ISU statement on Mariah Bell and Eun soo Lim

[skateboy]

It was alleged that Mariah received a warning and that they had to be separated. If those things are true, wouldn't be there some sort of record?

Yes. And at the very least, Raf would know all about it.

 

[zoe111]

Yes. And at the very least, Raf would know all about it.

As would pretty much everyone else at the rink, so highly highly doubt this has any truth to it at all. Another made up fact to add justification to am already bogus claim

 

[Yazmeen]

I still shake my head at anyone trying to defend ATS or the Korean skating federation and claim they weren't responsible for this ridiculous mess. We have seen over and over again where they blame the competitor from another country when their athlete doesn't get the results they think the athlete deserves. And if you don't want to believe me, look up their history with:

Apolo Anton Ohno
Elise Christie (Great Britain, the Koreans believed her actions in a short track event in Sochi cost them a gold medal; she received hundreds of death threats)
Adelina Sotnikova
Kim Boutin (Canada, won bronze in Pyeongchang after a Korean skater was disqualified, Korean fans came after her with a vengeance)

With a history like this, pardon me if I'm not willing to point the finger at Mariah, Raf, or anyone else outside of Korea. Being passionate fans/officials is one thing; lying and frankly being the ones who are doing the bullying is completely another. I consider Yuna Kim one of the best and most gracious competitors in the sport of figure skating. That said, I think she needs to take a hard look at her company and the people in it and what they are doing after this debacle.

 

[VGThuy]

To me, ATS' credibility was shot after it was clear their initial reporting was pretty false. Adam Rippon was tore to shreds for calling it "click bait" but that's what it really was.

 

[CaliSteve]

More importantly what person in their right mind would intentionally kick/attack/injure someone when nearly everyone in the rink is watching you? It was an official practice in "Figure Skating Hollywood" aka Japan in an arena with dozens of journalists, photographers, reporters and spectators all over the place. PLUS her freakin' music was playing which meant even more attention was on her b/c she was doing a run-thru. She'd have to be the dumbest mean girl on the planet to attack someone while everyone is looking at her.

Amen!

 

[CaliSteve]

Yes. I bet Tom 'N Tammy are super thirsty to have the chance to coach Eunsoo Lim. Let's make this happen please.

Send her to Eteri

 

[CaliSteve]

As would pretty much everyone else at the rink, so highly highly doubt this has any truth to it at all. Another made up fact to add justification to am already bogus claim

And it would spread throughout the whole skating community.

 

[Finsta]

Send her to Eteri

. She’s seems a spoiled brat and I doubt Eteri would allow her diva behavior

 

[Artistic Skaters]

Adam Rippon made a statement to People today. I did not notice it posted here yet.

*** Adam Rippon Stands by Skater Mariah Bell After She's Accused of Intentionally Hurting Competitor :
https://people.com/sports/adam-rippon-defends-skater-mariah-bell/

Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon is standing by skater Mariah Bell after she was accused of deliberately injuring a South Korean competitor during warm-ups for the World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan.

In an exclusive statement to PEOPLE, Rippon explained that although he was not in Japan and did not see the incident take place, he has no doubts that it was all an accident. (Officials also believe the incident to be an accident.)

 

[Skittl1321]

https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/s...e-skating-world-championships-live-day-three/

Meanwhile, this accident is not discussed at all:
"
Our intrepid reporter on the ground has managed to find Vanessa James for a quick chat following her earlier crash and fall.
"I was a little out of it after the six-minute warm-up and the collision with Matteo. I didn't see it but people told me that he really did try to save me and he had really good reflexes so I thank him for that.
"During the program, I started getting really tired, so I think it was just the shock and a little bit of a headache but all in all there's no serious injuries or anything so."
When asked if she had undergone concussion protocols, James confirmed she had seen the team doctor, "to just make sure, because I have a headache, but other than that my eyes aren't dilated or anything so it should be fine."
Will she skate tomorrow? "I think so. We've had some hard situations but we always push through them."

Christine Brennan cited this accident in her article about Bell. Basically "accidents happen, skaters run into each other"

This isn't news because no one's agent turned it into massive, unnecessary drama.

 

[eurodance2001]

Yes. I bet Tom 'N Tammy are super thirsty to have the chance to coach Eunsoo Lim. Let's make this happen please.

No, please don't. Christy Leung doesn't need to be dragged into the mud or accused of anything.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Christine Brennan cited this accident in her article about Bell. Basically "accidents happen, skaters run into each other".

for once i agree with Brennan..

 

[jiejie]

No, please don't. Christy Leung doesn't need to be dragged into the mud or accused of anything.

Nor does Ting Cui.

 

[Yazmeen]

No, please don't. Christy Leung doesn't need to be dragged into the mud or accused of anything.

And here's one really sad outcome of this mess: even though it was the adults around her who stirred up the crap, Eun-soo is now tainted by what they did. I would hazard a guess that her relationship with Raf came to and end the moment her scores were announced, and now any other coach in the US or anywhere outside of South Korea knows what they might have to face if they take her on as a student. And if you were a fellow senior lady in another country, would you want to train with her (or trust her) after this? I sure as hell wouldn't take the risk.

 

[nlloyd]

. She’s seems a spoiled brat and I doubt Eteri would allow her diva behavior

Where is your evidence for this characterization of Eunsoo? It seems very speculative and not unlike the type of social media posts you find so offensive.

 

[nlloyd]

It's amazing how people can twist things around the way they want to after they decided who a villain is.

I don't think this was "twisted around" initially. ATS cited the bullying together with the their accusation of "stabbing." They didn't first allege "stabbing," make Bell out to be a villain, and then find a way to justify that characterization by citing bullying. In their mind the bullying took place first and that led them to allege "stabbing." No matter how erroneous and inflammatory the "stabbing" allegation is -- and how equally egregiously wrong they may be about "bullying" -- it is important, in my opinion, to represent their logic accurately.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

it is important, in my opinion, to represent their logic accurately.

Or how they chose to present it so people could defend their absolute lies and drama. But whatever...

 

[Spun Silver]

We are running out of coaches. I suggest Denise Myers (Bradie's coach). She's clearly a strong technical coach and Bradie and Eunsoo could be good training partners. Plus I'm sure Eunsoo would love Wisconsin.

Alternatively there is Marina Zoueva in FL. She's not exactly known as a singles coach but has done it, together with some great choreography. But she'd have to train in Florida, with kayaks and water skiing and such.

 

[Finsta]

Where is your evidence for this characterization of Eunsoo? It seems very speculative and not unlike the type of social media posts you find so offensive.

Since some people don’t take evidence into consideration, like the video where Mariah didn’t do anything, then my educated guess is that it is the other that has the problem with Bell. Why else would this have happened? She seems not to know rules of the rink and based on this incident she obviously feels she is not in wrong. Yes she is young,but you know Eteri wouldn’t put up with it. Look how she yelled at Alina for crying when younger. I would say her own actions and refusal to admit she’s wrong fairly show she is spoiled and also a bit divaish not to follow rink rules. Maybe you think that behavior is fine. I don’t

 

[UGG]

I don't think this was "twisted around" initially. ATS cited the bullying together with the their accusation of "stabbing." They didn't first allege "stabbing," make Bell out to be a villain, and then find a way to justify that characterization by citing bullying. In their mind the bullying took place first and that led them to allege "stabbing." No matter how erroneous and inflammatory the "stabbing" allegation is -- and how equally egregiously wrong they may be about "bullying" -- it is important, in my opinion, to represent their logic accurately.

Uhhh actually they did. There was never any mention of bullying until they accused Mariah of stabbing.

 

[jiejie]

We are running out of coaches. I suggest Denise Myers (Bradie's coach). She's clearly a strong technical coach and Bradie and Eunsoo could be good training partners. Plus I'm sure Eunsoo would love Wisconsin.

Alternatively there is Marina Zoueva in FL. She's not exactly known as a singles coach but has done it, together with some great choreography. But she'd have to train in Florida, with kayaks and water skiing and such.

Maybe Robin Wagner, Sarah Hughes' former coach, is available.

 

[Aceon6]

I suspect Eunsoo may need to spend at least a year at home. Other ATS athletes might want to sit down with their teams to make sure this doesn’t happen to them.

 

[overedge]

We are running out of coaches.

There are many good coaches out there who aren't well known because they don't currently coach high-profile skaters. IMO the more relevant question right now is which coach (well known or not) would want to take on Eunsoo after this trainwreck.

 

[Deleted member 53443]

for once i agree with Brennan..

I asked my coach today, who was a national competitor. She said the same thing, "it was nobody's fault, accidents happen. You know how it is!" Well, yeah, but I was never in Nationals so I did want her opinion and completely agree.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Why do people want Lim to leave Rafik? She is "income" to him, he makes money training an elite skater. If Lim leaves, he loses money, and one more of "coach's venue for accomplishment".

I hope they all stay together and forget the incident.. it was stupid from the start. Someone's stupidity should not affect Rafael's earnings. He is not at fault.

 

[jiejie]

Why do people want Lim to leave Rafik? She is "income" to him, he makes money training an elite skater. If Lim leaves, he loses money, and one more of "coach's venue for accomplishment".

I hope they all stay together and forget the incident.. it was stupid from the start. Someone's stupidity should not affect Rafael's earnings. He is not at fault.

If Lim doesn't leave, he may lose more. I don't think this is the sort of incident that anybody involved forgets.

 

[AxelAnnie]

I am a bit curious about SafeSport and their role / or non-role in this, and why.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

Why do people want Lim to leave Rafik? She is "income" to him, he makes money training an elite skater. If Lim leaves, he loses money, and one more of "coach's venue for accomplishment".

I hope they all stay together and forget the incident.. it was stupid from the start. Someone's stupidity should not affect Rafael's earnings. He is not at fault.

He could lose more earnings by keeping her rather than letting her go. There is more at stake here than coaching fees.

 

[VGThuy]

I don't think this was "twisted around" initially. ATS cited the bullying together with the their accusation of "stabbing." They didn't first allege "stabbing," make Bell out to be a villain, and then find a way to justify that characterization by citing bullying. In their mind the bullying took place first and that led them to allege "stabbing." No matter how erroneous and inflammatory the "stabbing" allegation is -- and how equally egregiously wrong they may be about "bullying" -- it is important, in my opinion, to represent their logic accurately.

That's true, but what got lost in all of this was ATS's characterization of the incident when it was clear there was no way Mariah could have intentionally sliced or grazed her (since we're not using stabbing since it seems to be something one publication ran with after the fact) in the first place. ATS omitted so many facts like it was during Mariah's program run-through and she had the right-of-way and she was doing the same exact choreography and entrance into her double axel that she has done all season long and mischaracterized the incident to make people believe it was some sort of case of Mariah skating by her and intentionally cutting her. Watching the video and incident knowing all of that, it takes a lot to paint this as Mariah doing that intentionally.

If ATS could some how take the above and have the lack-of-character to mischaracterize the incident to make Lim out to be a victim of Bell's intentional slicing, it makes me wonder about their other initial allegation that Bell has been bullying her. Further, they specifically said things like Raf and rink management was made aware of the bullying and thus things like moving them to separate locker rooms happened. We know Raf has denied being made aware of any prior incident(s) of bullying. Another "fact" they promoted that turned out to be false. This makes me question their credibility.

So, ATS knew exactly what they were doing by putting in the whole bullying angle in there because they knew once the video resurfaced it would be obvious to any objective third party that there was no way Mariah could have intentionally cut Lim. However, because there is a bullying narrative, they could try to justify their initial accusations. Because of the bully narrative, many Bell attackers are making the video fit their preconceived notions of Mariah the bully and now they are trying to cut and splice the video to omit things like her music of her running through her program at the beginning so it only looks like Mariah skating past her and cutting her and skating off. They are also using the video to say Mariah tried to intimidate her by not getting out of Lim's way, etc. All of this because ATS put in the bullying narrative that so many have already accepted as gospel. So yes although the bullying narrative did come first, they are using that narrative to justify seeing what they want to see and are actively misconstruing what they see on video now.

 

[natsulian]

Lim and Raf’s interaction was so... frigid, not even a simple pat. Lim and her agency lost the trust of the FS community, especially the athletes. The rest of the world will not fixate on this scandal for another week, but the FS community will be weary of Lim and her agency indefinitely. Not only are the American, French, and Canadian athletes (the Japanese athletes and fans are indifferent) defending Mariah on social media, the narrative has changed dramatically and now casts a bad light on Eunsoo. Poor girl. She gave everything she had and more for her Free, but due to the incompetence and impatient nature of her agency, she’s being blamed now. Also, I love how Mariah’s response basically said I let my skating do the talking... and judging from the comments, she won new fans over (not the dislike button).