IFS magazine -- do skaters like it?

[sarahmistral]

On the Gordeeva photo album page...

Who are the women and the two girls in picture 6? Is the shorter, smaller one Katia? Sorry, can't recognize her too well, I guess; who's the one with the larger build?

Sarah

 

[Rgirl]

My latest IFS has Shen & Zhao on the cover, not Sasha. Although they sometimes do different covers for subscribers and the newstand.

Thanks, Jaana, for the AWWWWWW!!! photo of Liza! That tiny baby in those huge skates--generally baby pics are baby pics but that one was pretty good. And she is the spittin' image (or spit and image, depending on where you grew up). But then, young babies always tend to look like the father, at least for the first year or so. A little off topic, but a friend in anthropology told me it's an evolutionary thing from way back when, as in 50,000 plus years ago. It was a safety mechanism for both the father and mother. The baby looked like the father so the father could say (or grunt) to the mother, "Yep, that's my kid. Okay, I'll hunt for and take care of the baby and you." It allowed the mother to say (we never grunted, don't you know), "See, Mr. Alpha Male? I told you it was yours. Now go hunt and gather, and while you're at it, fix the leaky shelter too." There's more to it than that, but that's basically why babies, male or female, look like the father at birth.

As for IFS, I just tore up my most recent "HURRY, HURRY! You've got to subscribe again NOW or something TERRIBLE will happen!" and have no plans to resubscribe. Although I applaude IFS for its article on skating injuries and the hinged skate boot, they just don't keep up to date. I think they would do well to follow DANCEMAGAZINE'S format. They go glossy for articles they can do months in advance and leave about 50 pages of the mid-section on yellow newsprint so they can publish things at the last minute. In DANCEMAGAZINE, this means you can get an in-depth interview with someone, articles about topics of interest to dancers, and still get reviews of companies that are only a couple of weeks old. DM also has "bureau correspondents," which is a fancy way to say writers on staff in various areas of the country to cover events in their area. I think this too would be good for IFS. That way they could have their Germany correspondent or somebody from Euro sports (Europeans will know the system better than I) review Worlds as it was happening and also write a "what it all means" synopsis in the newsprint section that we could be reading right now.

But I don't think the top skaters in general have anything against IFS, although certain individual skaters may have their beefs with Mark Lund. Michelle has been on the cover many times. But it is INTERNATIONAL FIGURE SKATING, so it may be she's not on the cover as often as she makes news in the US. Also, they have to plan their covers months in advance, which doesn't help IFS be up-to-date. I tend to like the writing in BLADES ON ICE better anyway.
Rgirl

 

[terisalyn]

Antilles, I agree with your take on why Ilia Kulik doesn't want the cover. The cover of a magazine usually reflects the focus of the article, and maybe he feels that an article on him and Katia would focus too much on their private life.

I have my own issues with IFS. Aside from the annoying resubscribe letters, which actually start arriving BEFORE the first issue of the magazine , they seem to have a problem with Lang & Tchernyshev. Yeah, I know they've broken up, but in IFS' report on Nationals dance competition, they don't even MENTION L&T's withdrawal. I'm glad I have other sources for information. To me that is ridiculously poor journalism, since the withdrawal of the 5-time National dance champions was a huge part of the Nationals story.

 

[soogar]

Thank you Rgirl for that anthropological insight.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

If I remember correctly when I read the mag, it mentioned that the editors have tried to get an interview with Kwan but she refuses. So no interview no cover pic. I understand MK's not wanting to be interviewed or pictured. It's been a while and in line with her reclusive nature since the last Olys. I hope she snaps out of the Garbo mode and decides to CoP the Grand Prix.

Joe

 

[Lucy25]

Apparently Sasha loves the cover - how many times has she been on the cover? (who can blame her) Joe

Isn't this Sasha's first cover?

#10 isn't Daria? Well, no wonder it looks so much like Katia!

 

[Tonichelle]

I'm pretty sure this is Sasha's first time... and that was last month's issue... the latest one is Shen and Zhao

Michelle and Tara are the ones with the most appearances... 3 for each, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

sorry got Blades and IFS mags mixed up.
\When was the last three that Tara and Michelle were on the covers?

Joe

 

[dlkksk8fan]

Sasha has been on the cover one time.

Katarina Witt-3 times
Kristi Yamaguchi-6 times
Tara Lipinski-4 times
Michele Kwan-5 times
Nancy Kerrigan-2 times
Scott Hamilton-3 times
Oksana Baiul-4 times
Alexei Yagudin-2 times
Rosalynn Sumners-2 times
1 time each-
Yuka Sato
John Zimmerman
Silvia Fontana
Brian Orser
Jozef Sabovcik
Sarah Hughes
Timothy Goebel
Bourne & Kraatz
Caryn Kadavy
Tonia Kwiatkowski
Dick Button
Brian Boitano
Ilia Kulik
Lu Chen
Sale & Pelletier
Irina Slutskaya
Ottavio Cinquanta wt skaters- Shen & Zhao,Fusar-Poli & Margaglio, Plushenko,
Peggy Fleming
Maria Butyrskaya
Torvill & Dean
Nicole Bobek
Elvis Stojko
Todd Eldredge
Kurt Browning & wife
Grischuk & Platov
Victor Petrenko
Mishkutenok & Dmitriev
Kovarikova & Novotny

 

[Mathman]

Thanks for the research, dlkk. I know that Michelle has had at least three fairly extensive photoshoots with IFS. BTW, for some reason I didn't especially like any of them. Usually I like any picture of MK, but somehow the last two for sure did not look like her very much, to me.

Joe, I don't think that Michelle is particularly shy or reclusive. It is true that she doesn't give out details of her personal life. But she has given lots of interviews in newpapers and the like over the last year or so.

Sometimes she seems like she's holding back, like when people ask her about her future plans, will she do the Grand Prix next year, will she aim for Torino, etc. But I think this is because she hasn't decided these things yet herself, not because she is trying to be secretive.

Mathman

 

[ladybug]

IFS seems to favor skaters who are represented by IMG. Not only on the cover stories but other articles as well. Of course this does not include Michelle. Wasn't one of her covers along with Nancy K. their biggest sellers? There was an article about that not too long ago.

I have to add, Daria looks so much like her Dad to me. Everytime I see her, I think to myself --- she sure is Daddy's Little Girl. IMO!

Ladybug

 

[Mathman]

What I like best about International Figure Skating is the around the horn section where we get to read a little report about goings on in each country -- Around the UK, the Pacific Rink, Canadian Crosscuts, Inside Germany, Sur la Glace, etc.

Mathman

 

[gracefulswan]

god! plushy is a 3x world champ and he has never had a cover all to himself!! hmmmm... don't think i'll subscribe to IFS magazine anytime soon.

 

[pennyfromheaven]

I have to agree that if they treat skaters the way they do their subscribers I can totally understand why no one would want to grant them an interview. I used to subscribe to this magazine and was overwhelmed by tons of renewal notices months and months before my subscription was to expire. Also in the several interactions I had with them over the phone I found them to be incredibly rude, fllippant and just plain obnoxious people! I also agree that they seem to be very clique-oriented and only feature certain skaters while completely ignoring others on a consistent basis. I have to admit I would be happy to see the demise of this publication.