Official World Figure Skating Championship Programme

[hernehill]

Did anyone else buy the programme booklet in Moscow? All of the articles were interesting to say the least. They were heavily biased; for example, Brian Joubert profile was glowing with phrases like "on the ice he has always been first and foremost a true man, a fighter and a knight." Now I like Joubert too but.....

Here is the translation of the one on Patrick Chan, I've kept in the errors as it is written:

It would be wrong to say that the skater had already attracted attention as a Junior. Even though the Canadian won the silver in 2007, the last time he participated in the World Junior Championships, he failed to deliver anything extraordinary.
Basically, the main reason people noticed him for the first time was not his skating, but his loose (according to older and more experienced skaters) tongue: as soon as Patrick started to challenge for good placements at the Senior level (he won 2009 Four Continents Championships and finished second at the World Championships in Los Angeles), he started to cliam more and more often that the moder figure skating is not about jumps.
By such statements Chan hit the sore point for many skaters from previous generations. The World Champion Brian Joubert who, as well as many others, was asked to comment on the Canadian skater's statement of the eve of the Vancouver Games was totally against.
In short, when the 20-year-old brat finished fifth at the Games and a month later at the World Championships in Turin lost to Japan's Daisuke Takahashi by more than ten points, there was no shortage of thinly veiled gloating allong the lines of "and where that Chan is now?"
However, in December Patrick convincingly won the ISU Grand Prix Final. It was not merely a victory: Chan became the only one out of the six participants to successfully land a quad in the free program. The moment fans of the Canadian skater had been dreaming of has finally arrivedatrick not only skated a flawless program, but he united in it everything that men's figure skating should be: the maximum difficulty, the excellent speed and the inspired interpretation. He received the highest score of the season: 259.75, nearly 20 points above his personal best of 239.52.

A bit later; however, Chan's record was bested by his perennial and the most serious rival: Takahashi. But this fact only adds intrigue to the last event of the season.

What are your thoughts on this?

[julieann]

Thanks for posting

It looks like it was written by a student for a high school newspaper.

But I would love to hear more, if you have the time

[hanca]

(Sorry! I can't help myself. I just see the funny side of it.)

[millipied]

That's very loose translation. I don't remember seeing anything like that.

[hernehill]

It was in the Official programme booklet they sold at the rink for 500 roubles. I'll see if I can post more of it. Some of it made me laugh as well, just at the absurdity that they could get away with selling it as an official guide. I know the worlds were put on quickly but you think someone would have checked it i.e. so it wouldn't offend any athletes. On the other hand it is the most entertaining programme booklet I have!

[blue_idealist]

20 year old brat?! I like Chan but rotflmao

[Cherub721]

That's awesome.

[Japanfan]

If that's what it said, such bias is quite deplorable and could have certainly soured the audience towards Patrick. Entirely unprofessional. Big thumbs down.

[alilou]

Yes, I agree it was unprofessional, but it was funny

And whatever they say, Patrick spoke with his skating in a big way

[IceIceBaby]

But I would love to hear more, if you have the time

LOL, me too.

[hernehill]

Here is a link to a scan of the Patrick Chan article (hope it works!)

Sorry the scan isn't brilliant (and it cuts off the end part). The book is a slightly odd size and I didn't have loads of time to do this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mouthpa...in/photostream

[hernehill]

Japanfan, I agree! When I first read the article at the start of the championships I felt annoyed that they would print such rubbish; however, it did make his victory at the end of the week even sweeter!

[nylynnr]

I don't know for certain, but perhaps the program articles were written in Russian, and then translated by a native Russian speaker into English. The program was then printed without a native English speaker reviewing the text, to inquire after word choice, meaning, grammar, etc. Sometimes, a word or phrase that signifies one thing in a certain language, is difficult to translate into another. I say this because in the distant past I worked on worlds programs as an English-speaking proofreader/checker. It could be there simply wasn't time to have an English speaker review the final text. I don't think the Russian organizers intended bias.

[Skate Talker]

I agree that much may have been lost in the translation - otherwise it is just sort of rude. If you want to read between the lines, aka speculate, on what the writer was trying to get at in their own language it might be pointed out that even the translation seems to be saying that Patrick is now one of the most complete skaters in this part.

Patrick not only skated a flawless program, but he united in it everything that men's figure skating should be: the maximum difficulty, the excellent speed and the inspired interpretation.

Perhaps the intent was merely to show how far he has come since he was what the writer seems to describe as a virtually unnoticed Junior.

As far as the Joubert part goes, well I find it OTT but he is definitely a much loved skater in Russia.

So as with everything else, this is fun to speculated about.

[ali_dorate]

And whatever they say, Patrick spoke with his skating in a big way

I couldn't agree more!