Yes it is also true to the person who said dissing Irina just makes Michelle look bad indirectly. If Irina sucks and could only win medals through politics, than the Michelle Kwan era must have totally sucked and she must have had no competition at all, if her best opponent almost her whole career was a no talent sloppy hot mess of a skater only on top through politics. Her competition was so incredibly weak they had to politically invent a rival. So how much is Michelle Kwan's great career and all her wins worth if that is how poor her era and her competition was. Essentialy when he says that, that is what he is implying. Poor Michelle, she deserves better than that.
This is in the second part of the interview? I'm sorry to hear about it. I've never understood the urge to make an opponent of one's favorite/student/protege look bad. I love Michelle, but I could see that Irina had so much to offer in her skating, interestingly in very different areas from Michelle. She was buoyant, upbeat, strong, with those beautiful, springy jumps. I also found her refreshing in that she didn't look like what we often envision as the Russian woman in skating or gymnastics. One always imagines someone delicate and ballet-trained, or passionate and sultry (like Oksana Grishchuk, for instance). Irina was bubbly and forthright and valiant. Political wins? Fie on that. She won because she was good. Like Michelle, in fact.