Re: Summer Questions - Ladies
1. If MK goes for gold in 2004, will she absolutely need a 3x3?
Absolutely? No. If she gets in a good number of 3/2s along with her overall improved status, she should still be the gold medalist at Worlds.
2. Has TT been as useful to Sasha as was first anticipated?
When I first heard this, I had mixed emotions. Also, I THOUGHT Tarasova did a lot of things as a coach that it turns out she doesn't, like have a jump trainer and an off-ice trainer. Also, I think Morozov leaving hurt with Sasha's training. I too thought TT's ice dance background would get Sasha into skating with deeper edges, but it hasn't shown up. At first I said I thought it would take about a year for Sasha to absorb TT's training. But now I think it's also taken TT about a year to see what Sasha needs. As I've said before, I've very concerned about the lack of full runthroughs with jumps. One problem in working with coaches with long traditional backgrounds is that the coaches get stuck on their traditions. I don't know, but some older coaches see a muscular ladies skater and say, "TOO MUCH MUSCLE! You don't need muscle to skate. You need right technique." It's true in one way--yes, a skater does need good technique--but with the way skating has evolved, skaters need a lot more strength than they did even 10 years ago. I hope the trainer helps. But I think Sasha really needs a good jump coach and absolutely needs to do full runthroughs with jumps and double runthroughs with jumps. Without these things, I think Sasha will be relegated to the bottom half of the top six. And it's unfortunate, because she is a talented, hard-working skater. One improvement, however, has been her focus on her training. She takes herself and her training seriously now. Also, TT knows the importance of playing politics. Nicks often said he was tired of having his skaters play the roles of pretty girls in pink frilly dresses and liked to mess around with the media. It may have been fun for him, but it didn't help Sasha. Nicks's playing around with, "Sasha doesn't listen to anything I say" just to get the media worked up dogged Sasha as a "willful, uncooperative skater" by many for years. As Dorothy Hamil said in her interview that was recently posted here, much of skating is politics and how well you come off as a Miss America contestant. I think Tarasova has conveyed to Sasha the importance of her image and what she says, that it indeed influences the judges. Overall, however, if Sasha doesn't bring things together next season--fix her consistency, improve some of her technical pecadillos--I hate to say this, but I think she should change coaches. I'm not one for a skater jumping from one coach to the next, and I don't think Sasha is at all the Nicole Bobek type, but if Tarasova cannot help Sasha correct the fundamentals, then I think Sasha may have to change coaches in order to fulfill her potential. Ideally, I'd like to see Sasha stay with Tarasova since they seem to have bonded, but for TT to bring in a jump coach, who may also serve as a runthrough coach, and also the off-ice trainer, which I think is an excellent idea. It's sometimes hard to remembere that TT has only coached two other singles skaters, Kulik and Yags. They already came in with great jump technique. Kulik figured a lot of what he needed in terms of improving his endurance and consistency by himself and what Yags needed was a coach who could bring heart and passion to his skating. So it's not like Tarasova has had that much experience with singles skaters. Anyay, I wish Sasha luck. I find her to be a breathtaking skater when she's on.
3. If Naomi N N skates Nats, will she be top 3? top 6?
With her hip, I agree with whoever said she might do well in the SP but not in the LP. NNN has, IMO, had a kind of legend built up around her that doesn't have much to do with what she actually accomplished. She was great winning the silver medal in '99, but she had a total meltdown in the LP in '00 landing only three triples IIRC. As she started growing she had a lot of problems--not unusual--but with all the demands for her to be the next "it" skater--photo shoots, appearances, etc.--after her silver medal at Nats in '99, she never skated as well again. I wish her the best and thoroughly enjoyed her skating, but I don't think anything except a fully functioning hip is going to be able to withstand the repetitive pressures of training jumps to be consistent. With the depth in the other ladies, I think Naomi will be lucky to be in the top ten, which I say with a sad sigh. So unnecessary and unfortunate that she had that hip injury.
4. Best chances for the Podium: Jenny? Bebe? Ye Bin? AP?
Assuming Michelle and Sasha, I'd say AP. If Sasha implodes again, I think we could see Michelle, AP, and Ye Bin or Bebe.
5. Which 3 International Ladies figure skaters pose the biggest threat to the US Ladies?
Irina, Sokolova, and Fumie. I didn't put Kostner because I think she will get hit by puberty this season. Also, Kostner was never consistent this season. She did well at Europeans and that was it. I think what we saw was kind of a fluke. But if Kostner can get consistent, watch out!
Rgirl
I think her goal should just be to GET to Nats. Anything after that is icing on the cake.
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