Yagudin on coaching, Olys

[Mathman]

In the latest Spotlight on Skating , Alexei answers questions from readers.

Asked about which skaters he would like to coach, he said that right now he did not have the time for full-time coaching but

"I would love to work (with) some of the Japanese skaters, especially Mao Asada and Nobunari Oda."

His Olympic predictions?

"I will say I will be cheering loudly for Tatiana (Totmianina) and Maxim (Marinin) because I am really good friends with them. Of course I will be cheering for the Russian team to do well...

I really want to send my best wishes to Michelle Kwan. These will be her thrid Olympics and she has given so much to the sport. It would be great if she could win.

 

[emma]

Awwwww, that's sweet. I'm sort of fascinated by the politics of camp TT though. I mean, TT does choreo for the kween, basically saying it was an honor to serve her majesty who is close to godlinees, ok, who is a godess, and then her pupils follow suite: Weir says 'kwan can do anything' (and while I LOVE he, that is exactly true), and now Alexi wishes her well and mentions her great contributions to the sport....while he sort of covered any nationalist bases he needed to by saying he would route for the Russian team, I just find the respect being publicly given Kwan from camp TT very interesting.

 

[Mathman]

I thought about that, too. BTW the TT article makes it clear that Mrs. Tarasova went to Michelle's rink in California to do the choreography, rather than Michelle going to Connecticut.

I thought Weir's comments were pretty gallant, too, he being such close friends with Sasha and all.

On the one hand, everyone who works with Michelle has raves to say about how nice and down to earth she is off the ice (recently Van der Perren and Buttle, for instance). And on the ice, well, she is the Kween, after all. So I have no doubt that all this praise is sincere.

Still, it can't hurt to butter up Miss Moneybags (is she the Queen or the Chancellor of the Exchequer, LOL). Michelle, as the most popular performer and the most visible face of figure skating in the U.$., may have big plans for after she retires from competition. If I were a skater, coach, or promoter I certainly wouldn't want to burn any bridges with her at this late date, LOL.

Mathman

 

[nymkfan51]

Awww, I knew I loved Alexei!

And Mathman is very smart about the Kween!!!

 

[rjulie510]

Awww what a sweet guy. Alexei has been Michelle's fan for a long time. During his eligible days in competitions, he always made sure he would not miss Michelle's performance. It's not like he's saying this just because of TT choreogrpahying for Michelle.

 

[millie]

That article is so touching. God save the kween!

 

[mzheng]

In the latest Spotlight on Skating , Alexei answers questions from readers.

Asked about which skaters he would like to coach, he said that right now he did not have the time for full-time coaching but

"I would love to work (with) some of the Japanese skaters, especially Mao Asada and Nobunari Oda."

His Olympic predictions?

"I will say I will be cheering loudly for Tatiana (Totmianina) and Maxim (Marinin) because I am really good friends with them. Of course I will be cheering for the Russian team to do well...

I really want to send my best wishes to Michelle Kwan. These will be her thrid Olympics and she has given so much to the sport. It would be great if she could win.

Wow, I just love this guy. From his skating to his compliment to Michelle.

This time he said 'right' thing about cheering for Russian team, though he never got fully support from RF in his eligible days........The guy knows how to 'fit' in (I say this again, I said it in another thread where he was critisized for his another interview in which he kind of categorized as 'dissing' US) .....but I believe the words about TT, Maxim and MK are from his heart.

ETA, yeah he always talked good about MK. He said in a 2002 interview when asked which one (MK or IS) 's he prefered, he said Michelle since her skating more lady like.....and this is not the first time he praised MK of giving so much to the sport, he made very similar comment in his another interview early on.

 

[Germanice]

See, he does everything, just to be loved by you guys!
Awwww, he's soooo smart, isn't he?
(After all he's spending about 75 % of his skating time in front of US-audiences! )

Anke

 

[emma]

Awww what a sweet guy. Alexei has been Michelle's fan for a long time. During his eligible days in competitions, he always made sure he would not miss Michelle's performance. It's not like he's saying this just because of TT choreogrpahying for Michelle.

I didn't know that, but I think it's cool that he watched her performances...wow.

 

[RIskatingfan]

Awww what a sweet guy. Alexei has been Michelle's fan for a long time. During his eligible days in competitions, he always made sure he would not miss Michelle's performance. It's not like he's saying this just because of TT choreogrpahying for Michelle.

I totally agree but the thought that he could politik for anyone in the upcoming Olympics is quite amusing

He cheered for her many times, even over Slutskaya, like at Worlds in Vancouver, where he was seen celebrating (he twirled someone in the air IIRC LOL), when the ladies results went up and the overall winner was Kwan.

 

[Kuchana]

Awww....I'm loving Alexi more and more! That is one of the sweetest and most deserving comments he's said about Michelle. He always seems to know what to say

rjulie and RIskating, please provide links? I love to read about anything that relates to Alexi and Michelle

 

[RIskatingfan]

I'm sorry but I can't provide any link, I read this in FSW a long time ago and that board has been closed for some years by now. The story was told by a poster who was in Vancouver watching the event.