State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17 | Page 52 | Golden Skate

State of U.S. Ladies' skating 2016-17

I honestly believe the Russian ladies don't experience as much bullying from their own people as the American ladies do. During the olympics people were vicious toward Ashley and anytime Gracie scores well I see a ton of insults towards her. I wish we could support our ladies more.

I hadn't thought about that. Has anyone noticed any Russians bad mouthing russian skaters?
 
I hadn't thought about that. Has anyone noticed any Russians bad mouthing russian skaters?

Every post I see is support for any and all of their ladies. Whereas a lot of americans hate Gracie and Ashley (though she has largely silenced her haters).
 
Every post I see is support for any and all of their ladies. Whereas a lot of americans hate Gracie and Ashley (though she has largely silenced her haters).

I have noticed a LOT of negativity everytime they skate even if they skate well. Though not much of it for Ashley for her worlds performance. I wonder if we've gotten used to being overly critical on our skaters. It's been a long time since we've dominated skating, so I think we've grown accustomed to criticizing skaters because their not winning and we want them desperately to be better. IJS has not made us good fans.
 
The criticism comes from frustration because the cycle keeps repeating itself over and over. Too much of a roller coaster for people to be at ease and uncritical. A great performance then a bomb. A great competition then a bad one. Looks like a corner has finally been turned only for it not to be. It's about not believing things are finally going well because every time people start believing it finally has they get let down again. Until they start performing, competition after competition, skate after skate, on a consistent level (and up to their potential for the most part) then the criticism will go down.
 
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The criticism comes from frustration because the cycle keeps repeating itself over and over. Too much of a roller coaster for people to be at ease and uncritical. A great performance then a bomb. A great competition then a bad one. Looks like a corner has finally been turned only for it not to be. It's about not believing things are finally going well because every time people start believing it finally has they get let down again. Until they start performing, competition after competition, skate after skate, on a consistent level (and up to their potential for the most part) then the criticism will go down.

Okay that's great and all but even when Gracie has a good performance people tear her down. She led at words after a great short program and the comments were all "Overscored and Overrated," "She's gonna choke in the long, she's so overrated," "Ugh Gracie is such a horrible skater, she's so stiff," and things like that!!! She could have won the next day but everyone was negative about her being on top. There was no support, to this day I believe she was primed and confident and that she must have caught wind of some of these comments. It was apparent the next day she was browsing twitter.

I made up my mind this year I would never tear any skaters down ever again. There are some I like more than others but the rude comments people make about young girls need to stop. I'm Ashley's age and if I got the comments she got at the Olympics I would have probably quit, she was strong enough to get back up.

But Gracie, in the midst of her disappointment after the long at worlds the comments were so awful, about how overscorred and horrible she is. After skate america someone commented on her instagram "It's time to retire sweetie, your done," I can't stand this stuff. Unless I am a skating judge I will not try to crowd judge anymore because it's clear to me what this stuff leads to.

End Rant!!!

Anyways I am starting a new program called the Encouragement project for US skaters who are down on their luck. The first one is Gracie Gold.
 
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I hadn't thought about that. Has anyone noticed any Russians bad mouthing russian skaters?

Every post I see is support for any and all of their ladies. Whereas a lot of americans hate Gracie and Ashley (though she has largely silenced her haters).

Wouldn't it be more fair to ask this in a Russian-speaking skating forum? Americans generally speak English, so of course this English language-based forum would be used by Americans to talk about skaters.
 
Wouldn't it be more fair to ask this in a Russian-speaking skating forum? Americans generally speak English, so of course this English language-based forum would be used by Americans to talk about skaters.

I actually translate Russian comments on videos and instgram posts, it's not perfect but you can get the idea of positive vs negative feedback. The Russian fans seem overwhelmingly positive, where as English comments are more critical than positive.
 
I have noticed a LOT of negativity everytime they skate even if they skate well. Though not much of it for Ashley for her worlds performance. I wonder if we've gotten used to being overly critical on our skaters. It's been a long time since we've dominated skating, so I think we've grown accustomed to criticizing skaters because their not winning and we want them desperately to be better. IJS has not made us good fans.

Actually, as someone who has been on this (and other) skating boards since 2002, unfortunately this phenomenon is nothing new. The negativity has always been around. In fact, the old Kwan/Lipinski fan wars put any of today's kerfluffles to shame*. The one thing that HAS changed for the worse is the advent of social media allowing this talk to be much more accessible to the skaters than in the past, where if you simply stayed off the internet, you were basically good (excluding local gossip, of course).










*Well, now that I think about it, the dumping on Wagner immediately after her selection to the 2014 team reminded me of these very events...perhaps that one's in the ballpark...
 
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I actually translate Russian comments on videos and instgram posts, it's not perfect but you can get the idea of positive vs negative feedback. The Russian fans seem overwhelmingly positive, where as English comments are more critical than positive.
You know nothing about how criticizing are Russian FS fans toward their skaters, but not in instagram but on their forums. Look on FSO. Some of them criticise even today Evgenia. I dont even tell about "figurch" (here the most hated are: Ilinykh, Yulia and Evgenia)
 
You know nothing about how criticizing are Russian FS fans toward their skaters, but not in instagram but on their forums. Look on FSO. Some of them criticise even today Evgenia. I dont even tell about "figurch" (here the most hated are: Ilinykh, Yulia and Evgenia)

Don't want to of topic any further, but yeah, I did notice that Evgenia gets quite a lot of hate, I've read numerous opinions blaming her for Yulia's slump. So, I would say that it's not only American ladies who have to deal with lot of hate. It seems to be pretty universal.

To bring this thread back to the topic of American ladies, I feel really bad for Mirai for her Skate Canada SP. She's clearly progressing very well but I doubt she'll ever be a consistent skater. Or was there some issue I'm unaware of? Like some minor injury?
 
I think how skaters relate to each other and poster's comments are a direct reflection of the person's culture.

In the USA, we have freedom of speech so everyone feels "entitled" to say what they think without any concern of the ramifications. Freedom of speech is nice, but I think it has gone a bit too far in current society.

Under the current Russian regime, one cannot be critical or they will be punished. Therefore, I think everyone is cautious in what they so nothing can be interpreted critically.

Then you have the Japanese culture. It truly is a polite society and "honor" is still valued. From what I gather, South Korea has a similar culture.
 
I have noticed a LOT of negativity everytime they skate even if they skate well. Though not much of it for Ashley for her worlds performance. I wonder if we've gotten used to being overly critical on our skaters. It's been a long time since we've dominated skating, so I think we've grown accustomed to criticizing skaters because their not winning and we want them desperately to be better. IJS has not made us good fans.

I don't think it's just skating though. Gabby Douglas got a whole lot of unnecessary crud thrown her way before and during the Olympics. I think it is American society accepting a higher degree of rudeness.
 
I don't think it's just skating though. Gabby Douglas got a whole lot of unnecessary crud thrown her way before and during the Olympics. I think it is American society accepting a higher degree of rudeness.

Oh no kidding. The Gabby Douglas insults were ridiculous. But I understand at this point, each election in america has gotten more and more filled with mudslinging of late. The internet provides people a froum to display as much rudness as they want outside their public life. I really wish our society could have only kind words or constructive words toward athletes.
 
I don't think it's just skating though. Gabby Douglas got a whole lot of unnecessary crud thrown her way before and during the Olympics. I think it is American society accepting a higher degree of rudeness.

Oh no kidding. The Gabby Douglas insults were ridiculous. But I understand at this point, each election in america has gotten more and more filled with mudslinging of late. The internet provides people a froum to display as much rudness as they want outside their public life. I really wish our society could have only kind words or constructive words toward athletes.

The crap that Gabby had to deal with when competing FOR the US was ridiculous. I still think this online rudeness contributed to her bad performance in her only individual event. The internet has revealed the worst side of ourselves.
 
& exploded.

:devil: :laugh2:

meh, jumping is just a harder thing for her :disapp:

LOL, harder than for whom? I'd say jumping is a difficult thing for everybody. Even Gracie, with her vaunted perfect jumping technique, that's where she falters in comp.
 
LOL, harder than for whom? I'd say jumping is a difficult thing for everybody. Even Gracie, with her vaunted perfect jumping technique, that's where she falters in comp.

Um, don't you see the Russian skaters pulling 3T out of jumps with no flow. Surely, a skater like Mirai can't do that because it is harder for her to complete the rotation at such speed because of her body.....
come on.

And did i say jumping is not a hard thing for anyone? I said jumping is harder for Mirai. You'd be funny to think jumping has the same level of difficulty for everyone.
Thanks.
 
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I think how skaters relate to each other and poster's comments are a direct reflection of the person's culture.

In the USA, we have freedom of speech so everyone feels "entitled" to say what they think without any concern of the ramifications. Freedom of speech is nice, but I think it has gone a bit too far in current society.

Under the current Russian regime, one cannot be critical or they will be punished. Therefore, I think everyone is cautious in what they so nothing can be interpreted critically.

Then you have the Japanese culture. It truly is a polite society and "honor" is still valued. From what I gather, South Korea has a similar culture.

:confused::confused::confused:
 
It looks like the poor SP rattled Mirai quite a bit. She wasn't able to get over it and reverted back to her old self. That does happen quite a bit when somebody is going through a big change and not to mention someone who suffers from nerves and poor confidence. Hopefully she doesn't get too discouraged because she's made some great progress over the last season and half
 
:laugh2: fed by too much propaganda, Ilinykh gets bullied for her weight and trolled, Kovtun is heavily disliked and many other skaters criticisms too !

I hardly call it propaganda, but since its in regard to Russia we have to :rolleye:. Such rules exist everywhere, no matter what country, but its pretty much never enforced or is done sporadically. It's impossible to anyway
 
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