Adam Rippon Needs Gracie Gold's Coach

[SkateFiguring]

^ Yeah but didn't Johnny Weir start at 11 and didn't he have nice basics?

Not nice enough for current level of competitions like what Adam faces, or even his later years of competitive career, despite his claim of having a better Olympic Free Skate than Lysacek.

[silverlake22]

Not nice enough for current level of competitions like what Adam faces, or even his later years of competitive career, despite his claim of having a better Olympic Free Skate than Lysacek.

This. I always thought Johnny had awkward crossovers and feel the same about Rippon. If Johnny's basics were so good, he could have handled programs that weren't so painfully empty choreographically. There's a reason his PCS were the way they were...

Plus competition is much steeper now. Johnny wasn't competing against Hanyu, Chan and Kozuka at their primes, and these unreal quad jumpers like Brezina and Fernandez. Adam is already pretty weak in the jump department, his basics aren't so strong either and this is why he ends up 13th at Worlds. I know he wasn't at his best in Nice, but he skated like he has all season, about as well as we can expect from him at this point, and the placement is accurate. In fact, he's probably not even the 13th best skater in the World right now because others underperformed or were not at Worlds. Idk. Adam has nice spins and artistry but that isn't enough, certainly not now. It was never enough for Johnny and that was during an era where the men's field wasn't quite so stacked.

[Sjs5572]

When I started reading this thread, I was charmed by this tidbit about coach Alex Ouriashev:



Then I was horrified by this tidbit about coach Richard Callaghan:



Why, why WHY would it be OK for him to have students as long as they aren't male?

It's not OK. I am shocked that the USFSA never fully investigated these heinous allegations based on some misplaced "statute of limitations" consideration. It can take years before an abused teenager has the self-confidence to go to authorities; and thus, statute of limitations laws shouldn't apply.

[Serious Business]

It's not OK. I am shocked that the USFSA never fully investigated these heinous allegations based on some misplaced "statute of limitations" consideration. It can take years before an abused teenager has the self-confidence to go to authorities; and thus, statute of limitations laws shouldn't apply.

I've seen first hand how ridiculous, protracted and unhelpful investigations into child sexual abuse can be. I used to think people cared about children being sexually abused and would make preventing it a priority over lots of other things, it's a really rude awakening to find out the truth was otherwise.

[bigsisjiejie]

Then I was horrified by this tidbit about coach Richard Callaghan:
<references in quote by another poster about Jenny Kirk, Angela Nikodinov, Kimmie Meissner, Shizuka Arakawa>

Why, why WHY would it be OK for him to have students as long as they aren't male? That's like saying just 'cause someone got caught embezzling Euros, it's OK to entrust him with dollars! Really, existing stats show that gender-preference among child predators is plenty fungible.

As I recall, all of these female skaters were legal adults, not minors, when they went to train with Callaghan. And since all went to him after 1999, the year the allegations against him were made public, we can presume they were aware and knew full well what they were doing. And perhaps either did not lend credence to the allegations, or did not feel that there was a situation that would be detrimental to their person or their quality of training.

FWIW, the PSA did exonerate Callaghan, in 2009 I believe. And I recall there was a lot of suspicion that the accuser, also a fairly well-known coach, was being untruthful and had other motives for the accusation. Waiting so long to bring up accusations did not help his case.

[Sjs5572]

As I recall, all of these female skaters were legal adults, not minors, when they went to train with Callaghan. And since all went to him after 1999, the year the allegations against him were made public, we can presume they were aware and knew full well what they were doing. And perhaps either did not lend credence to the allegations, or did not feel that there was a situation that would be detrimental to their person or their quality of training.

FWIW, the PSA did exonerate Callaghan, in 2009 I believe. And I recall there was a lot of suspicion that the accuser, also a fairly well-known coach, was being untruthful and had other motives for the accusation. Waiting so long to bring up accusations did not help his case.

However, there were two other students besides Maurizi who also claimed abuse. IMHO, if there was nothing to the allegations, Callaghan would not have claimed he was retiring before moving cross-country soon after to continue training.