- Joined
- Apr 26, 2018
(yeah, calling her "circus girl" or "jumping robot" is taking matters way too far, but then they burned LeBron James's Jerseys in Cleveland when he left the team for Miami heat so naturally people get emotional when superstar skater leave the team they are cheering for), especially considering that there aren't that many of Us![]()
I will only say one thing here: Figure skating is NOT a team sport. You cannot compare it to someone leaving a basketball team since the whole premise is different in its very essence. These skaters are fighting for themselves first and foremost. Kostornaya, Shcherbakova and Trusova come and should come first to Kostornaya, Shcherbakova and Trusova.
To be perfectly honest, I think it‘s almost unfair - this whole TutberidzeForProgress thing. In a sport as cutthroat as (Russian) ladies skating, where you have a very limited amount of time to really establish yourself and make a mark, it IS essential how much you win and when. Tutberidze and her team won‘t have a problem getting new athletes, they will never run out of skaters they can work with. But athletes themselves like Kostornaya and Shcherbakova and Valieva? They have a few years in the sport to stand out and win and sustain themselves for the future. We‘ve heard from Shcherbakova‘s family how much they had to give up for the sport, we‘ve seen it firsthand with Tarakanova. This isn‘t only about the “honour“ of Team Tutberidze, it‘s about whole careers of these girls. That‘s why marketing them as a “team“ and catering to the fans who’d rather cheer for a team than an individual like that, is such a problem. At least in my eyes.
You‘re perfectly free to cheer for whoever you‘d like to. But I think it’s alright to point out that this is neither what the girls themselves want (as said in interviews) nor what might be fair to them as individuals.
![Shrug :shrug: :shrug:](/forum/data/assets/smilies/shrug.gif)