Charlie Bilodeau retires from competitive skating

[gsk8]

Press Release


OTTAWA, ON: Olympian and national medallist Charlie Bilodeau, 26, Trois-Pistoles, Que., announced his retirement from competitive skating today.

Bilodeau has been a competitor in the pair discipline for over a decade for Canada. His competitive highlights include competing at three world championships, winning four national medals and competing at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

Bilodeau competed at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games with partner Julianne Séguin. The two had a successful junior careering winning the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in 2014 and silver at the 2015 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Most recently in 2019, Bilodeau partnered with Lubov Ilyushechkina, 28, Toronto, Ont. During their short partnership, they won two international medals and took home bronze at the national championships.

Ilyushechkina will be evaluating her opportunities in the coming months.

Skate Canada thanks and wishes Charlie the best of luck with his future endeavors.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

Wow, that was a short partnership. Poor Lubov.

 

[surimi]

I thought he and Lubov had big potential. Sorry to hear of this split and good luck to them both.

 

[bytheriver]

Lubov just posted on Instagram: “It’s a knife in the back. I had no idea.” And said in the caption “I was notified yesterday afternoon. Didn’t expect anything like this.”

I completely understand Charlie’s decision, but it now seems like a pattern of him not vocalizing his feelings to his partners and then blindsiding them with the news. In both cases he wrote long stories about how he had been thinking about it for a long time, he had been so conflicted...but in neither case it seems like he communicated this to his partners before making the final decision. I hope he does better in the future, because it seems like he has hurt at least two very nice people.

 

[3T3T]

I’m really shocked by this news and extremely disappointed for Lubov. Charlie splits from two partners and never lets them know or gives them any indication of what he is thinking, not the best approach and in reality quite disrespectful. I wonder did Skate Canada try and spdissuade him? Being honest I don’t understand his reasons, the partnership was only very new and I feel had a lot of potential to be Canadian numbers ones.

Lubov has been very unlucky in her career. Huge misfortune with Dylan not to get to Pyeonchang, huge depth in Russia alongside a difficult coaching situation, coming back from Cirque de Soleil to be let down by her partner. I would have loved to see her get to an Olympics but that looks unrealistic now.

 

[3T3T]

I did a bit of investigation and came across this announcement on his website. It’s French so I read it through google translate. He just seems to have lost his motivation but apologies to both Julianne and Lubov. It seems he lost his motivation after the Olympics but I still don’t understand why he couldn’t have told Lubov first. The article is headlined ‘Enfin Libre’, finally free? He just wasn’t happy in figure skating.

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://charliebilodeau.com/

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/...odeau-retraite-patinage-artistique-olympiques

 

[mrrice]

Lubov just posted on Instagram: “It’s a knife in the back. I had no idea.” And said in the caption “I was notified yesterday afternoon. Didn’t expect anything like this.”

I completely understand Charlie’s decision, but it now seems like a pattern of him not vocalizing his feelings to his partners and then blindsiding them with the news. In both cases he wrote long stories about how he had been thinking about it for a long time, he had been so conflicted...but in neither case it seems like he communicated this to his partners before making the final decision. I hope he does better in the future, because it seems like he has hurt at least two very nice people.

I see his action as the height of disrespect. IMO, he OWED it to his partner to tell her the moment this thought entered his mind. The more time she has to look for a new partner, the better. Unless there was some serious family emergency, I find this shameful.

 

[silverfoxes]

Didn't she leave Cirque du Soleil because he contacted her to skate together? And he barely gave it a year? He's dumped 2 partners this way now...you can maybe chalk the first time up to being young and immature, but he obviously didn't learn anything at all. What a jerk. Sorry for Lyubov, she deserved a lot better than him.

 

[cathlen]

Lubov just posted on Instagram: “It’s a knife in the back. I had no idea.” And said in the caption “I was notified yesterday afternoon. Didn’t expect anything like this.”

I completely understand Charlie’s decision, but it now seems like a pattern of him not vocalizing his feelings to his partners and then blindsiding them with the news. In both cases he wrote long stories about how he had been thinking about it for a long time, he had been so conflicted...but in neither case it seems like he communicated this to his partners before making the final decision. I hope he does better in the future, because it seems like he has hurt at least two very nice people.

I can't believe he dumped his partners twice, without even discussing it with them at all. What the heck? It's not like both Ladies would force him to skate. They just wanted to be treated like "PARTNERS". Ugh. He has ZERO respect for them. ZERO.

 

[hanyuufan5]

Good luck in the future, Charlie!

 

[DonnaR]

I was so shocked to hear this today - I thought they showed great promise. My heart just breaks for Lubov. I really hope she is able to find a new partner.

 

[SmallAminal]

I totally respect his decision to retire - its a personal one and with everything going on right now, maybe he lost the fire within him to continue on. I understand that.

BUT, I think he should have let Lubov know PERSONALLY first before blindsiding her in the media. Its like announcing in the media that you are getting divorced before telling your spouse - its not classy and it is disrespectful. I lost respect for him and it seems he has a pattern now.

 

[surimi]

BUT, I think he should have let Lubov know PERSONALLY first before blindsiding her in the media. Its like announcing in the media that you are getting divorced before telling your spouse - its not classy and it is disrespectful. I lost respect for him and it seems he has a pattern now.

Well said. Seconded. I had no idea Charlie already did the exact same thing once. It seems quite cowardly. Hopefully he can man up and be upfront with people beforehand instead of regretful afterwards. It's not like Lyubov and Gauthier would rip his head off for wanting to quit. And good luck to Lyubov, hopefully she finds a new partner. I saw her this season live for the first time, and I liked this pair and their programs.

 

[Alvyne]

I totally respect his decision to retire - its a personal one and with everything going on right now, maybe he lost the fire within him to continue on. I understand that.

BUT, I think he should have let Lubov know PERSONALLY first before blindsiding her in the media. Its like announcing in the media that you are getting divorced before telling your spouse - its not classy and it is disrespectful. I lost respect for him and it seems he has a pattern now.

He told her via Facetime yesterday according to the articles and Lubov's Instagram.

 

[el henry]

I have read the article in French. I have not read any Google translate or English translations.

Charlie *did* tell Lubov and his coach before the public announcement. In fact, he says that he made a point to tell them before making any news public.

Now, was Lubov shocked when she heard from Charlie? Probably. But the article is very clear that Charlie has had conflicted feelings about skating for some time now, and was trying to find motivation, and in fact, that precipitated his break up with Julianne.

The beginning paragraph refers to when he started writing the article, making up his mind, writing out his thoughts. Not that he is publishing something without having told his partner.

So Charlie may be right or wrong, but he did not break it off in the press:confused2:

 

[Osmond4gold]

It's not the need to explore other options that is disappointing, more so the manner he does it by letting his partners know a day in advance. So much for allowing others the time to process and to explore options while saving careers. The Julianne split was days away from their 2018 Grand Prix season, and now Lubov, months after declaring that the goal was Beijing 2022.

Thanks ''Charleave". Before your next reno, get your Schitt's Creek together before destroying yet another project.

 

[el henry]

A second post just so the facts are out there, from the Radio Canada article:

"Avant de publier ce texte, j'ai annoncé la nouvelle à Lubov et à Richard. Ils sont maintenant avisés. Ce n’est pas idéal de faire ce genre d’annonce par visioconférence, mais avec le confinement, je n’avais pas le choix."

Before publishing this article, I told the news to Lubov and to Richard. They now know. Telling this kind of news by videoconference is not ideal, but with confinement,[ which I am assuming is lockdown or isolation orders in Quebec] I didn't have a choice.

Later:

"Je comprends que c’est une grande déception pour eux. Particulièrement pour Lubov, qui rêvait de prendre part à ses premiers Jeux olympiques à mes côtés. Je réalise les sacrifices qu’elle a faits et ça me brise le coeur de lui faire de la peine."

I understand that this is a great disappointment for them. Particularly for Lubov, who dreamed of taking part in her first Olympics at my side. I understand the sacrifices that she has made and it breaks my heart to cause her pain"

Translation mine, for all I know that's what Google says, and any francophones of course could do better than me

 

[hanyuufan5]

Did any of you bashing him ever think that maybe he was trying to ignore everything and see if it would just go away, and that's why he didn't tell them?

This is not some lifelong pattern. It was a 10+ year skating career, with an ending drawn out over a few years which were probably hell for him.

How many skaters have gone through this exact same thing but nobody heard about it, including their partners, because they found their motivation again?

Charlie had every right to keep his feelings personal. His partners had/have every right to be shocked/disappointed/feel like they have knives in their backs/etc. Not every situation has to have a bad guy and a victim. Sometimes things just reek for everyone, and it's nobody's fault.

 

[TontoK]

A second post just so the facts are out there, from the Radio Canada article:

"Avant de publier ce texte, j'ai annoncé la nouvelle à Lubov et à Richard. Ils sont maintenant avisés. Ce n’est pas idéal de faire ce genre d’annonce par visioconférence, mais avec le confinement, je n’avais pas le choix."

Before publishing this article, I told the news to Lubov and to Richard. They now know. Telling this kind of news by videoconference is not ideal, but with confinement,[ which I am assuming is lockdown or isolation orders in Quebec] I didn't have a choice.

Later:

"Je comprends que c’est une grande déception pour eux. Particulièrement pour Lubov, qui rêvait de prendre part à ses premiers Jeux olympiques à mes côtés. Je réalise les sacrifices qu’elle a faits et ça me brise le coeur de lui faire de la peine."

I understand that this is a great disappointment for them. Particularly for Lubov, who dreamed of taking part in her first Olympics at my side. I understand the sacrifices that she has made and it breaks my heart to cause her pain"

Translation mine, for all I know that's what Google says, and any francophones of course could do better than me

Ahh... this is very different than I first thought.

Now, she may not have liked it, and she may not have agreed with his decision, but that's not a required for him to make the right decision for himself.

 

[mrrice]

Did any of you bashing him ever think that maybe he was trying to ignore everything and see if it would just go away, and that's why he didn't tell them?

This is not some lifelong pattern. It was a 10+ year skating career, with an ending drawn out over a few years which were probably hell for him.

How many skaters have gone through this exact same thing but nobody heard about it, including their partners, because they found their motivation again?

Charlie had every right to keep his feelings personal. His partners had/have every right to be shocked/disappointed/feel like they have knives in their backs/etc. Not every situation has to have a bad guy and a victim. Sometimes things just reek for everyone, and it's nobody's fault.

This is exactly what I was thinking and that's what makes it so hurtful. If he was struggling and on the fence about his future, fine. If he's too cowardly to tell his partner, then he should have had someone else tell her so she wasn't blindsided. For goodness sake, have a friend email her at the very least. You can see by the way were are reacting that this was handled badly and we don't have a stake in their career's.