Who are the skaters you respect most and why?

[Weathergal]

If you were born before 1966 you can say you are older than Astroturf.

 

[Jaana]

Evan Lysacek, I respect him for the hard work he did for his skating. He had things against him: height and he was not naturally talented, he really had to work. Earlier he was not consistent, had problems in sp mostly, I believe. But he conquered it and became a consistent skater and won everything that is important in figure skating: Olympics, Worlds and GPF.

 

[Dee4707]

Orser!

I second that!!

He's (referring to Orser) definitely the coach from the "new generation" of coaches who has already become a legend. Much respect!

I second that!!!

Other coaches who have my total respect...Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen.

Another skater and coach .... Rudy Galindo who had so many things going against him but rose above them.

Skater & coach...Yao Bin .... he was laughed at in his pair performance and went on to coach Olympic pair gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.

 

[cabres]

Alexei Yagudin

Arthur Dmitriev

You know why!
.

 

[mirai4life]

michelle kwan

 

[merrywidow]

Todd Eldredge, always a gentleman. No snide remarks about other skaters, no disagreeing with judges marks.

 

[Alextim]

Surya Bonaly

 

[rollerblade]

I basically respect all skaters for what they do and their perseverance in doing it, but the ones I have the MOST respect for are those skaters-turned-coaches who went on to impact the sport in a huge way: Nicks, Carroll, Mishin, Moskvina, Yao Bin and many more (although those are the big 5 that come to mind for me.)

Oh my gosh, yes! I know CBS/NBC dramatized the hell outta his story, but the look on his face at the Vancouver Olympics said it all. It was not a quick sudden success, in fact, it was anything but. This is a man who will not be defeated by his 3 last place finish at Worlds and 1 last place finish at the Olympics. They had so little resources to learn (emulate) from back then, since videos from "the western world" were forbidden. All they had to go by were pictures from newspapers... or something like that. I think I was more happy for him in 2010 than I was for Shen/Zhao. Just a little.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Todd Eldredge, always a gentleman. No snide remarks about other skaters, no disagreeing with judges marks.

Agreed. I also love his skating style too. Very clean, very pure, never flashy or excessive theatrics. One of the best centred spinners.

 

[lyverbird1]

I respect and love too many skaters to list in one go so I'll pick a sample moment of respect and it was when Yuzuru had finished skating at 2015 World's but when Javier was warming up for his performance, even though he was lining up to seize his title, you could hear Yuzuru shouting "Come on Javier!!!!" from the side of the rink. I appreciate they are firm friends but it was such a lovely moment and so very classy and sweet.

 

[Sugarpova]

second the opinion of respecting all the skaters b/c of the hard work they do.

+ I have respect for people wo get mistreated by the media/fans/judges

on top of the list for me is Tamara/Elena/Anton - eternal respect & gratitude.


in random order
Adelina for class,
Max Trankov for making no excuses 4 who he is & his commentary,
Ashley W for her fighter spirit,
Arutiunian - same as Ashley actually,
Mishin - for existing,
Plushy & Yagudin for making male skating exciting,
Brian Joubert for his energy,
Lambiel - like fine wine - even better with age. timeless
Denis & Misha for pushing boundaries & crossing bridges,
Johnny Weir - a wonderful artist & russophile,
Sasha Cohen - just because
Nam & Elena R - for the joy they bring just appearing on the ice
Kaitelyn Weaver - anyone English speaking whose hobby is foreign languages automatically gets 1000000 bunus points from me so kudos Katelyn!

 

[TontoK]

Peggy Fleming.

Humble beginnings, a lady to her fingertips. A fighter and a survivor.

 

[Barb]

Mao Asada, She is so firm with her convictions (her 3a, Tat´s programs, reworking her jumps) and without seem arrogant, she is always so classy. She never complain about anything , when something is against her she just start to work immediately to fix it. I love this sport and in my opinion nobody show more love towards this sport than Mao. After a hard time she always come back with a smile in her face.
Shizuka, I admire she continue progressing in her skating and as Mao, she puts extra effort with her exhibitions.
Sasha and Michelle, beside of figure skating I admire too much they were at university after their successful careers.

 

[Sweet Dream]

Stephane Lambiel is the skater I respect MOST, because he really is a graceful skater in nature.

 

[jackieliu396]

Skaters full of braveness, to be respected by others

 

[Mathman]

Thanks for joining us, jackieliu396. Post often, post long!

 

[mikeko666]

Who I respect most are underdogs, especially veterans. They are always lowballed on PCS by the judges, pressured to retire by their own federations, treated like nobody by media, but stay in competitions just because they simply love the sport.

 

[LiamForeman]

Dick Button, Peggy Fleming, Paul Wylie, Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, Evan Lysacek (talk about maxing out your potential with the craziest work ethic!), Ashley Wagner (She could have just retired and been another middling Kwiatkowski, but she moved across the country and pretty changed her entire skating)

 

[aims]

Wow, I just want to 'like' all the previous posts !!

 

[dorispulaski]

So many!

I admire skaters who show good sportsmanship:

Rudy Swiegers CAN, for having the sportsmanship to lend his skate to a competitor, Mark Ladwig USA, when Mark's skate broke.
http://www.usfsa.org/Story.asp?id=46094

Kudos to USFSA for recognizing Rudy properly!

I admire skaters who reach out to help others:


YuNa Kim and her many charitable endeavors

Meryl Davis, for publicizing her dyslexia as part of her 3 year (so far)commitment to Classroom Champions, so that her kids would know you can can succeed, even with the condition.
http://m.teamusa.org/News/2015/May/08/Meryl-Davis-The-Impact-Of-Sport
http://www.classroomchampions.org/content/197/Blog-A-student-changed-for-the-better

Jason Brown and Ronald McDonald House
http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/01/21/chicago-figure-skater-jason-brown-startinga.html

I admire skaters who have succeeded despite obstacles, some physical, some financial, some mental, skaters who create their own brand of success despite their limitations:

At opposite ends of the spectrum,
Plushy the indomitable with his injuries
and Rohene Ward despite financial hardships and difficulty competing
Elaine Zayak who skated on a foot with 3 toes missing.

all 3 have found successful careers in skating.

I admire skaters who succeed when the pressure is the greatest:

Adelina Sotnikova
Brian Boitano
and of course Plushy

Skaters who expand the sport by trying new things

Duhamel & Radford
Yuzuru Hanyu

and lots more.
And I admire skaters who fight back from injury

Karen Magnussen