Avanta Boot Labs Slam Karen Chen For Boot Problems

What are Karen's "foot issues" that cause all these issues with her boots? If it is actually her feet, why is she saying it is her boots? I am really not understanding this whole thing. If someone wants to be a runner and they have issues with running because of their feet, would it be the running shoe's fault? Why does Karen keep blaming her failures on her boots if the problem is she has unusual feet?
 
UGG said:
What are Karen's "foot issues" that cause all these issues with her boots? If it is actually her feet, why is she saying it is her boots? I am really not understanding this whole thing. If someone wants to be a runner and they have issues with running because of their feet, would it be the running shoe's fault? Why does Karen keep blaming her failures on her boots if the problem is she has unusual feet?
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She isn't saying her problems are because of her boots, she has a problem with her feet that boots so far could not really solve. All skaters get boot issues now and then, which are sort of springing from the boots in combo with heavy usage. This is a step further. At least that's how I understand it.
 
Coco said:
Tinami's believes her info to be true and 'unspun' while she believes TSL to be deliberately spinning or lying about their knowledge for commercial gain.
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Reading your post clarified for me what the other two were try to say/accuse me of... :D I had no idea what they were complaining about, since my post was about a time line of events which took place in front of witnesses and without judgement and followed by a refusal to discuss any further details vs. TSL's conspiracy theories and exaggerations. ...:) but it is not my turn to monitor others' reading comprehension.
 
I’m hoping this is a good move for Karen. I think diagnosing the problem was the hardest part. Now that Karen found a particular boot structure that worked for her, it’s probably possible for Jackson to duplicate it.


Jackson also is much nicer about boot problems. They worked well with Mirai when her boots fell apart at nationals and worlds. And Nathan when his fell apart at worlds.
 
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VIETgrlTerifa said:
I think Jackson is a lot less worried about their brand being "tarnished" by Karen since they have a solid reputation among the community and are probably one of the most used manufacturers.
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If you think of it, this is a win-win for Jackson. What if Karen follows up a pretty bad season with a great one (it can happen)? Then they come in as the knight in shining armor. If she bombs, nobody will really think it's the skates because of her history. Of course we all hope it will be the first alternative :D :40beers:
 
I thought she had Jacksons before she switched to Avanta and credited them with saving her career? Why would Jackson boots now solve her problems?
 
Rainbow said:
I thought she had Jacksons before she switched to Avanta and credited them with saving her career? Why would Jackson boots now solve her problems?
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Maybe it is just that they are willing to work with her to try to -address- her problems.

Jacksons aren't a cure all. They work well for some skaters, and not for others. I remember Alissa Czisny sung the praises of her Jacksons until they suddenly were the cause of her issue. So who knows if they will work for Karen or not. But it seems the company is willing to try to get her boots that work for her feet. And that's a big thing. In this sport, you have to have equipment.
 
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/17/olympian-karen-chen-lands-in-a-mess-with-former-bootmaker/

Some statements from both sides, although the article seems to lean more Karen Chen's side (my feeling from reading it).
I think that she will still face a couple of questions regarding her boots with the start of the new season. Simply because it has been such a big topic throughout her career so far. Hopefully, she and her team have a strategy set up to deal with these questions.
 
^^^ Alternate link to Elliott Almond's article if the one above requires a subscription to read online: https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/04/17/olympian-karen-chen-lands-in-a-mess-with-former-bootmaker/
Excerpts:
“But it’s kind of childish,” Chen said the other day. “I’m ready to grow out of that and be much more mature and know how to handle myself and handle every single situation and become that consistent skater I know I am capable of being.”
Lesson learned. But the blowback from Avanta has been difficult to endure.
“Getting hate or comments like that is just not pleasant,” said Chen, speaking publicly about the situation for the first time. “No one has a good time reading about things like that. I felt it was best for me to let it go.”
Mentor Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic gold medalist from Fremont, told the teen to say nothing. Others close to the skater offered similar advice.
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Murillo, 39, said Monday he stood by his social media posts.
He felt Chen’s words reflected poorly on Avanta by suggesting that the boots were defective. As a long-time bootmaker who learned the craft from the ground up, Murillo takes great pride in his work. He said Chen’s team in Korea fiddled with the boots that needed a special technician to adjust.
“All of the skaters had bad days,” said Murillo, who started with the former [Klingbeil] bootmaker that outfitted 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes and 2006 silver medalist Sasha Cohen. “She felt she needed an excuse and unfortunately we were that excuse.”
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ETA that I've posted her skating-related excerpts in the U.S. Ladies thread here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/u-s-ladies-22-no-more-carrots.103716/page-7#post-5351309
 
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From today's article:
“Avanta stands by its decision to end our sponsorship with Karen Chen. This decision was based on the expectation that the behavior of an Olympian is beyond reproach.”
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So any comment that might be deserving of a reproach = it's okay to end a sponsorship and post a histrionic, verbose online rant?

Too bad Speedo doesn't have such exacting moral standards because Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps would've been thoroughly ****ed years ago.

Luckily for us, figure skaters are much more pious folks. Who could reproach anything the Shibs, Meryl Davis, or Bradie Tennell has ever said or done? Or Tonya Harding?
 
Avanta was at AN. I checked out their boots and asked a few questions, mentioning that I missed by Klingbeils.

The man who I talked with was rather unpleasant. I’m not sure who he was, though. I know he got several orders.
 
I think Murrillo could have just issued a neutral statement that said Karen's boot problems were because a technician had to adjust them in Korea, and it was not the work of Avanta. He doesn't seem to understand the problem of attacking her personally on public social media posts.
 
Murillo, 39, said Monday he stood by his social media posts.
He felt Chen’s words reflected poorly on Avanta by suggesting that the boots were defective.
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He still doesn't get it. "Boot problems" does not mean "my boots were defective", and the response was completely unprofessional. Murillo may know a lot about boots, but his PR skills could use a lot of work.
 
meggonzo said:
I think Murrillo could have just issued a neutral statement that said Karen's boot problems were because a technician had to adjust them in Korea, and it was not the work of Avanta. He doesn't seem to understand the problem of attacking her personally on public social media posts.
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That would have been a professional way to handle it. I have a feeling he doesn't understand the meaning of that word though.
 
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First, let me say that I don't think Avanta should go out of business, be killed by fire, or whatever....

But still. For all the p!$$ing and moaning that some folks do about Karen blaming everything on her boots, the 18 year old here is still showing way more maturity than the 39 year old.

Way more.....:scream:
 
I'm glad that Karen is getting good advice by not commenting on things and moving on. Still wonder why she pulled out from World's, that seemed so weird, but I guess we're not getting that story.
 
Start scanning the thread to right around the time of Worlds. Its buried in here somewhere. Wait ... post 381 ... start there.
 
@skatfan is referring to this section of Elliott Almond's article (linked both in my post and the post above it):
... having to withdraw from the World Championships just days before it started last month in Italy.
Chen declined to explain why she didn’t compete a year after finishing fourth.
“It’s not that I am uncomfortable talking about it but it’s just that I have moved on from it,” the skater said. “It’s best for me to not talk about it anymore.”
The situation, though, had nothing to do with Avanta.
“I’m not one to back down and I’ve always been one to keep pushing and not be afraid to fail,” she said. But “we felt like with the circumstances it was probably best to sit it out and just figure things out.”
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I think if Karen had not posted and asked for prayers due to “boot problems” during the Olympics, this would have possibly never happened? I still don’t get why she did that. The Olympics is the biggest figure skating competition EVER. I understand the conflict and she just should have skated and not brought up "boot issues".

I am sure any sponsor who was supplying an Olympic athlete equipment would have been seriously pissed if the athlete asked for "prayers" because the equipment was faulty. That is such bad publicity. Karen has to take some blame here.
 
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UGG said:
I think if Karen had not posted and asked for prayers due to “boot problems” during the Olympics, this would have possibly never happened? I still don’t get why she did that. The Olympics is the biggest figure skating competition EVER. I understand the conflict and she just should have skated and not brought up "boot issues".
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Skaters commonly bring up boot issues when they have them. I don't see anything wrong with it.

I am sure any sponsor who was supplying an Olympic athlete equipment would have been seriously pissed if the athlete asked for "prayers" because the equipment was faulty. That is such bad publicity. Karen has to take some blame here.
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Karen didn't actually blame the manufacturer, did she?

But if the manufacturer was to blame, the professional thing to do would be to take responsibility.

However, I don't fully understand what happened, and don't want to go through the whole thread again.

IIRC there was a problem with the boots and Karen should have taken them to Avanta to get the problem fixed, not another company. And I don't know whether the problem was a flaw or something that can easily happen to boots.
 
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Japanfan said:
IIRC there was a problem with the boots and Karen should have taken them to Avanta to get the problem fixed, not another company. And I don't know whether the problem was a flaw or something that can easily happen to boots.
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My understanding is there was a problem while Karen was at the Olympics. Avanta would not have been available to work on the boots and Karen would have had to use whichever skate tech was available at the Olympics. I don’t understand why Avanta would be annoyed by that. There was no other choice. It makes me think there way more to this story than what we have heard. I don’t think we will ever know as Karen seems to have moved on (which is probably the best thing do at this point.)
 
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