OutofShapeWorthlessLoser: Gracie Gold

[icewhite]

I have never followed TSL nor do I now, but I have seen snippets and parts of their work here and there. Sometimes there's some interesting stuff, but overall it seems to be a very toxic and nationalistic part of the figure skating scene and not just part of the problem but a driving factor. So it would be good if there were other media and people to take over. But it's always a circle. If the fans were not interested it would not have any influence. So I'd say it's a symptom of how toxic the figure skating scene overall is.

Regarding the biography I hope this is a wake up call for some people and that it can help to drive change.

 

[TallyT]

I'm listening to it right now, they're very compassionate towards Gracie and liked the book and have a lot of praise for it. But it is hard for me to take them seriously when this week there were deleted tweets made from the TSL account that made a joke out of ED in Russian women skaters.

It gave them what they were looking for, but they don't see how they're perpetuating some of the issues discussed in my opinion.

Oh they see it, they just don't care if it gets them clicks. TSL is as toxic as they come (with a fair dose of shall we call it nationalistic narrowmindedness) and I very much doubt the compassion is real, but I'm glad if they handled Gracie's story with more sensitivity than Lease usually does.

I have yet to read the book and don't know if I can, but TPTB need to look at their three greatest hopes in the womens field for the last decade - Gracie, Ashley and for thankfully different reasons Alysa - look at how it all went so wrong and do something.

 

[fenway3]

And of course Lucinda Ruh documents some of this bullying and I have seen certain coaches in real time bully skaters.

Horrible. And let's not forget the more "respectable" kind of bullying too—making skater compete when they're sick. For instance, apparently Frank Carroll had Linda Fratianne skate at 1977(?) Worlds when she was running a very high temperature. Of course, I would assume that Linda's parents also had a say in the matter.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

I’ll be buying Gracie’s book, though I may not be in the right headspace to read it for a while (still have a couple other memoirs on my shelf that are taking me a long time due to subject matter… and I read three former child star memoirs last year in a row which was ROUGH). I was not her biggest fan at her peak but I respect her immensely and cried when she nailed her short program at Nationals a couple years ago. I saw a clip of her on the Today Show this week and it was so good to see her looking so much more at ease and freer with her answers than I remember in 2016. I hope everything will continue onwards and upwards for Gracie.

 

[moonvine]

I have never followed TSL nor do I now, but I have seen snippets and parts of their work here and there. Sometimes there's some interesting stuff, but overall it seems to be a very toxic and nationalistic part of the figure skating scene and not just part of the problem but a driving factor. So it would be good if there were other media and people to take over. But it's always a circle. If the fans were not interested it would not have any influence. So I'd say it's a symptom of how toxic the figure skating scene overall is.

Regarding the biography I hope this is a wake up call for some people and that it can help to drive change.

There are tons and tons of podcasts out there. I don’t have time to listen to them all. Unfortunately kids at rinks contact Dave Lease with info to try to curry favor with him, I’m not sure why. His dirt is generally good, though not 100%.

And you’re right about the fans. I take it as my responsibility to not listen to him.

To bring this somewhat back on topic - he is a big Gracie fan.

 

[b-man]

Certainly salacious, intrigue and right or wrong made her look like the hero/victim. But I do wonder to be balanced if her family's wealth before her dad losing his career helped her. She was naturally talented at skating, beautiful and had money for gorgeous costumes and training versus say now where you can clearly see the money is no longer there from the choreography to the dresses. Interesting reading and the fact she "names" or identifies people we know of course is interesting. Her battles, insignt into famous coaches and skaters. One thing I would like to know - is her competitive days over? Can she move on? Are skating shows a possiblity - though with SOI cancelled this year it is not a good sign. She has a lot of loyal fans. I miss her earlier days when she had such power and amazing jumps. I thought she would be the next OGM. I hope she can find peace and happiness wherever she lands excuse the pun. I also wonder, and I can't tell for sure, if she can live away from the lights and being the centre of attention. Can she find joy in life.

In the last chapter she mentions she is coaching, apparently permanently, having been doing it part time for 6 years. In the epilogue, she writes a monologue, or ode, to the sport of skating. She says she is sorry the culure around the sport is so toxic, but nevertheless, is thankful to be back in the world of skating.

 

[moonvine]

Certainly salacious, intrigue and right or wrong made her look like the hero/victim. But I do wonder to be balanced if her family's wealth before her dad losing his career helped her. She was naturally talented at skating, beautiful and had money for gorgeous costumes and training versus say now where you can clearly see the money is no longer there from the choreography to the dresses. Interesting reading and the fact she "names" or identifies people we know of course is interesting. Her battles, insignt into famous coaches and skaters. One thing I would like to know - is her competitive days over? Can she move on? Are skating shows a possiblity - though with SOI cancelled this year it is not a good sign. She has a lot of loyal fans. I miss her earlier days when she had such power and amazing jumps. I thought she would be the next OGM. I hope she can find peace and happiness wherever she lands excuse the pun. I also wonder, and I can't tell for sure, if she can live away from the lights and being the centre of attention. Can she find joy in life.

Really? That's what you take from this? Of course she's the hero. We are all the heroes of our own stories, or I would hope so. Of course it would have helped if money were available. Money wasn't part of the beginning story. Now if you listen to Nathan Chen's audiobook his family was very poor, Michael Weiss helped him out and some coaches coached him for free. Otherwise we'd have no Nathan. That was part of the story. Gracie had big time sponsors pretty early such as Nike, Covergirl, United Airlines, Proctor & Gamble. She was named Face of Covergirl in 2013.

She did not skate in SOI last year. She did Ice Dreams in 2022, I went to Chicago to see it. It was great. Ice Dreams did not do a tour last year, they say they are doing one this year. She has different sponsors, Muscle Tech, TrueandCo lingerie, Julep makeup. She was in an HBO documentary with Michael Phelps among others called "The Weight of Gold." She does her Road 2 Gold seminars. And of course there is the book, I don't know how much the ghostwriter gets off it. It is #2 amongst all audiobooks on Amazon. I hope Gracie makes a humungous pile of money off it.

As far as I know Brad Griffies still does all her skating dresses. What issues do you have with her dresses. What issues do you have with her choreography? I don't care if she wears a potato sack and skates to chopsticks or the alphabet song. I will still love her just as much.

If she wants to compete again I hope she does. If she doesn't I hope she doesn't. She could be a Walmart greeter and I'd be her fan. I love her no matter what.

 

[moonvine]

In the last chapter she mentions she is coaching, apparently permanently, having been doing it part time for 6 years. In the epilogue, she writes a monologue, or ode, to the sport of skating. She says she is sorry the culure around the sport is so toxic, but nevertheless, is thankful to be back in the world of skating.

She said she would be involved in the sport of skating in some way, whether that be as a competitor, coach, commentator, or administrative capacity. All options seem to be on the table. I don't think she's coaching full time, as far as I know she's still in Colorado Springs doing PT. I can probably find out. Although I guess she could be coaching in CS, but I don't think she has permission to be out on the ice yet, unless she got said permission in the past 2 weeks or so.

 

[TallyT]

I hope Gracie makes a humungous pile of money off it.

I doubt it will be humungous, the publishing industry being what it is 'bestseller' is not what it used to be, but hopefully a solid profit and also pr exposure for whatever she plans next.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Certainly salacious, intrigue and right or wrong made her look like the hero/victim. But I do wonder to be balanced if her family's wealth before her dad losing his career helped her. She was naturally talented at skating, beautiful and had money for gorgeous costumes and training versus say now where you can clearly see the money is no longer there from the choreography to the dresses. Interesting reading and the fact she "names" or identifies people we know of course is interesting. Her battles, insignt into famous coaches and skaters. One thing I would like to know - is her competitive days over? Can she move on? Are skating shows a possiblity - though with SOI cancelled this year it is not a good sign. She has a lot of loyal fans. I miss her earlier days when she had such power and amazing jumps. I thought she would be the next OGM. I hope she can find peace and happiness wherever she lands excuse the pun. I also wonder, and I can't tell for sure, if she can live away from the lights and being the centre of attention. Can she find joy in life.

While you are welcome to your opinion, this is very rude and dismissing of a young lady who has fought and been through some of the worst things due to sport, and other factors. And FWIW-the fact that she has come out of it still loving this sport---I have to give her tons of credit.

Many (read most) of the top skaters who make it to your television/streaming are not from rich families. Many of them (us) were from middle class to poor families who supported their child b/c they had a real love and talent for the sport of figure skating.

As far as costumes: Her costumes have not changed greatly and I do also believe she has some of the same designers; they just aren't as flashy and go with her program. Much of her choreography since she has returned has been by Jeremy Abbott, a choreographer/skater that knows WTH he's doing on the ice and has no lack of creativity and ability to move ones emotions with music on the ice, and IIRC Marina Zoueva did a few of her programs initially, so again a legend in choreography. It's not some nobody from a local rink in the middle of nowhere, as it's made to sound in what I've quoted here.

I hope Gracie just finds what she really loves doing if that be competing, choreography, commentary, coaching, etc and just enjoys life as much as possible. She deserves it. And I have no doubt she will because she's a fighter.

 

[noskates]

Yikes - criticizing her choreography and her dresses as cheaper? I always thought, and still do, that Gracie had some of the most beautiful and becoming skating costumes of any of the women skaters. And that includes her recent costumes. I also think she interpreted her choreography better in her later and more recent competitions -especially East of Eden. I think some of the topics in this thread are getting wayyyy off topic. The important theme here is that a beautiful and talented young woman went off the rails because of pressure and depression and a lack of acknowledgement from people that should have noticed and taken action. She clearly and articulately (is that a word?) explains how that happened in her life which was the focus of this book. I think when or if you read this book you'll be stunned at how strong and courageous she's become to take her life back and be just herself.....which is more than enough. I wish her happiness, good health and a continued sense of her own self worth.

 

[Rebecca Moose]

this thread has totally lost the point and the plot lol

 

[skylark]

I haven't read Gracie's book, but in a podcast (and sorry, I've lost the link) she said something so inspired, something that could be so empowering and encouraging to many people. ETA: Found the link! the comments about uniting the parts begin at 30 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsriQg2hl3U

She talked about her "3 personas/Gracies": the Inner Child, the Olympic star, and the "outofshapeworthlessloser" voice. And she said that her hope is to integrate these 3, going forward, and have that be okay.

I thought that was insightful. I almost feel like the conventional wisdom would be to silence that third voice, or to try to (which would probably be unsuccessful, anyway). And for her to say no, it's okay, it's a legitimate part of me, well that's beautiful. It's when we talk about unconditional acceptance. Of ourselves! all the messy parts as well as the brilliant parts.

Another interesting comment someone made somewhere is that Gracie's international experience ahead of 2014 olympics didn't support the hype which became her reputation in the lead-up to Sochi. She became the great hope for 2014 gold medalist, and that wasn't supported by her record.

 

[moonvine]

Another interesting comment someone made somewhere is that Gracie's international experience ahead of 2014 olympics didn't support the hype which became her reputation in the lead-up to Sochi. She became the great hope for 2014 gold medalist, and that wasn't supported by her record.

She was the national champion. Doesn't USFS always hype the National Champion? I'm trying to think of a time in which they didn't, and hyped say..the bronze medalist at US Nationals. But my brain is like a sieve.

She does have beef with Frank for "creating" Gracie Gold, saying she looked like Grace Kelly (although I'm sure he's not the first nor will he be the last to say that). She wonders what her life would have been like if she had been named Samantha Silver or Bonnie Bronze.
Painfully, she shot a bunch of promos for the 2018 Olympics before her hospitalization. Of course they were never used.

 

[skylark]

Ok well, some things that stand out: she blames Frank Carrol for starting the whole “Gracie Gold” thing and wonders what her skating life would have been like had she been named Samantha Silver or Bonnie Bronze.

She blames Frank? I'd have thought more credit/blame belonged to her parents ....

I recall an American journalist starting her article, before the 2014 olympics, with marveling that it's the perfect, perfect, double perfect (my exaggerations ) name for a figure skater.

Has a chapter on Russian doping - “now that we know what it takes to win, do we really want to?”

Good for her!

 

[skylark]

She was the national champion. Doesn't USFS always hype the National Champion?

Mmm. Not to that extent, in my opinion.

 

[apgold]

Only about halfway through the audiobook and I needed to take a break. Hearing first hand about her experience being raped and having her sister in the next room was heartbreaking.

The next few chapters look to be the hardest to get through. Even if you're not triggered by her trauma, it's definitely a lot to take in.

I'll post more when I'm finished.

 

[moonvine]

Mmm. Not to that extent, in my opinion.

I dunno. They hyped Alexa/Chris and there was no way they were going to win an individual medal.

 

[labgoat]

Here is a link to another interview

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[moonvine]

Here is a link to another interview

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

Thank you.