Elene Gedevanishvili--what now?

[victoriaheidi]

Ok, so, spoiler alert: Elene placed 29th in the SP at Worlds and didn't qualify to skate the FS. It's crazy to think that she won the SP at Skate Canada just 5 months ago! Obviously, over time, there's been a lot of discussion of her body type, mental status, training regimen, etc. from FSU's highly qualified team of psychologists, nutritionists, coaches and trainers (), but I'm not looking for more of that. My question is this: what can Elene, who was easily top 10 material as late as the early part of this season, do to regroup in advance of the Olympics?

[pinky166]

She just needs to land her jumps. This is not the first time this has happened, she didn't qualify for the FS at Euros a few years back when she had a similar meltdown in the SP. Elene has always been a bit headcase-y but her skating really has improved under Orser and she can do a great 3lz-3t so maybe there is still hope.

[triple_toe]

If you don't want discussion on her training regimen, mental status, body type, etc then what, pray tell, is this thread supposed to be about? Hard to talk about what she should do if we can't mention her training or physical and mental preparation.

[cbd1235]

Ugh I don't want to bring this up but from the my seats in London today, she looked to be the only skater in the ladies event who was severely underweight. Everyone else looked healthy at least, I wish I could say the same about Elene. She reminisced of Sasha Cohen at 2010 nationals, I hope she's eating enough.

And yes she can regroup and I hope she does! As another poster said, she just needs to land her jumps.

[AndyWarhol]

I think the weight thing is hard for her, as she has a big chest (and there is nothing she can do about that besides surgery). As someone who also has a big chest, i can understand why she has slimmed down so much, as they just make you look big when you aren't. Its not the ideal body type for skating, but i applaud her for what she has achieved (imagine strapping several kgs to yuna/carolina etc and see how well they jump).

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, i was up till 6am watching the ladiezzz

[MissIzzy]

Not her first disaster. This is a particularly painful one, but she's shown the ability to survive and come back and keep going. This just means she has to keep it together well enough at Nebelhorn to qualify for Sochi

[victoriaheidi]

Sorry, I don't mean that people shouldn't MENTION body, training, etc. But I'm really tired of threads where everyone tries to "diagnose" a skater with a mental disorder or tries to pry into places that aren't fans' business.

[Marco]

Biggest skating busts this season.

I am sure she can qualify a spot for Sochi for Georgia at Nebelhorn later this year. It's not like there's a second lady at stake anyway - they didn't even use their 2nd spot for Vancouver. So I guess if her medium term goal is to make Sochi Olympics, there is still hope. It's not been a great Worlds for Orser's students.

Lu Chen also failed to qualify for the free for 1997 Worlds, had to fight for China's spot at the 1997 fall international but then proceeded to win bronze at Nagano. So it's not all over yet.

[Anita18]

I think the weight thing is hard for her, as she has a big chest (and there is nothing she can do about that besides surgery). As someone who also has a big chest, i can understand why she has slimmed down so much, as they just make you look big when you aren't. Its not the ideal body type for skating, but i applaud her for what she has achieved (imagine strapping several kgs to yuna/carolina etc and see how well they jump).

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, i was up till 6am watching the ladiezzz

But she could always land the jumps. Not consistently, but she's proved that it isn't impossible for her despite her ample chest. If she had them reduced, she'd have to start all over with her balance. It's just what you're used to. There was no reason for her to lose the weight, especially that much.

Since she's lost so much weight so fast, she must be lacking her normal energy. You don't lost that much weight so fast without starving yourself. I'm not saying she's doing it intentionally - I had the stomach flu and just didn't eat for months afterwards. It was terrible and I had no energy and I looked deathly thin. I bet people were talking behind my back because of it, but I didn't even have the energy to care.

I hope she gets better, whatever that entails. Her performance was just today.

[pinky166]

If she's training a lot, she could be not eating enough without really realizing it. I'm a runner, and when I vamped up my training in the fall, I lost quite a bit of weight very quickly, I didn't understand why because I was still eating a lot for normal standards. I thought something was wrong with my stomach because I had very bad pains at night. Turns out, the stomach pains at night were because I was hungry and not eating enough, but I didn't even realize it until I went to the nutritionist and she told me I was undereating by about 500 to 1000 calories a day! With all my training, my caloric needs were nearly 3000 per day, so it explains how such a situation can happen, most of my friends at university don't exercise much, so compared to them, I was eating a lot, and more than a sedentary woman my age and weight would likely need, but I was training a lot, so it wasn't enough. Being an elite athlete, I would assume Elene trains a whole lot both on and off the ice, meaning her caloric needs are going to be very high even where she is so tiny, so going on what a regular person might consider a "normal healthy diet" could cause her to drop weight so dramatically and it might not have even been intentional. But regardless of what's going on I hope she figures things out soon and gets back on track for Sochi!

[Bournekraatzfan]

Heartbroken for Elene. I want to give her a big hug.

Her jumps are beautiful when she lands them, and I still believe in her. I really hope she can kick a-- next season, because she's awesome. Go Elene!

[sk8ingcoach]

Hope she skates well at nebelhorn. Olympics wont be as interesting without her

[briancoogaert]

What is her problem ?
I agree that she looked underweight here. But it's been now for a long time that she has very high and very low results.

[Loves_Shizuka]

I really felt for her. Her (understandable) reaction at the end was heartbreaking - and I think she was really shocked at the scores and placement.

I have nothing else to add really as I don't know anything about her situation. I just wish her the best.

[Ziggy]

My question is this: what can Elene, who was easily top 10 material as late as the early part of this season, do to regroup in advance of the Olympics?

She needs to start working hard with a good sport psychologist. There's a number of them in Canada with experience in working with figure skaters and even having developed programs specifically targeted at figure skaters.

She has issues maintaining her focus in competitions, it's happened many times before.

If she doesn't want to do that, she might as well retire now, to be honest.

[hanca]

I watched her practice last year in Nice and although she finished 10th during the competition, the practice was very much up and down (and a lot of those downs). It is like if she loves the speed but sometimes struggles to control it. The quicker you skate, the more precise your timing must be during the jumps, and although I love her speed, sometimes I wished she would just slow down and take her time for the jump. Those few extra points she may earn on PCS for the speed will not be worth it if she keeps missing jumps and loosing much more points on TES.

[fan]

elene has personally told me that she only eats one meal a day :-(

[Sylvia]

elene has personally told me that she only eats one meal a day :-(

What did you say to her in response?

[fan]

i asked her if she gets hungry, and she said no, it makes her sick to skate on a full stomach. other than that, i didn't say anything. it's not my place to comment on her eating habits.

[Vash01]

I really like Elene. Always have. I hope she can bounce back. I am sad that she will not be in the free skate.