Disaster for Johnny Weir

[SkateFan4Life]

I watched ESPN's coveage of the men's freeskate from Skate Canada last evening. As usual, the broadcast included some of those inane "up close and personal" interviews with the American skaters.

Now Johnny Weir is entitled to say what he thinks - that's his right as an American. However, when he complains that men's skating is "boring" and that "all of the men look alike", etc. - and then he goes on and on about how he is so different, etc. - it just turns me off cold. IMHO, the guy is grossly immature, self-centered, and arrogant. Sure, he's a great skater, but does he have to rub everyone's nose in when he opens his mouth?

Right after this charming interview, Weir went out and skated a disastrous long program. He fell on his opening triple loop, then made a number of mistakes, stopped his circular footwork section and at times seemed to be giving up on his program. The commentators immediately wondered out loud if he was injured, and if he was, was he going to withdraw from the long program as he did at the 2003 US Nationals.

Well, he finished his program, although not impressively (for him). He took his bows with a shell-shocked expression, and then as he sat in the kiss 'n cry area with his coach, Priscilla Hill, he was crying his eyes out. Johnny had his head bowed to his knees so the camera could not film him crying. The word was that he had sprained his ankle on his first landed triple - the triple toe.

The cameras followed Weir and Hill walking back to the locker room. His injured right foot did not look swollen, but he was obviously in pain.

And today's USFSA website proclaims that Weir is back on the ice and training for Cup of Russia.

I just have to wonder - is this guy for real for what? If he, indeed, seriously sprained his ankle, what in heck is he doing returning to the ice so soon

 

[Bijoux]

ita...

that he sounded very arrogant. the ladies can't get away with this, no way.

 

[jesslily]

His high placement for the short, late skate for the long, and people who skated before him all did pretty good job gave him a lot of pressure, and he could not handle it. His injury was not that bad as he reacted on the ice and kiss&cry. Maybe he thought it was very serious.

 

[Doggygirl]

I watched ESPN's coveage of the men's freeskate from Skate Canada last evening. As usual, the broadcast included some of those inane "up close and personal" interviews with the American skaters.

Now Johnny Weir is entitled to say what he thinks - that's his right as an American. However, when he complains that men's skating is "boring" and that "all of the men look alike", etc. - and then he goes on and on about how he is so different, etc. - it just turns me off cold. IMHO, the guy is grossly immature, self-centered, and arrogant. Sure, he's a great skater, but does he have to rub everyone's nose in when he opens his mouth?

Right after this charming interview, Weir went out and skated a disastrous long program. He fell on his opening triple loop, then made a number of mistakes, stopped his circular footwork section and at times seemed to be giving up on his program. The commentators immediately wondered out loud if he was injured, and if he was, was he going to withdraw from the long program as he did at the 2003 US Nationals.

Well, he finished his program, although not impressively (for him). He took his bows with a shell-shocked expression, and then as he sat in the kiss 'n cry area with his coach, Priscilla Hill, he was crying his eyes out. Johnny had his head bowed to his knees so the camera could not film him crying. The word was that he had sprained his ankle on his first landed triple - the triple toe.

The cameras followed Weir and Hill walking back to the locker room. His injured right foot did not look swollen, but he was obviously in pain.

And today's USFSA website proclaims that Weir is back on the ice and training for Cup of Russia.

I just have to wonder - is this guy for real for what? If he, indeed, seriously sprained his ankle, what in heck is he doing returning to the ice so soon

I was disappointed in his comments, which IMO were a bit on the cocky side fo things. I think he redeemed himself a bit (for me) in his more recent "Fan Response" Q/A which there is another thread on.

All that being said, we all need to understand that we don't know these people peronsonally, and whatever we "see" of them beyond their performances on ice are probably coached to death by a variety of people including PR consultants at the "elite" levels of the sport.

Another reason to just let the performances speak for themselves IMO.

DG

 

[sk8er1964]

I think there's some real validity to Weir's calling men's skating "boring" over the past years. On a personal level, it just didn't interest me too much until Weir, Buttle, Sandhu, and Jahnke came along. Yeah, I liked Yagudin, and Plushenko has grown on me, but the others I listed above really caught my attention because they weren't the male version of a jumping bean.

ETA -- regarding the pain and reaction to the injury at SC. Everyone has different levels of pain that they can tolerate. What might be bearable to me might be excruciating to you. I think it's shortsighted to judge Weir's reaction to what happened during his LP based on "your" (not singling out a "you") pain tolerance experiences. It obviously bothered him,

 

[mmscfdcsu]

Well, some of us have some sympathy for a very young man in pain, whether physical or emotional. He may come off as arrogant to some, but so what? I would rather hear his real opinions rather than what he thinks will go over with the audience. I think most people who achieve in this world have a very strong sense of belief in self. Johnny is just more in touch with himself, and more honest with us than many others. I see him as an extremely talented and interesting young man. I hope that his season improves. Watching him cry like that was so hard to take.

 

[rjulie510]

I may not agree with everything Johnny said, but I appreciate him for being honest. Maybe he was just frustrated with having to change his programs so many times, the way his season is going so far, etc. Besides, many skating fans still adore Emanuel Sandhu, who has made so-called "arrogant" comments quite few times.

I sincerely believe Johnny was in serious pain that it was hard for him to just go through the program.

 

[brad640]

I loved Johnny's statements. It is so rare for a skater to be completely candid in their interviews, and Johnny is never boring. He has had a terrible start to the season, and I hope CoR will be a turning point for him.

he sounded very arrogant. the ladies can't get away with this, no way

I don't think he got away with anything. Obviously some people did not appreciate his comments.

 

[mzheng]

Guess I missed the show. Read he sprained his foot during competetion. But completely forgot there was GP(SC) on TV last weekend.

 

[mmscfdcsu]

Download the videos. His short is wonderful. His long, IMHO is .............not

 

[soogar]

I think there's some real validity to Weir's calling men's skating "boring" over the past years. On a personal level, it just didn't interest me too much until Weir, Buttle, Sandhu, and Jahnke came along. Yeah, I liked Yagudin, and Plushenko has grown on me, but the others I listed above really caught my attention because they weren't the male version of a jumping bean.

Weir is one of the boring skaters. Always skating the same kind of program, never bothering to relate to the audience. For all of Plush's so called faults, Plush isn't boring. Neither is Klimkin, Sandhu, Buttle, Drambier, Sawyer, Jahnke and the list goes on. There are a lot of exciting men skating who are more innovative with their skating than Weir ever was. Unless you consider a guy who copies the Russian ladies' champions (both Bute and Slute) as innovative and daring.

 

[attyfan]

Count me in among those who thought that Johnny sounded arrogant. I think he is spearheading a group who, by singing the praises of their own "honesty", will probably trigger a new fad, wehre skaters will say rude things, just in the hope that they will be considered "honest", and people who say polite things because they are genuinely polite people, will get hassled for being "phoney".

I think though, that he was genuinely in pain. If he hurt his ankle on the first jump, then the remaining jumps -- no matter the result (clean, fall, or whatever) must have been excruciatingly painful.

 

[ladybug]

I also think he was really in pain. Sometimes things like that hurt more when they first happen and feel much better in a day or two.

I felt that the reason he cried so hard in the K&C was because he was thinking, here goes another injury in an Olympic year no less. More a cry of frustration. Remember Nancy after the whack....."Why me...Why me." She had to be watching her Olympic dreams fading away. Maybe Johnney thought his Olympic chances were over.

I bet that is the hardest part for any injured skater especialy this year.

Ladybug

 

[Shanti]

Now Johnny Weir is entitled to say what he thinks - that's his right as an American. However, when he complains that men's skating is "boring" and that "all of the men look alike", etc. - and then he goes on and on about how he is so different, etc. - it just turns me off cold. IMHO, the guy is grossly immature, self-centered, and arrogant. Sure, he's a great skater, but does he have to rub everyone's nose in when he opens his mouth?

ITA.
Count me in among those who do not appreciate such honesty. IMHO he said nonsense and I don't feel like thanking him for that. Besides, I always felt he was seeking admiration for being like that, despite all the stuff he said about not caring for what others think of him. And IMHO there's a HUGE difference between being immature and non-conventional.

All of the men look alike?
Erm ... who, for instance?
I can't think of two skaters in the top ten who are even remotedly alike.

Boring?
Not more than he himself!
And self confidence and honesty, IMHO, has completely nothing to do with whining.

And I will never understand why Sandhu is considered arrogant and Johnny - honest. They say about the same things. And Johnny has no more grounds for his statements. He even didn't medal at major events so all his statements just sound like mere excuses.
I'm sorry he doesn't feel comfortable with his programs and his skating still i don't see why he should spill his thoughts.

BTW, I believe he was in pain and wish him a quick recovery.

 

[chuckm]

I get what he said about 'boring'---because of CoP, all the men are doing the same moves, in order to get maximum points for their programs.

After having his programs choreographed by Tarasova, practicing them and getting comfortable, he chafed at the USFS who told him he had to redo much of the programs to maximize the points. So the SP and FS we have seen are not programs he is as yet comfortable with. After injuring his foot, he was forced to skip portions of his FS, so we really don't know what the FS really looks like yet.

His reaction to the injury in the FS is very understandable. He only knew how much it hurt to complete the FS as best he could, and didn't know how bad the injury was or how it would affect him in the Olympic season. At the time, he must have felt devastated.

As to his comments before the competition, if he was trying to be controversial, he succeeded, but he isn't all that wrong. For him, Olympic gold is probably not in the picture because he hasn't had the kind of international success as yet to position himself for it. I took from that that he is focusing on Worlds this year rather than on Torino. There's nothing wrong with being realistic.

 

[WeirsAngel]

He even didn't medal at major events so all his statements just sound like mere excuses.

Two gold medals and one silver medal at GPs and gold at us nationals. What would you call those events if they weren't major?

And I do belive that he was in very bad pain after Skate Canada. Tell me one reason why he would cry if it wasn't because of that?

He's just human, like the rest of us. He says what's on his mind and that's what I call honest.

 

[euterpe]

And I do belive that he was in very bad pain after Skate Canada. Tell me one reason why he would cry if it wasn't because of that?

Besides the pain, he was probably really scared s--t that he had done real damage to his foot/ankle, and his entire season was in jeopardy.

He had such a terrific early season last year and then his foot injury kept him from a podium finish at Worlds. If he could have delivered a FS performance at Worlds such as he had at NHK or COR, he would certainly have won at least a silver medal, given how flawed the podium FSs were. He was probably having flashbacks to that.

 

[Ravyn Rant]

I would have liked to hear the interview before the editors got to it. I must say, though, that it made for pretty good TV drama to have Weir speak so highly of himself only to end up sobbing in the K&C.
Men's skating is boring? Not in a competition with Sandhu and Buttle! I could watch those two skate all day and neither of them would ever have to attempt a jump. I hope that someday Johnny's skating is that interesting. He certainly has the potential.
I'm glad the injury wasn't serious and wish him all the best for the season.
xoxo
Rave

 

[Ptichka]

Besides the pain, he was probably really scared s--t that he had done real damage to his foot/ankle, and his entire season was in jeopardy.

ITA. As for his comments, I'd rather hear that than the regular pre-fabricated stuff.

 

[nicole_l]

More a cry of frustration. Remember Nancy after the whack....."Why me...Why me."

I'm trying very hard to forget!