Yagudin: "I am dying from boredom skating in the shows&

Re: Translation

I guess Yagudin will truly become a legend. He has the titles, some records in the sport, the 'historical' unsucess regarding Russian nationals (legends always have a big unsuccess too)... And everything he says is analyzed to death.
I'm a fan, so you already know where I start from.

Opinion on this article (and similar others I've read with the same subject).
I think he wants to compete too badly, is tired of doing a tour for months. Bad side of how he said it: his castmates won't be cheering with what he said and given SOI is in sort of a transition year and he's the headliner, I'm sure they won't like his comments. I know I wouldn't. Also, don't really see where audiences lose. The guy is injured. If he didn't want to skate he wouldn't. He also does 3 solo numbers and he wouldn't need to because Kurt has filled once or twice for him in one in the first shows, apparently because of his hip. If you want to see how comitted he is with the audiences, go to SOI and see for yourself. Or read reviews around the Web, there are plenty of them and in many different boards.

On the whole thread.
I don't get it. If you feel offended by what he says, then say it and explain your point. Now if you're criticizing him just because his PR is not good and audiences will not like him... the regular skating fan doesn't read message boards or interviews from skaters. They just watch the show. Only us, big figure skating fans read articles and interviews. But we are (or shoul be) smart enough to go beyond *how* skaters express themselves, looking instead to *what* they want to express. Don't we want/ like to analyze opinions? Then analyze opinions and not how skaters express them. If I want to read/ hear good PR politics has much more interesting stuff than skating.

Regarding Michelle.
Yagudin has been known for making comments over the years on how he enjoys her skating and roots for her in competitions. He's said just about anything, from saying that he wanted her to win in Nagano, he hoped she would win in SLC, that she was pretty... Whatever. I have to say I laughed out loud when someone posted this was just to capture NA audiences! So, he doesn't care with how he expresses his opinions, which can cause controversy and 'make him lose fans' (which I think rarely happens, instead just gives food for the non-fans to use against him), but he tries to get those fans by praising Michelle? :lol: That one was funny. I'm sure Canadians (who prefer pairs and male skating) love him because he praises Michelle, an American. LOL! Hey, I bet if he said he wanted Irina to win last year people would say "It's just because she's Russian". Oh well. Also, I didn't really understand what liking Michelle's skating has to do with finding disrespectful that she closed a show instead of him? I must be reaally slooooow because I don't understand how's he bashing Michelle just because he thought he had the right to close a show, instead of her, something that is definitely not decided by skaters, and not certainly by Michelle.

Edited by Moderator.

Re: Yagudin interview

<<Patinage. I too stand up & Cheer those who did not retire. But, in alexei case. His health comes ( or should) come 1st. otherwise, he won't make it to 2006.>>

I'm not sure that we are on the same "wave lenght". I was refering to the Olympic gold medalists that turned pro, because they had injuries already and knew that further competition would only agravate them.

Many of these are the ones being criticized for "cashing in", and they shouldn't be.

If Alexei wants to exchange his health for more gold medals, is certainly his right.

Maria

NO!

I think he is being honest...he is mentally made up for competition and doesn't get that from the shows. Was your only purpose in putting this quote here to make an attack on a skater? And why did you only post THAT comment, and not the entire interview? Nothing sounds like "schmuck" like something taken OUT of context.

Kasey

Re: Yagudin interview

<em>I think that he was being honest. He was made for competition. He was in Pain back in december, way before the GPF, European Nationals, & the Olympics. But, not knowing what it was. He just kept skating. I just hope that he listens to the doctors & take their advice. I want to see Alexei skating at the next olympics. But, even he has stated himself, all the quads & triple triple takes a toll on the body. That is why we are seeing so many injuries today.

But, as everyone knows, what he is saying in the article. He wants to compete again. Sitting on the sidelines while watching his touring mates practice. & he only being able to give part of himself while he performs. Not being able to go all out. That boars him. It is like the Smartest kid in the whole school is in a slower class. & has been forced to move at a slower pace. What happens to those kids. they get board. Nothing offensive, no inslut. He is just limited on what he can do. Could he have said it better. YES but, he is frustrated not knowing how his hip will holdup. So he just blurts out how he feels. How heartless of him, only thinking of his health </em>

Re: The article of Yagudin dying from boredom

Russian Fan, I thank you for your translations and hope that you will continue making translations of Russian skaters articles.

I´ll join those who would like to read the translation of this whole Yagudin article, please. Unless of course if it is very long and takes a lot of time for you to translate?

Marjaana

Re: Yagudin interview

I gave up worrying about what athletes say a long time ago.
No sports figure has ever spoken more eloquently or unpopularly than Muhammed Ali. Now he's a legend and remembered more for his ability than anything else.
Yagudin has a great public relations team--I'm sure they can handle any problems.
Anyone notice that the ABC coverage of the world's he got mentioned more for not being there than many of the other top skaters who were there? That's great PR.
And about the injury, there's no guarantee that rest and medical attention will "fix" it. If he continues to skate in competitions he may win and get lots of exposure, lots of money, lots of chicks and he has a bad hip--if he "retires" from competition, he's a retired skater who maybe gets to coach and he still has a bad hip. Either way--by 30 his butt's going to hurt.Gee--what would you do?

Article

The interview is really quite lengthy and, Kasey, I just don't have time to translate the whole thing. So I translated a small part of what I thought was something people could comment on. In fact, if you wish to have the full interview you can purchase it (I provided the link) and then translate it yourself or with someone's assistance.

I have online subscriptions to many Russian media outlets but I can't post the whole original article due to copyright requirements. I thought about posting a large chunk of it here as a Russian text so maybe someone else would translate that, but for some reason when I paste the text the Cyrillic characters don't come out. I'll try to do it anyway.

Many thanks to everyone who appreciated my effort.

Re: Yagudin interview

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thanks for the article it was very interesting
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