New blog covering forgotten figure skaters from the past

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Tanja Szewczenko.
Besides having won worlds and euros bronze, potential was never really reached

I always thought she should have won bronze ahead of Slutskaya at the 1996 World Championships. At the time her skating was more mature and elegant, compared to Irina's little girl powder puff antics.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

To be honest, I have not watched the skating of these ladies but Wikipedia tells me they were a part of a Junior Worlds podium sweep in 1996:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_World_Junior_Figure_Skating_Championships

Russia did have its fair share of unlucky young ladies in skating in the 90s and 00s - the ones you mention never managed to advance further than a few grand prix assignments. Then there were other very promising girls who again never managed to fulfill their potential - Julia Soldatova, Ludmila Nelidina and Kristina Oblasova come to mind, among others.

It looks like the Russian skating federation, for whatever reason, might have gotten too spoilt by the success of their certain champions (like Plushenko, Yagudin, Slutskaya, etc.) and always took everything for granted, not being able to nurture and develop younger or less succesful skaters in line.

I might be wrong but this is the general impression I have gotten.

Again, I was fortunate enough to see the 1996 World Junior Championships live and in person. The Russian trio who made the podium were quite something.

The ladies' competition had so much depth. Other skaters of interest at that event included Shelby Lyons, Ludmila Ivanova, Diana Poth and Julia Lautowa.

 

[ldec]

New post - http://frozenintime.tk/yuri-ovchinnikov-a-genius-born-in-the-wrong-era/

As promised, today we go back in time to the 70s - Yuri Ovchinnikov was one of the emerging talents of Soviet singles skating - he had grace and elegance, enourmous gravity defying jumps, and outstanding musicality, expressiveness and passion in his skating which left audiences in awe. Sadly, he had no luck with compulsory figures where his fellow competing countrymates excelled.

Enjoy reading, and for my next post, I will try to profile one of the skaters suggested here.

 

[skatesindreams]

Thank you, for your portrait of Yuri.
He never received the recognition he deserved.

 

[ldec]

Thank you, for your portrait of Yuri.
He never received the recognition he deserved.

Very glad you liked the article. And I totally agree, he did deserve more recognition indeed.

What is interesting to see with this skater is that following the devaluation of compulsory figures and the introduction of the Short Program in 1972, he showed great promise in the 1973 and 1975 seasons, yet following the 1975 Worlds he couldn't medal or reach a very high placement (always close to the podium or top 10 at big events but that is it) until he retired in 1978.

Unfortunately, due to limited information and the fact that very few videos of his competitive performances exist online, I could not determine what the cause was for this - whether it was inconsistency, or if his skating regressed somehow, or if he was held back by judges for political reasons.

If anyone can shed any light on that, it would be wonderful!

 

[MIsty Blades/Skate Mom]

I would love to see some posts/articles on:
Alissa Czisny - She was a joy to watch. How is she doing now?
Matt Savoie - Good Olympic performance, How is she doing now?
Tania Kwiatkowski - I remember watching her when I was little and thought she could have been great. How is she doing now?
Holly Cook - Saw a video of her skating, and I was intrigued. How is she doing now? Is she still obsessed with bananas?
Rudy Galindo - I was little when I saw him win the US Championship and want to know more. How is she doing now?
Kira Ivanova - I am curious about her life after skating and wondered why she got murdered. Was she involved with the Russian mob?
Dagmar Lurz - I liked her skating from watching her YouTube videos. She kinda didn't have any personality on the ice and I wonder if she can explain why she didn't emote on the ice a lot. How is she doing now?
Debi Thomas - is she okay? She became a doctor, but is now not working and livin in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. Is there an update? Can USFSA help her rebuild her life? Maybe she can get a job as a USFSA doctor, but I hope she doesn't turn into someone like Larry Nassar. Figure skating has enough drama as it is.
Mark Mitchell - Wondered why he never moved up higher, I learned about him from his YouTube videos. He is so cute. Does he coach his students with advice that he learned from his mistakes when he was an amateur?

 

[ldec]

I would love to see some posts/articles on:
Alissa Czisny - She was a joy to watch. How is she doing now?
Matt Savoie - Good Olympic performance, How is she doing now?
Tania Kwiatkowski - I remember watching her when I was little and thought she could have been great. How is she doing now?
Holly Cook - Saw a video of her skating, and I was intrigued. How is she doing now? Is she still obsessed with bananas?
Rudy Galindo - I was little when I saw him win the US Championship and want to know more. How is she doing now?
Kira Ivanova - I am curious about her life after skating and wondered why she got murdered. Was she involved with the Russian mob?
Dagmar Lurz - I liked her skating from watching her YouTube videos. She kinda didn't have any personality on the ice and I wonder if she can explain why she didn't emote on the ice a lot. How is she doing now?
Debi Thomas - is she okay? She became a doctor, but is now not working and livin in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. Is there an update? Can USFSA help her rebuild her life? Maybe she can get a job as a USFSA doctor, but I hope she doesn't turn into someone like Larry Nassar. Figure skating has enough drama as it is.
Mark Mitchell - Wondered why he never moved up higher, I learned about him from his YouTube videos. He is so cute. Does he coach his students with advice that he learned from his mistakes when he was an amateur?

Wow, that's a long list but nice to share it anyway! Let me share my opinion on some of the skaters proposed as well as what they are up to nowadays to my knowledge:

Alissa - was proposed by another one of my readers. She was an amazingly beautiful skater, and while definitely not forgotten, I think she could have won so much more with her talent. Her spins were especially mesmerizing. So will keep her in mind!

Matt Savoie - definitely a very interesting skater, ahead of his time in terms of program composition and transitions, worth profiling. He was one of those skaters with great qualities burried in a deep competitive field. Don't know many details about his life nowadays but he's working as a skating coach.

Tonia Kwiatkowski and Holly Cook - I am not familiar with their skating, unfortunately, so there are some gaps to fill in there! In the meantime, here is a nice write up on Tonia about her career that might interest you.

Rudy Galindo - had one of the most amazing Swan Lakes ever! A very charismatic skater, with a very inspirational life story, who managed to make the best out of his competitive career and seize the moment despite the obstacles he was facing. I wouldn't say he is forgotten by fans or experts, and this actually makes me very happy. He is also working as a coach, btw

Kira Ivanova - there is a wonderful article about her on Skate Guard blog in which you and other readers here might be interested: http://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-untold-story-of-kira-ivanova.html

Dagmar Lurz - again, not that familiar with her skating, need to ask my mom about that one. According to Wikipedia, Dagmar was active as an ISU referee and a team physician for Germany.

Debi Thomas - she was outstanding during her competitive days, it is so heartbreaking her life has turned upside down like it has. She last gave an interview for the New York post back in February, in which she talks about her life and the struggles she experienced: https://nypost.com/2018/02/17/this-history-making-olympian-lost-everything-even-her-medal/
I don't know to what extent the USFSA can help her and it is very difficult to comment on such a situaton but I do hope she finds the help and strength to rebuild her life.

Mark Mitchell was already proposed and is on my list of skaters to profile.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Very glad you liked the article. And I totally agree, he did deserve more recognition indeed.

What is interesting to see with this skater is that following the devaluation of compulsory figures and the introduction of the Short Program in 1972, he showed great promise in the 1973 and 1975 seasons, yet following the 1975 Worlds he couldn't medal or reach a very high placement (always close to the podium or top 10 at big events but that is it) until he retired in 1978.

Unfortunately, due to limited information and the fact that very few videos of his competitive performances exist online, I could not determine what the cause was for this - whether it was inconsistency, or if his skating regressed somehow, or if he was held back by judges for political reasons.

If anyone can shed any light on that, it would be wonderful!

I saw Yuri skate with The Russian All - Stars in Torvill & Dean's 1989 Australian Tour. He didn't have much in the way of jumps, but boy, he had personality for days.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Tonia Kwiatkowski and Holly Cook - I am not familiar with their skating, unfortunately, so there are some gaps to fill in there!

Mark Mitchell was already proposed and is on my list of skaters to profile.

Mark Mitchell and Holly Cook were so underrated and under appreciated. Thank you so much for your dedication to this project.

 

[ldec]

I always thought that Lesley was barely pipped for a spot on the 2006 Olympic Team over Mira Leung.

There is also a great documentary about the road to Torino made that year featuring Hawker, Joannie Rochette, Jeff Buttle, Emmanuel Sandhu, and Christopher Maybe.

I did see that doc when it originally aired.

I was at CDN Nats when Lesley didn't get the spot and I was pretty disappointed. I didn't dislike Mira, but it seemed Lesley always narrowly missed the big teams.

I was re-reading the messages and noticed Mira Leung's name mentioned. To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of her skating but was also going through some old threads and she seemed to have had quite the following on FSUniverse and was also quite a character herself.

Mira made her senior debut during the 2004/2005 and made the olympics team in 2006; many people had great expectations for her for 2010. Unfortunately, her career and skating seemed to have gone downhill from there due to a number of reasons including some attitude problems on her side, an overbearing mother who seemed to have done more harm than good to her career and some problems in the coaching situation.

Again, she's not my favorite skater but I do wonder how her career would have turned out had it been handled differently. Maybe we can add her to the category of skaters who shined while still young and burned out quickly?

For the interested readers, here are Mira's programs from 2006 (might add more later):

Worlds 2006 SP
2006 Olympics LP

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I was re-reading the messages and noticed Mira Leung's name mentioned. To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of her skating but was also going through some old threads and she seemed to have had quite the following on FSUniverse and was also quite a character herself.

Mira made her senior debut during the 2004/2005 and made the olympics team in 2006; many people had great expectations for her for 2010. Unfortunately, her career and skating seemed to have gone downhill from there due to a number of reasons including some attitude problems on her side, an overbearing mother who seemed to have done more harm than good to her career and some problems in the coaching situation.

Again, she's not my favorite skater but I do wonder how her career would have turned out had it been handled differently. Maybe we can add her to the category of skaters who shined while still young and burned out quickly?

For the interested readers, here are Mira's programs from 2006 (might add more later):

Worlds 2006 SP
2006 Olympics LP

Mira had an unorthodox jumping style. Maybe she was a skater before her time. But, that free skate really suited her. Canada could certainly use someone with her determination and attack now.

 

[Sylvia]

Thanks very much for your Yebin Mok article, @ldec, who was one of my favorite skaters in the early 2000s. Her 2003 Nationals SP remains one of my all-time uplifting & memorable "witnessed in person" skating moments! I really wish she could have competed in her assigned Grand Prix events in the fall of 2003 but, alas, it was not to be due to injuries.

I'm so glad she also has found personal happiness off the ice, having married a fellow Holiday on Ice tour performer and I believe they live mainly in England now with their young son.

I’d love to read about Katy Taylor.

@theredpepper, there was Feb. 2018 Houston Chronicle article about Katy overcoming challenges post-competitive skating that can still be read from here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-a-neat-little-bow.102969/page-3#post-5309801

 

[Simone411]

I would like to know a little more about Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler and what happened with their careers. I was fortunate enough to tape some of a show where they performed. It was called 1997 Champions on Ice. It wasn't actually the COI shows and tours that were so well known back then. It was more or less a special that I happened to catch on TV. I wished I would have seen it from the beginning, but I did managed to tape a few of the skaters performing.

I thought Tiffany and Johnnie were so talented, and would have a future in Pairs Skating. I really didn't see them anymore after that special. I know they were the 1997 Junior National Champions. They also placed 4th at the 1999 World Junior Championships. I would have taped that, but it wasn't aired on TV.

Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler - skated to Land of 1000 dances. Choreographed by Peter Oppegard.

 

[ldec]

Thanks very much for your Yebin Mok article, @ldec, who was one of my favorite skaters in the early 2000s. Her 2003 Nationals SP remains one of my all-time uplifting & memorable "witnessed in person" skating moments! I really wish she could have competed in her assigned Grand Prix events in the fall of 2003 but, alas, it was not to be due to injuries.

I'm so glad she also has found personal happiness off the ice, having married a fellow Holiday on Ice tour performer and I believe they live mainly in England now with their young son.

@theredpepper, there was Feb. 2018 Houston Chronicle article about Katy overcoming challenges post-competitive skating that can still be read from here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-a-neat-little-bow.102969/page-3#post-5309801

Incredibly happy you like the article about Yebin, and thank you very much for sharing the piece about Katy Taylor!

Yebin was divine in her 2003 US Nationals SP, and her performance only goes to show what a greatly skater she was and how well she could have done had she had the chance to have a regular career.

I would like to know a little more about Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler and what happened with their careers. I was fortunate enough to tape some of a show where they performed. It was called 1997 Champions on Ice. It wasn't actually the COI shows and tours that were so well known back then. It was more or less a special that I happened to catch on TV. I wished I would have seen it from the beginning, but I did managed to tape a few of the skaters performing.

I thought Tiffany and Johnnie were so talented, and would have a future in Pairs Skating. I really didn't see them anymore after that special. I know they were the 1997 Junior National Champions. They also placed 4th at the 1999 World Junior Championships. I would have taped that, but it wasn't aired on TV.

Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler - skated to Land of 1000 dances. Choreographed by Peter Oppegard.

Tiffany and Johnnie's pair career ended in 2003. In addition to finishing 4th at the Junior Worlds in 1999, they also competed in Juniors for 2 more seasons, finishing 7th at the Junior Worlds in 2002, and 4th at the 02/03 JGPF.

Following their breakup, Tiffany switched to ice dance and competed with Sergei Magerovski for two seasons. Videos from her ice skating career are hard to find but this is what was available:

2005 Skate America FD
2005 Skate America OD
2005 US Nationals FD

EDIT: Found some better quality videos from that US Nationals:

2006 US Nationals OD
2006 US Nationals FD

 

[Frau Muller]

My suggestion:

What a name for a skater! Before Elize Freeze or Gracie Gold, we had Jill Frost, such a pre-teen tech & artistic wonder in the early 80s. US Jr champ in ‘81. She wore the unitard in her famous free skate to Cats (‘82?), before unitards were allowed. Intelligent & well spoken even as a child, I recall. Became an attorney, I think.

I’m a bit prejudiced because I met her & her amazing coach, the late Paul McGrath , at ‘82 & ‘83 Nationals.

 

[Simone411]

Incredibly happy you like the article about Yebin, and thank you very much for sharing the piece about Katy Taylor!

Yebin was divine in her 2003 US Nationals SP, and her performance only goes to show what a greatly skater she was and how well she could have done had she had the chance to have a regular career.



Tiffany and Johnnie's pair career ended in 2003. In addition to finishing 4th at the Junior Worlds in 1999, they also competed in Juniors for 2 more seasons, finishing 7th at the Junior Worlds in 2002, and 4th at the 02/03 JGPF.

Following their breakup, Tiffany switched to ice dance and competed with Sergei Magerovski for two seasons. Videos from her ice skating career are hard to find but this is what was available:

2005 Skate America FD
2005 Skate America OD
2005 US Nationals FD

EDIT: Found some better quality videos from that US Nationals:

2006 US Nationals OD
2006 US Nationals FD

Thank you for finding the videos! There are still several 8 hour VHS tapes that I haven't went through, and I know I recorded several GP Series dating back to at least 2001 or 2002. I may have better quality videos. I'll probably look through those tapes this evening.

 

[Japanfan]

I was re-reading the messages and noticed Mira Leung's name mentioned. To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of her skating but was also going through some old threads and she seemed to have had quite the following on FSUniverse and was also quite a character herself.

Mira made her senior debut during the 2004/2005 and made the olympics team in 2006; many people had great expectations for her for 2010. Unfortunately, her career and skating seemed to have gone downhill from there due to a number of reasons including some attitude problems on her side, an overbearing mother who seemed to have done more harm than good to her career and some problems in the coaching situation.

Again, she's not my favorite skater but I do wonder how her career would have turned out had it been handled differently. Maybe we can add her to the category of skaters who shined while still young and burned out quickly?

I have always had a soft spot for Mira. She had the tricks, at least earlier on in her skating career, but she really didn't fit the mold of the 'feminine' skater. And, her coaches/team didn't really capitalize on her athleticism. If she did fail to fulfill her potential as a skater, the reasons are complex. However, I think it's possible that she did her best and went as far as she could.

An article about Mira Leung was posted here a few years back. She attended university and began a career with Google Analytics IIRC - or something like it. She took pride in her skating career and her experience in sport helped her to succeed in her career.

All was good for Mira.

 

[ldec]

I have always had a soft spot for Mira. She had the tricks, at least earlier on in her skating career, but she really didn't fit the mold of the 'feminine' skater. And, her coaches/team didn't really capitalize on her athleticism. If she did fail to fulfill her potential as a skater, the reasons are complex. However, I think it's possible that she did her best and went as far as she could.

An article about Mira Leung was posted here a few years back. She attended university and began a career with Google Analytics IIRC - or something like it. She took pride in her skating career and her experience in sport helped her to succeed in her career.

All was good for Mira.

Thanks for the insight on Mira's career!

I couldn't find the article itself but was aware she had a nice job outside of figure skating.

Well as long as she is proud of her career and if it has helped to develop personally, that is all that matters indeed

 

[Sylvia]

I couldn't find the article itself but was aware she had a nice job outside of figure skating.

Well as long as she is proud of her career and if it has helped to develop personally, that is all that matters indeed

This Q&A blog post was published in June 2014 when Mira Leung was a Google intern: https://students.googleblog.com/2014/06/google-intern-insights-2014-meet-mira.html

As of last year she still works for Google: https://vancouverstartupweek2017.sched.com/speaker/miraleung

 

[Vash01]

Svetlana Lapina (ice dance) who partnered with Gorsha Sur, early in his career when he skated for Russia. I think they participated in Skate America in 1988 or 1989. She was a good dancer. I often wondered what happened to her - career ending injury, perhaps? As we know, Gorsha moved to the US and skated with Rene Roca.

Evelyn Grossman, coached by Juta Muller - I saw her skate just once, and then she disappeared from the scene

Lenka Kulowana (CZE, I think). Saw her skate at perhaps the 1993 worlds, but dudnt hear mych about her.

Zuzana Szwed (not sure of the spelling of her first or last name), but she skated for Poland in 1992, I think.

Kamilla Gainetdinova - Jr. Russian pairs skater. Is she still skating? I don't remember the name if her partner.

 

[mjb52]

I think Svetlana Liapina is Jonathan Guerreiro's mother!

I was going to suggest Tiffany and Johnnie too, but their career might not have been long enough for a whole feature. I always think of them in connection with Silverstein and Pekarek for some reason, maybe I discovered both in a similar time-frame? Anyway, S & P might be a good subject too, although a somewhat sad one.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Evelyn Grossman, coached by Juta Muller - I saw her skate just once, and then she disappeared from the scene.

Evelyn is featured in a recent documentary celebrating Jutta Mueller's 90th birthday. I always thought she should have placed higher in the free skate at the 1989 World Championships, above Trenary and Leistner, and about the same as Yamaguchi.

Zuzana Swzed (not sure of the soelling of her first or last name), but she skated for Poland in 1992, I think.

I briefly met Zuzana and her husband, Aaron Parchem, at the 2006 World Championships in Calgary. She seemed touched that I remembered her singles career.

 

[Vash01]

I think Svetlana Liapina is Jonathan Guerreiro's mother!

I was going to suggest Tiffany and Johnnie too, but their career might not have been long enough for a whole feature. I always think of them in connection with Silverstein and Pekarek for some reason, maybe I discovered both in a similar time-frame? Anyway, S & P might be a good subject too, although a somewhat sad one.

I saw Tiffany and Johnnie skate in a Sun Valley show when they were kids. I think she was probably 10- 12 and he was a couple years older. They were cute and adorable and I followed their career for sometime. I saw them skate a few more years. I think the last tine was in a GP. They skated to Romeo and Juliet. It was a turn off for me to see siblings skate to R&J. In any case they were not very consistent and then they seemed to disappear completely.

Sadly, the third member of the Stiegler family, didn't make it very far either. Stephanie was John Zimmerman's partner until she got injured and he left her to skate with Kyoko Ina. I will always remember their 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' LP.

 

[Vash01]

I think Svetlana Liapina is Jonathan Guerreiro's mother!

I was going to suggest Tiffany and Johnnie too, but their career might not have been long enough for a whole feature. I always think of them in connection with Silverstein and Pekarek for some reason, maybe I discovered both in a similar time-frame? Anyway, S & P might be a good subject too, although a somewhat sad one.

Just checked Wikipedia and you are correct about Svetlana.

I had such high hopes for Silverstein and Pekarek! I was so disappointed when they quit. I did see Jamie skate with Mark O'Meara at USN. They made the Olympic team but then she quit again.

 

[ldec]

Lenka Kulowana (CZE, I think). Saw her skate at perhaps the 1993 worlds, but dudnt hear mych about her.

Zuzana Szwed (not sure of the spelling of her first or last name), but she skated for Poland in 1992, I think.

Wikipedia tells me Lenka had kind of a long-ish career (by figure skating standards at least), competing until 1998 (including three Olympic appearances). She then started skating in shows and became a coach.

Zuzana Szwed did skate for Poland indeed. Now I need to go hunt videos of their performances on Youtube.

Evelyn is featured in a recent documentary celebrating Jutta Mueller's 90th birthday. I always thought she should have placed higher in the free skate at the 1989 World Championships, above Trenary and Leistner, and about the same as Yamaguchi.

Maybe this is the documentary you have in mind about Jutta Mueller? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhIUrkeMpNk

 

[SmallFairy]

Lenka Kulovana was a lovely skater! She struggled with the harder triples and could only do toe loops and salchows (maybe loop on a good day?) but she had great, strong basic and a classic style. AND she could do a 3toe3toe combo back in the days. The moment ladies was allowed to do 3,3s in the SP, Lenka found herself top six before the FS at Euros (1997?), skating in the final group. I think it was quite a shock to her, she wasn't used to the situation, and she had a bad performance in the FS, dropping like a stone. She disappeared after 1998 I think, not quite sure. IIRC Lenka was also the final skater in the SP at Lillehammer 94 Olympics. She skated a lovely, clean program, but got low marks due to lack of difficulty and the audience was not happy, booing the judges. I agreed she was lowballed, as I was no technique back then. Unfortunately I haven't seen the program since. (I was at the ladies sp live)

Zuzana Szwed I never saw live, but she was great at Euros 95, very powerful, and with a step seq on one foot covering the entire ice. Did she retire after that season?

Poland have had several strong ladies, it's worth looking into. Szwed, Anna Rechnio, Sabina Wojtala...

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I saw Szwed in person twice (1994 WJC and 1996 WC). She reminded me a lot of a young Carolina Kostner.

 

[pollyanna]

I always wished I could have seen video of American Jill Sawyer. At the age of 14, she was pulling off 3lutz in the 1970s. She was world junior champion in 1978, but disappeared from the sport after the 1978 Prague Skate. Rumor is that it was a car accident that caused her retirement.

 

[Vash01]

I briefly met Zuzana and her husband, Aaron Parchem, at the 2006 World Championships in Calgary. She seemed touched that I remembered her singles career.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[theredpepper]

@theredpepper, there was Feb. 2018 Houston Chronicle article about Katy overcoming challenges post-competitive skating that can still be read from here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-a-neat-little-bow.102969/page-3#post-5309801

Thanks, much appreciated.