Zhulin: Hard to Accept that Liu is Oly Champion but Valieva is Not

[Theatregirl1122]

Weird how he fails to engage with the fact that Kamilla lost to Anna. And Sasha and Kaori. Alysa’s gold was four years later. What do they even have to do with each other.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Alexander Zhulin: “It’s hard to accept that Liu is an Olympic champion, but Valieva is not.”

Alexander Zhulin stated that he cannot call Alysa Liu the strongest figure skater in the world.

fs-gossips.com

Maybe we should have two categories for gold: one with grandpa's backwash, one without!

OMG. I spat Wild Cherry Pepsi Max all over my screen reading that.

You win the internet with that remark!

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I think all of the Russian girls at Sambo70 were victims. Much like the East German swimmers.

Funny you should type that.

Back in the day I saw a fascinating documentary about the East German Sports doping program, and how many of the athletes were unaware of what was happening to them.

What I found really interesting is that years later several of them were interviewed and said their medals meant nothing because doping distorted the true value of their athletic worth. They never really knew their actual potential.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Out of interest I watched Valieva, Scherbakova and Trusova in Beijing again. It was all jump jump jump and gosh, the girls looked so disengaged and miserable like someone was pointing a gun at their heads while they skated.

Such a stark contrast to Milano where everyone looked so happy to be there and supported each other to do their best.

 

[PRlady]

Rewatched Valieva’s Beijing TE Bolero program. The choreo is so repetitive and angular, there’s no grace at all. But most important is how upset she is as soon as the music stops for falling on one jump, despite successfully landing quads and a 3A. The look on her face is just awful. Don’t miss this a bit.

 

[Cachoo]

Rewatched Valieva’s Beijing TE Bolero program. The choreo is so repetitive and angular, there’s no grace at all. But most important is how upset she is as soon as the music stops for falling on one jump, despite successfully landing quads and a 3A. The look on her face is just awful. Don’t miss this a bit.

Yes, I have been reading comments on social media attatched to Alysa's skating. Of course some are Americans who are over the moon at being on the Olympic podium again and some are comments about the good vibes of the whole competition and the camaradarie of the women. I think the third group is the most interesting. These are people who are not that familiar with skating but who felt compelled to comment on how her evident joy affected them. A second smaller group were people who knew her story from "60 Minutes" and loved her approach to competition. She's something new I think. I do wonder what the Russians think of her approach.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I assume they think she is a one-of-a-kind, and that the rest of the Women in the world are under the same stresses that their athletes are. And that she will be wiped from the podium the first year they are allowed three back.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

I enjoyed Anna's skate. No need to put her down to make a point. Valieva is also a lovely skater, and yes she did look like she was about to die from pressure.

 

[Cachoo]

I wish we had some of Alysa's Olympic programs without commentary. I did find this one from Nationals. And then I found Anna's Olympic short......I honestly prefer Alysa's program but I can understand the next person liking Anna. Of course I'm sure Zhulin is talking about the quads.

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[Icetalavista]

OMG. I spat Wild Cherry Pepsi Max all over my screen reading that.

You win the internet with that remark!

And Averbukh said StepBuk could have won silver. Okay, Ilia.

 

[PRlady]

I wish we had some of Alysa's Olympic programs without commentary. I did find this one from Nationals. And then I found Anna's Olympic short......I honestly prefer Alysa's program but I can understand the next person liking Anna. Of course I'm sure Zhulin is talking about the quads.

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I compared Anna’s SP to Isabeau’s. The girls are similar in physical type and both skate lightly. But Isabeau looks healthy (and slender) and Anna looks emaciated. Isabeau skates the music with a persona all her own, Anna is saddled with the same kicks and dramatic arms all the Eteri girls had. I can’t help but wonder what Anna could have done with some individuality and her own style…

Here’s Isabeau, watch her with Anna back to back:

Isabeau Levito in eighth after SPECIAL debut in women's short | Winter Olympics 2026 | NBC Sports

Isabeau Levito made her Olympic debut skating to 'Almost In Your Arms' and 'Zou Bisou Bisou' in her Sophia Loren-inspired short program. Levito finished the ...

youtu.be

 

[DORISPULASKI]

Step Bukh would have a problem outscoring Vadym & Emilea

 

[olympic]

Jutta Mueller's female pupils used to have a signature jump landing where they landed up w/ the back straight holding an arm out like they were presenting something, but they had flow.

OTOH - Eteri's pupils completely muscle their jumps which doesn't permit an even flow of the blade out of the jump landing. It reminds me more of gymnastics and stuck landings (full rotations) than skating. Add to that the way skaters like Zagitova used to rock on her blade to get on an outside lutz edge, and most of her top skaters overwork their hips and arms in between combos. The technique - It's not inspiring to watch. And didn't Anna Shcherbakova have a hideous pre-rotation on her 4F?

 

[sk9tingfan]

At the time, one of my responsibilities was reviewing on a monthly basis all federal as well as commercial drug data bases. The drug used was one that was disallowed by the federal government due to suboptimal performance was trimetazdiine.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/sport/trimetazidine-what-is-the-competition-banned-drug-that-russian-figure-skater-kamila-valieva-tested-positive-for

There was absolutely no reason for her to be subjected to this drug.

 

[Karina1974]

Out of interest I watched Valieva, Scherbakova and Trusova in Beijing again. It was all jump jump jump and gosh, the girls looked so disengaged and miserable like someone was pointing a gun at their heads while they skated.

Such a stark contrast to Milano where everyone looked so happy to be there and supported each other to do their best.

No different than the USSR athletes competing as pawns for the government. The dissolution in 1991 didn't change that.

 

[kwanfan1818]

And Averbukh said StepBuk could have won silver. Okay, Ilia.

Some of the same (clan of) judges who thought Sinitsina/Katsalapov earned silver in 2022 would have been there.

 

[Jammers]

No different than the USSR athletes competing as pawns for the government. The dissolution in 1991 didn't change that.

That's how it was behind the Iron Bloc and still today in Russia. Never question the glorious leader and do what you are told and never question anything those East German women truly thought that their training was why they were so much better then the rest of the world. Makes you wonder if the Russian people will ever truly free themselves and demand better or just stay subservient for another century. Looking back at Russian history the people have never really lived in something resembling a free country so it seems that's what they like.

 

[jamesy]

Weird how he fails to engage with the fact that Kamilla lost to Anna. And Sasha and Kaori. Alysa’s gold was four years later. What do they even have to do with each other.

If I was being interviewed for something I would totally take the opportunity to pick two random skaters and moan about their placements. "Hard to accept that Kim is Olympic champion but Kwan is not."

 

[Theatregirl1122]

It’s really hard for me to accept that dick button is an Olympic champion and Ilia Malinin is not. How many quads did Dick Button even do?

 

[VGThuy]

You know… Zhulin was right. Stepanova/Bukin would have won silver. Not because they deserved it but because Russian politics does its dirty thing like always.

Like how he can’t believe Liu is Olympic champ, I can’t believe Sinitsina/Katsalapov won an Olympic silver medal last time with his horrific posture, Irish jig dancing that was misplaced showing no understanding of coherency in choreography, and that also showed neither Viki or Niki have any natural rhythm or actual dance ability whatsoever. I also can’t believe Kostomorov has an Olympic gold medal and so may superior male ice dancers don’t. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Russia is the main reason I wanted ice dance out of the Olympics. 2002 was the most obvious example of how Soviet-style politicking, and western country reactionary behavior that was just as bad, was particularly heinous in the Ice Dance and how it spoiled the other disciplines. Of course, in 2002, that only seemed to happen because Marina Anissina smelled a plot against her and made sure politicking fell in her favor just to ensure she got the gold she deserved. I mean she had to, she and Gwendal did themselves no favors with that frightful but well-intentioned FD.

 

[Winnipeg]

I mean, let's face it, there are many examples throughout the history of FS competitions where a person could say "I can't believe skate X won the gold over skater Z."

 

[VGThuy]

I mean, let's face it, there are many examples throughout the history of FS competitions where a person could say "I can't believe skate X won the gold over skater Z."

I’m going to try to make Zhulin feel better by reminding him of the times when the right skaters won the Olympic gold medal over their undeserving rivals… like at the ice dance competitions during the 1992 and 1994 Olympic games.

 

[olympic]

You know… Zhulin was right. Stepanova/Bukin would have won silver. Not because they deserved it but because Russian politics does its dirty thing like always.

Like how he can’t believe Liu is Olympic champ, I can’t believe Sinitsina/Katsalapov won an Olympic silver medal last time with his horrific posture, Irish jig dancing that was misplaced showing no understanding of coherency in choreography, and that also showed neither Viki or Niki have any natural rhythm or actual dance ability whatsoever. I also can’t believe Kostomorov has an Olympic gold medal and so may superior male ice dancers don’t. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Russia is the main reason I wanted ice dance out of the Olympics. 2002 was the most obvious example of how Soviet-style politicking and western country reactionary behavior that was just as bad was particularly heinous in the Ice Dance and how it spoiled the other disciplines. Of course, in 2002, that only seemed to happen because Marina Anissina smelled a plot against her and made sure politicking fell in her favor just to ensure she got the gold she deserved. I mean she had to, she and Gwendal did themselves no favors with that frightful but well-intentioned FD.

Did Zhulin say that re S/B?

I am of a similar mind that S/B would probably have been politicked into bronze medal positions at Milano 2026, not necessarily silver medalists because I do think RUS would not have found an 'in' to get S/B ahead of the Americans C/B, who have so many world titles and had been skating at 99%.

But putting S/B ahead of Piper and Paul in an alternate universe would have been equally scandalous