Inteview with Julianne Seguin about her book

[Alvyne]

Skater Seguin's book details career-ending concussions, toxic relationship with coach

Julianne Seguin has spent a good chunk of the past few years "lying on my bed, staring at the wall" in her family's Montreal home. She's listened to podcasts or audio books, and has had brief conversations with friends, but lingering symptoms from a series of concussions has limited her ability...

ca.sports.yahoo.com

 

[tony]

Interesting bit here being Bilodeau putting a stop to the training environment and getting her out of there.. which would paint him in a much better light if there wasn't another mess afterwards.

But Picard.. not good.

 

[honey]

My heart breaks for her. I know too well the debilitating nausea as a lingering effect from concussions. I just want to give her a hug and hope that she can lead the life she wants to in the future.

Charlie most definitely didn’t go about ending their partnership the best way, but thank goodness he did (whether that was for his own reasons or truly just trying to protect her from the situation she was in). I shudder to think of what might have happened if she’d tried to continue.

And yeah, yikes to the Picard stuff. She seems to have made a bit of a comeback this season. Hadn’t seen her in a kiss and cry in a while until this season.

 

[Winnipeg]

I really am sorry she had to go through such health issues as a result of training.

Unfortunately pairs skating does require a balance of the girl's weight to be lifted AND the boy's strength to lift her. He needs to work out to gain upper body strength as does the girl have to keep somewhat lean.

Maybe pairs is not such a healthy sport but I guess you could say that about many other sports.

 

[skategal]

Interesting bit here being Bilodeau putting a stop to the training environment and getting her out of there.. which would paint him in a much better light if there wasn't another mess afterwards.

But Picard.. not good.

I think I was one of the few that took Charlie’s side after the split with Julianne assuming her health and well being played a role in the split but yeah, then the whole mess with Lubov…..

 

[VGThuy]

I still can’t get over Charlie confessing that he never like figure skating so much and that he was more into the “sliding” aspect of it and how he likes to slide.

 

[overedge]

I really am sorry she had to go through such health issues as a result of training.

Unfortunately pairs skating does require a balance of the girl's weight to be lifted AND the boy's strength to lift her. He needs to work out to gain upper body strength as does the girl have to keep somewhat lean.

Maybe pairs is not such a healthy sport but I guess you could say that about many other sports.

There is no indication that Julianne was ever overweight enough that it was dangerous for Charlie to lift her.

 

[Winnipeg]

I did not mean to infer she was overweight; just pressured to keep the weight off which would be a tough environment to train in.

What did CB mean by sliding aspect??? what was the Lubov thing/mess?

 

[overedge]

I did not mean to infer she was overweight; just pressured to keep the weight off which would be a tough environment to train in.

Why would she need to be pressured to keep the weight off if she wasn't overweight? I'm sure that Julianne was aware that women pairs skaters should "be somewhat lean".

According to the story, the coach demanded for 10 years that Julianne's weight had to stay within a five-pound range. That's not realistic for anyone, and there doesn't seem to be any indication that the desired weight was based on any testing or measurement. Just that the coach thought this was the "right" number.

 

[Orm Irian]

Why would she need to be pressured to keep the weight off if she wasn't overweight?

For the same reason all the Tutberidze girls are. It's a control mechanism.

 

[MacMadame]

Some are pressured to lose weight and the rest are pressured not to gain any.

 

[greenapple]

I just saw on the Patinage Quebec board of directors page that the position Picard used to hold - Administrator–Coaches Sector - is now vacant. Her bio page has her name but all the information about her appears to have been deleted.

 

[pointbleu]

I just saw on the Patinage Quebec board of directors page that the position Picard used to hold - Administrator–Coaches Sector - is now vacant. Her bio page has her name but all the information about her appears to have been deleted.

She’s back coaching so maybe she resigned so she has the time to go at the rink?

 

[4rkidz]

Why would she need to be pressured to keep the weight off if she wasn't overweight? I'm sure that Julianne was aware that women pairs skaters should "be somewhat lean".

According to the story, the coach demanded for 10 years that Julianne's weight had to stay within a five-pound range. That's not realistic for anyone, and there doesn't seem to be any indication that the desired weight was based on any testing or measurement. Just that the coach thought this was the "right" number.

Extremely common in pairs skating in the past for the coaches to maintain charts in 5lb increments. It was felt that a 5 pound or more gain would negatively impact the partners health. Most traditionally weighed them as well - here in Canada. Josee is an old school coach. Let us hope she has learned from this.

 

[jao86]

Wrong thread

 

[greenapple]

Article confirming Josee Picard's resignation from Patinage Québec.

 

[puglover]

Isn't that Josee Picard at the French Grand Prix with DS/MD? I guess she is still coaching.

 

[greenapple]

Isn't that Josee Picard at the French Grand Prix with DS/MD? I guess she is still coaching.

Yes it is. Skate Canada would need to receive a formal complaint about Picard and investigate it before it could do anything to stop her from coaching in Canada.

 

[overedge]

Extremely common in pairs skating in the past for the coaches to maintain charts in 5lb increments. It was felt that a 5 pound or more gain would negatively impact the partners health. Most traditionally weighed them as well - here in Canada. Josee is an old school coach. Let us hope she has learned from this.

It may be extremely common in some pairs camps, but I've never seen or heard of either of these things happening here. Eating disorders and athlete abuse, yes, but mostly with a "you should get skinnier" message, not a specific weight target. Just that every female skater needs to weigh less, no matter how skinny they already are.

 

[pointbleu]

I don’t want to open a can of worms but it is pure science that when one’s partner keeps the same weight, it is easier to get consistency on elements such as lifts. Changing the center of mass requires adaptation for the partner. I am not saying what weight is better, I am saying that once the said weight is fixed, it should remain within a sound range (not +/- 250g as in the Tutberidze’s camp).

That is said, when a skater has difficulty maintaining that weight, it should be done with a specialized team of nutritionists, not just by having the coach trying to be smart-ass about weight managing.

 

[overedge]

No one is saying that there isn't an optimal weight for pairs skaters. Of course there is. But once again, there is no evidence that Julianne was "overweight" to the point that Charlie couldn't lift her. Regardless, her coach forced her to stay within an unrealistic and apparently unscientific weight range for ten years. And as the story says, when she did have trouble maintaining that unrealistic weight, it was because she was too nauseous from skating-related concussions to train full out.

This isn't the first time that someone has posted a news story about a female pairs skater in an abusive and unhealthy training situation, and some responses have been essentially "well, pairs skaters can't weigh too much". No wonder it's so hard to make meaningful change in this sport.

 

[barbarafan]

No one is saying that there isn't an optimal weight for pairs skaters. Of course there is. But once again, there is no evidence that Julianne was "overweight" to the point that Charlie couldn't lift her. Regardless, her coach forced her to stay within an unrealistic and apparently unscientific weight range for ten years. And as the story says, when she did have trouble maintaining that unrealistic weight, it was because she was too nauseous from skating-related concussions to train full out.

This isn't the first time that someone has posted a news story about a female pairs skater in an abusive and unhealthy training situation, and some responses have been essentially "well, pairs skaters can't weigh too much". No wonder it's so hard to make meaningful change in this sport.

Question: In the book does Julianne refer to Charlie's attitude towards her and the coach during this period. ie like telling the coach Julianne was fine how she was and he had no problem lifting and throwing her & then working harder on his off ice training to make sure this was true. There are stories within the stories when it comes to pair abuse. It is not just the coaches attitude that needs to change.

 

[pointbleu]

No one is saying that there isn't an optimal weight for pairs skaters. Of course there is. But once again, there is no evidence that Julianne was "overweight" to the point that Charlie couldn't lift her. Regardless, her coach forced her to stay within an unrealistic and apparently unscientific weight range for ten years. And as the story says, when she did have trouble maintaining that unrealistic weight, it was because she was too nauseous from skating-related concussions to train full out.

This isn't the first time that someone has posted a news story about a female pairs skater in an abusive and unhealthy training situation, and some responses have been essentially "well, pairs skaters can't weigh too much". No wonder it's so hard to make meaningful change in this sport.

Have you read the book?

 

[overedge]

Question: In the book does Julianne refer to Charlie's attitude towards her and the coach during this period. ie like telling the coach Julianne was fine how she was and he had no problem lifting and throwing her & then working harder on his off ice training to make sure this was true. There are stories within the stories when it comes to pair abuse. It is not just the coaches attitude that needs to change.

No, I have not read the entire book. But both Charlie and Julianne were part of the documentary (Pression/Pressure) by the video journalist who is also the co-author of the book. Neither of them discussed anything like this. TBH I doubt that Julianne would have agreed to appear in the documentary with Charlie if she felt that he had been part of the abuse she experienced.

I agree that there are male pairs skaters who don't do their part of the work, so to speak. But I don't see the relevance of that to this particular story.

 

[dramagrrl]

In Julianne's written interview with Radio Canada shortly after the split, she said this:

"Je sentais que la pression montait et la situation n'était pas optimale à l'entraînement. C'était ça qui était lourd. Je sais que je n’étais pas dans la plus grande forme de ma vie. J’y pensais beaucoup. Et Charlie aussi. Il me l’a dit."

In loose translation, she says "I knew I was not in the best shape of my life. I thought about it a lot. So did Charlie. He told me so."

I'm not saying this means that Charlie was unsupportive or supporting Picard - Julianne herself has said that Charlie thought her relationship with Picard was toxic and wanted to get her away from it - but it also doesn't sound like he was telling her she was fine and standing up for her, either.

 

[greenapple]

I'm not saying this means that Charlie was unsupportive or supporting Picard - Julianne herself has said that Charlie thought her relationship with Picard was toxic and wanted to get her away from it - but it also doesn't sound like he was telling her she was fine and standing up for her, either.

Charlie had a long working relationship with Picard, so perhaps he was torn in the loyalty department. There was always chatter behind the scenes that he never had to pay for lessons with Picard so if that is true it would explain - but not excuse - why he never spoke out about her treatment of Julianne.

 

[pointbleu]

Charlie had a long working relationship with Picard, so perhaps he was torn in the loyalty department. There was always chatter behind the scenes that he never had to pay for lessons with Picard so if that is true it would explain - but not excuse - why he never spoke out about her treatment of Julianne.

Julianne was with Josee well before Charlie was with her.

 

[rfisher]

the fact of the matter is that pair skaters have to be in good shape or the risk of injury is too high. She wasn't and she shouldn't have been skating pairs by the time they split. That's just a matter of safety. It doesn't matter if she wanted to skate, it doesn't matter why she wasn't in shape. It only matters that she wasn't and quitting was the right call for both her safety and her partners. There isn't a magic weight. It's fitness that counts. She admits she wasn't where she needed to be.

 

[overedge]

the fact of the matter is that pair skaters have to be in good shape or the risk of injury is too high. She wasn't and she shouldn't have been skating pairs by the time they split. That's just a matter of safety. It doesn't matter if she wanted to skate, it doesn't matter why she wasn't in shape. It only matters that she wasn't and quitting was the right call for both her safety and her partners. There isn't a magic weight. It's fitness that counts. She admits she wasn't where she needed to be.

IIRC she spoke in the documentary about feeling pressured to continue because of the success the team had had, and also because of the resources that had been invested in them. She stuck it out for the Olympics even though she knew she should have taken more time off to recover from the multiple concussions.

 

[rfisher]

IIRC she spoke in the documentary about feeling pressured to continue because of the success the team had had, and also because of the resources that had been invested in them. She stuck it out for the Olympics even though she knew she should have taken more time off to recover from the multiple concussions.

I think that's always an issue. A lot of money goes into an Olympic quality skater and there is money at stake for medalists from endorsements. Parents, coaches federations to say nothing of the athletes themselves, and none of the stakeholders want to just give it up..I've no doubt she did feel pressured and wanted to believe everything would be fine.