Russian figure skating news & updates in 2022

[TAHbKA]

I agree, the Zasport Olympic stuff Tiff gave to me is cheap and tacky and falling apart.

All of the Bosco stuff is great quality, stylish and hardwearing

Really? I thought the Bosco 2014 volunteers uniform is kinda terrible colour/terrible quality.

 

[taz'smum]

Really? I thought the Bosco 2014 volunteers uniform is kinda terrible colour/terrible quality.

I can only go by the quality of the kit that Tiff has given me and it was all great until Zasport stuff.
Though the Zasport stuff from this Olympics looks to be better quality.

 

[DreamSkates]

Would there? I don’t want to sound cynical, but I wouldn’t be surprised if as soon as Tutberidze wears US team jackets, everyone will suddenly paint a hallo above her head. We saw something similar with Medvedeva - while skating in Russia and winning gold medals, there was awful lot of hate towards her from across the pond, but as soon as she moved for coaching to Orser, suddenly she was the golden girl for the fans over there.

That wasn’t about accepting or supporting Eteri’s coaching.

 

[karmena]

Of course, it was not!
... it is rather an interpretation/adjusting of your post to ones own mindset

 

[PRlady]

Would there? I don’t want to sound cynical, but I wouldn’t be surprised if as soon as Tutberidze wears US team jackets, everyone will suddenly paint a hallo above her head. We saw something similar with Medvedeva - while skating in Russia and winning gold medals, there was awful lot of hate towards her from across the pond, but as soon as she moved for coaching to Orser, suddenly she was the golden girl for the fans over there.

That’s BS. Med had a ton of American fans from her Junior days, me included. I remember Tinami giving us all hell for thinking “the wrong Russian” won in 2018.

Kolyada, Russian pairs, Aliev, Trusova, Kosternaia all had huge numbers of western fans who respected their various skills. All the mourning about not getting to see White Crow at the Olys was in English! My good friend BlueRidge has been an Anna fan for years.

Tutberidze might be met at the US airport by a phalanx of FSUers carrying slingshots and paint guns. That’s on her and her despicable factory, not in her Russian origins.

 

[alj5]

Would there? I don’t want to sound cynical, but I wouldn’t be surprised if as soon as Tutberidze wears US team jackets, everyone will suddenly paint a hallo above her head. We saw something similar with Medvedeva - while skating in Russia and winning gold medals, there was awful lot of hate towards her from across the pond, but as soon as she moved for coaching to Orser, suddenly she was the golden girl for the fans over there.

I don't remember many actual hate comments about Med - maybe all the hand over the head jumping that first year senior. I can't speak for others, but what I liked about Med working with orser was the change in packaging. She grew more as an artist with more mature music and choreography choices, and I was more of a fan of her costumes during the Orser period. Another thing that resonated with me in her Orser era was that she became an adult and took control of her skating and career. Instead of fading like 2014 stars Sotnikova and Lipnitskaya, and even Zagitova.

 

[hanca]

I don't remember many actual hate comments about Med - maybe all the hand over the head jumping that first year senior. I can't speak for others, but what I liked about Med working with orser was the change in packaging. She grew more as an artist with more mature music and choreography choices, and I was more of a fan of her costumes during the Orser period. Another thing that resonated with me in her Orser era was that she became an adult and took control of her skating and career. Instead of fading like 2014 stars Sotnikova and Lipnitskaya, and even Zagitova.

Don’t you? What about the year when she had the program with the theme of terrorism and 9-11… she wasn’t particularly popular then.

 

[Wyliefan]

I specifically remember saying around that time -- I could probably dig up the post if it means that much to you -- that I thought I could uber Evgenia if she ever got some decent programs. Even at the time, skating those not-so-great programs -- and with an unfortunate habit of landing her jumps with a thud, which I also remember commenting on -- she could make me tear up. She was just that talented, and I appreciated that. Many of us did. That's the difference between disliking a skater, which I didn't, and disliking her programs, which I did.

I'm darned if I know why some people here are so desperately committed to their "FSUers hate Russian skaters for being Russian" narrative, when it keeps getting shot down everywhere you turn.

 

[Finnice]

The skater's nationality has never affected my fandom. I am a fan of skating skills and style, not of any country. There have been many Russian skaters whom I have adored.

But I can never be a fan of people, who accept the war against innocent civilians.

 

[olympic]

Looking fwd. IF RUS competes at 2023 Worlds, will they qualify 1 skater / team per discipline since they earned zero at 2022 Worlds? I think generally, any country can qualify 1 skater / team as long as they meet the minimum TES requirements. That said, if no country hosting an ISU events allows RUS to compete as a sanction against RUS brutality in UKR, will they be shut out again?
Another idea, could individual athletes be sanctioned for supporting the war?

 

[PRlady]

Looking fwd. IF RUS competes at 2023 Worlds, will they qualify 1 skater / team per discipline since they earned zero at 2022 Worlds? I think generally, any country can qualify 1 skater / team as long as they meet the minimum TES requirements. That said, if no country hosting an ISU events allows RUS to compete as a sanction against RUS brutality in UKR, will they be shut out again?
Another idea, could individual athletes be sanctioned for supporting the war?

Most guilds (and that’s what sports and other professional organizing bodies are) have clauses for expulsion along the lines of “conduct unbecoming.” I think that’s what the Academy would have done to Will Smith if he hadn’t resigned.

But you must have to be an ax murderer to be dq’ed, otherwise how did Tonya skate in Norway?

I doubt Russian skaters would be individually disqualified if there isn’t video of them killing Ukrainian civilians.

 

[PRlady]

Don’t you? What about the year when she had the program with the theme of terrorism and 9-11… she wasn’t particularly popular then.

Yeah we didn’t like Lobacheva/Averbukh’s 9/11 program either. There were Jewish people who didn’t think anyone, even Jason, should skate to Schindler’s List. That’s a taste issue, not hating a particular skater. I happened to like Med’s program.

 

[Hedwig]

I have been a big fan of many Russian skaters but I am not sure I can ever applaud a Russian medal win again.
Maybe if it was a skater explicitly stating her/his abhorrence against their war in Ukraine.
But even then it would leave a bad taste in my mouth to know that now lots of citizens in a country are cheering that win and that the majority of those applaud a cruel war against a brother country. It is not something easily overlooked.
I did not turn out my tv when Valieva skated like many posters here did.
If people like Sinitsina Katsalapov would skate again, I would.

 

[Hindernisse]

I have been a big fan of many Russian skaters but I am not sure I can ever applaud a Russian medal win again.
Maybe if it was a skater explicitly stating her/his abhorrence against their war in Ukraine.
But even then it would leave a bad taste in my mouth to know that now lots of citizens in a country are cheering that win and that the majority of those applaud a cruel war against a brother country. It is not something easily overlooked.
I did not turn out my tv when Valieva skated like many posters here did.
If people like Sinitsina Katsalapov would skate again, I would.

I am not trying to challenge you this, I can get it, but just would like to point out that for the sake of consistency the performances of Ryabova and Litvinsev should then fall in the same category because of the flag they represent.

 

[Hedwig]

I am not trying to challenge you this, I can get it, but just would like to point out that for the sake of consistency the performances of Ryabova and Litvinsev should then fall in the same category because of the flag they represent.

there are probably other nations too, where I should feel the same way - the cruelty of the Russian army somehow overshadows that for me at the moment.

 

[Karen-W]

Looking fwd. IF RUS competes at 2023 Worlds, will they qualify 1 skater / team per discipline since they earned zero at 2022 Worlds? I think generally, any country can qualify 1 skater / team as long as they meet the minimum TES requirements. That said, if no country hosting an ISU events allows RUS to compete as a sanction against RUS brutality in UKR, will they be shut out again?
Another idea, could individual athletes be sanctioned for supporting the war?

Unless the ISU Council makes some sort of exception, which I wouldn't expect, Russia will have only 1 entry per discipline at the next Worlds in which they are allowed to compete.

 

[cholla]

I am not trying to challenge you this, I can get it, but just would like to point out that for the sake of consistency the performances of Ryabova and Litvinsev should then fall in the same category because of the flag they represent.

For the record, although being born in Moscow, Ryabova represents Azerbaïdjan and is currently in France where she arrived way before Worlds and where she plans to stay for an indeterminate time.

Her last Insta post about working in Lyon.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Don’t you? What about the year when she had the program with the theme of terrorism and 9-11… she wasn’t particularly popular then.

There was no hate. People were critical of Medvedeva's skating / programs - just like they always are. Some of the sharpest criticism I had seen on these boards was towards Michelle Kwan. Everyone respected Med from day one, both on and off the ice.

 

[BittyBug]

Yeah we didn’t like Lobacheva/Averbukh’s 9/11 program either.

This "we" loved it. I thought it was a very thoughtful and respectful program, and I say that as someone who was in Manhattan on 9/11.

 

[PRlady]

This "we" loved it. I thought it was a very thoughtful and respectful program, and I say that as someone who was in Manhattan on 9/11.

I thought I was the only one

 

[Hindernisse]

For the record, although being born in Moscow, Ryabova represents Azerbaïdjan and is currently in France where she arrived way before Worlds and where she plans to stay for an indeterminate time.

I never referred to the place of birth, but to the flag she and Litvitsev represent. The fact that Ryabova moved to France doesn’t clear her of the alliance with the Azerbaïdjani regime which is guilty of war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Don’t you? What about the year when she had the program with the theme of terrorism and 9-11… she wasn’t particularly popular then.

Her program wasn't particularly popular then. (I thought it was great.) But lots of criticism went to Averbukh, who also skated on a 9/11 theme for the 2002 Olympics.

 

[BlueRidge]

That’s BS. Med had a ton of American fans from her Junior days, me included. I remember Tinami giving us all hell for thinking “the wrong Russian” won in 2018.

Kolyada, Russian pairs, Aliev, Trusova, Kosternaia all had huge numbers of western fans who respected their various skills. All the mourning about not getting to see White Crow at the Olys was in English! My good friend BlueRidge has been an Anna fan for years.

Are we for some reason giving our bona fides for being fans of Russian skaters? Then I'd like to point out the amount of grief I got back in the day for being an Irina Slutskaya uber!

Though before that, Klimova & Ponomarenko.

Did & do adore Evgenia as well.

 

[hanca]

Her program wasn't particularly popular then. (I thought it was great.) But lots of criticism went to Averbukh, who also skated on a 9/11 theme for the 2002 Olympics.

Not only her program wasn’t popular, but some of the comments turned quite personal against her. And then suddenly, a few years later she was with Orser so she was suddenly great! When she was repeatedly world champion, she got plenty of negativity on this forum.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Not only her program wasn’t popular, but some of the comments turned quite personal against her. And then suddenly, a few years later she was with Orser so she was suddenly great! When she was repeatedly world champion, she got plenty of negativity on this forum.

And was it the same people who allegedly hated her because of that program, but suddenly loved her when she was with Orser?

 

[Ananas Astra]

Not only her program wasn’t popular, but some of the comments turned quite personal against her. And then suddenly, a few years later she was with Orser so she was suddenly great! When she was repeatedly world champion, she got plenty of negativity on this forum.

I hated her programs in 16/17 because they made me cringe endlessly. That miming really was a bit much and I felt lots of "Fremdscham" (= German word to describe the feeling of feeling ashamed for somebody else), but I didn't question her titles she won with those programs.
She had much better ones in the Olympic season, but her favorite of mine is "Memoirs of a Geisha" she had while with Orser.

 

[PRlady]

I hated her programs in 16/17 because they made me cringe endlessly. That miming really was a bit much and I felt lots of "Fremdscham" (= German word to describe the feeling of feeling ashamed for somebody else), but I didn't question her titles she won with those programs.
She had much better ones in the Olympic season, but her favorite of mine is "Memoirs of a Geisha" she had while with Orser.

German has some really good words. And I liked Geisha a lot but the costume did her no favors.

I said too many times that Med was a fabulous storyteller. She would have been wasted in abstract programs. And I’ll take Averbukh over Dani G crap anyway.

 

[BlueRidge]

German has some really good words. And I liked Geisha a lot but the costume did her no favors.

I said too many times that Med was a fabulous storyteller. She would have been wasted in abstract programs. And I’ll take Averbukh over Dani G crap anyway.

I liked her programs that included bits of miming. Would I want every program out there to be like that? No. But I don't get the aversion a lot of people have to it.

 

[Wyliefan]

For me, miming -- unless incorporated really seamlessly into the program -- is too on-the-nose. It's like, "Okay, now I'm going to pause the program and tell you a bit of a story. Now I'm going to skate again. Now some more story. Now I'm going to skate again." A great storytelling program would let the story unfold through the skate.

 

[aml78]

Why do people think Eteri is going to leave Russia?