Roz Sumners is Happy With Her Life

[Tonichelle]

The Skate Blade recently interviewed Roz Sumners... she even explains her "tara and sarah... bad olympic champs" quote LOL
http://www.theskateblade.com/features/articles/040220.htm

 

[berthes ghost]

Gosh..a "scandal" that somehow slipped past me.

I know exactly what she means. Saying that one reason that pro skating fills less seats now is because the past 2 champs don't skate is merely stating a fact, not making a judgement call.

 

[soogar]

She shouldn't have even mentioned them if she can't articulate her thoughts about them. And the whole bit about Tara not competing against Michelle was kind of weak b/c Tara been there done that.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

She's doing fine. 4 homes!!!! Wedding plans, and fun in NYC. She did all right in those lucrative pro comps. She wouldn't say those comps may have killed the pro sport. She thought Tara and Sarah caused that,

Joe

 

[berthes ghost]

She shouldn't have even mentioned them if she can't articulate her thoughts about them.

Gosh....so harsh!

And the whole bit about Tara not competing against Michelle was kind of weak b/c Tara been there done that.

Sorry....total bs crock of sheeite.
Pro skating thrives on repeating the rivalries of the Olys. Roz v Kat, Brian v Brian, Midori v Kristi, Nancy v Oksana. All paid their dues.
Tara v MK pro-ams would have put butts in seats big time and gotten mega deals from TV. Tara's "been there done that" attitude cost pro skating billions. Fact, not judgement.

 

[Tonichelle]

BG... you stated that you "missed that scandel"

basically I think what everyone was getting at was the fact that her quote made it sound like she was totally blaming Tara and Sarah for ALL of skatings problems... AMATURE AND PRO not just one part of skating... and it's NOT THEIR FAULT... she may have been stating a fact... but she picked a lousy choice of words and offended a lot of people...

 

[Ladskater]

Congratulations to Roz on her marriage plans! I am very happy for her.

I suppose the point Roz is trying to make is that skaters who have made it to the top - especially the Olympics - gold medal skaters are huge drawing cards once they turn pro.

One does expect to see them in a show or pro skate. Elvis garnered the silver medal and can still pack them into the rink when he comes here. The same with Brian Orser (silver Olympic medalist) and Kurt (never won an Olympic medal), but four times world champion and still can fill the seats. Fans love Kurt!!!

However, I don't think Tara and Sarah should both be held as responsible for the lack of interest in pro skating. Afterall, they both were very young when they won their Gold medals at the Olympics. Tara also had a problem with her hip as I recall; she probably was not physically up to competing. Sarah made her decision to take a different path.

I don't think it spells the end of pro skating just because a couple of Olympic stars are not making appearances. There is a lot of talent out there waiting in the wings. Skating will survive!

 

[hockeyfan228]

Lipinski turned pro and skated as long as her hips held out. If Kwan didn't turn pro too, why is it Lipinski's fault that they didn't compete head-to-head after the Olympics? It seems pretty clear that Lipinski's hips would not have held up at all had she remained eligible. It's not like she didn't bring in fans during her short professional life.

From Opera for Dummies:

"Q: How do you put a sparkle in a soprano's eye?

"A: Shine a flashlight in her ear."

I also don't think that it hurts figure skating when young female champions embrace academics and medicine. That's what Tenley Albright and Debbi Thomas did. It undercuts the "cute but vacant between the ears," stereotype that pervades in skating.

 

[berthes ghost]

If Kwan didn't turn pro too, why is it Lipinski's fault that they didn't compete head-to-head after the Olympics?

Umm...I guess you missed it, but after 98 we were glutted with pro-ams: competitons with both pros and eligables. Kwan showed up to almost everyone of them, or so it seemed. Many pros went too: Kristi, Yuka, Oksana, Josee...but never once Tara.

I'm uncomfortable with the word "fault" because it makes it seem so much more serious than it was, hmmm... maybe "choice".

If one went pro and the other remained eligable, the only place they could meet were the pro-ams. If Kwan went and Tara stayed home, well than it was Tara's choice that they never meet. AFASIK, Tara never went to a comp that MK could have particiapted in but didn't.

 

[mzheng]

She shouldn't have even mentioned them if she can't articulate her thoughts about them. And the whole bit about Tara not competing against Michelle was kind of weak b/c Tara been there done that.

It's that she didn't do again after her big Olympic win. It was said that she was intentional avoid head to head competing with Michelle after the Olympics, at least that was what her mom made out. They didn't want her OGM tarnished by losing to MK. That was also one reason of they choose SOI instead of COI since MK at COI.

 

[Tonichelle]

I guess what made me most upset with what Roz said NOT IN THIS ARTICLE but the original statement was that she made it seem like pro skating had always been way up there and big and huge and thanks to Tara and Sarah it was nothing... like it was all their fault. WHEITHER THAT WAS HER INTENTION OR NOT she came across that way to a lot of people. She's a big girl, she should know how to correctly word a statement so that she DOESN'T have to explain herself later.
She also makes it sound like she was so much better because she went pro and skated in SOI for 13+ years... but I don't see how she was even obligated to do so... AND if Stars On Ice hadn't come along Roz would have quit too... so why is it SO HORRIBLE that Tara bow out due to injury and SARAH go to College??? "it's commendable" but I'll bet while she believes it's commendable she is looking down on Sarah's decision, otherwise she'd never group Sarah in "that boat"

 

[Michibanana]

Lipinski turned pro and skated as long as her hips held out. If Kwan didn't turn pro too, why is it Lipinski's fault that they didn't compete head-to-head after the Olympics?

She did basically avoid competing against Michelle head to head after the Olympics. They did compete "against" each other once in the USFSA pro-am right at the end of the Olympic season, but it was a team event in which you never saw the individual marks of the competitors. Roz is probably right that there might be more interest in pro skating if Tara was still in it and Sarah had ever been, but then again, pro skating has bigger problems than who's skating and who's not. And I personally don't care. Tara destroyed her body for skating, and it's Sarah's life to live, so if they choose not to continue in the pro ranks, more power to them.

 

[Arwen]

I'm just wondering what is the longevity of Roslyn Sumners about anyway. I mean why does she still have magazine articles, etc about her? There are so many more talented, charismatic, beautiful and whatever ladies skaters out there! Let's see more about them instead. Sorry but I could care less whether or not Roslyn Sumners is happy with her life! Not trying to be mean, ok? Just, please, let's move on in this sport.

 

[hockeyfan228]

In my opinion pro-ams are nonsense. When a skater moves from eligible to pro competitions, there is always a transition where the eligible skaters relied upon technical content, and they rarely surpass their professional counterparts until they extend their artisitic skating. But they know what the basis of the scoring is; commentators harp on this every chance they get. In pro-am competitions there is more emphasis on jumps. And it was clear that her body was not going to stand up to competition against eligible skaters anymore. She was in the same position that Yagudin is in now, except that he has gotten a lot of sympathy and understanding.

I also think its perfectly believable that Lipinski joined SOI for two reasons she said at the time: to extend her artistic range in the company of top skaters and choreographers -- which does not happen on COI -- and to be part of a family-like atmosphere in her first extended stint away from her very involved parents.

 

[soogar]

I'm sorry , but I just don't see the value of Tara competing against Michelle. I think that the press and others tended to unfairly compare Tara to Michelle no matter how well Tara skated, and if I were her, I wouldn't bother to compete with Michelle either. She already won her gold medal so why revisit all that. Besides, her reason for turning pro was because her body couldn't take all the jumping and pro ams required certain technical requirements.

I think that SOI was pretty skanky toward Tara. Scott has said on numerous occasions that Tara was not professional and I want to know what kind of expectations he had for a 16 year old skater. Most teenagers need time and space to rebel and grow up. I imagine that skating everyday with a stagemother like Pat looking on was really hard for her and that taste of freedom she had once she stopped competing was intoxicating.

 

[mzheng]

I think that SOI was pretty skanky toward Tara. Scott has said on numerous occasions that Tara was not professional and I want to know what kind of expectations he had for a 16 year old skater. Most teenagers need time and space to rebel and grow up. I imagine that skating everyday with a stagemother like Pat looking on was really hard for her and that taste of freedom she had once she stopped competing was intoxicating.

I don't like Scott, but I think he was not the only one complaining about Tara's attitude in SOI. And his is a valid one. There were numeros members in SOI had the similar comments on Tara. And IMO, if you are old enough to win OGM, and SOI spend huge dollar (multi million contract?) to sign her on, they certainly expect her doing her job.

And besides Tara didn't reviel her hip injury before she striken the SOI contract. I remember at the time she made other excuses when she turn pro, such as don't want her family sperate anymore, (what's the difference if you join SOI tour and your mom company you, your parents still live seperately). But her agent knew it (her injury) all, he said when Tara draw skated after MK, He knew this was her ONLY chance to win OGM, since Tarah was injured at the time it was imposible for her to go another Olympics. Now put youself in Scott position, as a bussiness man, don't you feel cheated?

 

[soogar]

The rational that if you can win an OGM therefore you can skate on a tour with no other teenagers travelling from city to city is ludicrous. The pro world and eligible skating are two separate things. Scott was perfectly willing to take the risk of signing on a minor in an effort to fill seat for SOI therefore, I feel absolutely no sympathy for him. Skating is a sport and dealing with injuries is a fact of life for this tour (ALexei Yagudin, Steven Cousins and others also being injured) Plus I don't believe that Tara had a clue how bad her hip was injured. She probably thought it would hold up doing a few triples a night but the injury turned out worse than it really was. I don't know what teenager seriously thinks about having a debilitating hip injury , that's something for old people. I also think that the SOI mgm't really didn't fully consider Tara's age ... to expect Tara to have the same mentality as a 20 year old is ridiculous. A kid her age needed to be with other kids. Tara also struck me as a very young 15/16.. she was into sleepovers and came off as pretty sheltered in her interviews. No one on SOI had kids so they don't know how to handle them. Maybe when Scott's little Aiden becomes a teenager, he'll have a little empathy for her. Unfortunately for Tara, she didn't have the level headed parents that Sarah Hughes has and she was probably star struck about touring and her parents didn't properly advise her. Even Sarah Hughes had trouble with COI b/c she didn't want to commit to skating every show and only wanted to do the show on weekends.

 

[mzheng]

All I can say, SOI is bussiness, the owner or the member of it has no obligation to baby sit the youngest. It was Tara and her Mom made the decition to sign on with SOI instead of COI, where a lot skater Tara's age skated at the time, but again they don't want go head to head with MK in the same tour, so ppl weren't compare them. (Her mom late reveil the regretion of the wrong decition in a book). You made your bed, you have to slept on it.

Plus I don't believe that Tara had a clue how bad her hip was injured. She probably thought it would hold up doing a few triples a night but the injury turned out worse than it really was.

Tara might have no clue how bad her hip was injured back then. I don't blame her for her injury after all she was only a kid. Her mom or coach should take some responsibility. But the whole Lipinsky talk even after 4 years just show you how credibility she was. I remembered during SLC Olympic four years after the Nagano and she had couple of hip surgery, there was an interview with Tara, she said she retired right after the Nagano Oly because she wanted to give other kids a chance to win OGM. She knew she was still young if she had not retired she might win another OGM. I was like ' hm, Tara, what the crap you are talking about? had you have the hip injury?'. So there.

Tara and Sarah both get the most of the sports. And unlike all previous US lady OGMs they don't even bother to show up at US Nats, just show your supporting to sports. I do think there are some valid comments in Roz's interview.

 

[lulu]

Showing up for US nats? Didn't Sarah skate at nationals after she won the Olympics? Do you mean, watching it in the audience? Plus Sarah has only been ineligible for a year, I doubt that Kristi Yamaguchi has been to every single nationals after she finished competing.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

quote:
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Plus I don't believe that Tara had a clue how bad her hip was injured. She probably thought it would hold up doing a few triples a night but the injury turned out worse than it really was.
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I do think Tara had a clue. I would venture to guess that if her hip were to heal she would have gone after Henie"s other skating records and hung around eligible skating at least until 2006. She would be 23 years old for this coming Olys. Not an old has been and still younger than Henie when Henie turned pro.

But, It wasn't going that way. The hip was bad and she went into SOI. I don't know anything about her rapport with the other skaters. To me it's just gossip. I do think she was quite immature for the style of SOI and tossing her hairdo, just didn't work. Her swansong speech was not clear as to her disappointments in figure skating, imo.

She's been getting acting gigs now and that's good for her. She'll be around.

Joe