Johnny in NYMag

[sunny_sari]

Well, he had a really difficult break-up, he believes he was robbed at the Olympics, and something has driven him to take up smoking.

That's another factual error with this article. Johnny hasn't recently "taken up" smoking, he's been an on/off smoker for years. His entire family smokes and his coaches so he's kind of surrounded by it.

[danceronice]

That's another factual error with this article. Johnny hasn't recently "taken up" smoking, he's been an on/off smoker for years. His entire family smokes and his coaches so he's kind of surrounded by it.

And given the crowd he's running with now, not surprising. (There's a reason ANTM made a big show of banning smoking--in the fashionista world, people smoke because better that than eat.) Also, Russia is rather behind the US in attitudes about smoking, so if he's surrounded by Russians he's going to be around smokers. (My friend's father spent the last few years as an exec living in St. Petersburg and when she would visit that was a BIG culture shock, even having grown up in Europe when he was assigned to their Swiss office.)

Johnny sounds a bit...mixed in that interview. Rational, irrational, OTT...I am less impressed by the description of his "agent." Who is the 'grown-up' here?

And I love that picture with the seasoned citizens--Johnny's working it and the whole composition's good.

[sunny_sari]

And given the crowd he's running with now, not surprising. (There's a reason ANTM made a big show of banning smoking--in the fashionista world, people smoke because better that than eat.) Also, Russia is rather behind the US in attitudes about smoking, so if he's surrounded by Russians he's going to be around smokers. (My friend's father spent the last few years as an exec living in St. Petersburg and when she would visit that was a BIG culture shock, even having grown up in Europe when he was assigned to their Swiss office.)

Johnny sounds a bit...mixed in that interview. Rational, irrational, OTT...I am less impressed by the description of his "agent." Who is the 'grown-up' here?

And I love that picture with the seasoned citizens--Johnny's working it and the whole composition's good.

I agree with the Tara thing... ugh. Not sure what you meant by the crowd he's running with now. Are you talking about the celeb scene because he doesn't really hang out with celebs or the hollywood crowd regularly. The close friends he has (he calls them dingles) are actually a tight group of people who have known him and supported him since he was a teenager when they all used to skate together. They are his biggest support group that he's had forever and from what I can tell they seem like a pretty down-to-earth, funny group. All of them have jobs and have only really appeared on his show once (minus Paris).

[BittyBug]

I wonder if he'll ever be able to look at his marks and realize that his program just wasn't difficult enough. For him it's always he was just robbed.

That's really a little bit of a myth - his technical difficulty was just fine.

SP:
1 - Plushenko - Base TES = 44.10
2 - Lysacek - Base TES = 40.00
3 - Takahashi - Base TES = 40.40
4 - Oda - Base TES = 39.80
5 - Lambiel - Base TES = 36.20
6 - Weir - Base TES = 39.3

Aside from Plushenko, the level of difficulty of the top guys' SPs was pretty equivalent.

LP:

1 - Lysacek - Base TES = 74.93
2 - Plushenko - Base TES = 75.03
3 - Takahashi - Base TES = 70.28
4 - Lambiel - Base TES = 75.91
5 - Chan - Base TES = 74.70
6 - Weir - Base TES = 73.21

He's a little lower here, but nothing that couldn't have been made up through +GOE and by skating clean (note that the three skaters ahead of him all fell so that drops their mark by -1 right there for the fall deduction, never mind the lower GOE).

After GOE and fall deductions are considered, the total TES ended up being:

1 - Lysacek = 84.57
2 - Plushenko = 82.71
3 - Takahashi = 73.48 - 1.00 = 72.48
4 - Lambiel = 78.49
5 - Chan = 79.30 - 1.00 = 78.30
6 - Weir - 79.67

So Johnny had the 3rd highest TES. I know there's more to difficulty than just the technical elements, but the program components are far more subjective, and it's this area where some people argue that politics came into play.

I don't necessarily think that Johnny should have medaled, but I don't think you can say that his program "just wasn't difficult enough." He was done in by two factors: his lip and PCS. The lip is his fault. The PCS - that's debatable.

[gkelly]

It's possible that some posters are using "not difficult enough" to refer to the content of the skating between the elements. That would affect both the infamous Transitions score and also the Skating Skills score (e.g., regarding the "multidirectional skating" criterion).

[Polymer Bob]

Johnny has had some bad relationship experience including a really bad breakup with his first bf who he had said was the love of his life.

bf ? ........ or gf ?

[sunny_sari]

bf ? ........ or gf ?

bf. He was a pairs skater. It's not much of a secret in skating circles but I won't go in depth about it here.

[reese]

I hate how he always says he's "fluent" in Russian. That's total bullshit. He can speak a few lines here and there and he can catch the gist of some of the Russian spoken to him. And now he claims to also be fluent in French. Ridiculous. It's this kind of thing, while trivial and insignificant, that reveals a lot about his relationship to facts and truth.

[Lexxandra]

I hate how he always says he's "fluent" in Russian. That's total bullshit. He can speak a few lines here and there and he can catch the gist of some of the Russian spoken to him.

Interview with Johnny for Voice of America (in russian)
Interview with Johnny for AvtoRadio (in russian)

[caseyedwards]

That's really a little bit of a myth - his technical difficulty was just fine.

SP:
1 - Plushenko - Base TES = 44.10
2 - Lysacek - Base TES = 40.00
3 - Takahashi - Base TES = 40.40
4 - Oda - Base TES = 39.80
5 - Lambiel - Base TES = 36.20
6 - Weir - Base TES = 39.3

Aside from Plushenko, the level of difficulty of the top guys' SPs was pretty equivalent.

LP:

1 - Lysacek - Base TES = 74.93
2 - Plushenko - Base TES = 75.03
3 - Takahashi - Base TES = 70.28
4 - Lambiel - Base TES = 75.91
5 - Chan - Base TES = 74.70
6 - Weir - Base TES = 73.21

He's a little lower here, but nothing that couldn't have been made up through +GOE and by skating clean (note that the three skaters ahead of him all fell so that drops their mark by -1 right there for the fall deduction, never mind the lower GOE).

After GOE and fall deductions are considered, the total TES ended up being:

1 - Lysacek = 84.57
2 - Plushenko = 82.71
3 - Takahashi = 73.48 - 1.00 = 72.48
4 - Lambiel = 78.49
5 - Chan = 79.30 - 1.00 = 78.30
6 - Weir - 79.67

So Johnny had the 3rd highest TES. I know there's more to difficulty than just the technical elements, but the program components are far more subjective, and it's this area where some people argue that politics came into play.

I don't necessarily think that Johnny should have medaled, but I don't think you can say that his program "just wasn't difficult enough." He was done in by two factors: his lip and PCS. The lip is his fault. The PCS - that's debatable.

Oda just narrowly was ahead of Weir in TES. Oda had .02 more in TES. So that would make Weir 4th in TES but 7th in PCS behind Abbott. Abbott got huge PCS-he skated ninth but got final six level PCS. Isn't that something?

[Muffin]

I hate how he always says he's "fluent" in Russian. That's total bullshit. He can speak a few lines here and there and he can catch the gist of some of the Russian spoken to him. And now he claims to also be fluent in French. Ridiculous.

I am also not impressed with his professed knowledge of fashion. He doesn't seem to know much more than your average person who reads Vogue and The Fashion Spot and follows fashion as a hobby.

It does not appear he has any qualifications whatsoever to be a fashion designer. As Tim Gunn (of Project Runway & Parsons) said, dressing with flair does not mean one will make a good fashion designer. Does Johnny sew? Does he illustrate? Has he actually made any clothing? Because people who aspire to go to design school usually do that stuff intensely for years before applying.

It sounds to me like he wants a casual interest in fashion to transform itself into a career, but I've seen no indication he is going to put in the work to make it happen, and I don't have a lot of confidence that he will.

[BittyBug]

Oda just narrowly was ahead of Weir in TES. Oda had .02 more in TES. So that would make Weir 4th in TES but 7th in PCS behind Abbott.

Oda's total TES was 79.69 but he had a 1.00 deduction for his fall = 78.69 adjusted TES, or 4th place behind Johnny and slightly ahead of Lambiel. (Oda also had an additional 2.00 deduction for his program interruption, but I'm not counting that against TES since it is not related to execution of elements.)

[BittyBug]

I hate how he always says he's "fluent" in Russian. That's total bullshit. He can speak a few lines here and there and he can catch the gist of some of the Russian spoken to him.

Interview with Johnny for Voice of America (in russian)
Interview with Johnny for AvtoRadio (in russian)

And all those comments from native Russian speakers about how good his Russian is must be "total bullshit." Maybe it's not Johnny who has a problematic "relationship to facts and truth."

[sunny_sari]

I hate how he always says he's "fluent" in Russian. That's total bullshit. He can speak a few lines here and there and he can catch the gist of some of the Russian spoken to him. And now he claims to also be fluent in French. Ridiculous. It's this kind of thing, while trivial and insignificant, that reveals a lot about his relationship to facts and truth.

Actually Johnny is the one who always refuses to say he's fluent because he does make the odd grammar and word choice mistake yet he's pretty darn close to it in spoken and written word. When training with Galina's team he said the first year they spoke a little, the second year they spoke half and half and last year the majority of their talk was in russian. He gave an interview where he said one week he was training so much and the only people he saw were his coaches so he went home on a friday realizing he hadn't spoken english face to face with anyone in five days. Galina even calls him fluent when he insists he still struggles over some words.

His russian is excellent and way more advanced then a few words here and there. I have no idea where you got that. He's been speaking and studying it for years and years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ttVkbWw43w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpm6u...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR_83...eature=related (3:13 mark)

[sunny_sari]

Interview with Johnny for Voice of America (in russian)
Interview with Johnny for AvtoRadio (in russian)

It's gone downhill with all of the russian he speaks now but he still understands it VERY well. He studied French all through highschool and at one time was quite fluent. He makes little mistakes but his knowledge and accent was terrific.

French:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O0BjF1OJrg

[reese]

I just said he's not fluent, which he isn't. Listening to those interviews... he's speaking Russian like the kind of English you hear Yuna Kim speaking in an interview with NBC. Good, yes, but not fluent. I took Russian in college for 4 years but I wouldn't call myself fluent. Just a few days ago on the gymnastics post-show Johnny admitted that he wasn't "fluent" in Russian.

And if someone cares to argue that he's fluent in French, please... illuminate me. .

[sunny_sari]

I just said he's not fluent, which he isn't. Listening to those interviews... he's speaking Russian like the kind of English you hear Yuna Kim speaking in an interview with NBC. Good, yes, but not fluent. I took Russian in college for 4 years but I wouldn't call myself fluent. Just a few days ago on the gymnastics post-show Johnny admitted that he wasn't "fluent" in Russian.

And if someone cares to argue that he's fluent in French, please... illuminate me. .

Uh, that's not what you said. You said you hate how he's always saying he's "fluent" which he's not saying. He says he can speak and understand both languages which he can but refuses to call himself fluent even though the "fluency" of his russian is very very good. You just contradicted yourself when you said Johnny always says he's fluent yet said on the gymnastics show that he isn't.

Also you said he can speak a line here and there and understands some of the gist. You were proven wrong. Clearly he's far more advanced than that and to be able to carry on an almost hour-long radio interview with 3 russians speaking at the speed of light at you and understand it all and hold your own.... I'd say he's got some pretty good skill- much better than what you wanted to give him credit for.

[igniculus]

That's another factual error with this article. Johnny hasn't recently "taken up" smoking, he's been an on/off smoker for years. His entire family smokes and his coaches so he's kind of surrounded by it.

So? That makes it okay for him smoking? That is no excuse, nor is it a pattern. Many people of his age (and even younger) take up smoking because it has a socializing effect and because they think it's cool. Which is shallow.

In addition, both my parents smoked, as well as my younger brother (between 11 and 18 years old) and I never even considered to try it, despite being "surrounded by it".

I hate how he always says he's "fluent" in Russian. That's total bullshit. He can speak a few lines here and there and he can catch the gist of some of the Russian spoken to him. And now he claims to also be fluent in French. Ridiculous.

Actually, he has learnt French in highschool, it's not a recent 'claim'.

[sunny_sari]

[QUOTE=igniculus;2846414]So? That makes it okay for him smoking? That is no excuse, nor is it a pattern. Many people of his age (and even younger) take up smoking because it has a socializing effect and because they think it's cool. Which is shallow.

In addition, both my parents smoked, as well as my younger brother (between 11 and 18 years old) and I never even considered to try it, despite being "surrounded by it".


I never made any such claim that it was ok to smoke or he had any kind of excuse. I hate smoking and think it's ridiculous. I stated a fact: he's smoked on/off for years and was surrounded by smokers while growing up so it does provide some context to what may have influenced him to begin- not the "oh he's so wild now he's taken up smoking" thing the author was trying to convey.

[BittyBug]

LOL. I just had native Russian speaker listen to the Radio Avto interview. The comments: "He's fairly fluent." "Grammatically correct." "He's being asked about some fairly obscure things and he understands them." But the best part: "The guy closed the interview by saying, 'This has been an interview with American figure skater Johnny Weir, who is fluent in Russian." So there, from the Russki interviewer himself.