Interesting interview with Kiira Korpi about coaching and training

[rain]

I thought this interview with former Finnish skater Kiira Korpi was an interesting read, given many of the things that have happened in figure skating recently and a number of the discussions being had here:

(Mods: I didn't see the posted anywhere. If it has been, feel free to delete)

https://fs-gossips.com/kiira-korpi-...u-find-out-how-everything-is-arranged-inside/

 

[el henry]

What an excellent interview, I did not know about this.

I don’t see how anyone could take offense to what Kiira says (at least in this interview), she is so effusive in her praise as well as raising questions, why in the world would she get hate messages? (Unless those people don’t like questions?)

She is very mature and forthright about the definition of success for the 21st Century. I agree that humiliation is no way to raise accomplished skaters, children, or “winners” in any sense of the word.

Much food for thought :think:

 

[lizardlass]

I think that now success is measured not only by the color of your medal. The person who is behind the results is important too.

I love that! And her entire interview. She's clearly an intelligent, compassionate person, and I think she can make some positive changes in the sport.

 

[Interspectator]

The culture of coaching is very slow to change.
I'm glad that Kiira has written this and hope her activism can move the needle towards a more humane environment for the kids who will be FS future stars.

EDIT: AND as important, for kinds who won't be stars, but will have had a better environment for the time they engaged in skating. -I can't believe I didn't mention this to begin with. The majority of kids who train to be skaters won't make it to Elite levels, let's protect their minds and bodies for all the amazing things they will do with the rest of their time. :thumbsup:

 

[Dr. Jenn]

TSL is going to be interviewing Kiira soon. It will be really interesting to hear her speak more on the topic!

 

[[email protected]]

Kiira's previous interview was discussed in Russia. 90%+ of comments were around her "sheding crocodile tears" so that she was too lenient with herself speaking about "divided opinions".


Trusova and Scherbakova are doing quads for some time now. At Skate America trailing after the short program Anna did 2 clean quad lutzes and had her moment of glory and triumph. The very next day a former skater who was never known as a good jumper of triples let alone quads but who had her share of injuries anyway asks about "human cost" of Anna's win.

Is she truly concerned? May be yes, may be no. But the moment for the expression of those concerns was definitely wrong. That's why she received back: "who are you to ask? Anna has parents, coach team, and the head on her shoulders". And I fully agree with those replies.

 

[WeakAnkles]

Kiira's previous interview was discussed in Russia. 90%+ of comments were around her "shading crocodile tears" so that she was too lenient with herself speaking about "divided opinions".


Trusova and Scherbakova are doing quads for some time now. At Skate America trailing after the short program Anna did 2 clean quad lutzes and had her moment of glory and triumph. The very next day a former skater who was never known as a good jumper of triples let alone quads but who had her share of injuries anyway asks about "human cost" of Anna's win.

Is she truly concerned? May be yes, may be no. But the moment for the expression of those concerns was definitely wrong. That's why she received back: "who are you to ask? Anna has parents, coach team, and the head on her shoulders". And I fully agree with those replies.

These girls--and they are girls--are canaries in a coal mine. Since they're the first to be doing these multiple quads and 3As, nobody really knows yet what that physical cost to their bodies will be. Tara Lapinski had to have hip surgery at age eighteen. How many eighteen year olds of either gender do you know who need hip surgery? Kiira wasn't saying ban the jumps, raise the age limit. She was raising a legitimate concern.

And of course the interview was posted right after the free skate at Skate America. Journalism is much about timing, when a topic is "hot" and in the public awareness. The website made the decision when that was published, not Kiira.

 

[neud]

Korpi didn't raise her her concerns when 13 yo Liu won Senior US Championship.
Korpi didn't raise her her concerns when Liu won Broadmoor with two 4Lz and two 3A in one FS.
But Russian 15 yo girls winning!? It's deeply disturbing. Kiira Korpi is on a mission to save them!

 

[WeakAnkles]

Korpi didn't raise her her concerns when 13 yo Liu won Senior US Championship.
Korpi didn't raise her her concerns when Liu won Broadmoor with two 2Lz and two 3A in one FS.
But Russian 15 yo girls winning!? It's deeply disturbing. Kiira Korpi is on a mission to save them!

Never mind. It's a waste of time to respond to this.

 

[Interspectator]

I think it is a mistake to think we cannot improve the coaching of young athletes while at the same time advancing the sport. If we subliminally think that one will have to be at the expense of the other, a culture of abuse and silence is so easy to take root.

When I see young athletes (boys and girls mind you, and from any country) Training quads or 3As at 11, or landing them well in competition in the Junior levels, I am amazed, and I applaud. To my eyes it seems miraculous and darn cool. At the same time, like Kiira said in her interview, I have questions as to whether or not it's being done responsibly. Do they have a good medical team that will give them advice? Do they have a healthy environment? These are all worries I have for them. --For this reason, I've stopped being able to follow Juniors closely.

 

[[email protected]]

I think it is a mistake to think we cannot improve the coaching of young athletes while at the same time advancing the sport. If we subliminally think that one will have to be at the expense of the other, a culture of abuse and silence is so easy to take root.

When I see young athletes (boys and girls mind you, and from any country) Training quads or 3As at 11, or landing them well in competition in the Junior levels, I am amazed, and I applaud. To my eyes it seems miraculous and darn cool. At the same time, like Kiira said in her interview, I have questions as to whether or not it's being done responsibly. Do they have a good medical team that will give them advice? Do they have a healthy environment? These are all worries I have for them. --For this reason, I've stopped being able to follow Juniors closely.

The problem from the standpoint of the Russians is that those concerns are pronounced having Russian young skaters in mind. Young Russians who rewrite figure skating books and figure skating history. It was very direct and obvious at first. But receiving in return "what about?" the same critics try to generalize now. It does not look convincing. There is a saying in Russia: "you won't hide donkey's ears under the hat". Kiira's case is exactly this. I made a mistake - it was not an interview. Her first quote had nothing to do with journalists' wish to get the right moment because she posted it herself in her Twitter immediately after SA. She wrote: "Am I the only one having mixed feelings when watching these astonishing young skaters? I’m in‬ AWE of their incredible skills, but I also can’t stop thinking what is the human cost of this level of performance at this age".

It could make sense if she saw a splat fest on quads and expressed concerns. Was she publicly concerned when Anna P had terrible falls on her jumps? I cannot remember that. No, she wanted the world to know that she is concerned right after a brilliant Anna's skate. Of course, the obvious next step after she received what she was expected to receive is to say that her concern lies not only with the Russiam prodigies but with "all the children of the world". But I personally see those "donkey ears". Timing of the first quote, ladies and gentlemen, it's just about the timing. Say: "I’m in‬ AWE of their incredible skills". Full stop. If you are concerned with a human cost write on another occassion a "concerned article" or give a "concerned interview". As it is now it looks like classical: "I like this skater, but..." We have heard this one many times now.

 

[moriel]

"humiliation bla bla bla"
"And do you know Eteri?"
"Nope"


Its just like the infamous "didn't read, but condemn"

 

[anonymoose_au]

"humiliation bla bla bla"
"And do you know Eteri?"
"Nope"


Its just like the infamous "didn't read, but condemn"

I was under the impression that Kiira was talking mostly about the coaching in Finland that she saw and perhaps experienced for herself, more than the way Russians coach.

And it should be a concern, being an elite athlete is hard-work but no-one kid or adult should be verbally abused while doing that training. It's not acceptable at schools or in the workplace so it shouldn't be for training no matter what country it is.

 

[andromache]

Do y'all think Kiira is worried about having to compete against these girls she's only pretending to be concerned because she's secretly jealous?

She's retired. She's from a small European country whose ladies wouldn't be beating the Russian girls whether or not they had quads.

Not everyone who expresses concern about doing quads at young ages does it because they hate Russia.

Korpi didn't raise her her concerns when 13 yo Liu won Senior US Championship.
Korpi didn't raise her her concerns when Liu won Broadmoor with two 4Lz and two 3A in one FS.

Korpi also didn't raise her concerns when Trusova and Shcherbakova came 1-2 at Junior Worlds last year with quads, or when Shcherbakova won RusNats with a 4Lz.

It's almost like a seniors-only, international GP event is a different competition of more significance for the sport as a whole!!!

 

[[email protected]]

I was under the impression that Kiira was talking mostly about the coaching in Finland that she saw and perhaps experienced for herself, more than the way Russians coach.

And it should be a concern, being an elite athlete is hard-work but no-one kid or adult should be verbally abused while doing that training. It's not acceptable at schools or in the workplace so it shouldn't be for training no matter what country it is.

Your impression is right... partially. As I said, this could be a good article because some things that she is saying make sense. If she just gave this interview and it did not start with sort of "Kiira, your recent twitter post instilled a heated reaction" it would be just finewith me. The question is, though, whether I and many others would read it and comment because I am, frankly speaking, not particularly interested in what she was talking about and although some of her points are valid - the other are outright naiive. But I read it and comment on it because before she had made a loud statement on "human cost" right after Anna's win.

The outcry deals with her piggybacking on Anna's SA performance. People suddenly remembered that there was a skater Kiira Korpi. Now they read her interviews. I don't approve such a PR.

 

[macy]

sorry, but i guess i don't understand why she doesn't have the right to raise concern. why does it matter if she wasn't the best jumper or didn't attempt any 3As or quads? many armchair critics here have done the same without ever stepping a foot on the ice. Kiira has more insight and knowledge than most of us. anyone has that right, regardless of whether or not they know the skaters or coaches. i especially don't know why so many people take it as personal attacks or insults against them either, or a reason to condemn her.

she was very fair with her praise and questioning. she acknowledged what these girls are doing is extremely hard and respectable, but she also acknowledged it comes with a lot of risk. that is a fact, not an attack on anyone. she has raised the question many have asked on this board- what will come of these girls bodies in a few years, or longer than that? will it end their careers one day? all of which are very possible, especially when such hard jumps are learned as bones and bodies are still growing.

i believe she is only now raising concern because it has just been established as a trend in senior ladies only this season. yes, Rika did 3As last year, but no one besides Tursynbaeva attempted a quad successfully in senior competition (which she only did once at worlds). now we have many girls going for them...there's at least a couple in every GP. now that she sees these jumps are the new standard to win, it became concerning to her. the whole sport is headed in that direction, it isn't just a couple outliers. that's absolutely fair.

 

[icetug]

She's from a small European country whose ladies wouldn't be beating the Russian girls whether or not they had quads.

Ladies from this small European country did it successfully several times though (and only Carolina Kostner prevented Finnish sweeping the podium at Europeans in 2009) . They have very talented skaters and I don't see why (having concerned coaches) they are not be able to repeat their results, including beating Russian girls .

 

[el henry]

Thanks for providing the “pushback” that Kiira received. (Sorry on my phone again quoting is hard )

I don’t care when a skater raises concerns, if they are valid (and I believe they are), they should be addressed.

In this instance, I think complaining about timing or, oh, you’re just picking on “us”, sob, :sad21:, is deflection. It makes no difference in the assessment of the issues.

And I’m glad she raised them.:thumbsup:

 

[neud]

Right after SA Dave Lease from TSL openly said that he thinks that Anna's parents really don't care about her and all they want is her prize money to buy themselves "apartment and a car" (!)
Then was Kiira Korpi with her insinuations about Anna.
All this is beyond disgusting.

 

[mrrice]

I never skated in Russia but, I did dance there. It may not have been for everyone but, I loved it. Doing anything at an elite level is difficult and some dancers didn't make it. I don't blame the coaches as they have a job to do. This is a touchy subject.