Hungarian Skating News

[Alanya]

Such a cute interview That Cecilia sounds fun too, good she was there, think it helped some with the "awkard questions"?
Btw, is something known about her lovelife and were they fishing to get her to talk about that? Or was it just general talkhshow-prying?

[shah]

Granny seems very decent, modest, laborious and persistent in her plans...good for her, keep my fingers crossed for 2010 and a medal in Helsinki next year!

[Poggi]

I wanted to punch Cecília Esztergályos. so badly..! she didn't even let Júlia say anything at all, she just came up with all those totally questions...

[igniculus]

Btw, is something known about her lovelife and were they fishing to get her to talk about that? Or was it just general talkhshow-prying?

Seriously, I have no clue. She is not like the typical Hungarian celebrities who are hounded by the press all the time. The tabloids never cared about her as they did it with DivaNóra when the infamous split with Attila was made public...

[igniculus]

The Hungarian National Skating Federation had a general meeting recently about reviewing the 2007/2008 season, successes, financial situation, upcoming plans, and many more.

A basic sheet of information:
http://www.moksz.hu/szovetseg/kgy_2008.pdf

Tidbits and observations to figure skating, ice dance and synchro skating:

- the fed is celebrating its 100th birthday this year and plans to commemorate this in a very special event where everybody needs to be invited who contributed to the developing and promoting of the Hungarian skating. Therefore, an organizing team was set up to make sure everything works out. Head of this team is Dr. Klára Kozári (the lady Júlia Sebestyén talked about in her recent video interview ), other members: Eszter Jurek, József Merényi, Károly Csanádi.

- all goals were achieved this season in all 5 disciplines.

- the participants of the meeting were presented the applications for hosting future international competitions in Hungary. Most important of them was the bidding for the World Figure Skating Championships in 2011 (21-27 March). Nagano (Japan) is the only other city bidding for the rights that is confirmed in this document. There is also a bidding to host the World Championships in short track speed skating in 2011 (11-13 March). Here are more bidding countries listed: Great Britain, South Korea, Canada.

- as most important goals for next season, the Olympic qualifications were set up. 2 entries for ladies singles and 1 ice dance couple is needed to accomplish.

- Eszter Jurek, head of the figure skating department summarized the achievements of this area. She said all the senior results exceeded previous expectations (and the results of the previous season). The development of the upcoming skating generation looks really promising. Financially, this department had more income than estimated. She thanked for parents and coaches for their dedication and support.

- Sándor Nagy (coach of the former team Hoffmann & Elek) talked about the season of the ice dance discipline. He mentioned the split of said couple as a devastating move for this discipline, but Nóra is not giving up and teaming up with Max Zavozin looks really promising for her. He pointed out that the future of this department should not be measured by Olympic qualifications (or the lack of them).

- on behalf of the synchronised skating department, Vera Siági-Varga spoke about "the 2007/2008 season being the most successful of all" for its skaters. She said that financial support, right training circumstances and dedication payed off massively. She noted that to reach even better results, the continuous education and training of the coaches and judges is crucial.

- György Sallak, head of the federation suggested that a system of points should be created to measure the achievemtents, results and training status of the skaters in each disciplines. He agreed that there should be an emphasis on training of coaches and judges.


That's all.

[igniculus]

Some other news on the Federation's site.

Summary:

• the Hungarain Fed is bidding to host a Junior Grand Prix competition this season

• there are plans for the renovation of the Gyakorló Jégcsarnok, host venue for the Nationals and training place for many athletes. Said venue will also serve from now on as a training rink only for figure skaters and ice dancers - ice hockey won't disturb the ice time anymore.

• the head of the Fed is officially assigned to deal with USFSA about the case of Maxim Zavozin, to fulfill the requirements of the USFSA (most likely ), so that the ice dance team of Nora Hoffmann & Maxim Zavozin can attend competitions starting this season already.

[sbanet]

Thanks for the update!

[shah]

Some other news on the Federation's site.

Summary:

• the head of the Fed is officially assigned to deal with USFSA about the case of Maxim Zavozin, to fulfill the requirements of the USFSA (most likely ), so that the ice dance team of Nora Hoffmann & Maxim Zavozin can attend competitions starting this season already.

that's what I'm awaiting impatiently. can't wait to see Diva Nora back on ice ! any news on Atilla, btw?

[igniculus]

any news on Atilla, btw?

I've got my sources but nothing skating-related news to report so far.

[Finnice]

Thanks for the update! I can´t wait to see DivaNora in action again.

[Poggi]

Now I have found some very puzzling Hungarian skating news on IceNetwork - they have a ladies season preview kind of article right here:
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news

Julia Sebestyen of Hungary is No. 13. The 27-year-old veteran will have to improve on her performances in the Grand Prix Series last year if she wants to maintain her position in the world. Since winning the world title in 2004, she has not placed in the top 10 in that event, so it seems that her best years are behind her.

Now that's quite a surprise I wonder if Shizuka has any comments on that one.

(Well, I kind of liked then the Hungarian commentator said at the 2008 Worlds Gala that Takahashi won silver at the 2007 Europeans, but I think I like this one better.)

[igniculus]

LOLz. Dear Ice Network, can you please hire me to proof-read your articles before posting? I don't even want money for it, just let me meet my Johnny a couple of times and I'm happy.

On another note, there is a 2-page interview (and photo-spread ) with Júlia in a sports magazine called Képes Sport. I'm uploading the translation today, stay tuned (if interested ).

[HisWeirness]

LOLz. Dear Ice Network, can you please hire me to proof-read your articles before posting? I don't even want money for it, just let me meet my Johnny a couple of times and I'm happy.

I would like 'in' on this deal too! I'll be happy to keep the website updated with THIS season's info also and more Johnny interview video pieces!!

Seriously, it is one thing to lose track of lower placements at worlds from year to year...but to have forgot who won worlds? How can you call yourself a FS journalist? Ok, I did have to go to wikipedia (not the best source I know) to paranoid-ly double check this, but I had a VERY good memory hunch that Julia won EUROS in 2004 in Budapest, not worlds!

[igniculus]

Okay, here is the translation.

The Képes Sport magazine seduced the European Champion figure skater to an exclusive photo-shoot

Júlia Sebestyén
[by Gergely Kovács - Képes Sport]

The best Hungarian figure skater. Grannies and their grandchildren squeal if she misses a jump, grannies and their grandchildren clap of joy if she skates her program flawlessly. Júlia Sebestyén, the queen of an enchanting world.

She is still not used to the cold at the ice rinks, nevertheless, winter is her favorite season. We thought it's summer as a figure skater has nothing to do during summers, only to choose the best resorts for a holiday. Júlia Sebestyén says she's amazed that certain athletes take month-long breaks, it's out of question for figure skaters. At the beginning of summer, she has a 2-week break, but nothing more, because the feeling, the jumps go away in such a short time, and it's necessary to have them for skating. This way, she spends most of the summers in training camps.


Way to the top

She began when she was 4, at the age of 7-8 she was already competing, and the break-through happened at an international competition in Stuttgart in 1990 when her jumps were so great that she blew away the rest of the field and won in the category of under 10 years olds. At the age of 13, she moved from Tiszaújváros to Budapest, where she had to deal with not only bigger expectations, but she had to make a living as a child in a new and different world.

She was not taken aback by it: one year later she competed at the European Championships where she placed 14th. Today, she couldn't do that: nobody can compete at the Euros under the age of 15. A double break followed, on the ice, and literally too: first, she grew too fast and sustained a fracture, later she fell badly and kicked her right foot with her left heel. She missed the year of 1997 completely, but she competed afterwards at the Europeans, junior worlds and the Olympics in 1998. In 2002, she finished 8th at the Olympics at Salt Lake City, in 2003 she won a silver medal at the Europeans, in 2004 she finished 6th at Worlds, made it to the Grand Prix final, and during the Europeans in Budapest, nobody skated more beautiful than her: she won the gold medal in front of the home audience! She wasn't happy just because the "1" is her favourite number...

"It was really great, it's a memory of a lifetime to win in front of the home audience" said the skater. "The Hungarian fans were fantastic. Sadly, there are only few chances for international competitions here in Hungary. Outside the borders, I love the American and Japanese crowd, they are so supportive even if you don't do so well."


Change of style

The dresses. In the 70ies and 80ies, people in the country were watching skating because of the gorgeous dresses. It made figure skating look like a strange fairy tale. Today, it's not that important anymore, but for the competitors, looks are still relevant. Till the year 2002, her mom made Júlia the dresses, then a Russian company took over the job, and since 2007, the prominent designer Tamás Náray makes the sketches for them.

"I'm happy for this change because I really like my new dresses, and finally, I have a say how they should look like" Juli told the Képes Sport. "When I see a dress, usually I can tell who designed or made it, was it a Russian designer, a French or an American. I have no stylist, we come together and have all a say in how the costumes and props should look like. I search for music a lot, because it's so hard to find the right one. But if I have it, I can listen to it a million times. It's no problem: during the competitions, we need to know every rythm so precisely that if they play one act you need to know which part it is and what you need to do at that moment."

And if you do well, you can only hope the judges think the same. You can't just go by how the jugdes control every competition.

"I'm skating for 20 years now" she says "I'm already used to this..."


No pause

She changed not only her style, but her coach and sport psychologist too. No wonder: after the glorious year of 2004, more shadowed times came. She made the Grand Prix Final in 2006 too (it's not a small accomplishment, since she can compete in 2 of the 6 grand prix events and only the 6 best can make it to the final), and she won Cup of China too, but overall, the expected results were not there. At her third Olympics in Torino, she finished only 18th.

With the new team, however, everything goes much better, and she finished 4th at the last European Championships. "People often tell me how many mistakes I make. But they don't realize that just like others, I make the most difficult programs possible too, and there is always a chance for faults there. The new system rewards what you can do, and a fall is not that important. It occured these years once, that somebody with two falls still made the top of the podium at an international competition. The programs are more strict now. If there's an element I had a hard time with, but I knew I can make it, I was able to do it later in the program." Now you can't just modify the programs that easily, the rules are very strict.

But Juli can adapt to them. These days, she has to deal with a heel injury, but she longs for the ice now, even though she still needs to wait. The Grand Prixs are approaching, as are the Europeans and in March, the World Championships. The big, final goal are the 4th Olympics of her carrier. She plans to compete till 2010, she wants to do shows afterwards. And to begin the life outside sports. She has a nice base to that, as she already got 3 university degrees so far...


Here you can see a couple of the photos:

Júlia 1
Júlia 2

[ioana]

Thank you very much for translating Julia's interview! And, her *hair* looks very nice in those pics --sacrilege, I know .

[igniculus]

You're welcome.

There was a vid posted on the Hungarian board, it's from the photoshoot with many tiffed moments.

http://kso.hu/cikk.php?cikk=197

[igniculus]

In utter boredom from the ladies at SC, I decided to translate this new article that surfaced today about Hoffmann & Zavozin.

Nora Hoffmann & Maxim Zavozin skating for Hungary
by Tibor Fabik
Origo

No sports diplomatic hurdles anymore: she competed with Attila Elek at the Torino Olympics where she places 17th, later 10th at the Europeans, and now, she teamed up with the Russian-born American Maxim Zavozin, a former junior world champion. They'll skate for Hungary.

The team of Hoffmann & Elek placed second at the 2003 and 2004 junior world championships and won the 2004 junior grand prix final. In the senior field, they finished 10th at the 2005 European championships, 15th at worlds and 17th at the Olympics. They were in place 7 before the freedance at the 2007 European championships but during a practice, Attila Elek suffered a shin fracture and this practically ended the partnership too. The break-up wasn't an easy one, they did not part on good terms...

The 23 year old Nora Hoffmann found a new partner last year already: the also 23 year old Maxim Zavozin, who is originally from Russia, but is an American citizen. He was partnerless that time too. He won the world junior championships in 2005. The team found the beat on ice very soon, they were preparing for the 2007/2008 season and insiders were very positive about the bright future of the pair. But the US federation did not release Zavozin.

This week, however, all the conflicts found an end as Zavozin's official release arrived from the ISU, too, so the team can take part not only in foreign galas but can debue at the international competition of Zagreb, the Golden Spin too, which takes place between the 13-15th November. Next year, they can attend the European championships in Helsinki, Finnland, and the world championships in Los Angeles, USA. To compete for Hungary, Zavozin only needs a residential permit, but to compete at the Olympics, there are higher requirements and he'll need to obtain the citizenship too.

Sandor Nagy, head of the ice dance discipline in Hungary told the Hungarian Olympic Committe that Hoffmann & Zavozin will shortly arrive in Budapest to make the necessary arrangements. The team will most likely train in the US, in Budapest and in Moscow for the new season, and the main goal is, of course, to make it to the 2010 Olympics.


The article also includes a smily pic of DivaNora.

[sbanet]

Thanks for the update and translation.

[igniculus]

I missed you. Where are you all the times?

[Finnice]

Can´t rep you, Igniculus, but thank you for the translation! Go Diva Nora!