Nikolai Morozov cheer thread?

[kosjenka]

Some girls are just emotionally more mature than others and Ilinykh is definitely one of them. Knowing a thing or two about this kind of situation I would say the younger girl normally wants the relationship more than the older guy, with less burden too. They could have hidden the relationship better though. But it seems even I's parents don't care. Why should anyone else? I very much object to the idea that a teacher can't date a student, or some company's policy that co-workers can't date each other. That's just anti-human. People should be able to date whoever they see fit.

From what you have written here, I assume it is your impression that Ilinykh is emotionally more mature than others and that you haven't actually met her.
When things like that are said, it is difficult to be sure weather there is "meeting of the minds". If you check out Facebook - you see hundreds of thousands of teens/young adults sharing their photos - some very private and almost nude, they write all kinds of private information about themselves; what do they do, what do they prefer - and share this with whole world.
Ilinykh's instagram/twitter account is a good example of this. If I remember correctly, her facebook and formspring were very informative and showed her as a girl very much unaware of her surroundings.
This does not make her mature. She was/is acting immature. And while her attraction and interest in an older guy is explainable - Morozov behavior is inappropriate, to say at least. He is a successful man when it comes to his career, he is also 3 times divorced father of a young girl. While this is not important to skating, it is to his personal relationships with his students. And the fact that Ilinykh was underage and in inferior position, it only makes this hole situation more disgusting.
There are very good reasons behind policies of teachers not dating their students, even at universities, where students are over 18.
While Ilinykh's behavior can be understood with her immaturity and youth, Morozov is like a character from a cheep novel when it comes to women or girls in his life...

[os168]

Likewise, what Morozov makes of his private life, as long as he doesn't break any law, really is none of my business. Also, I don't feel like it's my place to judge or label their relationship wrong, especially since I really don't know either of them - happiness is scarce enough as it is, if this makes them happy, then more power to them I'd say

Personally, I hope Morozov stays around FOREVAH: as someone who writes a blog on Figure Skating, he's a great escape whenever you lack inspiration to write serious stuff. Plus you can blame EVERYTHING on him - he's a godsend for all struggling FS writers out there, believe me

Well if your are aka Morozombie then big cheers for you. Morozov himself then a big sheep like Mehhhhhh ~~

As much as my distaste for his personal life which I try to not dwell or pass judgement (but it is hard to avoid on these boards especially with all these depressed Miki tweets, and that horrible interview he gave a while ago that seems to show he is a heartless douche). My biggest gripe with him is these lazy trite work these past few season that moonlight as best COP programs out there that wins competitions. These are thematically modulised, cookie cutter formulas that structurally similar from one to the next while being thematically and artistic false, all appearance and no substance. Pick an obvious theme, make some references, while everything is the same as another. He makes it easy to spoon feed the judges because of the ticking COP boxes appeal to a mid level of generic and safe approach that is easy to digest without being challenged or offend too much. However this is far from an honest way to conceive or craft program from scratch, where original creative ideas, experimentation, challenging, risks, depth of realization that goes into convey new thoughts and ideas to push the envelope.

How many of his programs would you really want to replay over and over again? Anything fresh and new? The thing is he is not without talent, but the fact he seems to have lost motivation to working hard to create something new and challenging does annoy. Actually - I wouldn't have minded so much, but the fact this approach continues to wins competitions shows the fault of COP and sport fairly well. Where difficult, thoughtful, challenging, intricate and risk taking work continues to be undervalued, in favour of something generic, formulaic, safe, mass appeal because they are much easier to read - that get to win. Not because of superiority and quality but because they exploiting the system well and took advantage of the rules and trends. Is this good enough of an approach to define the world's bests?

[Cherub721]

Can someone please reiterate that incident? I don't know anything about that and would love to know.

What were the racist remarks he is reported to have said?

Some of it is covered in this article.

[Kasey]

Fashion. You can break it down to specifics, but IMO it became popular to diss Morosov on FSU after an infamous incident at TEB a few years ago.

Some of us have had reason to be nauseated by His Oiliness even before the infamous TEB incident. It's not necessarily a bandwagon.

[skateboy]

Some of us have had reason to be nauseated by His Oiliness even before the infamous TEB incident.

Care to elaborate?

[Kasey]

Nope.

[skateboy]

My biggest gripe with him is these lazy trite work these past few season that moonlight as best COP programs out there that wins competitions. These are thematically modulised, cookie cutter formulas that structurally similar from one to the next while being thematically and artistic false, all appearance and no substance. Pick an obvious theme, make some references, while everything is the same as another. He makes it easy to spoon feed the judges because of the ticking COP boxes appeal to a mid level of generic and safe approach that is easy to digest without being challenged or offend too much.

But, if one can say that Morozov did his best work under 6.0, could it not be argued that this is due to the specific demands of COP, especially if his programs win competitions under the new system as well as the old?

[Zemgirl]

But, if one can say that Morozov did his best work under 6.0, could it not be argued that this is due to the specific demands of COP, especially if his programs win competitions under the new system as well as the old?

I don't think there's a choreographer who does nothing but good work, but we have seen programs that were interesting and creative under the IJS. Just not from Morozov - that is, I think the last program he did that was original and generally well-regarded among fans was Dai's Swan. He choreographed that in, what, summer 2007? I can't think of anything particularly interesting he's done since then, and because he works with a fair number of skaters in all four disciplines, you can't get away from his programs. They are successful IJS in the bad sense of the word - they tick off the boxes - rather than the good, which is integrating difficulty into a strong program in an organic way (e.g. much of Steuer's work with S/S). So no, I'm not going to blame the IJS for Morozov having become a hack. I mean, Nichol turns out quite a bit of cookie cutter stuff, but her work for Kostner is usually very good. Wilson's programs go from meh to fabulous, but the fabulous ones really can be special (e.g. Takahashi's Garden of Souls). Marina Zoueva doesn't always have the most original ideas, but some of the programs she does really are special. Whereas with Morozov, paint by numbers has been the high end of the scale for several years.

[skateboy]

How many of his programs would you really want to replay over and over again? Anything fresh and new?

I've watched Oda's Chaplin program over and over. In fact, I just watched it again yesterday and still love it. I think it's the best program Oda's ever had--definitely fresh and new and perfect for him--and, IMO, it was the best men's program of the 2009-10 season.

As for others, well... I rarely watch any program over and over again, with the exception of some of the great battles/rivalries from the past.

[skateboy]

This returns to my main point, which is that Morozov is not a developmental coach, and he isn't the one I would credit or hold accountable for good or bad technique.

Can't agree with you on this one. Morozov works with many skaters at the lower levels, as well as elite skaters.

[hanca]

You mean a history student dating a physics lecturer never taking physics? I doubt it would be considered anything if the student is above a certain age. I think pingu meant a lecturer who is dating HIS/HER student while the student is taking HIS/HER class.

You mean recently? I can't remember any except for Morozov. Or you mean back in Mishina/Mishin or Moskvina/Moskvin times?

Wasn't Aliona Savchenko in relationship with their coach too?

[Vagabond]

I can't remember any athlete in Italy, but cases of coaches going out with the athlete they train or even marrying them is hardly uncommon

Do you happen to follow figure skating, rayhaneh?

A certain recent five-time Italian National Men's champion has been married to his coach since 2007.

[rayhaneh]

Do you happen to follow figure skating, rayhaneh?

A certain recent five-time Italian National Men's champion has been married to his coach since 2007.

I am sorry - I happen not to care very much for the skaters' private lives and forget these things about has soon as I hear them

[arakwafan2006]

deleted

[Zemgirl]

A certain recent five-time Italian National Men's champion has been married to his coach since 2007.

Was she his coach when they became involved? Either way, the power dynamic and age difference do strike me as being quite different than what we've seen in Morozov's case.

ETA: looks like she only started coaching him some time after their marriage.

[Vagabond]

Was she his coach when they became involved? Either way, the power dynamic and age difference do strike me as being quite different than what we've seen in Morozov's case.

ETA: looks like she only started coaching him some time after their marriage.

According to this article, Geraldine Zulini began coaching Samuel Contesti in 2004, about three years before they got married. As far as I know, at various times that they worked together, he also worked with other coaches, such as Peter Grütter and Didier and Claudine Lucine. I remember seeing Contesti sitting in the Kiss and Cry with both his wife and Grütter at one or more competitions. I am not sure, though, whether Contesti and Zulini's personal relationship before or after she started coaching him. I have always been under the impression that the personal and professional relationships sort of developed at the same time.

If I recall correctly, they are almost exactly the same age, and the he is eight days older than she.

It's a very different dynamic from that of Morozov and any of his recent girlfriends.

[hanca]

So what about Savchenko and Steuer?

[Cherub721]

So what about Savchenko and Steuer?

Yeah, they dated on and off. That one was squicky to me, especially at the beginning, because I got the sense that he was not only her coach, but she was relying on him for everything. She was new to the country and navigating the language, her citizenship, getting funding and a job, all in addition to her training. Ingo is also renown for his temper. Woetzel (who also dated him) has talked about it and S&S have also noted that training sessions can be explosive. My hats off to them for managing to be so consistent and professional despite the drama.

[aftershocks]

^^ What, were you their housekeeper or something?

So what about Savchenko and Steuer?

The fact they have been in an off-ice relationship is well known, and the fact he's her coach is legendary and iconic. What that has to do with Morosov's dating habits is nil.

[Cherub721]

^^ What, were you their housekeeper or something?

I've got no special sources, so anything I've said was previously discussed on FSU.