Czisny preparing for one last run at Olympic glory | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Czisny preparing for one last run at Olympic glory

karlowens2

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 6, 2012
What about her health?

This...

Czisny doesn't want to give up and that's cool, I can understand that...

Nothing wrong with trying but it's all easier said than done. Even at her best she'd be fighting for it, battling her own nerves too but as is, she has a tough road ahead. It's easier with a 3rd spot but there are at least 4 other girls in better shape than she is who want one of those spots. We shall see...

No one sems concerned here about Alicia´s health. I don´t think she should continue. The damage that is done precludes her from ever having the strength to do the difficulty needed. She is setting herself up for another catastrophic injury. I´m 62 and have too many friends who are seriously imparied phsically because of severe sports injuries in their youth. She´a beautiful skater, but I hate to see her lose her mobility at 50 becuase of this.
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
OK, while we're assigning SA spots, how about Samantha Cesario? I doubt either Rachael or Alissa will be skating better than Samantha.

Samantha is no longer eligible for the JGP, and did better at JR Worlds than Hicks, which would be the most recent competition for both.
I agree! :clap: I have already suggested her name months ago: I think this would be a great occasion to give her an opportunity to present herself to the "big" skating world, and she really deserves it!
 

tulosai

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
No one sems concerned here about Alicia´s health. I don´t think she should continue. The damage that is done precludes her from ever having the strength to do the difficulty needed. She is setting herself up for another catastrophic injury. I´m 62 and have too many friends who are seriously imparied phsically because of severe sports injuries in their youth. She´a beautiful skater, but I hate to see her lose her mobility at 50 becuase of this.

I'm concerned about her health but I don't think it's any of my business. Sometimes when athletes are doing something blatantly risky I speak up about it, but she is attempting a slow comeback under what we have to assume is a doctor's supervision. I'm not her, I'm not her doctor, and I am not a friend or family member. If she wants to risk it, she is an adult and it is her body and her life. Only she knows if the risk is worth it to her. It is all well to sit here and say she shouldn't do it because of her health (and really, looked at logically, I agree with you, she shouldn't) but it's another to actually be her and to weigh the costs and benefits on many levels, having literally been training your whole life for an Olympics. She may well think it is worth it to have tried even if something catestrophic happens, and as an adult in America she has the right to think that and to carry on.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
No one sems concerned here about Alicia´s health. I don´t think she should continue. The damage that is done precludes her from ever having the strength to do the difficulty needed. She is setting herself up for another catastrophic injury. I´m 62 and have too many friends who are seriously imparied phsically because of severe sports injuries in their youth. She´a beautiful skater, but I hate to see her lose her mobility at 50 becuase of this.

You know, I don't disagree with you- but at the same time, it's her body, her choice...she will be the one to live with the consequences of her actions so to speak.
 

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
i agree! :clap: I have already suggested her name months ago: I think this would be a great occasion to give her an opportunity to present herself to the "big" skating world, and she really deserves it!

yes! I LOVE Samantha's skating.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
OK, while we're assigning SA spots, how about Samantha Cesario? I doubt either Rachael or Alissa will be skating better than Samantha.

Samantha is no longer eligible for the JGP, and did better at JR Worlds than Hicks, which would be the most recent competition for both.

Um yes Sam should totally get the spot. She is way more consistent with her jumps than Czisny ever was and it seems like Czisny is still in the recovery stages. I really hope she doesn't get passed over for the spot unless Alissa is totally healed and shows she has all her jumps back at at least one summer competition. Really, it's pretty impressive that with 1 UR in the SP and 4 URs in the FS, Sam still was 4th at JW and was only beaten by the 3 Russian girls who are so strong technically. I also thought she easily could have been marked/placed higher at Nationals (like 6th ahead of Siraj...)
 

Jammers

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Country
United-States
Is Cesario really more consistent though since she's prone to URs? Landing the jumps is not enough if they aren't rotated.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Is Cesario really more consistent though since she's prone to URs? Landing the jumps is not enough if they aren't rotated.

The URs seemed much improved the past 2 seasons save Junior Worlds. I think they are sort of hit-or-miss. She usually skates clean freeskates though.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Welcome, karlowens2. Thanks for joining us. Post often, post long! :rock:

A provocative thought. I tend to agree. There is life after skating, as there is life after any sports career. But it's hard to get young people to listen to what they don't want to hear.
 
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plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
No one sems concerned here about Alicia´s health. I don´t think she should continue. The damage that is done precludes her from ever having the strength to do the difficulty needed. She is setting herself up for another catastrophic injury. I´m 62 and have too many friends who are seriously imparied phsically because of severe sports injuries in their youth. She´a beautiful skater, but I hate to see her lose her mobility at 50 becuase of this.

Athletes are thinking differently. Do you remember Hermann Maier alias Herminator? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ULDafZqpsM
He won the gold medal in the giant slalom and Super-G at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, only a few days after a dramatic crash in the downhill race.
His racing career nearly ended following a near-fatal motorcycle accident in August 2001; he collided with a car on his way home from a summer training session in Austria. Doctors nearly amputated his lower right leg, but instead Maier underwent massive reconstructive surgery. Most believed his racing career was over, and he had to sit out the 2002 season, missing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He returned to international competition in January 2003 in Adelboden, Switzerland. Just two weeks later, he shocked the skiing world with an amazing Super-G victory in Kitzbühel.

In 2004, his first full season back, he reclaimed both the Super-G and overall titles, a feat widely seen as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
You're right, plushyfan. Athletes think differently. Much as we'd like to keep our favorite skaters in protective wrapping, they would probably rather throw themselves into competition, even if it does damage at some unspecified future date. Certainly your favorite, Plushy, is an example of this. I think it's an integral part of their character.

Golly, I'd forgotten about Hermann Meier's comeback. It is a breathtaking story, isn't it.
 

b-man

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 25, 2010
Athletes are thinking differently. Do you remember Hermann Maier alias Herminator? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ULDafZqpsM
He won the gold medal in the giant slalom and Super-G at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, only a few days after a dramatic crash in the downhill race.
He might have won the downhill at Nagano as well if the organizers hadn't changed the course due to fog without giving the skiers a chance to do a practice run on the revised course.
 

leafygreens

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
I also think Sasha had a better grasp of what was going on with her body than Czisny sometimes seems to- she took a lot of crap on many forums with people accusing her of her comeback being fake etc when she dropped out of the GP, but really, in retrospect, it's pretty clear she understood what her body was telling her and listened to it. She also was ready for nationals- she didn't skate well enough to make the team, but she did skate well enough to earn 4th (and not controversially either) which is no real shame. It remains to be seen whether Alyssa can really understand what her body is telling her and make herself as ready as she can within those parameters. I certainly hope so (and as a fan of hers I mean that with all my heart), but the past doesn't bode well. on that count

Either way, time will tell.

It is not fair to say Alissa does "not know her body." She waited a very long time after having the surgery until she finally competed. Originally it was only supposed to be four months but she withdrew from the November competition because she was not ready. I think that she listened to her body that time. Nobody else can say what she is feeling.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
^ It's one thing to be fit enough to get on the ice again, but a whole different story to get back to being competitive at the top level...
 

skateluvr

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2011
Ugh, watching her compete is pure torture. beautiful skater, cannot compete. She waits so long before jumping, from fear, there is no way she can get the job done. Perfect princess, adorable but never ever gonna compete, and no way should she get an Olympic spot over Wags, goldie, or at 3 other skaters.
 

leafygreens

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
^ It's one thing to be fit enough to get on the ice again, but a whole different story to get back to being competitive at the top level...

I agree but that doesn't mean Alissa was wrong to be skating, just because she wasn't at the level of a national champion yet. It was supposed to be 4 months to be back on the ice to practice. Alissa waited almost 7 months to compete. That is 3 extra months that she thought was long enough to be ready. There's a huge gap between that and her "not listening to her body."

Alissa obviously did not feel injured if she was ready to compete in Appleton with two complete programs. She did not hurt herself training before that time. The dislocation could have been a fluke. If she had a bad landing where her blade stuck in the ice wrong and her hip rotated, it would be easy for it to be dislocated. Nobody should say that she shouldn't have competed or continue to compete because one flukey thing happened to her. She was clearly fit enough to train the programs in the first place.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Alissa obviously did not feel injured if she was ready to compete in Appleton with two complete programs. She did not hurt herself training before that time. The dislocation could have been a fluke. If she had a bad landing where her blade stuck in the ice wrong and her hip rotated, it would be easy for it to be dislocated. Nobody should say that she shouldn't have competed or continue to compete because one flukey thing happened to her. She was clearly fit enough to train the programs in the first place.

Any skater can have a rough landing on a jump, but how many skaters have you heard of who dislocated a hip during a club competition? I know I haven't heard of any, except Alissa Czisny. I don't think the dislocation was a fluke: she dislocated the same hip on which she'd had surgery 7 months previously. She may have felt as if she had healed, but obviously her hip was still in a delicate condition, and it took a second surgery to repair the damage.

Alissa also had claimed she didn't feel pain during the period leading up to Worlds 2012, when she had a bad performance at a "B" event, followed by a disastrous pair of performances at Worlds 2012. She only knew that her jumps weren't working. So it doesn't seem as if Alissa's mind is in tune with her body.
 
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