2020-21 Russian Ladies' Figure Skating

[Happy Skates]

I agree it is naïveté to believe programs take 7 days to choreograph. I'd wager it takes 3-4 days for most skaters. Like Medvedeva's programs last season, they just had little to do with the music. Or even Shcherbackova's, and of course Kostornaia's (who probably needed only 1-2 days since she recycled the SP).

I hope the standard of choreography we've seen these few seasons improves. But I don't think it will.

7 days is a very long time to choreograph, quality or not. Of course, it takes longer than that to perfect the program, and one wouldn't want to choreograph 7 days before test skates because it would be hard to have the program look good by then. But you definitely *could* do it, regardless of how much choreography is "recycled".

 

[zounger]

Can someone point me to Zagitova’s contracts? If they are bond with the formality of the word “active skater” and not the amount of completions or international medals, etc. then I will say Zagitova fooled them bad since she can be active skater for ten years and not compete at all. Puma and Shiseido doesn’t look fool to me but maybe they are.

 

[fabienne1996]

Can someone point me to Zagitova’s contracts? If they are bond with the formality of the word “active skater” and not the amount of completions or international medals, etc. then I will say Zagitova fooled them bad since she can be active skater for ten years and not compete at all. Puma and Shiseido doesn’t look fool to me but maybe they are.

I doubt anyone of us knows what is written in the contracts,

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[Skatelife]

Puma and Shiseido are huge corporations, with a huge legal team, they deal with many contracts, I'm sure any detail is in Alina's contract, I don't think any athlete can fool them. I don't exactly remember but I read a Puma interview where they were talking about Alina's kpi increasing, it's undeniable camera loves Alina's face, if she wanted she can have a career in publicity, you can see it, with the puma yoga advertising with Alina, it's around the world, not only in the Russian market, also I remember the words of Shiseido CEO, he watched Alina in the olimpic FS and immediately knew, she was the perfect face for Shiseido.

 

[Scott512]

Puma and Shiseido are huge corporations, with a huge legal team, they deal with many contracts, I'm sure any detail is in Alina's contract, I don't think any athlete can fool them. I don't exactly remember but I read a Puma interview where they were talking about Alina's kpi increasing, it's undeniable camera loves Alina's face, if she wanted she can have a career in publicity, you can see it, with the puma yoga advertising with Alina, it's around the world, not only in the Russian market, also I remember the words of Shiseido CEO, he watched Alina in the olimpic FS and immediately knew, she was the perfect face for Shiseido.

Those companies love Alina and will probably pay her well whether she's skating competitively or not. of course if Alina still wins medals and is skating competitively she'll make more money.

 

[zounger]

Puma and Shiseido are huge corporations, with a huge legal team, they deal with many contracts, I'm sure any detail is in Alina's contract, I don't think any athlete can fool them. I don't exactly remember but I read a Puma interview where they were talking about Alina's kpi increasing, it's undeniable camera loves Alina's face, if she wanted she can have a career in publicity, you can see it, with the puma yoga advertising with Alina, it's around the world, not only in the Russian market, also I remember the words of Shiseido CEO, he watched Alina in the olimpic FS and immediately knew, she was the perfect face for Shiseido.

Maybe, I thought she is not retiring because of contracts by fooling them.

 

[TallyT]

Unbelievable. It's sad that so many struggle financially in this sport.

I wonder how more of these kids like Sima do not get depressed after seeing skaters they were on par with or almost on par with become great and make a lot of money while they don't. It cannot be easy to deal with.

It's the same with the vast majority of sports, only excepting that handful of megarich ones. The pot of gold, both in medals and in money, is not that big... and a few names, who have the talent, the achievements, and whatever the infamous 'it' is, get the bulk of it anyway.

And after all, being the greatest on the ice doesn't always translate to the most popular to sponsors (most of the time yes, but not always). That's why most of the very top skaters in both singles disciplines seem to be looking early on to planning for, working towards and funding their life career, a lot of the time with no connection to skating. Which I actually see as a good sign, too many in the past have not though past their last skate, they can't all find places in the sport and only a handful - of which even Zagitova probably isn't one - can earn enough to not need to worry ever again.

Those companies love Alina and will probably pay her well whether she's skating competitively or not. of course if Alina still wins medals and is skating competitively she'll make more money.

Actually, by going in for a journalism degree she's been wise in my opinion - she can actually start working in the field while studying, and I very much doubt her biggest sponsors will object to her possibly becoming a former skater/sporting commentator/maybe media celebrity all that much...

 

[colormyworld240]

It's the same with the vast majority of sports, only excepting that handful of megarich ones. The pot of gold, both in medals and in money, is not that big... and a few names, who have the talent, the achievements, and whatever the infamous 'it' is, get the bulk of it anyway.

And after all, being the greatest on the ice doesn't always translate to the most popular to sponsors (most of the time yes, but not always). That's why most of the very top skaters in both singles disciplines seem to be looking early on to planning for, working towards and funding their life career, a lot of the time with no connection to skating. Which I actually see as a good sign, too many in the past have not though past their last skate, they can't all find places in the sport and only a handful - of which even Zagitova probably isn't one - can earn enough to not need to worry ever again.



Actually, by going in for a journalism degree she's been wise in my opinion - she can actually start working in the field while studying, and I very much doubt her biggest sponsors will object to her possibly becoming a former skater/sporting commentator/maybe media celebrity all that much...

I think this is less pronounced for those under the state system, though. Anna's parents gave an interview highlighting some of the finances. They said before Anna was on the national team, skating lessons are about $5 (USD, I believe) per lesson; the rest of the cost is by the federation/school. That doesn't seem like very much to me, as any extracurricular activity in Canada is much more, but of course that's a naive way to look at it as I don't know the wages in Russia. Anna's parents also said that after she became a part of national team, their personal skating contributions went down to $0 because the federation/school covered all the expenses, which I would assume to include coaching, choreography, dance classes, costumes, travels, and competitions. I think a big cost is that a parent has to have enough free time to take their kids to lessons. I believe Anna's mom had to quit her job to be able to take Anna and her sister to lessons (that part she regrets), which is something not every family can afford to do.

 

[Mathman]

I am pretty sure that these big endorsement contracts contain clauses that protect the athlete as well as the company.

I remember in 2006 Coca-Cola invested big in Michelle Kwan leading up to the Olympics. She withdrew citing injury, but they still had to pay her. (Then they were stuck with millions of bottles of Coke with Michelle's picture on them to get rid of -- I have a sixpack myself, unopened. )

I believe that she also continued to work for Walt Disney promoting Disneyland and Disney World after retirement from competition. I do, however, have the feeling that her earlier contracts with USFS and ABC television required her to skate in the cheesefests that were popular in those days -- in 2005 she competed in one when she was so crippled up she could barely walk, much less skate. (She won anyway. )

 

[Happy Skates]

I am pretty sure that these big endorsement contracts contain clauses that protect the athlete as well as the company.

I remember in 2006 Coca-Cola invested big in Michelle Kwan leading up to the Olympics. She withdrew citing injury, but they still had to pay her. (Then they were stuck with millions of bottles of Coke with Michelle's picture on them to get rid of -- I have a sixpack myself, unopened. )

I believe that she also continued to work for Walt Disney promoting Disneyland and Disney World after retirement from competition. I do, however, have the feeling that her earlier contracts with USFS and ABC television required her to skate in the cheesefests that were popular in those days -- in 2005 she competed in one when she was so crippled up she could barely walk, much less skate. (She won anyway. )

These contracts are probably by the year though. I'm not claiming anything about Zagitova, but I think the point people are making is not that she is fearing her contracts for this year, but for future years.

 

[Thrashergurl]

I am pretty sure that these big endorsement contracts contain clauses that protect the athlete as well as the company.

I remember in 2006 Coca-Cola invested big in Michelle Kwan leading up to the Olympics. She withdrew citing injury, but they still had to pay her. (Then they were stuck with millions of bottles of Coke with Michelle's picture on them to get rid of -- I have a sixpack myself, unopened. )

I believe that she also continued to work for Walt Disney promoting Disneyland and Disney World after retirement from competition. I do, however, have the feeling that her earlier contracts with USFS and ABC television required her to skate in the cheesefests that were popular in those days -- in 2005 she competed in one when she was so crippled up she could barely walk, much less skate. (She won anyway. )

It was a competition where fans voted. People loved Michelle. No matter what. I see that same type of fandom with Zagitova.

 

[brakes]

Novogorsk tour with Akhantieva/Kolyesov (didn't visit pink ball room though! :gaah: )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsQqKo4_td4

 

[YuliaLipnitskayaFan1]

Novogorsk tour with Akhantieva/Kolyesov (didn't visit pink ball room though! :gaah: )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsQqKo4_td4

Thank you for posting! Very cool to see. Novogorsk is much bigger than I thought! Hopefully sometime we’ll get to see the iconic pink ball room!

 

[happycamper2554]

I always heard they can't stand each other. Will be an interesting watch

 

[Happy Skates]

https://www.instagram.com/anastasiyatar04/?hl=en

I don't know how I didn't notice this before, but looks like Nastya has a sponsor! *Sorry if this was mentioned already*
She isn't on the national team this year, so this, might be even more needed than last year.

I wonder if Nastya will get to go to the Russian GP this year, considering the change in format?

We know we'll have Trusova, Kostornaia, Shcherbakova, Tuktamysheva, Sinitsyna, Medvedeva (unless she goes back to Canada), possibly Zagitova, Samodurova and possibly Guliakova since she's on NT . Then there's Konstantinova and Tarakanova, and any Russian girls that are skating for another country. If Kurakova is in Russia then who knows. Maybe Gubanova could also be considered. Do we have the entry list for test skates yet?

 

[fabienne1996]

So alyonas now 17 and we got new foto contents of her. She looks good, and seems happy. So as a fan of her that makes me very happy

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[starla16]

Kostornia what happened to her , was she injured ? she does not look fit.
This season will be a huge struggle for her with such a disaster growing pain with that look :shocked: :roll5:, at least with Tutberidze she kept her in check !!

Looks like Med has a chance along with Trusova and Scherbakova
Kortornaia better get that in check, she needs to remember being lean, fit is very important in figure skating just look at what happened to Gracie Gold's career.

 

[zounger]

Kostornia what happened to her , was she injured ? she does not look fit.
This season will be a huge struggle for her with such a disaster growing pain with that look :shocked: :roll5:, at least with Tutberidze she kept her in check !!

Looks like Med has a chance along with Trusova and Scherbakova
Kortornaia better get that in check

I don’t think she will be competitive this season but what’s the problem with her look? She looks fine form me. And happy birthday to her by the way. Best wishes!

 

[Vemvane]

So alyonas now 17 and we got new foto contents of her. She looks good, and seems happy. So as a fan of her that makes me very happy

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She looks like she's having a good time with her new team, and she certainly hasn't lost an iota of her flexibility. It's nice to see some photos of her skating again, and I am so curious as to the new programmes Pluschenko and Rozanov are making for her!

 

[zounger]

Scott512 not because She changed coaches, that’s irrelevant to me. These are top athletes they can adjust to whatever change. It’s just my feeling that she had 2-3 Good seasons in a row and now I think she would have an average.