What was your first exposure to figure skating?

What was your first exposure to figure skating?

  • Skating at a rink

    Votes: 20 21.1%

  • Skating on natural ice

    Votes: 17 17.9%

  • Watching on TV

    Votes: 73 76.8%

  • Watching online

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • In a movie

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Live competition

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Live show

    Votes: 3 3.2%

  • News media

    Votes: 2 2.1%

  • Book

    Votes: 2 2.1%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 2.1%
  • Total voters
    95
gkelly

gkelly

Well-Known Member
Messages
16,697
Skating at a rink

Skating on natural ice

Watching on TV

Watching online

In a movie

Live competition

Live show

Print news media

Book

Other



Feel free to elaborate on your experience, including sharing when and where your first encounter with the sport took place if you feel comfortable doing so.
 
1993 Worlds, the ladies free skate was on NBC one night and I was at my great-grandmothers house as my mom was helping her out. I was 6 and was totally invested in the whole thing- the jumps, the music selections, Oksana's story, the fact that the flags of the different countries for the judges were shown (I was a huge geography/Carmen Sandiego nerd by that time), the scores themselves, just everything. And here we are now.
 
At the time I lived in Australia. Not only in Australia, but in a tiny town in the desert in the far north of Western Australia. I'd never heard of figure skating, let alone competitive figure skating. I worked on the reception desk at the only h/motel in town and had finished work at 11pm and had to start the next day at 7am. It was 1980. The only time any figure skating was shown on television in OZ in those days was the Olys. I think in this town we only had one TV channel.

When I got home from work I turned the TV on and the '80 Oly pairs FS was on. I was immediately captivated. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I remember distinctly a couple in pale blue. I think I watched the whole event instead of sleeping.

In 1984 I moved to Canada where it was on TV a lot and I've been hooked ever since.
 
The first time I skated @ a rink was when I was 17. I loved the experience & asked for a pair of skates for my birthday. I still have those skates & they still fit. As a kid I would watch ABC's Wide World of Sports which had some fs coverage, so I knew who Peggy Fleming was by then (and Dick Button as a commentator). We always watched the Olympics & enjoyed FS most of all, but it was the "Battle of the Brians" & discovering Midori Ito that did it for us. My biggest regret is that we didn't follow the sport closely between 1984-1988. That all changed with the Calgary Olympics!
 
I remember the 1984 Olympics first, but I was aware that Roz had replaced Zayak as America's favorite, so maybe Wide World of Sports circa 1983.

From the 1984 Olympics, I remember Katarina, Tiffany Chin, and Kira Ivanova. I do not actually remember Roz or Zayak.
 
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I remember watching the 1968 Olympics with my mom. It was pretty exciting to see Peggy Fleming win the Gold in Grenoble.

My mom loved figure skating, and I believe that's why I love the sport so much, too. If my mom was still around, we would more than likely still watch all the skating together. I miss those times, but I also cherish those special times, too.
 
I fell in love with skating watching the 88 olympics. It’s one of my earliest memories, I was not quite three. I became slightly obsessed with Elizabeth Manley. Fortunately for me, there were many tv specials that came out of those Olympics and a dad that dutifully recorded every one of them for me which kept me going until I was big enough for lessons.
 
VGThuy said:
Tonya and Nancy; some made-for-tv-events in-between; then catching Nagano and seeing Michelle Kwan. Once I saw her, that was it.
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Same here. My parents watched the Olympics for the whole Tonya/Nancy thing but that was it. I remember not understanding the difference between pairs and dance. I had 3 other sisters so always lost control of the remote after that. I was able to watch Michelle go for Nagano because it was my first year on my own except for a roommate who had her own tv in her room. I finally got full control of the remote and I went from there. It's why I really count that year as my first real experience watching skating.
 
Speaking of confusing pairs and ice dance, when I was young, I thought Oksana Baiul cut her hair and started skating pairs. :lol:
 
MacMadame said:
I grew up watching figure skating on Wide World of Sports on Saturdays with my mom.
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It was the same with my family--we watched skating on Wide World of Sports, and also of course the Olympics. I don't remember exactly when was the first time I watched--although I remember my parents talking about Janet Lynn. The first skating I definitely remember watching is Dorothy Hamill in the 1976 Olympics as a child. We were casual viewers all through my childhood.

Then I lost touch with things a bit during college. But after college, I tuned into 1991 Nationals and was immediately captivated by the Kristi-Nancy-Tonya rivalries and Tonya's triple Axel. Worlds 1991 sealed it for me & I've been a fan ever since. :D
 
I think it was seeing Peggy Fleming on Christmas television specials following her Olympic victory. Oddly enough I don't remember Dorothy's Olympics clearly but I certainly remember the commercials, especially her hair care endorsements, and her popularity in magazines like "Seventeen" following her gold.
 
My first exposure was skating on a local pond that froze over every year (during the Global Cooling scare of the 1970s) with my mother and sister. We had no ice rink close by when I was a teen, so no more figure skating for me after the last back-to-back super cold winters here in the late 1970s!

My first clear TV skating memory was the 1976 Olympics with Dorothy Hamill and Rodnina & Zaitsev, but I have no memories of the Russians taking 3 of the top 4 slots in ice dancing. I remember John Curry and Toller Cranston a bit too (as amateurs, and loved them both in the World Profesional Championships). I also had vague memories of Janet Lynn and Peggy Fleming in ice shows, so perhaps I went to the Ice Capades or something as well.

It was just enough exposure as a child that when the local rink was built and family got involved competitively, and getting drawn in completely at the 1980 Olympics with Tai & Randy and so many other great stories, that I've been hooked for 4 decades.
 
clairecloutier said:
don't remember exactly when was the first time I watched--although I remember my parents talking about Janet Lynn. The first skating I definitely remember watching is Dorothy Hamill in the 1976 Olympics as a child. We were casual viewers all through my childhood.
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I saw Janet Lynn! (Not in person, on my TV)

I remember when Nationals was in Philly one year in 1968! They actually showed some on the local (Philly) station, IIRC. Peggy Fleming won and Janet Lynn came in third. I then remember watching Peggy win at Grenoble. After that, she and Janet (and others I don't remember) were on TV a lot so they were definitely part of my childhood.

ETA we didn't have a lot of money but my mom did scrounge up money for tickets to the Ice Capades every once in a while.
 
The first time I got to see figure skating was on TV one day when I was very very young, maybe 4 years old, and I witnessed my Finnish grandfather watching figure skating and telling me that the one on screen was Finnish and he was so proud of her.

A couple of years later, my siblings and I went for a walk with my dad in a big park in my hometown. It was a cold winter and the ponds were frozen. At some point we saw a couple of figure skaters on the ice there and we met the father of one of my mom's piano students. We really liked what we were seeing, so my dad approached the coach and asked when the next practice would be taking place. We went on to buy skates at the next sports shop and showed up for the next practice, all dressed up in our snowsuits and that was how it all began...
 
The first time I paid attention to ice dance was 2001 Worlds and I had no idea what it was. And I loved it. Even with my untrained eyes I thought Anissina/Peizerat was robbed. I don’t know why I thought that, I just did. I think I loved her bright red hair.
 
Simone411 said:
I remember watching the 1968 Olympics with my mom. It was pretty exciting to see Peggy Fleming win the Gold in Grenoble.

My mom loved figure skating, and I believe that's why I love the sport so much, too. If my mom was still around, we would more than likely still watch all the skating together. I miss those times, but I also cherish those special times, too.
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Although am not sure how much she liked it my Mum would always watch skating with me and she came with me to the World Championships in Birmingham in 95. I remember seeing Marina Anissina in her tracksuit and trainers after she had skated. She looked so tiny off the ice, I loved their tango FD that year.
 
The first skating event I remember seeing was a competition on TV with Scott Hamilton & Robin Cousins. It was years before I realized it was a professional event rather than a World Championships.

The first skating event I remember seeing live was Disney on Ice starring Linda Fratianne. My mom, my sister, and I were visiting my great aunt in San Francisco, and she took us to the show.
 
My first experience was watching Skate Canada '80 and seeing an amazing little 15 year old win the ladies' event. She was so quick, confident and talented, and I wanted to know more. I am happy to say that 10 years ago I got to meet Elaine Zayak in person, and she was as kind and gracious live as she was on tv.
 
The first time I really remember anything about skating sticking in my mind was opening up the newspaper to the sports section during Vancouver and watching the news. Three main issues:

  • that racist abomination from Dominina/Shabalin, which of course got a lot of attention here
  • the fact that Cheltzie Lee was threatened with being thrown out if she wore a wristband during competition in memorial to the young skaters killed in the Sydney Harbour boat crash (which rankled a lot of people even more when contrasted to the above)
  • Johnny Weir getting death threats from PETA for having a scrap of fur on his costume.

After that, I was intrigued enough to watch some of it; and after the men's last group I went on a research spree, and I was hooked.
 
I had to think about this because ..... I remember Mom having Dorothy Hamil on the TV when I was like a whipper-snapper, I also remember Jill Trenary, Kristi Yamaguchi but I was older.... so I was going to say TV because of Dorothy Hamil...

BUT then I remember at the end of our road or somewhere in our small town in suburban Chicago there was an outdoor frozen small lake... My Ma took my sister and I out on it when it was open to the public and I was paralyzed with fear, lol

So was an outdoor natural surface.
 
misskarne said:
  • hat racist abomination from Dominina/Shabalin, which of course got a lot of attention here
  • the fact that Cheltzie Lee was threatened with being thrown out if she wore a wristband during competition in memorial to the young skaters killed in the Sydney Harbour boat crash (which rankled a lot of people even more when contrasted to the above)
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I dont want to drift this topic in this thread so could you DM me with details of these.... I dont have any knowledge of these and I would like to.... Thanks.

added later: oh, wait was the D&S thing about the costumes (and hair) they wore? something about aboriginals? I have to think about this... maybe that is it?

I take it you are from Australia? Yes, I think I remember that you are... you started the Australian thread. What happened about Lee? DM me....
 
What was your first exposure to figure skating?
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Wide World of Sports with Jim McKay and Dick Button. It's crazy how excited I would be for the next airing of a skating competition, even though it was months away. This is all we had!
 
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On TV with my Mom since I can remember. It’s my special connection to her. All the more now since she passed away.

I’m Canadian so lots of opportunities to skate.

if we had of had money I’m sure one of the three of me and my sisters would have been put in lessons.
 
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