Johnny Weir, Last Year & This Year

[Spun Silver]

A couple of translation quibbles :

... Phillipe Pélissier reported a disaster on saturday: despite the fact that he came in third at the competition, Johnny Weir got lost. The nearly feminine refinement of the skater from Coatesville is gone, destroyed by the necessity (?) to butch up his skating in order to achieve international podium placements. Pélissier: "Weir poured concrete over his skating". On Saturday, the American was clean almost to the point of transparence, smooth almost to the point of insignificance. Without soul. Perhaps a bronze is worth selling it for.

I think the critic is just appealing to the gay fans here. I don't think looking masculine is the issue for Johnny this season. (And to the extent it is, it's nationally at least as much as internationally.) I also don't think he can just turn the tap of great skating on and off. He's trying to rack up points while skating cautiously and staying true to his androgynous, feline self. So this year he got two out of three. Oh yeah, and quite a medal collection. Not bad. I'm sure we all hope that next season he can do it all.

His effort to be daring last year (the Jesus number) didn't work too well for him. I suppose he thought he was returning to Otonal form in this year's Russian muzak with the throbbing-heart theme. If he had been able to skate it with more abandon, he would have been right. I think he's doing what he has to do to beat Joubert, Takahashi, Lambiel and Lysacek - nothing to do with international judges' homophobia, which is what I hear in this guy's comments.

Bottom line is that Johnny is a 6.0 skater trying to make it in a CoP world. Sucks, but there it is.

 

[Bennett]

I thought both programs were very Johnny.

 

[Tinymavy15]

I thought both programs were very Johnny.

so did I. I think that he has found a balance between "being Johnny" and not being overly frivolous. I think that his programs this year were perfect fits, and although they did nothing for me personally, I feel that he made good choices.

 

[jennylovskt]

The nearly feminine refinement of the skater from Coatesville is gone.

If it's true, it's gone for the better. He has to be able to compete, and jump, not just perform. Or he should leave the competition and just do the shows. However, I don't think he has abandoned his style. It's on the contrary, IMO, Look at his SP of this year. His abilities were limited by this year's choreography, both SP and LP, not by CoP. He should find better choreographer next season. That is all.

 

[ManyCairns]

I felt this year's programs are "still Johnny." I do agree about the need for other choreographers. I hope he won't let his personal friendship with Petukhov make him feel obligated to necessarily keep using him.

 

[efreedman]

Johnny's Music

A
His effort to be daring last year (the Jesus number) didn't work too well for him. I suppose he thought he was returning to Otonal form in this year's Russian muzak with the throbbing-heart theme. If he had been able to skate it with more abandon, he would have been right. I think he's doing what he has to do to beat Joubert, Takahashi, Lambiel and Lysacek - nothing to do with international judges' homophobia, which is what I hear in this guy's comments.

.

Just a note: The "Russian muzak" was composed by Yoav Goren who is Israeli born, brought up in New York City and currently living in LA. The CD on which Johnny's music can be found is "Epicon" and includes segments from tracks 9 & 10. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a Russian composer on the entire CD.

 

[Ptichka]

Yes, Johnny's skating was less free and had less abandon than it has in previous seasons. However, I don't think it's all due to choreography. This season he had a lot to prove; he was just about written off after last year, and he had to prove to himself most of all that he was still one of the top skaters in the world. He has done that. Now, hopefully, he will be able to add the soul back into his skating.

 

[Spun Silver]

My mistake, sorry.

 

[Mathman]

I think Johnny should drop the quad and try to do a Jeff Buttle next year.

 

[Bennett]

I don't know. He could perhaps do it when things are going alright. But I hope that he won't be obsessed with it when things are not going well. It's not worth it. I feel that he might have gotten a silver if he hadn't try it there and had not been stressed out with it. But perhaps this was the same for Dai and Tomas. Quad demon.