Check out Manley's interview with Jennifer Kirk. | Golden Skate

Check out Manley's interview with Jennifer Kirk.

Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Check out Manleywoman’s podcast interview with Jenny Kirk, posted here in the Announcements folder.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29692

(Requires an up-to-date Quicktime Player. Download link provided.)

This is an outstanding interview. They really get into the nitty-gritty. A couple of excerpts, in summary:

Jenny on Richard Callaghan. This was a bad coaching fit for her. What she needed was a good technical jump coach (like Frank Caroll.) Callaghan was more of an inspirational motivator type. Plus, Kirk felt suffocated by Gallaghan intruding into her life off the ice. Maybe this was necessary for a skater like Nicole Bobek who needed someone to keep her on the straight and narrow, but not for Jennifer at this time of her life.

About her eating disorder and her retirement from skating less than a year before the 2006 Olympics. Kirk says, yes, the timing was unfortunate, but at that point her eating disorder had taken over her life to the extent that, basically, she had to save her life NOW and think about her skating career later.

The interviewer (Manleywoman :rock: ) got Jennifer to tell about the time she was detained by authorities when she competed at the Cup of Russia (Andrei Lutai anyone? :laugh: ) It seems that the night after the event Evan Lysacek was in her hotel room (she doesn’t say why) and somehow or other they ended up breaking some kind of egg that Lysacek had won as a prize.

So when they got on the plane to go home, her name was announced over the loudspeaker and they took her off and accused her of trashing the hotel room. (Sort of like the U.S. Hockey team, when they didn’t medal at the last Olympics.) So Jennifer had to write an apology and explanation to the Russian Skating Federation before they would allow her back into the country for Worlds later that year.

About whether it was hard to write an article about “stage mothers” in figure skating, using her own mother as an example. Jenny said, yes it was hard but the bottom line, be honest, tell the truth.

Some cool fluff about costumes, how many bobby pins it took to keep her hair up like that, etc. Remarks about the opportunities that have come her way in journalism (she felt that she bit off more than she could chew with her "OMG, Did you hear?" webcasts.) Overall fine journalism on the part of the interviewer. She (Manley) asked all the questions I most wanted to hear Jennifer’s take on. (Jenny didn’t mention Philip Hersh, however. ;) )
 
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