Papadakis publishes book; Cizeron challenges claims

[TallyT]

That's just a vulgar way to say " we won, boo yeah". Nothing wrong with that unless coarse language is an issue for you, which I don't think it's a problem at all in NFL

So it's fine if men are vulgar and mean but if a woman has a uncharitable but private thought that doesn't affect anyone on competition but upsets your delicate sensibilities, she's mentally unwell?

 

[Arigato]

What is puzzling to me is that you and others are ignoring the very specific, completely chaotic and unusual circumstances in which Papadakis confesses to having such thoughts, and are instead pretending that she was always thinking that. She was upset, and it was one moment. Athletes are human beings, and human beings are going to have emotional reactions to shit like having your top almost fall off midway through a program at the Olympics! And after that moment passed, she went to the victory ceremony and medal ceremony, behaved in a perfectly sporting way and put her own disappointment aside, which is all anyone could ask from her.

For the record, I was rooting for Virtue/Moir in 2018, and I certainly would have preferred them to win without Gabriella's costume almost falling off. But all this shock and horror at the mere possibility that someone admitted to THINKING "if only they would fall" is ridiculous, especially when said team very much did not fall.

My post was about competing in sport. Full stop. Anything else about my post is pure speculation and/or what appears to be fabrication. It doesn't matter if it's Betty, Bob, Steve, or Joe. My post about sport will not change. There are no exceptions. Not from me, anyway.

 

[Mathman]

Nothing wrong with that unless coarse language is an issue for you, which I don't think it's a problem at all in NFL

That is my impression (that vulgar language is not an issue in the NFL. Figure skating, though... Is nothing sacred any more? )

 

[Mathman]

Athletes are human beings, and human beings are going to have emotional reactions...

Sasha Cohen, that delicate fairy princess, once confessed that when she was younger she used to say angrily to herself, "Isn't Michelle Kwan EV ER going to retire?"

Later the mature Sasha repented of such unworthy thoughts.

 

[Mathman]

Do you really think skaters are secretly a bunch of kitty cats who can't hold their own and can only eke out a win should someone else fail? Certainly not.

You are a stern magistrate.

Yes, I think that figure starters, in common with all human beings, experience moments of kitty-cat weakness, that sometimes unworthy thoughts and feelings arise unbidden in the most stalwart of hearts, that sometimes people blurt out something that they are later embarrassed for having said.

 

[fenway3]

Many many people write memoirs and regret burning paper bridges

Burning paper bridges? What exactly does that mean?

 

[Arigato]

You are a stern magistrate.

 

[bramweld]

There were signs of his aloofness and coldness, right before our eyes but we refuse to see it because he is talented. A man could commit murder we'd find a way to excuse him. I still remember the interview where Guillame says "you don't know how to take care of yourself". It's all there.

You achieved Olympic Gold and Silver and 5 World championships and you proceed to completely delete that person from your IG feed as if she didn't even exist. He spoke about her medical condition casually as well, but that's not an issue, why?

But she's not allowed to even write a memoir. It's thinking like this that leads women to keep trauma to themselves. She doesn't do it as elegantly as we'd like but this is her experience. Its so clear the book is about her not others.

 

[Karoltyna]

But she's not allowed to even write a memoir. It's thinking like this that leads women to keep trauma to themselves. She doesn't do it as elegantly as we'd like but this is her experience. Its so clear the book is about her not others.

Let's just stay her experience wasn't elegant one and she has no obligation to portray it as nicer than it was in her eyes. From what I read (mostly sneak peaks in translation), the book isn't about him, it's about her and she can have thoughts about things that went on in her life.
Unfortunately, here we go again with the "oh, she isn't perfect, oh, she had such vile thoughts, maybe she wasn't a victim at all" thing. I'm going to treat her as I wanted to be treated when I was in her place and probably stop reading this thread so that I can keep interacting with some users in other threads.

 

[Mathman]

"What" is: If we require that people perfectly live up to our loftiest principles and expectations then we are signing up for a life of disappointment.

 

[ajingmarg]

I read only bits about Virtue and Moir. I cannot say I can support her words. She doesn't seem well.

She is mentally ill to think about using black magic against her competitors. Shows she has no sportsmanship

 

[Magill]

https://www.oskaloosa.com/sports/national_sports/ice-dance-champion-cizeron-accuses-ex-partner-papadakis-of-smear-campaign-ahead-of-olympic-games/article_13880b41-1ec4-5da3-8991-df6b50723d98.html

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/sports/article/ice-dance-champion-cizeron-accuses-ex-partner-21292413.php

OMG. Just in time for the Olympics. I figured there would be something scandalous that broke out during or in the lead-up to the Olympics. There usually is. Side-eyeing timing of this book's release.

I'm also concerned about the feeling I have of certain powers-that-be in the sport pulling hard for Chock/ Bates to win Olympic gold. C/B are not better than everybody else. Winning medals at the Olympics should be about skaters' performances and abilities, not about who is heavily favored and backed; not about the airing of past bitter personal conflicts. What a sad state of affairs.

Plus, if Gabby has such serious, biased feelings about her former partner, I do not think she should be in the NBC/ USA commentating booth covering his and his competitors' performances. It's a conflict of interest. IMO, Gabby is not a good ice dance commentator anyway. Jean-Luc Baker, Mark Hanretty, and even Ben Agosto, are far better, as were Tanith Belbin and Charlie White years ago.

Would you be so kind and correct the title of this thread as some posters suggested here already? Cizeron as of now did not take any legal action so he does not sue anyone, he just sent a letter threatening to do so if.... TBH this is a very common reaction among public persons when some unfavourable news is being spread, whether true or not. In many cases, it does not lead to any legal action and was never meant to, more often than not it is just a way to make a stand on it for the public and trying to silence your opponent without a need to prove anything in court which would make it discussed in even more detail in public and by the press.

 

[rinkside_user]

Oh boy that escalated quickly...

 

[pearly]

She is mentally ill to think about using black magic against her competitors. Shows she has no sportsmanship

Black magic? I missed that part, but that would not be the first time someone has done that in figure skating! Hope y'all have done your homework listened to The Runthrough's Lore episodes!

 

[Arigato]

"What" is: If you require that people perfectly live up to your loftiest principles and expectations then you are signing up for a life of disappointment.

What is business as usual for me and the people I allow into my life appears to be considered lofty to you.

Let's say you're watching the Super Bowl and your QB can't see a receiver. He says screw it and heads for the goal line himself. Someone gets to him and he goes down inches from the goal line. But you see what he did. He fell on the ball and pulled it from underneath him and pushed it across the line. I began cussing him out. If we didn't win by at least 7 then we were cheating winners. Further, the other team is now affected by the dishonest score and now they feel the officials suck and probably won't play their best game. A ripple effect. Why bother? So here we all are watching the Super Bowl and it's horse ****. I don't care he was my QB, he doesn't get special treatment from me. I expect more from him. Not less. Is that lofty? Hardly. They reviewed the play after calling it a touchdown and didn't reverse the call. To this day I say it was the biggest crock of cow dung I have ever seen.

If someone can't give me their best game, playing by the rules, the best man can't win. That's not lofty. That's simply honest to god competition. Without it, nothing would really matter in sports.

 

[yfan1]

If someone can't give me their best game, playing by the rules, the best man can't win. That's not lofty. That's simply honest to god competition. Without it, nothing would really matter in sports.

Without commenting on Papadakis, I agree actually. If you as a competitor don't want your opponent to give your best, then simply, I don't think much of you as an athlete. Applies to any and all athletes in any and all sports, as well as the fans of those athletes.

 

[IceDancingQueen]

I don't know. She sounds very specific in her telling of the story, and I've never signed on to "my truth." I'm a proponent of The Truth. Her story doesn't have a lot of wiggle room. She's either telling the truth or she's lying.

Honestly, your response sounds like "I can't disbelieve her, but I really like the French dance team."

This is a very immature response. The world does not revolve around absolutes - this is what has gotten us into the mess we are in globally. People have different perspectives based on their lived experience which includes their background, how they were raised, where they come from, what they have experienced etc. Two people can experience the exact same event and have totally different perspectives on what happened (have you never experienced this with a family member, friend or partner?)

Gabby experienced a lot of trauma from a young age and it sounds like she is viewing a lot of her career through that lens of trauma. Her experience is completely valid but it doesn’t mean that her version is the absolute truth because there is no such thing in this case. That’s her truth and how she felt. Guillaume will see things differently because a) he was not sexually abused when he was young (so far as we know) b) it sounds like he was a lead in their decision making from the start and also treated like the stronger partner for a lot of their career, so for him he will also have known no different which will give him a different perspective to her on how events transpired.

I believe Gabby wholeheartedly about how she experienced things and what a toll the sport took on her. But I can also understand how Guillaume and the coaches may have not realised how she felt and thus have different perspectives on how things transpired. Doesn’t mean I agree with all of their choices or behaviours but I am mature enough to understand that life is not black and white.

 

[Demandred]

I don't see the big deal about the quote where Gabby admits she wished for Virtue and Moir to make a mistake so she and Guillaume could win the Olympic gold. I am sure she would have preferred if she had won the gold with both teams skating their best but that wasn't an option at this point. Hoping for a mistake from your competitor when that's to get something you have worked your whole life for is completely normal. She didn't wish for an injury or anything like this. I think almost every athlete in such a situation would have felt the same way, especially if they weren't already an Olympic champion. And winning thanks to a mistake by your main competitor doesn't make you any less deserving of a champion, making fewer mistakes is a huge part of sports. I can't recall any champion ever saying "I don't deserve my Olympic gold because my main rivals made more mistakes than me and would have beaten me if they had gone clean" or anything to this effect.

Plus Gabby and Guillaume had to rely on a mistake by Virtue and Moir in large part not because they had skated poorly but because of the freak wardrobe malfunction they had in the short.

 

[IceDancingQueen]

Bolded for emphasis.

From the excerpts which I saw (which were through several layers of fairly poor translation and out of context, so I absolutely yield to anyone who's read the whole book in the original French) she also stated repeatedly how much she admires Virtue/Moir, and shared that on the podium Scott told her "you made it so hard for us" which sounded like a high compliment and a moment of genuine respect between them. I very much doubt either Scott or Tessa would be shocked or horrified to hear Gabriella had thoughts during the event (aka the most high pressure possible moment) of wishing they would fall. I very much doubt either Scott or Tessa has never been guilty of such thoughts themselves from time to time, in the heat of competition. It is after all a competition, and losing hurts, especially when you are young and it is your entire life.

Yes, from what I’ve seen re Virtue and Moir - Gabby doesn’t say anything bad. She is really frank about how it felt looking up to them as her idols and then having to skate against them as rivals, the pressure to be perfect like Tessa (Tessa has also spoken about the pressure she felt to maintain a certain image previously, I think a hangover from her days in Canton).

Gabbby was a 20-something kid at the Olympics so I think we need to cut her some slack re wishing V/M would fall. You are already a mess in your 20s trying to figure life and yourself out. Imagine being an elite athlete on top of that and having the wardrobe malfunction she did in the RD.

It’s not a nice thing to admit and I don’t think Gabby comes off as proud about feeling that way, she is just being honest, even if it was an ugly thought. These athletes are under so much pressure that none of us can really understand.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

She is doing it for purpose, unfortunately.
Papadakis is NOT obejctive at all, She shouldnt be commenting at NBC. She supports Americans obviously, on insta she is open about it. So NBS doesnt mind that she loves C/B, I think.
C/B are bad skaters and they are pushed by american federation. Their skating is just bad.

I am shocked how Aymoz is getting away with everything, he is coached by some people who supported abusers, lol. And Gabrielle cheers for him,to.

Stuff and nonsense. Your obvious anti-American rhetoric is tiresome. Chock and Bates are not 'bad skaters' what a ridiculous observation.