Skaters Who Wear Glasses

[lzxnl]

From personal experience, not sure if it means much, but I find that skating without glasses is fine (and I'm legally blind without them on). I can see enough to avoid people and I don't have to worry about glasses falling off during jumps. The single scariest thing that could happen in a double loop is for your glasses to fall off halfway, and if my glasses aren't staying on, I'm taking them off.

For a competitive skater, maybe they could get used to not seeing their surroundings clearly, because after all the most you would need is an awareness of where you are in the rink relative to others and the boundaries of the rink (I might be mistaken).

 

[anonymoose_au]

Indeed I used to wear contacts but I had an eye infection and ever since my eyes dry out so quickly I can't wear them anymore.

Having said that I'd never not wear my glasses at a public session. I don't compete (OMG that would be such a sad sight ) but I could see skating "blind" if I'm on the ice by myself, but with dozens of people around I can imagine collision central.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

I have bad eyesight and wore very thick glasses as a child and teenager. I didn't start wearing contact lenses until I was 16 and my eyes had stopped deteriorating enough to make it feasible, so I had to learn all my elements either with my glasses secured by an elastic around the back of my head or completely without them. As pretty much all I could see at that stage was light, dark and strong colour, it was quite terrifying for me to skate my programs without them and my coach had to ask the other skaters if they'd mind just letting me have the ice to myself for one run through per session. Thankfully, nobody seemed to mind! They'd all witnessed my glasses flying off in spins and double jumps so probably felt it was safer for everybody to go with it.

These days, I often wear my specs (bifocal) for artistic inline skating in a sports hall (Covid permitting) and occasionally outdoors on my wheels, too. I always wear contacts on ice, though, as I love to spin and my spins are fast. One of the good things about getting older is that my eye sight improved with age, and I no longer have a ridiculously strong prescription or even enough astigmatism to warrant toric lenses now. I do, however, have to wear glasses for both distance and reading, so bifocals are the current solution. Contacts lenses are plain, as I don't feel the vision in varifocals is good enough in any situation.

I never, ever thought I'd see the day when I was happy to wear my specs all the time, as back in my childhood wearing glasses was considered social death (children are so cruel) but I'm delighted to see that times have changed a lot since then. I'm pretty certain that the ISU would have trouble introducing a "Thou Shalt Not Wear Glasses in Competition" rule as they'd fall foul of a lot of disability discrimination policies. And I would hope that anybody who is more comfortable in specs would be able to find a way to wear them in competition if they would prefer to.

 

[surimi]

Kazuki Tomono is another skater who wears glasses.
And while watching the 2021 National Athletic meet (a Japanese competition), I saw one guy actually competing and jumping doubles while wearing glasses.

 

[Amei]

I never, ever thought I'd see the day when I was happy to wear my specs all the time, as back in my childhood wearing glasses was considered social death (children are so cruel) but I'm delighted to see that times have changed a lot since then. I'm pretty certain that the ISU would have trouble introducing a "Thou Shalt Not Wear Glasses in Competition" rule as they'd fall foul of a lot of disability discrimination policies. And I would hope that anybody who is more comfortable in specs would be able to find a way to wear them in competition if they would prefer to.

They make sport glasses, which is the same basic design of swimmer's goggles with a strap that goes all the way around the head.

 

[anonymoose_au]

And I would hope that anybody who is more comfortable in specs would be able to find a way to wear them in competition if they would prefer to.

There's Vansh Bhatia as mentioned and I'm sure there was a few other junior skaters who wore glasses too while competing.

I was just thinking glasses with an Elton John program would certainly add some pizzazz!

 

[formersk8ter]

Muhammad Dwi Rizqy Apolianto (Indonesia) wore glasses here in the 2017 JGP, but not in the years after that:

Muhammad Dwi Rizqy APOLIANTO INA Men Free Skating - Zagreb 2017

To license ISU footage: https://bit.ly/3M7bcaF Visit www.isu.org for more information.The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating consists of seven events th...

www.youtube.com

 

[DenissVFan]

This junior pair skater from Slovakia does:

 

[Matthew]

I wear glasses on and off the ice. I've plastic glasses which are more often used today than glass glasses, so, there is less risk of breaking them. They are also much lighter than glass glasses and, thus, better for sports purposes. In addition, I've got a flexible frame for them, so, there is also less risk in breaking it when falling.
All in all, no big problem wearing glasses on the ice.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Muhammad Dwi Rizqy Apolianto (Indonesia) wore glasses here in the 2017 JGP, but not in the years after that:

Muhammad Dwi Rizqy APOLIANTO INA Men Free Skating - Zagreb 2017

To license ISU footage: https://bit.ly/3M7bcaF Visit www.isu.org for more information.The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating consists of seven events th...

www.youtube.com

Aha that's the chap I was thinking of.

I wonder if he wears contacts now or has decided to skate without them.

 

[Giu]

Shoma Uno and Misha Ge wear glasses, and I'd add to the list also Satoko Miyahara, Rika Kihira and Liza Tuktamysheva.

Ashley Wagner doesn't wear real glasses, she said that during an Instastory, they're just for fashion!

 

[ladyjane]

When I grew up, glasses were terrible (the 4 eye thing) and kids were bullied about having them. It makes me so happy it's now a thing for fashion (puts up her reading glasses with pleasure, and nothing to be ashamed of).

 

[moonvine]

There was a male skater at 4CCs the last time it was held (I think) who skated with glasses on. I filed the adoption papers but can’t remember his name now.

 

[Honey20]

Kurt Browning wears glasses but I think it's more for reading/Zooming

 

[Amei]

When I grew up, glasses were terrible (the 4 eye thing) and kids were bullied about having them. It makes me so happy it's now a thing for fashion (puts up her reading glasses with pleasure, and nothing to be ashamed of).

As someone that's worn glasses for most of my life (would still be wearing them if I hadn't done lasik surgery) I've always found the fake glasses for fashion/to 'complete an outfit' to be obnoxious.

 

[ladyjane]

Dear @Amei. Sorry to have offended. What I meant was that I am pleased it is accepted nowadays to wear glasses, and even fashionable, not that people should wear fake glasses or anything. I'm just pleased that I can wear my reading glasses (which I have to) without feeling ashamed or ugly because of it.

 

[chuckm]

I spent most of my life in glasses because of extreme near-sightedness. I skated (recreational only) but didn't necessarily wear glasses for that, as I saw well enough to avoid collisions with other skaters.

I also did theater for years, and never, ever wore glasses onstage, although I did have to examine the layout of the stage so I could take note of any obstructions that I might trip over. I always insisted on placing my props myself, because then I knew for sure where they were.

In my later years, I had cataract surgery and also Lasik, and now I need distance glasses only for driving. I am still slightly near-sighted, but occasionally use low-power (1-1.5) reading glasses for small print.

I don't need glasses for other normal activities, which is good, because face masks and glasses aren't compatible.

 

[karne]

I don't need glasses for other normal activities, which is good, because face masks and glasses aren't compatible.

Sure they are, you just need a decent nose wire in the masks.

 

[NanaPat]

I don't need glasses for other normal activities, which is good, because face masks and glasses aren't compatible.

Sure they are, you just need a decent nose wire in the masks.

In fact, if your glasses fog up when you are wearing a mask, it is a sign that your mask doesn't fit properly or is flawed or you aren't wearing it properly. Your breath should be going out through the mask, not over the top of it and onto your glasses.

 

[CoyoteChris]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Nathan Chen as a speccy four eyes, lol.

As an aside, I've been wearing glasses since I was in elementary school. I tried contacts for a few years but found them too high maintenance and hard to wear during allergy season. So I'm back to glasses and now am old enough to wear progressive lenses - my latest frames are from Warby Parker.

They will get my progressive lenses from my cold dead hands.....I love them.