Skaters/Results/Performances You've Changed Your Mind About

andromache · May 22, 2015

As someone who got into following figure skating when I was ten years old, I look back at how much my taste in skaters/performances has changed during the years. As a preteen and young teenager, I did not get why everyone loved Michelle Kwan so much. When I got into skating in 2002, I was all about the younger, up and coming ladies--I adored Sasha Cohen. Looking back, I was so ridiculous! I still think Sasha is great, but Michelle :love:

. How silly it was of me not to love Michelle while she was still competing!

In addition, what originally got me into skating was the 2002 pairs competition at the Olympics, as the media kept on hyping the S/P B/S battle. If I recall, the coverage was very Cold War: the good guy Canadians versus the evil Russian pairs dynasty. Younger me totally bought into it, and I was livid when S/P lost. (And listening to the infamous NBC commentary fueled my fire). As I've grown into being a skating fan, I'm able to look back at both long programs and see how they both might've won. The narrative, more emotional quality to S/P's Love Story program drew me in more at the time, but as I've gained more taste/learned what I appreciate most in skating, I really see beauty of B/S in every single movement.

Those are just two examples that immediately come to mind. I'm interested in knowing how others have grown and changed as fans. Which skaters used to bore you that you now adore? Are there any performances that have grown on you with time, or results that you weren't happy about but you've changed your mind about?

This isn't a thread to whine about skaters/results/performances you still don't like or want to argue about. Keep it positive! What aspects of the sport did you never imagine yourself enjoying but have since had a change of heart about?

Interspectator · May 22, 2015

Satoko. Something clicked this year, and I really love her skating. I've been watching her along with the other Japanese ladies and I used to think she lacked performance charisma. Now, she's near the top of my list of favorite skaters to watch for next season.

Voronov. when I first saw him skate last season, I thought his program, music and costume were ridiculous. Over the course of the season his conviction and the way he sells his program makes it one of the most enjoyable programs of the year for me to watch.

blue_idealist · May 22, 2015

I didn't appreciate Michelle Kwan when I was younger as much as I do now. I found her "boring" compared to Lipinski and Bobek but after watching her performances at a later age, I see why she was so great. I also didn't like Yagudin and Plushenko since they started beating Elvis Stojko (one of my favourites at the time), but now I appreciate them more, too, especially Yagudin. I agree with you about the B/S vs. S/P thing. While I still think S/P should have taken it by a hair, I can see a justification for B/S winning, too, whereas I thought there was no question it should have been S/P back then.

xibsuarz · May 22, 2015

Not of a skater or performance in particular but I changed my mind about a whole category. Well, when I first got into figure skating, I was uninterested on ice dance. I just didn't see it as much of a sport as men, ladies and pairs. But as I started watching more competitions, I started noticing the non-jumping elements in all the fields, and specially after watching D/W and V/M, I learned to appreciate the complexity of ice dance and how beautiful but at the same time athletic can be. Now its one of my favorite categories :biggrin:

Skater Boy · May 23, 2015

When I watched old tapes of the East German Katarina Witt I thought she was pure beauty and art and consistent with great jumps. But as I learned her jumps were the far easier triples and her seductive qualities while provocative often hid weaknesses. Still I admire her competitive drive and fire. but look at Debi Thomas the American fave she had a double triple and wow it exploded - so much harder than Witt's combo. And I agree about the S and P actually I kind of go back and forth now whoever you picked as the artistic winner would win SLC gold so it could be either. And the more I watch Elvis I can't say I like his style but he had a theme and artistic flavour - like it or not. Actually it was legit and genuine and not put on like Candelero or Brian Boitano. The more I watch Jeffrey Buttle, Stephen Lambiel and Patrick Chan and you really can see what good "skating' not necessary jumps is. I don't think we appreciate them as much as we should.

Blades of Passion · May 23, 2015

Slutskaya at 2001 Worlds is a little better than I used to give her credit for (but still absolutely no question whatsoever that Kwan won the competition, LOL).

I used to prefer Davis/White at 2012 Worlds because of the little mistakes Virtue/Moir made, but I've grown to like that V/M program more and I do believe they deserved the win now. It's really close either way.

I don't think my opinion on anything else has changed in the past 5 years.

Alchamei · May 23, 2015

Mao Asada. I used to always see her as Yuna's rival, and being worse than Yuna. I couldn't get into her skating (bth, I like Yuna and Mao more after 2010), she didn't seem as graceful and artistic to me and had a questinable jump technique. The irony is I remember I heard Mao's name during my childhood, but can't think of anything related to Yuna in that period. However, I saw her Sochi FS live and during the program I cheered for her to get that eight triples, and she did. I wasn't that amazed at first, but when I saw a lot of beautiful pictures and Tumblr and fans praising her, I decided to watch it again and again and after some time I even cried watching her Sochi FS.

I thought I would cry if anyone broke Yuna's World record. When Mao did that at Worlds 2014, I did. But not because of disapontment or feeling loss. I did because of the elegance, gracefullness and balletic flair that Mao brought into her Chopin SP.

Barb · May 23, 2015

Plushenko, I thought that he was a perfect figure skater, but he is basically only jumps, now he is not near to my favorites.
Ice dance, I thought it was a stupid category, now is my favorite or very close with ladies.
D/W vs V/M: D/W were my favorites and I thought they were obviously better, now, I think V/M were clearly the best team.

FSGMT · May 23, 2015

Absolutely Duhamel/Radford: I didn't like them a lot during the past, while I completely changed my mind about them during this year's GPF: I fell in love with their FS performance and I actually became a fan of theirs since that event.
Another example is Satoko, for sure: I saw her live at Lombardia Trophy this fall and I immediately became a fan! :love:

One last example would be Bobrova/Soloviev: I hated their Walpurgis Night FD during that season, but I re-watched it later and began appreciating it. It isn't so old-Russian-style as it may seem, after all :biggrin:

solani · May 23, 2015

Jason Brown. I thought he was a nice enough skater without a quad until Worlds this year. When I watched his free skate I recognized that he can be great, even without a quad. And then I see his EX and think why? why? :drama:

Sophie-Anna · May 23, 2015

Julia Lipnitskaia-I watched a first video of her when she still wasn't skating in the juniors. I was amazed by her flexibility but I didn't really liked her skating, because she showed no emotions, not even a smile...When she started in juniors I expected her to win everything because it was clear she is great but I still didn't like her until the 2013/2014 season. She had two great programs, she improved in interpretation and musicality and I started to notice her more since Skate Canada 2013. I absolutely fell in love with her programs during the Europeans and I'm a big fan of her since then.
Meryl and Charlie-before 2012 I like Tessa and Scott but I changed my opinion after I saw Marlie's FD at GPF 2011. I still like V/M but I like D/W a little bit more.
Jason Brown-I didn't like his style during his junior years, I don't even know why. But when I saw his brilliant programs last year at the Nationals I loved it.

RaylHaze · May 23, 2015

Julia Lipnitskaia - I never liked her when she was junior and her first year in senior competition but I grew to like her when she improved dramatically on her expressions and presentation, the music choices lately also helped so I am actually rooting for her to make a comeback

Elizaveta Tuk - Didnt like her alot until this season. She did great both technically and artistically in my opinion. I liked her FS best.

Mao Asada- same as others but after 2010, I realized that she did remarkable things when she was struggling on her technique and as she mature.

Elena Radionova - I liked her a lot, I think when I first watch her JGPF performance on 2012-2013 season. She was great technically and very expressive. I always compare her with Julia and root for her but lately I feel she made not much progress and didn't like her programs.

Joshua Farris - I thought Jason was better skater than him in the junior seasons even at the start of their seniors but he finally made his style and there were several good things in his skating that is likable.

LRK · May 23, 2015

Newbiespectator said:
Satoko. Something clicked this year, and I really love her skating. I've been watching her along with the other Japanese ladies and I used to think she lacked performance charisma. Now, she's near the top of my list of favorite skaters to watch for next season.

Voronov. when I first saw him skate last season, I thought his program, music and costume were ridiculous. Over the course of the season his conviction and the way he sells his program makes it one of the most enjoyable programs of the year for me to watch.

I think Voronov is the greatest example of actually changing my mind about something. (I've come to like/love skaters more than I had before many times - but it generally is because they improved between seasons, and/or got a program I really enjoyed, or something like that - not starting out by not caring for something, and then having a change of heart.) The first time I saw those programs of his - the LP especially - I just didn't know what the heck was going on. Then suddenly, watching the LP, I found myself, to my total shock, actually enjoying it. I still have no clue about the LP - I just don't care anymore. He's having fun skating it - I'm having fun watching it - so why worry about it?

I'm now looking forward to what he will bring next season.

karne · May 23, 2015

I have certainly softened to Abbott over the last year or so. I can appreciate when he's on.

And I certainly think I was far too harsh on Lysacek during my early time in skating.

Shamefully, I have also softened considerably towards Zakrasjek, which is all kinds of wrong and I just don't know how to deal with that.

daphenaxa · May 23, 2015

I don't think there is any skater that I liked and that I have come to dislike or the contrary.
But maybe some skaters I was indifferent about before and that I came to like less and less like Davis/White

Oh i also liked Yuna's Sochi LP which was a first.

MalAssada · May 23, 2015

Liza Tuk

In the beggining of the season, I was rooting for Elena because she was such a sweet bundle of joy, and Liza was skating to a war horse while wearing, uh, those dresses. Then, as I learned more about her failures in past seasons, I started rooting for her, and by Worlds, I considered it my birthday gift that she landed that 3A in the short program :love:

moriel · May 23, 2015

Jason Brown
I was all "ugh, this dude doesnt even have a quad and he wants to compete, lame", but then during the season changed my mind and will be a fan because screw quads, he is awesome the way he is

silverfoxes · May 23, 2015

It doesn't happen often, but recently I've found a new appreciation for Kevin Van Der Perren. I used to be turned off by the horrid costumes, and I found him a bit boring...but his jumps and personality won me over. I guess he reminds me of Voronov in some respects (who I always liked, but definitely became a much bigger fan in the past 2 seasons). Sorry I didn't like Kevin when he was competing. :slink:

And the other Kevin (Reynolds) took a long time for me to warm to as well.

Sandpiper · May 23, 2015

Elvis Stojko. My first exposure to men's skating was watching the Plushenko and Yagudin era circa. 2000-2002. Elvis was there too, and I had trouble appreciating him because I thought the Russians were so much more stylish (and more capable of landing their jumps

). Elvis' style just rubbed me the wrong way, and though I knew he was 'old' and past his prime, don't expect little me to be very sympathetic.* :laugh:

However, many years later, I grew to understand what Elvis did for the sport. Though most of his programs still aren't my cup of tea, I really respect him as a great champion who pushed the sport forward. :rock:

(Also, I love his final "Dragon" LP from 2002 SLC. Despite all the mistakes, it's the performance that had the most emotional resonance for me.)

*Though I will say, to Elvis' credit, at least I remembered him. I don't really have strong memories of anyone else (except Plushenko) and can't even remember what I thought about them at the time, outside of knowing I probably saw them since they were of that era.

In terms of specific programs/performances...
- Voronov's LP this past season. I was confused the first time I saw it. Then over the season, I started to enjoy it. :slink:

- Michelle Kwan's skates at the 2002 Olympics: Watching them back, they were actually better than I expected, and certainly not meltdowns. I thought she deserved second place in the LP and a silver medal at the very least (1st after the SP is a bit harder to justify).
- Virtue/Moir's The Seasons. I didn't love the program at first, but now I find it incredibly beautiful.

There are other performances where I used to just "like," and now I love them to pieces, but I don't think that qualifies as "changing your mind" enough for this thread.

Weathergal · May 23, 2015

Newbiespectator said:
Voronov. when I first saw him skate last season, I thought his program, music and costume were ridiculous. Over the course of the season his conviction and the way he sells his program makes it one of the most enjoyable programs of the year for me to watch.

LRK said:
I think Voronov is the greatest example of actually changing my mind about something. (I've come to like/love skaters more than I had before many times - but it generally is because they improved between seasons, and/or got a program I really enjoyed, or something like that - not starting out by not caring for something, and then having a change of heart.) The first time I saw those programs of his - the LP especially - I just didn't know what the heck was going on. Then suddenly, watching the LP, I found myself, to my total shock, actually enjoying it. I still have no clue about the LP - I just don't care anymore. He's having fun skating it - I'm having fun watching it - so why worry about it? I'm now looking forward to what he will bring next season.

karne said:
Shamefully, I have also softened considerably towards Zakrasjek, which is all kinds of wrong and I just don't know how to deal with that.

First, Andromache--thank you for starting this thread. What a great idea for a thread!

I agree with most of the above about Voronov for sure. Also about Zakrasjek.

Viktor Petrenko is a skater that comes to mind. Didn't really care for him during his amateur career. I'm sure part of that was my love for Paul Wylie's skating. But as a professional, he won me over, and I really enjoyed his programs.

I didn't find Tarasova/Morozov all that compelling originally (their "Hello" program is a bit tough to sell IMO), but they won me over, and by World's I absolutely enjoyed their skating, including their Hello LP.

Javier Fernandez is another skater. I found him charming and liked the fact that a skater from a non-traditional skating country was doing so well. But I was rather indiffferent toward his skating. I've become a fan in the past several years though and especially love his "Peter Gunn" and "Black Betty" programs. Black Betty... :love:

Skaters/Results/Performances You've Changed Your Mind About

andromache

Interspectator

blue_idealist

xibsuarz

Skater Boy

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be

Alchamei

Barb

FSGMT

solani

Sophie-Anna

RaylHaze

LRK

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode

daphenaxa

MalAssada

moriel

silverfoxes

Sandpiper

Weathergal

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