I have separate sections below for my favorite amateur skater and my favorite professional skaters. So many skaters changed from amateur to professional after the Winter Olympics this year that I may have to redo this page.

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Michelle Kwan won the Ladies' Figure Skating World Championship in 1996, 1998 and 2000. Her Silver Medal performance in the Nagano Olympics was wonderful. I think Michelle is the most graceful single skater in the world. When Michelle skates she has a wonderful way of making you feel the music. Her outside edge inside edge long spiral is awesome! Michelle is only 19 which makes you wonder how much better she can become. If Michelle stays an amateur until the next Olympics she could win 4 or 5 World Championships!

Todd Eldredge won the Men's Figure Skating World Championship in 1996 and has won the U.S. Nationals 5 times! Todd always seems to have trouble skating in the Olympics and then skates better than ever afterwards. Todd is probably the best skater in the world at doing spins. Todd spins in the opposite direction from most skaters on his jumps. For some reason I never worry when Todd skates. He always makes you feel comfortable. I admire Todd's persistence and dedication. His ability to bounce back from an injury or a bad performance is incredible.

Kazakova & Dmitriev are my favorite amateur pair skaters. They won the Pairs Competition at the Nagano Olympics. Their short program to the music of Also Sprach Zarathustra made popular again in 2001, A Space Odyssey was awesome. Kazakova's flexibility is incredible and Dmitriev has proven he's the perfect pairs partner by winning at the Olympics with 2 different partners. Unfortunately, Dmitriev got food poisoning at the 1998 World Championships and wasn't able to compete. Kazakova and Dmitriev have to skate well though, because Berezhnaya & Sikharulidze are nipping at their heels.

I'm thrilled to death that Bourne & Kraatz are finally World Champions!

Shae-Lynn Bourne & Victor Kraatz are my favorite amateur ice dancers. I love the way Bourne & Kraatz hydroblade. I've believed that Bourne & Kraatz have been robbed by the judges for years. You can read more about Bourne & Kraatz and judging problems on my Skating Associations Page. I'm absolutely thrilled that Bourne & Kraatz finally won the World Championship!

My favorite professional skater is Tara Lipinski. She is now a 17 year old who won U.S. National and World gold figure skating medals when she was only 14. Then she won Gold at the Nagano Olympics when nobody expected her to win. Tara turned pro after the Olympics and surprised a lot of people. Tara even has a web site of her own! She has a not so secret diary that tells about places she has visited and her appearances on TV shows. She also has a page that features her favorite interests and statistics (her favorite color, food, hobby, etc.). Tara Lipinski's site is located at: http://www.taralipinski.com.

With wonderful skaters like Scott Hamilton, Kurt Browning, Viktor Petrenko, Rudy Galindo, Philippe Candeloro and Jozef Sabovcik to choose from, choosing my favorite men's professional skater was very hard. I finally chose Brain Boitano, because he has been a consistent winner for so long and has gotten even better as time goes by. Brian won Gold at the 1988 Olympics in the famous Battle of the Brians and won the World Championships in 1986 and 1988. Brian's performance of Shenandoah/They Call the Wind Mariah is absolutely fabulous.

Anita & Frank made their reputation in Europe after turning professional. They've won the World Professional Pairs Championships twice. After returning to the United States Hartshorn & Sweiding formed their own production company. Hartshorn & Sweiding are true showmen and use daring costumes and great skating to create spectacular numbers. I love their Enigma, Mustang Sally and Mission Impossible performances. Their Detroiter and head banger lifts are truly incredible.

With many leading ice dancers including Usova & Platov changing partners last year, I had to change this selection. Up to now my favorite professional ice dancers had been Maia Usova & Alexander Zhulin. When Usova & Platov teamed together they immediately started winning competitions as if they had been skating together for years. Their interpretration of the Moonlight Sonata is absolutely breathtaking! They won their first Pro World Championship after skating together for less than 9 months. With the way Usova & Platov had been treated by their previous partners, I'm thrilled to death for them.

Most of the pictures on this page are © by J. Barry Mittan. If you want to find 100's of ice skating pictures, go to J. Barry Mittan's web site. He takes super pictures of all the skating stars at all of the major competitions. I found more than 30 pictures of Tara Lipinski! Boy, was I in heaven! You can link to his pages at J. Barry Mittan - The Electronic Photojournalist.

The Usova & Platov picture on this page is © by David A. Reichel. If you want to find beautiful figure skating pictures organized into galleries, go to the IcePix web site. David takes super pictures and features lots of photos that can't be found anywhere else. You can link to IcePix at IcePix: Figure Skating Photos.

For links to more than 250 skating sites, go to my Skating Links Page. The links are organized into sections like Major North American Skating Sites, Major International Skating Sites, Figure Skating Clubs, Precision Teams, Official Skating Sites, Personal Figure Skating Sites, Commercial Skating Sites, Hockey Sites and Non-Skating Sites.

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Contact Information

I enjoy receiving e-mail about ice skating, cats, pansies and poetry.
If you would like to be my penpal, you can reach me at the following e-mail address: Zkittylovr@icesk8.com

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My First Award! August 29, 1997

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Copyright © 1997-2007, Lisa Ilona Hlavacek