From Russia with Love [#31]: Winter to Spring 2019

[SmallFairy]

Ignore-function is your friend

 

[Coco]

Productive things, like posting on message boards.

 

[Mad for Skating]

I know you hate to hear it, but Medvedeva's cult personality as you call is just fine. You really hate her with a passion. Weird.

It’s funny, before Evgenia left Eteri, Tinami Amori bit my head off because I said I felt more from Sotnikova’s dramatic skating than Medvedeva and Zagitova’s. But the minute she left Eteri, Tinami suddenly decided that Evgenia was a fake brat who betrayed her “loving, motherly coach”

seems to me she just loves Eteri, not the students, and when they leave, they are worthless to her.

Post #39, I have the receipts
https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/vaytsekhovskayas-interview-with-sotnikova.103618/page-2

 

[hanca]

It’s funny, before Evgenia left Eteri, Tinami Amori bit my head off because I said I felt more from Sotnikova’s dramatic skating than Medvedeva and Zagitova’s. But the minute she left Eteri, Tinami suddenly decided that Evgenia was a fake brat who betrayed her “loving, motherly coach”

seems to me she just loves Eteri, not the students, and when they leave, they are worthless to her.

Post #39, I have the receipts
https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/vaytsekhovskayas-interview-with-sotnikova.103618/page-2

Well, let’s hope she recognises Medvedeva from Zagitova, if she can’t distinguish between rabbits and hares.

 

[Lovemyvike]

As amusing as the discussion about hares and rabbits is, I'm trying to take this thread back to the topic of Russian skating with an article on Mikhail Kolyada talking about his experience at Nationals (on Golden Skate):
https://goldenskate.com/2018/12/mikhail-kolyada-i-opened-up-some-reserves/

Poor guy. I've had chronic sinus issues and several sinus surgeries. I couldn't imagine flying or skating directly afterwards. Especially with the cold air, had to be so painful

 

[kwanfan1818]

If I'm following the discussion correctly, the point wasn't to do an exact translation, but to create an analogy that was familiar to those of us who grew up on American cartoons and Americanized fables.

 

[skategal]

If the animal in question was North American, we'd have our answer.

The video showed a brown animal skating outside in wintertime.

North American Hares who live in winter climates have fur that turns white during the winter.

So if it was in North America, the animal would be a rabbit because it was brown.

I have no idea about European Hares.

Yes, I know I've really lost my mind posting this....

 

[Mad for Skating]

Well, let’s hope she recognises Medvedeva from Zagitova, if she can’t distinguish between rabbits and hares.

Well I don’t know...they are both young and Russian, wear the same tutu, and in a few years when she loses her jumps, Alina will leave Eteri and Tinami will rant about “that ungrateful brat” and gush over Trusova and Shcherbakova. It’ll be hard for her to tell them apart.

 

[lala]

Plushenko's Swan Lake show on YT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pyzLh78Jn4 The whole video is interesting.
It seems -I didn't know - the last show was streamed in 31 December. According to Plushenko's new Insta stories the stream had more then 6 millions viewers! That is a record in Russia. https://www.instagram.com/stories/plushenkoofficial/
On the show performed not only Sandhu but Elladje Balde too. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsAJw2xAJUf/ he is with Sergei Filin ex Bolshoi director.( He was attacked with hydrochloric acid )
Sandhu https://www.instagram.com/p/BsAJItMgnca/

Today starts the Nutcracker show with Yulia Lipnitskaya in St. Petersbourg

 

[zoe111]

It’s funny, before Evgenia left Eteri, Tinami Amori bit my head off because I said I felt more from Sotnikova’s dramatic skating than Medvedeva and Zagitova’s. But the minute she left Eteri, Tinami suddenly decided that Evgenia was a fake brat who betrayed her “loving, motherly coach”

seems to me she just loves Eteri, not the students, and when they leave, they are worthless to her.

Post #39, I have the receipts
https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/vaytsekhovskayas-interview-with-sotnikova.103618/page-2

You know I had thought I remembered that as well, so thank you for posting it. I try not to jump into this persons (Tinami ‘s) type of discussions but I honestly think her/his posts are really nasty and very personal- professing to have all this inside knowledge and contacts and then blabbing on the boards. The comments about Medvedeva are unnecessary- as are the (surprisingly) nasty comments about Kostornaia.

 

[cholla]

You know I had thought I remembered that as well, so thank you for posting it. I try not to jump into this persons (Tinami ‘s) type of discussions but I honestly think her/his posts are really nasty and very personal- professing to have all this inside knowledge and contacts and then blabbing on the boards. The comments about Medvedeva are unnecessary- as are the (surprisingly) nasty comments about Kostornaia.

Come on people, either put Tinami on ignore or let it go. She's been a member of this board for ages, it's not like people weren't used to her way of posting. If you don't like what she posts, don't read ! It's as simple as that. I don't think she ever professed she had inside knowledge and she explained how she gets her info in a previous post quite recently. This board is full of unnecessary comments about everyone and his sister, it's certainly not special to her. All this doesn't mean I agree with what she says. But what's the point of going after her repeatedly ? She won't change. Take it or leave it. BTW, to me a hare is a jackrabbit...

 

[lala]

Tinami's posts are interesting and informative and she uses links to check what she is saying. Is she biased? Yes! As many other posters here but probably less malicious. The problem is she had bad words on those persons who are favorites of many posters here. ( I was attacked by many posters I was an evil! because I said Evgenia's role wasn't perfect in switch of Eteri. I didn't say any bad words on her! but still... ) I read many more attacking and rude comments, opinion about other skaters. You can ignore her on anyone else but I believe that is totally unnesessary. If you don't like her post shrug your schoulder. Or start a debate. We are here for informations and conversations.

 

[Wyliefan]

But what's the point of going after her repeatedly ? She won't change. Take it or leave it. BTW, to me a hare is a jackrabbit...

If it comes to that, what's the point of her going after Medvedeva and Lipnitskaia and Kostornaia repeatedly? They won't change either.

Tinami is free to say what she wants. And she's free to prefer the coach to the skaters and to turn against the skaters who leave the coach. I can't fathom why anyone would want to do that, but I don't have to fathom it; that's her thing and she's free to do it. But she doesn't have the right to expect everyone to be just fine with her slurs against the skaters' characters and her cherry-picking the news to make them look as bad as possible. And if some of us defend the skaters from that sort of thing, and that gets old, well, feel free to put us on Ignore. I have no objection to that.

 

[rfisher]

This is just an annoying debate between posters who like a coach and those who don't. Both sides are adamant they are right and neither are going to convince the other they are not. If both sides would ignore the other, then we might get this thread focused on actual news and not more endless and meaningless debates over nothing.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

This is just an annoying debate between posters who like a coach and those who don't. Both sides are adamant they are right and neither are going to convince the other they are not. If both sides would ignore the other, then we might get this thread focused on actual news and not more endless and meaningless debates over nothing.

It goes beyond that. A grown woman bullying a teenage girl with such gusto is sick.

 

[rfisher]

It goes beyond that. A grown woman bullying a teenage girl with such gusto is sick.

Then ignore her. Or take it to PM or whatever. Please.

 

[cholla]

But she doesn't have the right to expect everyone to be just fine with her slurs against the skaters' characters and her cherry-picking the news to make them look as bad as possible.

I never said that. I just said it was better to ignore her. I'm not fine with what she says about some skaters either but is she going to stop ? No. You know as well as me she won't. So, like Rfisher said, it would simply be better to go back to the purpose of this thread.

And if some of us defend the skaters from that sort of thing, and that gets old, well, feel free to put us on Ignore. I have no objection to that.

If I don't have Tinami on Ignore, there is really no reason for me to put anyone else, especially not you Can we now agree that Tinami can be immensely aggravating and leave it at that ? Pretty please.

 

[VGThuy]

Isn’t Morozov’s (inarguable) total lack of expression more detrimental than James/cipres’ (arguable) lesser skating skills?

Not if T/M get a routine like their 2017-2018 SP and skate the way they did at the Olympics there. They made me realize how much I missed old school, classic, totally clean looking pairs skating.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Off topic, but Volosozhar & Trankov have the cutest little girl: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsF96FPHFzo/

 

[Coco]

Some of is don't like to use ignore because, I dunno, it feels like cheating. We are here for the community, such as it is.

Back to Russian skating...what is Olga Markova up to these days? Does she choreograph?

 

[alchemy void]

Some of is don't like to use ignore because, I dunno, it feels like cheating. We are here for the community, such as it is.

Back to Russian skating...what is Olga Markova up to these days? Does she choreograph?

Technical specialist. She was just at GPF and was rather, uh, generous to Zagitova.

I wish she would do some batshit crazy choreography instead.

 

[VGThuy]

Some of is don't like to use ignore because, I dunno, it feels like cheating. We are here for the community, such as it is.

Back to Russian skating...what is Olga Markova up to these days? Does she choreograph?

She’s currently a technical specialist. I thought her panel was pretty lenient at the GPF.

 

[lala]

Yulia today

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsInlCfnTv-/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsIlg8OhxVJ/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsIsVBzhEsL/

 

[Wyliefan]

Yulia today

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsInlCfnTv-/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsIlg8OhxVJ/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsIsVBzhEsL/

Thanks so much for sharing that. So nice to see her skating again. Gorgeous spiral!

 

[Tinami Amori]

Happy New Year...

I was attacked by many posters I was an evil! because I said Evgenia's role wasn't perfect in switch of Eteri. I didn't say any bad words on her! but still... ) I read many more attacking and rude comments, opinion about other skaters.

Of course, you were attacked, as Medvedeva is viewed by many “north Americans” as a declaration of “all that brings success in Russia come from evil, and now Med sees the western light”! But that’s part of fun in “virtual reality”, which we enter at own risk, for entertainment.

This forum has always been predominantly “north American” and all the sentiments that come with it. In general (not always) the sentiment is “whatever good happens in Russia is taken through a prism of negativity, dismissal, sarcasm and critique”. Same type of occurrences and events in other countries (with skaters and coaches) are either ignored or treated favorably. When it comes to Russia, not matter what, “the glass is half empty” and for many non-russian issues “the glass is half full”, while the “quantity is the same”.

Most Russian skaters and coaches who are successful are initially put through filters of negativity and endless critique, until for one reason or other they lose their standings within Russia, or make a “gesture towards the West”. Then they are viewed as “underdogs” and suddenly receive a lot of support and admiration. Tuktamysheva, Lipnistskaya, Medevedeva and all others whose actions are viewed “against the Russian system and machine”, start receiving support. During Plush/Yags time, Mishin/Plush were "evil". Now Mishin is "respected professor", after all he helped Kostner, brought back Tuk, and simply he is "not Eteri".

When Tuktamysheva won 2015 worlds, she was critiqued for many aspects of her skating other than jumps. Now she is popular, because of her comeback, her obnoxious posts in English and the message about “weight and body image”. She has no waist line, and her body is like a tree-trunk, and her behavior is at times very vulgar, but that feeds perfectly into north American social trends. Now she has full support from certain “non-Russian” crowds, and very few see it as “game playing and manipulation tactic for the crowds”.

When Lipnitskay was on top, she too was critiqued for many aspects of her skating, her placements were questioned, Wagner called her scores ‘bull-shit”, her not showing up for 2nd place medal ceremony was condemned. All changed when she left Eteri, and started making nasty ungracious “fishmonger’s wife” remarks to the press. Now she is a “darling” of some russina and many non-russian fans, and her persona and situation is now used as an “Eteri’s negative”. Nobody considers, or possibly knows, the details about all Julia’s negatives and bad/incorrect behavior.

Same with Medvedeva, she was critiqued from right to left, until she left Eteri. Med lost many russian fans not because of what she did and say, but why and how.. Those who loved her during the Olympics, those who followed her persona very carefully, on Med’s own initiative and enticement, found all her words and created images to be a big lie, and how two faced and petty she really is. Yet all that worked well for “north American” agenda.

The few “Russian posters” who are popular on this forum, are often to one extend or the other are basically “brown nosing” to “western values” and the “predominant voices” on this forum.

Lala, enjoy it! Where else can one argue on the issues of skating to such extend? I don’t know if you ever studied in school in soviet times, but let me assure you, being in contradiction to the “popular opinion” on FSU is a lot more fun and safer, than for example asking your soviet history teacher “if it is true that Lenin had syphilis”…

If I'm following the discussion correctly, the point wasn't to do an exact translation, but to create an analogy that was familiar to those of us who grew up on American cartoons and Americanized fables.

Take it or leave it. BTW, to me a hare is a jackrabbit...

Guys, guys, please, no logic… don't spoil few nudniks' fun...

 

[lala]

I experienced these things Tinami. I'm here since 2012. Probably I'm on some posters' ignore list , too!

 

[Wyliefan]

The "Lenin and syphilis" discussion sounds a lot more enticing than this one.

 

[lala]

The "Lenin and syphilis" discussion sounds a lot more enticing than this one.

Yes, interesting my "soviet history teacher" didn't tell us. ( I had no "soviet history teacher" but I learned soviet history and the Russian language ,of course)

 

[starrynight]

Just read this article: https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/na_kitai/2299603.html

It's an interview with Elizavet Tursynbayeva's mother.

She says: The mistake with Orser was that we thought he would work with us around the clock. But I had to work mostly on my own... There you are left to yourself, a lot of things you decide yourself, up to the choice of the program, and if you make a mistake, this is your personal mistake. Orser conducts classes relatively speaking 20 minutes, and he is responsible for these 20 minutes. And for a global result, you have to fight for yourself.​

​

This is correlated by an interview with Brian Orser recently where he says

Yeah, you must have a lot of people asking to join your group. How do you decide whom to take in, what are you looking for in a new student?​

​

First of all, I have to make sure I have space. I teach different than they teach in Europe. In Europe you have groups, usually a group of 8, or 10. And in North America you teach just one-on-one. So I have a skater for 30 minutes or maybe an hour, then another for an hour/30 minutes – depends on what they need.​

​

If I have, let’s say, 5 sessions a day – that’s basically 7 or 8 skaters. So if nobody leaves this means I can’t take anybody. Because I wanna make sure I have enough time for each of these athletes. I have to be available for them.​

​

http://www.insideskating.net/2018/1...gonna-win-every-competition-pick-your-battles​

So what Orser says makes sense, there's only so many hours in a day. You have 8 or 10 skaters and they each need one to two half hour sessions of training each. By the time you allow that, it adds to up to 8 hours or more specific training time. This doesn't include transition time, breaks, administration time (phone calls, emails, scheduling etc etc).

It's also worth remembering that there are other specialists at The Cricket Club who work with skaters as well, it's not just solely Brian Orser. Then the skaters work on what they have been taught in their lesson by themselves.

Same goes for the huge ice dance camp of Gadbois, which has 18 plus dance teams there. The coaching time is scheduled down to 15 minute increments and there's no way any of the teams would get more than short access to the top coaches each day/second day. Most of the training work is done by assistant coaches.

However, down in the comments of that article about Tursynbayeva, there's a lot of yelling about how Eteri Tutberidze spends hours each day with all her students. Given how many students she has, I do wonder if that could be possible? If you factor in the number of hours in a day and the number of students?

The only thing I can think of is that if it is not a user pays system, that the coaches can just choose who to focus on without it needing to be strictly divided?

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

Happy New Year...

When Tuktamysheva won 2015 worlds, she was critiqued for many aspects of her skating other than jumps. Now she is popular, because of her comeback, her obnoxious posts in English and the message about “weight and body image”. She has no waist line, and her body is like a tree-trunk, and her behavior is at times very vulgar, but that feeds perfectly into north American social trends.

It seems to bother you, don't you?

You seem to put everything and everybody into rigid boxes. People like Cinderella stories, like athletes facing adversity and then bring it on. Tukt has never had the best skating skills in the business nor she does today. I applaud her for sticking to it even in adversity. Same thing for Medvedeva. People can cheer for them even though they're not perfect because they tried, they didn't give up. End of the story. Mishin is a great technical, has always been, but his students rarely have the total package.

Eteri sure has some qualities to make these girls perform as they do. I admire the results, the fire they have. Is she a saint? Does her skaters are perfect again? No, they are way too young to be ripe and show their full potential. Why would we celebrate them as the end-point achievable of skating?

My major point with you is that it is clear you are not knowledgeable of skating in itself. You know many things about the skaters because you go on Russian skating boards and read the inside gossips. Never you can comment on technique or back up your points with technical explanations. I doubt you really know how the system work. What is a great outside edge, what is good technique on spins, steps and jumps. All you talk about is results and the life/personalities of skaters. So to me, you're a someone living abroad Russia, in America, bashing in the hand that feed you, and liking to see wonder kids in tights.