Ptichka - Do you dislike Linichuk on a personal level or a professional one? I always thought linichuk was one of the top Skate Dance coaches.
When Soviet Union fell apart, many rinks closed. Due to her close friendship with Alla Shekhovtsova (Piseev's wife), Linichuk got most of the elite ice dancers. Her handling of the many competing teams was questionable at best. It is speculated that she almost purposely held down (in particular a Ukrainian team whose name escapes me at the moment) some teams in order to help others. She could afford to make rash decisions because she had such an amazing fleet of skaters. For example, it is still a mystery how much she had to do with Averbukh choosing to skate with Lobacheva instead of Anissina. However, even if it were all his decision, it is still remarkable that Linichuk did not lift a finger to help Anissina's career in Russia. Well, she certainly got her karmic revenge in 2002! Or, take Navka & Kostomarov when they were still with Linichuk. Certainly, Linichuk just decided one day that Navka had no future in the sport and told Kostomarov to dump her. Here is also something I find interesting in a Kostomarov interview (
http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/12222.htm): "Lininchuk was much more lenient with the male skaters than she was with the girls. Male skaters could get away with a lot. If something wasn’t working, I could throw something at Tanya, even shove her on the ice. I totally did not know how to control myself.". Karmic revenge, again, when Navka & Kostomarov became Olympic champions under a different coach. Even going back a bit further - after 1994, she told Gritchuk that she did not think it wise to try to go for two gold medals; this is what forced G&P to go searching for another coach, eventually settling in with Tarasova. Again, of course, karmic revenge in 1998. Come to think of it, Linichuk certainly has had reasons to feel very frustrated with herself during the past 3 Winter Olympics.
Now, having said all that, let me shift gears a bit. Linichuk has certainly learned her lesson, and learned it well. She has by now lost her arrogance. She has also improved a lot as a coach - I believe she really got as much out of Lobacheva & Averbukh as was humanly possible; she has also done a good job with Denkova & Stavijski (btw, I think it was probably them that suggested this switch).
BTW, here is a link to an article Werner did some time ago on Gorshkov, the coach D&S left -
http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/7670.html.
I remember well what it was like for G/P and K/O. It was tense. Their "friendship" was a sham.
True, but then again who could ever be friends with Gritchuk
There are many example to the contrary, too - Bin Yao's three teams, or Kazakova& Dmitriev and Berezhnaya & Sikhuralidze. Though I am not arguing that this doesn't look strange.
I actually thought that being the number 1 team alone would lift some pressure from them, but of all the people Domnina & Shabalin...
