Just throwing out a general caution to not feed the trolls.... randomly... for no reason...
EV: For how long were you skating together?
EI: At first we were just training in the same group under Natalia Dubinskaya - as two single skaters. Then our mothers decided we should switch to the ice dance. Or at least try - Nikita's jumps were not particularly good. It happened just when Lobacheva/Averbukh opened their school.
Nikita always stood out. Everyone were looking at him. He was great. Hence I had no hesitations whether to skate with him or not. That how it all began. I was not jumping anymore, but gliding, learning to skate with a partner... it was awesome.
based from the interview, we can at least confirm Ilinykh is lazy and has work ethic issues ?
also confirms how many sought out Nikita as the male attraction every female ice dancer in Russia wanted to skate with
so maybe Elena is the weaker skater after all
Yup, and all I know is Elena did so well at worlds, if Nikita were as good as her, they could have been the gold medalists. Lol lolJust throwing out a general caution to not feed the trolls.... randomly... for no reason...
Elena is the one who does the right things at critical time and has the luck too. While Nikita, even though he looks attractive to many femal dancers, lacks something and the luck. From my untrained eyes, I always think Elena is a better dancer. Maybe it is different for the professionals. When I watched their 2010 CD in junior world, I couldn't take my eyes off of her.
I think they did lie to her, they want her to compete at worlds and not to make any mistake, funny enough it's Nikita who made the mistakes that cost them gold.
Back to the topic, any news about the progression of both pair? The Russia fed said okay to both of them already? Or... We still have to wait?
We still wait. Marina said last week S/K are with her until May 12th, so I wonder if they go back to Russia then so the Fed can assess them? I/Z have already been visited by a Fed representative & he said he would be recommending that their partnership is approved, but of course at the last Federation meeting they voted not to approve the splits, so we're still waiting for that to be resolved... Everyone in Kustarova's group seems to be on a weeks vacation at the moment before they come back to start working on choreography.
They can skate together, they wouldn't get central funding anyway even if the teams are approved until they have obtained a certain level of results. I suppose the biggest thing the Federation can do if they won't approve the teams is to not submit them for the grand prix series - if their names are not put forward for selection by their federation I believe skaters are not allocated spots, even if they are technically eligible thanks to their previous results. They can still do senior B competitions though I believe, but I have no idea how things would work domestically in terms of qualifying for Nationals.
That said, I don't believe the Fed will continue to hold out against this and take out 4 of their best dancers. There will be some kind of grudging approval by May 31st.
Vaitsekhovskaya's interview with Lena from 7th of May:
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/sho...h-Katsalapov-already-left-me-once-7-years-ago
based from the interview, we can at least confirm Ilinykh is lazy and has work ethic issues ?
also confirms how many sought out Nikita as the male attraction every female ice dancer in Russia wanted to skate with
so maybe Elena is the weaker skater after all
The only thing which I don’t like in interview is the same thing somebody noticed here already – that Lena was not motivated after Olympic medals…well, this is not an athlete‘s attitude and way of thinking. If an athlete wins a gold medal, there is nothing more, it is true…BUT Lena competes in Dance cathegory, she got an Olympic Bronze Medal there, which means that even with home advantage two couples were some much superior to her and Nikita that even home advantage couldn’t save this situation....
Vaitsekhovskaya's interview with Lena from 7th of May:
http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/sho...h-Katsalapov-already-left-me-once-7-years-ago
Just throwing out a general caution to not feed the trolls.... randomly... for no reason...
EV: For how long were you skating together?
EI: At first we were just training in the same group under Natalia Dubinskaya - as two single skaters. Then our mothers decided we should switch to the ice dance. Or at least try - Nikita's jumps were not particularly good. It happened just when Lobacheva/Averbukh opened their school.
Nikita always stood out. Everyone were looking at him. He was great. Hence I had no hesitations whether to skate with him or not. That how it all began.
EV: But you knew it was real
EI: Yes. What I didn't understand was why things had to be done so unprofessionally - setting a try out behind my back before the beginning of the championship? I don't want to use the word `betrayal' here. It's Nikita's life and his decision. But professionally - we should had won that championship. It was what we should had set our minds on - the odds were high. Throughout our career I never blamed Nikita on anything, but it was just one case where he was to blame for the failure at that championship. I still can't understand his reasons.
EV: Your previous coach said announced before the Olympics he doesn't plan staying in Russia. Did you discuss your future with him?
EI: No. During the Olympic season we were too busy and too focused so we didn't have time on any other conversation. I think it's the reason we were so ready for the Europeans and the Games and the Worlds. The news about the other partner shook me quite badly. I didn't understand why were we going to Japan. What did it matter whether we compete at the Worlds or not?
EV: You were not motivated by a possible win?
EI: After 2 Olympic medals? Not at all.
EV: I know when you skated with Katsalapov in Zhulins' group your partner was in a very unpleasant situation and the coach helped him.
After that Nikita said he'll be grateful to Zhulin for the rest of his life and would never betray him
EI: You bet. I remember in the worlds in Turino I came to the mixed zone after the short dance and instead of asking me about the skate I was asked `Is it true next season your partner will be skating with Khokhlova?'
EI: I'm very sorry we parted after all we've been through together, especially since we talked so much about our future after Sochi. That 2 best pairs are going to retire, that we finally reached the level on which we can set any goals. We had lots of plans.
EI: At this point of our work we understand I'm more experienced. Though my female experience tells me I shouldn't press on the partner too much whether it's about the life, sport or business.