German Pairs News
- Thread starter Anke G
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Ptichka said:
I, too, want to thank Sandra for sharing the information she has!! I looked for info about athlete support on the DEU site and couldn't find it either. Thank you Sandra!
As to Steuer's Stasi involvement, someone on a German forum I read shared some information she received from the German Olympic Committee. It seems that Steuer's cover-up over the years (he has known since 1994 that there was a file on him) has been very damaging. Had he fessed up sooner, the brouhaha surrounding Aliona and Robin during the Olympics might have been avoided. Werner is right about that.
In any case, there does seem to be ample evidence that Ingo actively participated in informing, and in suggesting names of individuals he could report on. He also apparently received higher payments than was the norm for his activities. The German OC will not release the evidence, but they felt they could not ignore it.
It's just a very tragic case. I fear I would not react very bravely in a totalitarian regime, so I won't pass judgment, but I can also understand the need to not ignore the activity. It's so very difficult to reconcile and move forward. I do feel the west Germans have missed many opportunities to bridge the gap with the east, and as I think about it, maybe it does have something to do with all that whinging!
Ptichka said:
I totally agree! I think the DEU is not being realistic if they think they can get a world-class coach to move to Chemnitz, and frankly, if they think they can dictate to Aliona and Robin whom they will work with. It's a battle of wills at this point.
Ptichka said:
I highly doubt Vassiliev would agree to coach this team. The impression I got from Vassiliev is that he is very keen on maintaining the Russian tradition of winning pairs titles and I don't think he would jeopardize that by coaching a team that could develop into a legitimate threat to win an OGM. I see Oleg putting his energies into the Russian team he's coaching now (those juniors whose names escape me) and trying to develop them into the next OGMs.
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
I don't really get that sense from him. I think if he is offered enough money and a talented enough team to work with, he'd take them in a heart beat. I just don't think he'd move to Germany for it.soogar said:
My dream would be for them to work with Moskvina. Of course she's set on remaining in Petersburg...
Anke, as for Steuer - I have extremely mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, just about everyone in the German elite sport worked with Stasi in one way or another; on the other hand, I have no problem with a person being punished for consciously destroying careers and/or lives of others as an adult. That's why I would like to know exactly what he did, and be able to decide for myself.
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Ptichka said:
I've wondered about Moskvina, too. If I remember correctly, she has worked with German skaters during summer camps sponsored by the DEU. And she is impressed by Savchenko/Szolkowy. I suppose it's possible they could train in St. Petersburg. But the biggest hurdle is still their loyalty to Ingo.
attyfan said:
I suspect that most of the candidates are Russian, and Russian would be the preferred "foreign" language for Robin and Aliona. I'm pretty sure both Aliona and Robin speak Russian (Robin grew up in East Germany) and probably not much English.
Ingo Steuer has indicated that he needs to learn better English to deal with the ISU rules. The odd thing is that all the news reports about his desire to study English say he's studying English and American *literature*! Don't know if that's his ignorance about university courses, or the reporter's/editor's confusion.
Ptichka said:
There is a difference between working and working, LOL. The problem is that Steur apparently worked much more than the others. I noticed on FSUniverse this article with plenty of info in German:
http://www.faz.net/s/Rub9CD731D06F1...4DAED549AC468E6C2B~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2004
Woah, that's some story and the biggest loosers here are Robin and Aliona. Thanks for the post, Anke.
Moskovina would be a good choice. She is coaching an American team that trains in St. Petersburg, so Robin and Aliona would not be "out of place". On the other hand, Moskovina coaches at least one more young Russian team in addition to Obertas and Slavnov (and what are they up to?) so would she want to coach a direct competitor to her teams? And if she is ok with that, I wonder what Piseev would have to say on this subject!
I am not sure if representing Ukraine is a realistic possibility. My understanding is that Aliona felt she was not getting enough support there, so why would she (and them) want to be back representing Ukraine with a German partner?
Moskovina would be a good choice. She is coaching an American team that trains in St. Petersburg, so Robin and Aliona would not be "out of place". On the other hand, Moskovina coaches at least one more young Russian team in addition to Obertas and Slavnov (and what are they up to?) so would she want to coach a direct competitor to her teams? And if she is ok with that, I wonder what Piseev would have to say on this subject!
I am not sure if representing Ukraine is a realistic possibility. My understanding is that Aliona felt she was not getting enough support there, so why would she (and them) want to be back representing Ukraine with a German partner?
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Borzenkova & Chuviliaev now quit skating. Obertas & Slavnov went back to training with the Velikovs. Surprisingly enough, Shestakova & Lebedev chose to train with Vasiliev, not Moskvina. Originally I heard that Mukhortova & Trankov were going to Chicago as well, but now there have been rumors they'll go to Moskvina as well.STL_Blues_fan said:
In general, Moskvina likes to have to competing teams; she believes this creates a competitive training environment and pushes skaters more.
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2006
Ptichka said:
http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html
Note that it does Text and whole websites
Works well and much easier. Sometimes the translation can be strange needing clarification - but just a sentence or two is allot easier then the whole thing.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
I love these translating programs. Here are the first two paragraphs of the article, courtesy of Wordlingo:
11 May 2006
Ingo tax is a mitlaeufer. That fits great the occupation: An ice art runner as state security service informers of subordinated importance. Unfortunately Mr. Steuer did not only jump on the ice powerfully. No, it also stretched itself and strained for the company. That is now for two months well-known. IN the Torsten humans according to all rules of the art denunziert.
Nevertheless tax in an interview of the "Bild" newspaper was allowed to act like the pursued one, felt treated like "a murderer": The author as victims of a medialen witch hunt. This strategy tried tax Tuesday evening in the transmission "humans with Maischberger" away spiders.
ITA: away with spiders!
I once tried to use Babblefish to read an article in French about Sale and Pelletier. I learned a lot about Jamie Salt Merchant and David Fur Trader.
11 May 2006
Ingo tax is a mitlaeufer. That fits great the occupation: An ice art runner as state security service informers of subordinated importance. Unfortunately Mr. Steuer did not only jump on the ice powerfully. No, it also stretched itself and strained for the company. That is now for two months well-known. IN the Torsten humans according to all rules of the art denunziert.
Nevertheless tax in an interview of the "Bild" newspaper was allowed to act like the pursued one, felt treated like "a murderer": The author as victims of a medialen witch hunt. This strategy tried tax Tuesday evening in the transmission "humans with Maischberger" away spiders.
ITA: away with spiders!
I once tried to use Babblefish to read an article in French about Sale and Pelletier. I learned a lot about Jamie Salt Merchant and David Fur Trader.
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- Joined
- Mar 19, 2006
Mathman said:ITA: away with spiders!
I once tried to use Babblefish to read an article in French about Sale and Pelletier. I learned a lot about Jamie Salt Merchant and David Fur Trader.
? spiders? Do you mean slurp?
I read an article about Shizuka and all it talked about was someone names "Quite Fragrance."
- fortunately I caught on quickly.Today's news:
http://de.sports.yahoo.com/23052006/30/chemnitzer-paar-wil-steuer-trainieren.html
http://www.mdr.de/sport/andere_sportarten/2928692.html
(If you understand German, watch the video at the end of the story.)
http://www.freiepresse.de/NACHRICHTEN/SPORT/SPORT_MIX/559565.html
http://www.freiepresse.de/NACHRICHTEN/SPORT/SPORT_MIX/560035.html
http://www.welt.de/data/2006/05/24/891432.html
Ingo wants to meet with DEU officials to try to work something out. Up until now, he's only been communicating with them through his lawyers, so his letter requesting a meeting is a change. DEU President Mirmseker says, no, it's over; there's no mutual trust.
Savchenko and Szolkowy found out about the DEU's decision by e-mail from the DEU [I'm sorry, but that's tacky]. They say they will continue to work with Steuer; they can't imagine working with any other coach. They already have their new programs worked out.
In the video, Robin says that if it doesn't work out, they'll have to go somewhere else and orient themselves anew. Mirmseker says Robin and Aliona will be fully supported as long as they leave Steuer. It's not unusual for world-class athletes to changes coaches. First and foremost, it's up to the pair: they have to know if they want to continue their career... [AARGH, the news director switched to Ingo before Mirmseker finished his sentence.] Ingo says that if it doesn't work out with the DEU, maybe there will be a private sponsor to help take "Project Savchenko Szolkowy Steuer" to a gold medal.
[He seems to be overlooking the national affiliation part...]
There's also concern in Chemnitz about what will happen to their training program in general. The director of the Chemnitz center is Monika Scheibe (Ingo's former coach), and she also has a Stasi past, so the Interior Ministry's ruling that no public funds can be used to pay for former Stasi informants could affect her as well. A member of the Bundestag asked the Interior Ministry about other Stasi informants being paid out of public funds and has not yet gotten a response.
[I'm picking up from various sources that German training centers are supported by the DEU only when they have promising skaters, and losing DEU support can be tough. Maybe someone can give us more information. In any case, there could be a whole new can of worms for the German sports federations to deal with.]
http://de.sports.yahoo.com/23052006/30/chemnitzer-paar-wil-steuer-trainieren.html
http://www.mdr.de/sport/andere_sportarten/2928692.html
(If you understand German, watch the video at the end of the story.)
http://www.freiepresse.de/NACHRICHTEN/SPORT/SPORT_MIX/559565.html
http://www.freiepresse.de/NACHRICHTEN/SPORT/SPORT_MIX/560035.html
http://www.welt.de/data/2006/05/24/891432.html
Ingo wants to meet with DEU officials to try to work something out. Up until now, he's only been communicating with them through his lawyers, so his letter requesting a meeting is a change. DEU President Mirmseker says, no, it's over; there's no mutual trust.
Savchenko and Szolkowy found out about the DEU's decision by e-mail from the DEU [I'm sorry, but that's tacky]. They say they will continue to work with Steuer; they can't imagine working with any other coach. They already have their new programs worked out.
In the video, Robin says that if it doesn't work out, they'll have to go somewhere else and orient themselves anew. Mirmseker says Robin and Aliona will be fully supported as long as they leave Steuer. It's not unusual for world-class athletes to changes coaches. First and foremost, it's up to the pair: they have to know if they want to continue their career... [AARGH, the news director switched to Ingo before Mirmseker finished his sentence.] Ingo says that if it doesn't work out with the DEU, maybe there will be a private sponsor to help take "Project Savchenko Szolkowy Steuer" to a gold medal.
[He seems to be overlooking the national affiliation part...]
There's also concern in Chemnitz about what will happen to their training program in general. The director of the Chemnitz center is Monika Scheibe (Ingo's former coach), and she also has a Stasi past, so the Interior Ministry's ruling that no public funds can be used to pay for former Stasi informants could affect her as well. A member of the Bundestag asked the Interior Ministry about other Stasi informants being paid out of public funds and has not yet gotten a response.
[I'm picking up from various sources that German training centers are supported by the DEU only when they have promising skaters, and losing DEU support can be tough. Maybe someone can give us more information. In any case, there could be a whole new can of worms for the German sports federations to deal with.]
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2006
Anke G said:
I think the costs for skaters and the funding levels vary a lot from center to center. In the centers of the Stuttgart region "Team members" get free ice time, athletics and balett plus some funding for the trainer costs.
From some parents reports I got that the monthly training cost normally vary from €150 to €1000 a month, plus around €1000 for each European competition.
Some centers are also very lucky with Sponsors. The Mannheim Center got free summer training in a Fitness & Injury Prevention center for 6 senior level skaters.
I think currently the top centers for single skaters would be
- Berlin
- Oberstdorf with coach Michael Huth
- Mannheim
- Dortmund
For pairs I would say
- Dortmund (Handke/Wende, Vartmann/Just, Dargatz/Vogel-junior) with coach Kurt Schubert
- Chemnitz (only Aljona and Robin left)
For ice dancers i believe
- Dortmund - Vitali Schulz & Rostislav Sinitsyn
- Berlin - Hendrick Schamberger as coach
