COC - Ladies Long ponderings (Spoilers)
- Thread starter fairly4
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- Oct 27, 2006
Yikes!! This is too hot to handle!!!!
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- Jun 21, 2003
Or you could go for the Western style and put the family name last, then it would be "OOZ" (pronounced "ooze".)...I've seen her referred to as "OO" on Chinese boards, it's so cute. "Yuan" in her name means circular or round. Her baby face is pretty round, and her spins make you go "OO" (or me anyway). I guess one could tag on her surname initial too, but that turns it into a Z-O-O.
Is her real Chinese name "Yuan-Yuan," or just "Yuan?"
I was thinking of the custom of repeating a syllable to make a child's name out of it, like Chen Lu is called Lu-Lu. (Like in English, John might be called Johnny.)
Edited to add: BTW, I have known no less than three people (all from the Southern U.S.) who sported the nickname "Karo." This is a baby name jokingly applied to a child who loves Karo syrup -- a sweet corn syrup popular in the South to pour on pancakes and biscuits.
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Incidentally, in the US, you wouldn't find people shortening "Caroline" to "Carol". They are two completely different names. "Caro" would be far more likely.
I have occasionally referred to Ms. Kostner as "Caro" but read on another board that she detests being called "Caro". So I either use both names, or just her last name, or "Carolina"for clarity. Same with Ms. Zhang--She is Caroline Zhang, Zhang or "Caroline".
I have occasionally referred to Ms. Kostner as "Caro" but read on another board that she detests being called "Caro". So I either use both names, or just her last name, or "Carolina"for clarity. Same with Ms. Zhang--She is Caroline Zhang, Zhang or "Caroline".
You know what, I realize that I'm being really silly.. I think I had a headache, and well at times I like to argue for the sake of arguing which is well really stupid...
Especially if Kostner detests being called Caro! Hah! So, I am very sorry.
And now, I don't hate Caroline Zhang. Hate is a really strong word. I'm not the biggest fan of her skating but I don't hate her. And being told that I hate her, well that just annoys me. And I have said nice things about Zhang's skating too. The fact that she's a competitor. That she has nice spirals and spins. It's not like all I've said is bad things about Zhang.
It's the hype that I don't like, and of course not her fault. The fact that telling Zhang fans, that's the nickname thing is frustrating, then goes into, you hate Caroline Zhang, is more than a bit HUH?
Oh, are you are the person who assumes that if people don't like Zhang/ or Michelle they are somehow racists? I guess it was lucky for me that I was able to prove that I liked other Chinese athletes.
Especially if Kostner detests being called Caro! Hah! So, I am very sorry.
And now, I don't hate Caroline Zhang. Hate is a really strong word. I'm not the biggest fan of her skating but I don't hate her. And being told that I hate her, well that just annoys me. And I have said nice things about Zhang's skating too. The fact that she's a competitor. That she has nice spirals and spins. It's not like all I've said is bad things about Zhang.
It's the hype that I don't like, and of course not her fault. The fact that telling Zhang fans, that's the nickname thing is frustrating, then goes into, you hate Caroline Zhang, is more than a bit HUH?
Oh, are you are the person who assumes that if people don't like Zhang/ or Michelle they are somehow racists?
I guess it was lucky for me that I was able to prove that I liked other Chinese athletes.
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Don't be so down on hype. Fact is, people need something to get excited about with regard to skating ;-) We need to spotlight some potential stars of the future even if we end up being wrong half of the time and these alleged starlets turn out to be duds.
If you think Caroline is getting too much hype at the expense of other skaters who deserve it, than the best thing to remedy that situation is to hype up those skaters more.
True, but I'm trying to appreciate Caroline because she really does have some nice qualities to her. And I guess I hype Yu-na, so I realize it is kind of the same thing... Although I never accussed anyone of racism or favoritism or whatever because Yu-na didn't get the scores, I thought was right. That to me is a bit huh?
But certainly that's not Zhang speaking. She seems like a real competitor, and I just love her pearl spin, and the way she twists up into the bielman it's totally jaw droppingly beautiful.
I found an article interviewing OO and her family & coach in Chinese (quoted in a Chinese forum). Here's my rough translation, my Chinese isn't that good, but I hope I got the main gist of it. I will refer to Caroline as OO out of laziness. 
Oh, and if there seems to be a lot of run-on sentences, it's not my fault, the writer had a penchant for them, and I broke up as many as I could...
Great Potential, Possibility of Surpassing Michelle Kwan
At this Cup of China competition, one person stands out, and that's 14-year-old Chinese-American Zhang Yuan-Yuan (张圆圆). Not only is it unusual for such a young skater to participate in senior competitions, but more interestingly her coach, Li MingZhu, was also the coach of the famous world chamipon Chen Lu.
Mixing English and Chinese at the Press Conference, OO Made Everyone Laugh
At 14, already a participant in senior Grand Prix; at 14, already a medal winner at Skate America -- using a word such as "genius" to describe this student of Li MingZhu doesn't seem like an exaggeration. Although born, raised, and trained in the US, OO has pretty good command of her Chinese, only that it sounds a bit like English.
But she has to speak slowly for you to understand her, although it doesn't mean her English is great either! -- she spoke super-fast in English, to the point that the interpreter begged her to slow it down.
Mixing English and Chinese at the press conference, she also resorted to shockingly rapid-fire English sometimes. The way she talked meant that everyone had to try hard not to break into laughter, even she herself laughed after she finished speaking at the press conference, in which she took over the Italian skater's "leading role". (Carolina ought to have been the main "star" here, I guess)
Sister: "She Loves Small Animals and Reading Books, We Used to Threaten Her by Taking Away Her Books"
As OO took questions from the media, one person in the audience looked at her with a special expression. She gazed intently at OO the whole time, this pretty girl is OO's sister. Actually, there's also another family member in the room, OO's mother.
OO's beautiful sister (methinks this reporter has a crush on her) speaks better English, so she acted as the interpreter during the interview with OO. When other interests were mentioned, OO's coach blurted out, "She loves little animals." Then the other family members spoke. "She likes to read, she's been like this since very young... Oh, yeah, when she was little, when she got tired of practicing, we would threaten to take her books away, and then she would get serious about training again," her sister said.
Li MingZhu: She Has Great Potential, Whether She Can Surpass Kwan Depends on Future Development
As OO's coach, Li explained her daily schedule, which is three hours of on-ice training, plus an appropriate amount of outdoor training (running is my guess). Li sees potentially a wonderful future for OO, the greatest cause for optimism being OO's abundant natural talent.
"She has her own life and training circle -- in the rink she has her friends and teammates, at school she has her classmates, this is her environment," Li thus described OO's life. "I hope she can develop well, we will see just how much of her potential will actually realize itself in the end." These factors are critical in determining whether she can eventually attain the height achieved by Kwan.
OO: Want to Visit Night Market, Agent's Main Role is as a Protector
Although participating in the senior competition, and despite the prospect of being made a rising media star, 14-year-old OO is still a kid at heart. She says that after she finishes with all the competition, she hopes to have a visit to the night market. But first, she wants to go to JiaLeFu Supermarket for shopping.
Walking out of the rink, away from the media horde, OO and her sister seem much more relaxed. When the reporter asked her whether there's anywhere she'd like to visit, she surprisingly said, half in English, half in Chinese, that she'd like to find a JiaLeFu Store (must be some kind of chain supermarket that sells Chinese snacks among other things). Her sister explained that because OO concentrates on nothing but skating prior to the end of the competition, she wouldn't go anywhere. Afterwards, though, she'll probably go shopping, including getting some snacks. Plus, there's another place that OO really wants to visit, and that's Harbin's Night Market -- that really surprised the reporter, perhaps this city has provoked some curiosity in her.
OO's family also told the reporter that although she now has an agent, his main role is not commercial development. Although OO has had some commercial activities in the past, the current agent's job is not to develop these commercial projects, but rather to help her concentrate on her training and education. Her sister said, this agent's main job is to be a "protector", so as to prevent outside interference, this role was "born" this year in April. (This should answer Mathman's question in the other thread!)
Source: 本文来源：网易体育专稿 作者：徐景升
Oh, and if there seems to be a lot of run-on sentences, it's not my fault, the writer had a penchant for them, and I broke up as many as I could...Great Potential, Possibility of Surpassing Michelle Kwan
At this Cup of China competition, one person stands out, and that's 14-year-old Chinese-American Zhang Yuan-Yuan (张圆圆). Not only is it unusual for such a young skater to participate in senior competitions, but more interestingly her coach, Li MingZhu, was also the coach of the famous world chamipon Chen Lu.
Mixing English and Chinese at the Press Conference, OO Made Everyone Laugh
At 14, already a participant in senior Grand Prix; at 14, already a medal winner at Skate America -- using a word such as "genius" to describe this student of Li MingZhu doesn't seem like an exaggeration. Although born, raised, and trained in the US, OO has pretty good command of her Chinese, only that it sounds a bit like English.
But she has to speak slowly for you to understand her, although it doesn't mean her English is great either! -- she spoke super-fast in English, to the point that the interpreter begged her to slow it down.Mixing English and Chinese at the press conference, she also resorted to shockingly rapid-fire English sometimes. The way she talked meant that everyone had to try hard not to break into laughter, even she herself laughed after she finished speaking at the press conference, in which she took over the Italian skater's "leading role". (Carolina ought to have been the main "star" here, I guess)
Sister: "She Loves Small Animals and Reading Books, We Used to Threaten Her by Taking Away Her Books"
As OO took questions from the media, one person in the audience looked at her with a special expression. She gazed intently at OO the whole time, this pretty girl is OO's sister. Actually, there's also another family member in the room, OO's mother.
OO's beautiful sister (methinks this reporter has a crush on her
) speaks better English, so she acted as the interpreter during the interview with OO. When other interests were mentioned, OO's coach blurted out, "She loves little animals." Then the other family members spoke. "She likes to read, she's been like this since very young... Oh, yeah, when she was little, when she got tired of practicing, we would threaten to take her books away, and then she would get serious about training again," her sister said.Li MingZhu: She Has Great Potential, Whether She Can Surpass Kwan Depends on Future Development
As OO's coach, Li explained her daily schedule, which is three hours of on-ice training, plus an appropriate amount of outdoor training (running is my guess). Li sees potentially a wonderful future for OO, the greatest cause for optimism being OO's abundant natural talent.
"She has her own life and training circle -- in the rink she has her friends and teammates, at school she has her classmates, this is her environment," Li thus described OO's life. "I hope she can develop well, we will see just how much of her potential will actually realize itself in the end." These factors are critical in determining whether she can eventually attain the height achieved by Kwan.
OO: Want to Visit Night Market, Agent's Main Role is as a Protector
Although participating in the senior competition, and despite the prospect of being made a rising media star, 14-year-old OO is still a kid at heart. She says that after she finishes with all the competition, she hopes to have a visit to the night market. But first, she wants to go to JiaLeFu Supermarket for shopping.
Walking out of the rink, away from the media horde, OO and her sister seem much more relaxed. When the reporter asked her whether there's anywhere she'd like to visit, she surprisingly said, half in English, half in Chinese, that she'd like to find a JiaLeFu Store (must be some kind of chain supermarket that sells Chinese snacks among other things). Her sister explained that because OO concentrates on nothing but skating prior to the end of the competition, she wouldn't go anywhere. Afterwards, though, she'll probably go shopping, including getting some snacks. Plus, there's another place that OO really wants to visit, and that's Harbin's Night Market -- that really surprised the reporter, perhaps this city has provoked some curiosity in her.
OO's family also told the reporter that although she now has an agent, his main role is not commercial development. Although OO has had some commercial activities in the past, the current agent's job is not to develop these commercial projects, but rather to help her concentrate on her training and education. Her sister said, this agent's main job is to be a "protector", so as to prevent outside interference, this role was "born" this year in April. (This should answer Mathman's question in the other thread!)
Source: 本文来源：网易体育专稿 作者：徐景升
Her real name is "Yuan-yuan", not like "Lu-lu" for Chen Lu.
That's pretty cute name...! But I'm not completely sure how it would be pronounced...It's really nice that she gets to compete in China.. I wonder if she's ever been there before...
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- Jun 21, 2003
I wonder if she speaks SoCal (Southern California English, also called Valley Girl English, -- like Michelle and Sasha. )
Oh, I am so glad to hear it! I think he played that role with Michelle, too, when he first took on the responsibility of guiding her. I think that a big part of Mr. Golddberg's job was to keep the reporters from bothering her too much.
I believe that Mr. Goldberg was recommended to Michelle's family by her coach, Frank Carroll.
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- Jan 23, 2004
Thanks for the translation Feraina.
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- Oct 31, 2006
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I don't believe I've ever seen a more ridiculous example of hype than this one. Caroline has not even skated in her first senior National Championship and has not even been to her first senior Worlds yet and already there is hype that she could overcome the great Michelle Kwan. Please! For Zhang to "surpass" Kwan, she will need 10 National titles, 6 World titles, and 3 Olympic medals. Kwan achieved all of her success during an era of 7 triple jump programs and triple-triple frenzy. I know Michelle had an incredible ability to make her skating appear effortless, but do these clueless journalists really think that Kwan's record can be broken so easily? Give us and Caroline Zhang a break! Let her be Caroline Zhang, not "the next" Michelle Kwan.
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2004
I know....I mean give the poor kid a break.....Don't think she needs the pressure at this moment.
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2003
Acutally I think the Korean skating federation has a lot of power because their strong short track speed skating. The Koreans are dominating in that sport year after year and the short track speed skating is a part of the ISU. And what sport was the president of the ISU from?
I'm glad Yu-na has some power behind her.. Because the Japanese and the American girls do...
But, why can't Caroline be the next Caroline Zhang? Not the next Michelle Kwan. Honestly, Caroline's skating really seems to be more influenced by Sasha than Michelle (quite frankly) That's who Caroline reminds me off, and that's okay because I loved Sasha).
But really that's so much hype and pressure on Caroline and she's sooo very young. Please, let Caroline form her own career.
But, why can't Caroline be the next Caroline Zhang? Not the next Michelle Kwan. Honestly, Caroline's skating really seems to be more influenced by Sasha than Michelle (quite frankly) That's who Caroline reminds me off, and that's okay because I loved Sasha).
But really that's so much hype and pressure on Caroline and she's sooo very young. Please, let Caroline form her own career.
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2004
Michelle was wonderful, she made me first fall in love with skating. Of course the reporter was hyping the young skater, it's their job to sensationalize.
If you read the body of the article, nowhere does anyone state the opinion that Caroline will actually "surpass Kwan," merely the potential to achieve the height attained by Kwan, if that. So the title is a bit misleading.The article also doesn't say that Caroline skates like Kwan in style, it was more talking about achievements. It's not necessarily a bad thing to set your goals high, just not so unrealistic that you're bound to hurt yourself. While Michelle had a lot of amazing qualities, two things really stood out, one was her ability to reach out to the audience, and the other was her cool consistency under pressure. The first made her a darling of the general public, the latter gave her competitive success. Caroline is still quite young, of course, but so far in her young career, she has demonstrated great aptitude for both. Her appeal to the audience is undeniable. And she is remarkably consistent in cobbling together clean programs. Of course the ice is slippery, and anything can happen, for instance tomorrow, but Caroline's relative consistency makes life really easy for her fans!
While Caroline may not have the sound jump techniques that Michelle had at 14, Caroline also trumps Michelle in having a 3F/3T (Michelle only ever had 3T/3T, and that was later in her career, and not very consistent), Cohen-esque extension, and Ruh-ish spins. Not to mention at 14, Michelle didn't have anything like Caroline's presence or artistry.
Mao also stated in public that she looks up to Michelle and hopes one day to achieve what Michelle did, and perhaps even more...
I think this article was more about goals and hopes than about predicting the future.
