2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Znowflake]

I will give Medvedeva credit though.

She managed to fit in more excuses in 3 minutes than I thought humanly possible. And had time left over to throw her skaters under bus as well.

You know putting a video with shady subtitles as if they are all accurate is pretty low. Evgenia was not incorrect - she won the Audience Award and had the highest points in 3 out of 4 disciplines. This is a fact that can’t be altered by subjective opinions on whether that award is worthless or not. Right after the competition began, she pointed out the draw was changed which wasn’t agreed upon. If this happened to me in my world of employment, I would have walked. Kudos to her for sticking it out.

 

[LiamForeman]

Thanks for correcting my typos and for your interesting Economist lecture. I can't say I learned anything new but it reminded me that I am not diligent about proofreading my post and I will try to do so in the future.

It confused me too, because you used GPD more than once. Not a typo, IOM (In Opinion My, right?). Just show more attention to your posts, please. And you can always go back and edit your mistakes, too, if you care about attention to detail however minor or major.

 

[dante]

skaters like Meghan Duhamel

Meagan has deserved a special place in the Russians' heart with her numerous insinuations about Eteri, her students and other Russian skaters. In her place, I would avoid Rostelecom Cup too.

So unpleasant

To be fair, Yuzuru can deploy any number of Japanese on the Moon, if needed.

 

[chasingneverland]

Exactly. Under no circumstances do I want to see an event that is about TeamRussia vs TeamUS/Foreigners/Westerners(?), in Russia, by a Russian channel.
We saw how the Russian audience behaved in Sochi. And it still makes me nauseous to remember.

Also, skaters like Meghan Duhamel and others have stated that they actively tried to avoid or disliked attending Rostelecom Cup during the GP because they felt there was often questionable scoring and an unpleasant atmosphere from an over the top pro-Russian audience.
Also, take a look at how Russia is mishandling Covid to the point athletes are asking "will we have to share a hotel with the Russians at worlds?".
So, I'm not sure international skaters would even want to attend such an event.

Keep doing it domestically, it's great entertainment and Russia has amazing skaters.

I don't think that's a purely Russian thing. Most crowds are distinctly partisan, particularly knowledgeable ones.

And Russia is not the only country that has grossly mishandled Covid.

 

[icybear]

So I calculated the competition based on the Olympic team scoring system where the highest number of points for 1st place is the number of participants in the field and the lowest is 1.

Alina - Total - 77
Dance - 20
Pairs - 10
Men - 18
Ladies - 29

Evgenia - Total - 69
Dance - 22
Pairs - 10
Men - 24
Ladies - 13

Some people were saying adding up the points wasnt fair but actually in reality Alina would still have won even if it was held olympics style. Evgenia skaters might have finished first in 3 out of 4 events but its a team competition which means its the total of all the skaters not just one of your skater winning their fields.

 

[Thrashergurl]

What did Meagan say about Alina? I’ve met Meagan several times and she is a very upbeat and positive person. I can’t see her singling out anyone with a specific purpose to bash.
Re: Medvedeva. I don’t think she was wrong to verbalize that the way teams were assigned was not in her favor. I think that most viewers realized it anyhow.
It’s really unfortunate that this event, which should have been fun and entertaining for fans, has turned into another fan war. Although I do think Russia has picked up on the fact that fans seem to crave the drama and conflict, and they sure do capitalize on it.
I also remember the pro competitions in the US years ago, which were fun but often so cheesey they were cringeworthy.

 

[Dawn825]

And Russia is not the only country that has grossly mishandled Covid.

I don't think the conversation is about whether Russia as a country is handling the virus worse than other countries, but whether the Russian skating federation is handling it worse than other skating federations. The Russian skating federation is the only one holding competitions every few weeks, holding competitions for fun, and besides I think Japan, holding competitions with spectators.

 

[sweetice]

To be fair, Yuzuru can deploy any number of Japanese on the Moon, if needed.

Japanese and Pooh Bears, to be accurate

 

[Shayuki]

I don't get why Medvedeva complains about the team set up when she herself could have won just by picking Valieva, which was the obvious choice with zero potential alternatives. She just feels the urge to blame someone else for her own mistakes, it seems.

 

[Znowflake]

I don't get why Medvedeva complains about the team set up when she herself could have won just by picking Valieva, which was the obvious choice with zero potential alternatives. She just feels the urge to blame someone else for her own mistakes, it seems.

I mean this has been said several times already but she couldn’t pick Valieva. Sasha T was seeded with Anna S. Alina got first pick:
Alina - Anna
Evgenia (no choice) - Trusova
Alina - Kamila
And it went on ...

Instead of accusing someone for blaming others, I would get the facts straight first.

 

[el henry]

Very interesting point Alex about the ratings of the NBA finals and this exhibition team event in Russia that garnered a lot of worldwide attention.

NBA is tanking and deservedly so. The NBA finals were down over 60% and the ratings are tanking this year and ESPN has its worst ratings ever. Lol. But I get the feeling figure skating is tanking in the US as well and I can't put my finger on it. Maybe they dont market it well enough maybe they don't have stars any more. I guess you can call Nathan Chen a star he is world champion but hes the 1st star in American figure skating in a long time. I just don't know hes a big enough personality to bring millions of viewers to the audience. I thought Alysa could do it with her charm and smile but puberty has hit her hard and she's trying to find her way through that. She has big star potential. But it will be very hard for her to win major titles in the future with all the Russian girls at the top with a couple Japanese girls and a Korean girl or 2.

why is the NBA “deservedly“ tanking? The game is as exciting as it ever was, and as many people root for their favorite teams as they ever do. (As for me, I trust “the Process”).

It is impossible to compare viewership of sports in a bubble in the US with what appears to have been a pro competition format organized simply because we don’t have skating this year as we did in previous years.

I am going to join the chorus that says that “Team x country“ vs. “Team y country“ is not very interesting to me. I do not organize or conceive of my skating viewing by country, but by favorite skater. I take no particular pride in the USA men as American men, and oh isn’t it wonderful about America, blah de blah, only that they are a great group of skaters. So with regard to skating I don’t feel oh that country is great, oh that country is fearsome, oh that country is terrible, I feel that about individual skaters

I think a mixed country team event as they had in the junior Olympics would be wonderful. I would enjoy seeing one of the Russian ladies on a team with an American ice dance couple, Japanese men, Chinese pairs, whatever. I think that would introduce a different group of skaters to people throughout the world who might like seeing them. A win win for everyone.

 

[chasingneverland]

I don't think the conversation is about whether Russia as a country is handling the virus worse than other countries, but whether the Russian skating federation is handling it worse than other skating federations. The Russian skating federation is the only one holding competitions every few weeks, holding competitions for fun, and besides I think Japan, holding competitions with spectators.

It's incredibly naive to think how a country handles COVID has no affect on how a skating federation does.

 

[alexocfp]

You know putting a video with shady subtitles as if they are all accurate is pretty low. Evgenia was not incorrect - she won the Audience Award and had the highest points in 3 out of 4 disciplines. This is a fact that can’t be altered by subjective opinions on whether that award is worthless or not. Right after the competition began, she pointed out the draw was changed which wasn’t agreed upon. If this happened to me in my world of employment, I would have walked. Kudos to her for sticking it out.

Lots to unpack here.

First off, I have no dog in this fight. I have no emotional attachment to either.

I don‘t agree with the “boring” as subtitle while she was telling her stories for example. That’s certainly a fair criticism.

And if the subtitles are proven to be inaccurate, I won’t hesitate to come back and UNEQUIVOCALLY apologize to her. I want accuracy. But, none of the articles I have seen contradict any of the main points. If you have an article that does, please share it and I will change my views.

The audience award is a consolation prize, not the main prize. It’s the Channel One Trophy, not the Audience Award Trophy.

That she won more disciplines shows that she also has a strong team.

There is a huge difference to being a coach and being a fan. As a coach you win and lose as a team. If she was a pundit offering her opinion, that’s one thing, but complaining as a coach in this manner is bad form.

Any manager, in any sport, complaining like this will also be criticized.

And to say she would’ve done better with a different skater is a hypothetical. Alena, with all her rust, could have done worse. To say as a coach that there were only 3 top female skaters is nonsense.

To complain about the format publicly after you lose is sour milk.

Why would I pour my heart and soul for her as my coach if she will publicly discard me if I have an off day?

 

[alexocfp]

What did Meagan say about Alina? I’ve met Meagan several times and she is a very upbeat and positive person. I can’t see her singling out anyone with a specific purpose to bash.
Re: Medvedeva. I don’t think she was wrong to verbalize that the way teams were assigned was not in her favor. I think that most viewers realized it anyhow.
It’s really unfortunate that this event, which should have been fun and entertaining for fans, has turned into another fan war. Although I do think Russia has picked up on the fact that fans seem to crave the drama and conflict, and they sure do capitalize on it.
I also remember the pro competitions in the US years ago, which were fun but often so cheesey they were cringeworthy.

Yup, they are just spotlighting the conflict that already exists. And it makes for great TV, gives the current skaters more exposure and hopefully increases their payouts.

Everyone wins: the skaters and the fans of gossip. Haha

 

[lopsilceci]

I mean this has been said several times already but she couldn’t pick Valieva. Sasha T was seeded with Anna S. Alina got first pick:
Alina - Anna
Evgenia (no choice) - Trusova
Alina - Kamila
And it went on ...

Instead of accusing someone for blaming others, I would get the facts straight first.

It was a TEAM competition. Each team had 16 of the strongest skaters/couples in Russia in each discipline and they had equal chances to win depending on the entire team's performance, not just 1 skater. It wasn't Team with Kamila vs. Team without Kamila.

Alina got in her team the skaters that she gets along with better and so did Evgenia and that was the whole point of the competition, to have a good time, cheer for your team and skate the best you could within a healthy and more relaxed competitive environment.

 

[lappo]

why is the NBA “deservedly“ tanking? The game is as exciting as it ever was, and as many people root for their favorite teams as they ever do. (As for me, I trust “the Process”).

It is impossible to compare viewership of sports in a bubble in the US with what appears to have been a pro competition format organized simply because we don’t have skating this year as we did in previous years.

I am going to join the chorus that says that “Team x country“ vs. “Team y country“ is not very interesting to me. I do not organize or conceive of my skating viewing by country, but by favorite skater. I take no particular pride in the USA men as American men, and oh isn’t it wonderful about America, blah de blah, only that they are a great group of skaters. So with regard to skating I don’t feel oh that country is great, oh that country is fearsome, oh that country is terrible, I feel that about individual skaters

I think a mixed country team event as they had in the junior Olympics would be wonderful. I would enjoy seeing one of the Russian ladies on a team with an American ice dance couple, Japanese men, Chinese pairs, whatever. I think that would introduce a different group of skaters to people throughout the world who might like seeing them. A win win for everyone.

But then, as long as the skaters you like are featured, the format of the competition should not be a concern of yours, right? I mean, I feel like you and I couldn't care less about which country wins (maybe, if Italy was more competitive I would feel slightly different about that...) as long as I get to see good performances from skaters I like. Case in point, this week I equally supported Trusova and Valieva because I like them and the fact that they were in different teams couldn't bother me less. If there were a Russian vs World cup I would probably support the Russian for the ladies and the rest of the world for everything else, as many of my favourite skaters in the other disciplines are from China, Japan, Korea, USA etc...But in the end, I would enjoy the competition, be glad that the skaters get to skate and make some money and chill!

 

[starlight97]

I don't think the conversation is about whether Russia as a country is handling the virus worse than other countries, but whether the Russian skating federation is handling it worse than other skating federations. The Russian skating federation is the only one holding competitions every few weeks, holding competitions for fun, and besides I think Japan, holding competitions with spectators.

This. It's as a consequence of that, also the only federation where 50% of the skaters have had Covid.
I enjoy seeing how many here twist the narrative according to what suits their argument better in the moment.
One day you are appalled by the fact Anna was allowed to skate at Nationals, insinuating she is near physical collapse at every competition and should never even be there, due to the horrible aftermath of Covid. Alena has been out for months (sometimes cause of Covid when it suits to say that, other times cause she's just lazy). Evgenia ended up in hospital and, when it suits the argument, it's popular to mention she even has heart and lung damage.
We have not seen 1 single Russian coach wear their mask correctly during a competition, and the coach the poster personally dislikes will be called out for it.

Then when it's not welcome to criticize Russia as a country and Russia as a Federation of skating (cause both enitities behave wrecklessly), suddenly it's "xenophobia", "not only Russia, stop pointing fingers", "just looking for someone to blame", "it's not even as bad as you say!" etc etc

 

[Scott512]

why is the NBA “deservedly“ tanking? The game is as exciting as it ever was, and as many people root for their favorite teams as they ever do. (As for me, I trust “the Process”).

It is impossible to compare viewership of sports in a bubble in the US with what appears to have been a pro competition format organized simply because we don’t have skating this year as we did in previous years.

I am going to join the chorus that says that “Team x country“ vs. “Team y country“ is not very interesting to me. I do not organize or conceive of my skating viewing by country, but by favorite skater. I take no particular pride in the USA men as American men, and oh isn’t it wonderful about America, blah de blah, only that they are a great group of skaters. So with regard to skating I don’t feel oh that country is great, oh that country is fearsome, oh that country is terrible, I feel that about individual skaters

I think a mixed country team event as they had in the junior Olympics would be wonderful. I would enjoy seeing one of the Russian ladies on a team with an American ice dance couple, Japanese men, Chinese pairs, whatever. I think that would introduce a different group of skaters to people throughout the world who might like seeing them. A win win for everyone.

Wow I haven't seen you in a long time!

I don't want to go into reasons in this thread why the NBA is tanking. I would get an infraction for it. And I haven't had an infraction in a long time.

I think a team competition of country against country would be nice. But you have to start somewhere and Russia could only compete with each other this season. This event was to replace European so Russians against Europeans would have been better. This was still a good competition especially for a debut. The ratings were nice and there was in my opinion exaggerated drama.

I would except a mixed team event too.

 

[yume]

 

[el henry]

But then, as long as the skaters you like are featured, the format of the competition should not be a concern of yours, right? I mean, I feel like you and I couldn't care less about which country wins (maybe, if Italy was more competitive I would feel slightly different about that...) as long as I get to see good performances from skaters I like. Case in point, this week I equally supported Trusova and Valieva because I like them and the fact that they were in different teams couldn't bother me less. If there were a Russian vs World cup I would probably support the Russian for the ladies and the rest of the world for everything else, as many of my favourite skaters in the other disciplines are from China, Japan, Korea, USA etc...But in the end, I would enjoy the competition, be glad that the skaters get to skate and make some money and chill!

I admit in junior Olympics I thought it was cool to see the skaters from different countries in the KnC , and to see for example, an Eastern European skater rooting for a Japanese skaters. So I liked that.

That also happens in the World Team Trophy, which is of course organized by country, I remember one competition where the skaters from all the different countries came into the KnC with Jason as he was waiting for his scores. A semi cheese fest like WTT is also a mild "Rooting for a country" so I don't mind that.

But you are right, enjoying a competition is less dependent on the format than on enjoying the skaters