- Joined
- Apr 26, 2018
Sure, I do. Because I‘ve just randomly followed her career like a madwoman for the last three years. I don‘t care for Eteri, true that, but I’ve clearly said that if she manages to help Zhenya, she‘ll redeem herself in a lot of ways in my eyes. That I don‘t have a lot of faith right now actually has nothing (or at least not that much) to do with Eteri or her team but the nature of the injury itself and the statistics in how many Russian ladies actually managed to recover after a back injury and stay on competing on top of their game. Because let‘s please just be realistic - Zhenya may love skating but she won‘t be satisfied struggling to make the top 5 at Nationals while simultaneously further ruining her health. Or at least that‘s the impression I‘ve gotten from her interviews.
But yeah. I cried my eyes out when that girl lost the Olympics (when she was still with Eteri, btw) because actually, I just don‘t want to see her succeed. Makes perfect sense.
First of all, no, I don‘t expect anything from her. If anything, I’m worried she’s trying too hard for something her body won’t be able to handle in the long run. Why else do you think I keep saying she‘ll likely withdraw from most competitions this season? I do think that if she isn‘t ready by Nationals, she‘ll likely not make the team, end up without funding, get dropped by RusFed and will have virtually no chance to make the main team ever again. Not because I want that to happen (duh) but because Russian skating is literally that cruel. Being with Eteri might help in this political game, though, so that‘s good.
Also, I feel like a broken record but: “skaters“. I‘m sure they do. But Russian ladies skaters? Successfully? Tuktamysheva‘s the only one I can think of and we all praise her because she‘s literally a very rare case. Of course Zhenya has a chance to be similar but yeah, chances aren‘t in her favor right now.
Eteri‘s a strategist and she‘s clever, I have no doubts about that. There’s a lot on the line for her as well, so I‘m sure that if Evgenia competes, she‘ll be ready. I also explicitly stated that I‘m thankful they don‘t make her compete when she‘s not ready.
Also, I‘ve said at least a hundred times that while I may personally not like the situation and needed time to come to terms with it, I still fully support Zhenya. I love her skating and I love her personality and the reason I‘m negative right now is not because I‘m doubting her spirit or her determination but because I‘m doubting what a human body is capable of enduring. As simple as that. And I realise that I‘ve been pretty passive aggressive in this post and it will probably be removed but I‘m just frustrated that as a Zhenya-fan, who genuinely fears that this injury could end her career, all I get to hear her is how I secretly hate her and want her to fail. Guess what? People have different opinions and even Zhenya fans don‘t have to agree everything. This place used to be one where we could all fret and be anxious in the knowledge that in the end, we were all rooting for our girl. Now it feels like forced positivity that, sorry, I‘m not about. Again, if you end up being right, I‘ll be the happiest person on the planet (lol) and will GLADLY tell you how wrong I was.
Anyway, end of rant. I‘ll end this by saying that Zhenya‘s programs this season have potential to be masterpieces and I am still having my fingers crossed to see her Alegria with full choreo. And maybe Masquerade with Eteri‘s improvements - I feel like the two could do something great with the basics of that program.
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