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Best skater of each quadrennial- 1977 to today
- Thread starter rockmypark
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What about Dmitriev and Kazakova - Artur won a second OGM with a different partner.
I think both Mao and Yuna were dominant in 2007-2010. Yuna didn't start dominating until she won Worlds in 2009. She and Mao had similar records in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons but Mao won Worlds in 2008 and was second in 2007, while Yuna only won bronze at Worlds in those years. So I would give Mao the first half of the quad and Yuna the second half. And I still wouldn't give Sasha the 2003-06 quad! She was never dominant. Very good, in the mix, but not dominant.
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Totally agree. Sasha had the potential to dominate the quad, but unfortunately couldn’t hold it together in the LP of so many important events.
I will say, she just about dominated the SP in every major event she entered during that quad.
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Sasha wasn't dominant, but I think that she was the best skater overall in the first two years of the quad, especially on the Grand Prix.
As for the second two years, Irina Slutskaya was totally dominant in 2004-2005 and started strong in 2005-2006 but ran out of steam somewhat right at the end.
Meanwhile Shizuka Arakawa had two great performances. 2004 worlds was outstanding and the 2006 Olympics was, at least, better than anyone else's; an OGM is an OGM.
Nobody really "dominated" the quad.
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But the original question was who was the best -? I'm not sure when the word 'dominant' came into the discussion as a synonym. Because it really isn't - someone can totally dominate a very weak field for a quad, but not be nearly as impressive as a 'best' who was up against several others who would totally deserve it in the former field. Also, someone who was brilliant the first couple of years then was injured/absent for the rest so was supplanted by a lesser champion... still the best, lexically speaking and yes, I am splitting etymological hairs.
So... who was the best of a thiswaythatway sort of equal field?
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- Are you including pro because Kristi's last amateur skating was 1992? She did have a great 10 year career with SOI If you're referencing amateur skating, I'd consider Yuka Sato
I'd consider Chen Lu for 95-98
not sure how Michelle Kwan isn't included in at least 1 of these quads. She out medalled all 3 of the ladies form 1995- 2006.
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I think it would have to be Oksana Baiul for this half-quad. She won a world championship and an Olympic championship, plus she had an impact on the sport that was larger than her actual brief career.
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Actually Irina out medalled Michelle 54-35 in that time period, which is still the most career medals for any ladies singles skater. If you're just talking gold then Irina still leads 30-19 and if we take off her Euro titles to make it more even she still leads 21-19.
I think people are trying to find an objective way of saying who was best. Dominance in terms of wins and medals at competitive events is an obvious way to do that.
I was born in 80 so will only due starting in 89. The bolded ones are the complicated ones for me, the unbolded are the easy.
Pairs
89-92: Miskutienok & Dmitriev
93-94: Brasseur & Eisler Was a tough choice between them, Shishkova & Naumov, and Gordeeva & Grinkov despite G&G only 1 season of 2.
95-98: Kazahkova & Dmitriev I guess. They did win Euros 96, medaled at worlds in 97, Olympics in 98, so success most of the quad.
99-2002: Bereznaya & Sikharulidze.
2003-2006: Totmianina & Marinin. Tough choice between them and Shen & Zhao, but T&M have the better record in the end.
2007-2010: Savchenko & Szolkowy. Thought of going with Shen & Zhao but S&S not only won 2 worlds but medaled in every major event that quad.
2011-2014: Volosozhar & Trankov
2015-2018: Savchenko & Massot
Men
89-92: Browning. He was still the force for that quad a bit more than Petrenko. Close call.
93-94: Stojko
95-98: Kulik I guess. Would give it to Stojko if he medaled at 96 worlds or/and skated at 98 worlds even with Olympic loss. Or Elredge had he medaled in Nagano.
99-2002: Yagudin
2003-2006: Plushenko
2007-2010: Lysacek (ugh)
2011-2014: Chan
2015-2018: Hanyu
Ladies
89-92: Yamaguchi
93-94: Bauil
95-98: Lipinski Close between Kwan and Lipinski. Tara not only has the Olympic Gold Michelle doesnt, but a world gold, and 2 GPF wins to only 1 for Kwan. Good enough for me.
99-2002: Slutskaya
2003-2006: Arakawa or Slutskaya Really not sure on this one. Would pick Cohen maybe if she medaled at 03 worlds to have medals for entire quad, even without big win.
2007-2010: Kim
2011-2014: Kim, very close between Kim and Kostner. Picked Kim since she beat Kostner all 3 times they met, all 3 in major events. Plus Sochi result was joke.
2015-2018: Med
Dance
89-92: Klimova & Ponomarenko
93-94: Gritschuk & Platov
95-98: Gritschuk & Platov
99-2002: Anissina & Peizerat
2003-2006: Navka & Kostomarov
2007-2010: Delobel Schoenfelder. Close between them and Domnina & Shabalin. Went with D&S since they won a big event each year, Euros in 2007, Worlds in 2008, GPF in 2009. Not V&M, they were clearly beneath both D&S teams 3 of 4 seasons of the quad.
2011-2014: Davis & White
2015-2018: Papadakis & Cizeron. Close between them and Virtue & Moir. P&C were 1st or 2nd, usually 1st, every event of the quad.
Pairs
89-92: Miskutienok & Dmitriev
93-94: Brasseur & Eisler Was a tough choice between them, Shishkova & Naumov, and Gordeeva & Grinkov despite G&G only 1 season of 2.
95-98: Kazahkova & Dmitriev I guess. They did win Euros 96, medaled at worlds in 97, Olympics in 98, so success most of the quad.
99-2002: Bereznaya & Sikharulidze.
2003-2006: Totmianina & Marinin. Tough choice between them and Shen & Zhao, but T&M have the better record in the end.
2007-2010: Savchenko & Szolkowy. Thought of going with Shen & Zhao but S&S not only won 2 worlds but medaled in every major event that quad.
2011-2014: Volosozhar & Trankov
2015-2018: Savchenko & Massot
Men
89-92: Browning. He was still the force for that quad a bit more than Petrenko. Close call.
93-94: Stojko
95-98: Kulik I guess. Would give it to Stojko if he medaled at 96 worlds or/and skated at 98 worlds even with Olympic loss. Or Elredge had he medaled in Nagano.
99-2002: Yagudin
2003-2006: Plushenko
2007-2010: Lysacek (ugh)
2011-2014: Chan
2015-2018: Hanyu
Ladies
89-92: Yamaguchi
93-94: Bauil
95-98: Lipinski Close between Kwan and Lipinski. Tara not only has the Olympic Gold Michelle doesnt, but a world gold, and 2 GPF wins to only 1 for Kwan. Good enough for me.
99-2002: Slutskaya
2003-2006: Arakawa or Slutskaya Really not sure on this one. Would pick Cohen maybe if she medaled at 03 worlds to have medals for entire quad, even without big win.
2007-2010: Kim
2011-2014: Kim, very close between Kim and Kostner. Picked Kim since she beat Kostner all 3 times they met, all 3 in major events. Plus Sochi result was joke.
2015-2018: Med
Dance
89-92: Klimova & Ponomarenko
93-94: Gritschuk & Platov
95-98: Gritschuk & Platov
99-2002: Anissina & Peizerat
2003-2006: Navka & Kostomarov
2007-2010: Delobel Schoenfelder. Close between them and Domnina & Shabalin. Went with D&S since they won a big event each year, Euros in 2007, Worlds in 2008, GPF in 2009. Not V&M, they were clearly beneath both D&S teams 3 of 4 seasons of the quad.
2011-2014: Davis & White
2015-2018: Papadakis & Cizeron. Close between them and Virtue & Moir. P&C were 1st or 2nd, usually 1st, every event of the quad.
Sasha was the most consistent skater of the quad, despite that consistency and her seemingly do not go into the same sentence. I might have picked her for the quad had she medaled at the 2003 worlds, which would have her medaling at every Worlds and Olympics that quad. What she is lacking is the big win, which is a big drawback. She did win the GPF once, that is it.
No tessa/scott or michelle? You could make strong cases for both for being the best skaters of a quad. I would have tessa/scott tied with D/W for the 2010-2014 or tessa/scott for the 2014-2018 quad and michelle for the 1995-1998 quad. Domnina shabali and,tara lipinski but no tessa/scott or michelle?
Tessa/Scott have no case to be tied with D&W for 2010-2014. D&W have more World titles, the Olympic Gold, 4 GPF wins to 0. They completely trounce Tessa/Scott for best of the quad.
Slutskaya is clearly over Michelle for 99-2002 IMO. At Worlds/Olympics they are basically tied with Michelle winning in 2000 and 2001, but Irina in 2002 and Irina having a higher Olympic medal. At the GPF, head to head, and all other aspects of the quad Irina easily wins out, which is the tiebreaker when Worlds/Olympics are close to a tie.
Savchenko & Massot were much better than Duhamel & Radford in 2016-2017 too where they won silver at Worlds and D&R were 7th, not even top Canadian. And it isnt just their Olympic skates in 2018. They also had dominant skates in winning the GPF and Worlds, Worlds where they topped their WR LP and set a new SP and overall WR score. They were much more emphatic at those 2 events than the Games.
Both teams were better than the other 2 seasons, but an Olympic Gold plus World gold plus World silver plus World bronze easily trumps 2 World golds and an Olympic bronze, and both won the GPF only once too. Savchenko & Massot medaled in every event they were able to compete in too, including all 3 worlds and the Olympics. Sui & Han might even have a better case for the top team of that quad than Duhamel & Radford.
Olympic Gold and World Gold trumps 2 World Golds easily, and Kim medaled at each Worlds and Olympics that quad, unlike Mao. Kim is also up in GPF 3 to 1. Mao wasnt dominant in 2006-2007 by a long shot, Ando won Worlds and also beat Mao to win the Skate America, while Kim beat both Asada and Ando to win both the GPF and I think in France that year. She was probably the top skater of 2007-2008 only since she won Worlds, but Kim dominated the season until that point and was badly injured at Worlds.
Kim is easily tops for that quad, it isnt really close. Kim went into every event that season favored to win except for maybe 2007 worlds, and was the overwhelming favorite going into 2009 worlds, 2010 Olympics, 2010 worlds in a way Mao never was.
Kim was real winner of the 2014 Olympics anyway. Kostner has the best case for best besides Kim but lost to Kim in all 3 meetings, all 3 in major events, despite both being on the podium together.
I agree Chan was best in 2011-2014. Hanyu was only best for 1 season, and even in that season he lost to Chan twice. It is Chan for this quad, even with Hanyu's Olympic win.
Having watched these events at the time, I think Mao was more favored to win in 2007 and 2008. Kim only managed bronze at 2007 and 2008 Worlds. You can say Kim dominated the quad overall if you want but Mao dominated the first 2 years.
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- Jun 21, 2003
It could have been a great quad but for injuries that undercut both of the D&S's at the end (plus Isabelle Delobel had a baby). This left Virtue and Moir in the driver's seat by default for the Olympic year. Delobel and Shoenfelder always had the most innovative programs, to me (but that is personal preference).
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How can you say Mao dominated 2006-2007? She skated at 5 events that year and only won 2. She lost at Worlds, even lost at the GPF the 2nd biggest event, and was only 3rd at Skate America. The only events she won that year were NHK and her own Nationals. That is dominance, ROTFL! On paper Ando was probably the best skater that season over Mao considering she won Worlds, and nothing about the rest of Mao's year is good enough to make up for that, and she beat Mao a 2nd time at Skate America and they are 2-2 on the year, but Miki actually won both times she beat Mao. You could also possibly put Kim above Mao considering she won the 2nd biggest event, both had a 1st and 3rd on the grand prix, and both medaled at worlds but not gold. And if you are calling to claim Michelle as the best in 2000 and 2001 only for winning worlds, then Miki sure as heck was the top in 2007 over Mao too. And just FWIW I detest Ando's skating and love Asada and Kim both.
You say in arguing for Kwan for the 95-98 Tara did not really dominate either the 96-97 or 97-98 seasons even though she was probably the top skater of both seasons which is a valid point, but then you claim Mao in 2006-2007 who had a considerably weaker record than Tara both those seasons was dominant. Makes no sense.
And Kim was talked about as the clear favorite for 2008 worlds after the 2007-2008 season GPF where even with a fall she nearly tied Mao's best ever LP at that point, and easily held onto a convincing overall win. And when she had been easily outscoring Mao all season. If Mao was favored for worlds in 2008 it was only after Kim's back injury in the days leading up to worlds.
