another Yagudin article

Mathman said:

Although...Sarah's father, John Hughes was a Canadian by birth. He even had a try-out once with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Does that count?

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I can speculate who among the NAs might have been the most blunt/mean.
I mentioned elsewhere that Sarah's mom's last name was Pasternak. I wonder if the Russians know she's really half-Russian.
Well anyway, she and Alexei have been friends since at least SLC. And Elena seems like she'd be a good gal friend. I'm glad the Russki bus took her in.

NorthernLite said:

I can speculate who among the NAs might have been the most blunt/mean.

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Speculate, speculate! I'm all ears! I vote for Kyoko Ina, LOL.

Mathman said:

Speculate, speculate! I'm all ears! I vote for Kyoko Ina, LOL.

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Ximena said:

I know Sarah has gained some weight but it must be horrible for her to be reminded of that by her own peers.

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Other members of the show may have felt resentment toward Sarah for the negative press she created by skating empty programs due to lack of fitness. By joining SOI Sarah became part of a commercial venture and the business world can be cruel to those who don't help the bottom line.

hockeyfan228 said:

If he's going to attempt to create the Three Tenors on Ice (with Abt in the Carreras role), his neediness reminds me of Pavarotti's "Love Me" side, while Plushenko reminds me more of Domingo. I suspect, like Pavarotti and Domingo, teaming up will reap more rewards -- internationally -- than Yagudin on his own.

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I love your show concept. You should partner up with Yags, Plush and Abt to create 3 Tenors on Ice.

I wonder if the Americans might be "put out" because she won rather than the better skaters? Sounds like a lot of them must be real snots. I can hardly believe that Michelle may have been one of them.

Grgranny said:

I wonder if the Americans might be "put out" because she won rather than the better skaters? Sounds like a lot of them must be real snots. I can hardly believe that Michelle may have been one of them.

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Granny,

It's SOI not COI. I don't even know if there are any of Sarah's direct competitors in that show. Isn't it just about all pairs these days? Anyway, Michelle, Sasha, Irina, etc. are all doing COI.

Well I think that envy drove some of those comments toward Sarah over anything else. Sarah is making big bucks compared to some of the better skaters on the SOI tour so there is a lot of resentment. The Russian skaters are used to being shafted on the money end compared to NA skaters so they probably don't care that Sarah makes more money b/c all the NA skaters make more money and have job security compared to them. There's no doubt in my mind that Scott Hamilton is one of the skaters who made a comment about Sarah's weight. This is a man who commented on how his wife Tracy was very disciplined and didn't gain a lot of weight when she was pregnant.

As for the skaters making comments... imagine if you were on a job and an incompetent coworker was making lots more money than you. In this case, it's obvious that Sarah isn't up to snuff compared to the other skaters. Of course making fun of her isn't going to make her better, but these skaters work hard at maintaining their elements and fitness....


BTW, what is the deal with Kyoko Ina that everyone is thinks she's so nasty? I'm just curious b/c it seems there is a lot of talk about Ina's personality but I've never seen actual events recalled on the internet to comfirm that. Though I have lots of Asian friends and they are very honest (ie if you look fat , they will tell you). That doesn't make them unpleasant people by any means. Most Americans would rather sweep something unpleasant under the carpet.

Perhaps Sarah learned how to speak Russian...

Ptichka said:

Soogar, I disagree. It's about what sells, and it should be. It's natural for Americans to want to see American skaters, just as it is natural for Russians to want to see Russian ones.

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Most Americans want to be entertained. Enough of them fell in love with Oksana Baiul over Nancy Kerrigan and most of them would rather watch Oksana over the extremely wooden Nancy Kerrigan. Katarina Witt's playboy cover sold the most of all the playboys (this was a few years ago). Plus the average American has no idea who Mike Weiss is. More people will know who Alexei Yagudin is over Mike Weiss.

If that's the case, why do American magazines glamorize all these foreign actors. Don't they know that Americans only want to see Americans? Tell those Aussies to go back down under and make their own movies.

Other members of the show may have felt resentment toward Sarah for the negative press she created by skating empty programs due to lack of fitness. By joining SOI Sarah became part of a commercial venture and the business world can be cruel to those who don't help the bottom line.

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Knowing how harsh people, who paid good money to see that show, were talking about Sarah this year when I was in the audiences during SOI, I can only imagine how the other skaters felt hearing or reading those types of comments as well as seeing for themselves that she wasn't up to par this year. ITA that its business and with figure skating losing money every year, I don't blame any of the skaters for being annoyed at the negative press due to a fellow skater not coming in prepared to do programs worthy of her status (if that's the case, I don't know anything beyond speculation). For the most part, people enjoyed the show this year but they either thought she was fine or they didn't care for her skating at all. There wasn't much complimentary to her this year and even I struggled to find good things to say because I was disappointed in her programs. They were nice, but nothing special at all. Not what I was expecting to see at SOI where I hold the standards a lot higher. That's just my opinion though and apparently, it sounds like that just never mattered to the Russian skaters and they just went with the flow for lack of a better phrase. Having met most of the skaters on SOI through the past few years, I find it hard to believe they were being horribly mean and rude to her all the time, but I can also see how too much teasing, even in a light way, can affect a person's emotions.

I also didn't get anything from that article that says anything about him not touring next year. Unless an SOI skater has signed a multiple year contract (a la Jamie & David or Todd who won't be going anywhere because of those contracts and NOT because of a nationality bias FYI), then we've always had to wait a bit to find out if they re-sign or not. I remember being nervous as all get out to find out of Steven was going to be asked back last year! IMO, Alexei brings in a lot of fans for both the US and the Canadian tours and I find it hard to believe they would cast him aside just to bring someone new in no matter if they are an American skater or not (especially if its for Michael Weiss who would be a BIG bathroom break for me, LOL ). It is about what sells in the USA but Alexei does sell those tickets so that will definitely be considered for SOI when they put the cast together for next year. I kinda think that if he doesn't tour again this fall, it won't entirely be the fault of SOI. I think it could be because Alexei doesn't want to tour anymore for that long and he makes that decision himself. I don't really know though. I do enjoy Alexei's skating though and I hope he continues to tour. I guess its just one more thing we will be waiting through the off season for!! I may not make it if things like this keep coming up, LOL :banging: :yes:

I, too, noticed the quote about Sarah. My guess is she must be rather lonely on the bus as I'm sure Alexei, Anton, and Elena spend a lot of time chatting in Russian. I'm sure they switch to English when she is right there with them, but that is obviously not the dominant language on the bus.

IMHO, those who are teasing Sarah about her weight are the ones who should get axed. That kind of behavior is not too likely to help Sarah lose any -- all it is likely to do is create a lot of bad feeling -- that might continue especially if the next OGM does not sign with SOI (a young one, like Kostner, might want to stay competitive; Irina's health might prohibit such intensive touring -- and in the years where COI is a shorter tour, she will have more time with her family; etc.)

Why should they get axed? :scratch: That is just beyond random to state that so bluntly. (And we don't really know if this is true or not. Its ONE article over a whole season that's mentioned anything about this happening on tour. I read just about everything about SOI this past year and this is the first I've seen anything like this in print.) IMO, the rest of the skaters are all in good shape, they have wonderful programs, and they give 110% in their performances and in doing press to promote the tour. I don't see any reason at all that they should be axed from the tour for teasing someone about something that is affecting this show that they ALL perform in for four months a year. Especially when that person came in as a headliner and did not live up to that potential. Yeah, maybe its not nice but its not against the law nor is it something that they should be fired for either. Not to mention the fact that those skaters have known her for a few years; you can only imagine how much meaner the audience folks who don't know her were all season. It was sad to sit in the audience and hear those comments. :no:

OK let's round up the suspects
Kyoko Ina
John Zimmerman
Jamie Sale(CAN)
David Pellitier(CAN)
Todd Eldredge

It's gotta be Eldredge

I noticed that comment about Sarah too and I think that if true that there are people making comments about her weight then it is way out of order, particularly from people who most likely know how difficult it can be to maintain a healthy competitive weight and if Sarah is making an effort to lose the extra pounds and get back to somewhere near her former levels then she should be supported and helped.

Also something that has struck me in the past about Alexei's interviews since turning pro is that he can come across as bored. What I mean by that is that Alexei always seemed to thrive on the challenge of competition and many times performed some of his best programs when coming from behind. Alexei a very intelligent guy and while competing at the highest level he was using that intelligence and motivation to keep him training hard and performing well. Now that he is no longer competing he may be finding that the different challenges presented by touring are not enough to keep him motivated and hence looking at other pursuits.

Eeyora said:

OK let's round up the suspects
Kyoko Ina
John Zimmerman
Jamie Sale(CAN)
David Pellitier(CAN)
Todd Eldredge

It's gotta be Eldredge

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Oh wow, I forgot about Jamie!

Almost all the ladies in SOI are pairs skaters. IMO, if there is a skater who knows a thing or two about the struggle to maintain "weight", it is a pair skater. For them, it all comes down to slim down or no pair skating.

I find it hard to believe that these skaters would be the 1st one to jump on Sarah. They are probably struggling to keep their weight down as well or else face criticism from their partners and the coach.

Now, reading this article, I get the feeling the writer has a "motive". The article is about tours in Russian which the writer has chosen to present in a positive way. Nothing wrong with that. But then why go ahead and bring in SOI only to quote negative qoutes about skaters in THAT tour from of all people, Alexei Yagudin, the most famous Russian on North American today. What is the purpose, other than to make the "other" tour look bad vis a vis the "Russian" tour.

Notice, of all the SOI skaters, only Alexei has publically leaked info about what is going on behind the curtain. I am sure there is alot going on that we don't know, but I still have to read negative comments from the current SOI skaters about each other. Stuff like that you find in a biography...eons after the skater retire from pro skating.

I really want to believe these are not Alexei's qoutes. They better not be true because I can't imagine how the other SOI skaters might react once they read the Sarah Hughe qoutes. He may not care but they probably care about this negative publication.

soogar said:

Most Americans want to be entertained. Enough of them fell in love with Oksana Baiul over Nancy Kerrigan and most of them would rather watch Oksana over the extremely wooden Nancy Kerrigan.

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I'm presuming you do not have a poll to back that statement up and that the statement if purely your opinion. Am I correct?

I for one, an American watched the little waif skate with her sloppy jumps, and preferred Nancy. In my imaginary poll (not unlike yours) most American especially skaters, preferred Nancy.

Americans are not united on tastes. Other Nationalities are. Ethnic backgrounds play a big role in American tastes, imo. It is not so important for America to be number one when they don't deserve it. They don't have to 'fix' a competition to ensure a skater or team wins gold.

It's true, many Americans wanted Oksana to win.

How many Ukrainians wanted Nancy to win?

Joe

How odd that folks that were so vocal in saying negative things about Sarah in public forums now want to get riled because her peers *might* have said something about her. The hypocrisy is staggering.
Personally, I have to wonder if Alexei has an agenda of his own for saying negative things about the tour and the cast publically. And, being the skeptic that I am, I question the veracity of the report & the remarks. But if they are true, then I feel that Alexei should've exercised some discretion in what he said.
Also, being an American - I can tell you that I would never pay the high ticket prices to go see a show without any of my favorite skaters on the tour. And most of my faves are Americans.

Well on the Pain in the Ice Board, a poster did post that "a certain gold medalist told Sarah that she needed to exercise something more than an option" and that this was overheard. I can't verify if it was true or not but it does match what Alexei is saying. Plus if you look at the photos of Alexei's b'day, you can see that Sarah is very much part of Alexei's group of skaters. Quite frankly, judging by Jamie's disgusting behavior in SLC, I wouldn't put it past her to make comments about someone's weight. And I wouldn't think that pairs skaters would be sympathetic to a skater who is probably pulling at least three times what they are and isn't making enough effort to get with the program (at least in their perception). And to be fair, it might not only be the females making comments because David Pelletier looks like a guy who would tease someone about their weight.

As for Nancy Kerrigan, a lot of people didn't like her at all despite the media shoving her down the throat. Regardless of the backlash that ensued, Nancy did not have the skating chops to stay around for a long time in skating. If she couldn't land her jumps (which was more often than not) , that wooden presentation wasn't selling anything to anyone.

I just want to add that since Americans are multinational and don't care if they're number 1, then why not reflect this in SOI hiring practices?

Mathman said:

Oh wow, I forgot about Jamie!

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I didn't!!!.

If Scott Hamilton would dare say anything to Sarah about weight, did he have blinders on when she signed the contract?

Dee