U.S. Ladies [#25]: Method in the Madness

[puglover]

Anyone who thought that making this public in the middle of a world championship is a good idea for either skater - is nuts.

 

[rvi5]

Mariah’s boyfriend, Romain Ponsart has now gone private on Instagram. Apparently, he was getting a lot of hate as well.

Some Koreans can be over the top fanatical, if they think they had been wronged. Usually in speed skating where it is easy to interfere or accidentally bump other skaters on the track during a race...

-2002 Salt lake city olympics. US gold medalist Apolo Ohno receives threats after the Korean speed skater was disqualified.

https://products.kitsapsun.com/archive/2002/02-22/0017_winter_olympics__ohno_focus_of_th.html

-2010 Vancouver olympics. Australian speed skating judge receives death threats after disqualifying Korean speed skating relay team.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/man-threatens-to-blow-up-australian-embassy-after-olympics-outrage/news-story/46f620d0d3361219a1f3ae71054c4cb8

-2018 Pyeongchang olympics. Canadian bronze medalist receives death threats after Korean speed skater disqualified.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/canadian-speedskater-kim-boutin-threatened-online-after-controversial-olympic-bronze/article37973762/

 

[Amantide]

With ATS' outright misrepresentation of the events at the practice session, it's not a stretch to write off their other allegations as exaggerations at best, and outright lies at worst.

I'm betting on the latter. And Korean fans are nuts. PERIOD!
If there are no more info. from reliable sources (Koreans are full of bullcrap and whinners), I would suggest to move on and don't feed the trolls.

 

[natsulian]

ISU has begun an investigation. KSU released a statement saying that it is hard to tell whether or not the cut was intentional based on the video. Eunsoo’s agency claims that Bell did do it on purpose. KSU, the agency, ISU, and US Figure Skating are involved in the matter.

 

[Finsta]

If it’s found they’re lying, I hope Raf fires Lim.

 

[natsulian]

If it’s found they’re lying, I hope Raf fires Lim.

The thing is, Eunsoo hasn’t said a THING, just that she’s injured. But I’m going to refrain from blaming anyone and just hope for the best for everyone involved.

 

[UGG]

Is there a video?

 

[starrynight]

The thing is, Eunsoo hasn’t said a THING, just that she’s injured. But I’m going to refrain from blaming anyone and just hope for the best for everyone involved.

Who even knows how much the management company even involves a 16 year old Eunsoo in their decision making anyway. Management companies take a percentage cut of whatever the skaters make, so they will profit out of creating a media storm around the skater they represent.

If there is actually an issue to be dealt with here, I think that addressing it soberly through proper channels would have been better than unleashing a media tsunami and twitter vigilantes on Mariah Bell.

 

[UGG]

Thinking about this logically, I think the worst possible case scenario would be that Eunsoo was in Mariah's way when Mariah had right of way, and Mariah did not readjust her choreography which caused her skate to graze Eunsoo. At most, it is kind of diva-ish as if this were the case, I am sure Eunsoo wasn't standing in her way on purpose.

I just have a really hard time believing she had a sinister plan to assault Eunsoo with her skate blade in a practice session right before the short program with cameras and coaches and spectators all around.

 

[starrynight]

Thinking about this logically, I think the worst possible case scenario would be that Eunsoo was in Mariah's way when Mariah had right of way, and Mariah did not readjust her choreography which caused her skate to graze Eunsoo. At most, it is kind of diva-ish as if this were the case, I am sure Eunsoo wasn't standing in her way on purpose.

I just have a really hard time believing she had a sinister plan to assault Eunsoo with her skate blade in a practice session right before the short program with cameras and coaches and spectators all around.

ATS are effectively accusing Mariah of intentional assault with a weapon (i.e a skate blade) and that's enough to get you arrested in most places. (Note that is my interpretation of the allegations that she deliberately stabbed Eunsoo). It's a pretty serious accusation. The allegation itself seems very unusual and to be honest, a skater would need to be a downright pscyho to try that on.

But man, talk about ATS flexing their power that they can unleash a storm at a moment's notice if you cross one of their clients. I expect nothing in Mariah's career has prepared her for what's been launched at her.

Either Mariah is a closeted aggressive loony or else ATS has orchestrated a nationalistic media beat up for their own financial gain. Neither option is particularly appealing.

 

[BittyBug]

ATS are accusing Mariah of intentional assault with a weapon (i.e a skate blade) and that's enough to get you arrested in most places. It's a pretty serious accusation.

OMG they are f*cking psycho!!!!! Bell was skating her program and had the right of way.

 

[starrynight]

OMG they are f*cking psycho!!!!! Bell was skating her program and had the right of way.

I just edited my post to make it clear that me saying 'intentional assault with a weapon' etc is my rephrasing in legal terms of the allegation that Mariah deliberately struck Eunsoo with a blade. They aren't ATS's direct words.

 

[BittyBug]

I just edited my post to make it clear that me saying 'intentional assault with a weapon' etc is my rephrasing in legal terms of the allegation that Mariah deliberately struck Eunsoo with a blade. They aren't ATS's direct words.

Ok, but even still - unintentional contact happens fairly frequently - why the hullabaloo?

 

[Spun Silver]

I feel sick for Mariah. She has a breakout season, gets to Worlds, delivers a PB/top 6 SP, and now this. It seems very unlikely to me that she will be able to skate the long program she's capable of.

And I can't imagine there is any way this will help Eunsoo skate her best in the free.

If investigations take place, I hope ATS is among the subjects.

 

[starrynight]

This media article was linked elsewhere: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...iberately-slashing-rival-world-championships/

This article being notable for crossing over into the mainstream international press.

They are really going for the jugular it seems. So the terms used by ATS is that Mariah deliberately 'kicked and stabbed' Eunsoo as well as 'launching into a verbal attack against Ms Lim immediately before the competition'.

It's all just a bit odd. And I would also question that if the two girls even did have a verbal argument at training whether a carefully orchestrated complete assassination by media in the middle of Worlds is an appropriate response?

It doesn't seem to be an even match when one skater has a big management company and the media behind them and the other doesn't appear to have any spokesperson at all.

 

[LarrySK8]

From witnesses, apparently Mariah's music was playing and she was doing her full run-through, giving her 100% right-of-way. Her choreography took her close to the side where Eunsoo was standing/slowly moving next to the boards

ABSOLUTELY! It was the Korean skater's job to get out of Mariah's way, and she did not. Too bad the cheating Korean skater got her leg scratched, but she was deliberately trying to disrupt a run through, and got herself scratched.

Cheaters never prosper.

 

[thvu]

If it’s found they’re lying, I hope Raf fires Lim.

Even if it's true, he should still fire Lim. She and/or her people are clearly untrustworthy and unpredictable.

 

[Spun Silver]

ABSOLUTELY! It was the Korean skater's job to get out of Mariah's way, and she did not. Too bad the cheating Korean skater got her leg scratched, but she was deliberately trying to disrupt a run through, and got herself scratched.

Cheaters never prosper.

I really doubt 16-year-old Eunsoo orchestrated this and please don't call her "the Korean skater" as if her nationality is the issue. Nothing but respect for Korean skaters.

 

[UGG]

ABSOLUTELY! It was the Korean skater's job to get out of Mariah's way, and she did not. Too bad the cheating Korean skater got her leg scratched, but she was deliberately trying to disrupt a run through, and got herself scratched.

Cheaters never prosper.

I actually wondered if an adult told her to stand i the way. (Based on the fact that adults around her are accusing Mariah of assault)

And other posters are correct... for Mariah to deliberately stab another skater with her blade infront of people, that would mean she is some sort of sociopath.

 

[GullyGirl84]

"slashing", "stabbing"....Jesus. I could buy that perhaps Mariah and Eunsoo do not get along (which is allowed too by the way), is there a serious person who thinks that this would have been intentional? I think people, at least me, are more curious of the bullying claim, because it seems like something like this (the accusation) is too serious to completely come out of no where. I can see there being tension and then that leading to some feeling that Mariah was being too aggressive during the practice when this happened and if there was no apology, but I take issue with the characterizations in these articles.

Of course I hope that Eunsoo is ok and even if it wasn't intentional, that doesn't mean she didn't feel there was an aggression against her, especially if there is some history. These are definitely the two skaters I would have least predicted this sort of controversy from, but I know that means nothing and I acknowledge that people are correct when they say that we know nothing about these skaters in their actual real lives, despite their public personas and what we see from them in brief clips...we also know nothing about what's going on behind the scenes right now. I understand why Adam and Ashley feel the need to defend Mariah (even though Ashley was making more of a sweeping generalization about it), but I did cringe when I saw Adam chime in if only because it seems like it would bring more attention to it given his 500k following on Twitter...what a mess...

 

[Vagabond]

Even if it's true, he should still fire Lim. Her and/or her people are clearly untrustworthy and unpredictable.

Let's cut her a break; she's sixteen.

Even so, whoever thought they were helping her has done her a world of disservice.

 

[LarrySK8]

"the Korean skater"

Fine. She is, "the skater from Korea."

 

[believed]

Even if it's true, he should still fire Lim. Her and/or her people are clearly untrustworthy and unpredictable.

??????????????????????

If it is true, MARIAH should be the one who gets the consequences?????????

 

[starrynight]

I wouldn't be surprised if Eunsoo is just caught in the middle of the decisions of adults - some of whom are probably more concerned with the size of their bank accounts than they are with her individually. I wouldn't attribute any of this to her personally unless there's clear evidence otherwise.

No idea how any training environment could possibly be repaired between the two skaters now though.

Any kind of control Raf wanted to have over his skaters or how anything has been handled has been taken away by ATS running straight to the media.

 

[LarrySK8]

is there a serious person who thinks that this would have been intentional?

The only likely intentional act was the skater from Korea getting in Mariah's way during a run through to disrupt her practice. Mariah had the right of way, and cheaters do this to others all the time and claim it was "accidental," and it happens at all levels of FS.

 

[Wyliefan]

Like I said before, at first I didn't know what to think. As unlikely as the whole thing seemed, we've seen equally unlikely people turn out to have bullying tendencies. But the way this whole thing is shaping up, it's starting to look like Mariah is being unfairly targeted. And knowing what Internet mobs are like, I feel really bad for her. This will dog her for a long time. The trolls will still rag her even after they've forgotten what they're ragging about, and the headlines will probably incorporate inaccuracies for years.

I feel bad for Eunsoo too -- she may simply have said something that was taken too seriously by her management, and then they got out of control. What a mess.

 

[GullyGirl84]

No idea how any training environment could possibly be repaired between the two skaters now though.

Yep. Especially since a lot of the Lakewood skaters seem reflexively protective of Mariah in this situation/her boyfriend trains with her (I saw on Twitter people posting a comment that Romain supposedly made and deleted, but I'm not reposting its contents since I did not see it in real time myself...), it's hard to imagine Eunsoo feeling comfortable skating there, even if this is simply a situation that got out of hand.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

I sincerely doubt the adults around Eunsoo didn't know what they were doing.

 

[JamieElena]

If a skater deliberately kicked and stabbed another skater during a practice session that is ASSAULT.

There are hundreds of people in the arena at practice sessions, surely at least one person would have witnessed this horrendous assault were it in fact a deliberate assault, no? Someone would have called the police, no? Or at least pulled the attacker off the ice, yes? Or am I supposed to believe that hundreds of people all blinked at the same time and missed such an altercation that supposedly took place against bright WHITE backdrop, under bright lights?

Because as these articles (stories?) read, Bell committed assault in front of hundreds of spectators and nobody did a damn thing except for a PR agency that - well after the alleged incident - told one Korean media agency. Did I step into an alternate universe or something?

ETA, in case cynicism isn't clear: if anything like this had remotely happened at any of the hundreds of practices I've attended at senior comps, the entire audience would have gasped & then been abuzz with whispers about what had just happened. So I find these "stabbing" stories highly incredulous and completely unbelievable based on my first-hand experiences at practices. (Any bullying is a separate issue and if true, I hope Lim has courage to speak out).

 

[Colonel Green]

The only likely intentional act was the skater from Korea getting in Mariah's way during a run through to disrupt her practice. Mariah had the right of way, and cheaters do this to others all the time and claim it was "accidental," and it happens at all levels of FS.

Is there some reason you refuse to say Eunsoo’s name?