Eric Radford and Vanessa James to compete in pairs together for Canada

[Lemonade20]

Does Vanessa need Canadian citizenship in order to skate in Beijing? Won’t that take a long time to achieve?

She was born in Canada

 

[Judy]

Read before you post

Read what?

 

[skipaway]

She was born in Canada

Oh, did not know that...thanks

 

[Vagabond]

I 100% agree she doesn't have to publically disavow his actions. But I think what some people take issue with his her posting messages of support for Cipres.

Again, she was coming out of an abusive relationship, so we should not presume to know exactly what her thinking was at the time. She did, however, remove the post. To expect her to do anything more about it in a public forum is presumptuous.

 

[mackiecat]

Hasn’t anyone thought that she may have been advised by lawyers to remain silent. I also think she suffered under him during her time skating with him. She also could have been scared to say anything. At the time, she was living in a different country, totally relying on her partner. If the coaches told the little girl to not say anything, do you not think they might pressure Vanessa to do the same?

I didn’t know we lived in a society where the woman is guilty of the man’s crimes.

 

[mackiecat]

The Smith article brings a lot more info. It sounds like the original call ended with Eric thinking everything was fine based on the conversation. Megan then said she thought more of it in the 2 weeks prior to the skate Canada announcement and realized she was hurt.

 

[missing]

... All these wannabe-'I'm doing everything right for the world'-types should be the first to realize that not everyone is going to come to terms with things so quickly and/or be cheerleaders like they are, from the comfort of their keyboards and stupid ass user names.

I am currently in process of legally changing my name to Keegan Missing.

 

[quartz]

I am currently in process of legally changing my name to Keegan Missing.

Yeah, and once he retires, I’ll be missing Keegan.

 

[tony]

I am currently in process of legally changing my name to Keegan Missing.

You can always be his Red Hot Chili Sauce or whatever that user was. RIP.

 

[MsZem]

Hasn’t anyone thought that she may have been advised by lawyers to remain silent. I also think she suffered under him during her time skating with him. She also could have been scared to say anything. At the time, she was living in a different country, totally relying on her partner. If the coaches told the little girl to not say anything, do you not think they might pressure Vanessa to do the same?

It's been mentioned several times.

 

[VGThuy]

No, it doesn't. She is not in the least responsible for what Morgan did. She is responsible for whether she signals publicly that she is okay with his child abuse, or that she condemns it.

I agree with you. There's a space between mobs with pitchforks and thinking her public actions did show she supported him, and for that, she's responsible. We all have our own trauma we deal with. One thing we need to do is acknowledge and take responsibility for actions we do in public that may have affected others, no matter the reason we did such things and just hope others understand. If they don't, then that's on them. Skating Twitter is one thing, but I'm talking about people with more reasonable takes of the situation. Not everyone who views Vanessa negatively with the Cipres-related incident is a crazy Twitter "social justice warrior" who is ego-centric and won't listen to reason.

 

[TAHbKA]

Maybe James wants to become the first skater to represent two different countries at the World Team Trophy

Come on! She wants to beat Kawaguti! Kawaguti participated the 4CC and won the Euros, if James even medals at the 4CC she beats Kawaguti!

Being fluent in the language makes this so much more enjoyable for me than the Russian dramas, honestly

The Russian dramas are done by 14 years olds who are not fluent themselves. More than that, the vocabulary of some of the adults there is not much better.

Heh. Watch Vanessa end up pregnant this summer.

With Tessa's baby. We all know that

 

[canbelto]

With Tessa's baby. We all know that

Tessa's BABIES. She has four according to the sekret baby blog.

 

[cholla]

She also could have been scared to say anything.

Vanessa isn't someone who's scared of many things and that's why there must be a very valid reason why she didn't express herself on the matter publicly. If someone was scared of the other, it was Ciprès who feared her (legitimate) outbursts, and who ended up hiding his crappy habits from her so she would stop trying to straighten him (as he probably thinks there is nothing to straighten).

At the time, she was living in a different country, totally relying on her partner.

At what time do you mean? She was living in a different country when she was in France, the US were never foreign to her. And even in France, she'd been there since 2008 when she paired up with Ciprès at the end of summer 2010. She speaks 10 times better French than he will ever speak English. She never had to totally rely on him for everything. Let's not fall into extra pathos. I think the way she is attacked since the beginning of all this is deeply unjust but painting her as a fragile little flower that everybody took advantage of isn't right either. She certainly had a hard time working with him, she had a hard time being his girlfriend because he was notoriously unfaithful, she was 'raised' as a (pair) skater in a culture of abuse and silence, it certainly left its mark. But it's not enough to keep someone like James silent.

If the coaches told the little girl to not say anything, do you not think they might pressure Vanessa to do the same?

Of course they must have. But it's only one part of the reason she clammed up. They are no longer her coaches and she's being attacked on all sides. Still she says nothing. There is a very valid reason to that. Which may not be any public business.

 

[MarieM]

Vanessa isn't someone who's scared of many things and that's why there must be a very valid reason why she didn't express herself on the matter publicly. If someone was scared of the other, it was Ciprès who feared her (legitimate) outbursts, and who ended up hiding his crappy habits from her so she would stop trying to straighten him (as he probably thinks there is nothing to straighten).


At what time do you mean? She was living in a different country when she was in France, the US were never foreign to her. And even in France, she'd been there since 2008 when she paired up with Ciprès at the end of summer 2010. She speaks 10 times better French than he will ever speak English. She never had to totally rely on him for everything. Let's not fall into extra pathos. I think the way she is attacked since the beginning of all this is deeply unjust but painting her as a fragile little flower that everybody took advantage of isn't right either. She certainly had a hard time working with him, she had a hard time being his girlfriend because he was notoriously unfaithful, she was 'raised' as a (pair) skater in a culture of abuse and silence, it certainly left its mark. But it's not enough to keep someone like James silent.

Of course they must have. But it's only one part of the reason she clammed up. They are no longer her coaches and she's being attacked on all sides. Still she says nothing. There is a very valid reason to that. Which may not be any public business.

Can I clap? For all this?

I'm just happy she was released without drama from the FFSG, that she can finish her skating career in a much better environment and with a better end.
She always was the one with great skating skills, and the bip she used to skate with was lacking too much. Eric Radford had exactly the same problem with Meagan who lacked in everything but her grit to skate.
IMO, let's just wish them good luck and hope for the best.

The bip story, @cholla just probably summed it up: we don't know what's going on behind the scenes on that matter.

 

[rfisher]

Without going back through the whole Olympic qualifier thread(s), does Canada have to try for a 2nd spot at Neblehorn? Which I assume would be Jam/Rad since it couldn't be MT/M. Or could Skate Canada just give their one spot to them if they won Canadian nationals. Which would reignite a firestorm.

 

[skatingguy]

Where was all this passion when John Coughlin dumped the Goddess Caitlin Yankowskas and did a beeline for Caydee Denney?????

Left Caitlin without a partner and had to retire when could not find one .... when they had just placed an amazing sixth best in the world at the Russian worlds!!!

Caitlin Yankowskas skated with two different partners after Couglin, and retired in 2015.

Eric and Meagan have been retired for three years and haven’t skated since.

They skated in a number of shows & tours, and that would have continued if not for the pandemic.

 

[tony]

Without going back through the whole Olympic qualifier thread(s), does Canada have to try for a 2nd spot at Neblehorn? Which I assume would be Jam/Rad since it couldn't be MT/M. Or could Skate Canada just give their one spot to them if they won Canadian nationals. Which would reignite a firestorm.

They already have the second spot, so no new drama

 

[rfisher]

They already have the second spot, so no new drama

Oh, there will be drama for which team ends up 3rd at Nationals. albeit not as much as if there was only one spot.

 

[MacMadame]

This really isn't our problem is it? This is a problem for Meghan and Eric and as far as I can tell neither one of them are actually on here discussing it.

Then don't talk about it. But this is a message board to talk about figure skating news and express our opinions. So talking about it here is completely appropriate.

Where was all this passion when John Coughlin dumped the Goddess Caitlin Yankowskas and did a beeline for Caydee Denney?????

It's in the Archives. You are free to search them if you want to re-read all the posts about it.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

Morgan Cipres literally had the audacity to wish the new pair well on Instagram.

I was wondering if Zimmerman and Montana would coach them.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

I was wondering if Zimmerman and Fontana would coach them.

I assume that you meant this instead of Joe or Hannah.

 

[ЭPiKUilyam]

I assume that you meant this instead of Joe or Hannah.

uggh spellcheck

 

[Carolla5501]

Hasn’t anyone thought that she may have been advised by lawyers to remain silent. I also think she suffered under him during her time skating with him. She also could have been scared to say anything. At the time, she was living in a different country, totally relying on her partner. If the coaches told the little girl to not say anything, do you not think they might pressure Vanessa to do the same?

I didn’t know we lived in a society where the woman is guilty of the man’s crimes.

Apparently on here everyone should be guilty. After all we have all been appointed capable of "judgement without knowing facts"

The Smith article brings a lot more info. It sounds like the original call ended with Eric thinking everything was fine based on the conversation. Megan then said she thought more of it in the 2 weeks prior to the skate Canada announcement and realized she was hurt.

Oh wait... after 10 pages of "Eric is EVIL because he didn't talk to Meghan" it comes out he did? And she's just unhappy because Eric wants to have a career without her? Well, after all if she should be able to FORCE him to be unhappy and skate with her

 

[VarBar]

Agree. By the time Nationals comes around Canadian fans will have forgotten the Meagan issue and will be happily cheering Vanessa and Eric on and should they end up representing Canada at the Olympics then the fans will be cheering even louder. Such is the nature of sports.

I have the feeling that if Cipres were allowed to compete and found himself a decent partner, there would be crowds cheering on him too. I'm afraid that's human nature rather than the nature of sports because it doesn't hold true for just sports.

 

[kwanfan1818]

When my partner is not so open with me it's usually because I've reacted inappropriately in the past.

Her personality didn't stop him from cashing the checks for shows they participated in since they retired from competitive skating and from signing contracts for shows that were canceled due to cv.

 

[Xsktrx]

I have the feeling that if Cipres were allowed to compete and found himself a decent partner, there would be crowds cheering on him too. I'm afraid that's human nature rather than the nature of sports because it doesn't hold true for just sports.

Right on. And if one chooses to go public with their grievances, especially one with a degree of celebrity status then one has to expect the public will have an opinion and chat forums as we have seen here will go to town on the issue. The general public wants heros and most (not everyone) will forgive their heros when they are back in the game. Sports, politics and the entertainment industry, to name a few have a long history of their stars committing an endless list of indiscretions ranging from saying idiotic things to out and out crimes, yet often these same stars find themselves eventually back in front of thousands of adoring cheering fans. I expect we will see the same for Vanessa and Eric when they step on the ice regardless of which side of this debate one is on.

 

[skatfan]

Oh wait... after 10 pages of "Eric is EVIL because he didn't talk to Meghan" it comes out he did? And she's just unhappy because Eric wants to have a career without her? Well, after all if she should be able to FORCE him to be unhappy and skate with her

The article specifically quotes Meagan saying of course he can do as he likes with his life. I think this is about him being honest with her in a timely way - he was working with Vanessa while discussing upcoming tours with Meagan without saying anything. I think the added factor of her sister-in-law not saying anything for weeks has to be a blow for her and Bruno.

 

[PRlady]

Exactly. SOI is just not enough, and skaters can't rely on shows alone. Some will return to school (Osmond, Rochette, Virtue). Some goes on to have a skating career in coaching/choreography (Orser, Bourne, Bezic), and some just quietly choose to have a normal life. Duhamel and Radford aren't competing, or even skating on a regular basis. If Radford wants to compete again but with a new partner, why is he the villian? It's not like Duhamel has plans to compete. They were already at different stages in their lives, and I'm excited to see him return. She has a very strong personality, so I can see why Eric wants to give this a go.

Uh, switching from Meagan to Vanessa is not switching to a weak personality! If Eric is looking for a yes-girl, he'd better keep looking.

Where was all this passion when John Coughlin dumped the Goddess Caitlin Yankowskas and did a beeline for Caydee Denney?????

Left Caitlin without a partner and had to retire when could not find one .... when they had just placed an amazing sixth best in the world at the Russian worlds!!!

Eric and Meagan have been retired for three years and haven’t skated since.

As reported above there was plenty of drama. In the long run isn't it nice for Caitlin that she was long gone from Coughlin before last year's awfulness took place?

I have a long list of demands, as long as we fans are demanding. I wanna know why Nguyen/Kolesik couldn't keep it together after winning Junior Worlds, they were future stars. How dare Shoma not explain to me his long coach-less odyssey and how he ended up with the one he's got. Excuse me Vlad Morozov but why do you always look like your dog died and could you fix it so you could finally win a big gold medal? Why can't Maddy Hubbell just say no to her mom's costumes?

Seriously, even living life in the public sphere as a star athlete does doesn't mean they are going to share everything. Sometimes they can't or shouldn't. I don't know Vanessa's back story with the terrible situation in Florida but I strongly guess that either a lawyer, PR person or both are telling her all she will gain by opening her mouth is a subpoena to testify.

 

[Sparks]

I have a long list of demands, as long as we fans are demanding. I wanna know why Nguyen/Kolesik couldn't keep it together after winning Junior Worlds, they were future stars. How dare Shoma not explain to me his long coach-less odyssey and how he ended up with the one he's got. Excuse me Vlad Morozov but why do you always look like your dog died and could you fix it so you could finally win a big gold medal? Why can't Maddy Hubbell just say no to her mom's costumes?