina & Dungen- They were the main rivals of Meno & Sand. They finally beat them for the U.S title in 97 and repeated in 98. They were the opposite of Meno & Sand, a very athletic team but never had the unision, polish, or consistency needed to break into the medals at the world level. They just missed in 4th at the 97 worlds and 98 Olympics. They probably could have medaled at both the 98 worlds and 99 worlds but they had to withdraw from the 98 worlds with injury and then Ina dumped him soon after. They never seemed to get along very well, she had much better chemistry and style with Zimmerman, even if they were a much less athletic team and nearly as inconsistent and struggling in unision.
Ina & Zimmerman- They were an interesting team. They were never technically the strongest or really a true top team on the world stage, but I enjoyed watching them. They really had only a 4 year career as amateurs, so had a relatively short time to gel as a team. They seemed to be a one step forward two steps back or two steps forward one step back sort of theme for most of those 4 years but they finally got it all together in their final season in 2001-2002. Unfortunately for them they were up against an insanely strong field of Sale & Pelletier, Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze, Shen & Zhao, Totmianina & Marinin, Petrkova & Tikhonov, and numerous other teams who have a world medal so had few real opportunities of medals. They skated brilliantly in Salt Lake City to finish 5th where some felt they should have finished 4th or even 3rd. They finally get a medal at the 2002 worlds with a subpar free skate but that event was a splatfest. They had a pretty good pro career, always innovative and interesting to watch as they were as amateurs.
Carruthers- They were the successors to Babiliona & Gardner who retired very young after the heartbreak of Lake Placid. They are most known as the surprise silver medalists of the 84 Olympics where they had the skate of their lives in the long program. They went into those Games as a long shot medal chance with Valova & Vasiliev, Baess & Theirbach, Underhill & Martini all favored above them, and a couple other strong Soviet teams at the Games. They had a stellar pro career, including winning the prestigious Challenge of Champions 3 times, and being on Champions on Ice for years. I believe they also were on Stars on Ice awhile.