To be fair, that was on the 19th. He could have got sick the day after or even that night. But I agree there is more than a shade of "good riddance" to the reaction. It's almost baffling, Misha is a high-quality skater, why such a concerted collective drive to get rid of him in favour of completely unproven teenagers starting from the beginning of this season? There is hardly the men's equivalent of the three As coming up, where you could see the logic of dumping Alina in their favour.
I've been thinking long & hard and here is my two cent: this witch hunt, if there is one, is directed against Mishin and not Mika as such. Mika unfortunately was the most attractive target. Why I've come to this conclusion? - If we go back to the beginning of the last season, d to his comeback & move to Mishin, the overall reaction from all , the media, Fed & public was very very positive, even TAT had something nice to say! Everyone admired the WC, his move to Mishin was approved & admired by all... And all went seemingly well until that Russian team event when Mark Kondratiuk came out of nowhere and it was clear that TSKA would support a new 'hope' for all its worth. The new hope of Russian men singles however failed to deliver at the next milestone comp where the 2nd spot for Worlds was decided and Zenya Semenenko got the place on the team. Suddenly Mishin had three skaters on the World team (including Liza) and what worse all three were doing very well and confirmed that success at the WTT. Possibly it was too much for some rival clubs. With a skater of Mika's calibre Mishin could (and would undoubtedly) go places... again that was not to everyone's liking. So the start of this season was markedly different like the previous season had never happened, Mika was picked up on every little error, everything was very publicly criticised etc.
What really happened before Euros we shall never know, but it seems to me that his injury was minor and he could have skated (as many skaters do though I do not approve but it is a common practice to get a shot of something to help with pain and compete) the Fed probably advised Mishin to spare Mika in the view of the Oly and Mishin took it on in a good faith. As turned out it was a massive mistake to miss Euros, his position already shaken by losing to Mark at RN has dived further. I really believe it was somehow engineered, not the injury itself, but handling of it.
The rest was just continuation of all what was happening all the season and we know the end result. Mark will compete at the Team event and even he doesn't deliver there won't be Mika to compare his results at the individual's to Mark's.
So if I am correct in my suspicions, move to Mishin actually proved disastrous for Mika. When he was a top tier skater with a no name coach he was tolerated (he would be put aside the moment there was another promising skater, we had seen it with the rise of Samarin for example) ). Mika + Mishin was a combination presenting a real thread and it was dealt with. I am worried that he won't be able to compete at Worlds either, though I'd sooo like to be wrong!)
The pain is almost physical, I can't even bring myself to watch his videos... I am glad he's got his wife at his side because it is a lonely place he is at now.
Once again my prayers and thoughts are with you , Mika. What doesn't kills us makes us stronger, I believe in you.
And at last my dream for him: he changes citizenship, moves to Stephane and competes for another country. Stephane choreographs real masterpieces for him which take FS world by storm. He is happy living and training in a beautiful place, the mountains he admired once, far away from the intrigues of RusFed.
I know it will never happen.
poor Mishin as well. His comments feel like he's totally helpless
Do you think Russian Fed should have acted differently prior to Misha WD?
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