Skaters who might consider moving to the US soon

The most obvious examples are the mostly Russian/Ukrainian skaters and their coaches who've made the United States their home, mostly in the mid to late 90s: Petrenko, Baiul, Gordeyeva and the late Grinkov, and numerous ice dancers (many more than pairs skaters) who sometimes still represent[ed] their home country but otherwise live and train here (weird that some of these ice dancers had a history of soap opera behind them...Pasha Grishuk). Non-Russian skaters like Yuka Sato (JPN), Surya Bonaly (FRA), Chait and Sakhnovsky (ISR), Silvia Fontana (who's a dual Italian/American citizen, actually born here and married to John Zimmerman). Recent "emigres" were Yagudin, Alexander Abt, Morosov.
Part-time or one-time residents/trainees include, of course, Shizuka (Eastbury, CT), Fumie (Chicago fall 2004), Yoshie (Canada).

So do you guys think Irina, Plushenko, and Shizuka for that matter will seriously consider moving to the US in the near future??
Personally I think Irina and her mother would benefit greatly in terms of better healthcare and proximity to many home compatriots, plus the upside of guaranteed yearly tour spots. Of course they have to deal with homesickness and language barrier (which should not be a problem with Irina, maybe Shizuka).

I can't really imagine any of these moving to the US (Irina,Plush,Shiz) not only the language barrier but also culture shock - they seem to embrace their own culture and for someone like Plushy and Shizuka the only reason to come to the US would be to get away from all their fans - they are probably already or will be huge stars in their homelands from now on so I could only see them moving here in order to get more privacy

Don't see either Irina or Evgeny ever moving outside of Russia. Neither one of them plans to coach; they are celebrities back home, thier families are there and right now there are plenty of opportunities to make a living in Russia.

Chait and Sakhnovsky plan to coach in Israel after their carrers are over.

Shizuka *does* live & train in the USA now. According to her current ISU bio, she's based in Simsbury, CT, and is coached by Nikolai Morozov.

Frau Muller said:

Shizuka *does* live & train in the USA now. According to her current ISU bio, she's based in Simsbury, CT, and is coached by Nikolai Morozov.

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oh yea, duh, I knew that but forgot!! - I can't see her living here forever and settling down for good. I imagine her moving back to Japan

I doubt after her performance at the Olympics she will be in the U.S. for long (Shizuka). I'm sure she will have plenty of endorsements and appearances to make for quite a long time. In the more distant future, who knows? Doesn't Miki Ando also train in CT? I'm not positive on this, but I don't think the Japanese school systems give the same liberty as U.S. schools do to skaters. You'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a Japanese student who only goes to half a day of school.

Ando trains with Heiss-Jenkins, who I think is in Cleveland.

Many skaters move to Canada to train - some remain and become citizens. I can see them moving here for our health benefits, better than the States. Takeshi Honda is now living here permanately, so is Victor Kraatz. Also Stephen Cousins lives in Canada and married a Canadian.

We did have Fedor Andreev, but I am not sure where he is at the moment. He was not in the Canadians 2005.

http://www.canoe.ca/SlamSkatingArchive/jan24_sktott2.html

I can't see either Irina or Plushenko moving to North America. They both love Russia and have their lives there. But then you never know!!

Well- Shizuka trains here but I do not think living here is the long term goal. She's not like Gritschuk who wanted to go to Hollywood or even Sato who came here for the pro circuit (which is no more) then married.

I think anyone who wanted to live in the US would already be here. Aren't T/M anxious to move back to Russia? And Chen and Petrov moved to China- so maybe the new trend is leaving the US for your homeland.

Didn't someone post news about Yagudin purchasing a home in BC?

Frankly I don't know why these immigrants would want to leave their own countries where figure skating is more appreciated by the populace and not just by the fans.

Joe

Joesitz said:

Frankly I don't know why these immigrants would want to leave their own countries where figure skating is more appreciated by the populace and not just by the fans.

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Most skaters do not start out wanting to immigrate (exception Shpilband and Abt, neither one ethnically Russian btw). Most others come here to train since conditions here are indeed much better. However, once you get accustomed to certain things, it's very hard to go back; some, like Gordeeva and Kulik, find "happy homes" here; other, like Yagudin, keep going back and forth, wanting to go back and yet having difficulty doing so.

Of the current eligible Russian skaters:
Navka & Kostomarov. Navka will obviously stay in the US - she and Zhulin have already established themselves here. Not sure about what Roman's plans are.
Domnina & Shabalin, Kokhlova & Novitsky. Live and train in Russia; could move to the US for potential coaching changes.
Orlova & Novikov. Train in the US.

Totmianina & Marinin. Train in Chicago, say they want to go back. Will be interesting to see if they do.
All other pairs tain in Russia, and I don't see this changing, since Moskvina, the Velikovs, and Pavlova are all there.

All the current top single skaters live in Russia. The only one who tried training in the US for a while is Volchkova when she trained with Vasiliev, and Griazev when TT was in the US. The only way I see this changing is if any of them come to train with Arutunian.

Non-eligible Russian skaters are indeed a different story. Those who have settled here firmly include: Gordeeva, Kulik, Abt, Baiul, Petrenko, Usova, Gritshuk, Platov, Zhulin. Except for Usova, Baiul, and Platov everyone on that list has children who are accustomed to America, so they are pretty much stuck here.
Others keep going back and forth: Berezhnaya & Sikhuralidze, Yagudin
Yet others have lived here while they needed to train in the US, and left immediately after: Lobacheva & Averbukh.

Of the older Russian champions. Rodnina lived in the US, even had her daughter here, but left once conditions at home improved & daughter became of age. Zaitsev, Ovskyannikov coach in the US.

Ptichka said:

Totmianina & Marinin. Train in Chicago, say they want to go back. Will be interesting to see if they do.
All other pairs tain in Russia, and I don't see this changing, since Moskvina, the Velikovs, and Pavlova are all there.

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TT/MM returned to Piter last August and trained there all season.
Vasiliev said he'll be coaching in Piter next season too.