Vaitsekhovskaya on scape goat searching in Russian FS fedeation | Golden Skate

Vaitsekhovskaya on scape goat searching in Russian FS fedeation

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/48508.html - translated with permission of Ms. Vaitsekhovskaya. BTW, she posted this on her blog AFTER Piseev's announcement that he won't run for the post again.

What I particular like about Russian figure skating is its creativity. The Worlds are over – pretty much a bust. An Olympic cycle is over – pretty much a bust. In late April, Russian Figure Skating Association will get together to urgently look for scapegoats (SG). According to my info, the candidates have been selected and the assignment is to “prepare an argument base” to make sure the designated SGs are really and truly put down.

Perhaps, that’s not so (we still have time, allowing us to think of some people better than they deserve). Therefore, this is for now just musings out loud.

Pair skating. Was it a bust? No way! It’s just a normal downturn. Over three years, Tamara Moskvina has gotten out of Kavaguti and Sminov the maximum they were capable of. Oleg Vasiliev did the same with Mukhortova and Trankov. The breakup of the latter team is regrettable but predictable. It just didn’t work out. Do we have the young ones? Yes. Do they have potential? Absolutely. That doesn’t only go for Bazarova and Larionov.

Single. In men, we do have a catastrophe, in my opinion. According to that same opinion, this is the direct fault of the federation in that all selection criteria are complete b.s. I, for example, prefer Borodulin to Voronov. That, however, doesn’t alter the fact that it was Voronov who was selected for the team back in December. He appeared to have every right to finish out the season. The officials, though, dumped him from the Games, and then suddenly demanded he get back into shape quick to replace Plushenko. It didn’t work. It couldn’t. No matter who else will appear, the template never changes – first, dump on the athlete and the coach as much as possible, and then blame both for the lack of fighting spirit.

Plushenko himself. It’s no secret he never planned to attend any Worlds! It never fit into his business plans to begin with. Talk about “injuries” is laughable. Any skater of that level has so many injuries that any doctor won’t think twice about relieving him of competition or even recommending full disability. Should the federation have given the skater the money just like that, without any contract stipulating he’d finish out the season to ensure Russia has more than one spot next year? Perhaps. They are idiots for giving in to his every demand. Should Plushenko have those goals anyway? No way! It’s his knees, his life and his plans. It’s not his problem that there is no one else behind him.

Ladies. Nothing to talk about here. Thank god, we’ve got this sudden “American gift” of Ksusha Makarova. Any credit to the federation. NOT EVEN A LITTLE. Even her coaches aren’t Russian, they’re Ukrainian. All the talk about Sotnikova and Uktamysheva are at this point groundless. Perhaps they will develop. Or perhaps they will develop the body parts that will hinder their jumps. That is not to be predicted. However, those girls provide convenient cover for the time being. They’ll grow up – and that’s that! They’ll conquer everyone! Hurray!

Ice dance. That’s were all the SGs hide. Kokhlova/Novitski and Rubleva/Shefer – meaning Irina Zhuk and Alexander Svinin. A bust? Yes, without a doubt. However, the former are the very people who didn’t waiver a year ago when they suddenly found themselves the nation’s first team at Europeans. With a not-to-healthy Sergei to boot. And then there was the 2009 Worlds, where, as I’ve been told, one high official was convincing the athletes that they were the country’s top team with everything that entails while they knew this to be a lie. That was confirmed in the first segment. Their skating wasn’t convincing enough? Yes, that’s true. The main thing, though, is that they first got his with a boulder over their heads, and then asked sympathetically, “Where is that fire in your eyes?”

The latter team are a different story altogether. Rubleva/Shefer are the only team that did all clean skates all season, even while realizing they had no chance for a good result. The bets weren’t on them.

Domnina/ Shabalin are real heroes, especially Maxim. But! Was it really that everyone only found out at the Games that they’re not competitive to put it mildly? Or, perhaps, it did after all happen back at the start of the season during a test skate in America after which the results were just hushed up? So, who’s at fault? Seems like the federation to me.

Should Piseev go? An accompanying question is – what’s the alternative? It’s a Catch-22. There is no alternative. It’s never been nurtured. That’s the saddest part of all. He was scared so much after the Games – that punched all the way from Kremlin certainly wasn’t pulled. So, he should’ve drawn some conclusions. Yet the president himself is not a SG candidate. So, instead of building an at least somewhat working system, it will continue as before. With big sticks for everyone and old carrots for the chosen.

I know it’s stream of consciousness type post. I just can’t hide this total feeling of hopelessness. And it’s just too bad for coaches and athletes. They’ve been honestly doing their jobs.
 

sillylionlove

Medalist
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
I have no idea who this lady is but I love what she is saying!! Ptichka who is she? And thank as always for the translations. It was a great read!
 

mikiandorocks

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Thank you so much for this translation. I also don't have a clue about who this lady is but she seems to have a lot of knowledge about the state of the russian federation. Interesting to see what will be their strategy for the next years considering that they need to prepare the upcoming olympic cycle.
 

KKonas

Medalist
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Thank you so much for this translation. I also don't have a clue about who this lady is but she seems to have a lot of knowledge about the state of the russian federation. Interesting to see what will be their strategy for the next years considering that they need to prepare the upcoming olympic cycle.

Elena is a former Russian Olympic diving champion but has covered skating for more than 15 years. She is very well connected in Russia's skating world because of her Olympic credentials. She is also a good writer and pretty straightforward individual. I like her a lot. Think Linichuk may also lose a little of her "star" quality. But it was Piseev's wife, Alla, who told Linichuk that Dom/Shabs would surely win OWH and Worlds.
 

Big Deal

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 23, 2004
Concerning the recent ability of Dom-Shab (injury issues included) nobody could really believe that they can win a worthy Olympic Gold.
The biggest issue in the backstage is that, Russian Federation HAD to realize they cannot fix the results with predecided deals.

I had some bad comment on Cinquanta before because of the system ( especially the secret judging), but I have to apologize for that. It seems that he digged deep and knew which are the crucial points of the bias, and he fought against them succesfully!
 

mikiandorocks

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Elena is a former Russian Olympic diving champion but has covered skating for more than 15 years. She is very well connected in Russia's skating world because of her Olympic credentials. She is also a good writer and pretty straightforward individual. I like her a lot. Think Linichuk may also lose a little of her "star" quality. But it was Piseev's wife, Alla, who told Linichuk that Dom/Shabs would surely win OWH and Worlds.

Thanks for the info.

Concerning the recent ability of Dom-Shab (injury issues included) nobody could really believe that they can win a worthy Olympic Gold.
The biggest issue in the backstage is that, Russian Federation HAD to realize they cannot fix the results with predecided deals.

I have to say that I feel Domnina / Shabalin lost their oportunity of winning OGM after they switched coaches to Linichuk. Since they started to train under Linichuk their skating changed a lot. All their strong points, in my opinion, were not ín evidence anymore. Just compare the FDs they performed at Worlds in 2007 and in the Euros 2008 to their FD in 2009. They used to look solid and had an energic way of skating. They displayed power on the ice. In 2009 they just looked tentative. It was like the fire from their skating was gone. Even their lines got worse after they started to train under Linichuk which is almost absurd since she's considered on of the top coaches. Their OD this season turned out to be a disastrous choice and I kinf of blame Linichuk for that because we've seen her do that mistake before. Remeber the FD of Krylova / Osyannikov during the 99 season. They were a great team but their victories that season were overshadowed by the controversy concerning their FD.
I know Maxim had a lot of health problems but still I think that if he and Domnina had stayed with the same coaches and carried on developping the style they already had things could have been different.
 
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KKonas

Medalist
Joined
Oct 31, 2009
Concerning the recent ability of Dom-Shab (injury issues included) nobody could really believe that they can win a worthy Olympic Gold.
The biggest issue in the backstage is that, Russian Federation HAD to realize they cannot fix the results with predecided deals.

Piseev's wife, Alla S. is a very influential international dance judge and is almost always on the important international dance panels. Now with Piseev's downfall, she may lose some of her clout
 
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