Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds | Golden Skate

Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

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DORISPULASKI

Guest
Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

<a href="http://www.rosbaltnews.com/2003/04/07/62107.html
">www.rosbaltnews.com/2003/04/07/62107.html
</a>

In the article, Piseev blames bad conditions in Washington and bad organization for what he regards as the bad performances of the Russian skaters. He also blames the Sekret Komputer, and then says that the audience only applauded their own skaters. Russians "only" won 1 bronze, 3 silvers and 1 gold., for the largest number of medals in the event. What bad performance????

He may have a point with B&K vs. L&A, but otherwise, the Russian skaters did as well as could be expected. Sokolova did better than could be expected with 3 good performances!
Vika did well on her LP and SP! Abt wasn't there and Irina wasn't there, and let's face it, Timoshenko and Nelidina are just no replacement for Sasha and Irina. P&T were really overmarked. Plush got a standing O for his qualifying and SP performances and a partial standing O for his LP, which was not his best. And he won.

I presume that he is complaining that T&M did not win pairs.
Although audience support may have played a part, it is hard to see how Shen and Zhao are nationalistically the audiences'
own. They gave a great performance, one totally for the ages, and I agree with Joe, that if they had done that at SLC, we would be fighting about 2 silvers, not 2 golds.

dpp
 
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Joesitz

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

It's a sour grapes thing.

The entire body of audience gave roars to all who skaters who performed unusually well. While I am not a die-hard fan of Sasha, I did pick her for lst place in the Qualifying Round and I stand by that. And I did roar with the crowd when she completed the routine. (Not so with her other skates).

Plush got roars when he took to the ice. He got a nice rounding applause after he finished. His performance was not the best he could do. He won anyway. Held up, imo.

The Russian Dancers' "American Treat - rock and roll". Just didn't go over. It was not particularly interesting especially after the over-the-top Agosto's rock and roll. That was just bad planning on the part of the Russian team. Sorry only a mild roar from the crowd.

Forget the Pairs - S&Z stole the whole show. I said it before, and I will repeat it here, had they skated that routine in SLC they would have won the Olys. How could anyone dispute that?

Elena Sokolova - came close to making a second gold for
Russia. Another mild roar. She has very good tricks but her basics need work together with more speed and presence.

The Russians did win the most medals: 5 in total. Not bad! Why the sour grapes?

Joe
 
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Ptichka

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

Joe, IMHO it's worse than simple sour grapes (as was the case with Averbukh). Considering how invoved the Russian federation is with its skaters, it is reasonable to blame Piseev for the deterioration in the Russian Figure Skating. I find the following the most telling: "Piseev also complained that the one-sidedness of the spectators also prevented the Russian skaters from performing to the best of their ability" In other words, it's not that we don't do enough to keep up the sport, it's that the public prevented out otherwise superior skaters from being superior.

OTOH, may be he has a point about organization. The whole thing about doctors not arriving on time because of visa problems does have a bad feel to it.
 
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Pather2000

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

<em>I was waiting for this to come. He reminds me of Mishin, They won't be happy unless the sweep Gold, Silver & Bronze in every category. But, being that it was held here in Washington & with everything going on between the US & some of the other countries. I guess, Having the GPF in Russia wasn't good enough where as their Russian Skaters were loved. Hey, I am just happy that noone was booed. That would have been in poor taste.

</em>
 
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Emilieanne

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

That guy boo-hoos whenever the Russians don't sweep everything so why should today be different? His continually doing this should tell us all a lot, and all he does is make himself look like an even bigger fool. Put him with Didier and Speedy and it sure looks like the three stooges.
 
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Ptichka

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

I don't fully agree with "they got 5 medals, so what's are they upset about" attitude. If anything, I think if I were Piseev I would be more upset about pairs than about the dance.

In dance, it could have gone either way. L&A not getting gold is not an indication that Russian dance is on its way down; same goes for D&S/ N&K -- it could have gone either way. I can definitely see Russia getting both gold and bronze in dance this year (not that I disagree with the results as they stand).

Pairs, though, is a different story. In this Worlds, S&Z were so heads and shoulders above everyone else, it wasn't funny. And if Piseev is as knowledgeable in FS as I suspect he is, he should know that P&T getting the bronze was a fluke that he cannot count on happening again. I think that deep down he knows that all he can count on in the pairs scene in the next few years is to have one medal (color may vary).
 
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Mathman3

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

Last year there was a big shake-up in the ISU, with Canadian and U.S. representatives being voted off all of the important committees and replaced by Russians and their allies. Everyone thought, Oh, no, Piseev and his friends are going to control everything, there goes any possibility of fair judging out the window.

Interesting to see that this hasn't happened, at least so far, and that in fact it is Piseev who is doing the complaining.

I do wonder, though, to what extent the audience reaction influences judging in general. When the crowd absolutely exploded after Shen and Zhao's LP,it seems like that would have to make an impression on the judging panel, if only at the subconscious level.

Mathman
 
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terisalyn

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

One of those complaints, at least, is ridiculous. There were buses running constantly from the skaters' hotel to the MCI Center and the Convention Center. Besides the CC was a whole block away from the skaters' hotel, and MCI was only about 5 blocks away. Plus, the weather was beautiful for most of the competition; I saw lots of skaters choosing to walk instead of ride, and enjoying it. If Piseev expected each of his skaters to have his or her own personal car and driver, then yes, he could be disappointed.

And as far as crowd reactions are concerned, one would have to be incredibly naive to NOT expect audiences to cheer on their own "home team". Isn't that part of why the competitions are rotated from country to country? I'm sure Russian skaters at GPF got more of a crowd reaction than others. :rolleyes:
 
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DORISPULASKI

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

Mathman3, 61 posts, what happened to you?

Ptichka, Your point of view would explain why Piseev says that there were only one silver and one gold. (When there were 3 silvers.) He perhaps is only counting a medal if it was as good or better than he expected: 1 gold=Plush (easy),
1 silver =Sokolova (with Sasha winning the GPF and Michelle looking amazingly strong at Nat's, I don't believe that he can have been counting on Elena for the gold). However, this probably means: He expected L&A to win (and it was a 5/4 split and they were the last year's champions.

After that, it get more murky. Apparently he expected T&M to win and P&T to get silver, since he is not counting their medals. In that case, it is not a reasonable expectation. Frankly? P&T are not silver medal quality on any day vs. Shen and Zhao. And he has to know that the technical quality of S&Z was always their strength. You're right, he needs to be a bit upset about the decline of Russian pairs now that B&S are gone.

On dance, I think the rapid rise of N&K should give him quite a bit of comfort that the Russian future in dance is, as ever, strong.

dpp
 
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Kasey

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

If he keeps those sour grapes in his cache long enough, he'll have a bunch of wine, as opposed to whine, and then maybe a drunk Piseev will be easier to tolerate! :)

The Americans "only" applauded their own skaters? Other than Michelle Kwan, who had an amazing performance, the greatest, most deserved and heartfelt standing "o" at the competition was Shen and Zhao......Oops, that's right, THEY aren't Russian. SIGHHHHHH

Kasey
 
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Ogre Mage

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

Politics rears its ugly head again in the World of Figure Skating. Not every year can be like 1999 (when Russia swept all 4 disciplines). 5 world medals? That doesn't sound like a bad result to me. Is the USFSA whining about the uneven qualifying groups in the ladies event? Anyway, this is a post-Olympic year, it's not only the Russians who were a bit off with their performances. Perhaps Pissev needs to take a Xanax?
 
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DORISPULASKI

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

Ogre Mage, Of course we all whined about the unfair qualifying round list! And for that matter, so should have Elena Sokolova.

dpp
 
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Ladskater

Guest
Re: Article: Piseev Complains About Washington Worlds

The fact is Zhen and Zhao did not skate like that at the Olympics - what has that got to do with this years worlds? I get the feeling (not to open old wounds) that there is still bitterness here over the pairs results at the Olympics. We could say that about every Worlds or Olympics - "if so and so had skated like that they would have won such and such a title." It was really Jamie and Davids' moment when you think about it and they were never really allowed to enjoy it with all the hoopla that went on. Let it go people! Zhen and Zhao certainly earned their gold medal at the Worlds and no one disputes that - except the Russians of course - but they dispute everything including Bourne and Kraatz victory. L&A's program was not well choreographed and did not go over well. T&M do nothing for me emotionally - they are good technically, but there is no chemistry between them. As for Plushenko, he always gets a warm welcome, but I think he did sort of disappoint his fans this time with a lack lustre skate. Figure skating is still about politics no matter how they try to fix it. No matter who wins or loses someone always goes home feeling bitter. It's the skaters themselves who bring their personalites to the ice and make it enjoyable for everyone to watch and the skaters who keep figure skating honest and true.


Ladskater
 
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Ogre Mage

Guest
Worlds this year

I think the two somewhat controversial decisions at Worlds this year were the men's and dance events. The other two were pretty much uncontested. In both cases though, I agreed with the judges decision.

Plush had a decent skate but not a great one. Tim had a great skate. But Tim, while better, has poor presentation. Just a personal bias, but I HATE watching skaters with bad carriage/posture and Tim is one of the worst. Plush's presentation is miles ahead of Tim's.

I'll be the first to say I don't know very much about Ice Dance. Both B&K and L&A looked like they might have had a few small hesitations, so I would rate the performances as about equal. What it came down to, IMO, is that B&K had a strong program while L&A did not. It didn't flow as a cohesive work. The judges rightly awarded the gold to B&K. The dance event is the one I suspect Pissev is really upset about, but oh well.
 
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RealtorGal

Guest
Re: Worlds this year

<span style="color:maroon;font-family:georgia;font-size:small;">Lad, I think Joe's reference to S&Z's performance being worthy of Olympic gold is NOT a sour grapes matter; rather, he was trying to point out that they were so amazing that it would be impossible for anyone of sane mind to think that anyone else out there deserved the World gold. (Of course there WAS that dufus judge who put them in second... can't imagine from what country he/she might be...)</span>

<span style="color:navy;font-family:georgia;font-size:small;">Funny, but I had been thinking the same thing about S&Z. Honestly, I can't remember when I've seen such an amazing pairs performance by anyone. I would imagine that skaters train their entire lives in the hopes of having at least one such performance, preferably at a major competition: Oly or Worlds!</span> :D
 
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Nadya Lyubova

Guest
Re: Worlds this year

I just think it is important for us to remember that this comment came from Piseev, not "the Russians" in general. On other boards, I have read nasty posts like "The Russians are alwawys complaining and whining when they don't win" etc.... this came from one single Russian individual, and we don't even know whether this represents the opinion of the other Russian skating officials, let alone the skaters.
 
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DORISPULASKI

Guest
Re: Worlds this year

Nadya, Out of curiosity, how do the Russian skating fans regard Piseev. (for example, at this point, a lot of US fans are not too thrilled with Phyllis Howard, and a lot of fans at Worlds were booing Cinquanta.) Is he popular in Russia?
How do the skaters regard him?

dpp
 
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sk8cynic

Guest
Re: Worlds this year

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Put {Piseev} with Didier and Speedy and it sure looks like the three stooges. [/quote]

ROFL!!!

I love the poetic justice being served on this one. After all the grumbling the RSF and others have done about how North American skaters scream 'wuzrobbed" and the EVILLE Sekret Komputer, when it happens to them, they're crying like this is the first time this has ever happened. Oh, the horror!!!

I guess sweeping the golds at CoR (plus all the silver and bronzes won there) and the medals at the GPF, plus the five at Worlds aren't enough. I don't seem to recall anyone screaming full force about Sasha taking the silver at CoR thanks to the Sekret Komputer (her marks overall were higher than Vika's), but then again, I forgot that the rules are supposed to be different for Piseev and company. For once, I was relatively satisfied with the results (P&T taking the bronze being the one exception. That was a MAJOR gift, plain and simple, but then again, thanks to the boneheads at ABC and ESPN, I have no idea how Pang & Tong and O&S skated their FPs to be able to decide if the placements were fair).

It also gets my goat that now the "American" audience apparently has to be politically correct in it's applause. GMAFB.

Question: Due to all the shrouded secrecy in the judging, I've had a hard time determining the nationality of all the judges for each discipline. Is it true that there were no American or Canadian judges for the Men's and Ladies' events? What was the breakdown of judging nationalities for Pairs and Dance? Help!
 
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Joesitz

Guest
Re: Worlds this year

Sk8cynic - The list of judges are usually found in IceCalc if you press the right buttons. I haven't looked yet myself so I am not sure they are still doing that.

Joe
 
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