Obertas & Slavnov on "comeback" | Golden Skate

Obertas & Slavnov on "comeback"

Ptichka

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http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/33654.html

Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov: we don’t plan to compete early in the season, but will perhaps pop up at Nationals


European silver medalists, many-time Russian National medalists, World and Olympic team members Julia Obertas and Sergei Slavnov, having skipped the 2007-2008 season, will also sit out the beginning of the 2008-2009. Sergei Slavnov told the Sports Agency “All Sport” why.

“We don’t plan to compete early in the season”, stated Sergei Slavnov. “Perhaps, we will start at the Russian nationals, perhaps we’ll pop up a little earlier or a little later – I cannot tell you that now. In any case, we try not to advertise our so-called comeback. We don’t want to jinx it. Also, we don’t need all the brouhaha. So, let the moment of our appearance among competitors be a surprise to our fans (smiles). What’s important now is to get back into both physical and psychological shape. That is why we took a break – to recuperate, especially psychologically, to dig deep, and to understand what it is we really want. We did it to regain the inner peace every person so needs. You’ll see us on the ice when we feel we’re ready.”

Sergei Slavnov also admitted that he is not bothered by the competition within the team. “If you’re going to fear your opponents – why go into sports at all? For Julia and me, we were always our own most serious and dangerous rivals. It was like that even when we skated and competed with, I won’t budge from the word, the really great masters – Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, and Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov. This won’t change now, when the overall level of competition in our team has become much lower”, said Sergei Slavnov.
 

Tinymavy15

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I guess they are planning a "big" move like a throw quad or somthing. I would have thought they would split up over the summer. I liked them when they first came on the scene but just have not lived up to expectations at all.
 

chuckm

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Sergei Slavnov also admitted that he is not bothered by the competition within the team. “If you’re going to fear your opponents – why go into sports at all? For Julia and me, we were always our own most serious and dangerous rivals. It was like that even when we skated and competed with, I won’t budge from the word, the really great masters – Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, and Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov. This won’t change now, when the overall level of competition in our team has become much lower”, said Sergei Slavnov.

Gordeeva/Grinkov, Artur Dmitriev and his two partners and even Bechke/Petrov and Berenzhnaya/Sikharulidze were far more "great masters" than TT/MM and the Pettikhs.

I can't help wondering what Mukhortova/Trankov and Kawaguchi/Smirnov think of this very obvious put-down.
 

dorispulaski

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As to big tricks, O&S had a quad twist but quit doing it because the points were not worth the risk. Now it's worth more. Plus you can do a triple twist in the SP.

I'm wondering whether they will bring their quad twist back.
 

Ptichka

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I can't help wondering what Mukhortova/Trankov and Kawaguchi/Smirnov think of this very obvious put-down.
The truth is, he has a point. O&S had no chance in hell against either T&M or P&T. With the two current temas - M&T and K&S, if O&S are on top of their form, they can certainly be competitive with them (though, quite frankly, I don't see it happening).
 

museksk8r

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I can't help wondering what Mukhortova/Trankov and Kawaguchi/Smirnov think of this very obvious put-down.

I wish Slavnov would not have resorted to belittling his team members. He better be able to backup that kind of talk. With all the "perhaps" thrown about in this article, the team doesn't sound too sure of themselves. The best athletes have to be able to walk the talk. To put things into perspective, Kawaguchi/Smirnov have only been a team since the Spring of 2006 and already, they have placed 3rd in the SP and 4th in the LP at the senior World Championships. Mukhortova/Trankov are the 2005 Jr. World Champions and are the reigning European silver medalists. My point is they are both young teams in the senior circuit, having only competed 2 (K/S) or 3 (M/T) seasons. T/M and P/T did not instantly ascend to the top of the World and Olympic podiums either; they too required years of seasoning on the senior circuit to reach those heights. Obertas/Slavnov's accomplishments are not better than their fellow country challengers. Anyway, I wish all of the Russian pairs teams well and I'm a fan of them all. :)
 
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