Yu Na Kim, the Nadia Comaneci of skating?

[olympic]

Check this out -

Both made a big mark in their respective championships prior to their 1st Olympics [1975 Euros / 2009 Worlds] and established themselves as the favorite

Both attended their 1st Olympics in Canada.

Both took off and never looked back en route to their 1st OGM, YNK set a WR and NC scored 7 10.00s

Both became national and international stars, and became the face of their sports in their respective countries

Both experienced ups and downs in the years following their wins; injuries, losses, coaching issues

Both resurrected their careers in the year prior to their 2nd Olympics [1979 Euros / 2013 Worlds]

Both attended their 2nd Olympics in Russia / USSR

Both were competing in front of heavily partisan crowds

Both were beaten by an upstart Russian that not many people were talking about as a favorite

Both were the final performers of the night, upon which the OGM depended, and controversy surrounded their final scores.

Both federations protested the scores

ETA - I couldn't find the Yu Na Cheer thread to add this to, but I found it fascinating

 

[Jot the Dot Dot]

Ah, I can see what would make you say that. But Nadia was born and raised in Communist Romania, and had a harsh life under dictator Ceausescu that few of us could imagine. She had to defect in her late 20s. Yuna was born and grew up in South Korea after it finally got rid of it's military rule. I admire both women, but I'm thinking such different childhoods would account for something.

 

[briancoogaert]

Interesting facts !
Just a thought : Oksana Baiul could have been another example, would she have came back in 1997 !

 

[her grace]

I like the comparison. They also helped launch an enduring interest in the sport in their countries (Comaneci’s having a larger immediate impact on international medals).

 

[olympic]

I like the comparison. They also helped launch an enduring interest in the sport in their countries (Comaneci’s having a larger immediate impact on international medals).

I should have added that both athletes came from countries where the sport was not that popular, but launched the popularity of those sports in their respective countries

And that both looked like they wanted to be somewhere else at the end of their 2nd appearances at the Olympics

 

[VGThuy]

I can definitely see the similarities. Nadia wasn't the one who pushed the sport via creativity (Olga did), but she pushed the known difficulty of WAG, did routines that combined difficult skills together so they added up to higher difficulty that what most other women were doing, and seemingly perfected (for their eras) such moves and did them with such high amplitude to garner the utmost respect from her peers and the technicians of the sport who cared about proper technique.

When Yuna Kim was on, she gave you the appearance of mastering the 6-triple, 3 spin, spiral, step sequence layout and did those elements with such execution to garner higher GOEs than her competitors. It was like she took what the post-figures eras ladies did, with influence of Michelle Kwan, and "mastered" most of what they produced and did them higher, faster, and "better" than ever seen. I think Nadia had that same quality where nobody saw the moves Nadia did done with some brilliant execution AND combining all those difficult moves in highly-difficult routines.

Despite all of that, both have faced hardcore fans that would argue their scores were relatively too high and they were not "perfect" (more Nadia with the "perfect") and who proffered legit criticisms of certain things. However, overall, nobody really disputes their wins, their execution of skills, both competitors painted the picture of what their sport should look in an ideal almost textbook way like during their eras before the sport moved into more unknown territory in the "Eteri-era".

 

[On My Own]

I think this is as good a thread as any to mention. I found out a bit back that Arirang was actually sung by some as somewhat of a resistance anthem during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Yuna's usage of this in her 2011 program (2011 worlds was originally set to take place in Nagano) was incredibly brave.

 

[bardtoob]

Is this the off season? This thread has early July all over it

 

[olympic]

I can definitely see the similarities. Nadia wasn't the one who pushed the sport via creativity (Olga did), but she pushed the known difficulty of WAG, did routines that combined difficult skills together so they added up to higher difficulty that what most other women were doing, and seemingly perfected (for their eras) such moves and did them with such high amplitude to garner the utmost respect from her peers and the technicians of the sport who cared about proper technique.

When Yuna Kim was on, she gave you the appearance of mastering the 6-triple, 3 spin, spiral, step sequence layout and did those elements with such execution to garner higher GOEs than her competitors. It was like she took what the post-figures eras ladies did, with influence of Michelle Kwan, and "mastered" most of what they produced and did them higher, faster, and "better" than ever seen. I think Nadia had that same quality where nobody saw the moves Nadia did done with some brilliant execution AND combining all those difficult moves in highly-difficult routines.

Despite all of that, both have faced hardcore fans that would argue their scores were relatively too high and they were not "perfect" (more Nadia with the "perfect") and who proffered legit criticisms of certain things. However, overall, nobody really disputes their wins, their execution of skills, both competitors painted the picture of what their sport should look in an ideal almost textbook way like during their eras before the sport moved into more unknown territory in the "Eteri-era".

What would the Eteri equivalent be in the gymnastics world?

 

[VGThuy]

What would the Eteri equivalent be in the gymnastics world?

I’m not sure if there is. I guess what I mean is that gymnastics went through big change with the first few cycles of the open-ended scoring system except gymnastics went the extreme opposite way with regard to execution. Everything is a deduction haha. D-scores did make up for a lot for a while but now it seems they lessened the points elements get and E-scores are matter more these days. In 2001-2005, we had an equivalent to underrotations and downgrades in figure skating where many gymnasts doing hard tumbling passes weren’t getting full credit for their dance elements and thus hurting their 10.00 start value.

 

[olympic]

Is this the off season? This thread has early July all over it

I know. I posted because my busy brain was thinking about this, and I would have forgotten if I had not posted it quickly.

 

[olympic]

Ah, I can see what would make you say that. But Nadia was born and raised in Communist Romania, and had a harsh life under dictator Ceausescu that few of us could imagine. She had to defect in her late 20s. Yuna was born and grew up in South Korea after it finally got rid of it's military rule. I admire both women, but I'm thinking such different childhoods would account for something.

Yes. I was just kinda focused on their competitive careers. Their personal lives were obviously much different, although that is even more wild then that their competitive careers were so similar

 

[trainingdogs82]

I can definitely see the similarities. Nadia wasn't the one who pushed the sport via creativity (Olga did), but she pushed the known difficulty of WAG, did routines that combined difficult skills together so they added up to higher difficulty that what most other women were doing, and seemingly perfected (for their eras) such moves and did them with such high amplitude to garner the utmost respect from her peers and the technicians of the sport who cared about proper technique.

When Yuna Kim was on, she gave you the appearance of mastering the 6-triple, 3 spin, spiral, step sequence layout and did those elements with such execution to garner higher GOEs than her competitors. It was like she took what the post-figures eras ladies did, with influence of Michelle Kwan, and "mastered" most of what they produced and did them higher, faster, and "better" than ever seen. I think Nadia had that same quality where nobody saw the moves Nadia did done with some brilliant execution AND combining all those difficult moves in highly-difficult routines.

Despite all of that, both have faced hardcore fans that would argue their scores were relatively too high and they were not "perfect" (more Nadia with the "perfect") and who proffered legit criticisms of certain things. However, overall, nobody really disputes their wins, their execution of skills, both competitors painted the picture of what their sport should look in an ideal almost textbook way like during their eras before the sport moved into more unknown territory in the "Eteri-era".

Wow that is an excellent breakdown all around. I never thought the comparision made sense other than both being among the GOATs of their sport, but reading this it makes more.

 

[trainingdogs82]

What would the Eteri equivalent be in the gymnastics world?

I thought of Belu from Romania with the points/code whoring (even though done totally different ways), the pushing of bad technique to gain points, the lack of interest in any artistic investment at all, the outright abuse, the revolving door philosophy and lack of care for the athletes, especialy after some of Marinescu's revelations in her book, but Eteri is far too evil to be compared to even Belu.