That's actually very easy. Just look at the ex-Eteri girls results after SP and compare them with Eteri girls. See?
I don‘t think it‘s that easy to make of a statement and I also don‘t think it‘s correct. Let‘s see who‘s left Eteri...
Polina Tsurskaya: she was already injured under Eteri and didn‘t perform her best, it was a clear trend downwards imo. And it was obvious that she wasn‘t feeling comfortable in that group either. And now her injury seems to be even worse and that combined with chronic underrotation issues Team Buyanova apparently doesn‘t care about fixing can’t end well. Maybe the team she chose was a mistake but leaving Eteri clearly wasn‘t. She wasn‘t doing particularly well under her either and even if she was, she wasn‘t happy there and that‘s a crucial thing if you want to work successfully anywhere.
Daria Panenkova: I don‘t know what happened to her but the poor girl really doesn‘t have it easy. She was very consistent last season and isn‘t now. I thought I heard she‘s injured and has boot issues. Her coaching situation also is very confusing.
Anastasia Tarakanova: she does very well. Two medals at JGP, one gold, one silver and made the final and placed 4th there. The SP has been her weakness this season and she continues to underperform it. It‘s a very difficult image to portray, maybe to difficult for her at this early stage of her career. But if she comes back spectacularly in the FS which she almost always does, there‘s no way she‘ll end up second to last again.
Evgenia Medvedeva: There‘s so much talk about her so I won‘t say much. But it was obvious that psychologically staying with Eteri wouldn‘t have worked for her. Her issues now aren‘t really easy to explain but are probably a mixture of adapting to new technique, environment, training and life in general + less training than with Eteri due to multiple injuries which results in less body memory + a loss of confidence due to her suddenly finding herself not able to do everything 100% like she practiced. Time will tell whether she can overcome that. If she does, she‘ll be great. If not... not.
And I generally don‘t like this pattern of “students who leave Eteri do worse because she is the genius coach and only she can get results“ I mean, yes, she is a great coach and yes; she gets results. And she also obviously isn‘t the evil monster either who just exploits her students for fame and money. But there is this pattern of students who already showed signs of fatigue in their body leaving her and looking worse after. And I ask myself why everyone only sees that as a sign of her greatness and their weakness? Can‘t it be sign as a sign of the weakness of her training method having consequences, too? That she makes the students get the medals they want but at what cost? That they leave broken? I don‘t know how people can ignore this. It‘s not about evil Eteri what I‘m trying to say, or about hating. Ted‘s interview has clearly shown that she isn‘t a monster, that there are many human and emotional aspects about her, that she cares about her students. But from someone who’s looking at this logically, it can’t only be the new coaches’ or the students’ fault that they are underperforming after they left her.
There is still this pattern of students and I can’t ignore it, despite the medals she gets. Every coach has injuries and I‘m not talking about the injuries. I‘m talking about the mental aspect. It seems to me that, as soon as you‘re struggling physically, it‘s over for you. Anna is the exception here with her broken leg but she was young and didn‘t have any titles or experience, her returning was amazing but somehow still different than the other cases I mentioned.
Again, this is not about me hating on Eteri. I obviously know that she helps many children achieve their dreams. But then I see the consequences. Everything has consequences so why not Eteri‘s coaching? She isn‘t the perfect genius either so I have a hard time blaming only the students and saying the only reason was they left Eteri and she‘s the only one who made them get results. I see medals but I also see... Polina’s and Evgenia’s and Yulia’s and how they look after these medals. Who don’t only struggle physically but clearly have a mental scar, too. Maybe that‘s normal in sports, maybe it‘s what you have to do to be successful. I don‘t follow it long enough to know. But these are children, so yes, I start doubting and questioning. And in my opinion, it’s obvious that the blame isn‘t only on the students who left and their new coaches. The old team has some fault too. I don‘t know how much and I‘m not the one to judge. The only thing I want is that we get away from this whole situation of people being either “evil Eteri is a monster!“ or “Eteri is a genius and whoever leaves her will regret it soon enough“ Maybe there‘s an inbetween. Things aren‘t as black and white as they might look like.
That‘s all I wanted to say and I kinda expect getting attacked already but before you do it, please read the multiple times I said “I don‘t hate Eteri“ (which I don‘t. Without her many of my favourites probably wouldn‘t be even known today). Thanks.
