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

[titatovenaar]

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.

Everyone goes out to prove themselves at the Olympics, they don't hand you a medal for being the favourite. Had Sotnikova not performed to her best it would have been far more damaging to her than to Lipnitskia, who is still the darling of the skating world inside and outside of Russia, despite failing at the Olympics. With Sotnikova it would have been a different story, by winning the gold they can't cast her aside as easily.

And the only pressure she has now is the pressure she puts on herself, she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone.
If she wants to use the Korean melodrama to motivate herself that's fine, but it's ultimately her own decision.

 

[Krunchii]

Everyone knew about all the attention on Yulia and how insanely exhausting it was on her so when she was out of the individual gold contention most people were saying she's young and talented and regardless of how she did they still respected her. If Adelina messed up she probably would have gotten comments about how they were right to leave her out of the team event even though she was the Russian champion. I believe she was already super disappointed at being left out of that event so it would have been an even bigger blow if she had done poorly. Adelina had a different kind of pressure on her I would say.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

If she wants to use the Korean melodrama to motivate herself that's fine, but it's ultimately her own decision.

I don't think it will be a big motivation for her. She is surrounded by people who have validated her win so I think she is comfortable with her OGM and feels like a worthy champion. I think her struggle will be to put in the same amount of effort to go after lesser titles than an OGM, and I am interested to see if she can stay motivated to reach her peak level again, and with more consistency.

 

[Sandpiper]

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.

Well, obviously I'm excited if they actually land the darn things, hence why I said it's a long shot. I don't want to see them splatting season in and season out. Though frankly, I suspect more URs than splats on the ladies' side. Which will deter them from trying it, since URs are currently punished way more.

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.

It's a sport. I think it should make the difference assuming no major errors in the rest of the program, and the program itself not being a total snoozefest. I hope Adelina doesn't attempt quads just for her haters though. I only want her attempting them if they're decently stable in practice, and if she's able to deliver the rest of the program even if she misses the 3Lz-3Lo or 4T or whatever she wants to try.

 

[Isabel_O'Reilly]

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).

If anyone could do a 2A-4T, it would be an enormous score. I took the highest base value from the the spins, SS, and CH Seq. that Yulia did in her FS a couple times this season and added up the possible jump layout and came up with a possible base value of 71.XX points. So if any lady manages to figure it out, they would be completely unbeatable.

Also I hope Adelina can skate well this year.

 

[pohatta]

Adelina has the qualities to become a deserved champion. She's still young and there's a lot of room for improvement in her presentation that will come with age. The only thing that I'm unsure of is if she has the musicality to become a true performer.

 

[DexterK]

Of course the people she is surrounded by are going to be supportive of her and validate her win in Sochi, but for her to express a desire to prove to others that she won rightfully indicates that there is, however small, an element of doubt in her mind as to whether she deserved the scores she received. I find it hard to believe she does not or at least has not wondered in the past few months if she was gifted in the slightest some points in Sochi. Maybe she wants to prove to herself she is the rightful winner...

As we have seen and read mentioned on this forum, people have largely made up their mind on her win. What she does in the future has little bearing on what she has done in the past as far as validation and legitimacy are concerned. I think that might be hard for her to understand at this point in her life.

On a more positive note, she is a young woman deciding everyday to push herself in training her technical elements and to develop artistically when she has already achieved the highest award, according to the opinion of many, in her sport. That fortitude is a characteristic that is highly valued by figure skating fans, and also quite rare. Baiul lacked it. Lipinski lacked it. Hughes lacked it. ***

I think this season will be mentally difficult for her because of the incredible amount of pressure that will fall on her shoulders as she skates as the reigning Olympic gold medalist. I also think skating while carrying all that expectation and doubt about Sochi shows that this young champion has a tremendous amount of heart. I think to attempt anything while knowing the odds are against you and still try is commendable and inspiring. I wish her all the best and hope she is able to achieve her next goal.

***I know Baiul and Lipinski each left the sport after earning a world and Olympic title, so the comparison is slightly imperfect. Hughes, it is not like Yale was closing up shop on bachelor's degrees in American studies after 2003 or Harlem would fall into utter bedlam without her being filmed giving skating lessons and tutoring.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

good for her. I just hope that someone on her team is telling her that there will always be haters and that she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone except herself.


This worries me that she might be trying to 'prove' something vs. Going out and skating as well as she can and cause her to lose focus.

This!

 

[Alain]

Of course the people she is surrounded by are going to be supportive of her and validate her win in Sochi, but for her to express a desire to prove to others that she won rightfully indicates that there is, however small, an element of doubt in her mind as to whether she deserved the scores she received. I find it hard to believe she does not or at least has not wondered in the past few months if she was gifted in the slightest some points in Sochi. Maybe she wants to prove to herself she is the rightful winner...

Or maybe her clean skating and the win was a surprise for her own self. She was struggling with puperty and injuries for two seasons before the Olympics. Now she just wants to prove to herself that her demons are gone. It's not like she is questioning her win in Sochi.

As we have seen and read mentioned on this forum, people have largely made up their mind on her win. What she does in the future has little bearing on what she has done in the past as far as validation and legitimacy are concerned. I think that might be hard for her to understand at this point in her life.

Amen.

Seriously, guys. Summer is oustside.

 

[gsk8]

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