It's the very public nature of the bluntness that makes it bad. It's one thing for a coach or a federation head to be blunt to a skater/team in person. It's quite another thing to do it in the media, for the skater/team to read about it in a newspaper or online. Why publicly humiliate the athlete?
Piseev publicly rebukes Sokolova and threatens to leave her off Russia's worlds team.
- Thread starter krenseby
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- Jan 26, 2007
From 2007 Russian Nationals:
http://goldenskate.com/articles/2006/010707_l.shtml
"Following the performance, Sokolova admitted that she hadn't skated as well as she had hoped. She added that her actual performance did not matter much in the end, because it's clear that Russian Figure Skating Federation has made a decision to promote younger skaters."
(May be Piseev has personal problems with her.. )
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
It sounds like both parties have a negative attitude towards her skating. I wouldn't be surprised if she does decide to just call it a career and go pro or something.
Funny you'd mention the 'blunt' aspect of the Russian personality, lol. I'm introducing someone to a Russian this weekend, and when they asked what to expect, among other things I said, "Expect them to be blunt."
I don't believe it's just blunt. A lot of people are blunt on this board or other boards, but my biased opinion is that some Russian fans(maybe except Anna, she is extremely graceful and unbiased) are extremely aggressive and offensive.
I don't know. It may have sth to do with their lost pride.
And my biased opinion is that some American fans are extremely aggressive and offensive and some Europeans fans are extremely aggressive and offensive etc.
Is it because of the lost pride?
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- Feb 5, 2004
The trouble for Obertas is that she was touted for years as the perfect pairs lady with no man able to match her skill. Slavnov came under a lot of criticism when he started skating with her for not being good enough. In the meantime he has become an exeptional figure skater who cleaned up his footwork in the lifts amazingly well and has become a very well rounded partner - one that you can rely when the going gets tough. And boy does it get tought with them. Has obertas landed any of her SBS jumps this season in any competition? She has lost her ability to jump (which IMO was never that good to begin with) and the Diva like self confidence has completely gone. If anyone should disolve this partnership and look for someone else i think it should be him.
As for piseev...what an idiot - he kenw this day was coming - that the main contenders at Turin would reitre and leave a big gap. Publicly floggin his skaters will do nothing to promote the sport and encourage skaters. I presume he was too chicken to even praise the Pet-Thik's after his awful behaviour towards them....without them Russia would have been faired even worse at Europeans.
Ant
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- Feb 5, 2004
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- Feb 5, 2004
You mean offensive like this...
frmo post #40 in this thread.iloveaxel said:
Or offensive and agressive like this:
iloveaxel in post #27 in the mira leaung thread said:
Or again the fine balance between being offensive and aggressive like this:
iloveaxel in post #48 of the mira leung thread said:
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Ant
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2006
During the telecast of the European Championships on ESPN, they were talking about Obertas and Slavnov. Tamara Moskvina stopped training them because of thier lack of work ethic. Their new coach apparently isn't to happy with them either and said that it was now or never.
I think that Elena has always been a bit of an underachiever. She has never lived up to the promise. She won Skate America in 2005 and they kind of stunk the rest of the Grand Prix season that year.
I don't think this is a Russian problem per se. If you have any success as a figure skater, you have all these other off ice commitments. How many times have you heard Johnny Weir say "I didn't get enough traning time." Yet he found time to be in a fashion show and to pose for some crazy pictures in some magazine. Remember that Tanith and Ben told the ISU that they were not able to compete until Cup of China because they didn't have enough training time. But yet Tanith was on Good Morning America doing segments. And they always find time to skate for 4 months on tour....why because of money!!
I think that the training ethic of 80's and even the 90's is gone. There are too many other outside interests and money consideration. Remember back in the 80's and 90's the Russian gov't paid for all the training and they had the best of everything. Now half of them come to the US or Canada to train because the conditions are poor, lack of ice etc.
I mean look at Japan....they have the Olympic Gold Medalist, they are an up and coming dynasty and the skaters there complain that they can't find good ice to train and there aren't even enough rinks.
Just my opinion and thanks for letting me share it.
I think that Elena has always been a bit of an underachiever. She has never lived up to the promise. She won Skate America in 2005 and they kind of stunk the rest of the Grand Prix season that year.
I don't think this is a Russian problem per se. If you have any success as a figure skater, you have all these other off ice commitments. How many times have you heard Johnny Weir say "I didn't get enough traning time." Yet he found time to be in a fashion show and to pose for some crazy pictures in some magazine. Remember that Tanith and Ben told the ISU that they were not able to compete until Cup of China because they didn't have enough training time. But yet Tanith was on Good Morning America doing segments. And they always find time to skate for 4 months on tour....why because of money!!
I think that the training ethic of 80's and even the 90's is gone. There are too many other outside interests and money consideration. Remember back in the 80's and 90's the Russian gov't paid for all the training and they had the best of everything. Now half of them come to the US or Canada to train because the conditions are poor, lack of ice etc.
I mean look at Japan....they have the Olympic Gold Medalist, they are an up and coming dynasty and the skaters there complain that they can't find good ice to train and there aren't even enough rinks.
Just my opinion and thanks for letting me share it.
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2005
antmanb-you are too funny.
The post-Olympic tours are the one way for skaters to make enough money to pay for their expenses for most of the next Olympic cycle. That is especially true for ice dancers, who are not much in demand for TV specials or for guest spots on tours. This past year, the skaters---including European skaters---toured all spring and summer, from April until mid-August, then many went to Japan for one final tour. It wasn't just the US skaters who got caught up in touring and lost training time. Stephane Lambiel burned himself out with the tours.
You can't point to these skaters and chide them for not having a training ethic. It is next to impossible to get any training in when you are traveling from one tour stop to the other.
The reality is the skaters are now remaining eligible MUCH longer than they did in the days when they weren't allowed to make money from their sport. That stands to reason: the longer you skate, the more training you require, the more costumes, and in some cases, more medical bills.
In the "old days" there was no Grand Prix, and the skaters weren't forced to perform for the ISU during the fall, with the travel and the interruption to their training. It's a different world today. There are many more demands on the skaters and they HAVE to make money in order to continue in a competitive sport.
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- Oct 27, 2006
Chuckm...
I do agree with what you said...and again I said that it was only my opinion and not based on fact just how I see things.
That being said....I do think the ISU demans a great deal from skaters but doesn't give a great deal in return. They are facing no television exposure in the US after the 2008 season after the current contract with ESPN ends. ESPN was the only broadcast outlet that big for television coverage in the US...and the contract went from 25 million with ABC to 5 million with ESPN. With lack of coverge there is lack of money to give to skaters and yes...they practically have to tour non stop to get money for training, coaching and all the other expenses associated with skating.
Maybe I wasn't right about the training ethic. But still skaters who are still eligible are branching out a great deal quicker to do other things when this used to be reserved for skaters who turned professional. It could be because of a lack of money or lack of opportunities when turning professional...or a little bit of both.
And a post Olympic Season usually leads many to "take it easy" for a year or two, especially if they are going to be around for the next Olympics.
I was just reading and article in this week's Sport Illustrated about Barry Bonds. HE signed this contract with the Giants but it was voided by major league baseball because it required appearances with the team and that was a violations of the league rules. Maybe the ISU should adopt something like this.
Regardless, skating all over the world is in dire straits which you can see from any competition you watch, where arena's are half full.
Sorry I went way off topic!!
I do agree with what you said...and again I said that it was only my opinion and not based on fact just how I see things.
That being said....I do think the ISU demans a great deal from skaters but doesn't give a great deal in return. They are facing no television exposure in the US after the 2008 season after the current contract with ESPN ends. ESPN was the only broadcast outlet that big for television coverage in the US...and the contract went from 25 million with ABC to 5 million with ESPN. With lack of coverge there is lack of money to give to skaters and yes...they practically have to tour non stop to get money for training, coaching and all the other expenses associated with skating.
Maybe I wasn't right about the training ethic. But still skaters who are still eligible are branching out a great deal quicker to do other things when this used to be reserved for skaters who turned professional. It could be because of a lack of money or lack of opportunities when turning professional...or a little bit of both.
And a post Olympic Season usually leads many to "take it easy" for a year or two, especially if they are going to be around for the next Olympics.
I was just reading and article in this week's Sport Illustrated about Barry Bonds. HE signed this contract with the Giants but it was voided by major league baseball because it required appearances with the team and that was a violations of the league rules. Maybe the ISU should adopt something like this.
Regardless, skating all over the world is in dire straits which you can see from any competition you watch, where arena's are half full.
Sorry I went way off topic!!
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Actually, I think the problem with Barry Bond's contract was that he was demanding extra money to make public appearances on behalf of the team. The standard contract that major league baseball negotiated with the players union specifies that the player has to make these appearances anyway, as part of their normal contractual duties, and cannot be paid extra.
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- Dec 16, 2006
I think what the ISU is doing is paying the wrong people. A couple of years ago, they cut the prize money for GP's because the cost was too high--what about paycutting all of those unneeded people who work for the ISU? In the end, all skaters have become the b*tches of the ISU--the ISU (and in some cases Russian federation) is making money without giving much to the skaters. We can't even get PAID judges.
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- Jan 26, 2007
Anyone know a good up-to-date news site about her ? I wanna know what is her response to Piseev (if any..)
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
Unfortunately,some idiot hacked her website, www.elenasokolova.com ,and it hasn't been resurrected yet.So it might be a while before we hear from the Cupcake's mouth.
The ISU cut the pay for the GP because the TV contract paid MUCH less for the GP events/Worlds. The fact is that Speedy (Ottavio Cinquanta, head of the ISU) is a former speed skater and he uses the TV money from figure skating to support the speed skaters. The figure skaters get what's left over, and with the new contract, not much was left over.
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- Jan 26, 2007
Unfortunately the idiot is from my country. His brain is working parallel with a 7yo kid. He has no technical ability, no sense of hacking ethic. Theorically any primitive life form who weekly checks security forums can do it.. Anyway after a little search, I reached a name (I'm not sure accuracy) worth to check. I'll give it to the admin if he wills to take legal actions.
elenesokolova.com is in russian and we can only surf it using babelfish. After this "hacking" event, I notice that there is barely no up-to-date news/info about her. Then I sent a mail to webmaster and told that I want to help him to translate site to english (and turkish) nearly 1 week ago and still waiting for reply.
She has no site listed in ISU *. Most of the players has 3-4 fan pages on net, even youngers (<20).. That is really strange to a player like her.
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