To me Valentina Marchei was very unlucky in the Olympic seasons prior to Sochi; she missed out in 2006 after Silvia Fontana came back, and again in 2010 (despite winning Nationals) because Italy only had one spot and Kostner did win Euros... this also meant that Marchei missed out on Worlds in Italy that year.
I don't know what it says about Marchei's form that season that she lost the spot to Fontana who wasn't even able to have a 7th jumping pass in Turino. And Italy ladies only had 1 spot for 2010 Olympics and Worlds because Kostner bombed 2009 Worlds with all those single jumps. Then again, if Marchei was always just going to have to rely on another countryman to qualify a spot for her, then perhaps she didn't lose the spot because of Kostner - she just didn't earn it on her own.
He got skipped for the Olympics once when he hadn't even been to Worlds at that point and wasn't that established internationally. I am sure it's tough on him but honestly it is quite a fair decision to send Eldredge and Wylie. For me, he simply wasn't competitive enough - all the other US men were either doing 2 3axels / lutzes or 3/3s - while Mitchell himself would rarely even repeat a triple higher than a 3loop and would rarely attempt a combo harder than a 3flip2toe. His skating was breathtaking to watch though but his other competitors were also strong on presentation.
Ross Miner. Timing is everything.
It was one time and for me, a very justified decision to send Zhou over him, even more so than the Mark Mitchell case. He was actually lucky that the USFS sent him instead of Abbott to Worlds in 2011.
I will also say here that Christopher Bowman was unlucky.
On results alone, I think he was lucky to have accomplished as much as he did with the training habits and attitude he had. He didn't achieve more due entirely to his own making. It wasn't the judging system, it wasn't wrong timing. He was a grown man and I don't think it's fair to say he was unlucky that other people didn't intervene enough / enabled him. In fact, he probably received more intervention and attention simply because he was a top athlete. It's a sad case all around though.
For everyone citing injuries, there is a difference between skaters injuring themselves during ordinary training and missing competitions or under-performing at the worst timing, and those injuring themselves trying risky elements behind their reach and with questionable technique. For me, Kavaguti & Smirnov fall into the latter category.
Laetitia Hubert - she would have won bronze medals at BOTH 1992 and 1998 Worlds under the OBO system. (1998, because Butyrskaya would have been too low in the short program to catch her.) Crazy flip-flopping ordinals screwed her both times.
Was literally saving this for you to post,
@Louis .
Angela Nikodinov - World competitor at 1999, 2000, and 2001 Worlds and then missed the Olympic season.
Same for Anna Pogorilaya.
Kurt Browning - 4x World Champion but no Olympic medal of any color despite three tries. Has anyone else even come close to this?
This takes the cake. Well, 2 serious tries anyways. Was he supposed to be in medal contention in 1988?
Alexei Urmanov - I'm not sure anyone else has ever withdrawn from Worlds after leading the short program. (Though he had his share of good luck in 1994!)
I hope by good luck, you meant that the 3 big veterans all faltered in the short, and not that he lucked out beating Stojko?! He beat Stojko 8-1 but for some reason this was always pegged as a close race in which Stojko wuzrobbed.
Besides 1997 injury and consequentially missing the entire 1998 season, another bad luck seems to be the fact that he wasn't able to garner much love from the judges even after the big win in 1994. He was a solid skater all around and despite some good skating in 1995-7, the judges didn't seem to regard him as a champion.
All in all, he was a pretty unlucky guy.
A skater as dominant as Ito would've won more medals and championships in almost any other period of history. There were several unlucky elements that caused her to (IMO) have lesser results than her skill would indicate.
It wasn't just figures or the fact that she came from a weak federation. It was mostly skating culture and perception. Ito and Harding simply didn't fit into the mold of a classical skater and as a result their elements, their speed and complex programs were overlooked. They weren't raw athletes like Bonaly. On the flip side, Trenary and Kerrigan definitely lucked out as a result. The performances that they medalled with in 1990 / 1992 respectively were pretty shocking.
Tanja Szewczenko often had bad luck too with her injuries en illnesses.
I think it is more than balanced out with her winning a world medal in 1994 with just a 3loop combo in the short.
for Eldredge. I heard some pretty awful things about her during her competitive days from adult skaters at the same rink. In retrospect, especially given what she talked about in the "Weight of Gold" documentary, she was probably desperately unhappy and lashing out. But she had so many opportunities that other skaters could only dream of, that I wouldn't label her as unlucky.
