Gracie Gold's memoir published February 2024

[VGThuy]

It's incredibly weird fans are still rehashing Kwan vs Lipinski and dragging their parents. Both of these women are more mature than their fans.

I mean, we’re in a thread talking about Gracie Gold and how the adults and other players in her life may have played a role in where she got into a place where she wrote this book detailing all the traumatic things that happened.

 

[Yazmeen]

I mean, we’re in a thread talking about Gracie Gold and how the adults and other players in her life may have played a role in where she got into a place where she wrote this book detailing all the traumatic things that happened.

Based on Gracie's issues with her parents, it's not surprising to bring up the not so fabulous skate parents of the past.

 

[Sylvia]

Saw on Gracie's Insta story yesterday that she will give a workshop in Irmo, SC (rink in the news lately ) tomorrow - Sunday, April 7.

Upcoming "Road To Gold" events through Sept. 7: https://www.road2goldskating.com/upcoming-events

 

[livetoskate]

Saw on Gracie's Insta story yesterday that she will give a workshop in Irmo, SC (rink in the news lately ) tomorrow - Sunday, April 7.

Upcoming "Road To Gold" events through Sept. 7: https://www.road2goldskating.com/upcoming-events

Wow. My niece skated in Irmo years ago. Is Mark Cockerell still coaching there?

Former Olympic figure skater named as third student alleges sexual abuse at Irmo rink

A third student now claims sexual abuse by a former Olympic figure skater who coached in Irmo.

www.southcarolinapublicradio.org

 

[Sylvia]

Wow. My niece skated in Irmo years ago. Is Mark Cockerell still coaching there?

Cockerell’s situation was discussed extensively in this thread, ICYMI: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...nsions-in-skating.105778/page-51#post-6553524
He moved to Reno, Nevada and was coaching there before the lawsuits were filed against him in February.

 

[wickedwitch]

Just finished Gracie's book. My main takeaway is that her emotions are clearly still very raw. I'm glad she wrote this now, so her current point-of-view gets captured, but I'm curious how she'll feel in another ten years.

 

[MacMadame]

Just finished Gracie's book. My main takeaway is that her emotions are clearly still very raw. I'm glad she wrote this now, so her current point-of-view gets captured, but I'm curious how she'll feel in another ten years.

I found the last section of the book concerning. She's still freaking out before competitions, for example.

She also talks about how maybe she'll be able to do a 3x or a quad someday while showing up at 2023 Nationals with a hip injury so bad, it impacted her FS so she dropped a couple of places as she skated with pain. These two ideas are not compatible. It just seems like she is deluding herself about competing. She says she's doing it "on her own terms" so it's different this time but it doesn't feel different.

I did appreciate her honesty about what came before and her willingness to examine what happened.

 

[Trillian]

I found the last section of the book concerning. She's still freaking out before competitions, for example.

She also talks about how maybe she'll be able to do a 3x or a quad someday while showing up at 2023 Nationals with a hip injury so bad, it impacted her FS so she dropped a couple of places as she skated with pain. These two ideas are not compatible. It just seems like she is deluding herself about competing. She says she's doing it "on her own terms" so it's different this time but it doesn't feel different.

I did appreciate her honesty about what came before and her willingness to examine what happened.

I recently had a conversation with an IRL friend who read the book about all the red flags in the last section that made us hope Gracie is still in serious therapy and sticks with it.

I think there’s a tendency for memoirs like this to be packaged as a story of someone who successfully overcame difficult experiences, because we like tidy endings. And the reality is that people as young as Gracie who have been through trauma like that are more likely still in the early or middle stages of the “overcoming” part of the story. Her book has a lot of value in terms of discussing problems that need to be addressed in skating, but I wouldn’t say it’s a road map for how to fully recover.

 

[MacMadame]

I recently had a conversation with an IRL friend who read the book about all the red flags in the last section that made us hope Gracie is still in serious therapy and sticks with it.

She does mention a therapist so I think she is.

Part of me thinks this isn't any of our business but then again, she did write a book about it. I just hope she's okay.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

I appreciated the rawness of her story. There may have been some tidying up at the end but on the whole it was refreshingly real.

On a different note I liked her but thought she was a flash in the pan - 3 senior seasons in the public eye. But, if you include the later seasons where she was middle of the pack she was around a good while. That`s another thing to admire that she confronted her mediocracy and continued to skate competitively. Other skaters that did that? Caroline Zhang, Christina Gao, Gaby Daleman. Still, they weren`t at Gold`s level. Maybe Daleman with her 1 world medal.

 

[MacMadame]

On a different note I liked her but thought she was a flash in the pan - 3 senior seasons in the public eye.

She kind of was but she didn't have to be. I hope USFS learns a bit from her story in that regard too. I understand that they are kind of in a bind that they have to market the sport and you can't do that without marketing the skaters but I think they need to do it differently.

So first of all, they need to market more skaters at all levels and disciplines, not just a handful who are on the GP and winning stuff. Many of the skaters have interesting stories. Many skaters have a program here and there that could go viral. Now the media is complicit in only focusing on a few skaters so USFS has to work with them more and do what they can to broaden the focus. So, for example, instead of marketing Gold as "Going for the Gold!", pitch a story about "skaters with perfect athlete names" and include Star Andrews and Logan Bye.

Secondly, they need to work with the skaters more and make sure their marketing makes sense for that skater. There was way too much about Gold's last name and how she was going to be the US's great skating hope based on one win at US Nationals as a Junior even though her history showed she was inconsistent. Both not focusing on her too much, but also tell her whole story, not just the glossy surface.

ETA and this whole Ice Princess thing has to go. It's not where the world is anymore anyway even if it wasn't damaging to those who can't fit the mold.

 

[Vagabond]

She kind of was but she didn't have to be. I hope USFS learns a bit from her story in that regard too. I understand that they are kind of in a bind that they have to market the sport and you can't do that without marketing the skaters but I think they need to do it differently.

Gold's career tanked because of her mental health problems after the rape. While there might have been things USFS could have done to help her, better marketing would not have made a difference.

 

[overedge]

A fair amount of the hype around Gracie, and the pressure, wasn't from the USFS. Looking at you, Phil Hersh.

Still no room at the top for U.S. singles skaters — Globetrotting by Philip Hersh

I left for a long-planned vacation in New Zealand just as the figure skating Grand Prix was starting. By the time I returned, two weeks later than planned, the season was mostly over, and I had other immediate priorities than trying to catch up. Now that I have had the chance to take a closer look

www.globetrottingbyphiliphersh.com

And expectations created by articles like this: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2012/10/24/gracie-gold-skate-canada-debut/1654479/

 

[MacMadame]

Gold's career tanked because of her mental health problems after the rape. While there might have been things USFS could have done to help her, better marketing would not have made a difference.

According to her book, there were issues before that with the pressure she felt. She mentioned how stories about her name put pressure on her, in particular.

So I think there was a combination of things going on some of which was under USFS's control.

 

[Vagabond]

According to her book, there were issues before that with the pressure she felt. She mentioned how stories about her name put pressure on her, in particular.

So I think there was a combination of things going on some of which was under USFS's control.

But surely she put pressure on herself, just as much as USFS did. She either posted videos on YouTube showing her doing triple axels in practice or had someone else do it for her. To suggest that any of this caused her to be a "flash on the pan" is to ignore the realities of sexual assault and its effect on victims.

 

[MacMadame]

But surely she put pressure on herself, just asuch as USFS did. She either posted videos on YouTube showing her doing triple axels in practice or had someone else do it for her. To suggest that any of this caused her to be a "flash on the pan" is to ignore the realities of sexual assault and its effect on victims.

I disagree. There can be multiple causes. Life is complex.

 

[peibeck]

The USFS used to do releases to local news outlets about skaters from their area competing in Nationals. I assume they still do. It doesn't mean local papers, tv news outlets or radio broadcasters care enough to do a story.

And face it, with a last name like Gold for the national champ headed into the Olympics, the media needed no help from USFS to create hyperbolic headlines.

 

[Sparks]

And 4th at the Olympics a great accomplishment, considering the circumstances. But, no. She felt like a failure. Flips are dumb

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

A fair amount of the hype around Gracie, and the pressure, wasn't from the USFS. Looking at you, Phil Hersh.

Still no room at the top for U.S. singles skaters — Globetrotting by Philip Hersh

I left for a long-planned vacation in New Zealand just as the figure skating Grand Prix was starting. By the time I returned, two weeks later than planned, the season was mostly over, and I had other immediate priorities than trying to catch up. Now that I have had the chance to take a closer look

www.globetrottingbyphiliphersh.com

And expectations created by articles like this: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2012/10/24/gracie-gold-skate-canada-debut/1654479/

Phil totally pissed about coming back from vacation. He sounds like a bitchy queen at a piano bar (I`m totally gay and from Stonewall era. Please, no hate)

 

[Sylvia]

Looks like Gracie had a good time as one of the invited celebrity guests at the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, NC earlier this month : https://www.instagram.com/p/C5teyMeuWLi/

ETA that today Gracie finished teaching a 3-day seminar with Yebin Mok, hosted by the Connaught SC (see their Instagram stories) at the Richmond Olympic Oval in BC.

 

[Sylvia]

Connaught SC's video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5vt6ExRH5r/

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Her April 19th gig:
https://twitter.com/goldonicelive/status/1779378226684625014

 

[Sylvia]

AVER Magazine's post last week: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5pSxtYOjeT/

There is no shortcut to success. The unpredictable trials and burdensome events along the journey prove to be an awakening force in Olympic figure skater Gracie Gold’s story. The all American girl that embodies an image of perfection vulnerably bares all in her new memoir ‘Out of Shape Worthless Loser’, where life off the ice granted her pervasive challenges of hardship that has shaped who she is today. The ebullient and assiduous star who reached success at a young age talks with me about her triumphs and distresses in our engaging interview where nothing is left unsaid.

Article & photos here:

AVER Magazine - Gracie Gold

The olympic medalist shares her journey to becoming a New York Times betselling author

avermagazine.com

 

[Sylvia]

Looks like Gracie had a good time as one of the invited celebrity guests at the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, NC earlier this month

More photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5y0pEbLG6K/

Gracie was on the "I Dare You" podcast (April 9):

Episode 116: Battling Perfectionism & Unmasking Mental Health with Olympian Gracie Gold

Gracie Gold is a two-time U.S. figure-skating champion and an Olympic bronze medalist who holds the record for the highest short-program score ever recorded by an American woman. She is the author of the best-selling book, Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skaing, F*cking Up, and...

darrin-johnson.mykajabi.com

And the Miss Congeniality podcast with Eli Rallo (April 5) - clips & Apple or Spotify links: https://www.theelirallo.com/podcast

 

[Sylvia]

For any fans in the Tampa, Florida area, Gracie will be signing books on Sunday, April 21 from 2:45 - 4:00 pm EDT at the Oxford Exchange bookstore: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/olympic-medalist-gracie-gold-signing-photo-op-tickets-879606485677

 

[livetoskate]

Is it ok to post a link to an ebay auction here? I am trying to sell my copy of Gracie's book after reading it. Very good, almost new condition. Thank you.

 

[SHARPIE]

Is it ok to post a link to an ebay auction here? I am trying to sell my copy of Gracie's book after reading it. Very good, almost new condition. Thank you.

Yes that’s fine.

 

[livetoskate]

Thanks! Here's my listing:

Check out Outofshapeworthlessloser By Gracie Gold Skating Book Hardcover (2024) on eBay!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1161599092...ly5povTrG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL

 

[Icetalavista]

Just finished the book. There was a perfect storm in her life: family dysfunction, her adhd or ocd, her depression, the rape, safesport’s utter failure to address it, way too much media attention, hip injury…

My takeaway is that she’s landed on her feet and truly enjoys coaching/teaching and is committed to being the change she wants to see in skating.

It is intriguing to me that much of her skating foundation and support came via Russian coaching.

I was very heartened to see the good base of support she has, as indicated by her acknowledgements. ESP her shout out to Rockne.

 

[Sylvia]

Gracie is the guest on the April 29th episode of the “Finding Her Courage” podcast (25 mins.): https://www.instagram.com/p/C6VM8htMPdH/

Podcast | Finding Her Courage

kendraweaver12.wixsite.com

 

[Sylvia]

ICYMI, ESPN obtained a confidential summary of the U.S. Center for SafeSport's investigation and published an article on May 14, 2024 in which Gracie confirmed that Brendan Kerry was the one who "forced [her] into nonconsensual sex at a party in 2016, but the report did not find sufficient evidence to prove that." Link to the article and subsequent discussion starts here in the SafeSport suspensions thread (post #1741): https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...nsions-in-skating.105778/page-59#post-6596642

Gracie was one of the athlete coaches at USFS' "Access To Excellence" camp in Colorado Springs this past week and I saw an Instagram story clip of her coaching toe loop technique.

Her next "Road To Gold" camp will be on June 22 in Kansas City: https://www.road2goldskating.com/upcoming-events