Interview with Irina Slutskaya [post-Beijing]

[Sparks]

I don't remember Sasha being in Stars on Ice

 

[bardtoob]

If Cohen win gold in SLC, I don't think it would have been so bad because she would have milked touring for all it was worth with lovely skating, in contrast to Sarah.

 

[soogar]

If Cohen win gold in SLC, I don't think it would have been so bad because she would have milked touring for all it was worth with lovely skating, in contrast to Sarah.

Sasha would have been a huge OGM because she was gorgeous and a beautiful skater. She would have killed in in shows. I saw her on COI and those Russian split jumps and spirals were to die for.

 

[Fadeevfanboy]

If Cohen win gold in SLC, I don't think it would have been so bad because she would have milked touring for all it was worth with lovely skating, in contrast to Sarah.

The pro scene was already virtually dead by then. I think it would have been a big loss for her to go pro so quickly given what pro skating was by then, which was the way of the dinosaur.

 

[bardtoob]

The pro scene was already virtually dead by then. I think it would have been a big loss for her to go pro so quickly given what pro skating was by then, which was the way of the dinosaur.

This is not an alternate 1990.

All Olympic eligible skaters were pro as of 1994, and immediately after SLC, in 2002, there was still a lot of touring and competitions. Furthermore, streaming service and smartphones didn't exist yet, so broadcast media was still strong.

 

[canbelto]

Sarah Hughes IMO had the best attitude towards skating. Skating was something she was going to do as a teen, and then she'd move on. She did exactly that and enrolled at Yale and is now an attorney. I always admired skaters who view skating as just one small chapter in their life.

 

[bardtoob]

Sarah Hughes IMO had the best attitude towards skating. Skating was something she was going to do as a teen, and then she'd move on. She did exactly that and enrolled at Yale and is now an attorney. I always admired skaters who view skating as just one small chapter in their life.

I think that is a luxury skaters like Kwan didn't have, but skaters like Lipinski and Hughes had.

 

[MacMadame]

Sarah Hughes IMO had the best attitude towards skating. Skating was something she was going to do as a teen, and then she'd move on. She did exactly that and enrolled at Yale and is now an attorney. I always admired skaters who view skating as just one small chapter in their life.

I do too but I also admire ones who make it their life's work such as moving on to coaching, judging, starting a skating show, etc. especially if they do something to move the sport forward.

 

[VGThuy]

There’s no reason why someone can’t have a long career and then a successful career after skating. There’s also dignity in deciding skating is your passion early on and wanting to continue to pursue it after your competitive days are over. Look at what the likes of Marie-France and Patrice were able to do after their long competitive career in ice dance.

 

[Coco]

I think that is a luxury skaters like Kwan didn't have, but skaters like Lipinski and Hughes had.

But it was basically Karen Kwan's career?

 

[bardtoob]

But it was basically Karen Kwan's career?

Karen coaches figure skating, so she is still a professional skater, even if she went to Brown.

Also, Karen lived with Michelle, more or less, so they could look out for each other and have a family relationship . . . and thank goodness they did because I hate to think of what could happen without that support.

 

[kwanette]

I don't remember Sasha being in Stars on Ice

You are correct..In 2002, Sasha was in Champions on Ice..

 

[kwanette]

Sarah Hughes IMO had the best attitude towards skating. Skating was something she was going to do as a teen, and then she'd move on. She did exactly that and enrolled at Yale and is now an attorney. I always admired skaters who view skating as just one small chapter in their life.

With a few breaks....2005 SOI, and second semester..2006 when she contracted mono and watched Emily w her family in Torino.http://www.globetrottingbyphiliphersh.com/home/2018/4/4/thoughts-from-the-hughes-sisters-olympians-and-ivy-league-grads-on-challenges-and-rewards-nathan-chen-would-have-as-skater-and-student-at-yale

 

[kwanette]

With a few breaks....2005 SOI, and second semester..2006 when she contracted mono and watched Emily w her family in Torino.http://www.globetrottingbyphiliphersh.com/home/2018/4/4/thoughts-from-the-hughes-sisters-olympians-and-ivy-league-grads-on-challenges-and-rewards-nathan-chen-would-have-as-skater-and-student-at-yale

Thoughts from the Hughes sisters, Olympians and Ivy League grads, on challenges and rewards Nathan Chen would have as skater and student at Yale — Globetrotting by Philip Hersh

www.globetrottingbyphiliphersh.com

 

[soogar]

Sarah Hughes IMO had the best attitude towards skating. Skating was something she was going to do as a teen, and then she'd move on. She did exactly that and enrolled at Yale and is now an attorney. I always admired skaters who view skating as just one small chapter in their life.

I felt like Sarah's parents discouraged her from following her star. It wouldn't have hurt her Ivy League chances to tour for a few years and then go to school later. That's what Sasha Cohen and Timothy Goebel had done- both attended Columbia. Tim also has a great career as well. It's not clear if Sasha is still working or a full time mom, but she also had a job at MOrgan Stanley.

Anyone can be an attorney but very few people can headline Stars on Ice and have a marquee professional careet.

 

[livetoskate]

Karen Kwan went to Boston University, not Brown. RE: Sarah-- I seem to recall her losing her triples pretty quickly and in Stars on Ice, she was doing double jumps. That's probably why she soon went off to college, but things worked out well for her.

 

[jlai]

Karen Kwan went to Boston University, not Brown. RE: Sarah-- I seem to recall her losing her triples pretty quickly and in Stars on Ice, she was doing double jumps. That's probably why she soon went off to college, but things worked out well for her.

Did she go to college because she lost her triples? Or did she lose interest after she won so she lost her triples then went to college? She wouldn't be the first to lose interest then go to school

 

[VGThuy]

One thing I will say about Sarah was that she did stay one more year after SLC to compete in the eligible rankings. Although she pulled out of Skate America (with Kwan replacing her...and who in the audience really minded that exchange?), she did do a Fall cheesefest, (did a Worlds Pro where eligible skaters were invited - I forgot if she placed behind or ahead of Irina who both placed behind Yuka Sato), collected a silver at Nationals (first win over Sasha Cohen), and managed a top 6 finish at 2003 Worlds. That took some guts I felt.

 

[tony]

One thing I will say about Sarah was that she did stay one more year after SLC to compete in the eligible rankings. Although she pulled out of Skate America (with Kwan replacing her...and who in the audience really minded that exchange?), she did do a Fall cheesefest, (did a Worlds Pro where eligible skaters were invited - I forgot if she placed behind or ahead of Irina who both placed behind Yuka Sato), collected a silver at Nationals (first win over Sasha Cohen), and managed a top 6 finish at 2003 Worlds. That took some guts I felt.

She did the 2002 Hallmark, which I attended, and fell on a 3T IIRC and finished behind Sato and Slutskaya. I thought she looked really decent at Nationals and Worlds later that year but some posters here have commented how 'lazy' she was because of showing up in a ponytail, among all things. Both of her 2003 competitive programs were quite enjoyable even if the jumps were starting to get away from her. I don't think she saw the purpose in continuing where she was losing ground and finishing behind both Kwan and Cohen internationally, and school was in the cards anyways.

 

[Vagabond]

How did manage to steal this thread from and the Kween?

Obviously, Salt Lake City was not a fluke.

 

[kwanette]

She did the 2002 Hallmark, which I attended, and fell on a 3T IIRC and finished behind Sato and Slutskaya. I thought she looked really decent at Nationals and Worlds later that year but some posters here have commented how 'lazy' she was because of showing up in a ponytail, among all things. Both of her 2003 competitive programs were quite enjoyable even if the jumps were starting to get away from her. I don't think she saw the purpose in continuing where she was losing ground and finishing behind both Kwan and Cohen internationally, and school was in the cards anyways.

Also finished 3rd at Campbell's in Daytona Beach behind Michelle and Ann Patrice. Oct 2002

 

[Jaana]

Slutskaya was not robbed in the freeskate, but in my opinion she was robbed of the gold medal, because Hughes should have been on 6th or 7th place in the short programme and because of that no gold medal for her in spite of a good freeskate....

 

[escaflowne9282]

Slutskaya was not robbed in the freeskate, but in my opinion she was robbed of the gold medal, because Hughes should have been on 6th or 7th place in the short programme and because of that no gold medal for her in spite of a good freeskate....

That's the second half of the mess. I agree Hughes was way overmarked in the short . I also think Irina probably should have won the short, but I've heard people argue that Slutskaya should have finished as low as fourth in the free skate. She was uncharacteristically slow and her choreography was very barren even in comparison to Kwan's Schehereazade.

For me, this is one of those weird situations where nobody was robbed , but nobody decisively deserved to win. Everyone was just so mediocre.

 

[olympic]

I would have to rank the women’s comp at 2002 Olympics as one of the least inspiring Olympics that I ever watched

 

[arakwafan2006]

I would have to rank the women’s comp at 2002 Olympics as one of the least inspiring

It wasn't that way going into it but you're right after the fact

 

[Coco]

I've never wanted to say this because it's a topic that is pointless, but I watched the 2002 ladies fs, final group, a few months back for the first time since 2002. IJS has completely impacted how I evaluate skating because I was blown away that it wasn't closer between Kwan and Slutskaya for 2nd place in the FS. I had totally forgotten that Slutskaya only did six triples. Of course, under 6.0, it would have been chaos if Kwan had prevailed for 2nd place, which would have meant gold. It's just hard to rewatch this competition wtih 6.0 eyes. I do wonder, though, if Irina had a backup plan to add an 8th jumping pass (ETA: as Kwan did). The salchow would have been the most likely choice since the earlier 3s had been in combination. I wonder if that would have put her ahead of Hughes.

All I can say is thank god for IJS. Far, far, far from perfect, but soooooooo much better.

ETA: Where the number of combinations a skater did limited under 6.0? I remember the definition of a combination used to be a lot broader, but I don't remember if the number of jumps in a combination were limited to 3 or number of combinations that could be done were limited, either.

 

[antmanb]

ETA: Where the number of combinations a skater did limited under 6.0? I remember the definition of a combination used to be a lot broader, but I don't remember if the number of jumps in a combination were limited to 3 or number of combinations that could be done were limited, either.

No I don't think there were any limits on number of combinations that could be done - it only became an issue under IJS where you could theoretically just built points adding numerous 2T/2T to every jump just to build points.

There was a period in the late 80s/early 90s where a lot of singles programmes had a jump sequences at the end which were always fun to see, by the time we were getting to mid 90s some skaters like Urmanov were doing sequences beginning and ending with triples and that was really good to see too.

 

[Yehudi]

I would have to rank the women’s comp at 2002 Olympics as one of the least inspiring Olympics that I ever watched

Especially considering the quality of the field.

 

[Anjelica]

It most certainly has not always been that way. In the past skaters were allowed to have space backstage. Skaters were allowed to stay in the locker rooms until they were ready to come out.
For me what was so hard to watch about Trusova's reaction was that she tried to hide herself and apparently asked for a private moment

This tacky couch of awkwardness that has been introduced within the last 2 quads gets a major down vote from me .

I admit. I did hate SinKats FD. I actually think the violin orchestration of Rachmaninoff was worse than the Paganini jig.

I agree about the tacky couch lol very awkward!!

 

[Anjelica]

In Beijing, it appeared as though everyone was stuck either on the couches or in the corridor after the competition. There seemed to be no private area backstage that anyone was allowed to go to, and the cameras were everywhere in a way that was almost unprecedented.
IIRC ,per ISU protocol, athletes were not allowed to leave the competition area until/unless they were out of medal contention. Sneaking off to the locker room for a few minutes really wasn't an option for any of the medalists once they skated.

In SLC, neither Kwan nor Slutskaya were followed backstage by the cameras beyond a certain area. Apparently they cried together. Likewise neither Cohen nor Slutskaya were followed backstage Turin. Slutskaya apparently threw her medal in the trash , but we never saw that.

Re: Sarah Hughes . I think @VGThuy nailed it. There was nothing about her skating that ever came across as particularly special or memorable. I can't think of any hallmark moves or programs by her. I remember nothing about her Olympic skate. I mean Sotnikova at least waved to the audience .
Her basics were ok. Her line was ok. She had terrible posture and carriage. Her lack of control over her torso during footwork was enough to give people nightmares. Artistically, she always came across as a girl at a dance recital.
The overall impression I have is that she was just a nice young lady from Great Neck who used Olympic skating as an extracurricular activity before following her family's legacy to Yale...

I guess I wasn't that impressed by her skating either.

Sarah Hughes Olympic long program rocked; she nailed everything, she looked calm, confident and like she was enjoying herself unlike everyone else who was stressed out to the max. She was perfection that day and definitely deserved the gold medal that she won IMO.