Have current skaters SEEN tapes of their predecessors?

[Likethewind]

:) As a result of another thread I got started wondering which if any of the skaters today have seen or even care about seeing tapes of previous champions and skaters who were not necessarily champions but had some special quality.

Because of the way I am, if I were a skater I would eat up anything I could find and would want to see champions and skaters from teh past to see all the different things that have been done and to see why it is that some people get such rave reviews and WHAT IT IS that MAKES a ONCE IN A CENTURY (to quote a person on the other thread!) skater! If I had a kid in skating I would go to great lengths to get tapes for them.

Now I am wondering how many of you young skaters out there :

a.have seen the following skaters adnb.understand just how valuable it it to see them. IT IS LIKE A GOLD MINE - not to mention interesting!

REMEMBER, USE OF THE BLADE IS NOT JUMPS. WHen you watch these people if you can get tapes, WATCH THE EDGES AND THE USE OF THE BLADE because THEREIN LIES THE SECRET OF TRUE CHAMPIONS.

Hamill - edges edges edges
Fleming - fluidity like water flowing, grace, ARMS, layback
LYNN - EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! SHe is the female skater of the century. SHe OOZED FLOW and joy with every stroke. Like watching a bird fly and soar.
Witt - How to win by CONSISTENCY and STEEL and for what NOT to do regarding bad positions! (She had some whoppers)
Bielmann (sp?) - for what a REAL BIELMANN SPIN LOOKS LIKE

Curry - edges, flow, total commitment to interpreting the music honestly with no pretense. Almost painful to watch he was so sensitive. EASE fo body movement - light as a feather.
Boitano -Raw POWER and textbook perfect jumps - He made an ART of jumping!!!!! His 1988 short program is considered by the USFSA to be an example of one of the greatest shorts of all time. I saw it live and it is. INcredibly deep and powerful edges - he got a LOT out of one push with the blade.
Hamilton - footwork
ROBIN COUSINS! - EDGES!!!!!!!!!!!! He has the record for the LONGEST axel at 19 feet!!!!!! HUGE jumps - not many triples, but whatever he did was HUGE. HIS DELAYED STRAIGHT-LEGGED SINGLE AXEL IS MORE SPECTACULAR THAN ANY QUAD. He SOARED and jumped so high his feet cleared the boards. He seemed to stop mid-air because he DELAYED all his jumps so that you got the sensation of flying.

How many of the skaters out there today have even seen one minute of tape of Curry, Cousins, or Lynn? Do they WANT TO? And if they DO then teh ISU OUGHT to provide these things for sale and or loan.

[icenut84]

Interesting question. I agree, if it was me I would want to see as much as I could. I'm a skater and out of those skaters you mentioned, the ones I have seen are:

Hamill - never seen her skate
Fleming - clips only, although they include the layback
Lynn - never seen her skate, though I'd like to
Witt - seen a number of programs
Biellmann - seen a few programs, though not as much as Witt

Curry - only clips, though I really want to see more of him.
Boitano - seen a number of programs
Hamilton - see Boitano
Robin Cousins - only clips, though I agree his jumps were amazing!! I didn't know that about the 19ft axel though - WOW!! I was all set to see him live in June last at the Nottingham gala but he couldn't perform because of knee surgery :(

I think that the top skaters today will have seen past champions and those considered legendary. Well, they might have done anyway. A lot of them name some of them as their idols or those they admire, but I dunno. It's not easy to get your hands on performances by skaters from the past if you weren't around then. Not impossible - just hard.

[bcskater]

as a competitive skater i have ALWAYS, ever since i was very young, been wanting to see as much skating as possible. we have two drawers full of skating tapes that range from the '88 olympics to 2002 olympics. ofcourse there is so much more that i would love to see but it is just so hard to find anything

[Artemis]

There is also a downside to watching tapes of "the greats," as any actor will tell you: there's a danger in becoming imitative rather than developing your own style and interpretation.

And I would have thought that good edging should be a part of any basic skating skills instruction, in and of itself.

[Annes]

Brian Orser, for maturity and music expression. He didn't try to dominate his music, like many skaters today and in his time.

[gandalf]

I think most competitive skaters would make a point of seeing as many different skaters as possible, but as someone pointed out, if you weren't around when some of these people were in their prime, it can be difficult to find tapes.

Completely agree that Robin Cousins' delayed axel is better than any quad.

[Likethewind]

Artemis - there can be no down side to seeing good work. THere is nothing wrong with trying to imitate and with emulating good solid skating. Very few skaters would actually try to imitate the style of the greats and surely any possible danger of this is far outweighed by the incredible value of seeing things done well - indeed sometimes with perfection.

As to edges. Many top level skaters (Bonaly comes to mind) clearly have barely an idea of what it means to skate on a deep edge. Due to the overwhelming emphasis on jumps, time on things like edges gets neglected. SO much so that you rarely see skaters with terrific edges anymore. When you see them they stick out like a sore thumb (or a goodthumb) because they are so noticeable in comparison to the lousy edges most skaters have. Try to think of a singles skater with a lean to match ice dancers. I can think of very very few today. Kwan has deep secure edges but not many others are even close.

They all can benefit from seeing all kinds of skating done well. Just as an artist benefits from seeing good art or a musician benefits from hearing good music. Doesn't mean you are going to imitate it.

You can't know what to do if you never have even seen how it is done well.

[Likethewind]

Icenut -Hamil still has edges to die for. She was powerful and has one of the surest SMOOTHEST edgiest stroking i have ever seen. No uneven pumping action. THe push from each foot is the same - no up and down movement. She flows like butter and makes even Kwan look uneven. She is a lesson in blade control, PERFECTLY centered spins, and HUGE delayed jumps (not triples).

Many many of the top echelon skaters of the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s were taught at some point by Gus Lussi. All his skaters have beautiful delayed jumps with no skidded entries - they LEAP UP into their jumps (opposite of Lipinski) - and they all have perfectly centered FAST spins without exception among those I have seen. Lussi taught, among others, at some point,
Fleming
Hamill
Cousins
Curry