Alexander Majorov insults the Swedish federation on Facebook (and later apologizes)

[Mafke]

In my experience, most 19-year-old Europeans know quite a bit about the racial history of the United States, have an idea how offensive the "N" word is, but don't fully grasp how offensive the "F" word is

IME (and I live in Europe) is they don't understand how offensive either one is (and most 19 year olds are not ... the most perceptive of beings in the first place). And .... he wasn't using the word in English, he used a string of nasty words in English in a Swedish language environment where the audience would just understand a string of nasty English words (and they way they're used make no sense in English anyway).

I agree some kind of penance (beyond the first apology) is called for though I'm not sure how many immigrant minors in Sweden want to learn how to skate or if he would be able to teach them very well.

[Squibble]

I agree some kind of penance (beyond the first apology) is called for though I'm not sure how many immigrant minors in Sweden want to learn how to skate or if he would be able to teach them very well.

I think struggling to learn how to teach children who, unlike him, don't come from a skating family would be a good thing for him. But if it's not teaching skating, then surely there's something else he could be doing that would involve both helping minority (and specifically black) children and learning something about them and the problems they face (idiotic 19-year-olds, for example).

Just my two öre.

[ninadel]

So possibly he doesn't understand the curse words he's using. That being said, it's still completely tacky to go off on your national skating federation like that.

That and he must be pretty delusional to think he's entitled to a spot above Berntsson and Schultheiss.

It's sad because his family's probably invested a lot into his skating career so far and this has just dug him into a PR hole.

[siberia82]

I found a video and radio interview that Sasha made earlier today regarding the Facebook incident. Could someone please translate them into English for us?

http://svtplay.se/v/2277111/majorov_...er_sina_pahopp

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel...rtikel=4252233

[siberia82]

Just something I thought about: Sasha mentions that he had no one talk to about his disappointment. (I assume that he's not comfortable discussing negative emotions with his family.) Does that mean he doesn't have access to a sports psychologist? Figure skating isn't that popular in Sweden, so perhaps their federation don't have the funding to provide professional help should their athletes require it?

Also, didn't Majorov totally blow it in the short program?

Yes, he made major errors and ended with a score of 57.71. For the SP, he was almost 12 points behind Adrian and more than 14 points behind Kristoffer.

In Sasha's not-so-humble opinion, though, he should've won the free skate (his TES for that segment was actually the highest amongst the Senior Men, but only by a couple of points): http://www.kuriren.nu/nyheter/defaul...icleid=5708288 He believes that the Swedish federation favours the other two over him, which is why he ended up third. I'm guessing he's not that good at arithmetic because even if we disregarded the PCS scores (which is arguably where most of the favouritism would've occured), he'd still end up third over-all.

I don´t understand why he was so angry as he was only third at the Nationals. If he had won or placed second and would not have been sent, I would understand his disappointment (but not his horrible behavior in this matter).

Majorov actually had the best international results of the Swedish men heading into Nationals. (He even beat Berntsson at the International Chellenge.) I did notice while I searched for updates before the event that the Swedish media payed more attention to him than either of his teammates. He basically came into Nationals as the favourite to win. (I've been told by a fan who was present at the competition that Sasha received the loudest cheer from the crowd during the SP segment.) I suspect these factors might have inflated his ego. He even stated in the article that I shared above that he was confident he would be chosen for Euros because of his stronger international results.

It's sad because his family's probably invested a lot into his skating career so far and this has just dug him into a PR hole.

Yeah, I wonder how his family is feeling about this mess...

[julieann]

This is so unlike me and I can't believe I'm even saying this but I do think this has been blown wayyyyyyy out of proportion.

We are talking about a stupid 19 year old who made a bad decision to post something when he was upset. I'm sure he lacks the maturity that some 19 year olds have because I'm sure his parents are more preoccupied with his skating then teaching himself self discipline or social skills. He has been taken down a few pegs by this and I hope he learned a valuable lesson. If not, next time it may cost him more than public humiliation.

He posted something, regretted it and took it down, he didn't make excuses he just apologized...penance is not necessary. He didn't beat dogs, kill someone while drunk or take advantage of someone after he drugged them...time to move on.

If I had a dime for every text/email I sent and wished I hadn’t…I would be RICH!!!!

[casken]

I'm amazed no one has patted him on the back yet for not being "politically correct."

There might be hope for society yet.

[millyskate]

Majorov is of Russian origin, and in my experience Russians absolutely do not know how offensive the n word is in the US. At all. In Russian, the n word (or its direct translation) is not offensive and commonly used to describe black people.


In Europe, people would have the vague sense of it being offensive, but generally do not have the same understanding of political correctness (apart from in the UK) .
Moreover, when I studied a Senegalese poet in school, we had a group of African poets come to the school to explain why the word "negre" was NOT offensive and why we should all use it rather than "black".

So yes, IMO he would have been aware of it being a racial slur, but not have the sense of just how offensive its considered in the US. Being aware of American history does not entail being aware of PC language issues. It's still completely unacceptable to use racial slurs as an insult... but when I was in Ukraine, it was all too common and people did not get upset. You could be called the n word, "Moscal", "Russian", Nimets (German).... all those were commonly used insults in the playground.

It's not so much the inappropriate use of the word that shocks me as his stupidity.

[casken]

In Europe, people would have the vague sense of it being offensive, but generally do not have the same understanding of political correctness (apart from in the UK) .

No one has the same understanding of political correctness becuase there is no such thing as political correctness.

[millyskate]

No one has the same understanding of political correctness becuase there is no such thing as political correctness.

Sorry, I didn't mean to start that debate again

But the concept of making a certain word taboo because of historical connotations is not universal, shall we say. And in certain cultures, people have an extremely developped sense of self-deprication, which lead them to make jokes about dark periods of their own history - and of other people's history, and they don't see the problem.

However, the only point I was trying to make here was that Majorov may have unfortunately caught his vocabulary habit from family/friends (not an excuse), because even in the apology he seems completely unaware of just how bad what he said was.

[casken]

Oh don't mind me. That term is being thrown around so much lately here (US) in politics and so randomly that I'm starting to have a reflex reaction to it. I guess I'm a little too sensitive.

Plus, I've never got to use the soapbox smilie before. That was fun.

On topic , no one who can affect his skating career will care about this if he comes back next year and is *clearly* better than AS and KB (I like them, but...not a monumental task), so it's a wash.

[millyskate]

Oh don't mind me. That term is being thrown around so much lately here (US) in politics and so randomly that I'm starting to have a reflex reaction to it. I guess I'm a little too sensitive.

Plus, I've never got to use the soapbox smilie before. That was fun.

On topic , no one who can affect his skating career will care about this if he comes back next year and is *clearly* better than AS and KB (I like them, but...not a monumental task), so it's a wash.

lol we'd posted about PCness at the same time anyway.
I find the term offensive as well, particularly in this context. And I'm one who thinks inventing flowery terms to disguise concepts that bother us silly in general....

When I worked in Ukraine, I tried to explain to my colleagues that it just wasn't a nice thing to say, but I should never have even bothered. From then on they made it into a "joke" and thought it was a really funny thing to say when they wanted to irritate me. That and making disabled jokes...
And this was a really nice bunch of people all involved in voluntary work for NGO's in orphanages for disabled children So I can see that Majorov's stupidity doesn't necessarily entail him deliberately wanting to make a racist statement.
It doesn't make it any better though. Absolutely insane to post such a thing on facebook. Very, very immature.

[Mafke]

On topic , no one who can affect his skating career will care about this if he comes back next year and is *clearly* better than AS and KB

Yes. It must seem terrible to him now, but it will only ruin his career if he lets it. He can also overcome this just by realizing he did something monumentally ill advised and not making the same mistake again. It's called being mature and for most 19 year olds it's still a work in progress.

I remember when a young sakter named Alexei Yagudin spent some time being widely loathed by serious fans for various stupid behaviors (including a reported racial slur).
Ultimately he was able to get his act together and managed to win over a lot of those who had disapproved.

[meierfan]

He has now received an official warning from the Swedish federation:
http://iof2.idrottonline.se/SvenskaK...andeuttalande/

I'll try to translate:
The Swedish Figure Skating Federation has today decided to give Alexander Majorov a warning.
The warning is given due to the fact that Alexander Majorov went out on Facebook yesterday and expressed his unhappiness, in a derogatory way, over the fact that he was not elected to represent Sweden in the European Championships.

"I have called Alexander and read the warning to him. We had a good conversation. He asked me to thank the board and the national team board from him for showing understanding over his disappointment. Alexander never meant to hurt or put anyone down. He accepts the warning and promises that it will never happen again," says Maria Meyer-Martins, the president of the Swedish Figure Skating Federation.

The warning:
In conjunction with the try outs for the European Championships in figure skating, You have, on the 20th of December 2010, made derogatory comments on Facebook against the Swedish Figure Skating Federation. Because of this, the Swedish Figure Skating Federation has today decided to take disciplinary actions.

The board hereby present You with a warning, as the board finds Your conduct to be completely unacceptable. Your behavior goes against our agreement regarding being a good role model and representative for Swedish figure skating.

We want to remind You that a warning means that You may face more severe disciplinary actions if any similar behavior is repeated in the future.

[Squibble]

Majorov is of Russian origin, and in my experience Russians absolutely do not know how offensive the n word is in the US.

The fact that he's "of Russian origin" is and ought to be irrelevant. He's spent virtually his entire life in Sweden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Majorov

Majorov was born in the Soviet Union and emigrated with his family to Sweden when he was one year old.

Now, while it may well be true that Swedes don't realize exactly how offensive the "N", it's not as if they have no idea at all that that word -- or the "F" word, which he also used -- is offensive.

From his original message, it seems clear to me that he did mean to offend, though he may not have fully apprehended how offensive he was being. He is, however, an adult, and that is a risk he was taking. He should be prepared to suffer the consequences, whatever they may be.

[kia_4EverOnIce]

From his original message, it seems clear to me that he did mean to offend, though he may not have fully apprehended how offensive he was being.

completely agree.
as for the words he used, it seems to me more a sequence took out of a movie than real intents of using that particular words: I wouldn't call them racist in this specific context.

[SmallFairy]

oh dear...how totally immature

and don't assume that we scandinavinas are so ignorant we don't realise the n-word is offensive and terrible, we all know, but Sasha, and lots and lots of youngsters in Sweden and Norway use this word as a way of speak....they use it without even thinking about it...

I play hockey on a team full of boys 14-16 y.o. and their language is so... they use all these terrible words, like Majorov-language, like the most natural thing..p-word, n-word, you name it...

so, my guess is Majorov is about 14 year old mental level....lol....and didn't realise it was not such a good idea posting his inner emotions on fb like that

I'm glad the Swedish federation gave him a warning and speaks in clear words that this is not acceptable. what a child

but, Sweden needs a scandal too, right?? when will we have one in Norway???

[Jun Y]

I too think this incident is blown way out of proportion. Even an old fart like me knows that kids nowadays blurt out anything and everything on Facebook. Posting something for the world to see is just like sitting their private living room shooting off their mouths with close friends.

OTOH, I don't see why he would remotely think his performance at the Nationals deserves a spot on the team to Worlds.

[Jaana]

The fact that he's "of Russian origin" is and ought to be irrelevant. He's spent virtually his entire life in Sweden.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Majorov

Yes, that is what Wikipedia mentions, but I think that he moved to Sweden much later. I seem to remember having read that as the family was moving from Russia they also contacted the Finnish Skating Federation, but got an answer from Swedish Skating Federation quickly. All that makes me believe that he must have been some kind of a skater already in the time of their moving?

[allezfred]

Posting something for the world to see is just like sitting their private living room shooting off their mouths with close friends.

Except for the fact that it isn't.