SKATE HATE
At the age of three, future 2002 Olympic Champion Sarah Hughes was so eager to get on the ice that she taught herself to tie her own skates, so she wouldn't have to wait for her mother to get around to it after she finished with Sarah's older sister and two brothers.
But not all skaters-to-be are initially that enthusiastic.
1996 & 1997 U.S. Bronze Medalist Dan Hollander wanted to be a roller-skater. But the ice-rink was closer to his Huntington Woods, MI, home, so his mom took him there, instead.
1994 Olympic Champion Alexei Urmanov remembers "crying the entire way to the rink" at age four, while 2002 Olympic Silver Medalist Irina Slutskaya's mother revealed her daughter used to "go into hysterics" at the mention of having to go skate.
1997 Ukrainian Champion and European Bronze Medalist Yulia Lavrenchuk admitted she began skating at age five because "My parents forced me. In the beginning, they had to stuff me inside the rink while I was crying."
Czech Champion Lenka Kulovana added that it took her eight years before she actually grew to enjoy skating, while 1979 World Pair Champion Tai Babilonia summarized succinctly, "I hated it."
Rumanian Champion Cornel Gheorghe's mother used to bribe him with candy to get him to stay on the ice.
Lithuania's Povilas Vanagas received an even stronger incentive. During the days of Lithuania languishing under Soviet domination, the 6-time Men's champion was offered a choice, either fulfill his national service to the USSR by getting drafted into the Soviet army, or switch to ice-dancing. Shrugs Vanagas, "I didn't want to dance. But, I had no choice."
But not all skaters-to-be are initially that enthusiastic.
1996 & 1997 U.S. Bronze Medalist Dan Hollander wanted to be a roller-skater. But the ice-rink was closer to his Huntington Woods, MI, home, so his mom took him there, instead.
1994 Olympic Champion Alexei Urmanov remembers "crying the entire way to the rink" at age four, while 2002 Olympic Silver Medalist Irina Slutskaya's mother revealed her daughter used to "go into hysterics" at the mention of having to go skate.
1997 Ukrainian Champion and European Bronze Medalist Yulia Lavrenchuk admitted she began skating at age five because "My parents forced me. In the beginning, they had to stuff me inside the rink while I was crying."
Czech Champion Lenka Kulovana added that it took her eight years before she actually grew to enjoy skating, while 1979 World Pair Champion Tai Babilonia summarized succinctly, "I hated it."
Rumanian Champion Cornel Gheorghe's mother used to bribe him with candy to get him to stay on the ice.
Lithuania's Povilas Vanagas received an even stronger incentive. During the days of Lithuania languishing under Soviet domination, the 6-time Men's champion was offered a choice, either fulfill his national service to the USSR by getting drafted into the Soviet army, or switch to ice-dancing. Shrugs Vanagas, "I didn't want to dance. But, I had no choice."
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