Kaitlyn Weaver hopes her coming out story finally breaks figure skating's female archetype

I really do think ice dance needs some kind of makeover in general. The sheer importance of branding, image and politics edges it too much outside of the realms of sports.
 
Much happiness to Kaitlyn - she has certainly brought a lot of joy to the skating world. As I recall, in the docuseries or whatever you call it that was done on Tessa and Scott prior to Sochi they had a restaurant meal with Kaitlyn and Andrew and Tessa expressed surprise that K&A could live together and skate together. I also thought at some point the Weaver/Poje families spend some holiday time together - like Christmas. However, it seemed that though there was always a lot of talk about Tessa and Scott being a couple off the ice, I don't remember there being much discussion about Kaitlyn and Andrew. Anyway, they both seem to be fine and supportive of each other so that is all that counts.
 
starrynight said:
And given what we know now, I can't see any reason for there to have been some falling out over Tessa and Andrew (if that rumour even has any truth to it - and given the way those people act on Twitter, I have big doubts). It's probably more likely the years of competition pressure ground everyone down.
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This is odd -- what do we know now? We know she likes women. That doesn't mean she doesn't also like men? It also doesn't mean she didn't like Andrew in that way, or that they did/didn't have a relationship. It seems like people are assuming a lot of different things from what Kaitlyn actually said.

Besides all that, I can see lots of reasons for a Tessa/Kaitlyn friendship to end (if it actually has ended), none of which have anything to do with Andrew.
 
starrynight said:
I really do think ice dance needs some kind of makeover in general. The sheer importance of branding, image and politics edges it too much outside of the realms of sports.
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Ice dance has always been this way. It still hasn't been thrown out of the Olympics, even though people say that it should be after every Olympic Games.
 
sap5 said:
This is odd -- what do we know now? We know she likes women. That doesn't mean she doesn't also like men? It also doesn't mean she didn't like Andrew in that way, or that they did/didn't have a relationship. It seems like people are assuming a lot of different things from what Kaitlyn actually said.

Besides all that, I can see lots of reasons for a Tessa/Kaitlyn friendship to end (if it actually has ended), none of which have anything to do with Andrew.
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I get the feeling that Kaitlyn might be bi. But the Virtue/Weaver friendship has definitely ended. They unfollowed each other on Instagram. And during the finale of BoB that Kaitlyn won, Tessa gave her flowers and Kaitlyn had the strangest reaction. They didn’t seem friendly at all.
Anyway I’m very happy for Kaitlyn. Good for her for living her truth.
 
Khaleesi said:
I get the feeling that Kaitlyn might be bi. But the Virtue/Weaver friendship has definitely ended. They unfollowed each other on Instagram. And during the finale of BoB that Kaitlyn won, Tessa gave her flowers and Kaitlyn had the strangest reaction. They didn’t seem friendly at all.
Anyway I’m very happy for Kaitlyn. Good for her for living her truth.
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I thought the Weaver/Virtue friendship was over when Tessa/Scott decided to come out of retirement and return to competition, thereby bumping Weaver/Poje back to the number two team in Canada. Apparently, Tessa didn’t tell Kaitlyn ahead of time and it was a surprise to Kaitlyn. I vaguely remember reading something like that here.
 
I'm all for Kaitlyn's announcement to break down barriers and shake up skating's conservative mindset.

While synchro ladies have been sharing the ice together for decades, I would love to see the ISU (re)introduce same-sex pairs and dance teams.
 
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mattiecat13 said:
I thought the Weaver/Virtue friendship was over when Tessa/Scott decided to come out of retirement and return to competition, thereby bumping Weaver/Poje back to the number two team in Canada. Apparently, Tessa didn’t tell Kaitlyn ahead of time and it was a surprise to Kaitlyn. I vaguely remember reading something like that here.
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They still did the Thank You Canada tour with Tessa and Scott and they did seem to at least be friendly during that.
 
Rafter said:
Interesting, because I never got that from what she said in the interview.

This being said, I did hear a few years ago (I think it was in 2018 before the Olys) from a skating person that she and Andrew’s personal relationship was very “on and off” over the years.

He was also rumoured to have dated Alysa Czisny years ago. Then there was his rumoured fling with Virtue during that post-Olympic tour that seemed to cause the end of the Weaver-Virtue friendship. Although who knows, maybe Kaitlyn was crushing on TV!
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Prior to the 2018 Olympics?

i know I met her mom (didn’t know who she was until mid way through the conversation after she said her daughter was competing and I asked who). We met outside as ahe was amoking outaide and cursing at the rules re smoking/non-smoking areas and I was getting air. She said Tessa/Kaitlyn were friends. Anyways she was hilarious.

I never heard any of these rumours but I wasn’t looking for it either.
 
Sparks said:
My favorite memory of Kaitlyn before this was the internet show she did with other skaters during the C0vid lockdown.
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Kaitlyn announced today that tickets will go on sale for Open Ice: Visionaries (her follow-up project with OIP's Jordan Cowan) on Friday, June 18th at 10am EDT: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQJa0snLx0l/
www.openicecollective.com

Open Ice Collective

Open Ice is a space for evolved interaction with figure skating that fosters a collaborative and connected community, who directly impact and advance the sport.
www.openicecollective.com www.openicecollective.com
"Proceeds will benefit Scott Hamilton CARES, The Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance, Protection and Action for Children’s Rights in Sports, and The Trevor Project."
 
Sylvia said:
Kaitlyn announced today that tickets will go on sale for Open Ice: Visionaries (her follow-up project with OIP's Jordan Cowan) on Friday, June 18th at 10am EDT: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQJa0snLx0l/
www.openicecollective.com

Open Ice Collective

Open Ice is a space for evolved interaction with figure skating that fosters a collaborative and connected community, who directly impact and advance the sport.
www.openicecollective.com www.openicecollective.com
"Proceeds will benefit Scott Hamilton CARES, The Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance, Protection and Action for Children’s Rights in Sports, and The Trevor Project."
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So glad to see Elladj!
 
Foolhardy Ham Lint said:
:lol:While synchro ladies have been sharing the ice together for decades, I would love to see the ISU (re)introduce same-sex pairs and dance teams.
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I definitely think that same sex teams/competitions should be a thing at younger levels to give all the girls who statistically simply cannot find a male partner (because their aren't any) a chance to enjoy and compete dance. Although the boys division would be pretty deplete as sadly there's not enough boys to go around as it is, let alone if they team up together.

High level elite male/male pairs would be an interesting thing ... I think it would end up looking like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtt_Djv2qdU lol if people think they don't like gymnastics/acrobatics on ice, then just imagine if male/male elite pairs teams hit the scene. Hello quint throw.

Also for some variation of this to replace the standard twist in pairs :lol:: https://youtu.be/Xtt_Djv2qdU?t=160

But at the same time I have a really soft spot for pairs and dance, because they are some of the only truly mixed sports in the world where men and women compete on equal footing with each other. I wonder if rather than removing that to make it single sex (like every other sport out there) it would be better for disciplines themselves to grow and adapt.
 
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Some smaller club/local competitions have same-sex dance, and occasionally same-sex pairs, as well as "regular" pairs and dance. ISI also has a test and competition category for "couples" which is for two skaters of any gender, doing freeskate moves side by side. There's no reason why there couldn't be separate categories in dance and pairs events for same-sex and male-female teams.
 
overedge said:
Some smaller club/local competitions have same-sex dance, and occasionally same-sex pairs, as well as "regular" pairs and dance. ISI also has a test and competition category for "couples" which is for two skaters of any gender, doing freeskate moves side by side. There's no reason why there couldn't be separate categories in dance and pairs events for same-sex and male-female teams.
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I went to gay games in New York in 1994 and saw some same sex pairs. Two of the men’s pairs were pretty good!
 
To be honest, I'm surprised we haven't seen this happen yet. I'd love to see that on ice. Why not?
 
Lemonade20 said:
To be honest, I'm surprised we haven't seen this happen yet. I'd love to see that on ice. Why not?
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Well, you can see it at smaller competitions, in ISI, and at the Gay Games. Probably also at other competitions where the organizers have the flexibility to add such events. I know that at least one year at Adult Nationals in Canada (which was sanctioned by Skate Canada) same-sex dance teams were allowed to enter in the dance categories. IIRC the competitors who took advantage of that were all women, most of whom didn't want to do solo dance.

As to why it isn't an event at Nationals and Worlds, probably for the same reasons those don't include synchro, artistic/interpretive, and other categories. I.e. ice time and costs.
 
Lemonade20 said:
To be honest, I'm surprised we haven't seen this happen yet. I'd love to see that on ice. Why not?
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Pairs would have to be significantly redesigned to accommodate the elements for two people who are closer in size - even if you had same-sex pairs with individuals who had a substantial size differential.
 
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