Zagitova announces a temporary suspension of her competitive career; will perform in shows, incl. 'Art on Ice 2020'

Vagabond said:
Whatever did happen to Robin Wagner?
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Last I remember, she tried to do the “look what you did” thing for Sylvia Fontana in Torino but Sylvia was an adult woman by that point and wasn’t into the cheese of that moment.
 
VGThuy said:
Last I remember, she tried to do the “look what you did” thing for Sylvia Fontana in Torino but Sylvia was an adult woman by that point and wasn’t into the cheese of that moment.
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That was quite a while ago.

Maybe Robin Wagner went back to school to get a degree. :unsure:
 
VGThuy said:
I remember wondering what Hughes’ educated family thought about having to do those lame ABC fluff pieces about how big and close their family was with shots of Sarah flipping a single pancake and the ten of them watching her do it.

Also, she tried to cash in doing SOI for a year but she and I think that tour didn’t last very long, but I think education was always the end goal. I mean she went to Yale and her younger sister Emily went to Harvard. Education had to be a priority for them to get in.

I was always curious as to how Sarah and Emily ended up with different coaches. Something tells me that family also valued giving them individual experiences as well.
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The Hughes father went to Cornell. I know he played hockey there but not sure if that was on a school sponsored team or as part of a club. I suspect the latter.
 
VGThuy said:
I remember wondering what Hughes’ educated family thought about having to do those lame ABC fluff pieces about how big and close their family was with shots of Sarah flipping a single pancake and the ten of them watching her do it.

Also, she tried to cash in doing SOI for a year but she and I think that tour didn’t last very long, but I think education was always the end goal. I mean she went to Yale and her younger sister Emily went to Harvard. Education had to be a priority for them to get in.

I was always curious as to how Sarah and Emily ended up with different coaches. Something tells me that family also valued giving them individual experiences as well.
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They were crying all the way to the bank, I'm sure. I think they knew exactly what the game was, and what they had to do to help Sarah to parlay her win into as much good stuff as possible.
 
Nadya said:
They were crying all the way to the bank, I'm sure. I think they knew exactly what the game was, and what they had to do to help Sarah to parlay her win into as much good stuff as possible.
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I have no recollection of the Hughes family "crying" about anything. They are wealthy and didn't need Sarah to find their "way to the bank". They supported their daughters' careers as long as the girls wanted to skate. Then Sarah and Emily went onto Yale and Harvard. Hardly a family that exploits their children to get rich.
 
Nadya said:
I think they knew exactly what the game was, and what they had to do to help Sarah to parlay her win into as much good stuff as possible.
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At the time, there was a lot of criticism of the way her father, acting as her manager, didn't take enough advantage of all of the opportunities dangled in front of her. I suspect that someone like Solomon would have unearthed a few more gold mines.
 
Why are S. Hughes and Zagitova’s situations even being compared in the first place? aside from completely different circumstances,If Sarah had any of the qualities and achievements Alina has she would have been and still be one of the biggest names in U.S. winter sports.
 
Nadya said:
They were crying all the way to the bank, I'm sure. I think they knew exactly what the game was, and what they had to do to help Sarah to parlay her win into as much good stuff as possible.
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LOL, the Hughes famously supported Sarah's and Emiliy's skating as a hobby. Olympic medals were never the end game. The fact the girls were that successful is the testament to their personal drive and commitment. They never attempted to parlay the skating careers into anything other then elite education. If you know anything about the family at all it's that they didn't need Sarah to earn the money for them.
 
Let's see. Both Sarah and Alina had lousy posture, control-freak coaches and an unexpected Olympic win. Both wins resulted in changing the rules (no UR 3-3s given credit, limited backloading) so that THAT wouldn't happen again, a sure sign from any organization that it's not thrilled with how things played out.

Both have always seemed like very nice girls.
 
DimaToe said:
Why are S. Hughes and Zagitova’s situations even being compared in the first place? aside from completely different circumstances,If Sarah had any of the qualities and achievements Alina has she would have been and still be one of the biggest names in U.S. winter sports.
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Oh, you mean qualities like being one of only two ladies Olympic
Champion from Russia? Or that Russia had to wait so long for its first one? Yeah, lucky her. Well, unfortunately for her those qualities are ephemeral, as I would hope Russia’s current crop of very talented girls will result in many more ladies champions to come.
 
kwanfan1818 said:
At the time, there was a lot of criticism of the way her father, acting as her manager, didn't take enough advantage of all of the opportunities dangled in front of her. I suspect that someone like Solomon would have unearthed a few more gold mines.
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No, I think their father managed it appropriately. He could see that a skating career is fraught with dangers of injury and obscurity, let alone very little money. He could probably also see that both Sarah and Emily's builds were such they would probably had trouble retaining their jumps much past puberty, and both Hughes girls had limited charms on the ice apart from jumps and teenage exuberance. He saw, very appropriately, that the best way for Sarah (Emily didn't have that much bling) was to enjoy her Olympic win, take advantage of the attendant opportunities for a year or two, and then direct her energy toward academics. And you better believe that an Olympic medal in her CV helped her Ivy admission chances in a super major way. He's a smart man and a good parent.
 
Perky Shae Lynn said:
LOL, the Hughes famously supported Sarah's and Emiliy's skating as a hobby. Olympic medals were never the end game. The fact the girls were that successful is the testament to their personal drive and commitment. They never attempted to parlay the skating careers into anything other then elite education. If you know anything about the family at all it's that they didn't need Sarah to earn the money for them.
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THAT's the game. Don't be so literal.
 
alchemy void said:
If there's one thing figure skating needs right now, it's a Robin Wagner comeback. 😍
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Pardon me for hijacking the thread any further, but didn't Wagner get into some trouble a few years later for essentially stealing some students from other coaches (please correct me if I'm wrong)?

As for Sarah, her family way over-pushed the "shes going to school" aspect which did impact her endorsements. I remember that while she was the headliner for COI (not SOI) in 2002, her Dad got into a tiff with Tom Collins for the following year, so no Sara on COI. Sara was only in SOI from 2004 to 2005, and at the time it was obvious she was out of shape and she could not do triples. IIRC, her programs pretty much didn't include jumps at all. She did not return to the tour (I recall a snark supposedly between Scott Hamilton and another skater while watching her that "her option was not the only thing that needed to be exercised...)
 
I‘m trying to put this nicely, but I can’t help also think her father knew the public appeal of both of his daughters were limited as well. They didn’t have much fanfare during their prime and they could compare it with Kwan or even Sasha who had more of one. Even when Sarah headlined COI post-SLC, I remember Kwan being showcased as if she was one during the ending group numbers, which was a wise business decision from Mr. Collins.

I will say although Sarah’s win was unexpected the grandfathering in (or the rules allowing junior world medalists to compete at senior worlds) allowed her to skate four full seasons as a senior establishing herself. She had one more season than Med did by the time they competed at their Olympics and two more than Tara.
 
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Vagabond said:
:rofl:
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feraina said:
Oh, you mean qualities like being one of only two ladies Olympic
Champion from Russia? Or that Russia had to wait so long for its first one? Yeah, lucky her. Well, unfortunately for her those qualities are ephemeral, as I would hope Russia’s current crop of very talented girls will result in many more ladies champions to come.
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Zagitova was also a world champion, which Sarah was never. Oh, Zagitova also won the GPF, which Sarah never did. Also, Zagitova was also a Junior world champion which Sarah Hughes never managed. Zagitova won the 4cc/European title, again Sarah Hughes never won them... also the JGPFs, her own nationals, etc.

To summarise, Zagitova won everything to win in the sport and Sarah Hughes won a surprise Olympic gold and nothing else of importance.
 
Coco said:
Beating Kwan AND Slutskaya at a GP event under 6.0 scoring is nothing to sneeze at, imo.
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:rofl: , Sorry still doesn't come close to Zagitova and hence the problem. Zagitova is taking a break after winning everything to win in the sport. Sarah Hughes never managed to be anywhere near that achievement.
 
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