2019-20 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Edwin]

Yeah, it seems many fans/posters here are too emotionally attached to their idols and forget that these skaters are top athletes, living at the edge of what is possible in humans.

The life of a competing athlete is never a path of roses, sacrifices need to be made, many hardships have to be endured both in training and in their private lives.

Plus, I think because of all these conditions, the Russian athletes are physically stronger, mentally tougher, grittier in spirit, more hardened in character than any other. These characteristics make them winners.

 

[flanker]

It seems we won't be spared from speculations about the health and eating habits of the athletes just on the basis of some badly understood fragments of information ripped out of context and personal bias evn in the new off-season and the next season

 

[Tolstoj]

Why is it a trick? Why do you only mention russian and chinese? 1. It's not forbidden. 2. It's not something Alina is doing every day, it's for a small amount of time before the big competition. 3. Have you seen boxers, even junior ones, before the official weighting. It's way worse. They stop eating and drinking water for 24h (like fasting period in some cultures) - a desperate attempt to make weight. They eat and drink after the mandatory weigh in. I've read some time ago an american boxer collapsed in his hotel room while trying to make weight. So it's not only russian/chinese if you suspect a "dirty trick".:noshake:

I'm not even bothered anymore (more amussed) by the line of thought russians or chinese are always doing something evil, are cheating. A surprisingly alarming amount of horrifying stories/ practices fall under the category of "it sounds evil which means russians/chinese probably did it". Like some americans think that the soviets impregnated their gymnasts and aborted the babies because it somehow had some use and made the gymnasts stronger.:shocked:

People are so outraged with the sipping water thing and making all kind of accusations by taking words out of context. For me is just rushing to believe the worst

On the shrimps thing an english speaker also rushed to get it wrong, put it on twitter and voila hundreds of likes, comments about abused russian girls and bad, bad russians.

You are all the one jumping to conclusions too early, i'm not making any accusations.

Restrict use of water and food (to some extent) on is extreme and excessive if done on a daily basis, we don't actually know if it is done just for key competitions as i suggested or part of their regular diet. Again not accusing anyone, but i'm more for promoting healthy diet as opposed to diet of no eating, and if you do it you shouldn't push it as a good thing.

Chinese / Soviet tricks were just extreme more than dirty (well they were dirty when they forced the usage of doping, there are documentaries about it, not gonna open that discussion here)

/OT

 

[Fluture]

So, all I‘m going to say about this, is quote a bit:

“In what do you have to limit yourself the most?“

”– In food!”

”Do you have a special diet?“

“– Eat less. At the same time, I can not live without glucose and carbohydrates. Recently we filmed the “Ice Age”, and I had quite a long text. I realized that I was just standing with a microphone and my brain absolutely “doesn’t work”. That day I did not have breakfast or dinner, I just drank coffee. The next day, we also had shooting and I already did not make such a mistake, I worked on maximum thanks to the chocolate bars.“

Evgenia in an interview after the Olympics

“How relevant is weight control for you now?“

“- I constantly control what I eat - I began to think about it a year ago, after the Olympic Games. Before that, there was no system at all: it could happen that I ate only one small chocolate bar per day. I had a constant fear that I would now stand on the scales, and a hundred grams of excess would appear. Now I constantly work with a nutritionist whom Orcer has found for me, and I do not even rely on what the scales show, but on the percentage ratio of muscle and fat.“


“Did you have complexes after the Olympics when you began to gain weight?”

“- I understood that I can cure all my complexes about food in only one way - by allowing myself to eat. When you keep yourself on a very rigid diet for many years, and in fact you live half starving, you need time to understand: if there is food in the refrigerator, you don’t have to cram it all at once. It is not going anywhere from this refrigerator. As soon as I put all this in my head, the weight began to return to normal.“

“What period was the most difficult for you in terms of weight control?“

“- Olympic season. I understood that I should be as "dry" as possible. My weight in Pyonchang was one and a half kilograms less than a year before the Games at the World Championships in Helsinki. It was a difficult period, but I had no other choice. Otherwise, I would simply not skate my programs. At that time I didn’t have much muscle, and in this case the body retains water very much. You become heavy and swollen. Therefore, everything was really very tough and quite big damage was done to the body. Now, fortunately, all these problems are in the past.“

Evgenia in her interview after Worlds 2019



"Interesting stuff I heard about skaters and food; that even a slightest change in weight affects how this or that element is done?"

Alina: unfortunately, it is true. During the pre-Olympic season, during training camps, we all, certainly me, watched my weight very carefully, measured three times a day, morning, mid-day, night…

Urgant: let’s not talk about my life..

Alina: I was trying to maintain a steady weight, checking for as little as 100 gm. deviation…

Urgant: as little as 100 gm?
Alina: yes.

ok, the 100 gm. How much is 100 gm, a glass of water? Can’t even drink a glass of water?

Alina: yes, there was a moment when I stressed about my weight, and afraid to drink water. When measuring, I took a sip of water and spit it out."


Alina‘s recent interview on this evening show.

Translations are mostly taken from fsuniverse.

___

I think I need to clarify that I‘m not suggesting that all these girls have eating disorders. That would be a very dangerous and potentially harmful statement to make. What I am saying, though, is that after everything we have heard, it is very hard to deny that there is indeed a problematic attitude towards food in Team Tutberidze. Evgenia and Alina have now talked about it.

I am also aware of the fact that this happens a lot in our sport and Eteri‘s camp aren‘t the only ones (obviously) where something like this occurs. But that‘s why it‘s even more important that we have people speaking up about it. Alina and Zhenya are World and Olympic medalists, they are icons. If they lead a healthy path for the next generation, show them that yes, elite sport is hard and sometimes damaging to your health but at the same time that you can have success even while looking out for your body, supporting it with the necessary diet... they could stop girls from intentionally engaging in dangerous eating habits.

That being said, I do NOT think Eteri is intentionally starving her students. I do think, however, that she has a wrong attitude towards jumps and food, which is unfortunately very common in this sport. Instead of looking at the muscle fat ratio, they only look at the scale, try to minimize the weight as much as possible. This is unhealthy.

I hope that one day they will work with a professional nutritionist who helps each girl find the right, individual diet for her body type.

It also doesn‘t mean that all these girls are miserable and sad all the time and need to be saved from their coaches as soon as possible. It just means that some of them do engage in dangerous eating habits and as a result: that there is a serious problem in this sport that is not yet solved.

This is all I‘m going to say about this. I know that people only see what they want to see anyway. I‘m not condemning anyone. Just pointing at a problem instead of looking away. If anyone wants to take this as a slight at Eteri, and hate “only“ towards her, he or she is free to do that. I have clearly stated that this is a universal problem, not restricted solely to their camp.

 

[LenaRadiFan]

So, all I‘m going to say about this, is quote a bit:

“In what do you have to limit yourself the most?“

”– In food!”

”Do you have a special diet?“

“– Eat less. At the same time, I can not live without glucose and carbohydrates. Recently we filmed the “Ice Age”, and I had quite a long text. I realized that I was just standing with a microphone and my brain absolutely “doesn’t work”. That day I did not have breakfast or dinner, I just drank coffee. The next day, we also had shooting and I already did not make such a mistake, I worked on maximum thanks to the chocolate bars.“

Evgenia in an interview after the Olympics

“How relevant is weight control for you now?“

“- I constantly control what I eat - I began to think about it a year ago, after the Olympic Games. Before that, there was no system at all: it could happen that I ate only one small chocolate bar per day. I had a constant fear that I would now stand on the scales, and a hundred grams of excess would appear. Now I constantly work with a nutritionist whom Orcer has found for me, and I do not even rely on what the scales show, but on the percentage ratio of muscle and fat.“


“Did you have complexes after the Olympics when you began to gain weight?”

“- I understood that I can cure all my complexes about food in only one way - by allowing myself to eat. When you keep yourself on a very rigid diet for many years, and in fact you live half starving, you need time to understand: if there is food in the refrigerator, you don’t have to cram it all at once. It is not going anywhere from this refrigerator. As soon as I put all this in my head, the weight began to return to normal.“

“What period was the most difficult for you in terms of weight control?“

“- Olympic season. I understood that I should be as "dry" as possible. My weight in Pyonchang was one and a half kilograms less than a year before the Games at the World Championships in Helsinki. It was a difficult period, but I had no other choice. Otherwise, I would simply not skate my programs. At that time I didn’t have much muscle, and in this case the body retains water very much. You become heavy and swollen. Therefore, everything was really very tough and quite big damage was done to the body. Now, fortunately, all these problems are in the past.“

Evgenia in her interview after Worlds 2019



"Interesting stuff I heard about skaters and food; that even a slightest change in weight affects how this or that element is done?"

Alina: unfortunately, it is true. During the pre-Olympic season, during training camps, we all, certainly me, watched my weight very carefully, measured three times a day, morning, mid-day, night…

Urgant: let’s not talk about my life..

Alina: I was trying to maintain a steady weight, checking for as little as 100 gm. deviation…

Urgant: as little as 100 gm?
Alina: yes.

ok, the 100 gm. How much is 100 gm, a glass of water? Can’t even drink a glass of water?

Alina: yes, there was a moment when I stressed about my weight, and afraid to drink water. When measuring, I took a sip of water and spit it out."


Alina‘s recent interview on this evening show.

Translations are mostly taken from fsuniverse.

___

I think I need to clarify that I‘m not suggesting that all these girls have eating disorders. That would be a very dangerous and potentially harmful statement to make. What I am saying, though, is that after everything we have heard, it is very hard to deny that there is indeed a problematic attitude towards food in Team Tutberidze. Evgenia and Alina have now talked about it.

I am also aware of the fact that this happens a lot in our sport and Eteri‘s camp aren‘t the only ones (obviously) where something like this occurs. But that‘s why it‘s even more important that we have people speaking up about it. Alina and Zhenya are World and Olympic medalists, they are icons. If they lead a healthy path for the next generation, show them that yes, elite sport is hard and sometimes damaging to your health but at the same time that you can have success even while looking out for your body, supporting it with the necessary diet... they could stop girls from intentionally engaging in dangerous eating habits.

That being said, I do NOT think Eteri is intentionally starving her students. I do think, however, that she has a wrong attitude towards jumps and food, which is unfortunately very common in this sport. Instead of looking at the muscle fat ratio, they only look at the scale, try to minimize the weight as much as possible. This is unhealthy.

I hope that one day they will work with a professional nutritionist who helps each girl find the right, individual diet for her body type.

It also doesn‘t mean that all these girls are miserable and sad all the time and need to be saved from their coaches as soon as possible. It just means that they do engage in dangerous eating habits and as a result: that there is a serious problem in this sport that is not yet solved.

This is all I‘m going to say about this. I know that people only see what they want to see anyway. I‘m not condemning anyone. Just pointing at a problem instead of looking away. If anyone wants to take this as a slight at Eteri, and hate “only“ towards her, he or she is free to do that. I have clearly stated that this is a universal problem, not restricted solely to their camp.

Amazing post. Just because people point out that Alina and Evgenia had/have this under Eteri doesn't mean that it's only Eteri. But I think it's dangerous if people are sweeping under the rug with saying, "oh but it's not only Eteri so it's not tgat bad."

 

[flanker]

Q: What's the first thing do you when you wake up?
Yuzuru: I get on the weighing scale.

I don't think this requires to add anything else, but as this topic is still bothering people's minds, let's be said strictly and clearly:

Weight is a big deal in nearly any sport, maybe excl. chess. No, what members of Eteri's team have said is absolutely anything unusual in sport. If people would really follow sports, they would see hockey players on weighing scale, boxers, literally anybody. And of course they are worrying sometimes about the weight, even hard men who go in for martial arts. Sport federations are even publishing nutrition manuals (BTW I've already read US figure skating manual and probably all those so concerned people would find everething they are opposing so much in it - like maximum amount of water that can be drunk during the competition etc.).

Also many athletes from different sports are talking about eating disorder and that raises no questions. Again, I'm fascinated that when e. g. Gabby Daleman openly speaks about her eating disorder, not a single point is made about the attitude towards nutrition in TCC. No, "she is a poor girl". She definitely is, but there is this obvious senseless difference in attitude that makes it completely ridiculous. And the same it is with all injuries - in Sambo it is like "systematic", while everywhere else it is just unfortunate coincidence. When any skater skates with injury, it is a brave act, when Eteri's skater skates with iunjury, it is of course "forced."

I know there is a narrative that needs to be strenghtened, esp. when things go other way than wishful thinking wanted to have it, and the taste of the sour grapes has to be trumped with something different. In monday it is Alina should better end her career, for tuesday we have "nutrition concerns", and wednesday we can talk about injuries. The more people are focused exclusively on Sambo, the less they can be taken seriously.

Also, it is not:

"oh but it's not only Eteri so it's not tgat bad."

The thing is that I don't see enything bad about that athletes are watching their weight. It is part of the bussiness. In fact it is the opposite: "It is with Eteri therefore it is bad."

 

[Scott512]

It seems we won't be spared from speculations about the health and eating habits of the athletes just on the basis of some badly understood fragments of information ripped out of context and personal bias evn in the new off-season and the next season

We wont. Unfortunately.

 

[Scott512]

Q: What's the first thing do you when you wake up?
Yuzuru: I get on the weighing scale.

I don't think this does not require to add anything else, but as this topic is still bothering people's minds, let's be said strictly and clearly:

Weight is a big deal in nearly any sport, maybe excl. chess. No, what members of Eteri's team have said is absolutely anything unusual in sport. If people would really follow sports, they would see hockey players on weight scale, boxers, literally anybody. And of course they are worrying sometimes about the weight, even hard men who go in for martial arts. Sport federations are even publishing nutrition manuals (BTW I've already read US figure skating manual and probably all those so concerned people would find everething they are opposing so much in it - like maximum amount of water that can be drunk during the competition etc.).

Also many athletes from different sports are talking about eating disorder and that raises no questions. Again, I'm fascinated that when e. g. Gabby Daleman openly speaks about her eating disorder, not a single point is made about the attitude towards nutrition in TCC. No, "she is a poor girl". She definitely is, but there is this obvious senseless difference in attitude that makes it completely ridiculous. And the same it is with all injuries - in Sambo it is like "systematic", while everywhere else it is just unfortunate coincidence. When any skater skates with injury, it is a brave act, when Eteri's skater skates with iunjury, it is of course "forced."

I know there is a narrative that needs to be strenghtened, esp. when things go other way than wishful thinking wanted to have it, and the taste of the sour grapes has to be trumped with something different. In monday it is Alina should better end her career, for tuesday we have "nutrition concerns", and wednesday we can talk about injuries. The more people are focused exclusively on Sambo, the less they can be taken seriously.

Also, it is not:



The thing is that I don't see enything bad about that athletes are watching their weight. It is part of the bussiness. In fact it is the opposite: "It is with Eteri therefore it is bad."

I have not ever talked about what's going on with Gabby and her team other than confused as to why no one's holding their feet to the fire for her issues which are so severe I sure hope she makes it back to a very high level full confidence. But she suffered major damage in various ways as has Gracie Gold. Fortunately Alina and Evgenia have not suffered like they have. As I've said all along this is a brutally tough sport even though it's so incredible and beautiful.

 

[flanker]

I have not ever talked about what's going on with Gabby and her team other than confused as to why no one's holding their feet to the fire for her issues which are so severe I sure hope she makes it back to a very high level full confidence. But she suffered major damage in various ways as has Gracie Gold. Fortunately Alina and Evgenia have not suffered like they have. As I've said all along this is a brutally tough sport even though it's so incredible and beautiful.

Neither did I, but this selective blindness stops any serious conversation on this topic at the very beginning. How can people expect to be taken seriously, when their main motto is:

If good result happens in Sambo (which is like nearly all the time ), it is always despite training methods or despite the choreography (e. g. jumping technique from previous coach) while for everything bad we have always a person to blame.

vs.

If anything bad happens to anyone from XY team, it is just bad luck because the team is never wrong, while for everything good it is the team to celebrate.

And literally everything what they write is submitted to this main holy sacred thousand years old truth. Whatever happens, whatever skater is injured, have eating disorder, whatever statistics will say, we will always hear the same people say that "with A there is indeed a problematic attitude towards food while B is nuturing, caring environment."

 

[Fluture]

Q: What's the first thing do you when you wake up?
Yuzuru: I get on the weighing scale.

I don't think this does not require to add anything else, but as this topic is still bothering people's minds, let's be said strictly and clearly:

Weight is a big deal in nearly any sport, maybe excl. chess. No, what members of Eteri's team have said is absolutely anything unusual in sport. If people would really follow sports, they would see hockey players on weight scale, boxers, literally anybody. And of course they are worrying sometimes about the weight, even hard men who go in for martial arts. Sport federations are even publishing nutrition manuals (BTW I've already read US figure skating manual and probably all those so concerned people would find everething they are opposing so much in it - like maximum amount of water that can be drunk during the competition etc.).

Also many athletes from different sports are talking about eating disorder and that raises no questions. Again, I'm fascinated that when e. g. Gabby Daleman openly speaks about her eating disorder, not a single point is made about the attitude towards nutrition in TCC. No, "she is a poor girl". She definitely is, but there is this obvious senseless difference in attitude that makes it completely ridiculous. And the same it is with all injuries - in Sambo it is like "systematic", while everywhere else it is just unfortunate coincidence. When any skater skates with injury, it is a brave act, when Eteri's skater skates with iunjury, it is of course "forced."

I know there is a narrative that needs to be strenghtened, esp. when things go other way than wishful thinking wanted to have it, and the taste of the sour grapes has to be trumped with something different. In monday it is Alina should better end her career, for tuesday we have "nutrition concerns", and wednesday we can talk about injuries. The more people are focused exclusively on Sambo, the less they can be taken seriously.

Also, it is not:



The thing is that I don't see enything bad about that athletes are watching their weight. It is part of the bussiness. In fact it is the opposite: "It is with Eteri therefore it is bad."

You are free to see what you want. I have said clearly that this is a universal problem that is not restricted to Eteri. It is common sense, really, that this problem is widespread in this sport. This doesn't make it any less dramatic, quite on the contrary. It only shows that this is an issue that needs more awareness, to prevent the next generation from facing the same struggles.

Your “but what about others?!“ is therefor not only unnecessary but also shows a clear lack of arguments. If you want to interpret everything as hate and cannot accept any slight criticism of this team and their athletes, I‘m sorry but then we have nothing to discuss further. My post, and most others who have voiced concerns about this issue, were not against Eteri for the sake of being against her. Raising awareness is important but alas, there will always be those to ignore issues, point at others as if someone else facing the same struggles would make them any less problematic and close their eyes. If you choose to be one of them, by any means, you are of course free to do that. But then please do not accuse those who are voicing their opinions on a delicate topic in a sensible and sensitive way, of hating.

And that‘s all. I‘m not going to discuss further. For the sake of their health, I hope that all athletes who expressed problems with eating, will find a diet that is right for them and enough help to overcome their struggles. No matter where they train or who their coach is. And I also strongly hope that they will not keep quiet to please some people but instead speak up and raise awareness. Because the more I read here, the more I am confident that this is what we and this sport, need.

 

[zenskate]

Your “but what about others?!“ is therefor not only unnecessary but also shows immaturity and a clear lack of arguments. If you want to interpret everything as hate and cannot accept any slight criticism of this team and their athletes, I‘m sorry but then we have nothing to discuss further.

You misunderstood flanker's argument.

It is not "what about others." It is "there is a narrative about Eteri, and some people will do anything to further it." He only points out others, because we can all see that the same things are happening, yet no one speaks about the others. Instead, they chose to focus on Team Tutberidze, to the point of using mistranslations to spread false information about them. Which is not right.

The whole point of your post was that Eteri's system is bad. Whether or not you were targeting her specifically, the effect is the same. Borrowing your words, If you want to interpret everything as "what about others" and cannot accept any slight criticism of your arguments , I‘m sorry but then we have nothing to discuss further.

 

[flanker]

You are free to see what you want. I have said clearly that this is a universal problem that is not restricted to Eteri. And many people have expressed the same. Because it is, after everything we’ve heard about eating disorders and problematic eating habits all over the world and not just in Eteri’s camp, common sense. This does not make the problem any less dramatic, quite on the contrary. It only shows that this is an issue that needs more awareness, to prevent the next generation from facing the same struggles.

Your “but what about others?!“ is therefor not only unnecessary but also shows immaturity and a clear lack of arguments. If you want to interpret everything as hate and cannot accept any slight criticism of this team and their athletes, I‘m sorry but then we have nothing to discuss further. My post, and most others who have voiced concerns about this issue, were not against Eteri for the sake of being against her. Raising awareness is important but alas, there will always be those to ignore issues, point at others as if someone else facing the same struggles would make them any less problematic and close their eyes. If you choose to be one of them, by any means, you are of course free to do that. But then please do not accuse those who are voicing their opinions on a delicate topic in a sensible and sensitive way of hating exclusively.

And that‘s all. I‘m not going to discuss further. For the sake of their health, I hope that all athletes who expressed problems with eating, will find a diet that is right for them and enough help to overcome their struggles. No matter where they train or who their coach is. And I also strongly hope that they will not keep quiet to please some people but instead speak up and raise awareness. Because the more I read here, the more I am confident that this is what we and this sport, need.

Seems like you are completely missing the point again.

Situation one: we openly know that skater XY has eating disorder. Reaction is: Poor XY. No concerns raised about the team of XY, because the team of XY is holy. You would never find discussion like this even when such cases are confirmed.

Situation two: Skater AB just speaks about watching one's weght. Reaction is: Concerns raised about the team of AB, because the team of AB is free to criticize for literally anything on a daily basis even when we don't know a thing about any medical problem of AB.

My point is not "what about the others" (just like when I was blamed by vandevska with the similar thing), that is just a strawman, fake non-expressed argument towards which the opponent aims his defence instead of what the real argument or point is. My point is that people's "concern" differs on the basis of the attitude towards AB or XY. In the case XY system is always fine and this is just one bad solitary issue, no concern is necessary, while with AB system is always wrong no matter we don't know a thing. An I speak about very specific group of people, who is openly biased with Sambo and have very particular narrative about the team.

As was stated several times e. g. by Orlov, skaters are not lonely orphans, they have loving families, they have doctors and everybody of them is free to express disagreement in civilized way. Just for the case somebody would have the objections that Eteri wouldn't let anyone to disagree with her, Eteri told that she is free to talk about disagreements with parents, just that it should not be discissed in front of an athlete.

BTW, this all can be lead only because we have the priviledge to hear skaters like Alina Zagitova speaking openly about the nutrition habits. If anything, this points out that question of nutrition ios no tabu, it can be spoken openly, it is not under martial law. That for me is a sign it is not some not-thought out matter, just the contrary. We have other teams when such things are not talked this openly, therefore no controversy.

And last but not least: For me, immature means being personal instead of factual.

Edit: Thanks, Zenskate, you were able to express briefly the thing for which I needed whole three paragraphs.:agree:

 

[oatmella]

From growing up with Russian ballet teachers, I am somewhat familiar with limiting water. Water was to be limited before performances, just little sips as needed. I had a teacher who said no food to be consumed 6 hours before performing. Chocolate was also encouraged as a source of energy.

So for me, it doesn’t seem abnormal to limit water/food intake before a competition - and certainly Eteri did not invent any of these methods.

 

[starlord]

My eyes are in love with a beauty of the combo, my brain is hurting with images of hurt ankles. :hopelessness:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwPUpveHREM/


It must be very dangerous combo for ankles?

 

[Sugar Coated]

The difference between the statements of the Russian girls is that Gabby and Gracie are coming forward to say their eating pattern was unhealthy. I don’t remember them ever describing or advocating their food restriction before acknowledging it was not healthy. Their coaches may or may not have been contributing to their issues with weight. But at least now they are talking about the healthy steps they are taking and acknowledging their issues and warning others about the issues in skating.

The Eteri girls are idolized around the world. Little girls look up to them. So when they say things in interviews like, “I only eat a bit of chocolate and sips of water,” there are girls who think this is what they should be doing. The coaches may or may not be encouraging this type of eating but they should absolutely be fixing it after a girl talks like this in an interview. But instead, it seems that multiple girls from the Eteri team say similar things.

 

[Fluture]

The difference between the statements of the Russian girls is that Gabby and Gracie are coming forward to say their eating pattern was unhealthy. I don’t remember them ever describing or advocating their food restriction before acknowledging it was not healthy. Their coaches may or may not have been contributing to their issues with weight. But at least now they are talking about the healthy steps they are taking and acknowledging their issues and warning others about the issues in skating.

The Eteri girls are idolized around the world. Little girls look up to them. So when they say things in interviews like, “I only eat a bit of chocolate and sips of water,” there are girls who think this is what they should be doing. The coaches may or may not be encouraging this type of eating but they should absolutely be fixing it after a girl talks like this in an interview. But instead, it seems that multiple girls from the Eteri team say similar things.

Exactly.

 

[flanker]

The difference between the statements of the Russian girls is that Gabby and Gracie are coming forward to say their eating pattern was unhealthy. I don’t remember them ever describing or advocating their food restriction before acknowledging it was not healthy. Their coaches may or may not have been contributing to their issues with weight. But at least now they are talking about the healthy steps they are taking and acknowledging their issues and warning others about the issues in skating.

The Eteri girls are idolized around the world. Little girls look up to them. So when they say things in interviews like, “I only eat a bit of chocolate and sips of water,” there are girls who think this is what they should be doing. The coaches may or may not be encouraging this type of eating but they should absolutely be fixing it after a girl talks like this in an interview. But instead, it seems that multiple girls from the Eteri team say similar things.

And we know into details that Eteri's girls eating habits are unhealthy? For now I know only about Yulia, who had eating disorder and it was only after a year since her separation from Eteri. We don't know anything about Alina or the others having any disorder of this kind, it is, I repeat, only groundless speculation.

Again, it is impossible to rip one line out of context like the thing about sipping water and eating chocolade, when sipping water is related only and exclusively to the day of competition and the thing with Zhenya only eating chocolade during the day she was host at the Ice Age wasn't even related to her training at all. This is not what Eteri's team is doing, if there is a danger, then in what some publishers do, underlining only one part of the whole text and omiting (or even deliberate witholding) the rest of the context, or people who transformed themselves into being diagnosticians by distance.

It is still like some people would like to have minister of health care warning on Eteri's "products" to be satisfied

 

[DanseMacabre]

From growing up with Russian ballet teachers, I am somewhat familiar with limiting water. Water was to be limited before performances, just little sips as needed. I had a teacher who said no food to be consumed 6 hours before performing. Chocolate was also encouraged as a source of energy.

So for me, it doesn’t seem abnormal to limit water/food intake before a competition - and certainly Eteri did not invent any of these methods.

I had Russian ballet teachers who wouldn't let us drink water during class or rehearsal either. Restricting water was definitely part of their specific methodology and it's spread through ballet quite a bit. It was also a common thing in Soviet/Russian and Romanian gymnastics back in the day (the Karolyis were also known for doing that, both in Romania and in the US). And while it was and continues to be common in some athletic circles (including but certainly not limited to Russia), it's not scientifically sound and it's not healthy. Adequate hydration is a integral part of fueling the body--and critically, the brain--to reach peak performance.

This isn't a criticism intended to isolate one country despite being in the Russian ladies thread. I just want to emphasize that just because a training practice may be prevalent doesn't mean it's necessarily a wise or sustainable practice. That's all I'm going to say about that. I'm not even going to touch on the culture of unhealthy eating in this sport because if someone can't admit that's a widespread (and worldwide) problem that goes well beyond the responsible management of weight for athletic performance, I honestly don't even know what to say.

 

[TripleAxelQueens3]

My eyes are in love with a beauty of the combo, my brain is hurting with images of hurt ankles. :hopelessness:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwPUpveHREM/


It must be very dangerous combo for ankles?

It looks great, but I personally feel like Sasha’s 4Lz+3Lo looked more flowy?

 

[Fluture]

It looks great, but I personally feel like Sasha’s 4Lz+3Lo looked more flowy?

Sasha had a step out on hers, though, didn't she? Well, next season will certainly be interesting with these girls. I was expecting Sasha to have a complete sweep through the senior ranks but seeing this... Anna doesn't seem to want to give up her spotlight so easily.

About quads... I feel like Sasha's 4T is still the best. It's so consistent now and her technique is really good as well. I feel like she's pretty likely to keep this jump, it looks stable. I'm not so sure about the lutz for either of them. It's not a good jump for both, they have serious issues with the technique and it's not really that consistent in competition either... Maybe Anna could try 4T again? I know she did it before her injury. And I strongly suspect she's healed already, given the fact that she can do 4Lz-3Lo.