Alissa wishes Carolina good luck

I've been watching the French stop of the Grand Prix on Ice Network. One of the most beautiful moments that I witnessed happened just off the Ice. Alissa had just finished her long program. Surely knowing that her technical program fell below the standards of Elizaveta. After getting a comforting hug from coach Jason, she noticed Carolina about to take the ice for her final skate. Alissa leaned over, smiled her beautiful smile,and simply whispered "good luck". It just struck me as sincere, proper, and very classy. Much like Alissa herself.

I noticed that too. No doubt, they respect each other quite a bit because each has risen from the ashes when everybody had written them off. More power to them both. I hope they're both on the podium at World's.

I had the honor of spending 15 minutes talking with Alissa (yes, I know it is hard for me too to remember it is one L ) and her mother at the airport at Greensboro and "Class" is definately a word I would use for her, too. While I can't say I really know her, I have a dollar that says her beauty is way more than skin deep. I wish her the best no matter where life takes her.

It makes sense they'd be friends after doing shows in Asia, both tall, beautiful girls with grace and elegance, rooting for each other. Liza is going to be unbeatable in the air is she caries these jumps consistently. The judges find her "mature" enough I guess and are rewarding her. but she has a long way to go on style, elegance, just beautiful stroking and persona. I guess this is likely Alissa's last season and Caro's too? I am happy they are skating so well. I too wish Alissa would have the skate of her life, caro too and be on the podium. I just don't have much confidence in either when it comes to the world championships. Certainly in any order it would be my dream podium to see Caro, Alissa and Akiko as it may be her last season and all are just delightful. May they just believe in themselves and skate with freedom. I adore Mao and expect her on the podium, but given she's been world champion twice, i guess I'd get over it if she did not podium. I think she will. I think she will contend for gold again. Liza has time to mature, and she really needs it. I much preferred Tara's joie de vivre at 14 and her amazing little heart. Liza is a little hmmmm arrogant already? Or is that the wrong word? Am I getting a vibe from her she's not projecting?.

Go Alissa, go Caro, Ashley, Akiiko, Mao. Such fabulous ladies!

Both Alissa and Carolina seem to be very nice people.

CoyoteChris said:

I had the honor of spending 15 minutes talking with Alissa (yes, I know it is hard for me too to remember it is one L ) and her mother at the airport at Greensboro and "Class" is definately a word I would use for her, too. While I can't say I really know her, I have a dollar that says her beauty is way more than skin deep. I wish her the best no matter where life takes her.

Click to expand...

I was lucky enough to have watched Alissa's and her sister Amber's careers since they were novices at the St. Clair Shores SC. I have briefly met their mom. What a wonderful family. Now that Alissa has a degree with emphasis in languages (she has pretty good French, passable Russian) I am anxious to see what direction her life will take after skating. (Not that I'm rushing her or anything. )

Maybe what she was saying to Carolina was, "Well, I don't think scored enough to beat that little menace Elizaveta, so it's up to you to win one for us old gals.

By the way, in person her smile is both dazzling and genuine.

I agree with Mathman. Many other ladies can put on a smile to get what they want, when they want. But I agree that she is genuine and dazzling. Just as a "for instance", when her mom and I were talking and Alissa was chatting on he cell, Mom told me Alissa felt bad that she didnt do a better Gala performance at the end of Nats as her mom was watching and hadnt seen her skate in awhile. Of course, mom didnt care as she was just worried about her daughter being at the arena all day and she was very tired (and of course us fans just are glad to see her in any case) . It is a family that is genuine and very close.

This is all so nice to hear. It reminds me of what seemed to be a genuine friendship between Kwan and Slutskaya through the years of their intense rivalry.

I do hope that both these ladies end up on the world podium (along with Mao). in one way they're underdogs, but in another, they're the class of the field. They skate as if it's an art as well as a sport, which I happen to prefer.

Yes, I noticed that too and I thought it was a very nice gesture from Alissa. These two ladies seem to have a ton of respect for each other, I think there is kind of an invisible "bond" between them (if that makes sense, don't know how to say it in English) because they share so many similar experiences in their past careers and seem to have found the right way forward at around the same time.

They are both amazing athletes especially in the sense of sportsmanship. I remember Carolina at Euros 2011 and how she was so thrilled and happy for Sarah's win. Or at TEB 2011's press conference after the SP, when she came in late and went straight over to Elizaveta to congratulate her. She seems to really respect other skater's achievements, even if they are her direct competitors. And I get the same impression from Alissa.

It is beautiful to see this rivalry develop between the two of them. It's a good rivalry (not a bitchy one) and I think it pushes both of them to perform their best, without forgetting about the fun in skating. :thumbsup:

Alissa does seem like a really nice, classy young lady (and beautiful as well!)!!

I remember reading somewhere that Miki Ando always says "good luck" to all her fellow competitors at every event. How nice is that!

Loving all the comments about the interactions with the ladies here. I sent Alissa some pictures from Nationals with a message of congrats and support for her to the Detroit Skating Club a few months ago. Within two weeks I received a lovely personal handwritten thank you note from her, plus a beautiful autographed pic. I will always treasure these.

These are the kind of rivalries I love!

I've always rooted for these 2 even at times when I wasn't enjoying their skating because they seem like such nice girls . I'm not surprised by Alissa wishing Carolina luck. I've seen them hugging after backstage after one just beat the other while smiling.

Yep, my dream podium for this season's World's would consist of Alissa, Carolina, and Mao/Akiko, all four of which are making come-backs of various forms.

I dont know this to be true for sure but I would imagine that once you start doing some Ice show tours and TV specials with your competitors and get to relate with them more as people, they become closer. Of course, everyone wants to win, but the true athlete knows the only one really worth competing with is yourself. I have heard skaters say if they feel they did the best they could, than that is a bigger "high" than winning. At the other end, winning with a sloppy program is still a win but the facial expressions tell me they arent as happy as they could be. At the end of the day, I would think AC and CK would be naturals to be close. They have lots in common and know exactly what the other person has been through. I think it is a good thing. Look at how successful Team Igor is. All those dancers know and respect one another, I believe. You wont see Bates and White back stabbing each other....

skateluvr said:

It makes sense they'd be friends after doing shows in Asia, both tall, beautiful girls with grace and elegance, rooting for each other. Liza is going to be unbeatable in the air is she caries these jumps consistently. The judges find her "mature" enough I guess and are rewarding her. but she has a long way to go on style, elegance, just beautiful stroking and persona. I guess this is likely Alissa's last season and Caro's too? I am happy they are skating so well. I too wish Alissa would have the skate of her life, caro too and be on the podium. I just don't have much confidence in either when it comes to the world championships. Certainly in any order it would be my dream podium to see Caro, Alissa and Akiko as it may be her last season and all are just delightful. May they just believe in themselves and skate with freedom. I adore Mao and expect her on the podium, but given she's been world champion twice, i guess I'd get over it if she did not podium. I think she will. I think she will contend for gold again. Liza has time to mature, and she really needs it. I much preferred Tara's joie de vivre at 14 and her amazing little heart. Liza is a little hmmmm arrogant already? Or is that the wrong word? Am I getting a vibe from her she's not projecting?.

Go Alissa, go Caro, Ashley, Akiiko, Mao. Such fabulous ladies!

Click to expand...

Agreed.She seems cocky to me...

Tut looks like a diva in the best sense of the word. Like Plushenko, or Khorkova in gymnastics. I doubt she'll be trying to combine university and skating and be an all-around good person. She wants to win and that's it (JMO - don't know anything about her). I hope she will be around for the long haul because personalities like that are rare, and people want to see them.

But kudos to Carolina and Alissa for staying human in the crazy fishbowl of ladies' figure skating.

Plushenko has gone to University as well AND hopes for world peace. The competitive mindset I believe it is completely irrelevant to be an all around good person (skating horology influence) in your life. Yuna and Mao were on the same competitive fire but I dont call them bad persons because they were rivals and didnt speak eachother much.
Btw people say that Gatsinsky is a mini Plu but I dont see it, for me mini-Plu is Liza. It is something about her look and aura that reminds me of young Evgeni. There are athletes who completely concetrate before a competition and are not so talkative, i would be thinking twice before calling a young girl cocky, you dont know her preparation ritual, she is rather new plus she doesnt speak much of english.
Liza also reminds me of the queen Svetlana Khorkina.

Nevertheless wishing good luck to Carolina was a great thing to read for Alissa.

skateluvr said:

Liza is a little hmmmm arrogant already? Or is that the wrong word? Am I getting a vibe from her she's not projecting?

Click to expand...

koatcue said:

Agreed.She seems cocky to me...

Click to expand...

Be nice ... Liza is just a kid.

Not to be a curmudgeon, but while it's nice and heartwarming that Alissa and Carolina are friendly or even friends, it only matters from a competitive standpoint if they can manage it effectively. Most of the time, when competitors become friendly, one or both has trouble setting that relationship aside once they begin competing. That's why many athletes keep a distance from one another. The growth in mental toughness both skaters have shown the last couple of seasons, appears to have finally given them the fortitude to balance emotion and competitive nerve. I can honestly say I doubt either of them would have been able to be friendly and competitively successful a few years ago.

As Seniorita points out, being a good person and a good competitor tend to be separate things. Yes they can overlap, and it's heartwarming when then obviously nice guy/girl come out on top. But it should not be assumed that the self confidence the obviously strong competitor exudes is some form of arrogance. Expression of confidence is a necessary competitive tool, something Alissa and Carolina have learned recently. Both are far more declarative about their plans, goals and self-confidence than they were in the past.

As for Liza, it is grossly unfair to expect her to project the same persona as another skater (Lipinski) from another country and culture merely based on similar ages. She has a different personality than Tara. What she has in common is that she appears to be very focused, driven and having the time of her life. While she does have significant room to grow as far as her presentation and maturity is concerned, she is far from junior-ish in my mind. She has skated brilliantly this fall and is learning at a rapid rate. If she appears proud of herself after she finishes her programs, it's because she should be. That's part of being an athlete. This is not a Miss Congeniality pageant. It's a sport.

skateluvr said:

Liza is a little hmmmm arrogant already?

Click to expand...

koatcue said:

Agreed.She seems cocky to me...

Click to expand...

She has a kind of confidence that can easily be seen as arrogance, but from everything I've heard that doesn't seem to be the case. Actually, in this interview, she mentions how shy she is.-> http://ontd-skating.livejournal.com/1225040.html

Though, I must say, I would be worried if any one of the top skaters had absolutely no arrogance.