2018-19 Russian Ladies' figure skating

[flanker]

My point was that Eteri works for Russia and is paid by Rusfed. Zhenya got in so much trouble for "abandoning" her country by switching coaches. She was called a traitor. But when Eteri celebrates and cheers for someone to defeat Russia, no one has a problem with it. This is just her coaching an international student, it has nothing to do with loyalty or national pride. But Zhenya doing the same thing, going to an international coach, is seen as high treason.

This makes sense but it still feels like hypocrisy. Eteri is allowed to put her personal success as a coach above the success of Russia - but Zhenya prioritizing her personal success while still competing for Russia, just training outside the country with a non-Russian coach, makes her a traitor. Eteri can train nonrussian students and root for their success over athletes from the russian team and its not personal, just business.

I really don't think you follow the situation.

First, Eteri is paid by Rusfed to coach russian girls, but she is also paid by kazakh conterpart of Rusfed to teach Lilbet the same. And also by georgian counterpart to teach Morisi, also by e. g. the Philippiness when there are their skaters on summer camps and others. In this is Eteri as much international coach as anybody and that is not anything unusual in Russia, one example for all, Mishin was co-coach of Caroline Kostner. This is usual and nobody in Russian has anything against it. I see they consider Lilbet, Morisi and others (Ekaterina Ryabova, e. g.) as one of their own. So there is no treason in coaching them or celebrating their successes.

Now, about Zhenya being "a traitor". The thing is that if someone calls her action a treason, it is not meant treason of the country, but a coach, to whom she expressed loyalty publicly and than did something different. It is not WHAT, but HOW she 's done it. I personally don't call it "a treason" or something that strong, I just say that at such circumstances she owed Eteri to announce it to her personally, considering tjhe length of their cooperation and the bond they felt to each other at least during most of that time. It should be politeness and I would even dare to say her moral obligation to do that. After all, she was 18, still young, but also considered adult already and for me 18 y. o. human should know what his moral obligation is.

Do some people make a bigger problem of it than it really is? Probably yes. I personally wouldn't talk about it now, but just like I say, it is like a boomerang, as some people still try fto find in some words something that isn't there.

 

[Autumn Leaves]

I don‘t remember anyone on this forum calling her a traitor. People had doubts if she made the right choice or had a problem with the way she left, but I relate the „traitor“ part only with fanatic youtube comments, so I don‘t see why we have to bring it here.

However, if we compare the two situations from a hypothetic patriotic stance, there is a logical explanation - Eteri and Mishin training foreign students is seen as an acknowledgement of the superiority of the Russian figure skating school, while Med‘s leaving is seen probably as an insult to it. And it goes both ways, I think - Med has many new fans, who are actually Orser or North American skating fans, who see in her move a confirmation of the superiority of their system. It is a pity that her carreer got caught in some „cold war“ mentality and received so much attention. The move was unusual, especially when Russia dominates the ladies in recent years. I guess it would have been more understandable and there would be less drama if she had moved to Japan, for example.

Going back to Russian coaches - they couldn‘t train foreigners in the Olympic season; that’s why Lilbet left Eteri before Socchi. Don‘t know if that rule still exists, but Rusfed obviously makes sure to protect it’s interests.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

So, who do we think the top junior ladies will be next season? Who will make the jgpf?

A lot of people think that Kamila Valieva will lose her jumps once puberty hits; is she a factor?

What about the new Eteri student, Kanysheva? How will she do?

Will Tarakanova turn senior or remain junior? If junior next season, will she get left behind in a sea of new talent?

What about the other newbies, can they rise to the top?

 

[kallirroe]

So, who do we think the top junior ladies will be next season? Who will make the jgpf?

A lot of people think that Kamila Valieva will lose her jumps once puberty hits; is she a factor?

What about the new Eteri student, Kanysheva? How will she do?

Will Tarakanova turn senior or remain junior? If junior next season, will she get left behind in a sea of new talent?

What about the other newbies, can they rise to the top?

Sorry , but since when do girls that put their bodies under such extreme physical exercise and probably take some pills to late their puberty , hit puberty at the age of 13? I mean really , do fans are that desperate to burry the skaters that come with such ridiculous conclusions ? I am not reffering to you , because you quoted it from someone else here probably. But in figure skating , usually 15-16 is the age of the puberty and the ''dramatic'' changes in the body and mentallity.

I believe Tarakanova will stay at juniors and that she will be among the top. That will give her great momentum for turning into seniors. I think she will get burried among the 3A next year if she turns into senior. She has nothing to gain probably than some B challengers. Better train one more year and be ready with quads for being equal to 3A.

Kamila i think will be the top in juniors next year. Usacheva , Kromyh and Kanysheva will be behind her , at least PRC wisely.

I dont know any other junior from other clubs.

 

[Alex65]

...
I dont know any other junior from other clubs.

This is exactly. I would expect active poaching from CSKA in the near future.

 

[zounger]

This is exactly. I would expect active poaching from CSKA in the near future.

Ksenia Sinitsyna is a very good skater. She left one of the best impressions to me watching her live. I think she will do fine next season. And there are others as well...

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Ksenia Sinitsyna is a very good skater. She left on of the best impressions to me watching her live. I think she will do fine next season. And there are others as well...

How could I forget sinitsyna? she’ll be in the mix of top juniors for sure. Will probably get 2 jgp assignments this season instead of just one. I’m so glad Russia has a home jgp event.

 

[skatingfan200]

The thing is no one in Russia blame Zhenya for swithing to canadian coach. It's about HOW it was done. Russian "casual" fans have only one "traitor", and it's Misha who is here to be blamed for the Olympic silver (instead of gold) to the end of his life.
Casual audience was already quite irritated by Zhenya, when she still was considered part of the Khrystalny. Because of how she was treated compared to the actual Olympic champion. Zhenya was everywhere and Alina never even was interviewed. And then quite a bad brake-up happened. If only Zhenya's PR-team was wiser...

You can not blame Zhenya for giving interviews after the Olmypics. It´s not Zhenya´s fault that Alina didn´t want to give an interview to Match-tv for example or that she was ill direct after the Olympics. Ofc Sports.ru audience can not be considered if Zhenya gives an interview or not. I found after the Olympics, it was an argument only for people who do not like her. Some Alina fans wished to have more Alina content but it´s wrong to blame Zhenya that it didn´t happen.

As for the break up, Zhenya made it clear that it´s personal. "There’s a reason and no one will ever know it...I think this is a personal. That’s why, please, don’t try to get it out of me why it happened. It happened. That’s all." Eteri fans needs to accept it and move on.

Much worse in my opinion was the telephone interview on National TV. It´s not normal as an adult(over 40 years old) to speak like that about her former student. Text messages and the junior talk had the clear aim to hurt Zhenya´s reputation. In the end, Eteri is to blame for the drama. Zhenya and her team wrote a nice letter, it could have been an more easier break-up, Eteri has coosen the other way.

 

[Helena b]

You can not blame Zhenya for giving interviews after the Olmypics. It´s not Zhenya´s fault that Alina didn´t want to give an interview to Match-tv for example or that she was ill direct after the Olympics. Ofc Sports.ru audience can not be considered if Zhenya gives an interview or not. I found after the Olympics, it was an argument only for people who do not like her. Some Alina fans wished to have more Alina content but it´s wrong to blame Zhenya that it didn´t happen.

As for the break up, Zhenya made it clear that it´s personal. "There’s a reason and no one will ever know it...I think this is a personal. That’s why, please, don’t try to get it out of me why it happened. It happened. That’s all." . Eteri fans needs to accept it and move on.

Much worse in my opinion was the telephone interview on National TV. It´s not normal as an adult(over 40 years old) to speak like that about her former student. Text messages and the junior talk had the clear aim to hurt Zhenya´s reputation. In the end, Eteri is to blame for the drama. Zhenya and her team wrote a nice letter, it could have been an more easier break-up, Eteri has coosen the other way.

In the end Medvedeva is to blame for the drama. She could just go and tell a person who invested so much time and energy in her that she wants to change a coach. Instead she was too ashamed to even answer a telephone call. And don't start this "she's young" bs. If you don't understand such simple things as respect when you're 18 it's very bad news.

You see? It's the matter of opinion. People's opinion divided on that long time ago. I don't understand who are you (and others like you) trying to convince.

 

[Ziotic]

So what’s Russia going to do about GP season? Will they outright omit some names for consideration to ensure others get two slots? Or will they let some get just one?

Also, can they outright omit names at the beginning but then add them later if someone else becomes injured? If not they run the risk of losing spots for not having submitted the names upfront?

 

[Scott512]

My point was that Eteri works for Russia and is paid by Rusfed. Zhenya got in so much trouble for "abandoning" her country by switching coaches. She was called a traitor. But when Eteri celebrates and cheers for someone to defeat Russia, no one has a problem with it. This is just her coaching an international student, it has nothing to do with loyalty or national pride. But Zhenya doing the same thing, going to an international coach, is seen as high treason.

Canada is a sports rival to Russia Kazakstan is not. Lilbet was born in Russia and lives and trains in Russia. She is Russian except for her passport. Zhenya firing Eteri was a devastating and humiliating blow to the prideful coach. She is only human and so Lilbet edging Zhenya for worlds silver made EG happy. That was a very human reaction. I don't want EG to be fake I want her to be real. But I also don't want to hear anything from her about Zhenya other than it was wonderful coaching Zhenya for 11 years and she did alot for Sambo 70. I knowvEGs pride was stung when Zhenya dumped her but it's over. Zhenya has moved on Eteri needs to as well. Eteri is on a roll. She should be thankful for all she has.

Would EG have been so excited if Libet edged Alina for worlds gold? I think not.

 

[skatingfan200]

In the end Medvedeva is to blame for the drama. She could just go and tell a person who invested so much time and energy in her that she wants to change a coach. Instead she was too ashamed to even answer a telephone call. And don't start this "she's young" bs. If you don't understand such simple things as respect when you're 18 it's very bad news.

You see? It's the matter of opinion. People's opinion divided on that long time ago. I don't understand who are you (and others like you) trying to convince.

You do not have to go personal.

Zhenya is allowed not to answer Eteri´s text messages. You do not know what happened behind the curtain between Eteri and Zhenya. Nothing excuses in my opinion the telephone interview and you are certainly aware that only after the telephone interview the drama started?

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Considering that the level of talent has only gone up over the years it’s amazing to me that this thread has gone so far downhill. I used to love waking up and reading this thread. Has the YouTube comment section been turned off on skating videos or something?

 

[r2d2]

put your sharp (s)words down. i want to dedicate this song to all skaters.princess of the universe they will be immortal and not forgotten by fans. and they derserve to be remembered. they work very very very hard.

i member Pogo and Radionova.

 

[DanseMacabre]

Considering that the level of talent has only gone up over the years it’s amazing to me that this thread has gone so far downhill. I used to love waking up and reading this thread. Has the YouTube comment section been turned off on skating videos or something?

This thread has become the place I go to when my own life lacks enough melodrama.

Some people just can’t let old arguments die but bless the others who keep valiantly trying to bring the discussion back to all the wonderful skating Russia’s blessed us with recently.

 

[LRK]

I feel this being called for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynZCDm0IEVM

 

[flanker]

So, who do we think the top junior ladies will be next season? Who will make the jgpf?

A lot of people think that Kamila Valieva will lose her jumps once puberty hits; is she a factor?

What about the new Eteri student, Kanysheva? How will she do?

Will Tarakanova turn senior or remain junior? If junior next season, will she get left behind in a sea of new talent?

What about the other newbies, can they rise to the top?

Of course, I don't have the crystall skull reproached to some users by some other users (who on the other hand are predicting things like Kamila losing her jumps ), I can just guess by last experience:

Eteri's new junior trio (Kamila, Maya, Daria) will definitely fight for the light of the lamps. Kamila has great chance, I guess nobody will doubt her current skills. Maya had some troubles in the beginning, but in the end of the season she delivered some very good performances and if she will keep it, I doubt she would miss JGPF. Darie will probably have the biggest problems, she is capable of big things bust still has to fight with consistency. To them we can add Alyona Kanysheva, but there I will be reserved till I see her first competition under Eteri.

From the others we can speak about Victoria, Ksenia, we still don't know if Anna Tarusina will stay in juniors or move to seniors, the same with Anastasia Tarakanova (I hope she won't resign again).

At the end, I will wait for test skates and first stages of the Russian Cup.

 

[NaVi]

7 skaters are pretty much guaranteed 2 Grand Prix spots.

Zagitova Medvedeva Kostornaia Shcherbakova Trusova Samodurova Tuktymysheva

Four other skaters have top 24 scores which guarantees them one spot if the Russian Fed enters their name: Konstantinova, Gubanova, Sakhanovich, Tarusina(probably will stay junior). Out of these I'd prefer Gubanova get 2 spots.

I doubt it[edit]actually, she will probably just make the top 24[/edit], but Sotskova may still be in the top 24 in the standings. It'll be kind of sad to see her miss out.

Here are six junior skaters from this year who will probably skate junior next year: Kanysheva Tarakanova Guliakova Sinitsyna Vasilieva Tarusina(could go senior with guaranteed Grand Prix spot)

I really haven't paid attention to Russian novices this year.

Here are a few Russian novices eligible to skate junior next year: Kamila Valieva, Maya Khromykh, and Daria Usacheva will be junior eligible Eteri skaters. Sofia Muravieva beat Khromykh and Usacheva at a recent moscow competition. Anna Frolova was 3rd at the Cup of Russia Final for juniors. There are some others that are capable of scoring 180+ in internal competitions but I'm not going to list them because I haven't been paying much attention to these competitions this year. Here are pages to look for though: Cup of Russia Final, Junior Nationals, Zhuk Memorial, Zonal Nationals.

Three relatively unknown skaters switched to other countries for this season: Ekaterina Ryabova(13th at both senior and junior worlds), Anna Kuzmenko(15th at junior worlds), Alina Soupian(24th at junior worlds). I kind of have mixed feeling about skaters like them switching. Nice to see them at the junior grand prix but not so sure it's great to see them bump skaters skating for their home countries out of the top 24 at junior worlds.

Orphan skaters who have skated on the junior and senior grand prixs and probably won't get a spot: Sotskova, Tsurskaya, Nugamanova, Panenkova, Pogorilaya, Radionova(surely retired), Leonova(surprised didn't retire a long time ago), Fedichkina, Mikhailova

There are many skaters(including many unlisted) who if their main goal was just to skate in the Olympics could switch countries and probably achieve that goal. The politics behind this would be interesting. Some countries would welcome them with open arms and some might welcome if they're true medal contenders. But I could definitely see some of the other federations be unhappy if they lose out on sending someone to the Olympics because of ex-Russians flocking to other countries.

 

[Vandevska]

Thing is, even despite the "evil" post of Eteri, it seems like her and Zhenya are just fine, and more over it than the rest of the world.

 

[Happy Skates]

In other news, apparently Veronika Zhilina will be in the new season of ice age kids! She is in Tatiana Navka's new photo, in her "Chandelier" outfit. Let's hope she does/did well!