Scott Hamilton vs. Michelle Kwan: Who Wins?

[Vagabond]

With special thanks to @bardtoob and @Rock2 for the inspiration. I'm adding in Kwan's 2002 in order to have a potential split between '98 and '02 and thereby be more fair to Hamilton.

Scott Hamilton Sarajevo SP
Michelle Kwan Nagano Olympic SP
Michelle Kwan Salt Lake City Olympic SP

Who wins?

 

[bardtoob]

With special thanks to @bardtoob and @Rock2 for the inspiration. I'm adding in Kwan's 2002 in order to have a potential split between '98 and '02 and thereby be more fair to Hamilton.

Scott Hamilton Lake Placid SP
Michelle Kwan Nagano Olympic SP
Michelle Kwan Salt Lake City Olympic SP

Who wins?

Kwan of 2002 had way more power than Kwan of 1998.

However, Kwan of 1998 had butt shakes during her program, which made it better. (Well it is actually some sort of steps, but mechanically the most notable part is the butt shake.)

Scott of 1984 had more power and higher jumps, but the program is less compelling.

I have to give it to Kwan of 1998.

 

[WillyElliot]

Well, I pick Kwan 1998. This is one of my favorite programs of hers. Exquisite choreography, jumps looked good.

Scott had great light jumps, and his footwork is impressive as always, but if you've seen one program of his you've pretty much seen them all. His range was pretty much nil. He could have skated that program to any music, which he did for years.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

For some reason the title conjures up those old Japanese monster movies from the fifties like Godzilla versus Mothra.

My personal choice would be putting Hamilton or David Santee up against Denise Biellmann, Elaine Zayak, or Midori Ito.

Those ladies skated in the same era as Scott, but technically, were way ahead of their time.

 

[berthesghost]

My personal choice would be putting Hamilton or David Santee up against Denise Biellmann, Elaine Zayak, or Midori Ito.

Those ladies skated in the same era as Scott, but technically, were way ahead of their time.

To quote the comment that inspired this thread

Hey, make your own ridiculous off season poll!

there’s no such thing as too many polls in the off season


I’m the crazy lone vote for 02. Although it was a tad off I liked the maturity of it and I like the idea of artists revisiting old works which is very different than the same choreo to different music routine many skaters rely on in their careers. And on a shallow note, as gorgeous as 98 was I was rarely able to get past that awful old lady bathing suit she wore.

 

[Vagabond]

Scott Hamilton's SP is from, 1984, not 1980.