Joubert - I'm a boy not a man.

[NatachaHatawa]

I think that Joubert has had way too many coach changes, my guess is that he is not easy to work with.

Brian is strong tempered, but also like any skater, he has to find a coach that fits his personnality. With his first coach, Véronique, they split because of a row and Brian admitted that it was silly - which was why they were able to patch things up. He then worked with Laurent Depouilly, they got on well although Laurent was too nervous during compétitions. If my memory's right, the FFSG had a lot to do with their split. Then he worked with Véronique again, but the fact that both of them were strong tempered, and what Brian described Véronique not being as dedicated as before led to their second split. With Berenzistev, the spilt was amicable - he didn't have the caracter necessary for a world-class skater and he wanted to move to Canada. Then there was JCS - I won't go over that all over again. With Laurent, we'll have to wait and see.

Although these splits haven't allsays happened in the nicest of ways, Brian has allways admited his coache's qualities and has allways tried to give them as much credit as possible.

[Ryan O]

I've liked Brian in the past, but just like Chan, he needs to stop the trash talking of other skaters and just be quiet for a while and focus on himself and his skating on the ice . No more talking about judging systems, marks, quads vs. no quads, North American skaters being too gay & effeminate etc.

Time to start over and leave that crap in the past.

[CzarinaAnya]

I would love to see Brian get the old love for his skating back.
If it's impossible in competition, then maybe he should go pro, so he'll have more freedom, and not get embittered with it altogether.

[CzarinaAnya]

Brian is strong tempered, but also like any skater, he has to find a coach that fits his personnality. With his first coach, Véronique, they split because of a row and Brian admitted that it was silly - which was why they were able to patch things up. He then worked with Laurent Depouilly, they got on well although Laurent was too nervous during compétitions. If my memory's right, the FFSG had a lot to do with their split. Then he worked with Véronique again, but the fact that both of them were strong tempered, and what Brian described Véronique not being as dedicated as before led to their second split. With Berenzistev, the spilt was amicable - he didn't have the caracter necessary for a world-class skater and he wanted to move to Canada. Then there was JCS - I won't go over that all over again. With Laurent, we'll have to wait and see.

Although these splits haven't allsays happened in the nicest of ways, Brian has always admited his coach's qualities and has allways tried to give them as much credit as possible.

He worked with Alexei Yagudin, a little bit. Not as a regular coach, of course. I wish he would have been. They got along really well.
(Not saying you don't know this, already. Just throwing it out there.)

[NatachaHatawa]

He worked with Alexei Yagudin, a little bit. Not as a regular coach, of course. I wish he would have been. They got along really well.
(Not saying you don't know this, already. Just throwing it out there.)

Alexei is a great skater and he sure taught Brian things, but great skaters don't always make great coaches. It would be beneficial for Brian to work with Alexei, for technical tricks and general advise - would Brian have listened to Alexei anymore than he did to anybody else though?

[CzarinaAnya]

Good question!

[silverlake22]

So I'm wondering....why are the European skaters (in general) so inconsistent - more so than the skaters from Asia and the US notably. I mean yeah Kostner, Verner but now Joubert, Gedevanishvilli, Lepisto (I never realized how good she really is until last week when she finally had a good LP!), Contesti, Leonova, and more. Does it have something to do with the coaches in Europe?

[antmanb]

So I'm wondering....why are the European skaters (in general) so inconsistent - more so than the skaters from Asia and the US notably. I mean yeah Kostner, Verner but now Joubert, Gedevanishvilli, Lepisto (I never realized how good she really is until last week when she finally had a good LP!), Contesti, Leonova, and more. Does it have something to do with the coaches in Europe?

I'm not sure that it's quite as cut and dry as European skaters being so inconsistent. In the men's alone - Takahashi has to one of the most inconsistent skaters there is, given his talent he should have racked up more medals than he has, Oda has also not really reached his full potential and been extremely inconsistent, so i don't think European skaters have a monopoly on inconsistency compared to skaters from Asia. As to US skaters - Lysacek has been consistent (but then so has Plushenko) and after that - Weir, Abbott, Mroz - all extremely inconsistent skaters - Abbot in particular didn't have an Olympics that was much better than Joubert's given that he trounced Lysacek at nationals. Chan - didn't have a great Olympics and didn't live up to his silver last year - he seems pretty inconsistent too, ok he's been injured, but then so has Joubert.

Overall I don't think the European men are any less consistent that other ontinents (if that's even a helpful a comparison!), but i think overall COP with it's demands is creating inconsistent skaters because you need to be seemingly close to superhuman in order to hit all the requirements in a clean programme.

As for the ladies - well i think at this moment in time the European ladies are simply less talented than the rest of the skaters or less able to do the harder jumps. But to say that the US ladies are consistent is pretty laughable. Only Flatt can boast consistency, the rest of the ladies are wildly inconsistent. Yes Mirai had a good Olympics but that's the first time she's been at a competition like it due to her inconsistent jumping, Zhang, Wagner, Liang etc etc - all the picture of inconsistency. In this regards the Asian ladies have the field sewn up for consistency.

Ant

[seniorita]

did he ask for the test skate or federation implied it to him? I mean he had one bad skate.. how many spots they have in wolrds, I dont remember..Amodio will go?

[zandor]

Senorita, France has only 2 spots for Worlds and one of them is for Florent but the other will be decided on march 15. I read elsewhere that Brian agreed with this test, specially because he didn't participated on nationals in december since he was injured.

[silverlake22]

I'm not sure that it's quite as cut and dry as European skaters being so inconsistent. In the men's alone - Takahashi has to one of the most inconsistent skaters there is, given his talent he should have racked up more medals than he has, Oda has also not really reached his full potential and been extremely inconsistent, so i don't think European skaters have a monopoly on inconsistency compared to skaters from Asia. As to US skaters - Lysacek has been consistent (but then so has Plushenko) and after that - Weir, Abbott, Mroz - all extremely inconsistent skaters - Abbot in particular didn't have an Olympics that was much better than Joubert's given that he trounced Lysacek at nationals. Chan - didn't have a great Olympics and didn't live up to his silver last year - he seems pretty inconsistent too, ok he's been injured, but then so has Joubert.

Overall I don't think the European men are any less consistent that other ontinents (if that's even a helpful a comparison!), but i think overall COP with it's demands is creating inconsistent skaters because you need to be seemingly close to superhuman in order to hit all the requirements in a clean programme.

As for the ladies - well i think at this moment in time the European ladies are simply less talented than the rest of the skaters or less able to do the harder jumps. But to say that the US ladies are consistent is pretty laughable. Only Flatt can boast consistency, the rest of the ladies are wildly inconsistent. Yes Mirai had a good Olympics but that's the first time she's been at a competition like it due to her inconsistent jumping, Zhang, Wagner, Liang etc etc - all the picture of inconsistency. In this regards the Asian ladies have the field sewn up for consistency.

Ant

Yeah ok you make some very good points. I guess it just depends on the skater and if he/she is affected by pressure and nerves or not. I think there's a difference between being "inconsistent" and having a complete meltdown though. For example, while Mirai was not the most consistent last year, she never had a meltdown of the proportions we've seen from Kostner, Verner, Meissner, Czisny, Abbott and now Joubert.

[viv]

Regarding European inconsistency - maybe a lack of money has to do with it as well. There are cuts of fundings in all sports, figure skating is especially effected because it is such an expensive sport.
The present European skating generation - Meier, Lambiel, Lindemann have been pulled back by injuries. Kostner and Korpi are traditionally inconsistent. I have no idea what happened to Verner - his problems are lasting for about two seasons now, I hope he will come back next season. I wouldn't call Contesti, Leonova or Brezina inconsistent, they still are a hope for the future.
I am delighted that Laura got all her jumps done well here - her LP was one of my favourites, she is such an elegant skater.

[silverlake22]

Regarding European inconsistency - maybe a lack of money has to do with it as well. There are cuts of fundings in all sports, figure skating is especially effected because it is such an expensive sport.
The present European skating generation - Meier, Lambiel, Lindemann have been pulled back by injuries. Kostner and Korpi are traditionally inconsistent. I have no idea what happened to Verner - his problems are lasting for about two seasons now, I hope he will come back next season. I wouldn't call Contesti, Leonova or Brezina inconsistent, they still are a hope for the future.
I am delighted that Laura got all her jumps done well here - her LP was one of my favourites, she is such an elegant skater.

Contesti is 27, so I'm not sure about hope for the future, but Leonova and Brezina definitely! Leonova was also injured this winter and as for Verner, he got swine flu during Skate America so at the GPF that was definitely still bugging him, he maybe has not gotten back to prime condition yet and that might be why he continues to struggle? Seems like he's lost a lot of confidence, hope he bounces back!

[Mafke]

What Joubert needs to do:

1. stop the trash talk
2. get over the quad, we're not in 6.0 anymore, it's not mathematically necessary to win (and no, there is no single element a skater 'must' do to be a worthy gold medalist, all they have to do is score more than anyone else)
3. find a sports psychologist
4. get over the quad, no, not all real men do quads, not all who do quads are 'real' men
5. learn what the words c-h-o-r-e-o-g-r-a-p-h-y and t-r-a-n-s-i-t-i-o-n-s mean.
6. get over the quad, even if you land it, it's not enough to win and if you wipe out then it usually kills the rest of your program (unless your Tomas Verner in which case you self-destruct after landing the quad).
7. stop making me want to b1tch slap him

[silverlake22]

What Joubert needs to do:

1. stop the trash talk
2. get over the quad, we're not in 6.0 anymore, it's not mathematically necessary to win (and no, there is no single element a skater 'must' do to be a worthy gold medalist, all they have to do is score more than anyone else)
3. find a sports psychologist
4. get over the quad, no, not all real men do quads, not all who do quads are 'real' men
5. learn what the words c-h-o-r-e-o-g-r-a-p-h-y and t-r-a-n-s-i-t-i-o-n-s mean.
6. get over the quad, even if you land it, it's not enough to win and if you wipe out then it usually kills the rest of your program (unless your Tomas Verner in which case you self-destruct after landing the quad).
7. stop making me want to b1tch slap him

Some good advice there. Poor Brian . Does anyone think if he lost weight it might help him? I was noticing at the Olympics just how broad and muscular he looked compared to most of the other skaters. I mean, Evan, Plush, Dai, Lambiel, Chan, Johnny, Oda, Kozuka, etc are all either very thin or just small in general. And now that quads don't matter, Joubert's ripped physique may be doing him more harm than good (too bad because he's gorgeous )