New Johnny Weir Interview

[Vodka Shot]

about his spins...I've never seen him live but, I have watched all his programs multiple times. I think his positions are usually excellent and he's centered well most of the time but, ITA that speed this season in his spins has been lacking big time. Of course in real life it could look different but, compared to the others his spins look sluggish imo.

 

[momjudi]

I second that!!! During Nationals, Johnny and Priscilla had a press conference and Priscilla told a story about Johnny practicing. She was not able to be there but his mother was. Johnny was practicing the quad and fell; he just laid on the ice. Johnny's mom didn't know what to do, finally Johnny got up. Patty Weir called Priscilla and told her that she was scared when Johnny fell thinking he really hurt himself. Patty said I'm not like you when you yell......GET UP!!


Johnny and Priscilla have a very unique relationship. My wish is that Johnny does a quad combo in the short and in the long program. I want him to make the top five just to prove to himself that he can compete and he does belong with the best.

 

[jennylovskt]

For Johnny, to get into top six is a victory. If he can manage to get into top five, it'll be a great victory. If he skates clean and with passion, and does a clean quad in LP, he will have great chance to beat Oda and Buttle. There is a very good chance that Johnny will beat Evan in SP. Wish him good luck!

 

[slutskayafan21]

To finish the season with dignity. Hopefully make the exhibitions.

Good question. I can only speak for myself and say I would hope he skates an impeccable routine as only he can, and it doesn't matter where he places.

I want him to land his quad - skate cleanly, confidently and musically and like himself, so he gets a good audience reaction - and feel like he did his best. That's not asking much, is it? And of course, all this should be rewarded with a top 5 placement. I want him to beat at least one of the guys who are considered stronger contenders right now.

I hope for a clean short and a freeskate maybe with minor mistakes - but with 3A-3T, 4T and no pops. I would be happy if he scores a new personal best in FS - his old is from 2004!

For me a success would be to skate both programs w/out any major errors (no pops, doubles, or falls) and to not skip any jumping passes. None of the jumps necessarily need to be a quad. Just all landed well. And to finish in the top 6. I dont see him placing ahead of Joubert, Takahashi, Lambiel, Oda, or Lysacek but he can make top 6 if he really pushes for it. I think he's got what it takes to beat Bradley, Buttle, Verner etc......Personally I'll be pleased if he places above Bradley b/c imo nationals was a fluke and he should have got silver ( or at least he had it in him to get silver).

Thank all for your answers. I am pretty much in accordance. A top 5 or top 6 finish for Weir would be outstanding, better then predicted of him at the moment, and a personal victory of sorts. Skating his best, and doing performances he can feel satisfied with, and maybe even getting that quad done with a relatively clean full layout performance, and possibly getting a new PB score, would be something he could feel good about ending this season going into next.

 

[jennylovskt]

and possibly getting a new PB score, would be something he could feel good about ending this season going into next.

What was his personal best in LP? I know his personal best in SP was 80 at 2006 Olympics. (ABC/ESPN didn't count his 83.28 finish in SP at 2006 Nationals.)

 

[Spun Silver]

146.20 (NHK 2004) acc to Crystal Report.

 

[jennylovskt]

Thanks, SS!

 

[Spun Silver]

I just came across some comments on COP from an older interview (SI, Feb 06) that may shed more light on how he really feels about the system:

SI.com: What do you think of the new judging system?
Weir: I liked the new judging system last year because I was winning a lot and I wasn't paying attention to it. But now that I know more of the ins and outs of it I'm not as big a fan, because it makes me think and so I lose the performance aspect of skating and of my programs, which is always something I've been very proud of and now I haven't had it for some time. Ultimately it's better. It's making us better skaters and stronger skaters, but at the same time it's a lot to think about and work with in the year of the Olympics. It's a problem, too, because I don't think the judges exactly understand what's going on, and the skaters don't, the coaches don't, so not everyone's on the same page. You can do something you think is incredibly difficult, but if the judge, just because they weren't schooled enough on it, thinks it's a very low level, they think it deserves very few points. There's so much gray area, because no one understands what's going on.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...m=10&hl=en&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-48,GGLJ:en&sa=N

 

[hockeyfan228]

It's a problem, too, because I don't think the judges exactly understand what's going on, and the skaters don't, the coaches don't, so not everyone's on the same page.

Actually, the judges do understand what's going on: their power has been diminshed by the ISU controllers.

You can do something you think is incredibly difficult, but if the judge, just because they weren't schooled enough on it, thinks it's a very low level, they think it deserves very few points.

Rating difficulty is no longer the job of the judges. They are supposed to judge quality only, and leave difficulty to the ISU controllers. If judges are letting difficulty influence their assessment of quality, they are not doing their job well.

 

[SeaniBu]

I just came across some comments on COP from an older interview (SI, Feb 06) that may shed more light on how he really feels about the system:



http://images.google.com/imgres?img...m=10&hl=en&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-48,GGLJ:en&sa=N

A great show of his personality, and provides substance in his love for the sport as well must agree with the part highlighted in bold face.:agree: :yes:

SI.com: If you were made czar of figure skating, what would you change?

Weir: What goes? Probably a lot of the old guard. I think a lot of times there are these judges and officials who are a lot older and they are still stuck in the '40s or the '50s or whenever they grew up and they can't see that the world changes and the kids change and things are more modern and it's not necessarily a bad thing to be your own person. I'd try to expand the sport so there could be more countries in the ISU. They're doing a pretty good job of getting some new ones in. There's Puerto Rico and the Philippines, Thailand. There are new countries all the time, but there's a huge sector of the world that aren't necessarily poor countries but they have no good skaters and no good coaches. I'd want everything to be equal, so that maybe someone from Luxembourg or Bosnia has the same chance as someone from the United States.

 

[Spun Silver]

Actually, the judges do understand what's going on: their power has been diminshed by the ISU controllers.


Rating difficulty is no longer the job of the judges. They are supposed to judge quality only, and leave difficulty to the ISU controllers. If judges are letting difficulty influence their assessment of quality, they are not doing their job well.

I assume he was using the term judge loosely since from the skater's point of view, the judges and "controllers" are collectively those rating the performance.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I assume he was using the term judge loosely since from the skater's point of view, the judges and "controllers" are collectively those rating the performance.

In an honest judging system, the judges are comprised of 9 judges all from different countries. Even if each one carries a nationalistic bias, it should still come out with a majority of agreement. I do not want to discuss the wheeling and dealing that may go on. That's another topic.

However, the Caller is all-powerful and it is just one person doing this. I have never read a word about the so-called assistants. The Caller's word is gospel, and can not be changed because it will cause another 'stink' which the media will pick up on and Speedy will have a heart attack.

Joe

 

[Hsuhs]

The Caller's word is gospel, and can not be changed

Hm... yeah, that's what bothers me too.

 

[antmanb]

In an honest judging system, the judges are comprised of 9 judges all from different countries. Even if each one carries a nationalistic bias, it should still come out with a majority of agreement. I do not want to discuss the wheeling and dealing that may go on. That's another topic.

However, the Caller is all-powerful and it is just one person doing this. I have never read a word about the so-called assistants. The Caller's word is gospel, and can not be changed because it will cause another 'stink' which the media will pick up on and Speedy will have a heart attack.

Joe

Technically, people who know more about the system than I, tell me that it is a three person team the technical specialist and two assitants. The keep in radio communication throughout the performance, the technical specialist calls the element and if either of the other two disagree the element is flagged for review. Although how this works in practice i have no idea - do the judges see that it has been flagged for review and give the GOE once the argument is settled?

I do disagree with only three people having all this power - i believe the judges a re perfectly capable of spotting the elements for themselves - they had been doing it for years before COP came along.

Ant

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Ant - I understand the regulations. It's all on paper, but is it in practice?

Joe

 

[antmanb]

Ant - I understand the regulations. It's all on paper, but is it in practice?

Joe

That is the age-old question. We can never know whether the technical panel ever had to debate an element, we can never know if an element was ever queried by a member of the panel but we do see what the element was called because it appears on the protocol. Under 6.0 we never knew what a judge thought the element was. There are upsides and downsides to teh COP. Getting the protocol IMO is one of the plus sides.

Ant