Speculating on Retirements after 2010

[Joesitz]

We have some really strong skaters out there. The top Men have all been in Olys before, but some are all new to this ultimate of events. The top Ladies, I believe are all brand new. This will be a new Era for Ladies skating in all the upcoming competitions. Pairs will be some close calls during the season of the top Pairs teams, and Skate Dance do not seem to challenge for the podium, let alone, win the event.

The season will begin in October and travel all the way to the Olys, and for some the Worlds.

Will Joubert retire after the Olys? or after the Worlds? or not at all?
Plushenko, Weir, Lysacek, Verner?

Will Mao and YuNa hang around for another Olys? Will they skate 2010 Worlds?

What about the young American Ladies?
Joannie, Sarah Meier, Carolina ?

Lots of Pairs and Skate Dancers.

Appreciate your thoughts on Retirements after 2010,

[janetfan]

I think if Yuna wins the OGM she will retire from competitive skating. I wouldn't be surprised if she retires if she wins silver or bronze either.

Mao I think will continue if she doesn't win the Gold medal.

Haven't Evan and Johnny already said this is their last season? Plushy retired once and like Sasha, I think he is looking for one more shot of Olympic fueled adrenalin and glory.

I think B/A will retire too.

[jennylovskt]

I think if Joubert gets OGM, he'll retire. Otherwise, he'll go to 2010 worlds.

[Tinymavy15]

I think if Yuna wins the OGM she will retire from competitive skating. I wouldn't be surprised if she retires if she wins silver or bronze either.

Mao I think will continue if she doesn't win the Gold medal.

Haven't Evan and Johnny already said this is their last season? Plushy retired once and like Sasha, I think he is looking for one more shot of Olympic fueled adrenalin and glory.

I think B/A will retire too.

yeah, i think this is pretty much it.

I think we will also have a retiring in pairs en masse. Shen and Zhao will certainly go back in retirement, I expect Pang and Tong and possibly the Zhangs also to hang up the skates after this season. If S&S win the gold I think they will retire.
Oliver and Shonfelder will retire...gold medal or not. She will have new baby to care for and they have been around a long time.
I think this will be Bebe's last year, frankly, I am surprised that she is coming back for this season. The chances of making the olympic team are very small.

[Buttercup]

Sarah Meier has said she might stay because 2011 Euros will be in Bern. BTW, not all the top ladies are brand new - Joannie, Miki and Caro were all in Torino, while Sasha and Fumie were also at SLC.

Like Tinymavy, I think all the top Chinese pairs will retire, with the Zhangs being the only question mark - if they fail to medal in Vancouver, they might try and stay on until they win Worlds.

Plushy will re-retire, and I expect Johnny Weir will also call it a day. And KvdP, with all those injuries he's pretty much held stitches and tape at this point. Brian Joubert is harder to predict, I believe that if he medals he'll probably retire, he's just had too many health issues the last few years.

In dance, I can't imagine B/A, Del/Schoes and DomShabs will stay. I also expect Sinead and John to retire, though they might stay an extra year to try and win a world medal.

[jayjayjayyy]

I think if Yuna wins the OGM she will retire from competitive skating. I wouldn't be surprised if she retires if she wins silver or bronze either.

Mao I think will continue if she doesn't win the Gold medal.

Haven't Evan and Johnny already said this is their last season? Plushy retired once and like Sasha, I think he is looking for one more shot of Olympic fueled adrenalin and glory.

I think B/A will retire too.

Omg why? WHy do you think Yuna will retire after the 2010?

[life684]

I think Z/Z will surely retire but I am not sure of pang/tong, chinese federation doesn't seem t have a reliable junior teams and may what P/T to stay on to keep third spot at worlds.

Domnina/Shabalin is sure shot retirement, K/N will stay to test the waters again. D/S (france) will surely retire and can't believe they held together for so long. B/A will retire but i don't think D/W and V/M will retire (they are babies by Ice dancing standards).

Singles - i don't think both Mao or yuna will retire, they may take sabbaticals.

Miki, Rochete, Suguri and Sasha will retire.
Mens- plushy, weir, Lysacek, Jourbert will retire

[i love to skate]

Tessa and Scott have stated that they want to accomplish their skating goals young so they have time to achieve other things in their life (ex. school, career). If they win gold in 2010 I can see them hanging up their blades.

I think Jessica and Bryce will retire. I can see Joannie sticking around for maybe one more year to beat the Canadian record for Senior titles held by Jennifer Robinson.

[Oscilla]

Baring unforeseen circumstances, Mao will certainly stay at least until Sochi. She spoke many times about her plans for the future and she has very specific plans for the next 4 years. Also, both het and TAT spoke that one of their goals is to find such a training regime that would result in a body not susceptible to injuries, and possibly attend the next Olympics after Sochi (though, of course, plans can change over the course of the next few years).

YuNa - she spoke a few times after possibly retiring after Olys, but somehow I can't see the Korean Federation allowing her to do so. Figure skating is big in Korea, but if YuNa retires, there's no one to fill the void.

She will be national champ many ties over

Funnily enough, she hasn't competed at Nats at all in the recent seasons. Though, of course, the Korean Fed granted her the title of Korean Champion anyway.

Miki - somehow it's hard to imagine her retiring, recently she seems more happy and motivated than ever. But, of course, there's the question of her recurring injuries and the doubtful 'pleasure' of training and competing while in pain. Also, recently she seemed to be quite enthusiastic about becoming a figure skating coach. I could see ehr becoming Morozov's assistant and/or a coach at Chuukyo University.

Daisuke - I think it will depend on the results from this season. He might stay around for a bit more if he's able to fully recover from his injury.

Nobunari - fans worry that he might retire after Vancouver, as he mentioned many times that he wants to finish school, work as a teacher and create a family. However, Nobu said that nothing's written in stone yet and he'll make a decision after Olys, after discussing the matter with his coach Nikolai Morozov.

Fumie - I think she'll retire for sure. She mentioned a few times that she wished she had retired after last Olys... Her last season was very successful, placing 2nd at Nats and making the Worlds team. I think that whatever happens this season she should be happy with her career.

Yukari, Akiko - I thought they might want to retire as welll... But with Fumie and (possibly) Miki retiring, their chances to make the Words team next season become much better. So, who knows?

Alissa, Bebe - I think they'll retire.

Evan, Johnny - I have a feeling that they might to call it a day as well.

[museksk8r]

Some unmentioned skaters:
I have read that Yannick Ponsero is seriously considering retirement after this upcoming season. I also expect Kevin Van Der Perren (I now see where Buttercup mentioned him ) to retire, as well as Julia Sebestyen and Koffe Berntsson.

Hasn't there also been some hinting at retirement from Yuko Kavaguti? (not from Sasha Smirnov though).

I suspect Ryan Bradley will retire too. Shawn Sawyer may too. Perhaps Cynthia Phaneuf as well. Kimmie Meissner, also.

This is a sad, sad thread. The selfish side of me is really dreading the end of this upcoming season.

[Tinymavy15]

Omg why? WHy do you think Yuna will retire after the 2010?

She has said so.
If she wins she will have nothing else to prove. She will be national champ many ties over, World champ and Olympic champ.
If she dosen't win I really can't see her maintaining that level of skating for 4 more years, taking into account all her injuries.

[cosmos]

She has said so.
If she wins she will have nothing else to prove. She will be national champ many ties over, World champ and Olympic champ.
If she dosen't win I really can't see her maintaining that level of skating for 4 more years, taking into account all her injuries.

YuNa said so 2 or 3 years ago when she was not so popular. But, now, everything is different. She skates in a far better condition. Actually, she never said so again. So, I am not sure she still plans to retire after 2010.

[eleonora.d]

Kostner once said she wants to skate for other seasons ahead (assuming that she wants to skate for more than this season only)
Others says she will retire, instead.

My humble hopinion is that, whether she medals in Vancouver, she may take it in serious consideration.

We should consider how hard is for an athlet to maintain his/her regular life. They're always postponing studies, time with family/friends/boy-girl friends - husbands, wives .. it's all postponed to skating. Some of them live on the other side of the planet. It's not easy at all. After a good amount of years on the top (Kostner and Ando, for example, are top skaters ever since they medaled at Junior Worlds in 2003) this can become harder and harder to handle as time goes by, even if medals come.

All the other Kostner's fans will disagree with me, but if she medals in Vancouver she may consider herself more than satisfied with what she did and think about retiring and have a life beyond skating.

If she does not medal, she may think about another season or two, but continue to Sochi will be very hard - it means another 4 years skating at very high levels.

I think it's not about how old are you (Kostner will be 27 in 2014), it's about how long have you been on the very top of the field- as a conseguence, how long have you been training extra-hard to keep yourself on that top.

[jayjayjayyy]

YuNa said so 2 or 3 years ago when she was not so popular. But, now, everything is different. She skates in a far better condition. Actually, she never said so again. So, I am not sure she still plans to retire after 2010.

I really hope Yuna will stay competitive even after 2010...

[GiuliaPlum]

YuNa said so 2 or 3 years ago when she was not so popular. But, now, everything is different. She skates in a far better condition. Actually, she never said so again. So, I am not sure she still plans to retire after 2010.

thank you cosmos. I was almost sure of her retirement after 2010, but if she didn't repeat her purpose in the past years, maybe we can hope a little.