Ted Barton interviews Eteri Tutberidze

pearly said:

You really should, though. Yes, they're catty, but if you can get past that, they are down to the point about so many things. I do not agree with everything they say and someone on this board will remember I was also very much like you a year ago, but they say things other people who cover skating ignore or pretend are not happening.

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Agreed and they’re positive in their own way. If they analyse and comment on what a skater did wrong they always try to come up with solutions, which is better than most fans.

Also I understand their issue with Ted. I haven’t watched the new TLS video but once they said the more positive he is but less specific it mean you had a bad skate.

There is a place for positivity and I respect Ted for being that person in fs. It’s needed. That said I wouldn’t want him to become a full time interviewer because sometimes you need to push for the hard questions and difficult answers.

solani said:

I actually don't think she was trolling anyone when she said "Boitano". I believe that this was a honest answer.


Regarding the little TSL discussion - I would enjoy a TSL Eteri interview very much, I guess we all would, but we know that it won't happen ...
I listen to TSL from time to time, but I do enjoy to listen to different opinions, hearing my own believes repeated is boring. I don't agree with TSL's view on TUE's f.e.. Not everything one is allowed to take is morally acceptable imo. And decent journalists, no matter their own backround, should cover those topics critically in any case. But they are often fun, interesting and only sometimes a little mean on purpose, also to keep their programs interesting I guess.

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Sorry, what is TUE's f.e.?

pearly said:

Sorry, what is TUE's f.e.?

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Sorry, I should've written "Therapeutic Use Exemptions". I was refering to the fact that they strongly criticized Russian athletes like Tuktamysheva for taking a drug called Meldonium, when it was still allowed to take it, but are perfectly fine with U.S. athletes like Simone Biles taking ADHD medication like Adderall or Ritalin even in competition with a Therapeutic Use Exemption.

pearly said:

Sorry, what is TUE's f.e.?

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Therapeutic Use Exemptions (for example)

Like how some athletes use ADHD medication without their opponents knowing it because they have a doctors note. They become exempt from the rule that bans those specific drugs because of the therapeutic benefit is deemed “necessary” for the athlete to compete. Sometimes it’s just cough medicine or certain steroids to recover from surgery. That type of stuff.

I can’t imagine TSL have much credibility on the matter but I’d imagine they still have plenty to say on it.

DSQ said:

… That said I wouldn’t want him to become a full time interviewer because sometimes you need to push for the hard questions and difficult answers.

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To state the obvious: Ted interviewed Eteri for the ISU JGP channel.
Ted is not an independent journalist. (I know that you did not say that he is, DSQ.)

IMO, it would be silly/unrealistic for TSL (or anyone else) to expect Ted -- representing the ISU JGP channel -- to conduct the same type of an interview that an independent journalist would/could.

DSQ said:

… There is a place for positivity and I respect Ted for being that person in fs. It’s needed. …

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:agree:

Alexz said:

I almost fell off my chair at the "Brian Boitano" moment. This was a playful jab by Eteri, although such a precise delivery, a cold-blooded strike right into the heart. Is it bad if I say what I wholeheartedly laughed a bit? Gotta appreciate her pokerface wit. Part of me wanted to scream: "oh, thats so cold, c'mon, dont do that, this is a bloody murder!" and the other part of me actually surprisingly enjoined that. Such an elegant trolling by her. +6 GOE, mos def.

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Eteri knows what she does. This was just a clever demonstration of it once again.

vesperalvioletta said:

I allowed myself to get suckered into watching TSL's take on this interview in the latest episode of This and That, and [emoji849] I get that they don't like Ted Barton, but knowing how he is as a commentator, did they really expect him to hit Eteri with hardball questions? I don't understand why they feel the need to go after someone who's made the most well-known part of their career supporting junior skaters in a way that is constructive and encouraging. Its shallow and catty. Rant over.

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I get where they stand, i've also wondered myself if there was a need to be that emotional for an interview, but that is Ted's way, that's fine, i don't understand the point of calling "BS" the whole thing, since at the end of the day interviews with Eteri in english are so rare, so even if you didn't like it, it's still informative.

I did think it was irresponsible of Ted to say her skaters don't get injured. Even if it was a puff interview, you shouldn't come in saying things that are blatantly wrong.

theharleyquinn said:

I did think it was irresponsible of Ted to say her skaters don't get injured. Even if it was a puff interview, you shouldn't come in saying things that are blatantly wrong.

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Indeed. And it's not like Ted Barton is absolutely clueless about figure skating. He is a former competitive figure skater, so while he is indeed a very nice man (from what I can tell), what he said re: injuries was blatantly incorrect and he should be called out for it. If you put any more tape on Alina Zagitova's legs, she'd become a mummy.

theharleyquinn said:

I did think it was irresponsible of Ted to say her skaters don't get injured. Even if it was a puff interview, you shouldn't come in saying things that are blatantly wrong.

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Did he really say that? I must have missed that part but then again, I didn‘t watch it with full concentration. That‘s a really irresponsible thing to say.

vesperalvioletta said:

I allowed myself to get suckered into watching TSL's take on this interview in the latest episode of This and That, and [emoji849] I get that they don't like Ted Barton, but knowing how he is as a commentator, did they really expect him to hit Eteri with hardball questions? I don't understand why they feel the need to go after someone who's made the most well-known part of their career supporting junior skaters in a way that is constructive and encouraging. Its shallow and catty. Rant over.

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IMO "shallow and catty" are perfect nicknames for those 2.

Fluture said:

Did he really say that? I must have missed that part but then again, I didn‘t watch it with full concentration. That‘s a really irresponsible thing to say.

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Yes, he did. He used it to lead into a question of how she manages training given that her skaters don't get injured. I don't think TSL was hamming that up. Eteri really did look taken aback a bit.

Eteri attended GP Helsinki with Alina the week before her mother died. She flew back as soon as the competition ended, much earlier than Alina and her other coach, because her mother was dying. The week after her mother died, Eteri was at GP Russia, all in black, but she was there.

Anyone who says Eteri doesn't care about her skaters either doesn't know her, or is willfully closing their eyes to what they don't want to see. Eteri cares deeply. She also cares for their success, unlike the critics who keep attacking her and them online.

theharleyquinn said:

Yes, he did. He used it to lead into a question of how she manages training given that her skaters don't get injured. I don't think TSL was hamming that up. Eteri really did look taken aback a bit.

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Oh, Ted. I love your commentating but that is... dear god. As if he‘d forgotten Zhenya and Yulia and then Anna and now Alina who‘s taped up, too. I mean, every coach has athletes that get injured, that‘s normal and obvious, so that‘s a dumb question in the first place. I can imagine Eteri sitting there, thinking: “Okay, my dear Canadian man are you kidding me or are you being serious?“

I really ought to watch that one again. I watched it at the end of my lunch break and had to skip a few things so I kinda only got the main part.

I won‘t forgive TSL for being so mean to Ted, though. No need for that. It‘s okay to not like him but just be respectful at least. :disapp:

I just went back and watched that part of the interview again, and Ted says, specifically about the quad girls, that he's never seen them injured. That's when Eteri steps in and goes, "No, no, no," as if to say well that's certainly not the case, and he adds, "I don't know, maybe they are."

zenskate said:

Eteri attended GP Helsinki with Alina the week before her mother died. She flew back as soon as the competition ended, much earlier than Alina and her other coach, because her mother was dying. The week after her mother died, Eteri was at GP Russia, all in black, but she was there.

Anyone who says Eteri doesn't care about her skaters either doesn't know her, or is willfully closing their eyes to what they don't want to see. Eteri cares deeply. She also cares for their success, unlike the critics who keep attacking her and them online.

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No one says Eteri doesn‘t care. It’s actually very obvious that she does care. The main point was that Ted said her athletes don’t get injuries which is for obvious reasons just not true at all. Every coach has skaters who have injuries and especially Anna has already missed her first junior season due to a broken leg and Ted knows that so I really don‘t get how he could say something like this.

And I agree Eteri isn‘t the monster she‘s being made up to be by some part of the media and commentators and journalists. But she‘s also not an angel which is very obvious from various interviews she‘s given in the past. And the way she yelled at Alina during the ice and fame documentary also wasn‘t particularly nice either, the girl was already in tears. She‘s made many mistakes with students before. All in all she‘s a human being with an attitude to work and training that I partly understand but partly can only shake my head at. But that‘s okay, I don‘t have to agree with everything she does after all.

And I do think she knows what she‘s doing. The Brian Boitano part was a very obvious and deliberate jab. It was cruel but clever and effective. That‘s what I agree with TSL on, that woman knows what she‘s doing and there‘s a reason she managed to build up success from literally nothing. Thinking something else would be more than naive.

What I don‘t agree on is that they paint her as this cunning creature that has no emotions at all and cried on command to get sympathy. I do think the emotions she showed about her mother were genuine. How couldn’t they? She is still a human being after all and her mom was dying. I can say out of experience, it‘s a terrible time when one of your parents is dying and I can‘t imagine how hard it must have been for Eteri to not be able to be there with her. And yes, sometimes the emotions overcome you at the weirdest of times, in an interview even when you wouldn‘t expect it. That‘s not surprising and for TSL to use that to show her as the strategizing mastermind who even uses her dying mother to gain sympathy is beyond cruel. Even if it was the case... you don‘t just suggest something like that. Maybe that‘s just me but there is a red line that can‘t be crossed. And discussing whether one‘s feelings about a dying parent are true or not is one of them. You just don‘t do that.

Whoa - they accused Eteri of manipulating her emotions?
And in such a short period after her mother passed away????

Well, that doesn't surprise me either.

I'm going to "speculate" as they like to do so much.

This may be the worst case of "Eteri Derangement Syndrome" I have ever seen.

C'mon boys, there are valid things you can criticize her on.
Now she's "in your heads"!!!!

lesnar001 said:

Whoa - they accused Eteri of manipulating her emotions?
And in such a short period after her mother passed away????

Well, that doesn't surprise me either.

I'm going to "speculate" as they like to do so much.

This may be the worst case of "Eteri Derangement Syndrome" I have ever seen.

C'mon boys, there are valid things you can criticize her on.
Now she's "in your heads"!!!!

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They only mentioned it shortly but one of them said something like: “There are a few skating fans who initially liked everything. They were like: ‘Oh, it’s so good!‘ And I was like (rolling his eyes): why, because she cried on command?“

It was an off-hand comment and they didn‘t go into detail but they did say it and even though it was just such a short comment it bothered me the most. Paint her as the strategizing mastermind all you want but don‘t mess with dying parents and feelings towards dying parents. That‘s kind of a sensitive spot for me.

Minute 5:40-5:45 it was, just watched it again. Like I said, it was a short comment and very off-hand but still...

you know what, forget it, some people will never learn.

Ambivalent said:

This was a cringy, horrendous interview with more platitudes than critical analysis. I get that Ted is not an independent journalist, and invariably any interview he does will veer towards this, but you can still be polite and have a darn thinking cap on.

For all the beauty in the skating of a lot of Eteri's skaters, I am not willing to overlook the fact that Trusova and Scherbakova look as though their pelvises will shatter the moment they fall from the many quad attempts that do not go well. Or the fact that Yulia sought urgent help for an eating disorder from being mired in a culture of unhealthy body image standards and therefore dangerous eating habits. Or the clear psychological abuse hurled at Alina Zagitova during a documentary, where the poor girl had tried her heart out but failed to impress her coaches.

We should not be so hungry for success so as to jeopardize the bodies and minds of these young girls. I am going to be attacked for this post, but the truth is the truth, no matter how successful one is perceived to be.

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:agree: