Interview with Johny Weir `I can't do a comeback like Pluschenko'

[DBZ]

I'm actually a fan of Johnny and his skating, but his SP is just . Seriously, Johnny? You come back to competitive skating after many years and we get (surprise!) another Lady Gaga homage? I like Lady Gaga as much as the next person, but Johnny's obession with her has reduced him to a one-note gimmick.

The "I'm too sexy for myself" choreography/posing, and yet another borderline dominatrix costume (what is with him and those things?)...argh. No subtlety whatsoever in that entire program. To compare this program with "The Swan" from 2006 is just painful.

I think he's a great person, and a brilliant skater/talent once upon a time, but this was an official jump the shark moment for me.

He definitely should've stayed in show skating.

[IceIceBaby]

I don't think there is nothing wrong with bringing some fresh air to figure skating programs. Most of them are pretty boring anyways but Johnny's SP really wakens up the audience. They love it. Some of them have arrived just to see the Gaga number. It's good for this sport.

[judiz]

I am not sure if Johnny really is injured or if he just panicked and started to feel so unsure of himself that he had to withdraw. I read that during the practices he just stood in front of his coach for 10 minutes repeating that "He can't". I think he is very sensitive and coming back to competing again is very hard for him. He needs to find a positive attitude towards competing otherwise his come back is not going to last very long.

From what I've been told by people who were at the arena, the reason Johnny was saying "I can't" is because he was in so much pain, he knew he would be unable to skate.

[_Lola_]

Johnny withdrew from TEB. His name is now crossed in the TEB roster.

[Jenny]

I don't think there is nothing wrong with bringing some fresh air to figure skating programs. Most of them are pretty boring anyways but Johnny's SP really wakens up the audience. They love it. Some of them have arrived just to see the Gaga number. It's good for this sport.

I wouldn't call Lady Gaga fresh. Trendy for 5 minutes, but now stale and tired IMO.

[luCN]

from the replies,I seem to know why figure skating is dying in most of the country.the federation and fans just see it as a sports or circus,they want to attract people's attention,but made a totolly wrong way.
if one come to see a competition only for Gaga,will he come again？NO！unless next time you use PSY's GANGNAM STYLE.
why figure skating's new world is in asia?here,watching a figure skating is a high-end entertainment,like ballet or classical music concert,people like to go there even if the don't know what they'll see,so the shows can get many BIG sponsers,and TV will by the broadcast.then ISU and skaters will get more money.more people will come to see the competition and shows——this is beneficial cycle

[IceIceBaby]

from the replies,I seem to know why figure skating is dying in most of the country.the federation and fans just see it as a sports or circus,they want to attract people's attention,but made a totolly wrong way.
if one come to see a competition only for Gaga,will he come again？NO！unless next time you use PSY's GANGNAM STYLE.
why figure skating's new world is in asia?here,watching a figure skating is a high-end entertainment,like ballet or classical music concert,people like to go there even if the don't know what they'll see,so the shows can get many BIG sponsers,and TV will by the broadcast.then ISU and skaters will get more money.more people will come to see the competition and shows——this is beneficial cycle

I think totally opposite way. First of all Lady Gaga is fresh compared to the old war horses. Secondly, isn't it good that people COME to see figure skating, what ever the reason is? If they come once, they might come twice. They might see other interesting competitors and generally just start to like the sport. I think one of the reasons why figure skating is dying is that people think it's so old school: same old classical pieces, there is not much modern in this sport. It tells a lot if one figure skater out of hundred chooses a pop song and some people think it's terrible and ruining the sport? You can see that most of the spectators in the competitions in US and Canada were very old. In contrary, you'll see a lot of young audience in Europe. The audience is diverse and not everybody comes to see classical and traditional figure skating. Figure skating needs to younger it's image if we want more audience and young people to come to see it.

[BittyBug]

Johnny withdrew from TEB. His name is now crossed in the TEB roster.

I fear that will pretty much be it for him then.

[antmanb]

I fear that will pretty much be it for him then.

If he's hurt his ACL then he was really going to struggle to perform at TEB

Since he hasn't achieved the minimum score for worlds yet for either SP or LP (has he obtained the score for 4CCs?), then he'll need to get another international assignment if his goal at nationals is getting on the world team.

[flyingsit]

Apparently his ACL injury is located in his right hip.
http://www.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news

[judiz]

I think Johnny needs a lesson on the names of the muscles in the body, which muscle would cause pain to radiate from knee up to hip?

[ioana]

I think Johnny needs a lesson on the names of the muscles in the body, which muscle would cause pain to radiate from knee up to hip?

IT band. I still have to stretch mine out almost daily because it got really screwy after I tore my ACL. It's possible you start overcompensating to protect your knee (even without wanting to) and that can at first feel like your hips are the ones that hurt.

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

Cannot believe I am defending Johnny here....

[kwanfan1818]

Well, we know IN never gets its info wrong.

[Willowway]

I think we can wait for further details from Camp JW because as far as I could see Johnny referenced both his right hip and his ACL. Since injuries to these body areas (hip and knee) aren't typically related and since an ACL injury is very specific in terms of the pain one feels, perhaps it's best to wait for further clarification.

[Maofan7]

Here is a new article on Johnny. Reads:-

But that leads to the question of whether Weir can come back after this setback. Well, for one, we aren't talking about an ACL tear, it seems, so that should eliminate fears about it being "career-ending." That said, it becomes a question of whether this injury will continue to give him problems and how he is going to be able to train as a result. Injuries like this are often question marks, and I think the biggest question mark is whether getting back to full strength is possible.

And let's step a bit further back. What Weir has been capable of since he announced his comeback has been, by all accounts, tremendous. All of his triples are back in play plus a quad toe that seems to be pretty legitimate. His performance at Finlandia to start the season was a great start, but the issues at Rostelecom are most definitely a setback.

A lot will depend on the state of his ACL. But Weir has done a lot of the grunt work already to get his jumps back, which means that, even if he decides to take the rest of the competition season off so that he can train at his (and his ACL's) own pace, he's not back to square one.

So my verdict? Weir fans, it's not the end of the world. Weir non-fans, don't count him out.

[PeterG]

Weir is no Plushenko. Also skating regressed after 2006 and made it easier for Plush to be competitive since his strength has always been his jumps. Not only that now you need to do quads to even have a chance to win and Johnny and Evan are trying to learn quads after taking a couple years off at an advanced age for skaters.

Thank you for paraphrasing the title of this thread.

[Carolla5501]

Apparently his ACL injury is located in his right hip.
http://www.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news

I have been wondering about this.... Everyone on here keeps posting ACL, but Weir talks hip to NBC. Of course he also talks about ACL in an earlier quote.
Considering he had supposedly seen a doctor I assume he knows what is hurt.

[kwanfan1818]

If you listen to the two YouTube videos of him discussing his injury, he mentions."ACL" in both of them.

[Carolla5501]

If you listen to the two YouTube videos of him discussing his injury, he mentions."ACL" in both of them.

If you listen to the NBC video he mentions hip. Take your pick...

[Willowway]

Well, we know IN never gets its info wrong.

I posted this on the CoR thread but I'll post here too. I checked with IN. They reported the info about the injury that they got from USFSA (and I believe they were specific about that in the article) which was that it was a hip injury. So at the time that was the USFSA's understanding. What it turns out to be, anyone's guess... IN simply reported what USFSA said about it, that's all.