Javier Fernandez

[evergreen]

I remember Kovtun making fun of Javi. It was a cute moment
I thought Kovtun was with Morozov after Javi moved to Canada? But I could be wrong.

IIRC, Kovtun joined Morozov's stable in the early spring of 2011 when he was 15, and Javi split with the latter after 2011 worlds, which was postponed and relocated to Moscow due to what happened in Japan. So they were teammates for a short period of time.

Javi has sort of strong tie with Russia ever since he was very young, attending summer camps in Jaca run by Alexei Mishin on an annual basis, where he acquired Russian technique for quad jumps, I suspected.

Edit: an abstract of Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Kovtun `Sometimes I feel old aged' for sport-express.ru

EV: Do you question yourself what do you need to do to beat Javier Fernandez? After he set a gap of almost 15 points in the SP it was obvious you would not be able to close it no matter how you skate.
MK: There are several approaches. 5 years ago I would get 100 points less for my LP from what I get now. I'm 20 years old, think I first need to become consistent in my both programmes and only then think of someone else's marks. The male skating right now is so hard there are hardly any skaters who can pull two clean programmes one competition. Even Fernandez can't. Once you are consistent the components are getting higher. Fernandez' 2nd mark is huge - and he deserves it with his skates, his titles. Though I still recall when in the GPF in 2011 I was still skating juniors and Fernandez became 3rd in the seniors GP with 247 points, despite skating really well there. I.e. not much higher points that what I got in Bratsilava.

EV: I was not expecting you to remember such details.
MK: I was really curious seeing Fernandez skating that competition. It was his first year working with Brian Orser. That programme Javier skated in the mustard sweater - it's still one of my favourite programmes by him.

(this interview was conducted after 2016 Euros')

 

[evergreen]

In the TSL interview Tracy Wilson mentioned that Javi's work ethic started to change big time last year. Although what happened with Javi at the Olympics in 2014 was a pity, in a way I sometimes wonder whether in the long run not getting a medal at that year's Olympics might become something he could eventually benefit from. I guess all things happen for a reason.

Having watched this interview again, I was touched by Tracy's words that Javi came to TCC with nothing but pure, natural talent and absolute love of the sports.

 

[Spiral]

I remember Kovtun making fun of Javi. It was a cute moment

What did Kovtun say?

Speaking of Morozov, he somehow likes a treasure hunter, always looking for natural talent

I think any coach would be happy to take on a skater with natural talent, but how many top coaches would coach such a skater for free?

Brian said that when he began working with Javi, the maximum he can pulled himself on the task was 10 minutes . In addition, he was … reluctant to do run-throughs; he disliked ballet classes and get bored very quickly; he was unwilling to practice elements such as spins.

Isn’t it amazing that Orser still took him on and kept him and then took so much trouble to motivate him and just generally take care of him? I didn’t know any of that, but it makes me admire Orser even more. He sure deserves to have the top two male skaters among his students!

I think Yuzuru has considered Javier as his rival even before that, I read an interview of Javi, I think it took place around the GP series, where he got asked if something had changed with how they got along after he won Worlds. And he said that the only thing that had changed was that they both go into competitions with the mentality of specifically beating each other.

The other thing that amazes me is that with such mentality they manage to remain such good friends – not friendly and polite, but friends! – even during competitions. The Russian singles ladies too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that in the many years I’ve followed FS.

But the injuries that both Javier and Yuzuru have suffered this season do sound worrisome, especially with the quad race projected to escalate next season. I'm just hoping against hope that nobody will find their skating career and overall health compromized as a result of this development.

 

[evergreen]

What did Kovtun say?

He did not say anything; he just tried to block Javi's sight with his hand, I guess that Kovtun cannot help amusing him because Javi was so unusually serious & tense

I will try to find a video about this.

I think any coach would be happy to take on a skater with natural talent, but how many top coaches would coach such a skater for free?

Not always. Frank Caroll could not put up with late Chris Bowman any more, despite his amazing talent. Morozov disliked Javi's work ethic very much.

Though I don't know the details of the arrangement between Morozov and Javi, but it is sort of common for Russian coaches to train young skaters who they think have good potential; they do not charge the youngsters for the training, even pay for their costumes & traveling costs, but they get a decent share of whatever the prize money and show revenue the skaters would earn once they are successful in competitions. As far as I know, Alexei Minshin operates his team in this way, he even helped Plushenko's family financially so as his mom could stay with Plushenko. This is one of the reasons why Minshin was so pissed off when Yagudin left him after winning his first world title.

Frank Caroll had a similar contract with Timothy Goebel. When he fired Tim, he still got certain percentage of every penny Time earned afterwards.

I read somewhere that Javi had decided to change coach before the 2011 worlds, because he was tired of moving around and he felt being neglected by Morozov, whose focus was on Florent Amodio & Miki Ando. But when Javi ended at the 10th place at the worlds, Morozov suggested Spanish Federation that they shall begin paying him for the training costs. Anyway, they did not part on good terms.

What I felt odd was, according to Miki & Amodio, it was Morozov who approached them through their agent/federation and offered to train them. It usually is the other way around.

The other thing that amazes me is that with such mentality they manage to remain such good friends – not friendly and polite, but friends! – even during competitions. The Russian singles ladies too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that in the many years I’ve followed FS.

This is amazing and has never happened before, good sportsmanship and health rivalry make both of them stronger and better.

But the injuries that both Javier and Yuzuru have suffered this season do sound worrisome, especially with the quad race projected to escalate next season. I'm just hoping against hope that nobody will find their skating career and overall health compromized as a result of this development.

The most common injury can be caused by practicing quad is back/hip injury. For over a month Javi could not properly train leading up to the 2016 worlds because he had to deal with an inflammation in the pelvic fascia. Even though he did not jump as much as Hanyu did in practice, there is a limit of the massive ponding his body can take & endure.

 

[calica]

The other thing that amazes me is that with such mentality they manage to remain such good friends – not friendly and polite, but friends! – even during competitions. The Russian singles ladies too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that in the many years I’ve followed FS. .

I honestly don't think they are good friends, but I think both are friendly fun people and they enjoy with everyone in general.
I always see javier and yuzu happy when they are surrounded by people

 

[honghe]

EV: I was not expecting you to remember such details.
MK: I was really curious seeing Fernandez skating that competition. It was his first year working with Brian Orser. That programme Javier skated in the mustard sweater - it's still one of my favourite programmes by him.

(this interview was conducted after 2016 Euros')

Lol @ Kovtun remembering "the mustard sweater"
I think it was also the start of Javi's love affair with suspenders?

 

[evergreen]

What did Kovtun say?

Here is the video, you may fast forward to 8:02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTZszKZVc10

 

[evergreen]

Yah, Kovtun is a sweet kid; but these competitors really watch each other closely

here is Nick Verreos' blog on Javi's costume (there is a photo of young Brian Orser; Javi resembles his coach at younger age, they look like father-son
http://nickverrreos.blogspot.hk/2011/12/figure-skating-fashion-minute-isu-grand.html

 

[da96103]

What did Kovtun say?
The other thing that amazes me is that with such mentality they manage to remain such good friends – not friendly and polite, but friends! – even during competitions. The Russian singles ladies too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that in the many years I’ve followed FS.

I think there are some rumors that the Russian ladies are divided into two camps. The older ones Tuts and Radio in one camp and the younger ones Pogo and Zhenya in another. Someone mentioned Radio absolutely dislikes Pogo.

 

[Jaana]

SiriusboutBlack posted on FSUniverse a link to her blog about the Edmonton show

http://www.princessbeanyskates.com/lets-talk-canadian-stars-on-ice-2016/

Fernandez excerpts:

Javier Fernandez: “Luck Be a Lady” – I am so happy I was able to see this program live without tears streaming down my face. This program is so perfect for Javi. It suits him so well and he skates it so well. All that was missing here were the quads, there wasn’t a mistake here and everything else was just as good as he did in Boston. Javi, I can’t help but love you. And comparing him with Patrick, Javi clearly showed why he’s the World Champion.

Javier Fernandez “Danny Boy” – I enjoyed this less than his FS and I had already seen this program in Boston but it was still highly enjoyable. Javi is so smooth with his blades, he’s improved so much in the past few years! Plus, I always love when I get to see Javi’s pretty face.

 

[honghe]

I think there are some rumors that the Russian ladies are divided into two camps. The older ones Tuts and Radio in one camp and the younger ones Pogo and Zhenya in another. Someone mentioned Radio absolutely dislikes Pogo.

:sad21: Somehow these girls are all still kids in my eyes, even the "older ones". I really hope they don't hate each other. The sport it already hard enough. Why can't people just support each other...

 

[honghe]

Yah, Kovtun is a sweet kid; but these competitors really watch each other closely

here is Nick Verreos' blog on Javi's costume (there is a photo of young Brian Orser; Javi resembles his coach at younger age, they look like father-son
http://nickverrreos.blogspot.hk/2011/12/figure-skating-fashion-minute-isu-grand.html

The picture of Brian with Javi in that hat
Someone in the audience at Skate Canada literally put that hat on Javi's head after FS, then Javi played with it in the K&C area when his scores came out

 

[xibsuarz]

SiriusboutBlack posted on FSUniverse a link to her blog about the Edmonton show

http://www.princessbeanyskates.com/lets-talk-canadian-stars-on-ice-2016/

Fernandez excerpts:

Javier Fernandez: “Luck Be a Lady” – I am so happy I was able to see this program live without tears streaming down my face. This program is so perfect for Javi. It suits him so well and he skates it so well. All that was missing here were the quads, there wasn’t a mistake here and everything else was just as good as he did in Boston. Javi, I can’t help but love you. And comparing him with Patrick, Javi clearly showed why he’s the World Champion.

Javier Fernandez “Danny Boy” – I enjoyed this less than his FS and I had already seen this program in Boston but it was still highly enjoyable. Javi is so smooth with his blades, he’s improved so much in the past few years! Plus, I always love when I get to see Javi’s pretty face.

Don't we all?
Javi really found a great set of programs this year, hopefully next season's will be even better!

:sad21: Somehow these girls are all still kids in my eyes, even the "older ones". I really hope they don't hate each other. The sport it already hard enough. Why can't people just support each other...

I don't think they hate each other, at least not all. After Euros there was this rumor of Zhenya and Elena really disliking each other, but Zhenya went to Elena's defense against her own fans when they tried to speak badly of her after TCC.
Sorry for Hijacking the thread

 

[evergreen]

Does anyone have a video of this interview? Would love to see it. As far as I know, Javi has a good fan base in Finland:luv17:


https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10153764161640944&id=12523150943&substory_index=0

 

[evergreen]

Plus, I always love when I get to see Javi’s pretty face.

This reminds me this interview; I honestly believed that Michael Buckley was "hitting on" Javi, even Michael claims he was not. :shocked:

http://web.icenetwork.com/video/v568892683/?query=javier+fernandez

 

[honghe]

I like how he kept focusing on positive things and how friendly and funny he was even after he fell during the SP at Worlds.
And he is so grateful to the coaching team at the Cricket Club :luv17:

 

[evergreen]

I like how he kept focusing on positive things and how friendly and funny he was even after he fell during the SP at Worlds.

This makes him a great champion :agree:

I am going to try my best, but if I won't make it, it means that I was not able to make it. I am not going to be upset for my whole life because I didn't step on the podium at this or that competition. I would be upset the first week! (laughs) But then I would be fine.- Javier Fernandez

Interview with AOI, 10/2012
http://www.artonice.it/?q=en/node/12344

 

[honghe]

That's a nice quote.:agree:
One of the things I respect Javi for is that he's always gracious whether in wins or in loses.

I have to get used to that: I need to believe in myself, that I can do it.

(I felt) more pressure, because people were saying to me "Oh, I hope you are going to be European Champion". When I heard all this stuff I thought "Oh my God, oh my God!! They are expecting me to become European Champion!"

It still amazes me just thinking about how far he's come since moving to Toronto.

 

[evergreen]

It still amazes me just thinking about how far he's come since moving to Toronto.

It was a progress of gaining self-confidence by hard working.

Brian Orser regards Javi's success as his greatest triumph

"It wasn't a matter of just cracking the whip. We told him we believed in him, and then he started believing in himself. And when he won a silver medal at (2011) Skate Canada, he said, 'Oh, that wasn't so hard.' We gave him some direction, watched every step, nurtured his talent."

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2015/05/06/121715550/in-banner-year-orser-achieves-greatest-triumph

"He’s kind of like my poster child for my coaching career,”

“He came to me, of course talented, but so lost. He didn’t have much discipline or much direction and not really a whole lot of people who believed in him".

“Once we gave him a simple plan, he had some pretty quick results. We believe in him. Now he believes in himself. He’s digging it.”

“A lot of people are saying (Friday’s performance) was the best free program they’ve seen in the history of figure skating,” a still beaming Orser said of the gold-medal clincher on Friday. “And I agree.” “I’m really proud of what we’ve done with Javi right from the start.”

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/04/02/brian-orser-on-top-of-figure-skating-world

 

[honghe]

That's lovely to read. It must be very nice to have people who really, really believe in you and are willing to go through all the good and bad days together with you.

"It wasn't a matter of just cracking the whip. We told him we believed in him, and then he started believing in himself. And when he won a silver medal at (2011) Skate Canada, he said, 'Oh, that wasn't so hard.' We gave him some direction, watched every step, nurtured his talent."

I guess "cracking the whip" also must be part of it, though Brian said a couple of years ago that he had to get really angry with Javi sometimes because he thought Javi was so talented and he didn't want Javi to have any regrets later in life.