WOW! He really was amazing! He seems like a really nice person too... I'm glad Tab Hunter and Ronnie had a relationship despite all the obstacles - they must of been really in love, Tab supported him financially with his training - sad they had to keep it secret, they were very young but it was illegal at the time and would have destroyed their careers...
I'm old. I learned the Lussi blur spin technique from my coach in Europe, who actually learned it from Ronnie in Lake Placid, I'm pretty sure. I think it is kind of sad that Ronnie talks about the blade near the point aspect rather than the symmetry in the side-by-side knee position in the leg closure of the final position, which was the key for me. I skated with a line of a show, but never competitively, as my first lesson was when I was 19. You see, if you close the legs with one knee in front of the other, the forward knee will always throw your balance off enough so the spin can't go really fast. So you have to learn to close with the knees side by side, which isn't all that difficult to do once you get the hang of it. However, it wasn't until I was nearly 50 that I acquired a new pair of used skates that fit so well, they gave me the correct balance to do very, very fast spins, although still nothing like the spins my coach could do, or Ronnie could do. My teacher claimed that one of the other secrets was holding the leg parallel to the ice and in front for the starting position, instead of at a 45 degree angle, and with the toe always flexed back, never pointed, and having the control to do at least 10 rotations in that first spin position. He had ballet training before taking up skating, so that leg position was not a problem for him. Anyway, having witnessed my teacher do blur spins at a ice ballet workshop in Oberstdorf he did, and elsewhere, I can tell you that seeing a real blur spin up close is the most amazing thing I've ever seen a skater do. Also, in this last position, with the knees closed side by side, the toe remains flexed back, and heel pushed down first, not toe. Also, for me personally, above the head arm closure allowed me to adjust my balance perfectly, and this was something I didn't discover until I was older, how much faster that could make the spin. I watched my teacher teach his blur spin technique to students, including a national champion, and none could do it anything like he could, although it did improve their spin speed. One irony is that now skaters have to cram in so many position changes etc. to get maximum points, it would probably take too long to do a proper blur spin in competition, and days are long gone when most programs ended with a scratch spin. For me, the best change in all of skating from when I started is no compulsory figures. In my opinion, they were stupid, yes, an extreme challenge to do well, and very few people got injured doing a back-change-loop or whatever, but they just do not contribute to the making of a good free skater.
Thanks for your comment. So great that you have been able to use the Lussi technique for life-long, extraordinary spinning; that's what it is all about! As for Ronnie's commentary in this video, he was asked specific questions about his skating with Mr. Lussi, not general technique. The leg closure was a given in Lussi technique, facilitated by the heel pressing down, a classic Lussi innovation.
Mr. Lussi wanted Ronnie to win Worlds and Olympics, and he did win the free skate, but Mr. Lussi knew that Ronnie would have to skate a hugely superior free skate to win the overall because the politics were against someone like Ronnie in those days. That's why, in addition to Ronnie having the fastest spins, he devised the blade adjustment because he wanted to make Ronnie a legend for a career that would go far beyond those competitions, hence, The Human Top." The second after Mr. Lussi saw that they did not give Ronnie the gold, he turned to the show owner beside him and signed Ronnie with the show. All of this in much more detail will be in Mr. Lussi biography that I am writing.
@@coachcecilyicecommand5513 Sounds like it would make a great book, about a coaching legend, especially if you have memoirs, letters or a repository of articles from the time. I just looked it up, as far as bios on skating coaches, I guess there's a bio about Don Laws. Didn't read it. I just watched a 2-minute clip from Ronnie's silver medal Olympic performance, where it shows him under-rotating and two-footing a triple Salchow. Given that Dick landed a triple loop in the previous Olympics, if Ronnie didn't land any triples, that could partly account for him getting silver, other than being Tab Hunter's boyfriend, and how many judges would know about something like that at the time anyway. The issue of "not skating masculine enough" peaked in the 1976 Olympics though, where John Curry himself, and his fans, were afraid the judges would just hand the gold medal to Jan Hoffmann, because he skated like a soldier, and didn't wave his arms around. Didn't happen though. Curry's performance was too good. In 1988 Olympics, both battling Brians dressed as soldiers for their long programs, just in case. I think the 1976 panic spread because something a German judge said after a previous competition involving Curry. I was only 3 years old during the '56 Olympics, but the first skater I remember seeing on TV was Dick Button, in a TV special. Even though Carol Heiss made the Stooges movie, which I loved because it was so corny and had skating, Dick was really a bigger star than any female at the time in the US. That would quickly change with Fleming, and then Lynn becoming the highest paid female athlete of her time, with her one million dollar show contract. Hamill became the real commercial phenomenon though. Financially, the most successful of the older generation was probably Dick Button, from branching out. Maybe little Scotty made more, who knows. Up into the 1990s, I read a number of skating biographies, including a few Henie biographies, because I was always fascinated with her. Growing up, I probably saw each of her movies several times on the late, late show. The last Henie bio I read was just miles above the others, because it went into all kinds of personal details, like any good Hollywood bio. Too many skating bios in the 60s and 70s were geared to the average pre-teen female skating fan, understandable, because that was the biggest audience for selling a book. Of course, then Cranston came along, thank Xenu, where he just wrote his honest thoughts about pretty much everything. Kids today who might be crazy about skating, but lack the availability of good coaching, or don't have parents with money (both, in my case, when I was growing up), are so lucky to have the internet, all the great skating websites that explain how to jump and spin.
@@Timzart7 I can assure you that there are no videos like the Lussi videos which document step-by-step the exact moment to moment positioning, timing, etc., and the reasons why it has to work that way.
2:19 2Axel/back sit is just one of the best tricks ever done imo. To stop all the velocity and convert it immediately into a perfectly centered spin is nuts. 4:06 Did he have the best forward flying sit of all time? He achieves two air positions by the apex of the jump, almost getting a hitch kick out of it. All skaters should draw inspiration from the unbounded athletic and artistic creativity of that era in skating-- a veritable jungle gym of physics and optical illusions
A terrific comment on the brilliance of Lussi's spinning and jumping techniques which allowed his skaters to perform spectacularly controlled elements. Thank you!
Спорт
Don’t worry Ronnie, I’m going to continue your legacy and teach someday soon ❤
WOW! He really was amazing! He seems like a really nice person too... I'm glad Tab Hunter and Ronnie had a relationship despite all the obstacles - they must of been really in love, Tab supported him financially with his training - sad they had to keep it secret, they were very young but it was illegal at the time and would have destroyed their careers...
I'm old. I learned the Lussi blur spin technique from my coach in Europe, who actually learned it from Ronnie in Lake Placid, I'm pretty sure. I think it is kind of sad that Ronnie talks about the blade near the point aspect rather than the symmetry in the side-by-side knee position in the leg closure of the final position, which was the key for me. I skated with a line of a show, but never competitively, as my first lesson was when I was 19.
You see, if you close the legs with one knee in front of the other, the forward knee will always throw your balance off enough so the spin can't go really fast. So you have to learn to close with the knees side by side, which isn't all that difficult to do once you get the hang of it.
However, it wasn't until I was nearly 50 that I acquired a new pair of used skates that fit so well, they gave me the correct balance to do very, very fast spins, although still nothing like the spins my coach could do, or Ronnie could do. My teacher claimed that one of the other secrets was holding the leg parallel to the ice and in front for the starting position, instead of at a 45 degree angle, and with the toe always flexed back, never pointed, and having the control to do at least 10 rotations in that first spin position. He had ballet training before taking up skating, so that leg position was not a problem for him. Anyway, having witnessed my teacher do blur spins at a ice ballet workshop in Oberstdorf he did, and elsewhere, I can tell you that seeing a real blur spin up close is the most amazing thing I've ever seen a skater do. Also, in this last position, with the knees closed side by side, the toe remains flexed back, and heel pushed down first, not toe.
Also, for me personally, above the head arm closure allowed me to adjust my balance perfectly, and this was something I didn't discover until I was older, how much faster that could make the spin. I watched my teacher teach his blur spin technique to students, including a national champion, and none could do it anything like he could, although it did improve their spin speed.
One irony is that now skaters have to cram in so many position changes etc. to get maximum points, it would probably take too long to do a proper blur spin in competition, and days are long gone when most programs ended with a scratch spin. For me, the best change in all of skating from when I started is no compulsory figures. In my opinion, they were stupid, yes, an extreme challenge to do well, and very few people got injured doing a back-change-loop or whatever, but they just do not contribute to the making of a good free skater.
Thanks for your comment. So great that you have been able to use the Lussi technique for life-long, extraordinary spinning; that's what it is all about! As for Ronnie's commentary in this video, he was asked specific questions about his skating with Mr. Lussi, not general technique. The leg closure was a given in Lussi technique, facilitated by the heel pressing down, a classic Lussi innovation.
If you are interested to see the exact Lussi technique taught by Lussi himself, go to www.IceCommand.com.
Mr. Lussi wanted Ronnie to win Worlds and Olympics, and he did win the free skate, but Mr. Lussi knew that Ronnie would have to skate a hugely superior free skate to win the overall because the politics were against someone like Ronnie in those days. That's why, in addition to Ronnie having the fastest spins, he devised the blade adjustment because he wanted to make Ronnie a legend for a career that would go far beyond those competitions, hence, The Human Top." The second after Mr. Lussi saw that they did not give Ronnie the gold, he turned to the show owner beside him and signed Ronnie with the show. All of this in much more detail will be in Mr. Lussi biography that I am writing.
@@coachcecilyicecommand5513 Sounds like it would make a great book, about a coaching legend, especially if you have memoirs, letters or a repository of articles from the time. I just looked it up, as far as bios on skating coaches, I guess there's a bio about Don Laws. Didn't read it. I just watched a 2-minute clip from Ronnie's silver medal Olympic performance, where it shows him under-rotating and two-footing a triple Salchow. Given that Dick landed a triple loop in the previous Olympics, if Ronnie didn't land any triples, that could partly account for him getting silver, other than being Tab Hunter's boyfriend, and how many judges would know about something like that at the time anyway.
The issue of "not skating masculine enough" peaked in the 1976 Olympics though, where John Curry himself, and his fans, were afraid the judges would just hand the gold medal to Jan Hoffmann, because he skated like a soldier, and didn't wave his arms around. Didn't happen though. Curry's performance was too good. In 1988 Olympics, both battling Brians dressed as soldiers for their long programs, just in case. I think the 1976 panic spread because something a German judge said after a previous competition involving Curry.
I was only 3 years old during the '56 Olympics, but the first skater I remember seeing on TV was Dick Button, in a TV special. Even though Carol Heiss made the Stooges movie, which I loved because it was so corny and had skating, Dick was really a bigger star than any female at the time in the US. That would quickly change with Fleming, and then Lynn becoming the highest paid female athlete of her time, with her one million dollar show contract. Hamill became the real commercial phenomenon though. Financially, the most successful of the older generation was probably Dick Button, from branching out. Maybe little Scotty made more, who knows.
Up into the 1990s, I read a number of skating biographies, including a few Henie biographies, because I was always fascinated with her. Growing up, I probably saw each of her movies several times on the late, late show. The last Henie bio I read was just miles above the others, because it went into all kinds of personal details, like any good Hollywood bio.
Too many skating bios in the 60s and 70s were geared to the average pre-teen female skating fan, understandable, because that was the biggest audience for selling a book. Of course, then Cranston came along, thank Xenu, where he just wrote his honest thoughts about pretty much everything.
Kids today who might be crazy about skating, but lack the availability of good coaching, or don't have parents with money (both, in my case, when I was growing up), are so lucky to have the internet, all the great skating websites that explain how to jump and spin.
@@Timzart7 I can assure you that there are no videos like the Lussi videos which document step-by-step the exact moment to moment positioning, timing, etc., and the reasons why it has to work that way.
He jumps my way!! I"m one of the rare people who is right handed but jumps and spins like a lefty. I'm still pursuing the perfectly centered spin.
WHY aren't we talking about that 2Lz+2Lz+2Lz combo? 😮😮😮
2:19 2Axel/back sit is just one of the best tricks ever done imo. To stop all the velocity and convert it immediately into a perfectly centered spin is nuts.
4:06 Did he have the best forward flying sit of all time? He achieves two air positions by the apex of the jump, almost getting a hitch kick out of it.
All skaters should draw inspiration from the unbounded athletic and artistic creativity of that era in skating-- a veritable jungle gym of physics and optical illusions
A terrific comment on the brilliance of Lussi's spinning and jumping techniques which allowed his skaters to perform spectacularly controlled elements. Thank you!
wow! he jumps right to left
Some skaters do. I’ve seen a few people who can jump and spin in both directions.
@@LynneCooney Like Lussi student and Olympic Champion John Curry could do some double jumps and spin both directions!