Stéphane Lambiel: "I’m a little bit crazy"

Here's an interesting interview with Stéphane:
http://www.absoluteskating.com/interviews/2009lambiel.htm

Ehy, he looks like the guy you would always love to talk to. :agree:

Thank you!!!

Thanks! I just looked up his LP at the 2007 worlds. So much freedom and passion in his skating. He will be missed competing but as long as he still skates its good for us.

Thank you for the link. It is very interesting and I love these Stephane quotes from this interview.


Stephane :

I started skating because skating was not only a sport, for me it was also an art and that doesn’t mean that after competing it stops - it continues.

I’m doing shows, not only "Art on Ice", since my decision to retire: I was also in Courchevel, in Japan, in Milan in the beginning of the January and with every show I had so much fun. I skated because the crowd was waiting for me.

The skating world, the competition world is a little bit sick right now… because of the new system, which is very weird.

Judges sometimes can do weird things to push someone up, even more than before. The new system allows that.

I still don’t understand how they call components: Usually all the marks in the components are almost the same. It’s not logical!

Interviewer :

Yes, but the same way they "saved" you in Zagreb during your short program where you made a very simple triple-double toe combination.

Stephane :

" Yeah, I know, but that’s not right! You can’t use components to push up someone and to put down someone else.

It happens also when some non-famous skater performs a very good program and doesn’t get components he deserves only because he is not famous. This is why I don’t like this system, because it’s easier to cheat with it.

Interviewer :

I’m very surprised to hear this from you. You were always very diplomatic about those things.

Stephane :

" I’m just shocked, because when I was skating I was not looking at the points. I told to myself that I shouldn’t either discuss, nor complain about marks, but now, when I see this from the outside, as a spectator, when I’m very interested in who’s gonna win, who’s gonna make it, I see that this is weird.

I think, this is a subjective sport: you can like someone or not. But… sometimes it looks too weird. But when I was skating I was not watching the others so I couldn’t tell anything. "

Interviewer :

Question about favorite books, movies, etc...

Stephane :

" I love drama. I love dramatic things… "

Great interview ! Thank you for the link !

He has so many thoughts which I have been feeling the same way , about the judging system and competitions this season. Nice to hear the ideas and perceptions from a true artist.

Have to agree with him on Components. I don't know where the originators of the PCs arrived at such a gobble di gook set of precepts and bullets?

It's so much better to use the Gestolt rationale, and just give beautiful skating its due.

Beautiful jumps, beautiful spins, beautiful laid out program. Why give not beautiful jumps, not beautiful spins and not beauftiful progrm any scoring points at all? So much is already covered in the GoEs including faults. Let the PCs show beautiful skating as part of the Final Score!!!

VIVA LAMBIEL

*sigh* I love Stephane, always!

museksk8r said:

*sigh* I love Stephane, always!

Click to expand...

me too, me too.

People have radically different definitions of "beautiful".

I wished Stephene would have gave some more specifics as to who's being held up and who's being held down and break down how he would mark them on the components.

Thanks for the great interview.
Stepahne is much a unique individual. Sometimes I feel like I know him so well...I feel like he and I are alike in so many ways.

I was very surprised that he said that Abott was "held up." an artistic skater himslef, I am surprised that he thought that Evan skated well enough to win.

Stephane continues to be sorely missed...but I hope he finds energy and inspiration with his life as it is now.

I'd love to hear What Lambiel thinks about Joubert's win in Helsinki. They've always been like frenemies, so I bet he has interesting things to say.

I'm so glad he's taking skating very seriously. It must be difficult to motivate himself without the pressure of competitions.

Tinymavy15 said:

I was very surprised that he said that Abott was "held up." an artistic skater himslef, I am surprised that he thought that Evan skated well enough to win.

Click to expand...

Stephane's exact words were this :

Interviewer :

Do you know the results of American Nationals?

Stephane :

That was a disaster… for Johnny it must be very hard, but I blame this on the new system. For example, Evan Lysacek, he was skating not bad, he could win with what he did, but he was third.

DragonPhoenix said:

Stephane's exact words were this :

Interviewer :

Do you know the results of American Nationals?

Stephane :

That was a disaster… for Johnny it must be very hard, but I blame this on the new system. For example, Evan Lysacek, he was skating not bad, he could win with what he did, but he was third.

Click to expand...

The implication is that he thought Evan should have won which is weird. What in his eyes did Evan do that was so superior? I wonder if he also thought Jeremy should not have won the GP Final.

Stephane's first words about Nationals were about Johnny. That seems to be his main concern. And in that same sentence he says “ but I blame this on the new system.”

yelyoh said:

The implication is that he thought Evan should have won which is weird. What in his eyes did Evan do that was so superior? I wonder if he also thought Jeremy should not have won the GP Final.

Click to expand...

Only Stephane knows for sure. But he doesn’t sound so overly enthralled with Evan’s performance at Nationals either, not with words like “ he was skating not bad “ and “ he could win with what he did “.

I really think the ISU should take note of Stephane's opinion. If a skater whose skating is rewarded by the current system doesn't appreciate it, then that's proof that the current system is bad.

Seeing Stephane's views, I really think it would be interesting if he were to do commentary.

All that said, like most people I really miss Stephane and only hope that he will skate for many years to come and that I'll have the oportunity of seeing him skate one day.

NatachaHatawa, thanks for posting the link. Great interview, and he sounds like an interesting person to get to know. A shame about the medical situation; I hope he'll be able to do shows for a long time without too much trouble. And you're right, it would be good to have him to commentary too (and he could do that in several different languages, too ).

Joesitz said:

It's so much better to use the Gestolt rationale, and just give beautiful skating its due.

Beautiful jumps, beautiful spins, beautiful laid out program. Why give not beautiful jumps, not beautiful spins and not beauftiful progrm any scoring points at all? So much is already covered in the GoEs including faults. Let the PCs show beautiful skating as part of the Final Score!!!

Click to expand...

Joe, as casken pointed out, people can interpret "beautiful" to mean different things. Stephane seems to agree, too: There is no truth in figure skating, I think, this is a subjective sport: you can like someone or not.

Tinymavy15 said:

I was very surprised that he said that Abott was "held up."

Click to expand...

Abbott was not mentioned in the interview. I'm not sure Stephane watched all of US Nats, which are not normally broadcast in Europe - at least not live. Maybe he just watched Evan and Johnny, whom he probably knows well from their years in competition together. I got the feeling that the people being held up/undermarked comment was more of a general complaint in regard to the system. Stephane is not the kind of guy who would mention names of people who seem to be benefiting from this because obviously it's the judges' fault, not the skaters'.

Wrlmy said:

I'd love to hear What Lambiel thinks about Joubert's win in Helsinki. They've always been like frenemies, so I bet he has interesting things to say.

Click to expand...

I think he said all he wanted to about Europeans . And except for F/S winning the silver, which I did not think they deserved, I generally agree with his take on the top pairs and dance teams.

I don't quite get the "Evan Lysacek, he was skating not bad, he could win with what he did, but he was third" remark. I don't see how Evan could possibly win this one.

Forget about those (inflated?) PCS for a sec, take a look at the TES alone.
http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/34540/results.html

SP
Jeremy Abbott: 46.79 (the best)
Evan Lysacek: 45.30 (2nd best)
Brandon Mroz: 42.91 (4th best)
Ryan Bradley: 39.16 (6th best)
Johnny Weir: 33.54 (12th best)

FS
Brandon Mroz: 82.12 (1st)
Ryan Bradley: 76.85 (2nd)
Jeremy Abbott: 75.49 (3rd)
Evan Lysacek 72.73 (4th)
Johnny Weir 63.87 (8th)

Kind of shows who was seriously "held up" in both programs.
If there were no PCS, Mroz would have won, not Lysacek. Abbott would have been 2nd.

Hsuhs said:

I don't quite get the "Evan Lysacek, he was skating not bad, he could win with what he did, but he was third" remark. I don't see how Evan could possibly win this one.

Forget about those (inflated?) PCS for a sec, take a look at the TES alone.
http://www.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/34540/results.html

Kind of shows who was seriously "held up" in both programs.
If there were no PCS, Mroz would have won, not Lysacek. Abbott would have been 2nd.

Click to expand...

Actually, I don't see how that proves or disproves anything, because judges also influence the scoring through GOEs - and USFS doesn't appear to have released full protocols with base value and GOE per element. So I have no idea what actually went on in terms of scoring and who might have been overmarked/undermarked.

There were full protocols actually.