Eteri Tutberidze’s message: past year, parents, skating.

[Finsta]

Why is it okay for eteri to feel betrayed but Medvedeva to be criticized IF she feels same. Eteri is grown woman lashing out as child because someone switched coach. Not healthy that she holds such harsh feelings. Maybe a counselor would be good. Feeling bad for Alina. What would eteri say about her if she left? She already reveals some issues that coach should keep quiet.

 

[mollymgr]

Just my two cents. I have often seen people make comments about her appearance for many reasons. Most often, it is due to her lack of emotion but there are some really rude comments too. Often, it is used to interpret what she may or may not be doing to her skaters. I am glad she did mention what she was going through. I don't think everyone is aware of the stuff happening behind the scenes and sometimes it helps to put it in perspective so they don't get misconstrued. It is extremely sad to think that she was even able to coach while she was going through all this. Maybe she needed to get it off her chest. Whatever she is doing is working for skating in Russia. I wish her well.

 

[babayaga]

There were pretty disgusting comments about Eteri's appearance and facial expressions during Cup of Russia this season when her mother just died a few days before the event. I know those who wrote that stuff didn't know about the situation, but it was horrible to read.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Eteri placed another message, calling it P.S.
(i am posting it because P.S. to me means continuation of or addition to the previous one, it's short).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvbAVoBAT7D/

The World Championship 2019 in Japan was the best reward (a jewel in the crown) of the this season for the whole team! Such a flurry of emotions and joy, our sincere joy for our girls, who stood up and gave the whole World a beautiful battle (for gold and silver). Due to certain circumstances we could not fully enjoy the Olympic medals, and there was some kind of amnesia of feeling. Yet now all those feelings seem to burst outside. We thank Alina Zagitova and Liza Tursynbaeva for the best gift to our team!!!

P.S. Чемпионат Мира 2019 в Японии был лучшим венцом прошедшего сезона для всей нашей команды! Такая буря эмоций и радости, искренней радости за наших девочек, которые выстояли и подарили всему Миру красивую борьбу (золото и серебро). По сложившимся обстоятельствам мы не смогли насладиться Олимпийскими медалями, то была какая-то амнезия чувств. А сейчас все те чувства, как будто вырвались наружу.
Спасибо Алине Загитовой и Лизе Турсынбаевой за лучший подарок всей нашей команде!!!

 

[AxelAnnie]

What ever she did with Elizabet is truly amazing.

 

[Alez]

I just leave this here.

Eteri, her sisters and their mom: http://s17.directupload.net/images/user/190326/z4q2kzom.jpg

http://s17.directupload.net/images/user/190326/glw95h9q.jpg This photo was made in the summer of 2017. She died on November 9th, 2018 after 9 months of fighting cancer. From left to right: Eteri's daughter Diana, Alyona Kostornaya, Alina Zagitova, Eteri's mother, Anna Shcherbakova, Sasha Trusova, Daria Penenkova. And Eteri herself in the back. Her mother already looked weak. Wait for these youngsters in the fall this upcoming season. The world will never be the same any more. New Eteri generation is just breathtaking, they are just stronger and more talented figure skaters. With all due respect to the recent Worlds and Olympic medallists Zag and Med.

Diana's IG post on 9th of November: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp7R8CuBYj0/

This Diana's post triggered avalanche of posts by Eteri's girls (active, retired and those who jumped ship), they drawned social networks for a good half of a day with old photos and nice words of condolences. Lipitnskaya and Shelepen posted something too.

Zagi posted: http://s16.directupload.net/images/user/190326/huagpmdc.jpg

I remember it was so sad and quite touching to scroll through all their posts on social networks that day.

 

[Alez]

What ever she did with Elizabet is truly amazing.

They packaged her well and gave her a decent choreography, for starters.

 

[VenusH.]

I also find it distasteful that the "message" containing another shot at Medvedeva was released right after Alina beat Med at World. Strangely enough, not a word of praise for Alina herself. Not for the Olympics, not for anything.

Well she sorta implied it was difficult training with Alina and that they slmost WD in an interview.....

 

[MAXSwagg]

They packaged her well and gave her a decent choreography, for starters.

She’ll be back at the bottom of the priority list once Trusova et al. debut next season. She was just a tool to get at Brian, IMO. But at least Tursy got a medal out of it and maybe more; the odd PCS will stay up, if she’s consistent.

 

[Alez]

Why is it okay for eteri to feel betrayed but Medvedeva to be criticized IF she feels same. Eteri is grown woman lashing out as child because someone switched coach. Not healthy that she holds such harsh feelings. Maybe a counselor would be good. Feeling bad for Alina. What would eteri say about her if she left? She already reveals some issues that coach should keep quiet.

I'm sorry. You obviously are clueless. We remember in the past Eteri definitely had no problems with her students leaving her and switching to other coaches. She had problems only with HOW few of them had left. The main issue was with HOW exactly Medvedeva had left. That was quite uncalled for, I guess. There was a big negative outcry among general public. As you can imagine Med's skating was not everyone's cup of tea in Russia, as a mater of fact just like here on this forum for the recent 3 years, but after all those news broke loose Med really started picking up a big anti-popularity rating even among those who were neutral and did not care or knew much about her. And her chatty personality in the interviews of late is not making her any favors, really.

 

[IceAlisa]

I'm sure most of the American posters don't understand their situation. Totally different culture, relationship with the teacher, coach. This is not attack, I apologize everyone.....

I understand the situation and I know the culture. It’s one thing to express grief at the loss of loved ones Eteri endured. It had to be awful to not be with her mother at the time.

It’s another to make it a vehicle for something she can’t let go of, clearly something that still bothers her for no good reason at all. Let her go already.

As to the post above this one: Med still enjoys support of many in the skating community in Russia. She was, after all, sent to Saitama. And she has plenty of Russian fans too.

 

[Alez]

She’ll be back at the bottom of the priority list once Trusova et al. debut next season. She was just a tool to get at Brian, IMO. But at least Tursy got a medal out of it and maybe more; the odd PCS will stay up, if she’s consistent.

May be yes may be no. Alligators gonna alligate. One way or another Lill'Bet finally enjoyed a good packaging this season. And Dudakov taught her 4S. Not too shabby. Eteri got her silver WC medal fresh off the boat, while her highest placement was 9th when Orser were just milking her money. I don't know if you follow figure skating closely but history showed us Eteri girls are rather consistent. Lill'Bet will be in the mix upcoming season.

 

[IceAlisa]

I don't know if you follow figure skating closely but history showed us Eteri girls are rather consistent.

No, none of us here follow skating closely This is really a weather discussion board

 

[Alez]

This is a post of about her own life, in her own words, not about anyone else. She does not mention Medvedeva by name at all in her post.
If Eteri felt betrayed, that is her right to feel that way.
This. Coaches are there to get the students to maximize their potential. It would be unethical to not "help" the other students to realize their full potential. Is that what Evgenia was hoping for?

Eteri is a remarkably stong woman. I have nothing but respect for her. And part of me wonders, if she were a man would she have to put up with the same criticism?

Funny you should ask.. I know at least 2 men (from TSL) who will most definitely trash her for this post and will discuss her hair, appearance, body shape, age and whatnot again. SMH

 

[MAXSwagg]

May be yes may be no. Alligators gonna alligate. One way or another Lill'Bet finally enjoyed a good packaging this season. And Dudakov taught her 4S. Not too shabby. Eteri got her silver WC medal fresh off the boat, while her highest placement was 9th when Orser were just milking her money. I don't know if you follow figure skating closely but history showed us Eteri girls are rather consistent. Lill'Bet will be in the mix upcoming season.

Where was her consistency when she was with Etery way back when? She’s got bigger fish to fry with her new junior babies. Hell, Zag is on the chopping block! You think Tursy is going to stay top priority?

 

[lala]

It’s another to make it a vehicle for something she can’t let go of, clearly something that still bothers her for no good reason at all. Let her go already.

Med was part of her story her part of her hard life in last year. I don't think this was an attack on Med.

As to the post above this one: Med still enjoys support of many in the skating community in Russia. She was, after all, sent to Saitama. And she has plenty of Russian fans too.

Of, course..why not???? Everybody makes fault but won't be a bad parson at all..Med is a talented intelligent, cute brave young woman. I like her too but I don't say she did everything correctly, perfectly and Eteri was an evil in that case

 

[Alez]

Where was her consistency when she was with Etery way back when? She’s got bigger fish to fry with her new junior babies. Hell, Zag is on the chopping block! You think Tursy is going to stay top priority?

I believe she was pre-junior back then. She had her first international medals under Eteri on some European b-series. When she had to leave after RusFed forbid Russian coaches to deal with foreign students ahead of Olympics. At least for some time. She had her good debut in juniors. After that it went downhill for her in results and for some reason along coaching attention. Her junior and senior competing history was solemnly under Orser. Untill this breakthrough season. Lill 'Bet shares the ice and the same timeslots with the same Eteri's youngsters squad , AFAIK.

 

[Japanfan]

As to closure......it is a word we throw around. Closure does not exist. Imagine the unimaginable-----losing a child. You don't get closure. You don't get over it. At best, you put one foot in front of the other for a year or two.....rely on friends, and family to help (not with "getting over it" but with food, or shopping, or remembering wonderful moments in the child's life). Eventually you realize that not every moment of the day is gut wrenching. Perhaps only half a day. Then 1/4, and so on. Eventually you can remember the good things without being overwhelmed and swamped with a tidal wave. But you never have "closure" The pain NEVER goes away. It simply becomes managable.

Think Barbara Underhill. I don't know how you go on after that, but you do. I am sure that chapter of her life is not "closed". How could it be?

I don't know how parents who lose a child cope. But in the case of a child dying, at least parents know what happened to the child. I wonder specifically about how parents who have a child go missing get through the day.

I think about that because my dog went missing for four days - we had boarded him and he had jumped out a window for some reason (probably saw a cat or a squirrel). Probably went into the front street, which he wasn't familiar with, and not being able to find his way back.

Those were four of the worst days of my life and I found myself lacking in the skills I needed to cope, I was a complete and total nervous wreck. Fortunately my dog was found, but during that time I thought often of parents who had a child go missing. Sometimes that goes on for years (thinking of kidnapped kids who are eventually found), sometimes the child is never found. I guess in time the pain becomes manageable as the new normal. But you'll find high rates of divorce among couples who have had a child go missing, I'm sure. Probably increased use of drugs and alcohol, too.

 

[hanca]

There were pretty disgusting comments about Eteri's appearance and facial expressions during Cup of Russia this season when her mother just died a few days before the event. I know those who wrote that stuff didn't know about the situation, but it was horrible to read.

I think you are mixing a few things together. Tutberidze does use bottox and people do comment on other people’s appearances. Tutberidze’s inability to use facial muscles after bottox, Mozer’s poncho, someone elses hat, Karel Fajfr wore those ridiculous red glases.... All that has no connection to how people feel about her professionally - some people respect her professional achievements, other criticise her methods that seem to lead to higher rates of injury, Lipnitskaya’s eating disorder, Medvedeva believing she needed to starve herseld and get herself ‘dry’. And again, how people feel about that has no connection to people’s emphaty towards her as a person who lost two parents in a relatively short time and was going through a very difficult time. The fact that one feels emphaty doesn’t mean that one would think any less about the excessive bottox being a bit over the top or ridiculous, and it doesn’t change that there is a mixture of respect or disgust (or both) about her professional achievements and how she achieves them.

 

[Finsta]

I'm sorry. You obviously are clueless. We remember in the past Eteri definitely had no problems with her students leaving her and switching to other coaches. She had problems only with HOW few of them had left. The main issue was with HOW exactly Medvedeva had left. That was quite uncalled for, I guess. There was a big negative outcry among general public. As you can imagine Med's skating was not everyone's cup of tea in Russia, as a mater of fact just like here on this forum for the recent 3 years, but after all those news broke loose Med really started picking up a big anti-popularity rating even among those who were neutral and did not care or knew much about her. And her chatty personality in the interviews of late is not making her any favors, really.

That sound so immature. Who cares how she left. She knew it was time. Eteri is a grown woman and supposed professional. She’s not acting either by refusing to move on.

 

[hanca]

Who cares how she left. She knew it was time. Eteri is a grown woman and supposed professional. She’s not acting either by refusing to move on.

Well, it seems that people actually do care, otherwise they wouldn’t be criticising her so much for it. You may not care, but that doesn’t mean that others feel the same. There is no doubt she had every right to leave, but there is the nicer way to do it and the not that great ways to do it. Leaving as politely as possible is hard and sometimes the skaters just decide to ‘get out, no matter how’ and that’s their choice, but then they can’t be surprised they would be criticised for that.

Saying that, Tutberidze has not always been very professional when her students left her. She criticised most of her skaters after they left her, saying quite private things about Lipnitskaya, Voronov, Pitkeev, Tsurskaya.... that’s in my view not right. But I can’t see anything wrong with her recent post. She didn’t go out to have a go at Medvedeva. She mentioned that on top of those two significant bereavements, some students left her (which she couldn’t understand because she feels she gave them her best) and that would be clearly painful for her, especially in the case of a student whom she coached such a long time. That’s saying the facts. Of course people leaving her (especially so soon after experiencing significant losses in her private life) would be painful. I really can’t see why people are getting offended on behalf of Medvedeva for this post.

 

[Wyliefan]

May be yes may be no. Alligators gonna alligate.

. . . What?

 

[barbarafan]

Well she sorta implied it was difficult training with Alina and that they slmost WD in an interview.....

So she could have praised Alina for overcoming everything she had to this year and how it is a testament to her inner strength and character that she came through and won. But it was all about Eteri and how things effect her.

 

[rfisher]

So she could have praised Alina for overcoming everything she had to this year and how it is a testament to her inner strength and character that she came through and won. But it was all about Eteri and how things effect her.

Um, if you're writing about your personal feelings and reflections on the past several years, it is about you. That's sort of the point of a reflection.

 

[barbarafan]

Um, if you're writing about your personal feelings and reflections on the past several years, it is about you. That's sort of the point of a reflection.

I was talking about the interview where she said they almost withdrew Zagitova.

 

[Coquelicot14]

So she could have praised Alina for overcoming everything she had to this year and how it is a testament to her inner strength and character that she came through and won. But it was all about Eteri and how things effect her.

So obviously you didn't read her instagram posts, about Alina and Elisabet, because in the following she said:
"...there is a flurry of emotions, happiness, true happiness for our girls, who have persevered and gave the world a great fight (gold and silver)..."
"Thank you to Alina Zagitova and Elisabet Tursynbaeva for the best gift to our whole team!!!"

Sorry, no time to translate the whole thing.

 

[Finsta]

A professional shouldn’t make personal things public. It’s a job.

 

[bardtoob]

I'm sure most of the American posters don't understand their situation. Totally different culture, relationship with the teacher, coach. This is not attack, I apologize everyone.....

Probably also people from Bali, Madagascar, etc ... Because some other humans do not have feelings like Russians, right?

For a moment I was actually feeling sympathy for Eteri. However, I guess I don't need to try to understand.

Any who, maybe Medvedeva left because she was overwhelmed by Eteri's situation but powerless to do anything about it because it is not her situation, she is just a teenager, has her own needs, etc.

 

[Coquelicot14]

Probably also people from Bali, Madagascar, etc ... Because some other humans do not have feelings like Russians, right?

For a moment I was actually feeling sympathy for Eteri. However, I guess I don't need to try to understand.

Any who, maybe Medvedeva left because she was overwhelmed by Eteri's situation but powerless to do anything about it because it is not her situation, she is just a teenager, has her own needs, etc.

I think you've missed the point of the post you are quoting. The dynamics of the coach-student relationship is different, because the system is different. It is not as business-focused in many cases.

As for Medvedeva, the thing that many people find distasteful is not that she left, but how she did it.

 

[lala]

I think you've missed the point of the post you are quoting. The dynamics of the coach-student relationship is different, because the system is different. It is not as business-focused in many cases.

Yes, that's what I thought.