Project "Medvedeva", a victory by the rules

[silverlake22]

Ohh... funny.
Look at Polina Tsurskaya. She is 14 and her height is already 170sm. Right now she is undisputed №1 in juniors.
And her coach is Eteri too.

ps. And look at Evgenia in previous season. She is definitely changed.

So True. And Tsurskaya is definitely not an example of a skater whose development is purposely being delayed to benefit her skating career. Physically she looks about 16 or 17 years old, in addition to being tall she is also muscular and physically more mature looking than most of the other 14 year olds out there. And she is excelling right now, I think her height and strength really benefit her skating quality, especially in junior competitions.

I will admit some of the comments made about Julia and her not being able to really eat during the Olympic season were concerning, but measures taken for one individual, at the age of 15 during an Olympic season, for a span of a few months, are not reason to believe that these same measures are being applied to all the other athletes. The body is resilient and can handle being deprived for a few months, but as a long term strategy this definitely will not be effective and the performance level and health of the individual will suffer dramatically. Unless Evgenia or Eteri mentions extreme dieting and/or eating disorders, we should just leave the poor girl alone and appreciate what she can do on the ice.

 

[solani]

So True. And Tsurskaya is definitely not an example of a skater whose development is purposely being delayed to benefit her skating career. Physically she looks about 16 or 17 years old, in addition to being tall she is also muscular and physically more mature looking than most of the other 14 year olds out there. And she is excelling right now, I think her height and strength really benefit her skating quality, especially in junior competitions.

I agree, Polina has her long limbs surprisingly well under control and that makes almost everything she does look so much better. And it's also much more difficult. Impressive skater, she's got it all.

 

[Tyranid]

I have no doubt that your suspicions are correct, but shame on such sports federations. What's next, genetic engineering?

Genetic engineering will not see the light of day except maybe for military use. Its eugenics, and eugenics is basically fascism.
No sane country will treat athletes like dogs to create a specific breed. Even IF it happens, those "athletes" will never be allowed to compete.

I'd also think it's good to not derail the thread with Tuks ethnic makeup. She's part Tatar and maybe part Udmurt, w/e. All that matters is that she's white with a bit of asian blood and has the best jumps in the world. So that's that.

 

[solani]

Genetic engineering will not see the light of day except maybe for military use.

If it's going to be used in military it's going to be used somewhere else also. That's the normal course of events. That doesn't mean that it must be successful. A talented athlete without the drive and motivation isn't going to be successful.
We already know that selecting children for certain sports because of specific physical assets is very successful. F.e. chose the kids with the large hands for the swim team. Don't waste time and money on those with small hands.
There's not much money to be made in figure skating nowadays, so I think that the risk of genetically enhanced figure skaters isn't very high. Other sports might be more tempting for investors.

 

[sneakers]

how the heck did this thread turned from about a skater to genetic engineering :shocked:

 

[Tyranid]

If it's going to be used in military it's going to be used somewhere else also. That's the normal course of events. That doesn't mean that it must be successful. A talented athlete without the drive and motivation isn't going to be successful.
We already know that selecting children for certain sports because of specific physical assets is very successful. F.e. chose the kids with the large hands for the swim team. Don't waste time and money on those with small hands.
There's not much money to be made in figure skating nowadays, so I think that the risk of genetically enhanced figure skaters isn't very high. Other sports might be more tempting for investors.

It would definitely kill any sort of semblance of fairness in sports. About figure skating not making much money... most amateur sports don't.

Edit: ok, we're going off topic again, let's stop.

 

[solani]

Edit: ok, we're going off topic again, let's stop.

I wouldn't say that this is off-topic, because this thread is about Vaitsehovskaya's article. Tutberidze seems to chose her students meticulously.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

I wouldn't say that this is off-topic, because this thread is about Vaitsehovskaya's article. Tutberidze seems to chose her students meticulously.

Julia chose Eteri. Of course Eteri had to except her but Julia and her mom approached Eteri first.

 

[Tyranid]

I wouldn't say that this is off-topic, because this thread is about Vaitsehovskaya's article. Tutberidze seems to chose her students meticulously.

C'mon man, choosing meticulously =/= eugenics. We were derailing with that.

 

[solani]

Julia chose Eteri. Of course Eteri had to except her but Julia and her mom approached Eteri first.

I think that I read somewhere that Julia and her mother were quite anxious when approaching Eteri, because they weren't sure that Julia would indeed be accepted by her.

 

[solani]

C'mon man, choosing meticulously =/= eugenics. We were derailing with that.

Pardon me? I'm not talking about eugenics and I don't feel that I'm the one who's derailing.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Evgenia Medvedeva is the perfect chromosome... Oooohhh.

 

[Mathman]

Evgenia/Eugene: English form of Eugenius, the Latin form of the Greek name Ευγενιος (Eugenios) which was derived from the Greek word ευγενης (eugenes) meaning "well born". It is composed of the elements ευ (eu) "good" and γενης (genes) "born".

 

[andyjo24]

Evgenia/Eugene: English form of Eugenius, the Latin form of the Greek name Ευγενιος (Eugenios) which was derived from the Greek word ευγενης (eugenes) meaning "well born". It is composed of the elements ευ (eu) "good" and γενης (genes) "born".

I thought you were only a Mathman, but I guess you're a Languageman too.

 

[Mathman]

I thought you were only a Mathman, but I guess you're a Languageman too.

^ Google is our friend.

 

[StitchMonkey]

This day and age, doctors can pretty much predict what height and physique a child will reach when grown up. I do believe or at least could very well imagine that highly competitive national sport federations are selecting their future elite based, among many other criteria, on this.

Pretty sure Ekaterina Gordeeva said the Federation look at her relatives to try to make sure she would not get too tall.

 

[Tutto]

Medvedeva's secret tapes revealed!!! :hopelessness:

http://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/properlytwizzle/903618.html

One wonders why with all the advances in technology the boots fastenings still remain exactly the same as some 40 years ago (on my memory) Could they not invent some laceless option so poor skaters don't have to arm themselves with tape, scissors and what not?

 

[solani]

One wonders why with all the advances in technology the boots fastenings still remain exactly the same as some 40 years ago (on my memory) Could they not invent some laceless option so poor skaters don't have to arm themselves with tape, scissors and what not?

There's new technology in the lacing of the boots (lace lock on the eyelets and stuff). I guess figure skating boots could actually have new lacing system like f.e. snowboard boots (BOA, speed lace, ...) or running shoes have, but then the skater would not have the freedom to lace every "zone" of the boot exactly as wanted. I myself own running shoes with only one "zone", I like them, but I'm not 100% happy with the fit and I also own snowboard boots with 2 "zones" and they're great, but I wouldn't want a system with only 1 "zone".
I guess figure skaters use tape because it's fast, safe and easy.

 

[Violetti]

So