Yulia Lipnitskaya: Olympic Thread | Golden Skate

Yulia Lipnitskaya: Olympic Thread

Mao88

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
New article in which Frank Carroll criticises Julia Lipnitskaya's PCS scores:-

Carroll also thinks that while wunderkind Lipnitskaia deservedly won the team free, the judges went a bit overboard with her program components scores, which include several 9's and 10's.

"There are things I like about that young lady's skating and things I don't like," he said. "I think she is absolutely wonderful at that age. I don't think she skates in between things (elements) like a total, mature skater.

"She was given some 10's for PCS, which is on par with [Patrick] Chan and everyone who has ever been. She's not there yet. I think she is excellent but not fabulous yet."

Disgraceful comments by Frank Carroll. This is blatant politicking, as it would suit both him and Gracie Gold absolutely fine if the judges started reducing Julia Lipnitskaya's PCS scores. Carroll should just get over it - Julia L is just a much better skater than Gracie Gold, and thoroughly deserved the PCS scores she received in the team event and at Europeans. The performances she has produced in relation to her Schindler's List free program have been stunning - artistry, expression, musicality, grace, elegance - the full package. The skater whose PCS scores looked a bit inflated, if anybodies were - were Gracie Golds. But was Frank criticising his own skaters scores? Of course not.

Frank Carroll's comments were completely irresponsible. He is the coach of another competitor who has a responsibility to keep his own thoughts to himself. To criticise another competitors scores before an upcoming competition is simply not on when they have a vested interest in the outcome. His comments can be construed as nothing other than blatant politicking - an attempt to talk down a competitors scores. I hope the Russian team lodge a full complaint with the ISU, as coaches should not be allowed to make remarks like this before such an important competition

For the record, Julia L received no 10's for her PCS scores.... Did not even get that right!
 

s_parks

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 25, 2013
I completely disagree with you. First of all, he was probably asked about her. Second of all, what he said was true and not rude or anything. Politicking? Please, he said she deserved to win, and it's not like what he says will matter how julia's scored in russia. So stop being bitter.
 

Mao88

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
I completely disagree with you. First of all, he was probably asked about her. Second of all, what he said was true and not rude or anything. Politicking? Please, he said she deserved to win, and it's not like what he says will matter how julia's scored in russia. So stop being bitter.

The person who is bitter is Carroll - that is why he is complaining. You are obviously very bitter as well.
 

Skater Boy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
And one could say the judges and the USA are going overboard on yet another pretty bottle blonde enhanced american princessy skater.
 

jcsamex

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
I understand what he implies but then again, the thing with Lipnitskaia's programs this season ( specially her LP) is that they're spectacularly tailored to disguise her weaknesses and portray her strenghts. In other words ( and aside I do think her PCS are somewhat higher than they should be), she skates her programs in the absolute greatest fashion a fifteen year old girl would possibly do (that I've seen anyway). If the skating world or coaches like Caroll aren't ready for another Tara to take gold at the Olympics, then the ISU shouldn't allow skaters under certain age to compete at such level so women over 20, 'mature skaters', win even if they're no longer at the top of their games technically speaking.

On the other hand, I think Mr. Caroll conveniently overlooks his pupil's PCS were considerably higher they should've been as she went through her program going from jumping pass to another, hitting stiff positions and looking pretty while skating slower than she had before. I have nothing against Gracie Gold, but her skating at this moment seems a little robotic to me ( though I do hope she becomes an artist in the future).

Having said that, I think this competition should be Kim's if she skates cleanly.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Well, I saw when Gracie's marks came up in the team FS Carroll looked supremely pissed. He had right reason to, as she didn't clear 130 in spite of a clean skate with both 3T combos.

Julia beat Gracie by over a whole point in all PCS categories except SS. Obviously Julia was going to be higher but that was a bit egregious. Of course, Julia didn't score any 10's as Carroll said.

As much as Carroll seems bitter, it must be terribly frustrating to have your star skater skate lights out and still be defeated by a whopping 12 points. And you know that discrepancy can only increase in the individual ladies' event.

For the record, I think Plushenko has been a lot more bitter about Lysacek winning Vancouver, so perhaps it's come full circle now that Carroll - thanks to a Russian - is on the receiving end of a really tough pill to swallow.
 

WeakAnkles

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 1, 2011
Well, I saw when Gracie's marks came up in the team FS Carroll looked supremely pissed. He had right reason to, as she didn't clear 130 in spite of a clean skate with both 3T combos.

Julia beat Gracie by over a whole point in all PCS categories except SS. Obviously Julia was going to be higher but that was a bit egregious. Of course, Julia didn't score any 10's as Carroll said.

As much as Carroll seems bitter, it must be terribly frustrating to have your star skater skate lights out and still be defeated by a whopping 12 points. And you know that discrepancy can only increase in the individual ladies' event.

For the record, I think Plushenko has been a lot more bitter about Lysacek winning Vancouver, so perhaps it's come full circle now that Carroll - thanks to a Russian - is on the receiving end of a really tough pill to swallow.


I'm not sure karma works that way ;), but if it does the human race and the universe need to have a longggggggggggggggggg talk.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
For the record, I think Plushenko has been a lot more bitter about Lysacek winning Vancouver, so perhaps it's come full circle now that Carroll - thanks to a Russian - is on the receiving end of a really tough pill to swallow.

he got what he deserved, probably got pissed Zhenya has OGM now
no way is Plushenko even remotely bitter now, he said already competing here he already won, a bronze in individuals will just be the icing ;)
 

jenm

The Last One Degree
Medalist
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
I don't think what he said was rude, bitter or politicking.

"There are things I like about that young lady's skating and things I don't like," he said. "I think she is absolutely wonderful at that age. I don't think she skates in between things (elements) like a total, mature skater.

"She was given some 10's for PCS, which is on par with [Patrick] Chan and everyone who has ever been. She's not there yet. I think she is excellent but not fabulous yet."

For me, he was just sharing what he thinks about Yulia's skating/performance. What he said was his observation and it's true. And probably what a lot of skating pros are thinking. Yulia's SS was like Chan's or other veterans like Mao, Carolina and Yuna but if you look at her skating again and you compare it to them, there's a huge degree of difference. AND he did praise Yulia. I also think she is a very talented girl and should have won against Gracie in the free though not by 12 pts. If she would have scored 1-3 pts ahead of Gracie it will be more real and less controversial I think.
 

vegarin

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 19, 2013
I completely disagree with you. First of all, he was probably asked about her. Second of all, what he said was true and not rude or anything. Politicking? Please, he said she deserved to win, and it's not like what he says will matter how julia's scored in russia.

Ditto.
 

FSGMT

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
:confused: I completely agree with what Frank said, I would actually say that his words were quite classy and polite, he just expressed his thoughts and said true things (even if she didn't receive 10s :p ): it was obvious that Julia's score was too high if compared to Gracie, even if everyone knew it would be...
 

Rachmaninoff

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
I completely agree with what he said (that Julia is wonderful for her age, but is not at the level where she can be awarded PCS 10s yet), and if that's what he thinks, he's under no obligation to keep mum about it. Why should he?

He may well be feeling a little bitter, he may well have politics and his own skater's fate on his mind, but the truth is still the truth regardless of his motivations for saying it. Doesn't make what he said false or reprehensible.
 

Poodlepal

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
And one could say the judges and the USA are going overboard on yet another pretty bottle blonde enhanced american princessy skater.

Blonde Haired Figure Skaters of the United States:
Tonya (92, 94), Rachael (10) Janet Lynn (72) Rosalynn and Elaine (84)


Light to Medium Brown Haired
Sasha(02, 06); Kimmie (06) Emily (06) Sarah (02) Tara (98) Peggy (68) Dorothy (76)

Dark haired Caucasians
Nancy (92, 94) Linda (80)

Skaters of "Color"
Michelle (98, 02) [/B] (10) Debi (88) Kristi (92) Mirai (10) Tiffany (84)

Yes, your comment is very sound, as you can see. We have all seen the incredible support given to Tonya and Rachael Flatt over the years. It's not like one's ex-husband had to beat someone to get her on the Olympic team, or another one is the only one fined for skating on a broken leg. :laugh:

Unless you are counting brunettes with highlights (arguably Tara and Sarah) in your data, the last blonde haired American to win a medal was Rosalynn Sumner, 30 years ago. The group that has done the best medal-wise is the group of Asians (and I included Debi in there as well) and dark-haired white girls.
 

Poodlepal

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
I always find it interesting when some people say it's always fair if an American loses, if an American complains about losing, it's terrible, but it's fair and wonderful if someone from another country does the same.

Plushenko in 2010 did a boring skate with a quad and some jumps at a time when "transitions" were in. It could've gone either way, and if Plushenko is that angry and bitter, it says something about his state of mind.

Julia spins a lot better than Gracie and her program was more interesting. She deserved to win--maybe not by 12 points, I'll grant you--but the judging at that event was fair, for once. If Frank is really all that bitter, it says something about his state of mine.
 

caelum

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 8, 2013
I think Yulia should justly win PCS over Gracie, though Gracie should be scoring quite a bit higher on skating skills and their transitions scores should probably be more comparable. But there is no denying Yulia's PCS was insane (whereas I'd say Gracie's was fair) - they are setting her up to pull over 70 in the FS, which is absurd when you look at what normally receives a 70 or above.

I don't mind Frank Carroll calling this out. Somebody within the skating community needs to criticize the ridiculous judging, it's just I think this was a stupid move and could hurt Gracie. You don't want to create bad blood between Gracie and the judges. Even if the judges do not intentionally punish her, unconscious bias matters.
 

Chemistry66

Mmmmm, tacos.
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
I don't find Carroll calling out the scoring WHILE agreeing that Julia deservedly won bad at all. He's not criticizing her or her placement. Just the actual scoring by the judges.
 

caseyl23

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 29, 2005
New article in which Frank Carroll criticises Julia Lipnitskaya's PCS scores:-

Frank Carroll's comments were completely irresponsible. He is the coach of another competitor who has a responsibility to keep his own thoughts to himself. To criticise another competitors scores before an upcoming competition is simply not on when they have a vested interest in the outcome. His comments can be construed as nothing other than blatant politicking - an attempt to talk down a competitors scores. I hope the Russian team lodge a full complaint with the ISU, as coaches should not be allowed to make remarks like this before such an important competition

For the record, Julia L received no 10's for her PCS scores.... Did not even get that right!

Wrong – Frank Carroll's job, as Gracie Gold's coach is to do everything he can to position Gracie Gold as well as he can. If he is politicking for her, there's nothing wrong with that – you can bet your bottom dollar the coaches of Yu-Na Kim, Mao Asada, Carolina Kostner, Ashley Wagner, Adelina Sotnikova and (believe it or not) Julia Lipnitskaia are doing exactly the same thing. If he wasn't politicking for Gracie, you could almost argue he wasn't doing his job as her coach.
The question is, is he really politicking against Julia? Personally, I don't think anything said or done at this level is done by accident, but if he is, this is a very subtle way of doing it. Yes, she's great, yes, there are parts of her skating I like, but she's 15 – she's not there yet? If he'd really wanted to call the judges out, there are much stronger ways of doing it than the words he chose. Goodness, we see stronger words than that on this forum every day!
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
ITA with Frank said and he said in a respectful, nice way. I would have been more blunt.:laugh:
 
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