Protopopovs plan for third Olympic gold! | Golden Skate

Protopopovs plan for third Olympic gold!

soogar

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Dec 18, 2003
I bet they'll skate in the exhibition if Russia gets the Olympics. That would be something else.
 

attyfan

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Mar 1, 2004
If they did, they would probably be the equivalent of Stephanie Rosenthal at this year's Nats -- the performance that every one talked about and every one liked, but still did not earn a lot of points. Maybe, though, if they did compete, MK and Irina could also -- without a lot of cracks getting made about their ages.
 

Ptichka

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Jul 28, 2003
If I recall, when Lausanne last hosted Worlds in '97, Protopopovs wanted to take part (Switzerland could enter a team, and didn't have any competitives ones in pairs). But ISU refused, saying they missed their chance to reinstate their eligibility ih '94, and therefore were ineligible. Nor could they take part in exhibitions only - ISU's rules clearly state that no team that did not take part in competition can be in exhibitions (a rule probably introduced after Totamianina & Marinin skated at Skate Russia exhibititions). Of course, taking part in the opening like Yamaguchi did in Salt Lake City is a different story.
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
What a lovely article! Their story is wonderful - both the skating and the marriage.

I'm not taking the Olympic idea seriously, but I would love to see them do an exhibition there... or anywhere. Dang rules.

I will have to look them up on youtube!
 

Ptichka

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Jul 28, 2003
Spun Silver said:
I'm not taking the Olympic idea seriously, but I would love to see them do an exhibition there... or anywhere. Dang rules.
It's just a short ride from NY to Boston where they skate every year at the Jummy Fund skate.
 

Jaana

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Jul 27, 2003
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Ptichka said:
Of course, taking part in the opening like Yamaguchi did in Salt Lake City is a different story.

Or taking part at the closing of Salt Lake Olympics....
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Isn't there a lot of animosity towards them in Russia and in the ISU for defecting? I've always thought this whole anti-Protopopov was more political than skating related.

They were a groundbreaking team in Pairs - not unlike other Soviet artists who defected, yet the Russian fans kept pushing other Soviet skaters.

Joe
 

Ptichka

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Jul 28, 2003
Not really, Joe. Sure, during the Soviet times they were stricken from every skating book as if they never existed. However, that's ancient history now, and they are treated like heroes nowadays.
 

JonnyCoop

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Dec 28, 2003
I'd love to see them do it, actually. Show 'em how its done. So they can't do the triples (far as I know) and the major acrobatics -- if you add up all their artistry and basic skating skills, they've got enough content to certainly skate with the middle to lower ranks, especially given the lack of depth on the World pairs scene now. I should think the Protopopovs should be able to MORE than hold their own with 11th, 12th place pairs, taking all factors into consideration; certainly their technique, skills, and artistry would be far superior, even if the technical content is on the low side -- tho what they would do, they would do very well (to quote Scott Hamilton :laugh: ), unlike some of the wobbly flawed elements you would see from the others.

I am getting tired, though, of "old school" skaters bemoaning the "lack of artistry" in contemporary skating and blaming it on the new scoring system. I personally do not think that the artistic/technical gap in skating has gotten any worse than it ever was. We are seeing more FLAWED programs under the new system, but that's a different thing IMO. TECHNIQUE is certainly not what it used to be, but that's pretty much been going downhill steadily for the last 20 or so years anyway, regardless of scoring system.
 

soogar

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Dec 18, 2003
I like the Protopopovs but no way can they even compete with the young teams because they don't do side by side jumps, twist throws and throw jumps. They don't even rotate when they do their lifts. Now unless Oleg wants to kill Ludmilla by adding elements that they didn't even perform when they were competing or in shows, they're not going to even be able to post a score in the SP.
 
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