Let skaters speak with their skating, yes….but until skaters will take their skates and show publicly, there will be always talks about many good and bad, smart and stupid teories….
…but I want to correct some things written here…
Reports I heard from the test skates said that Elena and Ruslan looked unremarkable.
They did not look good or bad, just nothing special.
Mattieu said:
Don't get too excited about this couple, the early reports indicate that they are nothing special
It would appear that Nikita and Elena were only special together.
Abraxis12345 said:
One of the "nothing special" reports was Olga Ermolina who is the press secretary for the Russian fed. I will add that she did say that their problems can be fixed before their Grand Prix.
Abraxis12345 said:
All I did was point out that the negative reviews were coming from either a federation official who wasn't afraid to use her name and a respected FSU poster, and were not a rumor started by some teenie in love with Nikita.
1. Ermolina didn’t officially wrote her personal opinions, instead she used her user name at Russian Forum “Firstolia“ – from that user name I had absolutely no idea that it was her.
2. It is impossible to judge quality of the programs without judging technique as well.
3. Ermolina praised Stepanova & Bukin for their dances but for example my opinions from Open Test Skate are almost the opposite (I much more appreciated Monko & Khaliavin’s programs).
Abraxis12345 said:
It is pretty telling they skipped the open skates though
4. Watching Open Test Skate – nobody from Russian dancers is ready to skate at Grand Prix next day – two senior dance couples were even not able to skate whole free dance.
5. Some couples mentioned that they were skating maquettes at Closed Skate, but I read somewhere that Lena & Ruslan (surprisingly like new couple) skated with all elements which is more difficult. How to compare competive version of program with maquettes, I don’t know.
6. Also I wanted to see all dances couples at Open Skates. And hiding in front of public eyes because a couple is not ready looks to be a very logical reason….but then… why all other couples – Bobrova & Soloviev, Kosigina & Moroshkin, Zenkova & Sinitsin, Zahorski & Guerreiro didn’t skate at Open Test as well? Were they afraid and not ready also? Why Yanovskaya & Mozgov skated SD only? And why Vika & Nikita didn’t even come to Closed Test?
Alithia said:
But I noticed that after I/Z finally talked together in an interview, some people got angry.
Yes, some reactions after the interview was published were suprising for me…
7. Comparing Lena and Ruslan‘s results is not very wise. Ruslan won Junior World Title in 2012, while Lena in 2010. Ruslan entered senior stage two seasons later and big competitions like Euros and Worlds three years later than Lena.
In their first European and World Champs Vika & Ruslan got the same placement like Lena & Nikita had during their first trip to those competitions. Why to expect that Ruslan doesn’t have three medals from Euros while he was competing there just once…
8. The leader thing…it is not necessary about medals. The leader supports his/her partner, protects him/her, overall gives the main direction. Lena told already twice that she gave Ruslan a leadership after Closed Test Skate – in a moment when pressure is on then a strong character rises.
Lena is the one who skates with Ruslan, so she knows perfectly whether she feels save with him or not. Why are other people surprised with that, I don’t know.
(Remember how Ruslan and coaches supported Victoria at 2013 NHK Trophy after her bad fall during Finnstep. While Lena in her new interview said that she was making excuses whole day after FD at European Champs….did Nikita supported her or instead did he make her excuse the whole day and was angry at her?)
Alithia said:
...For me it's a bit strange to think that skaters of that caliber can be that bad and to be honest I don't like it when in a fan fest thread,people enter to say how bad someone is to people that like them....
I agree.
9. As to quality of the new couple…both Lena and Ruslan are one of the Worlds top 5 as to technique. Lena is very visible on the ice and she knows perfectly how to make diva look and present herself…Ruslan is a very passionate and expressive dancer…if you mix such two people in one couple…you can’t get an average couple with weak technique near level of Carron & Jones and pale presentation of Storkh & Rand. Of course you will get much more. It doesn’t mean that Lena & Ruslan will get high marks and high placements immediatelly first season….but to think that the couple may look terribly bad like some people try to offer – I find this stupid.
I prefer to adopt I/Z attitude to all this, and what Elena said in the recent interview, fans shouldn't create wars, things are the past, she and Ruslan are doing their job.I admire and respect the way they are so above this, while fans still talk about fed and support, and stories from russian forums.It honestly exhausts me, and I think it's just drama for the drama. So I choose to be with the ones that first of all I prefer as skaters and don't care about the drama.
I mean, there's no accounting for taste, but...
have you read S/K interview with Zueva recently?
at the "Lena is mistake-prone" part. I mean, if you're Charlie White, you might be able to say that (not that Charlie ever would), but if you're Nikita Katsalopalov? 
