Disaster for Johnny Weir | Golden Skate

Disaster for Johnny Weir

S

SkateFan4Life

Guest
I watched ESPN's coveage of the men's freeskate from Skate Canada last evening. As usual, the broadcast included some of those inane "up close and personal" interviews with the American skaters.

Now Johnny Weir is entitled to say what he thinks - that's his right as an American. However, when he complains that men's skating is "boring" and that "all of the men look alike", etc. - and then he goes on and on about how he is so different, etc. - it just turns me off cold. IMHO, the guy is grossly immature, self-centered, and arrogant. Sure, he's a great skater, but does he have to rub everyone's nose in when he opens his mouth?

Right after this charming interview, Weir went out and skated a disastrous long program. He fell on his opening triple loop, then made a number of mistakes, stopped his circular footwork section and at times seemed to be giving up on his program. The commentators immediately wondered out loud if he was injured, and if he was, was he going to withdraw from the long program as he did at the 2003 US Nationals.

Well, he finished his program, although not impressively (for him). He took his bows with a shell-shocked expression, and then as he sat in the kiss 'n cry area with his coach, Priscilla Hill, he was crying his eyes out. Johnny had his head bowed to his knees so the camera could not film him crying. The word was that he had sprained his ankle on his first landed triple - the triple toe.

The cameras followed Weir and Hill walking back to the locker room. His injured right foot did not look swollen, but he was obviously in pain.

And today's USFSA website proclaims that Weir is back on the ice and training for Cup of Russia.

I just have to wonder - is this guy for real for what? If he, indeed, seriously sprained his ankle, what in heck is he doing returning to the ice so soon
 

Saundy

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Wow I had no idea he was like that...I guess you give a guy a bit of publicity and it all goes to his head.

I was disappointed that it was a bad skate because I was looking forward to seeing him skate for the first time - and in person. But ones health comes first so I guess I shouldn't be selfish...although judging by what I just read, I'm not the only one who's selfish! :laugh:
 

Kasey

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I think the point Johnny is trying to make is that CoP is prompting many of the skaters to do the same moves for points, especially in spins. Skaters are doing these moves whether they are good at them or not. Same goes for all the ladies trying the B-mann spin/spiral and the "dog at the hydrant" spiral (have no clue what the real name is). So a system meant to reward different and interesting choreography is, ironically, producing a lot of cloned moves. Certainly Johnny is not the only one to notice this trend. Kudos to him for having the moxie to say it, even though CoP has also been quite good to him, competition-wise.
 

cosmictears10

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 5, 2004
The COP system is definately creating clones of moves. While watching Skate Canada it was quite obviously. Girls were doing the same spiral moves, and same spin positions. What I thought was most obvious was in the dance, every lift or spin seemed to consist of the girl pulling her blade to her head. It may be difficult, although i'm not that certain, and it looks really bad. I just don't get where some people are going with this.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
I so agree with you, Kasey! And I think Johnny is also peeved at the USFS for making him change TT's programs to add 'difficulty', thus making Johnny's programs (which he had practiced for weeks and was comfortable with) look just like everyone else's.

Johnny has seemed very unhappy with the newly re-arranged programs and had not skated well at the Japanese Invitational, and his SP at SC was good but not great. I am hoping that his brush with injury will jolt him out of his funk and inspire him to skate really well at Cup of Russia.

He needs to think more positively if he wants to succeed this season.
 

sk8er1964

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Boy, SkateFan4Life. You really must dislike Johnny to post the same "DIsaster" thread in two areas. :scratch:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Is men's figure skating boring? I think the sport is in a little bit of a bind. If a football team scores a touchdown on an 80-yard pass, and then next week they do it again, and then next week another team does it, too, and then next week both teams do it -- football fans don't think that's boring.

In men's figure skating, the way to win is to do a quad, then do another one, then do a triple Axel, then do a real fast spin,... Is this boring?

Professional show skating is another matter, of course. Then we want to see sparkly costumes, dancy choreography and all the rest.

Mathman
 

STL_Blues_fan

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
sk8er1964 said:
Boy, SkateFan4Life. You really must dislike Johnny to post the same "DIsaster" thread in two areas. :scratch:

totally agree with you, sk8er1964.

Johnny has a full right to express his opinions. It might've been ironic to hear him say those things and then see the "disaster", have the FS aired live, but give me a break! ESPN had a whole week to edit the show. You think it was a chance that the network chose to air that (no doubt, a very much edited) interview right before the "disaster"? Anything to spice up the broadcast.

And who the heck are we to question athlete's injuries and their reaction to it? There's no doubt in my mind Johnny was in serious pain in the K&C area. and what's wrong with him crying if he is in pain, doesn't know the severity of the injury and possibly on the verge of loosing the season?

That was a mean and sharky post (in my opinion).

Yana
 

treeskater

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I liked the Weir interview - but more and more he reminds me of the demons John Curry experienced throughout his career. Weir wants to be artistic and emotional but does understand the need for technical elements. I think what frustrates him is the CoP is not rewarding the artisitc growth of skating. He did say right after his 'boring' comment that other male skaters probably think they are different from the pack too.

Weir is the American answer to all the translated foreign (most notably Russian) interviews people gobble up on the internet. Fans wish our skaters would be more forthright and yet when one of the (Weir) tells it like he sees it, we trash him. Whether I agree with his personal thoughts or not, I applaud him for having the guts to buck the system and let the media know how he thinks. The USFS might want to stiffle him as they still want our skaters to project the controlled puritanical image of decades ago.....IMHO
 
Top