Should Weir skip the GP this year? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Should Weir skip the GP this year?

pippa

Rinkside
Joined
May 21, 2009
I really doubt that Johnny spends any more time on extracurricular activities than any other skater - he has weekends off from training, just like all of them, and I'm sure they all enjoy personal activities during that time. Johnny is just more open with his fans about his personal life than most skaters are, through his journals and now Twitter, so we hear about the shopping/fashion shows/dinners out he spends time on more than we do about others.

As for his doing shows overseas rather than in the US, that isn't so much Johnny's choice as a necessity. He has never been invited to perform in the only US skating tour, Stars on Ice, like other current US skaters such as Lysacek, Belbin & Agosto, Davis & White, McLaughlin & Brubaker, Meissner, Flatt, Zhang and Rippon have. At the most, he can maybe book one or two single skating appearances each off-season in the US, and otherwise he has to depend on Korea, Japan and Eastern Europe to earn money to support his skating.
 
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dancingqueen

On the Ice
Joined
May 17, 2008
Johnny also doesn't just do skating shows... he ends up going to fasion deals and half a dozen other things, as per his journal and other reports... I'm not so narrowminded that that doesn't also take up a great deal of his time. It might be a stress reliever or whatnot, but it definitely takes him away from training...

Seems like he is training everyday now except for weekend, so I don’t think he is away from his training now.

and the other points of his eating habits and the fact that he'd complained about fatigue in the past is another reason he got sick. There are ways to prevent the common cold... granted skaters do get sick (sometimes at the worst possible moment) but you should still take precaution.

For his food life and his general health care, I agree about that.
There are many solutions to avoid to get cold for general people, but for those skaters, who are busy with trips from events to events, besides Johnny, Daisuke Takahashi ( in 2007 GPF, was it cold? ), Jeremy Abbott ( 4CC and also Nationals ? 2009), staying in a cold ice rink, I suppose skaters are more easy to get health issues.
I wonder that Evan never got cold or any health issue since he’s had nutritionists ? I’m also hoping Johnny will get a good nutritionist.
 

psycho

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Johnny also doesn't just do skating shows... he ends up going to fasion deals and half a dozen other things, as per his journal and other reports... I'm not so narrowminded that that doesn't also take up a great deal of his time. It might be a stress reliever or whatnot, but it definitely takes him away from training...
Examples of these "half a dozen" other things? He did one fasion show in February, when his season was as good as over. What other things took up "a great deal of his time" and took him away from his training, I'd love to know.

There are ways to prevent the common cold... granted skaters do get sick (sometimes at the worst possible moment) but you should still take precaution.
What makes you think he doesn't take precaution? Is there footage of him running butt-naked through the snow somewhere that I missed?



The difference is that Evan's shows are mainly (if not all) in the U.S. That is a big difference from traveling to from the East coast to east asia back and forth.

Yes, but the number of them (and he still had to travel West coast to East coast etc.) far outweighs anything Johnny has done.

I wonder that Evan never got cold or any health issue since he’s had nutritionists ? I’m also hoping Johnny will get a good nutritionist.

Evan complained of a cold at US nationals. Mroz, Abbott had colds at 4CC and Abbott at Nationals. Tomas Verner and Chan had a cold at GPF. Do I need to make a list of how many people got sick there, do I?

I am not saying a good nutritionist will hurt, but he won't protect you from a cold either...
 
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efreedman

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
I get that he has financial pressure, but if he cut out the luxuries at least for this season he could afford it all and have some left over and not be so drained come nationals. It's really hard for me to see a skater (or any athlete/celeb) cry poor mouth when they're in designer everything (and said designers aren't sponsoring them).
.

Just a few comments. Much of the designer wear that Johnny sports is from many prior seasons ago, or have been gifted to him by fans. In fact, when I was in Korea at FOI, I witnessed a number of his fans walking in with gifts for him in designer shopping bags. I think that Johnny has limited his shopping tremendously compared with prior periods (i.e., prior during 2006).
 

pippa

Rinkside
Joined
May 21, 2009
Just a few comments. Much of the designer wear that Johnny sports is from many prior seasons ago, or have been gifted to him by fans. In fact, when I was in Korea at FOI, I witnessed a number of his fans walking in with gifts for him in designer shopping bags. I think that Johnny has limited his shopping tremendously compared with prior periods (i.e., prior during 2006).

That is true - for example, Johnny always wears a white Chanel watch that is quite expensive, but many people don't know it was a gift to him from a Japanese fan. There's no question that since Champions on Ice went out of business three seasons ago, Johnny has not had the spending money that he had back when he had that tour as a steady income.
 

Snowgirl

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 17, 2006
Johnny absolutely should do GP series and GP final if he makes it not only because he needs judges' opinion, prize money and ISU points, not only because in case he misses it it will be a year between his last competition and Nats, but because there is a rule that prior international season results will be taken in consideration for Oly team selection, and n this case he will have zero result. No way should he miss GP.
 

dancingqueen

On the Ice
Joined
May 17, 2008
Is there footage of him running butt-naked through the snow somewhere that I missed?
:rofl:


Evan complained of a cold at US nationals. Mroz, Abbott had colds at 4CC and Abbott at Nationals. Tomas Verner and Chan had a cold at GPF. Do I need to make a list of how many people got sick there, do I?

I am not saying a good nutritionist will hurt, but he won't protect you from a cold either...

Sounds like many skaters were having cold. Thank you for the info about it. I didn’t know about Evan also had a cold and was complaining about it at Nationals.

About Johnny and GP , I agree with everyone who said he should do it. Definitely.
 

seniorita

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
No, first cause selfishly I missed him this season and probably he will retire after the next one and I want to see him as much as possible and second I didnt find him missing worlds as the end of the world( i think he should have gone instead of mroz), he had a good season until usa nationals, and these things like getting sick happen even if he hadnt had the korea benefit thing, as for all his other activities most skaters do shows etc, I guess fs is an expensive sport..
maybe if he doesnt choose two gp + gpf, all on the other side of the earth?

Originally Posted by psycho
Is there footage of him running butt-naked through the snow somewhere that I missed?

this is a new costume of his?please forward the video..spread the knowledge:biggrin:
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
I don´t think that Weir should skip GP, because there he will get important feedback about his programmes. I think though that he has kind of peaked too early for his GP competitions. Worlds or in 2010 the Olympics is the best time to peak. Of course he also has to skate well at the Nationals, because he will face tough competition there.

If Weir should skip something, in my opinion that would be participating in shows that need wide travelling, at least in those that are a few weeks before the Nationals.
 

nylynnr

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
If JW skips the GP, it's over. Re: the number of shows he does, v. other U.S. men -- the issue with the Christmas show was one of timing. JW had been in Asia, gotten ill, flown back home, recovered, then flew back to Asia again. In retrospect, he should not have done so; however, hindsight is always 20/20. I would lay money that no matter what type of Christmas show Kim Yu Na is doing in '09, JW will not be there, and if he is, well . . . he'd better be first or second at nats to guarantee the Olympic spot.

My question is this. All of us spend much time discussing skaters' schedules, how they do too much, don't peak at the right time, etc. However, in other sports, i.e., tennis, athletes are expected to perform day in and day out, every other day at a Grand Slam and every day during a regular tournament. In other sports athletes perform once a week during the season (NFL) or 2-3 times (NHL, MBL). In the arts, ABT performers go twice a week during the season. In figure skating, it's a big deal for athletes to do a summer event, two GPs, the GPF, nationals, 4cs/Euros and worlds over an 8-9 month period. Why is it such an issue in skating? Any medical people out there? I once asked a top skater this question; the response was, those other athletes/dancers are getting paid a lot of money, which of course is part of it. Any other thoughts?
 

Nigel

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
I really doubt that Johnny spends any more time on extracurricular activities than any other skater - he has weekends off from training, just like all of them, and I'm sure they all enjoy personal activities during that time. Johnny is just more open with his fans about his personal life than most skaters are, through his journals and now Twitter, so we hear about the shopping/fashion shows/dinners out he spends time on more than we do about others.

As for his doing shows overseas rather than in the US, that isn't so much Johnny's choice as a necessity. He has never been invited to perform in the only US skating tour, Stars on Ice, like other current US skaters such as Lysacek, Belbin & Agosto, Davis & White, McLaughlin & Brubaker, Meissner, Flatt, Zhang and Rippon have. At the most, he can maybe book one or two single skating appearances each off-season in the US, and otherwise he has to depend on Korea, Japan and Eastern Europe to earn money to support his skating.

IIRC, Flatt, has never had a SOI appearance. Her show appearances have been local club shows, Skate For Hope in Ohio, and an appearance at Sun Valley last summer. OTH, Zhang and Nagasu have skated in some LA area SOI shows as well as M/B in Denver, and Meissner has toured with SOI for several years. Weir, for all his competitive success, has had to fund his skating through less lucrative appearances than some of the tour skaters.
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2006
My question is this. All of us spend much time discussing skaters' schedules, how they do too much, don't peak at the right time, etc. However, in other sports, i.e., tennis, athletes are expected to perform day in and day out, every other day at a Grand Slam and every day during a regular tournament. In other sports athletes perform once a week during the season (NFL) or 2-3 times (NHL, MBL). In the arts, ABT performers go twice a week during the season. In figure skating, it's a big deal for athletes to do a summer event, two GPs, the GPF, nationals, 4cs/Euros and worlds over an 8-9 month period. Why is it such an issue in skating? Any medical people out there? I once asked a top skater this question; the response was, those other athletes/dancers are getting paid a lot of money, which of course is part of it. Any other thoughts?
Good q. Maybe it's the cost of paying their coaches to come. That's quite a bit right there.
 

merrybari

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
IIRC, Flatt, has never had a SOI appearance. Her show appearances have been local club shows, Skate For Hope in Ohio, and an appearance at Sun Valley last summer. OTH, Zhang and Nagasu have skated in some LA area SOI shows as well as M/B in Denver, and Meissner has toured with SOI for several years. Weir, for all his competitive success, has had to fund his skating through less lucrative appearances than some of the tour skaters.

Point of clarification.

Rachel did appear on a Disson special last season - Progressive Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular so I think she's starting some of those ops.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
She's also doing that makeup stuff (sponsored by a makeup co. or something).

I would be interested to know the details of what this contract involves. I have not been able to find any ads or promotional work that Racahael has done yet for MAC cosmetics. All of the announcements use the language "MAC will become Flatt's preferred cosmetic company heading into the Olympics."

That makes it sound like a whole lot depends on whether Rachael makes the Olympic team and, if so, whether she makes a big splash in Vancouver. A lot of contracts with athletes have "performance bonuses."

Brainy Rachael also "endorses" Reading is Fundamental and was spokesperson for the "wear red, white and blue braces for the 2006 Olympics" campaign for the Ameriucan Orthodontal Society. I don't know if she got paid for these gigs, though -- probably not for the reading program (Natalie Portman is another of celebs involved in the reading thing.)
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
nylynnr; My question is this. All of us spend much time discussing skaters' schedules said:
One thing I have heard is that it is not the competitions themsleves that wear down skaters - but the fact that very intense training precedes each competition. I think I heard Peggy Flemming say that in her era she might have done 2 or 3 competitions a year. Before each event the training was very intense for a 4-6 week period. Today the skaters are appearing at more competitions and they are also training harder and longer hours than they used to. Cross training has been added along with the training on ice.
So doing 4-6 competitions a years means the time factor for maintaining top conditioning increases. This can make a skater more vulnerable to little nagging injuries (or more serious ones).
I think Peggy is right to an extent but every skater is different and some hold up better than others to all the training that they do in a season now.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
^^^

The skaters of today have it much easier than in Fleming/Hammil's days. For one thing Peggy and Dorothy were not allowed to make money, and the US government was not as kind as the Soviet governmen t.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
^^^

The skaters of today have it much easier than in Fleming/Hammil's days. For one thing Peggy and Dorothy were not allowed to make money, and the US government was not as kind as the Soviet governmen t.


Whether I agree with that point or not - I dont see how it answers the question.
Skaters in Carol-Peggy-Janet-Dorothy era did not have the GP events and it was often a hardship on the families of skaters being able to afford the training expenses.So they typically turned Pro sooner than skaters do today.
But I think we were discussing why skaters are getting tired and having trouble peaking at the right time. How many competitions can a skater do in a season witht the difficult requirements of cop and the peak conditioning needed to perform at that level. Can they do one competitive event a month or will that burn them out?
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Just thought I would complete the thought of peggy and dorothy as not having an easy time of it financially. Their costumes were not designer made.:biggrin:
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Just thought I would complete the thought of peggy and dorothy as not having an easy time of it financially. Their costumes were not designer made.:biggrin:

OK. FYI, Dorothy's Dad made a very good living. And I think Tenley Albright was from a socially prominent family. The one's who had it harder were Carol Heiss, Peggy and Janet. Both Carol and Janet received help from their communities. Dorothy didn't need it and she cleaned up after the "76 Olympics with big pay days from ABC, Clairol and the Ice shows. Janet, famoulsy signed a contract for 1,5 million dollars when she turned Pro, making her the highest paid female athlete in the world at the time. I don't think any of the Soviet bloc girls received a payday like that - although Katerina was known to have been rewarded very will by the E. German govt. And why not, after back to back OGM's.
 
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