Plushenko plans to compete in team & individual events in Sochi | Page 4 | Golden Skate

Plushenko plans to compete in team & individual events in Sochi

gmyers

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Mar 6, 2010
MM, I certainly cannot answer your question from personal experience as an athlete.

But I have noticed that Charlie White's favorite expression after a competitive performance seems to be, "We left it all on the ice." (Often he relies on his mantra in the context of saying that D/W themselves believe that they could not have skated any better on that particular day -- whether or not they received some Level 3s or whatever.)
So whatever the totality of "it" means, I guess the question -- at least for D/W -- is how many rapid cycles of leaving it all on the ice and then restoring new supplies of it inside themselves (whether that process is deliberate or unconscious) they can manage during the short number of days spanning the team event and their own discipline.

Sorry if my example sounds silly. But I don't mean to be facetious.
I think the issue is bigger than the physical feats of landing quads or executing other difficult elements. I think that White is referring also to summoning the mental strength to give a successful performance.

Maybe the concern in terms of the mental demands is that the team event could cause a "hangover" analogous to the phenomenon of Olympic "hangover" that leads some skaters to skip Worlds a few weeks later -- or to the apparent Worlds "hangover" that seemed to result in some skaters bypassing WTT. And many of those who did compete at WTT commented on how tough it was to do so.

Very true about the word hangover!! Skaters complain of dealing with hangovers at post Olympic worlds which is a month later!!! Some are certainly already talking about athletes at the Olympics leaving their Olympic performance in the team event and not their discipline event. North American skaters hate the 4cc competition before the Olympics if they're going!! Lol now there's a 4cc at the olympics !! Like d/w to leave it all on the ice in Vancouver said no to 4cc in 2010 and will likely do so again in 2014 and not even do the team event.
 
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I will eat my hat if Davis and White do not participate enthusiastically in the Olympic team event.
 

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
MM, I agree that Davis/White will embrace the Sochi team event. Would not surprise me if one or both of them will lead Team USA as captain(s), as White did at WTT in 2012.
In my post above, I quoted White only in an effort to imagine why any skater performing one or both programs for the team event might have to think about how to conserve some "it" -- whatever "it" is -- for her/his own discipline. Again, I am not an athlete. I was only trying to imagine a skater's approach to the combination of the team and individual competitions.

I guess a skater who has competed both in singles and pair skating at the same event would know something about how to handle the pressure of two sets of medals at stake?

ETA: Did Charlie White compete as a junior in both dance and singles skating? Perhaps that experience will serve him well as D/W skate both for the team and for themselves. :)
 

TontoK

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I have yet to hear anything remotely negative from the skaters themselves about the Team Event. I certainly have not heard from any that they intend to sit it out.

I believe "they" who are concerned, doubting, urging non-participation, and so forth are not skaters.

A second chance for an Olympic medal! Who wouldn't be excited.

I think we'll be hearing more from skaters like Yuna, Denis Ten, and others from less competitive federations who WANT to participate, but can't.
 

LRK

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Nov 13, 2012
Good point. I think it's important to differentiate between:

a) Concern expressed by anxious fans (such as myself, for instance - and why not? - if we can't be overly protective of the wellfare of "our" skaters - what are fans for? ;) )

b) Objections expressed by the skaters themselves.

The skaters should not be tarred with the fans' brush... er... so to speak. :)
 

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avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
(1)
He will be skating in PIW in Tokyo. At least that is the plan.

In a 40-second video in English, Plushenko apologizes to Japanese fans that he is not able to skate in the Prince Ice World show because he still is not healthy after his surgery.
He adds, "See you soon, and see you soon for sure in competition in Sochi 2014."
(I'm mostly paraphrasing an abbreviated version of what he said.)
Plushenko's appeal to Japanese fans! 6th of July, 2013

(2)
... I have noticed that Charlie White's favorite expression after a competitive performance seems to be, "We left it all on the ice." (Often he relies on his mantra in the context of saying that D/W themselves believe that they could not have skated any better on that particular day -- whether or not they received some Level 3s or whatever.)
So whatever the totality of "it" means, I guess the question -- at least for D/W -- is how many rapid cycles of leaving it all on the ice and then restoring new supplies of it inside themselves (whether that process is deliberate or unconscious) they can manage during the short number of days spanning the team event and their own discipline.

BTW, turns out that "Leaving It All on the Ice" is the title of the Mar 25 installment of Charlie White's USOC blog. He spelled out exactly what he means for "it" to encompass:
If there’s one thing Meryl and I always remind ourselves of when we take the ice to compete, it’s to leave “it” all out on the ice. “It” is the thousands of hours of practice, all of the instruction from our coaches, the love and support from our families, our love for what we do, and our competitive spirits.
http://usoc.org/Team-USA-Winter-Bloggers/Charlie-White/Leaving-It-All-On-The-Ice

ETA: Did Charlie White compete as a junior in both dance and singles skating? Perhaps that experience will serve him well as D/W skate both for the team and for themselves.​

Answering my own question: White's final event as a singles skater was the 2006 US National Championships, at which he finished 9th among juniors and Davis/White won the junior dance title.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

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Jan 25, 2013
- Talking about it is premature. But if the dear God will not turn away, then when Zhenya appears on the Sochi Olympic rink - others will look like puppies, while he as case-hardened wolf. :biggrin:

Haha... Mishin really knows how to play it up. Unfortunately I think come Sochi this rhetoric-turned-hubris will be all bark and not much bite and he might be tucking his tail between his legs. A case-hardened wolf is an interesting way of putting it, though I think it'll be Plushenko trying not to be an old dog amidst a pack of greyhounds.... but we will see. I legitimately hope Plushenko does his best, but his coach trash-talking/denigrating the rest of field isn't exactly making me root for him.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

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Jan 25, 2013
I have yet to hear anything remotely negative from the skaters themselves about the Team Event. I certainly have not heard from any that they intend to sit it out.

I believe "they" who are concerned, doubting, urging non-participation, and so forth are not skaters.

A second chance for an Olympic medal! Who wouldn't be excited.

I think we'll be hearing more from skaters like Yuna, Denis Ten, and others from less competitive federations who WANT to participate, but can't.

I don't think many skaters would say anything negative because for many of them it's a sure shot at an Olympic medal (whereas some of them have no chance in their individual events). As you said, if a skater had a second shot at a medal, of course you would embrace the event.
 

karne

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Haha... Mishin really knows how to play it up. Unfortunately I think come Sochi this rhetoric-turned-hubris will be all bark and not much bite and he might be tucking his tail between his legs. A case-hardened wolf is an interesting way of putting it, though I think it'll be Plushenko trying not to be an old dog amidst a pack of greyhounds.... but we will see. I legitimately hope Plushenko does his best, but his coach trash-talking/denigrating the rest of field isn't exactly making me root for him.

Or you could consider Mishin's analogy properly, and realise that he was talking about relative experiences - so who else in the field is going to be a hardened wolf compared to Plushenko, at his fourth Olympics, in his fifteenth year as a Senior? The only possible comparison is Joubert, but he does not have the titles and medals Plushenko has. No-one else in the field will have gone through what he has to get there. He is mentally the toughest skater in the world and physically he's going to have to be extremely strong.

Also perhaps Mishin was making reference to the fact that Plushenko will be thirty-one, and the average age of the rest of the field (particularly his main competitors) is considerably younger than that.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

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Jan 25, 2013
Or you could consider Mishin's analogy properly, and realise that he was talking about relative experiences - so who else in the field is going to be a hardened wolf compared to Plushenko, at his fourth Olympics, in his fifteenth year as a Senior? The only possible comparison is Joubert, but he does not have the titles and medals Plushenko has. No-one else in the field will have gone through what he has to get there. He is mentally the toughest skater in the world and physically he's going to have to be extremely strong.

Also perhaps Mishin was making reference to the fact that Plushenko will be thirty-one, and the average age of the rest of the field (particularly his main competitors) is considerably younger than that.

I hardly think calling the rest of the field puppies and his skater a wolf was intended to be anything but a dig... although I suppose he can get away with it. I hate when skaters or coaches have a superiority complex, like when Butyrskaya said she skates like a mature strong woman and not like a little girl... especially audacious to express that when you're not the favourite to win.
 

karne

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I hardly think calling the rest of the field puppies and his skater a wolf was intended to be anything but a dig...

:rolleye:

Of course. It doesn't have anything at all to do with the fact that Plushenko will be THIRTY-ONE and, leaving Abbott aside because he's done, the podium at the US Nationals (for example) was 20, 21, and 18.
 

gmyers

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Mar 6, 2010
:rolleye:

Of course. It doesn't have anything at all to do with the fact that Plushenko will be THIRTY-ONE and, leaving Abbott aside because he's done, the podium at the US Nationals (for example) was 20, 21, and 18.

I agree. It's not a skill comparison just a experience comparison. The issue of how puppy is used as possible substitute for inferior is reaching. If it was totally explicit like "I'm a wolf and there a puppy" in terms of experience it would be like a joke if it came directly from plushenko. A Coach is pointing Out "case hardened" like "battle hardened" its just a saying.
 

plushyfan

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Jun 27, 2012
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Hungary
I agree. It's not a skill comparison just a experience comparison. The issue of how puppy is used as possible substitute for inferior is reaching. If it was totally explicit like "I'm a wolf and there a puppy" in terms of experience it would be like a joke if it came directly from plushenko. A Coach is pointing Out "case hardened" like "battle hardened" its just a saying.
Of course, CSG is just malicious, as usual. ;) I think Mishin's sentence is so witty and expressive...
 

plushyfan

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Jun 27, 2012
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Hungary
CSG! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgEYv36xwNg&noredirect=1 Plu's first jump after surgery
this was his third day in Pinzolo training camp, some tweets from a fan, who travelled there

This morning the weather allowed outside training session and @EvgeniPlushenko probably had an outdoor preparation.He is at the gym now.

Evgeni is working so hard and with so much will that"respect"is not even close to what I think about his being an athlete. Divine strenght.



On ice @EvgeniPlushenko. Too good 2 be real. I am lucky 2 have such a privilege. Cannot explain it but it's just like living the legend.

Double wonderful axel!
And double wonderful smiling salchows!
And double toe loops 3 times!!! Yayyyyyy!
A gorgeous DOUBLE LUTZ. TWICE!
His Axel? A MASTERPIECE. Like Vivaldi Primavera... even when doubled but... He JUST TRIPLED IT! TWICE! A GOD ON EARTH!

I am not answering cause IT TAKES TIME TO RECOVER FROM HEART ATTACKS!

You have no idea...After this unbelievable half an hour of training @EvgeniPlushenko is back at the gym! Somebody stops him! XD! The
Athlete!

and another wittness:
Third day report by lovplush:

If you ask me whether to stay in the ice rink from 9:30 am till 8:00 pm most frozen to have cold just to watch Plush’s last minute shown up training is worth it, I would definitely say: absolutely!!

We arrived at 9:30 am in the morning and waited till 1am, no sign of Plush (not entirely true, he was outside the ice rink for a short while, probably just back from morning training outside). In order not to miss him we stayed in the ice rink during noon. In the afternoon, we saw him in the gym upstairs so we are hoping that he will still train on ice later. Around 7 pm, during the ice resurfacing, he was on the ice. It was the last training session I believe.

The session was still mainly about jumps, after warming up, he did some double salchow jumps, some great ones, some a bit shaky ones. He actually fell two times on the ice when he tried loops and a double jump combination, which totally gave us heart attacks. But he seems feeling fine and not so frustrated at all, most of the times he smiled. Later, he did nice double toes and loops. Then he tried double Luz and after he succeeded it, he had one knee down on the ice and making the pumping gesture to celebrate. Oh boy he was happy.

The great surprise has yet to come: he began to train Axel jump. He did some single ones, then started double axels. Just when I talked to Sara that I thought he now managed all double jumps except flip (he did not train it), he launched for another Axal jump. We all think it would be another great double axels, and Sara was writing twitter describing his masterpiece Axels, he TRIPLED IT!!!!!!! We are in shock!!!! Or in AWE!!! OMG, what we just witnessed?! Plush was very happy too, he raised both his hand and shouted: “UNBELIEVABLE!!!” We applauded for it, cheering for him. And as if he wanted to confirm it, he DID IT AGAIN!!!! BEAUTIFUL TRIPLE AXELS!!!! He was extremely happy. Later he trained a bit SP, then stopped training on ice. He was in the gym after a while but later he came out to play football.

Sara and I are soooooo happy, we decided to have some happy drinks. It was an unbelievable day. And Plushy is amazing.


He is working very seriously. But he said:
"The situation will be more or less clear in august, not earlier.
Of course, I had feeling regarding my conditions after the first jumps training on the ice. Still it's too early to say anything certain."

I close this post with a tweet of his fan, I send to you: :biggrin:

@EvgeniPlushenko ... When the time comes, surprise us, surprise your enemies, and the whole world with your strength&grace! Luv you always:)
 

FSGMT

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Joined
Sep 10, 2012
He's already jumping 3As?! :jaw: If you think that that is the jump in which he fell during his 2013 Euros SP... :cool:
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
He's jumping? This is awesome! The guy really is made of some other material, not what regular humans are made from.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Yes, I think he landed the first 3A on the 19th of June? Or around there? No quads yet, I believe - and honestly, I'm a bit relieved about that, as we all know how he tends to push himself, and this time he really, seriously needs to take care of himself!
 
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