- Joined
- Jan 23, 2004
^^Thanks Doris. I did mean Mirai. I will edit my post.
What will 2010-11 bring for Caroline Zhang?
- Thread starter Sylvia
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2007
Is it just me or did Caroline put on a lot of weight?? She almost looks unhealthy with how much weight she put on.. and I'm not sure if it's possible but she looks even SLOWER than before, the "fix" on her flip is her only saving grace, I wouldn't be surprised if she retires after this season.
Well, we were discussing how her body changed as a result of her transformation from a girl to a woman. And of course, her new body is making her move slower than before. As for retirement, that's a decision for her to make. I think there are some skaters who have done that as a result of frustration with their competition results.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2009
It would appear that way, but she was a stick before, so she's actually probably still really thin in person. Last season she probably weighed around 100 pounds and now she's probably 110 or something, a 10 pound weight gain would be really noticable, but if you saw her walking down the street she'd likely look tiny. From my experience, most skaters look much smaller in person then they do on tv.
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
That costume she was wearing was not a particularly flattering look for her...that's all I noticed.
The long program dress? If so, I agree!
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2006
I agree. This is what she used to look like, before the weight gain. I personally think she looks healthier now, and she is just having to get used to her new body.
http://www.maoasadafanwebsite.com/mesimages/skatecanada2008/skatecanada3.jpg
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
And the new body can help her develop her skating. More height in her jumps and more speed.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2009
True, but there could also be negative effects. I mean, if being sturdier helps people jump better then how come most skaters are so thin?
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
I don't understand this thread. Years have gone by in which any mention of a skater carrying a few extra pounds brought out the chorus of shushers talking about the prevalence of eating disorders in the skating world. Now we have post after post picking on Caroline because she no longer looks like a little sprite, and hardly any shushers. It's like she's the new Mira Leung. Does GS have to have a ritual young female scapegoat? :sheesh:
Usually I feel like defending free speech against PC fanatics, but I also don't like watching people get picked on. Now I feel bad for Caroline. As if it weren't hard enough to be dealing with disappointing competition results and relearning her jumps, but she has to have people all over the world discussing her weight in detail. Give the girl a break.
Usually I feel like defending free speech against PC fanatics, but I also don't like watching people get picked on. Now I feel bad for Caroline. As if it weren't hard enough to be dealing with disappointing competition results and relearning her jumps, but she has to have people all over the world discussing her weight in detail. Give the girl a break.
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2006
I think people do care, but after a while it just feels like wasted effort falling on deaf ears and people decide to just use the ignore feature. I don't consider myself a fan of Caroline's skating, but I don't condone making cracks about a person's weight/appearance unless the person's personality is so rotten and mean-spirited to others that they deserve it, which I don't think Caroline does. I like Leung and she never deserved all the teasing that came her way either. Zhang is so thin; how anyone can say she is heavy only shows that they have the problem, not Caroline. She has grown due to maturing, which happens to all of us. She's fine the way she is; she wasn't going to be the petite sprite forever. All girls battle with self-esteem and body image issues and all girls mature into women eventually. C'est la vie!
Hey, I tried.
I must say I'm disappointed in some posters after reading this thread. I mean, picking on someone's skating is one thing- that's what the forum is for, arguably, and we all here have done that- but to talk negatively about one's body image, especially after light has been shed on ED/DE struggles- that's the one thing I WON'T do.
People know that as a nonfan I have no vested interest in any skater, but if I do see someone relentlessly getting beat down, I feel like intervening.
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Mirai's tweet about a GS poster a few months ago proved that the skaters do lurk here, even if they don't post under a pseud. Granted, they do so at their own risk, but still.
Then, my question to you is this: how do you know she's in worse shape now than she was last season? She's simply grown up, and sometimes growing up means you fill out a bit. That's all. And with such a body change, obviously, comes an adjustment period which she undoubtedly is going through. Now, if she were, say, 25 and a body change like this happened, then it might be worthy of a
. But she's only 16, 17, still developing!
honestly, I'm tired of talking about this. I may just unsubscribe from the thread and let it go on.
Then, my question to you is this: how do you know she's in worse shape now than she was last season? She's simply grown up, and sometimes growing up means you fill out a bit. That's all. And with such a body change, obviously, comes an adjustment period which she undoubtedly is going through. Now, if she were, say, 25 and a body change like this happened, then it might be worthy of a
. But she's only 16, 17, still developing!honestly, I'm tired of talking about this. I may just unsubscribe from the thread and let it go on.
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- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
did you not read Jenny Kirks blog a couple years ago?
Weight is the one thing girls her age think they can control when it feels like everything else is out of control. Figure Skating is a weight obsessed sport as is. She doesn't need any more pressure or encouragement on this front.
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2006
ITA. Caroline is far from the ball of butter people are making it seem like she is. Besides, many sports analysts have said the ideal body for a female singles skater would be "bulkier" than the current archetype. Believe it or not, a bigger upper body is necessary for many of the jumps. Caroline's body now is better for skating than the one she used to have.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2009
To me Caroline looks exactly the same as she did last year down to the waist, her hips and legs are where she has filled out, which speaks to the fact that it probably is just maturing as most women fill out through the hips and legs as they get older. Her arms are still thin and she has no flab on her stomach so I highly doubt the change in her body is due to eating junk food as some people are suggesting. Last year she had filled out through the upper body but still had no hips so it makes sense that this year her lower body would follow suit. I think her current costumes are not particularly flattering and her having shorter legs for her height make her look bigger than she is. In her sister's album from ATS LA, she looks quite fit and trim.
Blue Dog, I hope you're right. And you certainly could be. Understandably a narrow body is better for twisting in the air on general principles, but some of the best women skaters have not been perfectly pipe-shaped, which is a point several of us have tried to make. (I will once again bring up Volchkova.) I'm sure there's some aspect of technique that could be figured out to be compatible with body type. Hey, I'm sure tiny, lean Paul Wylie didn't skate exactly the way tall, sturdy Brian Boitano did.
That being said, a lot of the comments in this thread have been more along the order of worry about Caroline, not of knocking her. I think many of us who have been watching her all these years fervently want her to do well. The trouble with any discussion of this sort is that body issues get brought up, and it's hard to talk about them without distressing someone.
But I hope that if Caroline sees this thread, she won't take that aspect of the discussion to heart! Caroline is a true beauty. If someone who looks like her starts feeling bad about her body, then we might as well all start wearing full-length paper bags.
I think her problems heretofore have been ones of technique, and she had them when she was a vest-pocket size skater. Can she overcome them? I sure hope so! The problem with ladies skaters who do well when they're fourteen is that they have to grow up in the spotlight. And growth is a good thing! Who wants to stay a child forever? Why is it great that guys get bigger and stronger, and bad when girls do?
I'm not an expert on skating. I tend to like skaters for "heart" reasons, not necessarily for analytical ones. From what I've read, the received wisdom does seem to be that skinny, androgynous girls skate better. But it's always important to question received wisdom, because technical and coaching advances can render such assumptions obsolete. Remember that for years, the received wisdom was that women shouldn't run any distance greater than 800 meters, because it was unhealthy for them. Hah! It just takes some smart, determined people to prove that wrong. The same could be true in skating.
That being said, a lot of the comments in this thread have been more along the order of worry about Caroline, not of knocking her. I think many of us who have been watching her all these years fervently want her to do well. The trouble with any discussion of this sort is that body issues get brought up, and it's hard to talk about them without distressing someone.
But I hope that if Caroline sees this thread, she won't take that aspect of the discussion to heart! Caroline is a true beauty. If someone who looks like her starts feeling bad about her body, then we might as well all start wearing full-length paper bags.
I think her problems heretofore have been ones of technique, and she had them when she was a vest-pocket size skater. Can she overcome them? I sure hope so! The problem with ladies skaters who do well when they're fourteen is that they have to grow up in the spotlight. And growth is a good thing! Who wants to stay a child forever? Why is it great that guys get bigger and stronger, and bad when girls do?
I'm not an expert on skating. I tend to like skaters for "heart" reasons, not necessarily for analytical ones. From what I've read, the received wisdom does seem to be that skinny, androgynous girls skate better. But it's always important to question received wisdom, because technical and coaching advances can render such assumptions obsolete. Remember that for years, the received wisdom was that women shouldn't run any distance greater than 800 meters, because it was unhealthy for them. Hah! It just takes some smart, determined people to prove that wrong. The same could be true in skating.
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