2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[Edwin]

Sofia SAMODELKINA - SP, Moscow Chmps 2019
https://youtu.be/W2qacMbm3s0

I think an adult male promoting not even teenage girl skaters by stealing footage from other channels and imprinting it with his own logo should refrain from this " Sexy Inside " avatar. Be more appropriate and professional when dealing with children instead of blatant self promotion.

 

[thatbeatingheart]

1. Zhenya's changing the narrative. Today she says: "Stop it, we continue to work with my coach". Tomorrow she goes to Orser. [...]

Sorry to bring this up again, but I never got involved in these discussions and I can't believe this is still being used against her?? What was the poor girl supposed to say right after the Olympics? "Yes, I'm thinking about changing coaches, no one knows this yet, nothing is decided, but I'm telling you now." You gotta live far removed from reality to believe that's something any normal person would answer in this situation. (Not you samkrut, but people who think so.)

 

[oatmella]

Apparently they don’t have to name the actual team until March 18th! For everyone’s benefit, hope it happens earlier than then.

 

[Helena b]

Sorry to bring this up again, but I never got involved in these discussions and I can't believe this is still being used against her?? What was the poor girl supposed to say right after the Olympics? "Yes, I'm thinking about changing coaches, no one knows this yet, nothing is decided, but I'm telling you now." You gotta live far removed from reality to believe that's something any normal person would answer in this situation. (Not you samkrut, but people who think so.)

She was supposed not to blatantly lie to her fans. She looked very confident and sure while saying "Yes, of course, I'll continue to work with Eteri, no doubts". And in two months she's in Canada. That's not a decision that people make in a week. She could choose not to answer. That'd be less hypocritical. Personally, that was the moment when I lost all my respect for her. But I guess people are different, some may find that kind of behavior ok.

p.s I don't hate her. Just don't care anymore.

 

[Scott512]

Apparently they don’t have to name the actual team until March 18th! For everyone’s benefit, hope it happens earlier than then.

Thats 20 days away! OMG! :eeking:

 

[Vandevska]

She was supposed not to blatantly lie to her fans. She looked very confident and sure while saying "Yes, of course, I'll continue to work with Eteri, no doubts". And in two months she's in Canada. That's not a decision that people make in a week. She could choose not to answer. That'd be less hypocritical. Personally, that was the moment when I lost all my respect for her. But I guess people are different, some may find that kind of behavior ok.

p.s I don't hate her. Just don't care anymore.

How is refusing to answer different than saying she's not working with her anymore?

 

[thatbeatingheart]

She was supposed not to blatantly lie to her fans. She looked very confident and sure while saying "Yes, of course, I'll continue to work with Eteri, no doubts". And in two months she's in Canada. That's not a decision that people make in a week. She could choose not to answer. That'd be less hypocritical. Personally, that was the moment when I lost all my respect for her. But I guess people are different, some may find that kind of behavior ok.

p.s I don't hate her. Just don't care anymore.

I don't remember her exact words but I remember her looking uncomfortable and not answering at all would've looked even worse in the eye of the public. Apart from that she doesn't owe the media or the fans anything.

I know this won't change your opinion but thank you for providing your point of view. It baffles me but I guess it's just like you said, people are different.

 

[jerrysh]

But if somebody that speaks russian tells you something else happens in Russia and thatelf to see what is actually going on in russia.

Check out the recent comments about RusFed’s decision and you’ll see there are lots of expressions of strange personal hatred towards Medvedeva. I don’t think this type of behaviour can be explained or excused, no matter who is the athlete they are bashing, a decent person will not write things like what you can find there. I think that the most hated athlete by these trolls is Medvedeva and Konstantinova is following closely behind.

 

[oatmella]

Timothy Goebel said in yesterday’s IceTalk live podcast that Evgenia having left Russia for training could work against her. I don’t know if this would influence the decision for Worlds.

 

[Georgya]

Honestly I don't think they did all this to be nice to the girls, but only to ensure Russia three spots next year. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't know if this strategy is going to work, considering the pressure it must be putting on the skaters. It could go right or it could go wrong, we'll see what happens, but I don't believe that the goal of all this is making a favour to Liza or Evgenia because they're not going to go next year (and it's fair, worrying about that it's not the Fed's job).

You think way to big of them if you see this debacle as a "strategy". I think is poor planning. The risk of russia loosing three spots next year is not so big as some people love to write here in the style of russian ice dance tragedy 2.0.

It's the opposite: one of the easiest years for russian ladies to keep 3 spots

 

[Scott512]

She was supposed not to blatantly lie to her fans. She looked very confident and sure while saying "Yes, of course, I'll continue to work with Eteri, no doubts". And in two months she's in Canada. That's not a decision that people make in a week. She could choose not to answer. That'd be less hypocritical. Personally, that was the moment when I lost all my respect for her. But I guess people are different, some may find that kind of behavior ok.

p.s I don't hate her. Just don't care anymore.

You know I was disappointed when Zhenya went to Orser 2 months after saying she would stay with Eteri. But ALOT can happen in 2 months. I am sure others TAT Yagudin etc. advised Zhenya to move on from Eteri in order to lengthen her career. I am sure some said to Zhenya that looking at the person who edged you for olympic gold would be hard to do on a daily basis. Yagudin had similar experiences with Plushenko and they did not like each other. Obvioulsy Alina and Zhenya had great relations as Sambo 70 teammates and probably still do. Its understandable to me why Zhenya changed her mind. Its okay. This is sports this is life. Zhenya was only 18 when she chose to leave Eteri. They had 11 great years together. They were great for each other. But Zhenya wanted change. She got it. Eteri as hurt as she was by Zhenya leaving her is doing okay with Alina 3a and many others.

Some of us here have been surpassed by others at work and you move on or stay. I have done both. Either is okay. Same for Zhenya.

 

[Helena b]

I don't remember her exact words but I remember her looking uncomfortable and not answering at all would've looked even worse in the eye of the public. Apart from that she doesn't owe the media or the fans anything.

I know this won't change your opinion but thank you for providing your point of view. It baffles me but I guess it's just like you said, people are different.

Doesn't look uncomfortable much to me. https://youtu.be/vmwF0xyk5nM?t=71

But whatever. That's my opinion, I'm unlikely to change it.

 

[thatbeatingheart]

Doesn't look uncomfortable much to me. https://youtu.be/vmwF0xyk5nM?t=71

But whatever. That's my opinion, I'm unlikely to change it.

Okay I had a different interview in mind, but to me this still doesn't look like she meant it. In the end it doesn't matter since we'll never agree but that's fine as long as we talk about it civilized.

 

[melgirl25]

Okay I had a different interview in mind, but to me this still doesn't look like she meant it. In the end it doesn't matter since we'll never agree but that's fine as long as we talk about it civilized.

Had Orser accepted her as a student at that point?

Let’s say she refused to comment or said I don’t know. She probably would have gotten crap for that too.

And like Scott said a lot could happen in two months and a lot can happen quickly once the wheels are in motion.

 

[bubblecherry]

Evgenia is a young woman with the agency to do whatever she'd like with her life and skating career. She is also allowed to change her mind. She made a huge decision to move to Canada and certainly involved many people in that decision. She, the people at Rusfes who were invloved, and whoever else was involved handled the situation how they saw fit at the time. To think this is something that you can "agree" or "disagree" with is laughable. No one has any right to have such opinions on personal and private matters. Support her or don't, but you have no right to make any assertion on her personal character (and whether you "respect" her or don't) because of stories that you probably know 10% of information on.

To be quite honest, in my view, there is no explanation or excuse for the way Evgenia is treated on Russian forums. These are people looking for excuses to h/te on her. Whether they say they are doing it out of nationality, or loyalty to Eteri, or in "support" of Alina, or because Zhenya fans have been rude--- none of these are valid excuses to treat an athlete the way she is treated. These are hateful people with a hateful agenda and will look for anything n*gative to fuel their hatred. There is no valid excuse or explanation for this. And beyond this all, Russian skating fans have never been as supportive of Zhenya as they were at RusNats and the Cup Final! Let's not give these h*ters more credit than they deserve. Their hateful agenda has not only failed, but inspired more love for Evgenia! Their words on the internet are not representative of reality.

 

[yelyoh]

Where are the results for Cup of Russia?

 

[Lachinka]

Stanislava Konstantinova
Europeans: 4th
Grand Prix: 2nd, 5th, no GPF
Senior B: 3rd, 4th
Domestic C: 4th, 4th

Please, make a medal for 4th place so Stasya can have some She's been right under the top 3 way too many times

 

[YuBluByMe]

You think way to big of them if you see this debacle as a "strategy". I think is poor planning. The risk of russia losing three spots next year is not so big as some people love to write here in the style of russian ice dance tragedy 2.0.

It's the opposite: one of the easiest years for russian ladies to keep 3 spots

Okay, good. I was seriously starting to think I’m missing something important (it completely flew over my head that Medvedeva would be seriously campaigning for a third Worlds sport at the Russian Cup Final, after all) because I’m not understanding the fear of losing three spots for next year.

Zagitova is the best Russian senior lady right now. If you look at all her performances this season, one could make the conclusion that her recent problems are in the free. She’s been scoring 70+ in the SP. Even if she bombs the free at Worlds, she still makes top 10 because of the strength of the SP and PCS cushion. If she skates to her potential, however, she podiums.

Liza is consistent and an outside podium threat. She’s already beaten both Sakamoto and Miyahara. In fact, her scores are actually among the highest among the ladies this season. And she has 2 3As. She doesn’t have the PCS, but if she hits her tech, she’s dangerous.

Samodurova is being underestimated I think. Her scores have risen significantly in international competition. She went from 184.82 to a 213.84. She’s officially a 205-210 skater. That’s better than the Americans and almost as good as an imperfect Sakamoto. And honestly, better than Miyahara, who she beat at GPF.

Medvedeva is being overestimated. PCS is not much of a cushion if you’re going to get hit on tech. Internationally, her average SP scores are in the mid-60s and FP average is low 130s with a total average score of barely 200 and that’s with the PCS. Any of the top girls can beat that. I don’t think she’s on an upward trajectory, either. Not bombing a competition is not the same as skating well. I think RusFed really wants her on the team, but they cannot justify it. They may have a case if she would have won RCF handily with two great skates. But that’s not what happened. She was given the win. Internationally, Liz wins by about 10 points. Therefore, she doesn't deserve a spot. There's no argument, reason, or justification. None.

If Zagitova repeats her Worlds performance from last year, I have confidence that Liza and Samodurova can pick up the slack.

….Unfortunately, it seems, RusFed doesn't have the same confidence. RusFed seriously needs to wake up and open their eyes. The decision is not hard (it’s actually very easy), but they’re making it hard. You know what happens when you overthink something? You usually end up shooting yourself in the foot.

Matter of fact, wasn’t Japan in this situation last year with the men? I don’t remember Japan pulling this nonsense. They were in serious danger of losing three spots for next year, but they just picked a team with crossed fingers. And look what happened.

 

[DeeDee18]

Doesn't look uncomfortable much to me. https://youtu.be/vmwF0xyk5nM?t=71

But whatever. That's my opinion, I'm unlikely to change it.

Just pointing out that people leave Tutberidze suddenly all the time, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a falling out at some point in the 2 months. Evgenia wasn't skating due to Back injury so I think there must have been conversations about her future.

 

[Vandevska]

Where are the results for Cup of Russia?

https://www.fsrussia.ru/results/1819/cor1819/index.htm