PHENOMENOLOGY OF ALIONA KOSTORNAIA
There’s a lot of time until the World Championships, Aliona’s next competition.
So, to fill this time, I would like to explain better some of the reasons why I think that Aliona is exceptional (in the literal meaning of the term), the only one with star qualities.
I don't mean to talk again about the technical and athletic qualities that make her a champion.
I intend instead to talk about her original and striking personality.
Someone make comparisons with other skaters who are always composed and say only the "right" things to the media.
IMO this is so ordinary, and flat, and dull!
I think that Aliona should never do or say the "right" things, what anyone expects of her.
There is the “right” way (standard way), and there is Aliona’s way.
Aliona is outgoing, funny, full of surprises. She manages to make everything around her new and interesting.
Like, there is a boring press conference about the men’s competition? No problem, Aliona revives it, mixing with the public to joke with the winners.
Is the usual, obvious award ceremony, going on with three Russians on the podium?
Here Aliona has an intuition of pure genius: she breaks all the rules of the protocol, inviting the two training mates to join her on the highest step, to sing together the national anthem.
So, she gave us, thanks also to the Austrian television direction, some truly unforgettable shots like these:
https://youtu.be/lkM0pRB-d3g?t=376
https://youtu.be/lkM0pRB-d3g?t=562
(By the way, I'd like this to become a sort of trademark for the 3A, a new tradition for every time they sweep the podium).
Some traditionalist might argue that her tendency to break the rules is indicative of immaturity.
On the contrary, I think that Aliona has a maturity and a refinement of thought much higher than her age.
At the IDF, when Aliona was unfairly penalized in the SP score, the television showed us all her disappointment and anger in the Kiss & Cry area.
Someone else could have remained silent, for fear of antagonize the ISU judges, or on the contrary could have accused the judges explicitly, exposing herself to a possible retaliation (no category likes to be questioned).
Instead Aliona, at the press conference, underlined the injustice obliquely, saying that in junior competitions it was enough to skate clean to get a result. Her message was loud and clear, but subtle enough to be accepted by the judges. This is definitely not the way to talk of a naive or thoughtless girl.
And at the press conference following the Russian national campionships, when, unlike Anna and Sasha, she decided to answer the question about the Olympic Committee's ban on Russia, she spoke like a lawyer, specifying that it was premature to make evaluations, because the sentence was not definitive and that there were still appeals pending.
Really? I mean, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe that a sixteen-year-old improvised such an answer.
Clearly, she knows that she can’t jokes on politics, but she will never give up arguing her point:
https://youtu.be/FTAwgb_3Z7E?t=143
So: talent, beauty, intelligence, maturity, confidence, originality. Quoting Johnny Weir: I have not enough superlatives to say about Aliona
No surprise there, but it's nice to see it in writing. :yes:
:luv17:
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