Mahbanoozadeh: "I will not be competing this coming season or for the foreseeable future"

ice coverage · Jun 3, 2013

Mahbanoozadeh: "I will not be competing this coming season or for the foreseeable future"

Tweets today from Armin Mahbanoozadeh @Armin_hammer:

Hello Twitters! I am announcing that I will not be competing this coming season or for the foreseeable future. I am a full time CompSci...

student and I have many amazing plans for my future. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported me throughout the years and for...

some of the most amazing friends and fan a person could hope for. I wish everyone the best of luck this Olympic season and into the future.

A direct shoutout to Kana and everyone at @arminfcjpn for being so supportive in my career. You all have a dear place in my heart.

Best wishes to him. :bow:

Mrs. P · Jun 3, 2013

It sounds like Armin has a bright future outside of skating, best to him!

merrywidow · Jun 3, 2013

I'm sorry to learn this but applaud his decision to focus on his education. Good Luck Armin!

clairecloutier · Jun 3, 2013

Best of luck to Armin, I always liked him! Will miss seeing him on the ice.

meem · Jun 3, 2013

So, where is he going to school? I think I remember he'd been accepted at Dartmouth but put off going so he could continue competing.

Olympia · Jun 3, 2013

That's a really great path to take, and I applaud him.

drivingmissdaisy · Jun 3, 2013

Olympia said:
That's a really great path to take, and I applaud him.

Agreed. He will do much better for himself as a programmer than any skating opportunity he could get.

Skater Boy · Jun 4, 2013

One must wonder if this is the route Czisny, Zhang, Gao and Rippon and et al should take. To dream though...It is always sad to see the Oly dream die but there can only be two guys and three women who will get the chance for Oly glory in 2014. Arminn knew it would be tough. I wish him well.

blue_idealist · Jun 4, 2013

I'll miss him competing but at least he's left to pursue another potentially lucrative career.

iluvtodd · Jun 4, 2013

I will miss him so much

, but I wish him all the best in his future.

It's been a pleasure to watch him develop into a very elegant skater.

Mathman · Jun 4, 2013

Skater Boy said:
One must wonder if this is the route Czisny, Zhang, Gao and Rippon and et al should take.

Christina Gao was a full-time student at Harvard last year. Next year she is on leave of absence to take her shot at making the Olympic team.

Alissa attended college (taking some courses on line) all through her skating career, graduating summa cum laude in international studies and languages from Bowling Green University. (She is the second most famous skater from Bowling Green

). I don't know what Alissa's post-skating career plans are. Maybe she will hook up with Michelle Kwan and go into public service and diplomacy. :yes:

Congratulations to Armin. It must have been a difficult decision, but you can never go wrong choosing the path of education.

ice coverage · Jun 5, 2013

Full IN article re Mahbanoozadeh's news (Jun 4)

Mahbanoozadeh moves on to 'next chapter in life'

By Sarah S. Brannen, special to icenetwork.com
(06/04/2013)
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130604&content_id=49581606&vkey=ice_news

Excerpts:

- ... he is unlikely to compete again.
"I'm not going to say never, but I don't see it happening," he said. "Perhaps on the collegiate level. ..."
Mahbanoozadeh stopped short of saying he was retiring, while admitting that it was basically what he was doing.
"People are afraid to use the R-word," he said, laughing. "For now, I'm just saying that I'm not competing this season or any season that I can see in the future."

- Back home in Virginia, the 21-year-old is making up for lost college time, cramming in 16 credits this summer at the Northern Virginia Community College. He said he will transfer to the University of Virginia in the fall of 2014.
"With the timing of nationals, it was too late to apply for the regular decision at university," he said. "I can get done with college in less than three years, so I'm going to be saving a lot of time. It's not where I imagined, but there are many benefits."
The hard-working college student is majoring in computer science, although he said he hasn't decided whether he'll go into software or hardware. He plans to go to graduate school somewhere on the West Coast after college.

- He is uncertain about whether he'll return to skating in any official way in the future.
"When I was younger, I was really interested in becoming a judge," he said. "That interest has gone down with the direction the International Judging System (IJS) has taken in the last couple of years. I'll be interested in how IJS evolves in the future. Until that changes, I'm not going to be interested in judging.

ETA:

On Jun 14, Mahbanoozadeh announced via Twitter, "Heading to Dartmouth this fall!"

pangtongfan · Jun 5, 2013

Best of luck to him! A bit surprising he would do that one year before the Olympics, but also great that it shows he has priorities outside the sport.

Mathman · Jun 5, 2013

golden411 said:
"When I was younger, I was really interested in becoming a judge," he said. "That interest has gone down with the direction the International Judging System (IJS) has taken in the last couple of years. I'll be interested in how IJS evolves in the future. Until that changes, I'm not going to be interested in judging.

I wonder how many current skaters feel this way.

sky_fly20 · Jun 5, 2013

he should have had defiantly skated for Iran starting a few Seasons ago

deedee1 · Jun 5, 2013

golden411 said:
"When I was younger, I was really interested in becoming a judge," he said. "That interest has gone down with the direction the International Judging System (IJS) has taken in the last couple of years. I'll be interested in how IJS evolves in the future. Until that changes, I'm not going to be interested in judging.
[/INDENT]

What Armin says here is so true, sadly (sigh...). That's exactly majority of skating fans have been feeling and complaining about for a couple of years now. Current competitive skaters know the 'truth' more than we (fans) would imagine, even though these skaters just don't and can't complain about it in public (sigh again......). :no:

oh I am gonna miss Armin a lot!

But very best wishes to Armin and his new chapter in life! :yay:

ice coverage · Jun 5, 2013

sky_fly20 said:
he should have had defiantly skated for Iran starting a few Seasons ago

Not picking on you, but I really, really hate these kinds of comments. :bang:

:disagree:

Giving up U.S. citizenship to represent another country is a major life decision of a highly personal nature -- which can have significant repercussions well beyond skating.
No matter how ambitious the skater is, changing one's nationality (esp. when Iran is the "new" country in question) is not a choice to be made lightly.

Just because certain athletes have made a switch does not mean that every individual would be comfortable doing so.

sky_fly20 · Jun 5, 2013

golden411 said:
Not picking on you, but I really, really hate these kinds of comments. :disagree:

Giving up U.S. citizenship to represent another country is a major life decision of a highly personal nature -- which can have significant repercussions well beyond skating.
No matter how ambitious the skater is, changing one's nationality (esp. when Iran is the "new" country in question) is not a choice to be made lightly.

Just because certain athletes have made a switch does not mean that every individual would be comfortable doing so.

given how he voiced out his frustartion with the US Fed and IJS
competing for Iran would have given him more international competitions ( I mean here with No political connotations )

demarinis5 · Jun 5, 2013

Good luck to Armin in his future endeavors. I am sure he will do well as he a multi talented young man.
There is more to life than skating. Best Wishes to you Armin. (I will miss your skating

)

noskates · Jun 5, 2013

golden411 said:
Not picking on you, but I really, really hate these kinds of comments. :disagree:

Giving up U.S. citizenship to represent another country is a major life decision of a highly personal nature -- which can have significant repercussions well beyond skating.
No matter how ambitious the skater is, changing one's nationality (esp. when Iran is the "new" country in question) is not a choice to be made lightly.

Just because certain athletes have made a switch does not mean that every individual would be comfortable doing so.

I have to agree with this. Changing your nationality so you have a better chance at GOING to a higher competition is pretty stupid, IMO. You're still going to be up against the same competition and still have the same chance - or no chance - of medaling. Then what do you do after you quit competition? Beg to be a US Citizen again? I don't know how these things work legally but I really think it shouldn't be allowed.

Good for Armin for knowing when to hang them up and moving on with his life. I think at one point he had alot of promise but the results never materialized. I'm happy for him that he has another road to take. I honestly wish some other skaters would come to this realization as well and move on......... I wish him luck in whatever he does.

Mahbanoozadeh: "I will not be competing this coming season or for the foreseeable future"

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Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!

merrywidow

clairecloutier

meem

Olympia

drivingmissdaisy

Skater Boy

blue_idealist

iluvtodd

Mathman

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pangtongfan

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Mathman

sky_fly20

Match Penalty

deedee1

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sky_fly20

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demarinis5

Gold for the Winter Prince!

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