2021-22 Russian Women's Figure Skating

[alexocfp]

It’s obvious that with the depth TT has now, Alena is currently (at best) 4th on the squad list, so they don’t really care if she improves or not.

She is, to borrow a trite phrase, surplus to requirements. She has zero leverage and they can drop her without blinking because they have skaters to easily replace her.

It’s like any relationship when one person leaves and you take them back: it’s not the same and you realize you can do better.

Make no mistake, where her career is now is entirely of her own making.

 

[bookofcharms]

Well, one can see from the replies critical to Kostornaya in this thread how much of a negative impact Danill's words have had.

I read Kostornaya's instagram post and felt pleased by her positive comments. I thought that perhaps a lot of the talk had been exaggerated and things were happy and supportive in training. That of course, is positive politiking to ensure a good narrative around a skater. It's also polite behaviour.

Now all of that is undone.

The thing is that Sambo 70 holds so much power in the sport that skaters can either stay or retire. And then, because Tutberidze controls many of the professional opportunities after retirement, they have power over post-competitive careers too. So it doesn't matter to Danill how much he upsets Kostornaya - he holds all the power. Either Kostornaya stays and accepts it or she retires into oblivion and she isn't his problem anymore.

 

[Jontor]

It’s obvious that with the depth TT has now, Alena is currently (at best) 4th on the squad list, so they don’t really care if she improves or not.

She is, to borrow a trite phrase, surplus to requirements. She has zero leverage and they can drop her without blinking because they have skaters to easily replace her.

It’s like any relationship when one person leaves and you take them back: it’s not the same and you realize you can do better.

Make no mistake, where her career is now is entirely of her own making.

Yes, and we mustn't forget that the coach/skater relationship in Russia is more of a boss/employee relationship compared to other countries.
It makes it totally different to let's say the US, where you only have skaters that can afford it.

 

[esteticlove]

Just go back and find some of the old interviews before the 2019/20 season - while Anna and Sasha were already looking solid, Aliona was telling how difficult it was for her to get back on the ice after the summer holidays. She was quite discouraged about the amount of effort it would take to restore her jumps, but still at that time she managed to get herself together, stabilize 3As and finished with a GPF and European title.

I also think that it is not exactly lack of motivation but rather lack of positivism that she could overcome her difficulties. I do believe the more she gets discouraged that she has no chance for an Olympic spot, the worse it affects her ambition to skate. At the same time, Sasha is injured and the 3rd spot is questionable. In case that one of the TOP3 doesn't make it (for whatever of reason), Aliona should be in her best form to take over. Because not only Liza is waiting for that place, but Maiia as well - and she seems more determined to be the best reserve.

 

[florin]

. And then, because Tutberidze controls many of the professional opportunities after retirement, they have power over post-competitive careers too.

An explanatory team is urgently needed

 

[lopsilceci]

In my opinion, the only problematic thing that Daniil said was the bit about "Aliona shouldn't have thanked us". Everyone in TT makes post competition thank you posts, so it seems that maybe he is annoyed by her right now.
On the other hand, we really don't know whats going on in practices. Seems like they don't know what to do with Aliona but it's definitely not that they don't care about her. They just do what they know how to do and in this case, it's not working for Aliona right now.
Seems to me like Daniil spoke out of frustration about this, more than anything else.

I just hope Aliona does get fired up and goes all in. She needs to go for the 3 3axels without fear.

 

[silveruskate]

At least he never outright said she's lazy. There's some narrative about Aliona giving up in general or when jumps don't turn out. Yes she has problems but they present themselves regardless. Step sequence and stamina. Finlandia FS she was clean after 2 mistakes at the beginning, same with Canada after the 3A, no step-outs and a great 3F-3T. Her worst Stsq was when she actually landed the 3A and every jump clean in a SP. Literally makes no sense.

People never talk about the positives. 6 programs she did including test skates, 30 jumping passes and she only stepped out of one jump that wasn't a 3A (3Lz) and no falls. Still never fallen on a 3A in competition. Last season 3F-3T was unstable and same with 3F-eu-3S. Both are way better and almost never UR. It's not the speedy progress of Sasha and Anna but she's a year older and a different skater.

 

[alexocfp]

Well, one can see from the replies critical to Kostornaya in this thread how much of a negative impact Danill's words have had.

I read Kostornaya's instagram post and felt pleased by her positive comments. I thought that perhaps a lot of the talk had been exaggerated and things were happy and supportive in training. That of course, is positive politiking to ensure a good narrative around a skater. It's also polite behaviour.

Now all of that is undone.

The thing is that Sambo 70 holds so much power in the sport that skaters can either stay or retire. And then, because Tutberidze controls many of the professional opportunities after retirement, they have power over post-competitive careers too. So it doesn't matter to Danill how much he upsets Kostornaya - he holds all the power. Either Kostornaya stays and accepts it or she retires into oblivion and she isn't his problem anymore.

That’s only half the story.

She abandoned them first. That they took her back was a favor to her, not them.

When you leave someone and return, who should hold the power?

And once they took her back, the onus is on her to prove herself, not the other way around.

Plus, this is sports. It’s a meritocracy, not a charity. They have Maia as the #3 now so they don’t have as much desire to stick with Alena to see if she can reclaim past glories anymore.

It’s another reason they are semi burying her in the press.

 

[flanker]

Well, one can see from the replies critical to Kostornaya in this thread how much of a negative impact Danill's words have had.

No. There is nothing negative for instance in this:

AS: Does she have a motivation problem?

DG: It's hard to say whether it's the motivation. She has to figure it herself. I can't tell she has a motivation problem, but it's just that people are different and not all of us are capable of repeating the same things day after day, turn off the emotions and just repeat the same things. Repetition - that's the toughest part of our sport. Going on wearing a gorgeous dress in the competition, making the audience happy and skate it once is the highlight for them. But doing the same day after day in the practices - that's the hardest part.

The fact they "don't hold your hand 24 hours a day" (means don't praise how extraordinary person you are all the time) doesn't mean negativity towards you. I don't worth Arutyunyan much but I recalled his words about how when he came to America he was surprised that whatever the skater did for example at the test skates he was always praised to the heavens. That is bad thing IMO, because such empty praising some people are so used to is not worth a dime, sometimes there are things that are need to be said directly and the fact they are said doesn't mean hostility at all.

What is wrong on stating that sufficient training helps Aliona more to get back to her top form than instagram posts? Yes, generation instagram may have some difficulties to accept that life does not consists of selfies, but if you want to be champ, you need to do what is necessary for it.

 

[VenusHalley]

No. There is nothing negative for instance in this:

AS: Does she have a motivation problem?

DG: It's hard to say whether it's the motivation. She has to figure it herself. I can't tell she has a motivation problem, but it's just that people are different and not all of us are capable of repeating the same things day after day, turn off the emotions and just repeat the same things. Repetition - that's the toughest part of our sport. Going on wearing a gorgeous dress in the competition, making the audience happy and skate it once is the highlight for them. But doing the same day after day in the practices - that's the hardest part.

The fact they "don't hold your hand 24 hours a day" (means don't praise how extraordinary person you are all the time) doesn't mean negativity towards you. I don't worth Arutunyan much but I recalled his words about how when he came to America he was surprised that whatever the skater did for example at the test skates he was always praised to the heavens. That is bad thing IMO, becasue such empty praising some people are so used to is not worth a dime, sometimes there are things that are need to be said directly and the fact they are said doesn't mean hostility at all.

What is wrong on stating that sufficient training helps Aliona more to get back to her top form than instagram posts? Yes, generation instagram may have some difficulties to accept that life does not consists of selfies, but if you want to be champ, you need to do what is necessary for it.

He is dragging her hard. How can you save it is not negative?

Even if she has some problems, it should not be aired in public. She is still human even if she does not make it into Olympics.

Daniil seems to be ignorant to what can long covid cause, what psychological problems are... and he seems to hate Alyona. It's not the first time he dragged her in an interview.

 

[flanker]

He is dragging her hard. How can you save it is not negative?

Even if she has some problems, it should not be aired in public. She is still human even if she does not make it into Olympics.

Daniil seems to be ignorant to what can long covid cause, what psychological problems are... and he seems to hate Alyona. It's not the first time he dragged her in an interview.

Easily, I read and think and do not project my personal animosity into it.

 

[silveruskate]

No. There is nothing negative for instance in this:

AS: Does she have a motivation problem?

DG: It's hard to say whether it's the motivation. She has to figure it herself. I can't tell she has a motivation problem, but it's just that people are different and not all of us are capable of repeating the same things day after day, turn off the emotions and just repeat the same things. Repetition - that's the toughest part of our sport. Going on wearing a gorgeous dress in the competition, making the audience happy and skate it once is the highlight for them. But doing the same day after day in the practices - that's the hardest part.

The fact they "don't hold your hand 24 hours a day" (means don't praise how extraordinary person you are all the time) doesn't mean negativity towards you. I don't worth Arutunyan much but I recalled his words about how when he came to America he was surprised that whatever the skater did for example at the test skates he was always praised to the heavens. That is bad thing IMO, becasue such empty praising some people are so used to is not worth a dime, sometimes there are things that are need to be said directly and the fact they are said doesn't mean hostility at all.

What is wrong on stating that sufficient training helps Aliona more to get back to her top form than instagram posts? Yes, generation instagram may have some difficulties to accept that life does not consists of selfies, but if you want to be champ, you need to do what is necessary for it.

Why insinuate she's using Instagram too much or generation Instagram doesn't have what it takes...some strange hangups from older generations on things like Instagram and cannot accept realities of life. "You watched too much TV and too much typing on message boards, so screw you!" Reality check, younger people leave university and start to work like everybody else. Unemployment in my country is literally the lowest ever. And then also generation Instagram is doing better than ever in figure skating let's say.

 

[flanker]

Why insinuate she's using Instagram too much or generation Instagram doesn't have what it takes...some strange hangups from older generations on things like Instagram and cannot accept realities of life. "You watched too much TV and too much typing on message boards, so screw you!" Reality check, younger people leave university and start to work like everybody else. Unemployment in my country is literally the lowest ever. And then also generation Instagram is doing better than ever in figure skating let's say.

Maybe read it one more time because I was not insinuating SHE's the one using instagram too much

 

[silveruskate]

Maybe read it one more time because I was not insinuating SHE's the one using instagram too much

The point stands for ALL people of this "new generation"! As I said - unemployment lowest ever. And generation Instagram figure skates very well!

 

[Decoder]

I just hope Aliona does get fired up and goes all in. She needs to go for the 3 3axels without fear.

Yes. It's time to get fired up and go for the 3 3A.

People never talk about the positives. 6 programs she did including test skates, 30 jumping passes and she only stepped out of one jump that wasn't a 3A (3Lz) and no falls. Still never fallen on a 3A in competition. Last season 3F-3T was unstable and same with 3F-eu-3S. Both are way better and almost never UR. It's not the speedy progress of Sasha and Anna but she's a year older and a different skater.

Yes, a lot of work and she has made great progress and started being considered as a contender for the Olympic team, which is unimaginable last season. I believe the coaches will help her. I just read Maya interview: (another interview )

She (Eteri) distributes her energy to everyone on the ice, everything immediately starts to work out, I want to tear and throw. And the training process in her group is more relaxed. You come to training and you know what you have to do and how - everything is built on self-awareness. Coaches certainly help, but you understand that you need it first of all.

I've heard this "self-motivated" since Alina. As long as Aliona wants to fight on, she still has a chance, big chance, and coaches will help her.

 

[alexocfp]

He is dragging her hard. How can you save it is not negative?

Even if she has some problems, it should not be aired in public. She is still human even if she does not make it into Olympics.

Daniil seems to be ignorant to what can long covid cause, what psychological problems are... and he seems to hate Alyona. It's not the first time he dragged her in an interview.

If he wanted to be negative, he could have mentioned that she burned bridges with 2 different camps. Once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern.

He said, in effect, she likes the glamour part of skating but doesn’t want to put in the hard repetitive work.

And in a place live TT, slackers stick out more than most places. Even worse when your coaches have Anna as a student. Magnifies the malcontents even more.

Amazing attempt at spin here. The person that abandoned them is right and the coaches asking her to work harder are the bad ones.

 

[Amei]

I think her returning to Eteri after leaving Plushenko was a bad idea - she hated the environment and then ran back to it once it didn't work out with Plushenko, the environment didn't change in fact it probably got more ingrained as the way considering the results of her leaving and then even Trusova coming back

 

[Samoyed]

Yes, and we mustn't forget that the coach/skater relationship in Russia is more of a boss/employee relationship compared to other countries.

And yet, I have a feeling that Eteri seems to be very good in holding back her opinions and usually she does not directly criticise her students. Why Daniil can't do that as well?

In my opinion, the only problematic thing that Daniil said was the bit about "Aliona shouldn't have thanked us". Everyone in TT makes post competition thank you posts, so it seems that maybe he is annoyed by her right now.

I have the same impression after reading that 'interview'.

What is wrong on stating that sufficient training helps Aliona more to get back to her top form than instagram posts? Yes, generation instagram may have some difficulties to accept that life does not consists of selfies, but if you want to be champ, you need to do what is necessary for it.

I believe that there are certain standards of behaviour that apply in particular in the public sphere and I feel that Daniil crossed the line here a little bit. My biggest issue is that Aliona thanked her team (does not matter if it was Instagram/TV interview or whatever, she publicly showed gratitude) and as a result she got publicly criticized for it from her team. I would have less problem if she was told: 'hey, we do not need your thank you, just work harder' but behind the scenes.

Personally, I do not believe that Daniil had any ill intensions, however as a result he turned out to be inconsiderate and lacking of a good manner, which shows that he still has a lot to learn to be a great coach.

 

[silveruskate]

If he wanted to be negative, he could have mentioned that she burned bridges with 2 different camps. Once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern.

He said, in effect, she likes the glamour part of skating but doesn’t want to put in the hard repetitive work.

And in a place live TT, slackers stick out more than most places. Even worse when your coaches have Anna as a student. Magnifies the malcontents even more.

Amazing attempt at spin here. The person that abandoned them is right and the coaches asking her to work harder are the bad ones.

Slacker? What rubbish. Working hard is relative. She works very hard by any standard of an average person or even skilled person. Sambo is another level. Still doing better than most skaters in the world. 18 has been a tough time for LOTS of athletes in FS. Evgenia and Alina both had a tough time, Kihira now. Too much undue attention on Aliona, just let her train.

Anyone can say Aliona's haughty or whatever else. I didn't want her to leave Sambo, but Daniil gave the music she chose to another skater and it's a great program. Can you put your hand on heart and say you would not be pissssed?

 

[lappo]

An explanatory team is urgently needed

Nowadays, Eteri has ties with the Russian figure skating gotha so it can be really useful to have her on your good side if you intend to have professional opportunities in the figure skating world. She can help you find a job as a coach or even hire you (Tsurskaya currently trains kids at Sambo upon ET indication; I don't know if she helped also Tursynbaeva find her current job or if this was indipendent), she can find you a partner and redirect you to a good ice dance coach if you wish to switch to ice dancing (Kanysheva). She has her own show in Russia and other countries and she chooses the athletes that are to be featured there. Last but not least, she has ties to two of the most important show productors in Russia, Navka and Averbukh, that can lead to partecipation of skaters in TV programs as host (Zagitova, Medvedeva in the past) or as a competitor (Medvedeva) and to partecipation in the shows produced by them (both girls).
Aliona has always said that she doesn't wish to stay in the figure skating world but if she changes idea it is a good thing to have ET on your part (even more so when the relationship with the other big show producer, Plushenko, is already compromised).