James/Cipres announce retirement

[clairecloutier]

It's reported by a French news source, Le Figaro:

Vanessa James et Morgan Ciprès quittent la glace

Vanessa James et Morgan Ciprès annoncent mettre fin à leur carrière. Le couple français se retire avec un joli palmarès : sextuple champion de France, vainqueur de la finale du Grand Prix et médaillés...

sport24.lefigaro.fr

 

[Colonel Green]

After the FFSG embarrassed itself trying to protect Cipres from censure recently, I figured they were all set on carrying things through to Beijing. I guess not.

Thither go France’s team medal hopes.

Two years ago I would have been deeply disappointed to see them retire, but Cipres soured that well thoroughly.

 

[MsZem]

It's reported by a French news source, Le Figaro:

Vanessa James et Morgan Ciprès quittent la glace

Vanessa James et Morgan Ciprès annoncent mettre fin à leur carrière. Le couple français se retire avec un joli palmarès : sextuple champion de France, vainqueur de la finale du Grand Prix et médaillés...

sport24.lefigaro.fr

It was pretty clear that they couldn't continue given what Cipres has been credibly accused of.

Vanessa just turned 33, and I guess it was time to make it official. Good luck to her with her future endeavors, and to the French pairs who will now be vying for the top spot.

 

[Vagabond]

Patinage. Fin de carrière pour Morgan Ciprès et Vanessa James

Morgan Ciprès et Vanessa James ont été sacrés champions d’Europe en 2019 et médaillés de bronze aux Mondiaux en 2018 en couples.

www.vosgesmatin.fr

They are retiring for "personal and sporting reasons."

This brief article, unlike the squib in Le Figaro, mentions the ongoing investigation in the U.S.

 

[clairecloutier]

Here is another French article about it:

Vanessa James et Morgan Ciprès annoncent leur fin de carrière

Vanessa James et Morgan Ciprès ont annoncé mardi qu'ils mettaient un terme à leur carrière. Champions d'Europe des couples en 2019, les Français n'avaient participé à aucune compétition depuis un an et demi.

www.lequipe.fr

 

[Orm Irian]

I'm not surprised to hear this - quite apart from every other (and more important) issue, they haven't so much as trained together in almost a year, and Vanessa has quietly been rebranding herself as a solo professional for some time now. They were never going to continue, and it's better to just admit it.

I am glad, though. She can have her Battle of the Blades/diversity advocate post-skating career and he can...face charges, I hope.

 

[heartyxo]

I’m not surprised, and very relieved.

I hope he gets the consequences he deserves.

 

[alchemy void]

bye

 

[genevieve]

Best wishes for Vanessa

 

[kirkbiggestfan]

I was watching the younger French pairs last week: Hamon-Strekalin and Kerriven-Pierre. They have big shoes to fill and this should inspire other single skaters to give pairs a try. Claude Peri is a good coach, but clearly not the pair expert they would need. The obvious choice would be to build a pair center with Bruno Massot.

 

[Finnice]

It was the only alternative. They had some great programs, but the career was tarred by his idiot behavior. He unvoided them in a very bad way.

 

[VGThuy]

I hope any type of ovation he expects will be met with the sounds of silence...except if it's booing. That, I'm ok with.

 

[dramagrrl]

Good luck to her; good riddance to him.

 

[skatfan]

Best wishes for Vanessa

Well, she participated in a cover-up on Cipres, so I'm not as forgiving.

 

[Lacey]

The fact that James made it to age 33 on ice is awesome! I hope she can find a future life/employment with or without skating, whatever she wants.

Cipres not so much.

 

[Braulio]

au revoir Vanessa et Morgan

 

[ivagall]

Well, she participated in a cover-up on Cipres, so I'm not as forgiving.

This, people tend to forget that she knew and for the sake of her own success covered up for him. I loved their skating, but after the scandal I'm not sad to see them go, both of them.

 

[heartyxo]

This, people tend to forget that she knew and for the sake of her own success covered up for him. I loved their skating, but after the scandal I'm not sad to see them go, both of them.

I have mixed opinions on Vanessa. As far as I know, there is no evidence that she knew it wasn’t happening at the time (unlike the coaches) but she did defend him after it came out I think. It must have been a very difficult situation so not ditching him makes sense but she did defend an abuser. Hopefully she wasn’t too involved in it, and Morgan faces the consequences for his actions.

 

[Vash01]

If the retirement is due to the scandal I am not sad. If it is due to injury or illness I am sad.

 

[cholla]

If the retirement is due to the scandal I am not sad. If it is due to injury or illness I am sad.

AFAIK none of them is injured.

 

[skatfan]

Brennan's article:

Olympic figure skater under investigation for sexual abuse allegation retires

Morgan Cipres, the French Olympic pairs skater who is under investigation for allegedly sending lewd photos to a 13-year-old American, has retired.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Sylvia]

FFSG's press release: https://www.ffsg.org/Fin-de-carriere-pour-Vanessa-James-et-Morgan-Cipres

James will "explore opportunities on and off the ice, such as developing a product related to sports and rehabilitation, and is involved in charitable work" and Cipres "plans to get into real estate and also wants to work on developing the discipline of pairs."

 

[heartyxo]

FFSG's press release: https://www.ffsg.org/Fin-de-carriere-pour-Vanessa-James-et-Morgan-Cipres

James will "explore opportunities on and off the ice, such as developing a product related to sports and rehabilitation, and is involved in charitable work" and Cipres "plans to get into real estate and also wants to work on developing the discipline of pairs."

If that involves coaching, then noooo. He should be banned from the sport, and especially not be around young skaters.

 

[Immortelle]

Good. I just don’t think he could have fronted at a comp without some “honest audience feedback”.

I hope Vanessa goes her own way now, and good luck to her.

 

[muffinplus]

Their performance at GPF 2018 was a highlight live... too bad Cipres f**d it all up

 

[3T3T]

I enjoyed this couple over the years but after his behaviour (and his team) this was the only the likely outcome. Good riddance to him. I don’t like the idea of him being involved in ‘developing the pairs discipline‘, surely he couldn’t work with underage children in any jurisdiction.

I’m still unsure of what exactly Vanessa knew. Was she aware of the fact that Fontana and Zimmerman intimidated the young girl? Did she stand back when this was being done. If yes, she is complicit and is not exactly innocent. I don’t have much sympathy for her.

I hope that F/Z are investigated over their behaviour, I can’t see how any one would want to send a child to them.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

I have mixed opinions on Vanessa. As far as I know, there is no evidence that she knew it wasn’t happening at the time (unlike the coaches) but she did defend him after it came out I think. It must have been a very difficult situation so not ditching him makes sense but she did defend an abuser. Hopefully she wasn’t too involved in it, and Morgan faces the consequences for his actions.

I have no mixed feelings about Vanessa. How was she to know her partner was a child sex criminal?!??!! Please don't paint her with the same brush or even a brush. Good for her to move on and get away from the darkness. It was inevitable. I mean, can you imagine her having to fake her way through anything romantic or sexual with him after his crimes? PASS. BYE.

 

[skatfan]

I have no mixed feelings about Vanessa. How was she to know her partner was a child sex criminal?!??!! Please don't paint her with the same brush or even a brush. Good for her to move on and get away from the darkness. It was inevitable. I mean, can you imagine her having to fake her way through anything romantic or sexual with him after his crimes? PASS. BYE.

To me, it is unrealistic that she didn’t know about the photos before the Olympics. As in, “ Vanessa, I might have sent dick pics to a teenager and we might not make it Pyeyoungchang after all.”

And she supported him after the news became public.

 

[once_upon]

AFAIK none of them is injured.

I'm sad for Vanessa. I wish her all the best

 

[Aerobicidal]

I have no mixed feelings about Vanessa. How was she to know her partner was a child sex criminal?!??!! Please don't paint her with the same brush or even a brush. Good for her to move on and get away from the darkness. It was inevitable. I mean, can you imagine her having to fake her way through anything romantic or sexual with him after his crimes? PASS. BYE.

After spending a large portion of my time in grad school studying feminist legal theory, the answer to this is unfortunately yes.

Maybe she didn't know, but I think it's more likely she did. Maybe she enabled him, or maybe she tried to ignore it, or maybe she tried to prevent the abuse going on at their rink.

I have absolutely no idea. Part of my brain thinks that she could have spoken out, even in an incredibly vague way, but I understand why there would be internal and external pressures not to.

People make sweeping assumptions about how others react when they are involved in a situation with abuse. The one (and hopefully only) time I served on a jury, we got into an extended argument after another juror said a partner would never stay with an abusive partner. I asked her what she thought about O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown, and she said, "That was different because they were married." My head almost exploded.

Even if I knew Vanessa, I wouldn't assume anything about what she knew or didn't. Logic doesn't operate in an objective manner, especially when there is a cocktail of forces like age difference, power imbalance, pressure on athletes to succeed, maintaining a veneer of team morale, coaches protecting athletes or vice/versa, etc.

So my reaction is "bye" but also my thoughts are with the survivors and not Vanessa.