Who is your favorite Olympic Champion (ladies)

[prunes89]

Hi Hilaryh, This one's for you! :D

Here are the choices:

[hiliairyh]

Hi Hilaryh, This one's for you! :D

Here are the choices:

Did you make a poll out of this?

For me it is a tie between Kristi and Tara

[kisscid]

katarina Witt or Dorothy Hamil

[purplecat]

Kristi Yamaguchi :)

[loveskating]

Peggy Fleming.

She invented the "whole package". I will never forget her...she changed everything, and for the better.

However, as a commentator, she sometimes burns me up, but that doesn't mean I don't respect and love her.

Next would be Oksana Baiul...she just brought a classiness and attention to authentic presentation that had been missing for some time, IMHO.

[Oracle]

Dorothy Hamill

[AxelAnnie22]

Tara Lipinski gets my vote. That joy, determination and raw talent has kept me smiling for years!

[prunes89]

Oh no! I did make a poll, but it didn't work. :frus:

[skatepixie]

Peggy. Kristi. Tara. Sonja.

[TRAxel]

Tara Lipinski is my favorite to date.
I love her skating, she just had a wow factor for me.
The way she showed her ecstatic joy for winning the gold medal
was priceless, she was being the little girl that she was and screamed
like mad! :lol:

Oh, and I am also a Michelle Kwan Fan :bow:

[Carpe Diem]

Dorothy Hamill.

[Aimless]

I can't believe nobody said Oksana yet, she's my fave.

[MQSeries]

I'll rank the ladies Olympic performances since 1980, starting with the most memorable

1. Sarah Hughes - Not too crazy about the music as a whole but wow, what a performance. If only MK hasn't ditch her coach that year. What was she thinking???
2. Tara lapinski - love the last 2/3 of the program and the shriek.
3. Oksana Baiu - Good the first time I saw it, but it hasn't aged well at all.
4. Witt (Carmen) - No stretch. Mediocre positions. Why did she get 5.8s/5.9s???
5. Yamaguchi - hated Malaguena. Black and gold outfit wasn't that flattering. I so wanted Midori to win.
6. Witt - ok performance. good enough to win that night. If only Roz was brave enough to go after all her elements.
7. Poetzch - I don't remember anything of this performance

[ejn]

Kristi Yamaguchi, for all the self-evident reasons. ;) Hi ya, Cat! :lol:

[Dr. Phil]

SARAH HUGHES! :bow:

[proam]

Sarah – I will remember her fabulous skate for years to come, she is one heck of a young lady. I admire on and off ice, well, mostly off ice now. :bow: :)

Tara – So gutsy for one so young, she took what she wanted. :)

Kristi – just because she is Kristi. ;) :)

[Tapper]

Dorothy Hamill

[robertp]

Dorothy Hamill! then the artistry of the swan for her short program Oksana Baiul

[duane]

Favorite Olympic Champion: Oksana (I became interested in figure skating because of the famous WACK, but Oksana and Elvis are the two skaters who initially kept me interested in the sport).

Favorite Olympic Winning Performance: Tara (IMO, the most difficult and exciting gold medal performance by a female).

[MQSeries]

Favorite Olympic Winning Performance: Tara (IMO, the most difficult and exciting gold medal performance by a female).

You would put Tara's technical difficulty above Sarah's program? I would give Sarah the edge, because she did two true 3-3. Sarah had more difficult spins. Footworks from both were about the same. Neither had good lutzes nor flips, but I think Sarah's were somewhat better.

[proam]

You would put Tara's technical difficulty above Sarah's program? I would give Sarah the edge, because she did two true 3-3. Sarah had more difficult spins. Footworks from both were about the same. Neither had good lutzes nor flips, but I think Sarah's were somewhat better.
Yes, I would put Sarah’s skate above Tara’s because of the two triple/triples, spins and her maturity. Plus Sarah had a stellar double Axel, Tara’s was just barely adequate.

But Tara’s would definitely be the next best.

I think both had put on quite a performance considering the competition.
Sarah :bow:
Tara :bow:

[EigthAv]

In ladies,Carol Heiss,Tenley Albright,Tara Lipinski and Dottie Hamill.In men's,Dick Button,Scottie Hamilton,Viktor Petrenko and Brian Boitano.

[jpeach]

Peggy Fleming because I've met her a couple of times (like, to take pictures of her and Oly pre-ceremony to present US torch bearers in 1996).

[Jaana]

Ladies: Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill and Oksana Baiul

Men: John Curry, Robin Cousins and Ilia Kulik

Marjaana

[duane]

You would put Tara's technical difficulty above Sarah's program? I would give Sarah the edge, because she did two true 3-3. Sarah had more difficult spins. Footworks from both were about the same. Neither had good lutzes nor flips, but I think Sarah's were somewhat better.

Hi MQ.
I defiinitely think a valid argument can be made either way, but I would give Tara a slight edge. She had the 3loop/3loop combo, the 3toe/.5loop/3sal sequence (which was landed right at the end of the program), as well as two 3lutzes (Sarah had one).

Proam,
I think Tara's 2axel was stellar. Not better than Sarah's (who, IMO, always had one of the best 2axels in the business), and it lacked height, but the take-off, distance, and landing were great.

[loveskating]

From a purely technical point of view, I don't think either Tara or Sarah had the truly great 2 axel...neither stepped up into them, really, although Sarah's was huge and she had a great runout. Sarah lunged across the ice instead of stepping up.

Both had great, difficult and fast spins, but I'd give the edge to Sarah because of the layback and the back catch spin, really steller, top notch, standard setting. Sarah's layback, in particular, was just one of those you look forward to seeing, it was so pure (although I think Sasha's sets the all time standard so far)...and she also had a top notch side catch spin (Tara had an illusion, but none of her spins were standard setting, they were just great, not among the very best).

Tara's 3/3 loop was harder than either of Sarah's 3/3s but the jump sequence would not get the credit that a 3/3 would so Sarah has the slight edge there too.

Both of them gave Olympic performances that were totally all out, and will never be forgotten.

[hiliairyh]

Since no lady has a perfect double axel, step out or run out? so who has the best double axel almost seems to depend on whether the poster's favorite skater has great step up but eeks out the landing or exit at times, or the poster's favrote skater has OK step up but consistently great runout landing and exit :) Ellyn where are you, we need help.

I give Tara an overall slight edge over Sarah in her olympic long program.