Russian figure skating news in 2023

[Ananas Astra]

You really think they'll comply with the restrictions?

I still don't know what Z/G could possibly do at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, but I guess you can enlighten me.

 

[irenemulindwairen]

Her butt still sticks out awkwardly. She possesses a beautiful figure but a mediocre skate and has elegant arms....seems much ado about nothing..... makes this interview somewhat irrelevant....where will they skate? Meh....

Yes. I watched a recent ice show( I think it took place in May), and this was really evident. Her posture is really bad. I don't know what Tarasova sees in these two.

 

[Bigbird]

Yes. I watched a recent ice show( I think it took place in May), and this was really evident. Her posture is really bad. I don't know what Tarasova sees in these two.

They protect their own.

 

[On My Own]

Alina Zagitova: “I actually didn’t like figure skating at all. My mom brought me into it. Basically, she forced me…”

Alina Zagitova appeared on Maxim Trankov's program on Channel One.

fs-gossips.com

Then came third place, then second, and the first places appeared when I started training with Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze. There was always something to strive for, and the competition was always tough,” Zagitova shared.

 

[rfisher]

Alina Zagitova: “I actually didn’t like figure skating at all. My mom brought me into it. Basically, she forced me…”

Alina Zagitova appeared on Maxim Trankov's program on Channel One.

fs-gossips.com

I don't think that's uncommon in Russia. Trankov always said he didn't like skating (so did Smirnov), but he knew it was a means to make a decent living if you were good enough. A lot of skaters come from relatively poor parts of the country and this is an opportunity for them and their families. It's just not the same as the US or Japan where skaters come from affluent families for the most part and they choose to skate.

 

[On My Own]

I don't think that's uncommon in Russia. Trankov always said he didn't like skating (so did Smirnov), but he knew it was a means to make a decent living if you were good enough. A lot of skaters come from relatively poor parts of the country and this is an opportunity for them and their families. It's just not the same as the US or Japan where skaters come from affluent families for the most part and they choose to skate.

I don't have a problem with that part. I highlighted what was alarming to me - that is, it seems like yet another former student of Eteri (who I believe has been shown to be mistreated) is seemingly singing praises of her.

 

[TAHbKA]

Since the beginning of the war more than 200 Russian athletes switched to the other countries. Most of them are chess players - 141. The government is trying to come up with a plan where the athletes who switch would have to pay a fine. Seems that it will not apply for those who are not in the national team or who not sponsored by the state.

 

[TAHbKA]

Trankov's interview with Zagitova


she sounds like a little girl both the way she speaks and her vocabulary

She didn't really want to skate and it was her mom who brought her to the rink and made her skate.
She always lacked somethign and was always 4th or 5th and was never on the podium and she wanted it so badly. Only when she switched to Tutberidze she started getting the medals. Her mother asked what did she want for a medal - a hamster, a dog, a cat. She always wanted pets. Then a phone. She was motivated all the time by things she was getting for her medals. Then it was the money.
She wanted to switch to Tutberidze's group because Lipnitskaya was there and all the girls wanted to be there.
She wanted to move to Moscow and was asking her mom for 3 years to move. Her mom didn't want to, she thinks her parents wanted to move but were afraid - they always lived in the small towns. Her parents took a loan so she could move to Moscow. Zagitova came to a competition in Moscow and didn't do well - was on 20th something place. She had a very short time between the competition and the train. Her mom went to talk to Tutberidze between. Tutberidze watched her skating, asked in which place she had finished and well, it was a nothing. Tutberidze was skeptical. But in the end Tutberidze agreed to watch her on the ice. She was afraid - all the stars were there - Tarasenko, Voronov, Pitkeev, Lipnitskaya, Medvedeva, Shelepen. Zagitova skated for about half an hour and was told she should come back to see them after the New Years. They almost missed the train after.
When a kid after the practice they would be given a small present - some would get a coat, a bag. She would get a hairband. She was super happy - it meant she didn't have to run 30 times around the rink.
She didn't need to be motivated - as a girl from a little town not working the hardest was not an option. It took her a while to get used to the working paste - it felt like she was working so hard and she was falling asleep in the metro, but it was useless and it took her a while to understand how to work correctly. Part of the thing was the off ice work that she didn't do enough before.
She set the goals who she is competing with and who she wants better than. She had a lot of help from her family - her father is a coach (not figure skating). It's something she probably wouldn't have figured herself.
She was doing her best to try and help her parents return the loans.

 

[karmena]

Somehow it feels sad to read Zagitova's mind set...

Thank you for translating.

 

[TAHbKA]

Samodelkina switching to Kazakhstan

 

[Karen-W]

Samodelkina switching to Kazakhstan

Has she been granted her release?

 

[TAHbKA]

Has she been granted her release?

According to the Russian press not yet. However, she already has a KAZ passport as she has some relatives there

 

[Karen-W]

According to the Russian press not yet. However, she already has a KAZ passport as she has some relatives there

Well, it only makes sense that she's making the switch now. Looks like she finished 11th at Russian Nats last season, so she probably won't get her release until January, which would mean she won't be able to compete at 4CCs, but I have no doubt she'll be able to earn the Worlds TES mins in time to compete in Montreal.

 

[airgelaal]

Samodelkina switching to Kazakhstan

What about her love for putin?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1609670668060164096

 

[kwanfan1818]

You can love Putin as much as you like, as long as you're competing under another passport.

 

[Karen-W]

You can love Putin as much as you like, as long as you're competing under another passport.

truth - it's only if she continued to compete for Russia that she'd have to disavow her love of Putin.

 

[Karen-W]

Here's the FS-Gossips translation of the Samoldekina report - https://fs-gossips.com/sofia-samode...-on-the-case-of-diana-davis-and-gleb-smolkin/

 

[barbk]

Here's the FS-Gossips translation of the Samoldekina report - https://fs-gossips.com/sofia-samode...-on-the-case-of-diana-davis-and-gleb-smolkin/

I had not heard of $$$ changing hands in the the Davis/Smolkin release. Hmmm....

 

[Karen-W]

I had not heard of $$$ changing hands in the the Davis/Smolkin release. Hmmm....

I think that's always been the unspoken assumption, ever since they got married in Mar 2022 and rumors surfaced later that spring that they were looking to switch feds.

 

[TAHbKA]

What about her love for putin?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1609670668060164096

Guess it exeeded her love for erm... what is the traditional Kazakh dish?

 

[Karen-W]

Guess it exeeded her love for erm... what is the traditional Kazakh dish?

Apple pie!

 

[airgelaal]

You can love Putin as much as you like, as long as you're competing under another passport.

I hope that such athletes will be banned from changing the flag.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I hope that such athletes will be banned from changing the flag.

I haven't seen anything come down from the IOC to support this. Given how the IOC is trying to bend over backwards to let Russian athletes compete, I don't see a special provision coming down anytime soon, and I can't see the CAS upholding one if it came through.

There is a provision of the IOC Charter about changing the country under which an athlete competes that says,

"A competitor who has represented one country in the Olympic Games, in continental or​

regional games or in world or regional championships recognised by the relevant IF, and who​

has changed his nationality or acquired a new nationality, may participate in the Olympic​

Games to represent his new country provided that at least three years have passed since​

the competitor last represented his former country. This period may be reduced or even​

80 5 The Olympic Games cancelled, with the agreement of the NOCs and IF concerned, by the IOC Executive Board,​

which takes into account the circumstances of each case."​

https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/General/EN-Olympic-Charter.pdf

Since Russian athletes have not participated in continental or regional games or world or regional championships since 2022, if they can get another passport to another country, there's nothing in the Olympic Charter that would prohibit them from participating under another flag, no matter how much Russia claims the medals for their own.

 

[Rukia]

I'm going to be honest, I think most these people are way more patriotic to their dream of going to the Olympics than they are to any country, so I'm not sure they're really going to care what flag they are wearing as long as they are there.

 

[MsZem]

I feel like there should be more leeway when the athletes involved are minors.

 

[airgelaal]

I feel like there should be more leeway when the athletes involved are minors.

Then maybe we should worry about the Ukrainian minors? It is they who will be forced to compete alongside such Putin fans.

I haven't seen anything come down from the IOC to support this. Given how the IOC is trying to bend over backwards to let Russian athletes compete, I don't see a special provision coming down anytime soon, and I can't see the CAS upholding one if it came through.

I hope that their new homelands will abandon such a bad idea.

 

[TAHbKA]

I hope that such athletes will be banned from changing the flag.

I'd rather not see Zhulin. Ever. Samodelkina is still a minor and may have to say/do what the adults tell her

 

[Dobre]

If they leave the Russian Fed, they lose the Russian Federation's money.

I think we have to live with that. No one has to cheer for them, and by golly, if they go running back to compete for Putin after the ban is dropped, they can have a lifetime of boos from the crowd as far as I'm concerned.

But none of Putin's $ right now while he is murdering who no one knows how many people.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I hope that their new homelands will abandon such a bad idea.

I don't see Kazakhstan being terribly concerned, even if the team competition in 2026 wasn't beckoning.

 

[airgelaal]

I'd rather not see Zhulin. Ever. Samodelkina is still a minor and may have to say/do what the adults tell her

I don't want to see anyone. She still loves putin, lives in russia and trains at CSKA. And she's not going to change any of that. And then, like Gubanova, she will tell in an interview that she is still the same russian girl.