ditzysk8r said:Hope MK will notice and do the same, haha!
Oh, I think Evgeny gives us plenty of Biellmanns!Fossi said:Who will take over as the queen of beillman packed programs when Irina retires?
Excidra2001 said:As far as Irina's comeback, I praise anyone who goes up against all odds and comes out on top. In Irina's case, that was it. Instead of feeling sorry for her self and sitting in a hospital room and crying her self to death, she decided being extremely sick and going in and out of the hospital was not the kind of life she set out for her self and she did something about it. The simple fact that she is doing what she loves is why her fans(including myself) praise her. She is a true inspiration for people who are going through trying times and who feel their life is coming to an end because of a disease they are battling. I'm a firm believer in "what can't hurt you only makes you stronger" look what it has done for Slutskaya, Armstrong(beat cancer) and many other top athletes who are helping change the face of sport.
SkateFan4Life said:IMHO, Irina deserves high praise for getting back on the ice and getting herself back into competitive shape. I hope she skates her best at the Worlds, Olympics, and any other competitions she participates in. This woman's spirit and tenacity is outstanding, and I applaud her for it. Do I think she's the best skater in the world at this time? No, but that doesn't diminish one bit in my admiration of her for coming back to the sport she so obviously loves.
ditzysk8r said:Oh, I think Evgeny gives us plenty of Biellmanns!
wvgal57 said:As for Irina's comments not being an "official statement" How odd is it that that Irina's earlier purported remarks to newspapers are so flippantly quoted and bantered about as "gospel" but these latest remarks are "ignorable".
I still don't know where the rumor that Irina was retiring after Moscow 05 got its start but this statement does put that rumor to rest for good.
Whatever, call your bookies, '06 is Slute's last eligible year.
Matt said:OT to this forum, but have you seen some of the pics from the JGP Final? It was judged on CoP for the first time and the mentality of the juniors regarding spins is to throw in Biellmanns left, right, and centre to upgrade them (even the men). So, I think we're going to be getting a whole crop of skaters in multiple disciplines with Biellmann packed programmes :yes:
thisthingcalledlove said:I remember in 2001 when Scott/Dulebohn performed side by side half biellmanns in their long program. Dulebohn isn't that flexible, so it looked really strange LOL
Joesitz said:Bottom Line is that it is an acrobatic trick for people who do not have to work at it as much as others do. It has a lot to do with body structure. I'm not impressed. If ou are, so be it.
Joe
wvgal57 said:Why would anyone spend time feeling sorry for Irina? Irina has never felt sorry for herself and instead uses her energy for positive things like training her craft, competing and doing things that athletes do. There is no "feel sorry for Irina' attitude at ISFF either We feel nothing but respect and awe for this true gift to the sport. The strength with which she continues to deal with adversity continues to amaze us but in reality it shouldn't. Irina has always taken the obstacles in her life and turned them towards a benefit. It is an inate character she possess that is very rare. She tackles the obstacles head on and refuses to give up on herself or her skating. If not for her true grit, determination and love for what she does I do not think she'd be back on top even yet again. Her career accomplishments are what dreams are made of but what she's done just this year is worthy of top honors.
I'm not going to board drag but since this was already mentioned, I'll suggest to the poster that is of the opinion that ISFF is a big pity party for Irina that you simply not bother to waste the bandwidth of the forum by going. The bigger question is why you even bother to visit a board that you obviously loathe. It could not be good for your health and while we welcome visitors you could put a spin on the old saying...with visitors like that....
The deadhorse of where Irina chooses to live and train has already been beat to death too. Lucrative training deals for atheletes of Irina's stature are pretty common and if she so chose to she could have her pick of training base or place of residence. She has no desire to leave Moscow or Russia, in addition to her husband, she also has parents, homes and business obligations. She works for COI as an entertainer and a skater. It's not required that she be in love with the country or anybody or everybody in the US.
Actions do speak louder than words though and a couple things Irina did do after 9/11 was go the very next day to the Amercian Embassy in Moscow and leave flowers and candles, she also took time from her training schedule during the hectic Olympic year to come to New York and skate in the 9/11 Tribute Skate. (Something that even some US skaters did not take time to do)
It is possible to take remarks from any athelete or anybody out there and put a sinister or nasty spin on them. The only thing I can say about this type of negativity is that it is helpful in that it exposes bias by certain posters. The extent and effort that some people contrive to do this is ugly but again the exposure speaks volumes.. While the old saying "names changed to protect the innocent" is popular, names can be changed but purpose and intent tends to follow like a bad stinch. This stinch and odor bring sour memories of the summer and fall going into Olympics '02. But wait, it's not even spring yet.
As for Irina's comments not being an "official statement" How odd is it that that Irina's earlier purported remarks to newspapers are so flippantly quoted and bantered about as "gospel" but these latest remarks are "ignorable".
I still don't know where the rumor that Irina was retiring after Moscow 05 got its start but this statement does put that rumor to rest for good.
Whatever, call your bookies, '06 is Slute's last eligible year.
Soogar - Nothing against you or others who go overboard for this acrobatic flexibility and others who go overboard for some sort of necessity for furious speed which only the poster sees as the fastest.soogar said:I don't know about that. Natalia Mishkutonek had to work like crazy to get her body in that position and I've seen something on Irina a few years ago that she's not that flexible and had to work very hard to attain that level of flexibility. Just looking at Irina, I don't think that the Bielmann is something that her body easily gets into and in the beginning of her career, I don't recall her doing a lot of Bielmann spins. Sasha and Shizuka have more natural flexibility than Irina.
Either way, no matter where you start in flexibility, the older you get the harder it is to keep/maintain it. The fact that Irina has maintained her flexibility and still has the strength to do these demanding layback spins says a lot about her.