If you're a fan of Swedish men's figure skating...

[siberia82]

The following was translated by whiteskates, with some minor editing done by me.


Page 40 (http://i52.tinypic.com/10yqbs1.jpg):

Adrian Schultheiss is sitting on the edge of his bed in his studio apartment in Gothenburg and watches his aquarium with an empty look in his eyes. He apologizes for the messy state of his place.

- Up until two years ago I used to clean up, but after that I couldn’t be bothered to do it anymore. So I’ve stopped.

In the middle of the room there are two big, black garbage bags full of empty cans. Adrian hasn’t disposed of them because there are so many that it would be embarrassing. Under a coffee table with lit candles there are some plastic bags. They contain dolls, teddy bears and other stuffed animals that Adrian’s fans have thrown onto the ice. Between the bed and a small couch, he has squeezed in a training bike. The walls are full of photos of him skating and of paintings he has painted himself. Taped on a shelf, there’s a piece of paper with a drawing of a podium. He has drawn a smiley on the gold medalist’s spot. Beneath it are the words, “I can. I will.”

It has only been a few days since Adrian got back from the competition Skate America in Oregon, where he and his coach of seven years had a falling out and decided to part ways. He is upset and confused, and doesn’t yet know how to schedule his training for the future. For the time being, he has an arrangement with two junior coaches, Maria Bergqvist and Johanna Dalstrand, who will coach him until the Swedish Championships.

- I care about my coach, but as in all relationships, there have been lots of disagreements. In the last four years, there has been a lot of shit. It has been locked up. We can’t talk anymore.

Adrian really wants to break into the world’s elite, but this season has been dogged by problems. On top of the rows with his coach, he has suffered pain in his groin and was forced to change skating boots because he was unlucky to get a bad pair. All are unfortunate circumstances, but such things happen to an athlete. Adrian’s main problem is far worse: he doesn’t enjoy it anymore.



SmallFairy has already provided the translation for the next section involving Adrian. I'll look it over and see if any adjustments need to be made before I post the paragraphs that I've been working on.

[sus2850]

Thanks so much for the translation! I tried to learn Swedish but didn't get that far...

This passage of the article sounds very sad though, I hope the journalist is somewhat exaggerating (i.e. with how the room looks, the photo didn't give the impression that he is living in a dump)

And here a treat as you like Adrian, siberia82 (these are my own from Bern, free skate and warm up for short, I had to do an interview during the actual short):
http://s668.photobucket.com/albums/v...view=slideshow

[siberia82]

I tried to learn Swedish but didn't get that far...

Well, it certainly can't be worse than my Swedish.

This passage of the article sounds very sad though, I hope the journalist is somewhat exaggerating (i.e. with how the room looks, the photo didn't give the impression that he is living in a dump)

I guess it's possible that the author may be exaggerating some details, but Adrian himself has stated in a recent AbsoluteSkating.com article that he has been neglecting his health somewhat since he doesn't "have time" to cook properly (or more likely, he just isn't motivated to do so because of the emotional turmoil he's experiencing). Since he's not taking care of himself the way he should, I think it's likely he's neglecting household chores as well.

The photographer for "Isens ensamhet" has an artistic eye, so I'm sure s/he picked an angle which would minimize the mess. You can see some clutter in this photo: http://i51.tinypic.com/2ilhc2e.jpg

And here a treat as you like Adrian, siberia82 (these are my own from Bern, free skate and warm up for short, I had to do an interview during the actual short):
http://s668.photobucket.com/albums/v...view=slideshow

Thanks a lot for sharing your photos of Romeo! I like the Swedish guys for their skating first and foremost, but I can't deny that they're all very good-looking in their own way.

[siberia82]

Most of you have already read this part, and I've fixed some little errors that SmallFairy made in the original translation.


Page 40 (continued):

- I'm very confused right now. Lately I haven't been happy. I think I'm depressed. It's been like this since the 2008 Worlds: first it was really a lot of things happening, then I was depressed during the summer and couldn't find any happiness in my skating. And this year there has been so much crap with everything. I have goals, big goals, but sometimes I have stopped dreaming. If I can't find the joy in skating again, I'm going to quit after this season.

Adrian is leaning forward, sitting on his bed.

- My girlfriend comes to watch my practices sometimes. That helps. Then I don't feel so alone. I land the harder triples and perform nicer spins then.

Adrian’s life revolves completely around figure skating. He trains in the morning, then he goes home and rests for a few hours before he's back at the rink for the next session. The evenings are sometimes spent with his girlfriend, who studies at the university and lives with her parents. His busy schedule ensures that he no longer has any other friends in Gothenburg. He mostly socializes with a group of foreign skaters that he meets at competitions. When he's at home, he usually sits on his bed and watches the aquarium. He loves his fishes and can watch their behaviour for hours on end.

As if that weren’t enough, the fishes seem to be ill. He shows me a note which is the result of many hours of studying in front of the aquarium where he has carefully recorded what the fishes are doing. It says things like: "coughing up food" and "body shivers". He has also calculated their breaths: 80-110 breaths per minute instead of 60, which is normal. Adrian will take the list to a pet store to get help with a diagnosis and buy the right medication. He suspects gill parasites.

[siberia82]

This section was translated by yours truly:


Page 40 (continued):

A hundred years ago, Sweden was the best in the world of figure skating. Ulrich Salchow, a daily reporter for Dagens Nyheter, took ten World Championship gold medals between 1901 and 1911 – an achievement that is still his alone today. When figure skating became part of the Olympic program for the first time, Salchow danced home with the gold. At a competition the following year, he performed a jump that no one had seen before: the Swede went backwards on one foot and jumped back from an inner edge, rotated one turn, and landed on an outer edge. The jump, which was named after him, is today one of the sport's six basic jumps.


Page 41 (http://i52.tinypic.com/10yqbs1.jpg):

During the '20s, the architect Gillis Grafström took over as Sweden's – and the world's – top male figure skater. He won three World Championships, and was so appreciated for his ability to draw figures on the ice with skates that the German city of Potsdam named a street after him.

After Grafström, the rest of the 20th century passed without any male Swedish figure skaters making their way up on to the big international scene.

Then came Kristoffer Berntsson.


Oooooooo, the suspense!

[siberia82]

I also translated this part:


Page 41 (continued):

As a five-year-old, his parents enrolled him in both hockey and figure skating school – the rink was only a few minutes walk from the townhouse in Landvetter. After only half a year, Kristoffer skipped hockey school to devote more attention to figure skating. A whole bunch of boys were trained by the Hungarian former figure skater Andrea Dohany, who during the same period started Team Surprise – the world's top team in synchronized skating some years later.

Since all the figure skating clubs have difficulty attracting guys, they often do their utmost to keep those who begin despite everything. Andrea encouraged Kristoffer and the others to venture more and more ambitiously. When the boys approached puberty, however, her job became increasingly difficult. Suddenly, her sport had everything that they were against: classical music, weird outfits, dance, a demanding discipline, and a blatant lack of role models that the boys could identify with.


Page 42 (no picture):

When Kristoffer was 14 years old, the last of his old figure skating buddies had quit. He had trained 15 hours a week for the past two years, and many in his entourage felt that it was a lot for such a young guy.



I'm working on the next few paragraphs, but I need help with several words, so I have to wait for a response before I can post my work.

[siberia82]

I've been informed by my Swedish-speaking assistants that the journalist uses a lot of idiomatic expressions, which is why I got stuck in a few places. No doubt the language in the article is beautiful for those can read it, but it's hell for a beginner to translate!



Page 42 (continued):

Kristoffer, who participated in international competitions, knew he was moving hopelessly against the wind. The Russians had been drilled since they were old enough to stand in a pair of skates. Similarly, the Americans and the Japanese had access to their own rinks which were fully customized for figure skating. Kristoffer had to settle for ice sessions that the Landvetter hockey club did not use.

Another problem was that he was so lonely. When he began competing at the senior Swedish Championships, he only had one opponent, which meant that the results never became official and no medals were awarded. At the Swedish Nationals, there were only two possible placements: first or last.

Kristoffer used to come first.

- I could miss the community one might get in other sports. But I travel to the USA or Moscow for training camps sometimes, and then of course you get to meet other figure skaters. I'm probably the kind of person who doesn’t suffer much from being alone.

Although he was the best in Sweden, he had poor awareness of the best skaters, those who competed at the World Championships, Olympics and the major Grand Prix events. Since he started figure skating, he had deliberately made sure to keep a distance from the sport.

- When the last of the other guys left, I was shocked. We had trained together for so many years, and suddenly he was no longer there. I knew of course that it was odd to get involved with figure skating. I skated a lot, but I was determined not to be identified too much as a figure skater. I skated on hockey blades for a long time. Maybe I distanced myself from it to avoid being bullied, I don’t know. It’s strange that I began doing a sport where you compete and show off because I was really shy. I understood that others thought it was ridiculous and geeky. I thought so, too. Sometimes we had exercises where we could express ourselves, play theatre. I felt so deeply ashamed that it physically hurt. But hockey could not measure up to figure skating, where everything was free and one can skate with such speed.




Oh, poor Koffe. He seems to have a love/hate relationship with the sport. It's heartbreaking for me to read that he agreed with the general public's perception that figure skating is "ridiculous and geeky", though strangely enough this didn't discourage him from continuing. He could've very easily quit when he had no other friend to practice with, yet he still stuck to it. Considering that there were no role models in the sport he could look up to, the fact that he was able to get this far is truly amazing! I should add in my fan letter to Kristoffer that I view him as a pioneer of modern Swedish men's figure skating.

I had originally intended for whiteskates to translate the next section, but she will be moving shortly, so she won't have much free time for the next couple of weeks. I move at a snail's pace, but I'm all you've got.

[TAHbKA]

thanks!!!!!

[whiteskates]

I find I do have some time after all so I will be doing some translation whenever I feel up to it. ´

[ioana]

Thank you very much for translating, siberia!

Just a quick question for someone who know more about this, but doesn't Sweden have a recycling program? I don't quite understand why two trash bags full of empty cans would be so hard to get rid of. Then again, lack of initiative as a symptom of tiredness is a sign of depression...

In the middle of the room there are two big, black garbage bags full of empty cans. Adrian hasn’t disposed of them because there are so many that it would be embarrassing.

.

[shoegirl]

Thank you very much for translating, siberia!

Just a quick question for someone who know more about this, but doesn't Sweden have a recycling program? I don't quite understand why two trash bags full of empty cans would be so hard to get rid of. Then again, lack of initiative as a symptom of tiredness is a sign of depression...

.

You said it yourself: lack of initiative as a symptom of tiredness is a sign of depression...

Just for the record, we do have a recycling program and you actually get money for your empty cans

[siberia82]

Page 42 (continued):

Kristoffer's sole competitor in Sweden, Filip Stiller, was a real figure skating nerd who fully embraced the sport, and his childhood room is filled with videotapes of the best skaters. The first time Kristoffer and Filip had met, at the 2000 Swedish Championships*, Filip went first. He did a flawless skate and was so delighted afterwards that he fell down to his knees and kissed the ice. When Kristoffer saw this, he intensified his focus. He then went out and opened with a perfect triple Axel. No one had performed that jump in Sweden before. He became so excited that his body shook for the rest of the program, but he still managed to land a few more triples.

The time spent together at camps and competitions meant that Kristoffer's and Filip's rivalry eventually turned into friendship.

Filip Stiller: - I had severe anxiety for two weeks prior to each Swedish Championships. I was completely paralyzed. Outsiders cannot understand how much pressure it is to compete in figure skating. You are totally alone on the ice. You have no team to hide behind. You can miss a jump that you've nailed every time in training – knowing that a wrong edge can destroy everything is so psychologically stressful. If you fall, it defines your entire performance. When I competed, there was only one who could understand. Kristoffer was very shy, but at international competitions, we often shared a room, and naturally we began to chat. We became very close friends.

Despite his dominance at home, Kristoffer had difficultly asserting himself internationally. He was respected for his fine skating, but what separated him from the world’s elite was that he, despite countless attempts and training hours, never successfully landed a quadruple, a jump where one rotates four turns in the air. Kristoffer could do the four revolutions, but he always stumbled on the landing. He therefore never included a quad in his competitive programs – and was thus well behind the best skaters before the competition had even started.

To compensate for his technical shortcomings, he began to refine other parts of his skating instead. At a figure skating competition, the judges evaluate the technical elements – jumps, spins and footwork – but they also rated the "artistic" – choreography, costumes and interpretation of the theme. Kristoffer hired a professional dancer as a choreographer, worked on improving his facial expressions on the ice, and tried to find different themes and music selections.




* The author may have been referring to the 1999 Swedish Championships (as in the 1999/2000 season) because that was the first time Koffe had competed at the senior level. However, it's mentioned in his ISU biography that he was the first Swede to land the triple Axel in the year 2000, which either refers to the 2000/2001 season, or someone had "rounded up" mid-December 1999. I'm now confused about the dates. It should be noted that the official website for the 2010 Swedish Nationals (which took place in mid-December of last year) does list the event as SM 2010, but Berntsson is considered to be the 2011 Swedish national champion.

[ioana]

*The author may have been referring to the 1999 Swedish Championships (as in the 1999/2000 season) because that was the first time Koffe had competed at the senior level. However, it's mentioned in his ISU biography that he was the first Swede to land the triple Axel in the year 2000, which either refers to the 2000/2001 season, or someone had "rounded up" mid-December 1999.

I think the ISU date for landing a 3axel is referring to an international event recognized by the ISU. National competitions don't qualify.

[siberia82]

I think the ISU date for landing a 3axel is referring to an international event recognized by the ISU. National competitions don't qualify.

Well, Kevin Reynolds' quad-triple-triple combination (which was performed at the 2008 Canadian Nationals) is listed on his ISU bio.

[siberia82]

Whoa, I didn't realize that Adrian had such a violent temper... I don't know much about his background, but was he always a troubled kid? That aggressive behaviour must come from somewhere...



Page 43 (no picture):

At the same time, he continued to be spurred on by Filip Stiller. Both saw that they inspired many young guys to start figure skating. At Filip's club, a promising lad arrived who was different from the others: he had been doing martial arts and played hockey, but stopped because he started fights too often on the ice. As a figure skater, Adrian Schultheiss impressed others with his explosive jumping, but he was still easily drawn into conflict. Like the other teenage boys who figure skated, he was occasionally mocked by the hockey guys at the rink, but he refused to accept any insult.

Filip Stiller: - It didn’t matter how big they were. He would take on anyone. One day a guy called Adrian Schultheiss a "gay demon". Adrian confronted him and didn’t stop even when a friend tried to pull him away, or when one of the hockey players kicked Adrian in the head. "I don’t take crap from anyone. Shit be shit have," Adrian declared. He wasn’t that disciplined, so one was surprised every time it went well for him at a competition. He did whatever he felt like doing, said what he wanted to say, and ate whatever he craved for.

After winning three junior gold medals, the 17-year-old Schultheiss competed against Filip and Kristoffer at the Swedish Championships in Karlskrona. The music abruptly ended in the middle of Adrian's long program. He faltered on a spin, became furious and began to quarrel with the organizers. After a few minutes, the music played where it had stopped, and Adrian completed his skate flawlessly.

On the podium, Kristoffer Berntsson had difficulty hiding his disappointment at being defeated by a cocky 17-year-old with a pierced lower lip. For five years*, the Swedish Nationals had been his tournament. Because these results determined who would be sent to the major international competitions, he was furthermore saddened for Filip Stiller, who finished third, and would not be joining him at the European Championships.

Filip decided to retire. While Kristoffer grew even more lonely, Filip encouraged him to try to become Sweden’s best again.




* The journalist made a mistake when he wrote "Under fem år" (translation: For five years); Koffe didn't compete at the 2001 Swedish Nationals, and he was forced to withdraw after the SP in 2002 even though he did win that segment.

[ioana]

Well, Kevin Reynolds' quad-triple-triple combination (which was performed at the 2008 Canadian Nationals) is listed on his ISU bio.

Well, eys, but Kevin's bio says he landed the 4-3-3 at Nationals. What I meant to say was 'XY was the first skater from Z to land a quad' implies this happened at an international event sanctioned by the ISU. Midori Ito landed 3axels at national competitions in Japan well before she did one at the 1988 NHK trophy, but that still counts as the first time she did in [ISU-sanctioned] competition.

Thanks for the rest of the translations!

[Finnice]

Thank you so much for the translations! I might get Filter from Finland, but right now I can´t drive to Helsinki, so your reports are really appreciated.

This reportage seems to be very colourful and dramatikkk, and wonder what the skaters really think about it.

We interwiewed Kristoffer and Adrian togehther to the Finnish Figure Skating magazine doing the Europeans 2008 (the point was their home Worlds in Gothenburg) and from there, I got the impression that they were not close. They were polite to each other (and very polite to us) but one could clearly see that they are not friends who can support each other.

Great to hear things about Filip Stiller, too! He was voidy.

[kia_4EverOnIce]

thank you for the translations!!!

[oakl0008]

Great work Siberia82! Although dramatic, I am loving the in depth look at the skaters their relationship to the sport and how they differ from each other as individuals.

[siberia82]

You're very welcome, everyone! I'm grateful that there are at least a handful of people who are willing to read my rough translations. I'm almost finished with the next section, but the journalist used a word which didn't exist in my dictionary, so you'll have to be patient.

What I meant to say was 'XY was the first skater from Z to land a quad' implies this happened at an international event sanctioned by the ISU. Midori Ito landed 3axels at national competitions in Japan well before she did one at the 1988 NHK trophy, but that still counts as the first time she did in [ISU-sanctioned] competition.

Ah okay, now I understand. That would make the most sense in Koffe's case.

This reportage seems to be very colourful and dramatikkk, and wonder what the skaters really think about it.

I'm curious, too. Someone should ask them about their opinion on the article. It's fairly obvious that the author wanted to focus on the negative aspects of their experience. For example, the part about Kris' loneliness and his resentment towards the sport's image was such a downer for me to read that by the end of it, I didn't really understand why the heck he would continue skating under those circumstances.

We interwiewed Kristoffer and Adrian togehther to the Finnish Figure Skating magazine doing the Europeans 2008 (the point was their home Worlds in Gothenburg) and from there, I got the impression that they were not close. They were polite to each other (and very polite to us) but one could clearly see that they are not friends who can support each other.

Thanks for sharing your observations with us! Things may be a bit frosty between the two of them, but so far it doesn't sound like they're on same level as the Weir/Lysacek rivalry. There is still a lot of material that needs to be translated, but it's already easy to see why Koffe and Adrian wouldn't get along. They're polar opposites in terms of their temperament.

Great to hear things about Filip Stiller, too! He was voidy.

I actually don't know much about Filip (I only started watching figure skating in the spring of 2008, so he was "before my time"), so it was interesting to learn a bit more about him. Considering that Kristoffer's an introvert who was uncomfortable with the theatrical side of the sport, it seems unusual that he would become good friends with an extroverted skater who embodied all that was "ridiculous and geeky" about it.

Great work Siberia82! Although dramatic, I am loving the in depth look at the skaters their relationship to the sport and how they differ from each other as individuals.

Me too! The text may be a biased glimpse into their personalities and lives as figure skaters (i.e. the heavy emphasis on the angsty stuff), but it's a lot better than nothing IMHO.