From Russia with love [#28]: Autumn to Winter 2017

bardtoob

bardtoob

Well-Known Member
Messages
14,561
Tinami Amori said:
I forgive the AK LP dress, because she is "Medvedeva"...... :lol:

... here is a funny thing.... I read enough about Medvedeva loving the AK film with K. Knightley...... I get it! Med loves KN and the film.... and the girls look similar etc...
Click to expand...

Odd follow-up to your interesting comments . . . I discovered this . . .

Keira Christina Knightley was born on 26 March 1985 in Teddington, London, to the theatre actors Sharman Macdonald and Will Knightley.[3] Her mother is of Scottish and Welsh descent, while her father is English.[4] She was meant to be named "Kira", after the Russian ice skater, Kira Ivanova, but her mother misspelled the name when she went to register her.[5]
Click to expand...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keira_Knightley

. . . :rofl: . . . That, and I adore Kira Ivanova :D
 
MRani

MRani

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Messages
426
I don’t think Med’s dress fits AK but she still looks beautiful of course (although I will forever mourn the loss of that stunning dress for her leftovers/January stars program :wuzrobbed). I really like this program on her and she is just so endearing. Her reaction to that double axel mishap was utterly adorable :lol:. Good job Med, you’ve turned me into a fan this season :). Love both programs this year (minus SP sound effects but not that big a deal to me).
 
Perky Shae Lynn

Perky Shae Lynn

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2,477
I like Medvedeva's new AK program, I think it has a ton of potential - and Evgenia is really into it. But I hate the dress. It's too busy and I found it distracting. And please dear girl, CLOSE YOUR MOUTH. Everything else is perfect.
 
Bellanca

Bellanca

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3,301
Tinami Amori said:
..... but nobody is "circumventing the system"....... not Eteri and her group, for sure...
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I'm not talking about Eteri and her group circumventing the system. I'm specifically talking about the rest of the world's competitors falling behind - and the fact that they need to keep up through competition, and competition only.

If there is a forceful push, an agenda - which there is, btw, to 'encouraging' the ISU to change the scoring system rules, etc. to level the playing field, then it would be considered circumventing and/or manipulating the scoring system or rules that are currently in place. If this were to happen, it would technically make it easier for the rest of the world to keep up via those proposed changes - which I am against.

I think my original post has been taken out of context a bit - and we have a little disconnect going on here. We're (kind of) not on the same page, or so it would appear ... but, no worries, it happens. :summer:
 
K

Ka3sha

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J

Jeschke

Guest
Speaking of random ice dance teams.
What's the status of Ilinykh/Shibnev? :D
They do need to show up sooner or later at russian cup to qualify for nationals, or?
 
K

Ka3sha

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Jeschke said:
Speaking of random ice dance teams.
What's the status of Ilinykh/Shibnev? :D
They do need to show up sooner or later at russian cup to qualify for nationals, or?
Click to expand...
According to Elena's recent interview, yes, they will show up at Russian cup events as their main goal right now is to qualify for Nationals :)
http://tass.ru/sport/4669321

If someone had told me four years ago that Elena's main goal in 2017/18 season would be qualifying for Nationals.........
 
K

Ka3sha

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Here's a big Alexandr Grishin's (he does commentary for Match! with Tarasova and Trankov) interview with Stolbova/Klimov, which was published in #3 "Figure Skating World" magazine. The interview was held before FinTrophy
https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/redscarf/1444802.html

The interview began with a background story from Helsinki: after that disastrous short program Grishin called S/K "lame duck of the short" and Ksenia obviously didn't like that and came to Grishin and Tarasova to show her disagrement

KS: ... By the way, I was not the first one who figured that. People started calling me with questions "Did you hear that they said about you?" I answered that people constantly say something about me.

- I was surprised, actually, that you are following all those comments. It seemed to me that a professional sportsman at the competitions should be a bit detached from the outside world ...

KS: ... You are a commentator. And you should present not only Russian, but also all athletes in general, in a positive way. And then it turned out that we ... yes, we had an awful skate, and more than that we had one more kick in the pants before the free

- So, do you follow what people say or write about you?

KS: No, absolutely. If I was the first one who watched that, most likely I would not even pay attention to that comment, but when people started calling and texting me at the almost same moment, I just couldn't stay away from that.

FK: I re-watch our performances quite often. I, at least once, always re-watch the performance. That doesn't mean I notice all comments but I can catch few right before or after the skate ... Although I didn't re-watch that skate in particular (laughs). What is there to watch? That was our last event of the season, I forgot even the order of the elements right after we finished our short program. And if you have a competition ahead of you, then you watch videos, try to work on your mistakes, to make improvements and so on.

- We will consider this as a specific case, because both I and Tarasova also say a lot of complimentary words about you as well. How do you feel about it?

KS: Calmly. More often I pay attention to negative expressions. And if people criticize me, I take it calmly, but if those comments relate to Fedor or my family, I become angry.

- Do you realize your own power?

KS: In potential - yes.

- Why?

FK: Everything has changed a lot in last three years. Now we don't have a clear leader in pairs skating, potentially there are five or six strong pairs or even more ... The Canadians, who had been world champions for two years, were only seventh in Helsinki. If they had won the third time, we could have talked about them as leaders.. So everything has turned upside down. Potentially, lots of teams are equally strong right now.

KS: Everyone has a chance. There are a lot of strong pairs.

- Do you think it's easier? Or it is better to have one top pair and try to reach their level?

FK: It is always harder to keep leadership. It's harder to be on the top. But it's not the main point in our case. We have to wrestle with ourselves.

***

- Ksenia, do you like men with long hair?

KS: (instantly) No!

- Fedor, and do you like girls with short hair?

(both burst into laughter.)

KS: Danger question ... Very dangerous! Provocation, you know ...

Fedor just avoided answering that question :)

- Ksenia, why that was dangerous? Are there any conflicts between you two?

KS: What do you mean by conflicts? For me it's just a small quarrels.

FK: And who does not have them?

- How do you get out of them?

FK: It became easier with time. We didn't have serious conflicts in a long time ...

KS: ... We're just tired of this, apparently. And what's the point in losing our time and nerves for this? ... We are not in that age anymore.

- But you had them before?

KS: Of course.

FK: With a certain regularity. When all those small quarrels accumulated and then they poured out in a big conflict ...

KS: And on my part usually, you know. Fedya is very calm, well-adjusted person. I can not keep it all to myself ..., at some point it is necessary to let out your feelings. And who is always close to me? Fedor.

- So your famous death stare after mistakes ...

KS: No, it;s not the same. It's probably an involuntary look. I'm just angry, not because of Fedor or our coaches, judges, let's say .... Well, once that was. I confess. In Stockholm. When Fedor fell I wanted to roll him under the ice ... But this was the only moment.

- And after that disastrous short program at Worlds in Helsinki, on the contrary, the audience noted that you were supporting each other like you hadn't done for a very long time ...

KS: We were never that supporting to each other. I think it was really visible. Not faked. Hearty smiles... Well, we understood that we ****ed up! So what should we do?

FK: If we had only one silly mistake again, we would have been upset. Ksenia would have been angry, and I - upset. But that was a complete disaster although they were absolutely ready for the event, skated cleanly at practices, and then suddenly something happened and we made lots of mistakes, stumbles and barely just finished it ... We were to tired to get upset, we just stopped and laughed. And then - yes, we supported each other and skated with a different mood in the free.

Will translate the second part tomorrow :)
 
pinky166

pinky166

#allaboutthevoids #teamtrainwreck
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Medvedeva is on ice talk this week! Her English is actually really good, I’m kind of shocked she has time for that given her skating and normal school stuff. She must be very smart, more proof that I should never underestimate the Medvedeva!
 
TAHbKA

TAHbKA

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picking up where @Ka3sha stopped with Stolbova/Klimov - Grishin

AG: A well known point of view two are to blame for a mistake in the pair. Is it so?
FK: Of course. It's never just one. If only the SBS jumps. And even then you can say the partner's take off was wrong...
KS: First of all, of course, you blame yourself. You try to understand what have you done wrong. Then you start discussing with the partner and see what is more convenient. That's how it works for us.
FK: More or less it's always both fault. It's never like... I.e. you can't blame one of the partners, it's a dead end.

AG: Ksenia, you said you are an explosive person, Fedor is more calm. What do you have in common?
KS: Stabborness, probably.
FK: But even that comes out in a different way.
KS: We are nothing alike.
FK: Yeah, I can't come up with anything either. We were never asked that.

AG: The opposites that attract each other?
FK: It's not about humans, I think. All that opposites, attractions...
KS: I don't believe in that, frankly. Nonsense.
FK: See, there is something in common!

AG: Yet you've been skating together and quite successfully for so many years. How do you combine?
KS: We have a common goal which unites. There are many goals, but one main goal.
FK: At some point we realized together we will achieve more than if we split and try something else. Hence we should endure. All these injuries, conflicts etc... That's it.

AG: When did you realize it?
FK: A while ago. After the first success on the junior level. And then, during all these hardships, with the health I kept reminding myself that I made up my mind and it's not the time for changes.

AG: An example: The GP competitions. You do earn there, well, not as much as the football players, but some money. And one of you falls... That influences the final amount. Do you get into talking how to split?
FK: No, never. I don't even know whether such thing exists for the others. We receive the price money on our accounts and we decided from the very first we are giving 1/3 the coach. In St. Petersburg we were splitting with the choreographer as well. We now have 2 coaches, so we give 30-40%. But among us - never. That is the same as the mistakes are of the two.
A while ago a friend explained that if the partner fell from the jump or a split twist you can never tell `she fell'. It stuck. Ever since no matter what happens in the programme I say `We didn't do the jump'. That's the only way.

AG: A couple of years ago Maksim Trankov while commenting explained that in pairs missing even one element, i.e. 7-8 points is almost impossible to regain. Do you agree?
FK: No. I do not. Maksim was probably comparing to the singles skating, where a jump costs about 10 points. One fell, one landed and they switched places. For us 10 points is a serious gap, but we saw it when the guys took a risk, tried landing hard elements, failed the programme and lost. Bottom line 5-7 points are possible to get back. Maksim himself proved that at the Worlds.
KS: Maksim's words were probably taken out of context. Our example in Helsinki shows you can climb up from a deep hole, take the small bronze and make it to the top 5. Yes, we didn't medal. But our SP is not even that case... it's hard to catch up for a failed element only in case of you rivals not making any mistakes at all and doing ultra c elements. The rest is possible. The most important is to fight till the end

AG: The test skates in Sochi in September where you came, even though you didn't plan participating. What was the point? Wasn't it easier to stay in Moscow and train?
KS: It was a planned training camp for the final work on the final part of the programmes together with the choreographers. We had the same event last year in Sochi. Just like last year the ballet-master from Marrinski Yuri Smekalov came to work with us. It's one of the most important stages of the preparations, hence all our coaches need to be present. So the meet up during the test skates is the best thing, besides, we had a chance to speak to the federation's specialists and see the other teams programmes. So sitting in Moscow behind the closed doors was not the best solution in our case.

AG: The fans still remember the story of your attempt for a quad throw jump because of which you ended up misisng the Worlds. Will you attempt it again?
FK: No. No way. We decided on the elements set for this season. Looking back the idea of a quad throw was a huge mistake. That's my personal point of view. Though I contradict myself now, it was me saying `Yes, we will do the quad!'. I was trying to support the partner and the coaches because they wanted it.
Now I understand it was a mistake that caused a chain of events. We missed the Worlds. The injures, those boots. Perhaps Ksenia will say it had nothing to do, but I think it had it's influence. The more stiff boots for that throw which turned out to be bad. One pair, another, third.... chain of events which started with a decision to learn the quad throw.

AG: Is it possible to aim for the first place in pairs without the quad now?
KS: Yes, but only if the programmes are clean and they were executed so well that the judges were impressed.
FK: I think so. After all looking back at that GP event when we got almost the highest ever marks executing exactly the same elements set, you understand had we went that road... Not many were able to get close to those marks. Even with 2 quads - the split and the throw. Those are the facts.

AG: Is it your pair only or the others might win without the quads as well.
FK: Anyone.
KS: What do you mean us only? The whole top 10 have that opportunity. Ok, not top 10, but the top 5 for sure.

AG: But what about pushing the sport?
FK: Pushing the sport is great, but the health is more important. Hence many give up the throws now. Do the split twists. For those whose technique is right it's a less dangerous element.
It is possible to push the sport in a different way. I was always for making the programmes more interesting, telling the story. Even though for me figure skating is a sport and not an art. Still, there is nothing against creating a story. Not just chase the elements, even the quads.
KS: The well balanced teams push the sport. It could be the athletes with the powerful skating and technique. But if they found their characters and can integrate them into the interesting contemporary programmes they will not be taken as technical skaters only. Say, today, a technical - powerful skater can find the way in contemporary, fast dancy beats, drama with a heroic character. It would be a modern and progressive programme.

AG: The pair skating is considered the hardest discipline of figure skating. What is so much harder compared to the singles?
FK: First of all the single skaters are only responsible for themselves. Here, on the other hand, the destiny of another person depends on you. Beside, as a male partner you have more responsibility. All these throws, split twists - you are the one to control. There were cases when the ladies fell from the lifts. Horrible. When you fall yourself you injure yourself, while here you might injure another person.
And again, you have to compromise all the time in the pair, which is also a hardship. As for the technique - its hard, but not harder than a quad jump. Learning the element is almost the same, but it's about the communication. No matter how many ears you would be skating together, if you don't know what is going through your partner's mind, how they feel and skate.

AG: The ice dancers can't usually tell right after the skate which levels they got for their elements. Can you tell on the way or right after the skate which elements you'll receive?
FK: Yes, we can. Either we know it ourselves or the coach, who was looking from the border will tell. In general if you are ready and didn't make any serious mistakes you do what you learned. The lifts, for example, we match for the 4th level. And if you didn't screw it up it will be level 4. In general we can make a mistake in a death spiral or a spin, where the amount of revolutions is important. But we do count it and I can tell I had to get up from the death spiral earlier. I.e. the level might be on a bordering line and am not sure whether it's 3rd or 4th. Say, I counted 3 revolutions, but the judges might not count it. But yes, all and all you usually know your levels.
KS: The elements are learned according to the level the athletes are capable of. In our case we perform all the elements as we learned them. There is a case of missing the element or something going wrong - there you would miss the levels.

AG: Who decides when to get up in the death spiral?
FK: The male partner. She is just down there relaxing. No no, of course she is working hard as well. But she is head down and am not even sure she can count down there. Besides, the male partner's hip must be parallel to the ice during the death spiral. When you raise a little bit the element is over. You might as well stop the rotations there.

AG: There are many examples when the athletes become a pair of the ice as well. Volosozhar/Trankov and now Tarasova/Morozov. Is it easier or harder for you compared to them
KS: I would go nuts!
FK: It's easier for us, of course. I would find it hard to be 24 hours a day with the same person. On and off the ice. And how do you not take the ice home...
KS: Oh, I wouldn't.
FK: Oh, you so would.
KS: Yeah, I would. Hence it's a huge advantage in our case.

AG: Does it happen you spent your free time together?
FK: Seldom. Usually when we are in a training camp or go somewhere between the practices.

AG: Fedor, you have so many hobbies. Watching football, playing golf. Ksenia, how do you spend your free time?
KS: Quite actively, but not many know of that since I try to keep it personal. I love the experimental theatre. Musicales. Ballet. I love the snowboard.

AG: Is there a limitation for the extreme sports, like snowboard?
KS: Many skaters love the extreme sports - downhill, snowboard, bikes etc... it's all about the risks you are taking. If you are remaining within the sane limit and control the situation the hobby would be nothing but for the good. Snowboard develops the reaction and an ability to balance yourself on a high speed. As for the injuries, as it is well known, usually happen in the practices, or when playing such a non extreme football.

AG: Which experimental theatre impressed you the most?
KS: I was really impressed by the `Black Russian' (a variation on Pushkin's `Dubrovski' where the audience takes part together with the actors). It was unusual. We didn't come to watch the play, but to participate it. We were lead into a house, divided in pairs and I was unable to stay with my friends. We were wearing masks and watching the actors. Ravshana Kurkova was playing there. We were walking from the room to the room and seeing the process. I love it - not just sit and watch, but something quite different.
I am less eager about the musicales, though I do love them both in the USA and here. When we were in Montreal we went to see the `Circle du Soleil' and loved it.
FK: By the way, we went to the POTO together. With the coach Vlad Zhovnirski. In the USA I loved and quite disliked it in Russia. It was as if the same, but it didn't impress much in Russian. But I loved it in the USA in the theatre where they've been performing it for 50 years.

AG: From what you've seen what did you want to take on the ice?
KS: It always happens, whether it's a circus or a ballet - you go out all impressed and emotional and you want to take it somewhere with you. Whether it's the ice or the choreography or an exhibition. You do take something without even knowing, the moves, the glances, the arms... But to take something particular on the ice - no, that didn't happen

AG: About this season. You had to change the LP fast because the first one, choreographed by the Canadian coach and choreographer Dubreuil was not suitable for the Olympics. What does it mean?
FK: A good question. I was also curious to find out what does it mean. If we kept working on it we could get something out of that programme. The music there, on the other hand, was not the winning. Even our LPs from the last 2 years with that unclear, in my book, music were more interesting.
KS: Unfortunately, the collaboration with the Canadian choreographers did not give the results we were expecting despite giving them a complete freedom in the music and theme choice. We don't know why did that happen, but the moves and even the transitions were not competitive. We couldn't afford that, especially during the Olympic season.

AG: Is the `Carmen' an Olympic programme? A well known music, often used in figure skating, especially the ice dancers. Navka/Kostomarov, recently - Virtue/Moir. Is it an Olympic theme?
KS: In every possible way `Carmen' is the optimal choice for us for the Olympic season. I think we are finally mature enough for that. And second the classical version of Bizet/Schedrin will be understood and accepted in every continent. I'm very flattered you mention such a great ice dancers as Virtue/Moir and Navka/Kostomarov. I rewatched almost all the ice and ballet interpretations of the `Carmen' and I hope Fedor and I will be able to leave a stamp in the figure skating history of that masterpiece. And, if am not mistaken, it was never used in pairs before.

AG: It was rumoured the `BesameMucho' for the SP was offered by Ksenia...
KS: I wanted to skate a tango for a while, but a more contemporary one then the singles and the dancers usually do. I found an interesting arrangement of a well known tango and everyone liked and accepted the idea.

AG: In Russia usually the music choice is held a secret till a very last moment. Why?
FK: A good question. A great question. I don't get it either- why? What's the point to keep it a secret, why do we do it, I could never understand it and I never will. Some might be afraid the rivals will find out... and what? They probably have their programmes ready by then anyway. On the other hand no one asked us this summer. We told the first moment we had a chance. Of course when you just start working on the programmes you don't know that yet yourself, but right after I was very eager to tell, just that no one asked.

AG: We are here on `Vdohnovenie' ice rink, which is practically a home rink for Mozer-team. Now there are more and more teams like hers, and yours is one of the most known and best teams in the pairs in the world. Are you a team players?
KS: I think it's a question to you.
FK: Right now - no.

AG: Why?
FK: Because... I don't know... Figure skating is not a team sports. We can be a team within the pair, but that's it. Ok, with the coaches at the most. It was different before the Sochi Olympics because the roles in that team were clear. There were Maks and Tanya and they had a goal. We had a completely different one. Perhaps we were competing with Vera and Yuri but we were helping each other as well. But the roles were set clear. And yes, you could call it a team. It's not a team anymore. Now we don't know who is placed where and we will not find it out till the competitions begin.

AG: Are you a team within the pair?
KS: Yes.
FK: We are now.

AG: Elucidate
FK: There were moments. But I can tell you that a while ago after all those injuries we started supporting each other and I can now call us a team.

AG: What does the healthy athlete do while the other heals?
KS: Wasting his time...
FK: Looks as if working. Skating, working on the jumps, the stamina... and then the other person goes back and you start from the scratch. And it doesn't matter who waited for whom.

Blitz questions:
Theatre or a restaurant
KS: Theatre
FK: Theatre

Twitter or instagram?
KS: Neither
FK: Instagram

Moscow or St. Petersburg?
(at once) St. Petersburg!

The favourite place on eart
KS: Rome.
FK: St. Petersburg.

The favourite pairs element
KS: (After some thinking) let it be a throw
FK: A throw, right.

The best moment in the programme
KS: The finishing.
FK: Right, the finishing

You mean the final pose?
KS: Of course
FK: No, the bows, when you can finally breath.

Who was more lucky with the partner?
FK: Equally lucky
KS: I was
FK: Or equally unlucky.
 
oleada

oleada

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43,435
Thank you @TAHbKA and @Ka3sha ! That was such a great interview and they both come across as interesting people. For all the rumors about their relationship , they seem to be in a really good place. I can also understand, reading this, how Ksenia and Fedor have so much better programs, choreography and costumes than their teammates. :)
 
hanca

hanca

Values her privacy
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12,547
Cherub721 said:
So they decide how much to give their coaches? I thought that the federation had rules about prize money.
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The coaches are paid by the federation, aren’t they? So the percentage of the price money may be something extra, like if you get a bonus at work. Or the federation set some minimum how much the coaches must get from any earnings/price money and they thought it is not enough and wanted to make it more fair?
 
K

Katarzyna

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,219
Ka3sha said:
Lipnitskaya, Ilinykh and Pitkeev will do commentary on TeleSport this weekend :)
https://www.sports.ru/figure-skating/1056859290.html
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Thank you! That’s great news! :inavoid: I’m happy Julia will be there. With a good friend around it will be easier for Adian I’m really nervous for him now, Adian is a rather shy person, so doing commentary will probably require him some overcoming at the beginning. But I’m sure once he got used to the situation he will do a great job. :)

Adian by the way received his fan present last friday (= the scrap book with fan messages). I posted about it here including some pics of him with his surprise and also some pics of him at CoR: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/fan-project-for-adian-pitkeev.101463/#post-5163002
 
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