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

[kwanfan1818]

And what's with this idea that only Meagan gave it her all and that it was only her work that led to her and Eric's success?

Where are you getting an idea about how was only Duhamel's work that led to their success?

She was criticized about being self-focused, and that this wouldn't endear her to anyone who was team-minded, which she clearly was, both to her competitive partnership, to the Canadian Team at the TE, and what I consider her general fairness of opinion about many other skaters, giving lots of credit where it is due. No one said he wasn't as dedicated, but no one criticized him for being laser-focused or not team- or other-oriented. He simply wasn't as public about it as she was, and she herself said he was just as analytical about the protocols as she, but that he just didn't do it in KnC.

 

[pat c]

I guess you didn’t understand the underlying message... You can still be a champion and be more emphatic to others and a little bit less self-centered.
You can call my message an euphemism...

By nature, figure skating is a sport that appeals to people that are more introverted or a variation of. I wouldnt' call it self centred, I think self absorbed might be a better description. Certainly focused and single minded. None of that means you aren't empathetic or sympathetic. ymmv

 

[allezfred]

Now she's forced Medvedeva to return to her camp, because she feared that Orser would do for her what Mishin is doing for Tuk.

 

[Erin]

.

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

By nature, figure skating is a sport that appeals to people that are more introverted or a variation of. I wouldnt' call it self centred, I think self absorbed might be a better description. Certainly focused and single minded. None of that means you aren't empathetic or sympathetic. ymmv

I am specifically talking with how she deals with people in and outside skating.

 

[karmena]

.... in other words, Meagan has to learn skating skills in real life. I absolutely agree.

But to learn these skills...oh, then one has to be willing to see ones own mistakes and learn from these mistakes (in skating terminology it would be to learn and analyze why fall has happened) and not to blame everyone and everything but only oneself otherwise no progress at all.

 

[starrynight]

Now she's forced Medvedeva to return to her camp, because she feared that Orser would do for her what Mishin is doing for Tuk.

I think she wanted Orser to do what Mishin has done for Tuk ie pull her back out of years of wilderness and back onto the podium.

Given how ruthless and political Russian ladies is, Mishin has likely been moving mountains to get Tuk where she currently is.

 

[mjb52]

The Medvedeva situation feels so inseparable from the coronavirus restrictions. There is really a whole alternate history of what skating would be like now without that; it's sort of like the Olympics boycotts in the '80s, you would have so many different stories if they hadn't happened. You could also speculate about whether the Radford/James thing would have happened without it either, if Radford/Duhamel had gone on tour as planned, been able to be in easier contact and so forth.

 

[Bigbird]

The Medvedeva situation feels so inseparable from the ******** restrictions. There is really a whole alternate history of what skating would be like now without that; it's sort of like the Olympics boycotts in the '80s, you would have so many different stories if they hadn't happened. The Radford/James thing might or probably wouldn't have happened without it either, if Radford/Duhamel had gone on tour as planned, been able to be in easier contact and so forth, I would think.

Medvedeva's core is no where near as strong as Tuktik's. Med has skated through so many injuries that she just is highly damaged. It just is what it is. It's just survival of the fittest Russian style.

Mishin and Moskvina appear to slightly undertrain their students rather than to ride them hard through injury. Them's the facts. Orser sort of has the same mindset. But you can take the girl out of the ET system but you cannot it would appear remove the system from the girl unless you're Trusova maybe. It just is what it is.

 

[AxelAnnie]

How do you make the determination that Med's core is not as good at Tuk. I am assuming you are talking about body core muscles.

 

[mjb52]

I wasn't really thinking about her physical condition, just that it's possible she would still be with Orser if it wasn't for this whole situation, although of course there is no real way to know. I guess it's not too constructive for any of us to think too much about those kind of what-ifs now. Once there's a lot more historical/emotional distance, it will be interesting for future historians and writers though.

 

[Bigbird]

How do you make the determination that Med's core is not as good at Tuk. I am assuming you are talking about body core muscles.

She was struggling so hard with so many jumps even a double axel. It's was painful to watch.

 

[Bigbird]

I wasn't really thinking about her physical condition, just that it's possible she would still be with Orser if it wasn't for this whole situation, although of course there is no real way to know. I guess it's not too constructive for any of us to think too much about those kind of what-ifs now. Once there's a lot more historical/emotional distance, it will be interesting for future historians and writers though.

You have a point. But the damage could also be psychological.

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

Much ado about nothing.

I highly doubt this new 'Canadian' team presents much of a threat to Knierim+Frasier. However,I do wish these Canadians would conduct themselves in a more becoming manner. I recommend they look to their American counterparts as an example to behave with proper decorum.

-BB

 

[Dragonlady]

What do you really know about it?

You haven't been around here very long, have you?

 

[Dragonlady]

I am specifically talking with how she deals with people in and outside skating.

And how would you know how Megan deals with people inside and outside skating? Do you know her personally? Do you know anyone who has every worked or trained with her?

 

[cholla]

Also what are the new French ice dance couple doing in the Zhulin camp in the Olympic year, like really?

You mean Lopareva/Brissaud? They are training with Zhulin while Fabian Bourzat, their French coach, is on a holiday, because Ekaterina Rubleva, who was their coach before C0vid, could not take them. Bourzat is a former Zhulin's student and they have become friends. Brissaud's girlfriend is Russian, so is Lopareva, and it's the occasion for everybody to be with their loved ones for a while. Evgeniia and Geoffrey are scheduled to come back to Lyons next week if I remember correctly. BTW, Wagret/Souquet are also training with Zhulin at the moment. They had trouble getting back to Zueva and Ulcar in Florida because of travel restrictions + 1 of them had a visa problem due to administrative delays. Unlike Lopareva/Brissaud, they will probably stay in Moscow. All this has not much to do with the Olympic year and everything to do with looking for ice time and Bourzat and Pechalat knowing Zhulin well, hence the double opportunity. If this can be profitable for Lopareva/Brissaud who still have a lot of room to improve, I'm less optimistic for Wagret/Souquet who seem to have reached a plateau, and not a high one. We'll see. But if you were implying that all this is a vast political operation, you have forgotten a very decisive element: France has only 1 spot in ice dance. And it belongs de facto to Papadakis/Cizeron.

But I'll stop here because that's a whole other pointless conversation about a pointless discipline.

If you think it's pointless, why did you bring it up?

 

[kwanfan1818]

Ekaterina Rubleva,

I smile when she is mentioned. I adored her as a skater.

 

[pat c]

I am specifically talking with how she deals with people in and outside skating.

We don't know. But I am thinking, she's probably a regular person as is Eric with all the quirks and flaws that comes with being human. And they've made mistakes. Here we are, with our lack of empathy and sympathy running them into the ground.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Thank you for your service to those who watched the TSL video so the rest of us didn't have to.

For some reason I'm reminded of a skit on The Ruby Wax Show where the comic, Mo Gaffney, plays a CNN / Christine Brennan type of reporter called Taffy Turner.

Her catchphrase was, "This is Taffy Turner. Inside America. So you don't have to be."

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

We don't know. But I am thinking, she's probably a regular person as is Eric with all the quirks and flaws that comes with being human. And they've made mistakes. Here we are, with our lack of empathy and sympathy running them into the ground.

Maybe we know?!

 

[pat c]

Maybe we know?!

First hand? One on one, up close and personal?

 

[VGThuy]

Where are you getting an idea about how was only Duhamel's work that led to their success?

Honestly, your post where you only gave her credit for individually making her partnership with Radford a success. I wasn’t the only one to think so as the first reply to that post was someone adding that Eric was also instrumental to their success. You didn’t clarify why you only singled her out until your reply to me.

 

[Bigbird]

You mean Lopareva/Brissaud? They are training with Zhulin while Fabian Bourzat, their French coach, is on a holiday, because Ekaterina Rubleva, who was their coach before C0vid, could not take them. Bourzat is a former Zhulin's student and they have become friends. Brissaud's girlfriend is Russian, so is Lopareva, and it's the occasion for everybody to be with their loved ones for a while. Evgeniia and Geoffrey are scheduled to come back to Lyons next week if I remember correctly. BTW, Wagret/Souquet are also training with Zhulin at the moment. They had trouble getting back to Zueva and Ulcar in Florida because of travel restrictions + 1 of them had a visa problem due to administrative delays. Unlike Lopareva/Brissaud, they will probably stay in Moscow. All this has not much to do with the Olympic year and everything to do with looking for ice time and Bourzat and Pechalat knowing Zhulin well, hence the double opportunity. If this can be profitable for Lopareva/Brissaud who still have a lot of room to improve, I'm less optimistic for Wagret/Souquet who seem to have reached a plateau, and not a high one. We'll see. But if you were implying that all this is a vast political operation, you have forgotten a very decisive element: France has only 1 spot in ice dance. And it belongs de facto to Papadakis/Cizeron.


If you think it's pointless, why did you bring it up?

Funny. I look at this and my impression remains the same. If only Russia had the real resources to even train their athletes this year, it just makes the world championships seem like a slightly expanded Russian Nationals or ECs.

IMHO, it is rather bittersweet.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Honestly, your post where you only gave her credit for individually making her partnership with Radford a success. I wasn’t the only one to think so as the first reply to that post was someone adding that Eric was also instrumental to their success. You didn’t clarify why you only singled her out until your reply to me.

And I "Liked" Ms. Zem's post after mine, so I obviously agree that he was also responsible for their success.

You could have quoted me if my post was what you were getting at.

ETA: And I wrote "also a reason", not "the reason" or "the only reason."

 

[tony]

I've met many skaters throughout the years, I've kept in good contact with them, and living in Miami has given me plenty of opportunity to spend time with past/present skaters who are here training or on vacation. Sometimes they are exactly like they come across on the ice. Sometimes they are fan favorites and they are not the nicest people outside the rink. Sometimes they literally give zero shits about their fans but can play it up like they do. Sometimes their personalities are a lot different than you'd ever imagine. I've always known Duhamel to be quite nice and friendly with everyone around her, and she's always been pleasant with me. Eric Radford- the same exact thing and he and I share a lot of common interests and some friends outside the skating world. Now, as one lovely poster says here, I'm just an 'anonymous person posting on a message board' so take all of that for what it's worth while said person goes and likes all gossipy comments from anonymous people they agree with

How many people were sent thinking Mariah Bell was vicious and a bully after the incident at Worlds? I remember the skating internet going wild when Madison Chock was always seen as the nasty one until some random poster on something like Tumblr spilled a bunch of gossip saying Chock was the friendly one and Shibutani was the nasty one, bla bla. You have sources who told you something different or you experienced one instance that wasn't super favorable? Totally fine, but I can assure you based on the eagerness much of the skating community has to help out with Duhamel's projects that she isn't cast as some villain behind the scenes as some people are suggesting.

And an ETA here- but I'll never forget reading in BOI or IFS when Johnny Weir was just turning senior, I think he skated at a GP or the GWG with Maria Butyrskaya and he made the comment that she was scary and intense all the time. Being serious about your career and working hard is not equivalent to being bitchy IMO.

 

[tony]

And sorry for the double-post, but I actually was thinking about past competitions and remembered this moment caught on NBC cameras (aside from embracing with Savchenko and Massot after the final results):

Team USA 2018 Playlist: Mirai Nagasu Lands Her Incredible Triple Axel

Mirai Nagasu becomes just the third woman to land a triple axel at an Olympic Games.

www.youtube.com

For a skater on a different team.

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

Sometimes they are fan favorites and they are not the nicest people outside the rink. Sometimes they literally give zero shits about their fans but can play it up like they do. Sometimes their personalities are a lot different than you'd ever imagine.

I will not stand for this blatantly irresponsible slander of Rosalynn Sumners.

-BB

 

[VGThuy]

I do remember both Lubov and Duhamel being very welcoming and embracing of Yu at 2016 Skate Canada after that off-season with the switch happened.

I remember the skating internet going wild when Madison Chock was always seen as the nasty one until some random poster on something like Tumblr spilled a bunch of gossip saying Chock was the friendly one and Shibutani was the nasty one, bla bla.

I remember on some gossip site an anonymous person said Maia was nasty and mean because she yelled at Dave Lease backstage at 2016 Skate America. I remember how specific that was and then I remembered how quickly TSL went nasty towards them. That same anonymous person kept going after the Shibs and made stories like Maia was a real diva because she started out as a singles skater (either not mentioning or knowing that every ice dancer starts out as a singles skater). It made me wonder if Dave Lease posted that and why she yelled at him,

.

 

[Japanfan]

I also find that those who are most critical of her are the fans of skaters who don't work nearly hard enough, but resent that they aren't as successful. Some people think they can coast on pure talent alone and don't have to work at it. They they think "I'm way more talented than she is or they are.

There were a lot of the skaters who were deemed more "talented", and "better" than Megan and Eric. They simply worked harder and smarter, and made history with their technical skills. Technical skills, like SBS 3Z, that Megan or Meagan and Eric were the first to complete in competition, are now increasing necessary to win.

In a fairly recent interview, Megan commented that she realized early on in her career that she was never going to be the prettiest skater, or the most balletic, or the most graceful, or the most lyrical. She therefore decided that she would be the 'hardest working'.

Of course, this doesn't mean that others skaters don't work hard. It just speaks to how driven Megan is.