Adelina Sotnikova: I want to show I deserved to be Olympic champion

[surimi]

I think the Russian ladies won't have it all that easy this season. Some of the Americans are great too - Gold, Wagner, Cesario, Edmunds - and so are the Koreans, Korpi and Marchei (if she's still listed in both singles and in pairs, that is). Park, Gold and Edmuns at least scored very high the last season, and I'd say they're perfectly capable of giving the Russians a run for their money.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

I think the Russian ladies won't have it all that easy this season. Some of the Americans are great too - Gold, Wagner, Cesario, Edmunds - and so are the Koreans, Korpi and Marchei (if she's still listed in both singles and in pairs, that is). Park, Gold and Edmuns at least scored very high the last season, and I'd say they're perfectly capable of giving the Russians a run for their money.

The advantage for the Russians is that they have so much more depth. They have two OGMs, a skater who placed 4th at Worlds, the world junior champion, and Liza. Like Adelina and Julia last season, whoever emerges from that group this year will have skated multiple strong performances and be prepared to compete for the top of the podium.

 

[wanpe]

She has positive energy in her performance.

That's what I've seen at Sochi and Hope to see that again soon

 

[VirMo]

Well everything's a moot point until we see her on ice this Fall honestly.

 

[titatovenaar]

But frankly, I doubt that Adelina can skate like she did at Sochi again. She is very inconsistent, even more inconsistent than Mao. I hope she will do well, though. She has positive energy in her performance.

She has already proved to herself that she can perform her best under enormous pressure (I doubt she will ever face similar pressure as in Sochi for the rest of her career).
That should give her invaluable self confidence, which in elite sport can make all the difference. So I see no reason why she couldn't be at-least as good or even better as in Sochi again at a major championship.

I wish her all the best, I think she is a sweet girl with a lovely personality as far as I can tell.

 

[bsfan]

I hope Aderlina will get more gold medals and show how much she deserves these with her talent. Remember she was such a brilliant (and solid) skater in junior year. Everybody praised her for having whole package, couldn't wait for her senior year ...

 

[Hanmgse]

She has already proved to herself that she can perform her best under enormous pressure (I doubt she will ever face similar pressure as in Sochi for the rest of her career).
That should give her invaluable self confidence, which in elite sport can make all the difference. So I see no reason why she couldn't be at-least as good or even better as in Sochi again at a major championship.

I wish her all the best, I think she is a sweet girl with a lovely personality as far as I can tell.

I think it's the opossite, there was not a lot of pressure on her since the attention was on Yulia and that motivated her to give a great performance and now she has the pressure of being the OGM plus the controversy around that. I do think she can have great results but the pressure is big, anyway I also wish her the best.

 

[Sandpiper]

As a Michelle fan, I don't see how Sasha can drive anyone crazy. I just feel kinda bad for her. I mean, she didn't win a single major title. She couldn't even win the Nationals title until the year Michelle didn't show up.

But frankly, I doubt that Adelina can skate like she did at Sochi again. She is very inconsistent, even more inconsistent than Mao. I hope she will do well, though. She has positive energy in her performance.

Adelina's only 17. I think it's a little too soon to label her as hugely inconsistent. If she had been in seniors as long as Mao has, then we can compare them in terms of consistency.

 

[CarneAsada]

Just 4T enough for me.

You say that now, but watch the controversy when an Adelina with "only" a solo 4T wins over Julia and her upcoming 2A-4T and Liza with 4T and 3A. People will scream, cry, and gnash their teeth.

 

[Alba]

But frankly, I doubt that Adelina can skate like she did at Sochi again.

Even if she does, to think that she can prove she was the rightful winner is stupid for me.
There are so many competitions that you may very well win the Olympics, and deserve to win, but you also may very well not repeat the same performance twice. You do not win because you show that you are good more than once, and you can perform and deliver in the next season as well. It's about one moment, that particular moment. It's not about the career.
Michell Kwan should've won twice by now the Olympics, if we take into consideration how many times she delivered at worlds and won, but it did not happened.

 

[s_parks]

Even if she does, to think that she can prove she was the rightful winner is stupid for me.
There are so many competitions that you may very well win the Olympics, and deserve to win, but you also may very well not repeat the same performance twice. You do not win because you show that you are good more than once, and you can perform and deliver in the next season as well. It's about one moment, that particular moment. It's not about the career.
Michell Kwan should've won twice by now the Olympics, if we take into consideration how many times she delivered at worlds and won, but it did not happened.

That was what I was thinking. Her future performances have no bearing on her Sochi one, and vice versa. I was kinda ? when I read the title.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

You say that now, but watch the controversy when an Adelina with "only" a solo 4T wins over Julia and her upcoming 2A-4T and Liza with 4T and 3A. People will scream, cry, and gnash their teeth.

I thought I was the only one crazy enough to think Yulia may get a 2a-4t at some point. BTW while reading this post and imagining Russian Nationals and Euros I began screaming,crying, and gnashing my teeth at the thought Even though I like Adelina just fine and wish her the best(well second best )

 

[Ophelia]

I'd say Sotnikova had the least pressure in Sochi out of all the top ladies. She was the underdog and she had nothing to lose. I'd argue that it was the lack of pressure on her that allowed her to give consistent performances.

Lipniskaia was the Russian girl that bore all the pressure, and look what happened to her.

 

[titatovenaar]

Pressure? I'd say Sotnikova had the least pressure in Sochi out of all the top ladies. She was the underdog and she had nothing to lose. I'd argue that it was the lack of pressure on her that allowed her to give consistent performances.

Lipniskaia was the Russian girl that bore all the pressure, and look what happened to her.

That is far too simplistic. Sotnikova was basically cast aside by the Russian figure skating federation and fans. Deemed as not good enough and replaced by the (supposedly much better) Lipnitskaia in the team competition (where Lipnitskaia had no trouble performing BTW). This hurt her immensely, and she had absolutely everything to prove when she went on the ice. Also to skate in your home country in front of a home crowd gives a huge amount of pressure. Just look at Kostner or again Lipnitskaia and I'm sure there are several others as-well.

There was a in depth interview somewhere on this site (translated from Russian) where she talked at length about all the issue's building up to and during the Sochi Olympics. A very interesting read.

 

[GS Forum Staff]

Many posts have been "unapproved" to prevent this thread from being hijacked. Please stay on topic.

 

[Sandpiper]

You say that now, but watch the controversy when an Adelina with "only" a solo 4T wins over Julia and her upcoming 2A-4T and Liza with 4T and 3A. People will scream, cry, and gnash their teeth.

Man, I'll be over the moon if that happens. I can't see it happening (especially not the 2A-4T part), but if it does... :yay: Maybe Mao will be motivated to try the quad too (hey, she's landed it in practice!). If three ladies have quads, I'll be so overjoyed I won't care who wins (as long as it's not another lady with no quad, lol).

 

[Meoima]

Am I the only one who is not much excited about the quad for ladies? The risk is high even for men. :think: if they want to go for it, then please land it consistently. Because I don't know if one-time quad is really exciting for the ladies field.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Am I the only one who is not much excited about the quad for ladies? The risk is high even for men. :think: if they want to go for it, then please land it consistently. Because I don't know if one-time quad is really exciting for the ladies field.

I'm not at all excited either but as the title suggests Adelina may have something to prove. She has heard the detractors and wants desperately to prove them wrong. In a way I can't blame her. Yet on a personal level...I don't like the thought of the ladies champion of any event to do so based on a quad or some other ultra tech element. I prefer a great program to a 3 second jump pass making the difference.

 

[Ophelia]

That is far too simplistic. Sotnikova was basically cast aside by the Russian figure skating federation and fans. Deemed as not good enough and replaced by the (supposedly much better) Lipnitskaia in the team competition (where Lipnitskaia had no trouble performing BTW). This hurt her immensely, and she had absolutely everything to prove when she went on the ice. Also to skate in your home country in front of a home crowd gives a huge amount of pressure. Just look at Kostner or again Lipnitskaia and I'm sure there are several others as-well.

There was a in depth interview somewhere on this site (translated from Russian) where she talked at length about all the issue's building up to and during the Sochi Olympics. A very interesting read.

I disagree. Kostner and Lipniskaia both bore heavy expectations going in to the individual skates in their home countries. Kostner was deemed a promising young talent then, and expected if not to medal, then at least do well in Turin. Lipniskaia was hyped all over the world to the extent where people were bugging her practices/locker rooms - all eyes were on her. Conversely, Sotnikova wasn't really in the Russian audience's mind when she took the ice (she herself was wondering if they knew her name). There were no expectations from the fans for her to deliver. She went out as the underdog, instead of as the favorite. She was skating to prove herself, not skating to appease the public; those are two different things.

Sotnikova NOW has a lot of pressure to skate well, due to all the public pressure and eyes fixed on her.

 

[Meoima]

Agree. I think it's a good choice of Russian Fed, told her to skip worlds at Saitama. If she went, the pressure would have been too terrible to bear. Look at what happened to Yuzuru in the short at Saitama. That pressure was crazy, if it were me, I would have fainted out there.

Anyways, I doubts her consistency, but that doesn't mean I don't hope for her to do well. She was very daring and energetic in Sochi. So I hope she won't be like Sara Hughes, since she is a powerful jumpers.