Irina's interview ....

eyria said:

Michelle Kwan, Sarah Hughes, and Kristi Yamaguchi have always projected exactly the desired image of an American female athlete, and that has certainly been no small factor in their popularity, I think. Tara Lipinski, on the other hand, was never able to really disguise her less "ladylike" qualities--mainly, her incredible ambition, her ferocious competitiveness, and her rather frank desire to cash in on her success. As a result, when the American public had the choice of adopting her or Michelle as their current skating princess in 1998, it was no contest. Michelle won the hearts of the public not just on the basis of her skating, but also because of her personality and image.

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You hit the nail on the head with Tara. Though I think that the press was less in love with Tara and built up Michelle verses the regular person. There were lots of parents who wanted their daughters to be like Tara and lots of little girls who wanted to emulate Tara as well after her win. I don't see that same reaction about Sarah (though many parents probably want their kids to attend an ivy like Sarah). As for Tara's desire to cash in, in light of her injury, it was the smartest thing to do and it was probably a decision MK would have made as well had she had the same injury. Other skaters like Naomi Nari Nam weren't as fortunate to capitalize on their skating before injury took hold of their careers.

chuckm said:

Irina has a chronic disease, vasculitis, for which she takes the powerful drug prednisone.

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My MIL took this drug for ashma and got kinda addited to it because of the burst of energy it gave her. She would not go without her "treatment", as she called it, weather she was having an attack or not. She got very nervous if it was close to her treatment time and she couldn't plug her machine in. I agree this medicine is not good for a person in more ways than one. But after watching Irina skate I wonder when she takes her medication before a competition and if it gives her an unfair boost of energy. It is hard to tell she has any kind of sickness when I watch her skate. I don't want to start a war but since my MIL took the same medicine, and my observation of her reaction to it, I've wondered about peoples discription of prednisone and if they know anyone taking this drug.

Peggy said:

My MIL took this drug for ashma and got kinda addited to it because of the burst of energy it gave her. She would not go without her "treatment", as she called it, weather she was having an attack or not. She got very nervous if it was close to her treatment time and she couldn't plug her machine in. I agree this medicine is not good for a person in more ways than one. But after watching Irina skate I wonder when she takes her medication before a competition and if it gives her an unfair boost of energy. It is hard to tell she has any kind of sickness when I watch her skate. I don't want to start a war but since my MIL took the same medicine, and my observation of her reaction to it, I've wondered about peoples discription of prednisone and if they know anyone taking this drug.

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You might get flamed for this post but considering how poorly she skated at Euros and that they were reducing her dosage, maybe the drug is giving her a boost of some sort.

I don't think Irina gets any 'burst of energy' from her medication. I have known people on corticosteroids for serious illnesses, and believe me they HATED to have to take the drugs because it made them feel awful. If Irina did not take the medication, she'd go back to having swollen and very painful hands and feet and she wouldn't be able to skate at all.

I have seen pictures of Irina at Europeans, and you already can see that the puffiness in back in her face now that she is on heavier dosages.

Soogar, Irina had been tapering off the drugs and was on very light dosages during the GP, when she had her best skates. But she started feeling ill late in December, and the doctors had to put her back on heavy dosages. The skates after that, at Russian Nationals and Europeans, weren't good at all compared to what she'd been doing earlier in the year.

I know Irina was looking forward to being off the drugs for good, and this was a setback.

soogar said:

You might get flamed for this post but considering how poorly she skated at Euros and that they were reducing her dosage, maybe the drug is giving her a boost of some sort.

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It was the other way around. The doctors increased her dosage prior to Euros. So the idea that the drug is giving her a boost cannot be justified with this competition.

My sister took prednisone for years. It didn't give her energy, it just made her gain weight, and be bloated, two side effects that are anything but helpful to Irina at this time.

My sister took prednisone for years. It didn't give her energy, it just made her gain weight, and be bloated, two side effects that are anything but helpful to Irina at this time.

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Did you sister breathe this drug through a machine. I don't know if there are different forms of this drug but my MIL's was inhaled through a breathing machine and it definately gave her a boost of energy. She had no bloating and she only felt bad if she didn't do her treatment.
I have no idea how Irina takes this drug but I am curious about it because of my MIL's reaction to it.

Some information about Corticosteroids and asthma from Columbia University.

Corticosteroids as inhaled or oral agents work as anti-inflammatory drugs promoting symptoms control. Inhaled steroids are important for prophylactic control of moderate to severe asthma and largely spare the patient the systemic side effects of oral prednisone. Inhaled steroids are used to facilitate the withdrawal of oral steroids, and can also be used to control exacerbations.



It is important to explain to patients that the peak effect of inhaled steroids ranges from 6 to 10 hours after use, and that there may be no immediately appreciable benefits. The effects of steroids are dose-dependent. With higher doses, side effects increase.

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Piel said:

Some information about Corticosteroids and asthma from Columbia University.

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I found this on an ashma site.

Many people also find that oral steroids, independent of their effect on breathing, give a powerful boost of energy—for a short while.

For anyone who wants to read it for themselves--its here.
http://www.asthma.partners.org/NewFiles/OralSteroids.html

soogar said:

You hit the nail on the head with Tara. Though I think that the press was less in love with Tara and built up Michelle verses the regular person. There were lots of parents who wanted their daughters to be like Tara and lots of little girls who wanted to emulate Tara as well after her win. I don't see that same reaction about Sarah (though many parents probably want their kids to attend an ivy like Sarah). As for Tara's desire to cash in, in light of her injury, it was the smartest thing to do and it was probably a decision MK would have made as well had she had the same injury. Other skaters like Naomi Nari Nam weren't as fortunate to capitalize on their skating before injury took hold of their careers.

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Tara got a lot of press paid for by her father. A news show was interupted to say that the 12 year old landed 3 triples. That too was paid for by her father. There is no secret here. It may be true that MK got it free, but I just don't know. I know when Tara won the Olys, the newspapers had her picture on page 1 in all the newpapers in NYC, and the writeups were "America's newest Sweeheart. She got good news coverage.

What happened was that the fans of MK didn't switch allegiance.

Joe

Peggy said:

I found this on an ashma site.

Many people also find that oral steroids, independent of their effect on breathing, give a powerful boost of energy—for a short while.

For anyone who wants to read it for themselves--its here.
http://www.asthma.partners.org/NewFiles/OralSteroids.html

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Thanks for the link. I was rather confused by different posters on several boards, they all claimed having taken the medicine themselves. On short term result, most complain about the unpleasant side effects, but also quite a few saying which gave them the feeling of "Well being" and "better than ever". On long term result all of them claim to be having serious bad side effects. Seems different body having different reaction to the medecine.

I was on Prednisone for a month in Sept. I hated it. It made me so hungry and bloated. My angular face turned into a beachball. I could not stand direct sunlight. I could not sleep. It made me moody. My tennis game suffered a lot. My classroom teaching was very manic. When I was taken off the stuff, I had temporary diabetes. I have been taking carticosteriods for years for my asthma. My doctor raised the dosage in October. I started to get heart palpitations. Another doctor lowered the dosage and put me on Singulair. I'm better now. I do not think there would be any advantage at all to taking any of this stuff for an athlete other than helping control a medical condition. Therefore I think Irina is not going to benefit athletically if she is back on higher dosages. If anything, it will hurt her.

I think all the differing opinions and stories on the effects of taking steroids just confrims what any doctor will tell you, which is that medicine will affect people in different ways.

Prednisone...

Another side effect of Prednisone use can be massive mood swings...

Welcome to the forum, Terry. Thanks for joining in. I hope you like it here.

Mathman

Piel said:

Some information about Corticosteroids and asthma from Columbia University.

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Piel, IIRC you were so against people sharing their own experience with illness, at least re: shingles. What changed your opininion about prednisone this time?

Glad to posters are sharing their own experience with prednisone

kwanford wife said:

think about Michelle Kwan & her consistant messages to the media "I need to train harder and skate my best

Another example is Sasha Cohen... Her bad girl rep came from her not knowing how to package her message "I'll only be happy when I'm #1"

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I believe over 95% of the time Cohen's interviews sound just like Michelle Kwan. "I skated the best for myself" right after her splashfest at jr worlds. "I will try harder for nationals, worlds etc

I don't think any USA skaters got a bad girl rep for stating that they want to be #1. Even before Sarah Hughes beat Maria, at worlds, or Irina and Kwan at SC 01, Sarah's consistent message was " when I step on the ice to compete, I believe I can be #1, I believe that I am capable of beating all my competitors. After she came in 4th at SLC sp, she told the press that she should have received some 6.0s. Hughes had never received any bad girl rep for wanting to win.

I believe Cohen had never figured out how she wanted to present herself, fireball or ice princess? In a fluff piece right before GWG 01, she said her coach (Nicks) advised her that America has too many ice princess, maybe she shouldn't present herself as another ice princess. After she left Nicks, all her interviews were the standard "I want to do my best" she sound just like any American skater male or female

u've been around as long as Michelle & Irina, you learn to play the game. These are tough competitors who hit the ice everyday in search of gold. Its not about the performance (that's what exibitions & COI are for) or even the fans, its about winning. Period. Its naive to think otherwise.

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Of course it is about winning, but winning, and having fun, and trying one's best are not mutually exclusive

Until female athletes are given the same consideration and respect that male athletes receive (Tom Brady, MJ, and others too numerous to name who boast because they are the best...)

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Then why do Johnny Weir, Todd, Goebel all give the standard "I want to do my best and just have fun" kind of interview? I believe skating is a sport, and there is nothing wrong with boasting, or even trash talking, if the athletes or fans know the rule. Rule of trash talk, if you boast and win, you have bragging right until someone beats you. If you boast and lose, then take the instant replay humbly and shut up. The press did that to Alonzo Mourning one time, he trashed talk re: he could guard MJ. Jordan in reality ate him for lunch. The tv guys had a very fun time doing instant replay of how MJ ate him for lunch over and over, Mourning knew the rule, and he shut up.

The problem I see with some skating fans is that sometimes they trash talk, or hype their favorite skater to be the best in the world if s/he skates clean. When their favorite fails to deliver, these fans whine about how unfair the press or other fans are treating their favorite

Quote: "u've been around as long as Michelle & Irina, you learn to play the game. These are tough competitors who hit the ice everyday in search of gold. Its not about the performance (that's what exibitions & COI are for) or even the fans, its about winning. Period. Its naive to think otherwise."

Yeah, it's just about winning, that was why Michelle was so happy after her Nat '05 LP performance. :sheesh:

I disagree. Not all skaters are the same, and very few skaters have been around as long as Kwan.

I can recall Yagudin winning Europeans after a truly awful FS (Abt should have won) and when the reporter asked about his disastrous FS, he said "well I won anyway, and that's all that counts".

Kwan was NOT pleased with the FS that won her 9th US title, and she said so. In a recent interview, Johnny Weir said his Nationals SP was bad, and he didn't deserve the 6.0 he got. He wasn't pleased with his FS, either, because he had seriously messed up his footwork sequence.

I think Kwan was devastated when Tara won the Olympics in 1998 because Kwan had skated well. In 2002, she knew she hadn't skated well, and she was very disappointed, but she accepted the loss and got over it quickly.

Some skaters always think they should have won despite the fact that their performances were less than perfect. Irina Slutskaya still complains about the 2002 Olympics and the 2000 and 2001 Worlds. She was delighted with her 2001-2002 GPF victory, even though she had landed only 4 jumps in the final FS and was way outperformed by Kwan and Hughes.

I totally agree. I have come to appreciate many aspects of irina's skating, her spirit, her athletic ability. But I think she has been over marked many many times, esp. on the second mark but often on technical, too. She always jumps high and skates fast, but often becomes sloppy, the spins traveling, and the posture and body line not being her strengths.

Even so, the way she skated at CoR was fabulous and she derserved great marks. So when I see what happened with the CoP marks at Europeans, I feel that she may again get way overmarked at Worlds. Like she did at that Grand Prix final you mentioned, which she did not deserve to win. Like at the Olympics where she got all those first place ordinals for the LP. Like at Skate Canada 2001, where she had a poor free skate but still got high marks.

Anyway, like I said, she can be wonderful. I just hope if she wins worlds it's because she really skates great and not because some judges think it's her turn.