Exerpts from Piseev interview

http://mn.ru/sports/20110502/301583985.html
Excerpts from a recent Piseev interview, clearly illustrating why no one likes him

[Should Russian coaches be forced to fire their foreign students? Weren't Pechalat - Bourzat good "sparring partners" for our teams?]

Everything should make sense. We shouldn’t get too extreme. It’s not a question of firing or not firing. We should consider each case individually. Foreigners can stay and train if it helps our athletes. If it contradicts our interests, things should change.

I agree that the French [ice dancers] were a good example for Ilinykh – Katsalapov; perhaps now another team could take on that role, Canadian or American may be. In such partnership, the principal will be that our Russian coaches should train our athletes. Anything else is complimentary to that work.

How does that go together with the work of Marina Zueva and Igor Shpilband? It’s hard to imagine them making their work with Canadians and Americans secondary for the sake of Russian Yana Khokhlova – Fedor Andreev.

With Zueva, we have great hopes for the team of Khokhlova – Andreev. In this case, though, one shouldn’t discount the fact that Fedor is Zueva’s son. So, money and work aside, there will surely be times where Marina will be paying more attention to this team.

Aren’t you afraid that, pushed against the wall, Zhulin and Morozov will just take their students and move abroad?

I think they want to work with Russian athletes. For example, we won’t mind if Miki Ando or Floran Amodio who train with Nikolai Morozov will stay. We should think about his other students, let me repeat, based on our interests.

As to Alexander Zhulin, he needs to decide if he’s in sport or in art. His athletes train for four hours a day without a break, whereas everyone else has long moved to twice-a-day schedule. Sasha is very talented, and we deserve to count on such a coach. Zhulin needs to decide. I hope to have a serious talk with him soon.

What can you say about the organization of Moscow Worlds?

[…] I won’t even talk about our hospitality. No one can host the way Russia can. Abroad, they always try to save money, but it just wouldn't do for us to look insolvent.

Ptichka said:

I agree that the French [ice dancers] were a good example for Ilinykh – Katsalapov; perhaps now another team could take on that role, Canadian or American may be. In such partnership, the principal will be that our Russian coaches should train our athletes. Anything else is complimentary to that work.

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As always, thank you for the translations, Ptichka! I was wondering, however--in the quote above, is it just me, or is that a hint that I/K could be moving to the Zueva/Shpilband camp?

Thanks Ptichka - I presume Piseev means Russia First and that's understandable, but his statement that foreigners can stay and train only if it helps Russian athletes is a bit puzzling. Foreign skaters want to be trained by Russian coaches. They are not there for assisting Russian goals. Why fire the Russian coaches when they have the opportunity to earn additional fees?

That whole bit about Zueva reads more like a family feud. Has she taken out N.American citizenship?

The Zhulin piece is interesting. I didn't know he was also interested in Art. I think he can do both.

evangeline said:

As always, thank you for the translations, Ptichka! I was wondering, however--in the quote above, is it just me, or is that a hint that I/K could be moving to the Zueva/Shpilband camp?

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Elena has trained with Zoueva before. I definitely see it happening.

Zoueva is a Canadian citizen. Shpilband's an American citizen.

evangeline said:

As always, thank you for the translations, Ptichka! I was wondering, however--in the quote above, is it just me, or is that a hint that I/K could be moving to the Zueva/Shpilband camp?

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I think all he meant was that Zhulin could take on a weaker team that would still be a good training partner for I&K without taking away his time. Also, may be they're considering moving them to Linichuk / Karponosov? That would make sense.

Joesitz said:

Thanks Ptichka - I presume Piseev means Russia First and that's understandable, but his statement that foreigners can stay and train only if it helps Russian athletes is a bit puzzling. Foreign skaters want to be trained by Russian coaches. They are not there for assisting Russian goals. Why fire the Russian coaches when they have the opportunity to earn additional fees?
That whole bit about Zueva reads more like a family feud. Has she taken out N.American citizenship?
The Zhulin piece is interesting. I didn't know he was also interested in Art. I think he can do both.

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I think that by "Art", Piseev means Zhulin's involvement with "Skating with the stars" type projects - they highlight figure skating as art, not sport.

As for Zueva - I think those comments are just sooo Vintage Piseev - he always assumes the worse in peope because he sees others no better than himself. It's hard for him to imagine that talented and decent people like ZUeva & Shpilband honestly give their all to each and every one of their students. I recall how when asked about training two champion teams (V&M and D&W) a couple of years ago, ZUeva immediately corrected the interviewer by pointing out they also train the Shibutanis who get just as much attention. Piseev naturally assumes that Zueva will be so invested in her son's career that it will come at the expense of her other students.

His statements about Morozov and Zhulin are just so condescending. He sounds like a lord deciding what his serfs are allowed to do. Instead, of course, he is dealing with some of the most accomplished and sought after professionals in the sport.

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BTW, the caption on Piseev's picture that went with this interview identified him as the federation president. I'm assuming it's just a mistake, right? I think Gorshkov is still teh federation president, with Piseev holding some other title.

Ptichka said:

I think all he meant was that Zhulin could take on a weaker team that would still be a good training partner for I&K without taking away his time. Also, may be they're considering moving them to Linichuk / Karponosov? That would make sense.

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So he's assuming the possibility that a lesser American/Canadian team will move to Russia in order to play second fiddle to I/K? Wow. That's hilarious.

To be fair, though, a lot of us question just how much dedication Z/S are able to give to their skaters - they have quite a few of them. But yeesh, the way he rather insults other Morosov students (I so hope that Fernandez gets out of there and becomes more successful)

^^^
One could also discuss the frailities of Russian coaches as well as praising some.

I happen to like the team of I/K and I don't care where they are coached, however I do believe Shpilband and Zueva happen to be the best Ice Dance coaches around and if their students can afford them, why not have I/K move to Michigan? There are a number of Russian skaters who study in the US.

Joe, I'd be very much surprised if Shpilband and Zueva agreed to work with I&K. They have both categorically opposed working with the Russian federation before. They have obviously agreed now - but that's because Andreev is involved. I do not see them agreeing to it for I&K. Also, I think Zhulin has a good rapport with I&K; in any case, it should be the skaters' decision, not the federation's.

Ptichka said:

Joe, I'd be very much surprised if Shpilband and Zueva agreed to work with I&K. They have both categorically opposed working with the Russian federation before. They have obviously agreed now - but that's because Andreev is involved. I do not see them agreeing to it for I&K. Also, I think Zhulin has a good rapport with I&K; in any case, it should be the skaters' decision, not the federation's.

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Ptichka - I didn't know Shpilband Zueva opposed working with the Russian Federation. That would be another topic of discussion. If Yana and Andrev are training in Michigan, and with Zhulin, Piseev's comments do not make sense at all. Is Zhulin in US or is Yana/Andrev in Russia?

I agree that Piseev wouldn't care about lesser US and Canadian dance teams studying in Russia---as long as they were no threat to Russian teams. As if any US or Canadian teams would want to do that.

Joesitz said:

Ptichka - I didn't know Shpilband Zueva opposed working with the Russian Federation. That would be another topic of discussion. If Yana and Andrev are training in Michigan, and with Zhulin, Piseev's comments do not make sense at all. Is Zhulin in US or is Yana/Andrev in Russia?

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Andreev & Khokhlova are indeed working with Shpilband & Zueva in Michigan (where Piseev expects the latter to pay more attention to them then to their other teams).

Ilynikh & Katsalapov are in Moscow, training with Zhulin. Supposedly, if federation is displeased with the latter, they may move I&K to another coach. In this situation, no way would Zueva & Shpilband take them. Shpilband has never in his coaching career dealt with the Russian federation nor is he eager to try it. Zueva has some bad blood with the federation in general in Piseev in particular; back in the day, Gordeeva & Grinkov had to fight tooth and nail to be allowed to have Zueva as their choreographer.

My guess would be that if they do move I&K, it would be to Linichuk & Karponosov.

Ptichka said:

As to Alexander Zhulin, he needs to decide if he’s in sport or in art. His athletes train for four hours a day without a break, whereas everyone else has long moved to twice-a-day schedule. Sasha is very talented, and we deserve to count on such a coach. Zhulin needs to decide. I hope to have a serious talk with him soon.

What can you say about the organization of Moscow Worlds?

[…] I won’t even talk about our hospitality. No one can host the way Russia can. Abroad, they always try to save money, but it just wouldn't do for us to look insolvent.

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Thanks Pisev. Wow, so blunt. What will come out of that serious talk?! And now I understand what you meant about feeling iffy about Andreev being Zueva’s son.

The last paragraph is so true- Moscow put together a great event!