Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Orser: "... in the Olympic season everyone fights for himself"

[Sylvia]

Original interview in Russian was published on October 19, 2017 (before the start of Rostelecom Cup): https://rsport.ria.ru/interview/20171019/1127397065.html

Excerpts from the translation: http://fs-gossips.com/brian-orser-hanyu-is-focused-on-winning-the-olympics/

What was the starting point, forcing you to separate your athletes at different skating rinks?

– It happened not so long ago, a little over a month ago. Suddenly it began to feel that the ice load had increased. At the moment, we have six singles and one pair preparing for the Olympic Games: Javi, Yuzuru, Elizabet [Tursynbaeva], Gabby Daleman, another Spaniard Javi Raya, a Korean boy [Jun Hwan Cha] … plus Dylan Moscovitch with partner [Lubov].

... In general, guys have quite friendly relationships, but let’s speak frankly, in the Olympic season everyone fights for himself. Each of these skaters deserves a certain personal space and personal comfort. I started to notice that, working with Yuzuru, I always watch Javier out the corner of my eye. And vice versa. But it should not be like this, it affects the quality of training. Therefore, actually, the idea of two different ice rinks arose. From time to time me, Javi and Gabby just go to another ice rink and work there, while other specialists of our group work with Yuzuru at our main rink.

Re. 2017 Canadian junior champion Stephen Gogolev:

– I have one of such skaters. He does all quads, including lutz, and he is only 12 years old. I guess, he said that he did his first triple axel three years ago. How old was he, nine?
... When I look at how my 12-year-old athlete works on combination of quad lutz and toeloop, I’m just puzzled, trying to imagine myself on his place. He even has no fear: just a jump, nothing special.
Can such jumping loads provoke early injuries? Much, of course, depends on how much the athlete is technical. My guy has good technique. He has a sports family, his parents were engaged in sports and understand it. Since the growth process at 12 years is in high gear, the athlete periodically has knee pain. But such problems are solved quite simply: we remove the jumping load and work on something else – steps, skating skills, choreography.

 

[kwanfan1818]

In it he says the Team Event will only affect Daleman and Hanyu. If there's a Russian speaker who's reading the original, is the wording definite? Or could it mean that, at most, the two that *could* be affected are those two?

 

[RoseRed]

In it he says the Team Event will only affect Daleman and Hanyu. If there's a Russian speaker who's reading the original, is the wording definite? Or could it mean that, at most, the two that *could* be affected are those two?

That's a good point. At first I thought he'd have more skaters who could be affected by the team event and I thought of I/M, but I figured he didn't mention them since he isn't actually one of their coaches. But South Korea is in the mix for the final couple of spots, and Cha Jun-hwan could still make the team.

I suppose that barring injury, Japan will be planning on using Hanyu for one and Shoma for the other program. That would give them both a chance to get out their, but neither would be too tired. Anyways, unless Hanyu doesn't want to do it, you know they'll have him do at least one.

I don't think it's 100% that Gabby will do it, but it does seem pretty likely. I think they'll split pairs for sure, since that's the first individual event, and Tessa and Scott will skate both portions (they've said publicly that they'd be happy to if Skate Canada wants them to). If Patrick is willing to skate both portions (and it sounds like team gold is his focus this year, so he probably is), then they can split ladies too. Gabby would probably do the long program in that case.