What's in store for Joubert this season?

figureskatingfan22 said:

You're wrong. Nebelhorn Trophy is September 23rd and 24th - next weekend.

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Yeah, right, from 21st-24th. Plus French Masters is a homeland after all, with no foreign competition, like Hanyu, Brezina, Menshov, Fernandez, etc.

Interview video with parts of his LP

Brian JOUBERT 2011 intreview before the new season

JOUBERT POINT PAR POINT

Sounds like he wants to skate till Sochi Olympics to end his career there but will be skipping the GPs after this year. He will be sticking with David Wilson for the rest of his competitive career.

He's slimmed down quite a bit for this season.

eta. Ah, I remembered to have read an English article:

Brian Joubert On the Comeback Trail

This is what I remember most:

I do not know what the odds will be for Florent and I to place one-two there (Nice), but it is worth betting on us now.

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SkateFiguring said:

Sounds like he wants to skate till Sochi Olympics to end his career there but will be skipping the GPs after this year. He will be sticking with David Wilson for the rest of his competitive career.

He's slimmed down quite a bit for this season.

eta. Ah, I remembered to have read an English article:

Brian Joubert On the Comeback Trail

This is what I remember most:

I do not know what the odds will be for Florent and I to place one-two there (Nice), but it is worth betting on us now.

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It's going to be Worlds in his country; what were you expecting him to say? "Come see Florent and myself finish 7th and 8th like we did in Moscow, when my knee was trashed and Florent decided the rules don't apply to him"? He knows what he's capable of, but he must be well aware of what he's supposed to tell the media.

Joubert has mentioned in the past that it's easy for him to both lose and gain weight (going so far as to say that training in NA is very dangerous for him in that regard ). The weight loss this time might be related to his knee injury - it's mentioned in the IFS magazine story that he has to follow some sort of a diet as part of his efforts to avoid surgery and prolong his career. I suspect that the health issues he's dealt with in the second part of his career may have also played a role in his desire to cut back on the number of competitive events he does per season; 2006-7 was the last time he managed a full GP season including the GPF anyway, so he might as well focus on the big events.

But I must say that I have learned to take most of the interviews Joubert does with a grain of salt, especially the preseason ones.

^^^^^ I have no idea what would be most appropriate to say to the media but Joubert's disappointing showing at Worlds 2011 had more to do with his head than any of his other body parts. He did the best quad of the competition and a very good LP with that "trashed knee" but didn't have the gumption to do a make-up jump combo in the SP which put him in a ditch to climb out of.

And Amodio, could Joubert or anyone else be sure he wouldn't pull another stunt?

I assumed Joubert himself was aware of such facts which was why he didn't say what you might have presumed to be what he might have thought.

Brian injured his back a couple of days ago and will probably withdraw from the CoC. The decision will be made during the weekend. :no:

http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/vienne/res/Toutes-les-DMAs

It's my wish that Worlds this season will either be won by Jeremy Abbott or Brian Joubert or Tomas Verner. I want it to be some elite, underdog skater that just about everyone has given up on and called a has-been. All 3 of them have the talent to be the World's best.

There's a new interview with Brian on IN, which of course I can't link to here (I'll admit I don't understand the policy; it's a legit news source, not just a commercial site). Anyway, I've been reading conflicting information about whether he'll be doing CoC as the interview suggests, but it is worth checking out regardless.

Here's a bit some of you might find interesting:

I have to say that transitions in edges do add a lot to skating. When you watch skaters from the past on YouTube, like John Curry or Robin Cousins [Olympic gold medalists in 1976 and 1980, respectively], you can see that they did skate many edge transitions, and it was beautiful to watch. But additional arm movements do not bring nearly as much, at least I feel so.

Still, I have come to recognize that I had no choice but to get into that judging system. And I must admit that it has enhanced skating significantly.

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I could see him competiting this season to end his career skating at Worlds at home. However I have no idea why he would continue as an amateur beyond that. His best days are clearly behind him. There isnt any hope of him contending for a medal by Sochi where he would be pushing 30 and a good 7 years past his very best skating. 2009 is the last year he was really a strong contender (despite that he did get a bronze at a very watered down 2010 Worlds with 4 of the top 6 from Vancouver out). Couldnt he made a nice pro career for himself in Europe or Asia, or coach or choreograph, or if not really intersted move onto something new.

My prediction is that a most only 1 of Plushenko, Lysacek, Takahashi, Abbott, or Joubert will be competing in Sochi. Whichever one that is (if 1 even is) will have a finish outside the top 7.

pangtongfan said:

My prediction is that a most only 1 of Plushenko, Lysacek, Takahashi, Abbott, or Joubert will be competing in Sochi. Whichever one that is (if 1 even is) will have a finish outside the top 7.

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I don't think that, if Plushenko competed, he would finish outside the top 7. This guy shows up in great shape to competitions and is a great competitor. He rarely falls and, although he likely wouldn't have the most transitions, he would get pretty good marks based on reputation and jump difficulty.

pangtongfan said:

I could see him competiting this season to end his career skating at Worlds at home. However I have no idea why he would continue as an amateur beyond that. His best days are clearly behind him. There isnt any hope of him contending for a medal by Sochi where he would be pushing 30 and a good 7 years past his very best skating. 2009 is the last year he was really a strong contender (despite that he did get a bronze at a very watered down 2010 Worlds with 4 of the top 6 from Vancouver out). Couldnt he made a nice pro career for himself in Europe or Asia, or coach or choreograph, or if not really intersted move onto something new.

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2010 Worlds was no more watered down than 2009 Worlds. 4 of the top 6 in Vancouver weren't in Turin, sure, but the same was also true for LA Worlds: Daisuke was out with an injury, Plush and Stephane weren't competing, and Johnny didn't qualify out of US Nats. For that matter, The top two in Vancouver didn't compete in 2008 or 2011 Worlds, so were those events watered down? Skating fields change from season to season, and new contenders emerge. Most of the top skaters in 2010 Worlds skated better than they did at the Olympics (e.g. Dai, Chan, Joubert, Abbott), and it was a very enjoyable event. The achievements of the skaters who competed shouldn't be cheapened. Just as Pang and Tong's world title isn't worth less because Shen and Zhao weren't there.

I think Joubert would do very well as a show skater, if he chooses to go in that direction post-retirement. He seems to have his heart set on coaching, though. As for Sochi, my guess is that if he does go, it'll be to finally have a good performance at the Olympics, not with the goal of a specific medal.