Evgenia Medvedeva

[Fluture]

She still has higher total scores than Tsurskaya, Panenkova and Radionova, I think, all of whom got 2 GP spots this season. It would be better if she got a great SB this season because yes, 204 is indeed quite low. Sima just got a 202 in a challenger event, Alena, Sasha, Anna S., Anna T. and Anastasia will presumably all move up next season so even if the three above drop out, it will still be quite crowded.

 

[grey19]

Don't give up hope. An angry Zhenya is a powerful Zhenya.

I believe in her wholeheartedly, I am just not sure with all.this media storm, coping with this takes time, more than a month, I believe. But she is a fighter, that's for sure.

 

[Jeanie19]

I believe in her wholeheartedly, I am just not sure with all.this media storm, coping with this takes time, more than a month, I believe. But she is a fighter, that's for sure.

Some of the media storm has been support. And her fans have been rallying.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Yes, they are. I've got another silly question. I'm really worried. Will Evgenia get 2 GP assignment next year? Because right now her highest score is 204 which is pretty low.

She should. The only Russians ahead of her are Zagitova, Trusova, Tuktamysheva, and Shcherbakova (but Kostornaya could go higher next week). So she should be set. Even if Sofia does great at the GPF and beats Zhenya's score, she'd be the 7th Russian on the list.

 

[melgirl25]

Some of the media storm has been support. And her fans have been rallying.

She had so much support at her test skates. I think her fans will come out for Nationals big time. I honestly don't know what to expect. I wasn't expecting her to perform as she did in France. I think if she can let go of the idea of having to prove her self it will help. Easier said than done though.

 

[grey19]

Some of the media storm has been support. And her fans have been rallying.

Her fans are really the best.

 

[grey19]

Oh God, this is really the best, this is so bad that it's very funny. Samodurova gave interview about her GP Finale. She said she had cried. She had mixed feelings, happy for herself and heartbroken for Zhenya. So, I just came across this big headline 'Medvedeva made her competitor cry'

 

[NoviceFan]

Oh God, this is really the best, this is so bad that it's very funny. Samodurova gave interview about her GP Finale. She said she had cried. She had mixed feelings, happy for herself and heartbroken for Zhenya. So, I just came across this big headline 'Medvedeva made her competitor cry'

Everyone who wants to sell as story feels the need to invoke Evgenia's name :disapp: In a way, it should be flattering, but largely, it's just so annoying.

 

[Jeanie19]

Oh God, this is really the best, this is so bad that it's very funny. Samodurova gave interview about her GP Finale. She said she had cried. She had mixed feelings, happy for herself and heartbroken for Zhenya. So, I just came across this big headline 'Medvedeva made her competitor cry'

You can see how media twists things. Samodurova gave the sweetest interview.

 

[grey19]

You can see how media twists things. Samodurova gave the sweetest interview.

Yea, Sonya is a sweet girl, that's why it's so funny, well, not really, but at this point it is. I just hope they didn't twist Sonya's words, and this is just a catchy headline.

 

[Alexz]

Yes, I was talking about Russian media. Should have clarified that. The either worship you or destroy you, no middle ground.

Not necessary true. Russian media is just doing their job - they reporting. The problem is other people - some retired skaters, coaches, experts, commentators, journalists and fans - some of them support Zhenya, some not so much. They are expressing their thoughts in the press. And it's journalists' duty to report and to publish all that. They can't just censor every piece that is somewhat negative or analytical about recent Zhenya's performances. Zhenya is just too young and inexperience to handle her PR more in her favor.

Well, for just instance there is influential Moscow local channel - Moscow-24. This is basically Moscow city government PR pet project. It is very hypsterish and full of young journalists. Although they are overly enthusiastic when the major of Moscow is opening a newly reconstructed park, or riding a bicycle to work, or shaking hands of subway construction workers, but the rest of 90% of time they do whatever they want. They reporting on all events in Moscow and shooting some seriously cool documentaries about the city. They routinely make interviews with a lot of athletes who train in Moscow, they also interviewed Zhenya a lot in the past. They were reporting on all her victories, they were meeting her in the airport after WC, GP and Euros. They ran a flashmob just 2 days ago with a hashtag of support and promised to show all the best videos and pictures for Zhenya by fans from social networks on their TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sLkGDXgjrw This TV channel is quite popular among Moscow youth, hipsters and alike.

 

[Fluture]

Oh, Sofia... She‘s such a sweet girl and honestly, this is just disturbing. Leave these girls alone, please! They don‘t deserve any of this. Anyway, I‘m happy for Sofia. If not Zhenya in GPF, then her. She‘s such a nice girl.

 

[Jeanie19]

Not necessary true. Russian media just doing their job - they reporting. The problem is other people - some retired skaters, coaches, experts, commentators, journalists and fans - some of them support Zhenya, some not so much. They expressing their thoughts in the press. And it's journalists' duty to report and to publish all that. They can't just censor every piece that is somewhat negative or analytical about recent Zhenya's performances. Zhenya just too young and inexperience to handle her PR more in her favor.

Well, for just instance there is influential Moscow local channel - Moscow-24. This is basically Moscow city government PR pet project. It is very hypsterish and full of young journalists. Although they are overly enthusiastic when the major of Moscow is opening a newly reconstructed park, or riding a bicycle to work, or shaking hands of subway construction workers, but the rest of 90% of time they do whatever they want. They reporting on all events in Moscow and shooting some seriously cool documentaries about the city. They routinely make interviews with a lot of athletes who train in Moscow, they also interviewed Zhenya a lot in the past. They were reporting on all her victories, they were meeting her in the airport after WC, GP and Euros. They ran a flashmob 2 days ago with a hashtag of support and promised to show all the best fan videos and pictures from social networks on their TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sLkGDXgjrw This TV channel is quite popular among Moscow youth, hipsters and alike.

Thank you for the information. We get all news secondhand.

 

[NoviceFan]

Not necessary true. Russian media is just doing their job - they reporting. The problem is other people - some retired skaters, coaches, experts, commentators, journalists and fans - some of them support Zhenya, some not so much. They are expressing their thoughts in the press. And it's journalists' duty to report and to publish all that. They can't just censor every piece that is somewhat negative or analytical about recent Zhenya's performances. Zhenya is just too young and inexperience to handle her PR more in her favor.

Well, for just instance there is influential Moscow local channel - Moscow-24. This is basically Moscow city government PR pet project. It is very hypsterish and full of young journalists. Although they are overly enthusiastic when the major of Moscow is opening a newly reconstructed park, or riding a bicycle to work, or shaking hands of subway construction workers, but the rest of 90% of time they do whatever they want. They reporting on all events in Moscow and shooting some seriously cool documentaries about the city. They routinely make interviews with a lot of athletes who train in Moscow, they also interviewed Zhenya a lot in the past. They were reporting on all her victories, they were meeting her in the airport after WC, GP and Euros. They ran a flashmob just 2 days ago with a hashtag of support and promised to show all the best videos and pictures for Zhenya by fans from social networks on their TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sLkGDXgjrw This TV channel is quite popular among Moscow youth, hipsters and alike.

I see your point. But a headline such as "Medvedeva made her competitor cry" I think goes beyond plain reporting; it sensationalizes / mischaracterizes the story in order to sell it...

 

[flanker]

Thank you for the information. We get all news secondhand.

I would also add that I don't think that media themselves would be struggling some campaign for or against particular skater (some influential persons of russian figure skating do that, however, during interviews), they just like "stories" and "controversies". So if you find some article biased against e. g. Zhenya, that does not mean that media themselves are particularly against her, because in the very same periodical you can find the same about a rival skater. That's part of the deal and in my country it works the very same. Much worse is what I mentioned, that some influential persons from rusfed sometimes are not correct during interviews and don't strive to be objective.

 

[pandatours]

Evgenia gets criticized for going to Brian, Boyang gets criticized for changing his mind and not going to Brian. The internet is so harsh.

I am hoping she gets lots of support at Nats! I kind of wish it were in early January instead to give her just a bit more time though

 

[Alexz]

I see your point. But a headline such as "Medvedeva made her competitor cry" I think goes beyond plain reporting; it sensationalizes / mischaracterizes the story in order to sell it...

Typical click-bait headline. Have not you seen those before on many other occasions? I think they did not lie about everything else or misquoted Serafima in their article. You really can't get upset about every silly attempt to sell news by some small media source. Clickbait headlines are often a casual tools for a low-tier massmedia with a small amount of audience. Why not? They want people to click on their article and read (..and meanwhile they sell some advertisements on the same page). It is typical modus operandi of some journalists. Be it either in Russia or anywhere else in the world. Like I said at least they did not lie about everything else inside this article. Well, let the journalists do their job. Some of them are more respectful and well-known for their strong ethics, some are just no-names who are trying to use this hype and to make a name for themselves or bring traffic to their small media source. They can't censor anyone. Even in Russia. At least in sports they are enjoying full (and too wild) freedom of speech. At times a bit too free to my taste, lol.

My advice - let them talk. Anyone. All of them. Press, retired skaters, experts/commentators and etc. The more talks the better for figure skating. The more drama the merrier. The more hype the sweeter will be redemption. Zhenya just need to train hard and skate better. She was obviously under-trained and unprepared for competing recently. This will make her next competition (if successful) even more triumphant. I think she just made another amateurish mistake when she climbed that soapbox and officially accused people being mean to her on social networks. C'mon. Rookie mistake. She really needs to be more thoughtful and careful about her PR things, and to use press and to do things publicly only in her favor.

Let me remind you all. People hated her before that too. That is not something new to complain about it. Especially right now. Especially after unsuccessful competition. Not the right moment. Well, she has been seeing a lot of negative comments under her instagram posts and youtube videos for the recent 2-3 years. Because she was winning. And winning a lot. Dominating. Not everyone likes that. And sometimes people as well don't like when their favorite skaters dont have a chance of winning, when Zhenya was dominating the fields like she had. She was unbeatable for 2 years before Olympics. She allowed herself no more than 2-3 falls for the last 3 years. This year she felt more time than in most of her junior and senior career. And she had a lot of major competitions which she dominated unquestionably. Although a lot of people complained. Usual things form usual suspects. I remember even here on this forum a lot of our fellow North Americans complained about her lack of artistry, poor skating skills, shallow edges, being over the top theatrical, gimmicky choreography and even saying a lot of mean things like, pardon, "gaping mouth" and etc. (this is very American slang, btw). So the hate from social networks is not something new for Zhenya. Every successful person is experiencing that. There is no conspiracy her. It is not just Zagitova's uber-fans, many others who was critical about Zhenya for the last 3 years now have a legit chance to speak up. One just need not to pay attention to that. Well, at least Zhenya did not quite played that card as an excuse to her poor performance or blame all this pressure to explain her unpreparedness, but it was not a wise move for her at all to play victim card and complain about silly negativity from internet. Well, take any successful athlete and you will find negative vibes in their social networks and under their videos on youtube too. And coming from all over the world, we are living in globalized world after all. Zhenya first started to receive a lot of negativity 3 years ago. So speaking now about negativity in social networks or in some low-level media sources is making her look a bit weak and like she really is reaching for an excuse. And she just should not have any reason to do that. Just keep training. And prove her worth on ice. No much value in emotional words. Sport is a cruel world, that's why we like it. It is always a drama and overcoming difficulties and injuries. Public don't like excuses in general.

I hope she can make it. I really would love that.

 

[Alexz]

Evgenia gets criticized for going to Brian. The internet is so harsh.

My impression she gets criticized not for going to Brian, but how that all happen. And for few words she carelessly dropped for the press. She needs to be smarter in the future.

 

[Alexz]

I would also add that I don't think that media themselves would be struggling some campaign for or against particular skater (some influential persons of russian figure skating do that, however, during interviews), they just like "stories" and "controversies". So if you find some article biased against e. g. Zhenya, that does not mean that media themselves are particularly against her, because in the very same periodical you can find the same about a rival skater. That's part of the deal and in my country it works the very same. Much worse is what I mentioned, that some influential persons from rusfed sometimes are not correct during interviews and don't strive to be objective.

TAT is not a part of RusFed. She is a grey eminence behind the curtains.

 

[Fluture]

Evgenia at the peak of her career, isn‘t called out for her flutz, gets high scores even with falls - people: Omg she‘s so smug she knows she‘s the judges‘ favourite and doesn‘t even try to fix her flaws. So overscored

Evgenia going to Canada and Brian Orser to improve her technique and stay relevant - people: Omg she‘s a traitor for leaving Russia

Evgenia struggling while adjusting her technique - people: OMG SHE IS DONE SHE SHOULDN‘T HAVE LEFT ETERI I TOLD YA ALL

Parallel universe where Evgenia didn‘t go to Orser after the Olympics and stayed with Eteri - people: OMG she is so arrogant, thinking she‘d be the favourite forever even though she just lost to Alina

Obviously I‘m not talking about the same group of people above in every example but that‘s just... well... the thing: You can‘t please everyone. Moral of the story: There will always be a fraction who praises, a fraction who hates and one who simply doesn‘t care. It‘s just that the ones who hate usually overshadow the ones who spread love and support because negative words always are “louder“ than positive ones. That’s life. I just hope Zhenya surrounds herself with people who show her that she‘s wonderful the way she is and shouldn‘t focus on what the others think and rather on what SHE wants to do and then... just do it. Give her time, give her love and support and some “Zhenya, come on now, girl, you CAN do it. Fight!!“ and she‘ll be back on track. Zhenya‘s a fighter, I strongly believe in her. She‘s not a superhuman, though, so we do see her show some weakness occasionally. It’s only natural. I think that once she has gone through this tough time, she‘ll emerge stronger than she was before.