Which beloved or highly regarded skaters do you personally NOT love or highly regard??

Kristi Yamaguchi (She did everything well but was boring to me.)
Shizuka Arakawa
Plushenko (I liked the drama he brought but not his skating.)
Irina Slutskaya
Jeffrey Buttle (Another fan favorite I found underwhelming)
Yuna Kim post-2010 (Her lack of interest sorta shone through in her skating.)
Yuzuru Hanyu (I get why he is considered great but his skating is just not that interesting outside of the technical aspects.)

Then there are some skaters that I highly respect but find it difficult to love because they are so held up by judges. Patrick Chan and Carolina Kostner, great skaters but it was frustrating seeing them being so overscored with sloppy skates.
 
Miki89 said:
Kristi Yamaguchi (She did everything well but was boring to me.)
Shizuka Arakawa
Plushenko (I liked the drama he brought but not his skating.)
Irina Slutskaya
Jeffrey Buttle (Another fan favorite I found underwhelming)
Yuna Kim post-2010 (Her lack of interest sorta shone through in her skating.)
Yuzuru Hanyu (I get why he is considered great but his skating is just not that interesting outside of the technical aspects.)

Then there are some skaters that I highly respect but find it difficult to love because they are so held up by judges. Patrick Chan and Carolina Kostner, great skaters but it was frustrating seeing them being so overscored with sloppy skates.
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I do find judges who continually hold up skaters influence the way in which I view said skaters, even if rationally I know it’s not the skaters’ fault
 
olympic said:
I do find judges who continually hold up skaters influence the way in which I view said skaters, even if rationally I know it’s not the skaters’ fault
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Yes, I know what you mean. When I feel that the skater gets their medal just for turning up, because he or she is so overscored that he/she will get the gold no matter what, I just can’t make myself watch the skater skate. I become so...whatever....
 
Elisheba said:
Michelle Kwan :shuffle: When I first started watching skating she was the all that but she seemed to be skating the same thing over and over with Tosca, Aranjuez,Sheherezade, Bolero, and, well, I never “got” her.
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Same for me re Michelle.
Virture/Moir
Oksana Baiul.
Todd Eldridge.

I am sure I will think of more as soon as I post this.

I wonder if one's opinion is informed in part by the context in which they skate....i.e.who they skated against.
 
Just world and Olympic champs in the past 30 years -

Zagitova, Medvedeva, Tuktamysheva, Ando, Meissner, Slutskaya, Hughes, Baiul, Trenary

Joubert, Plushenko, Stojko, Eldredge

- only because I do not prefer their styles; except for Baiul and Trenary whose styles were closer to what I prefer but whom I feel were way over-marked over nothing.
 
I can easily list skaters I don't love-can't we all?-but I highly regard most of them anyway.

Skaters I am not in love with:
Scott Hamilton
Todd Eldredge (great triple axel, but the way he moved his head and shoulders + his concept of artistry was so wooden, unnatural, ineffective)
Yuzuru Hanyu (can't really fault his technical mastery, but I don't connect with almost any of his programs)
Patrick Chan (needs to join Todd in acting & dance classes about how to use one's head and emote)
Nathan Chen (see Yuzuru comment)
Davis/White (speed is not everything)
Chock/Bates (but the sunscreen exo was great) (it's mostly her I don't value much as a skater)
Rosalyn Sumners
Irina Slutskaya
Evgenia Medvedeva
Meagan Duhamel in any incarnation
 
There are some skaters on these lists who don't strike me as either beloved or highly regarded, at least judging by what I have previously read on FSU. YMMV. ?‍♂️
 
Tony Wheeler said:
I never really was blown away by Yu-Na Kim in her first Olympic cycle aside from a program here or there, but it was a pretty dark age in ladies skating in general so I can't fault her results.
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:confused: Really? I would probably use that for 2011-2013, not 2007-2010. The technical content was still pretty solid (most top ladies tried a 3-3 at least) and I thought the programs were much more interesting than the ones we see now in the ladies field.
 
Miki89 said:
:confused: Really? I would probably use that for 2011-2013, not 2007-2010. The technical content was still pretty solid (most top ladies tried a 3-3 at least) and I thought the programs were much more interesting than the ones we see now in the ladies field.
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I found Suzuki, Kostner, Osmond's opening 2013 season, Kim's 2013 programs and 2014 short much more interesting than the majority of the top skaters' programs in 2007-2010. I liked a program here or there from Asada but liked her much more in the next cycle, and can't say I ever really loved any of Ando's programs. I did like Rochette and Meier consistently but overall wasn't too riveted by most of it otherwise.

I know the technical level was much lower from 2010-2012 but Kostner's SP in 2012, Suzuki's LP in 2013 are two of my absolute favorites.
 
Virtue/Moir
Sinitsina/Katsalapov
Duhamel/Radford
Tarasova/Morozov
Weir
Stojko
Hanyu
Uno
Chen
Paganini
Bell
Medvedeva
Kostornaia
Trusova
Zagitova
Liu

...there are other skaters whose work I've lost my enjoyment of over the years, but these are the ones who've been what in radio terms would be called 'dead air' for me from first viewing.
 
Papadakis and cizeron are very boring to me. I have watched all their main competition performances and I don’t get it or them! Is it just that a French team must be d/s or p/b to me? I don’t know! I don’t think so. Neither of them do anything for me. Neither of them in any way whatsoever. I don’t really get it.
 
Tony Wheeler said:
I found Suzuki, Kostner, Osmond's opening 2013 season, Kim's 2013 programs and 2014 short much more interesting than the majority of the top skaters' programs in 2007-2010. I liked a program here or there from Asada but liked her much more in the next cycle, and can't say I ever really loved any of Ando's programs. I did like Rochette and Meier consistently but overall wasn't too riveted by most of it otherwise.

I know the technical level was much lower from 2010-2012 but Kostner's SP in 2012, Suzuki's LP in 2013 are two of my absolute favorites.
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Oh correction. I should say fall of 2010-2012. 2013 was much better. :) I guess I'm just the opposite because I found Kim much more interesting prior to Vancouver. And I thought the tight battle between her and Mao between 2006-2008 made the events exciting. There were some great programs in the next cycle from the skaters you mentioned but the overall competition was so lagging until 2013.
 
Miki89 said:
:confused: Really? I would probably use that for 2011-2013, not 2007-2010. The technical content was still pretty solid (most top ladies tried a 3-3 at least) and I thought the programs were much more interesting than the ones we see now in the ladies field.
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It was a dark age. Yuna and Mao emerged but they were nowhere near as consistent as they were in juniors, Michelle, Sasha and Shizuka had left, the next wave of Americans and Russians were struggling, so were Carolina (pre-transformation), Yukari (UR nightmares) and Miki (horrid programs). It wasn't til 2009 when Akiko and Joannie got things together that things got interesting again.
 
Marco said:
It was a dark age. Yuna and Mao emerged but they were nowhere near as consistent as they were in juniors, Michelle, Sasha and Shizuka had left, the next wave of Americans and Russians were struggling, so were Carolina (pre-transformation), Yukari (UR nightmares) and Miki (horrid programs). It wasn't til 2009 when Akiko and Joannie got things together that things got interesting again.
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Sasha and Shizuka were no models of consistency and didn't attempt as exciting content as either Yuna or Mao. Irina's programs were often just as bad as Ando's. I dunno. I guess it's just different strokes but I rather rewatch 2007 Worlds, 2008 Worlds than 2006 Olympics, 2006 Worlds, and most competitions from 2011-2012.

I like Akiko and respect Carolina but they both medaled in 2012 Worlds without attempting one 3-3. The overall competitiveness of the ladies field just plummeted in the two years after Vancouver. I mean it was so lagging that Alyssa Czisny became a real medal contender. Nothing against her as a skater but she wouldn't have gotten close to the podium during the pre-Vancouver years.
 
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Miki89 said:
Sasha and Shizuka were no models of consistency and didn't attempt as exciting content as either Yuna or Mao. Irina's programs were often just as bad as Ando's. I dunno. I guess it's just different strokes but I rather rewatch 2007 Worlds, 2008 Worlds than 2006 Olympics, 2006 Worlds, and most competitions from 2011-2012.

I like Akiko and respect Carolina but they both medaled in 2012 Worlds without attempting one 3-3. The overall competitiveness of the ladies field just plummeted in the two years after Vancouver. I mean it was so lagging that Alyssa Czisny became a real medal contender. Nothing against her as a skater but she wouldn't have gotten close to the podium during the pre-Vancouver years.
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Kostner did 3T+3T in the short program (ETA- as did Suzuki), so that's not correct. 8 of the top 10 in the short actually did a 3+3. Look at 2010 Worlds, it doesn't get much worse than that to be honest and a majority of the field was there from the Olympics. In 2007 and 2008 look at where the US and Russia were in the ladies events. It was great to have Ando, Asada, and Kim, but I just wasn't feeling a majority of what they put out, at least at that time. I probably liked Nakano's Memoirs of a Geisha in 2007 the most of that group.

I get that some people are all about pushing the sport technically and for them, that's what makes it exciting. But I just think there were so many more complete/stand-out skates in the years following that cycle. Even Makarova's 2012 & 2013 short program. Viktoria Helgesson's stuff. Asada in her resurgence. Kostner's Bolero. 2007-2010 is watchable, but I just wasn't feeling most of it :slinkaway
 
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Ladies:
Meh-dvedeva- I just have never seen her appeal. She followed Lipnitskaya, a VERY tough act to follow, and all I saw were flutzes. muscled small jumps and not any of Julia's charisma. I still don't see it, even though I am really looking to since she's an 'elder' now.
Kostner- I can see her SKATING ability and speed, but she's just so sloppy and undependable.... I've never enjoyed her, though I don't think I ever objected to her winning Worlds. (was it that bad that year or was that the year Yukari Nakano should have won?)
Slutskaya- her 2005 winning LP did make me smile, but eek....
Hughes/Lipinski- I feel the same way about both. They grabbed that brass ring, and GREAT for them. I just never liked their skating. Like, AT ALL.

Men:
Weir- in the early 00's I saw such potential. After 2006 and his mental/competitive nerves I gave up, and he seemed to also as a serious medal contender.
Plushenko- he has NEVER touched me as a skater. Even his best version of that program he did for several years was just "Oh, he actually chose to put in some choreo and a bit of transitions". I see the charisma, but I haven't felt it.
Browning- this is probably my biggest. I have NEVER liked his skating, his demeanor, his presence, his looks, his body, his mullet, his ANYTHING. I know he's supposed to be this most talented guy ever. I LOOKED and LOOKED, but I found almost nothing pleasing about his skating. He dances well, but skating? Those short choppy, mincing crossovers, poorly executed spin positions, and frankly he was regarded a jump king but the technique on all his triples was SCARY.
 
They put the "meh" in men's.

Robin Cousins
Scott Hamilton
Viktor Petrenko
Paul Wylie
Alexei Urmanov
Scott Davis
Todd Eldredge
Michael Weiss
Shoma Uno

They are just blah.

Annette Poezsche
Rosalyn Sumner's
Debbie Thomas
Oksana Baiul
Nancy Kerrigan
Tara Lipinski as an eligible skater
Sarah Hughes
Alissa Czisny
 
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Tony Wheeler said:
Kostner did 3T+3T in the short program (ETA- as did Suzuki), so that's not correct. 8 of the top 10 in the short actually did a 3+3. Look at 2010 Worlds, it doesn't get much worse than that to be honest and a majority of the field was there from the Olympics. In 2007 and 2008 look at where the US and Russia were in the ladies events. It was great to have Ando, Asada, and Kim, but I just wasn't feeling a majority of what they put out, at least at that time. I probably liked Nakano's Memoirs of a Geisha in 2007 the most of that group.

I get that some people are all about pushing the sport technically and for them, that's what makes it exciting. But I just think there were so many more complete/stand-out skates in the years following that cycle. Even Makarova's 2012 & 2013 short program. Viktoria Helgesson's stuff. Asada in her resurgence. Kostner's Bolero. 2007-2010 is watchable, but I just wasn't feeling most of it :slinkaway
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Oh you're right about 2010 Worlds. Not a great event. 2012-2013 was a pretty great season. I just didn't like 2010-2012. Mao was retooling, Yuna was absent for the most part, and for me, Kostner truly transformed after her Worlds win. I really liked Bolero and her 2013 short program. I did like Akiko's 2011-2012 LP and of course her signature O program the following season. The cycle ended really strongly considering how it began.

Looking back, I guess 2012 was when Russia started becoming more competitive again. I actually feel Ladies have entered a dark age artistically since the Eteri dominance. I think I rather watch Slutsakaya or Ando than Trusova. :yikes:I haven't seen such a total lack of skating skill from a top athlete since Surya Bonaly, and at least Bonaly had flair.
 
Sui/Han They are good, but they just don't do it for me. At all.
Ashley Wagner never was a fan. IMHO, she hit US ladies at an opportune time (which happens with a lot of skaters which is good for them) Sass didn't triumph skills as far as I was concerned. She had the sass, but not the skills.
Alysa Liu she's another Wagner to me.
Virtue/Moir I much preferred the Shib sibs and Davis/White
Most US male skaters except Nathan Chen. That's past and present. I get that Jason Brown is such an artist, but he leaves me cold and totally uninterested. Same goes for pretty much all the rest.
Duhamel/Radford I appreciated the work ethic, but that's about it with regard to their skating.

IMHO, something about a skater or a team just grabs you or it doesn't. Skills wise, all the top tier skaters are pretty much equal so it's just something about them that you like or you don't.
 
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