...And then there is Sarah Hughes, an Olympic Gold medalist without any World medals.
Interesting that you either forgot to mention Sarah Hughes in your OP or did not consider her Olympic gold worthy of even a mention.
So I was looking at Wikipedia to see just how many World medals American ladies have won in the years I actually remember, from 1965 to 2006, and American ladies won 48 World medals! Here's the breakdown below plus if they won any Olympic medals. Just looking at all the hardware these ladies won at Worlds, I think Ashley's legacy definitely requires a World medal of some sort!
Peggy Fleming – 3 gold 1 bronze (Olympic gold)
Julie Lynn Holmes – 1 silver 1 bronze
Janet Lynn – 1 silver 1 bronze (Olympic bronze)
Dorothy Hamill – 1 gold 2 silver (Olympic gold)
Linda Fratianne – 2 gold 1 silver 1 bronze (Olympic silver)
Elaine Zayak – 1 gold 1 silver 1 bronze
Rosalynn Sumners - 1 gold (Olympic silver)
Tiffany Chin – 2 bronze
Debi Thomas – 1 gold 1 silver 1 bronze (Olympic silver)
Caryn Kadavy – 1 bronze
Jill Trenary – 1 gold 1 bronze
Holly Cook – 1 bronze
Kristi Yamaguchi – 2 gold (Olympic gold)
Tonya Harding – 1 silver
Nancy Kerrigan – 1 silver 1 bronze (Olympic silver & bronze)
Nicole Bobek – 1 bronze
Michelle Kwan – 5 gold 3 silver 1 bronze (Olympic silver & bronze)
Tara Lipinski – 1 gold (Olympic gold)
Sasha Cohen – 2 silver 1 bronze (Olympic silver)
Kimmie Meissner – 1 gold
And then there is Sarah Hughes, an Olympic Gold medalist without any World medals.
I mean these girls are only famous because they are from the US, not hate to them but really that's all. If they were from a country like Russia:
A) would most likely be irrelevant as they are so inconsistent
or
B) would be incredibly consistent as the Russian Coaches would've done better for them.
That being said I do appreciate the American women being older and more mature; it's a nice contrast to the Russian Teens. As for Ashley, no, I don't think her legacy depends on a world medal just like I don't think Alena Leonova's (I know she has a world silver) or Ksenia Makarova need a world medal for their legacy. All three of these ladies kept there federations going through the years and built there programs up.
Well, Kimmie Meissner won one bronze, two silvers, and three golds, one of which won her a Worlds title. How is her career viewed now these many years later? I think that might give an indication about how Ashley's career might be viewed years down the road. I certainly never hear people talk about Kimmie on these boards and elsewhere and yet that wasn't a bad haul of medals by her.
Forgot to include Kimmie also won Nationals three times as well.
I was thinking more in terms of her legacy as an American figure skater, I doubt she will have a substantial legacy internationally even if she were to pick up a world medal.
Ashley's legacy, unfortunately, will be that of the top U.S. female figure during the lowest point in American figure skating since after that awful 1961 plane crash. She absolutely needs a world medal to rate with anyone on that long list of medal winners. OK, maybe she rates with Holly Cook, but . . . that's a pretty illustrious list.
I like Ashley, I think she's got a lot of grit. And I don't think she's choked or underperformed through the years -- I think she's performed well and placed where she deserved. She's a top skater with a very impressive career -- she's just not one of the greats.
Debi Thomas won Olympic bronze, not silver.
This is a difficult question. I don't remember if Janet Lynn ever won Worlds but, I think She Medaled. I will say that She was certainly very popular. Older Generation. Wasn't Janet the spokeswoman for Kodak Instamatic Camera's? Do you guys remember those things? They were basically a cardboard box that took horrible pictures that you had to take to "Photomat" to get developed.