Withdrawal Blues -anticipation already 2014!

[Rachmaninoff]

I'll definitely miss Akiko. Also V/M and D/W...ice dance will just not be the same, period. (I'm more of a V/M fan, but both teams have contributed to making this such a fantastic quad). Daisuke Takahashi, I assume is going. Yu Na Kim (though I didn't expect her to go for another Olympics, so it's just kind of a nice bonus that she is). I don't really have any pairs I'm that into at the moment, so I'm fine with the current top guns moving on.

On a positive note, there will surely be younger skaters who will rise up and shine. They won't be replicas of the current skaters, of course, but they'll be different skaters, creating different moving experiences. That's how I always think of this.

 

[Antiloquy]

Meryl & Charlie and Tessa & Scott and Nathalie & Fabian
I have a day set aside to binge drink when these guys retire, especially Davis/White.

 

[LRK]

Plushy, Brian, Daisuke...

Yes, I know there are younger skaters - why, some are even favourites of mine! (Javi!) - but I'm a greedy person, and I happen to feel that no one can take the place of anyone else - all can create their own place. But, as I said, I'm greedy, and I don't want to see any of my favourites go. There are others in other disciplines I will be loath to see retire, but those three names are the ones that immediately spring to mind at the question. (Men's is my favourite discipline, anyway.)

 

[Olympia]

Plushy, Brian, Daisuke...

Yes, I know there are younger skaters - why, some are even favourites of mine! (Javi!) - but I'm a greedy person, and I happen to feel that no one can take the place of anyone else - all can create their own place. But, as I said, I'm greedy, and I don't want to see any of my favourites go. There are others in other disciplines I will be loath to see retire, but those three names are the ones that immediately spring to mind at the question. (Men's is my favourite discipline, anyway.)

I intend to remain in denial about all the retirements until after Sochi.

 

[LRK]

I intend to remain in denial about all the retirements until after Sochi.

Good plan! We can have our little Denial Club!

 

[blue_idealist]

Takahashi, Joubert, Virtue and Moir, Pechalat and Bourzat.. I think Davis and White might stay in for a couple more seasons.

 

[Pepe Nero]

^Yep. Kanako wants to have a good skate at the Olympics first, though. If not, she said she'll consider staying on a while longer. Arguably, she'll be in her prime during Sochi and for a few years after. Without her, Mao, and Akiko, it's true that Japan will have a very depleted ladies' field for the first time in a while.

The next quad will be bringing a lot of new faces to the front -- the four Russian girls, Kaetlyn, Zijun, and Gracie, plus Polina Edmunds and Karen Chen (provided they survive puberty with jumps intact). The US might even stand a chance in dominating in men's if Josh and Jason keep improving.

Confirmed retiring after Sochi: Yuna, Mao, Carolina, Akiko, Kanako (with conditions)
No confirmation, most likely retiring: D/W, V/M, V/T, S/S, Plushenko, Lysacek
No confirmation, most likely staying: Yuzuru, Ashley, Agnes, Christina G
No confirmation, period: Javier, Patrick, most of the men, Mirai
Confirmed staying: Denis, Josh, Jason, all of the newbies

I'm with some other posters in wondering "HUH?" in response to the news that Murakami plans possibly to retire after Sochi. Can those of you who've suggested this please provide the links to the (I assume) news articles that confirm this? I'd be sad. I loved Murakami this past season, especially her SP, delaying her jumps for the latter portion and opening with a step sequence. Original and strategic.

But most of all, the impending retirement of Czisny (which I assume will occur late, later the better, in the upcoming season) makes me sad. Here's to Alissa making the US Olympic team. [Pepe holds up his adult beverage.]

 

[zydeco88]

I'm with some other posters in wondering "HUH?" in response to the news that Murakami plans possibly to retire after Sochi. Can those of you who've suggested this please provide the links to the (I assume) news articles that confirm this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUPDkQD3QMk
3:10 - 3:34
If I come out with the greatest feeling of satisfaction at the end of the coming season, I might retire from skating.
Even if I have lingering regrets, I might continue for one or two years.
So, I have to give it all I've got this season.

4:08 - 4:45
-You've had your mind set on retiring since before?
Yes, I have.
It's not about results. If I think that it's time to hang up my skate, well, I will retire. Probably. It's an 'if'.
After all, I really want to become a figure skating coach as well.
Everyone tells me that it's too early for retirement, but I think it's very important to live my life as an ordinary student in the future.

 

[Pepe Nero]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUPDkQD3QMk
3:10 - 3:34
If I come out with the greatest feeling of satisfaction at the end of the coming season, I might retire from skating.
Even if I have lingering regrets, I might continue for one or two years.
So, I have to give it all I've got this season.

4:08 - 4:45
-You've had your mind set on retiring since before?
Yes, I have.
It's not about results. If I think that it's time to hang up my skate, well, I will retire. Probably. It's an 'if'.
After all, I really want to become a figure skating coach as well.
Everyone tells me that it's too early for retirement, but I think it's very important to live my life as an ordinary student in the future.

Thank you, zydeco88. (I don't understand Japanese, so I trust your translation!)

I'll say, from your translation, her statements sound tentative and, in a way, coy. But this (my reading) is from a totally different (possibly worse than useless) cultural perspective.

Can anyone recall a similar case (at Murakami's level)? I think there's something sad about Murakami's case, if in fact she retires: a skater who has so much potential and promise, but simple leaves skating for another path.

If she earns an Olympic medal, that changes things, but it seems so unlikely. (We all seem to have decided [and I don't disagree] that, barring some kind of craziness, the medalists will be Asada, Kim, and Kostner.)

(I love parentheses.)

Of course, Murakami has her own priorities, which I won't judge. (I refuse to be the opposite of posters who take it upon themselves to tell skaters to retire.)

 

[jennyanydots]

I'm still missing Michelle Kwan.

Of the current crop, Carolina Kostner, Daisuke Takahashi, and Alissa Czisny.
Those slated to be my future favorites, Yuzuru Hanyu, Satoko Miyahara, Jason Brown.

 

[FSGMT]

CARO figure skating won't be the same for me without her :no: and obviously Valentina: after they retire, we'll have no decent girls in Italy... Aliona and Robin, Tessa and Scott, Yu-Na, Mao, Akiko... But I'm sure that there will be a lot of new skaters to cheer for! (After all, FS didn't disappear when Michelle retired )

 

[karne]

Jason Brown.

Don't even mention that horrible hopefully extremely far off day to me when I'm already so sad for Plushy

 

[Olympia]

CARO figure skating won't be the same for me without her :no: and obviously Valentina: after they retire, we'll have no decent girls in Italy... Aliona and Robin, Tessa and Scott, Yu-Na, Mao, Akiko... But I'm sure that there will be a lot of new skaters to cheer for! (After all, FS didn't disappear when Michelle retired )

Yeah, but skating went into a decline in the U.S. I therefore understand your worries as an Italian with the departure of such a giant figure in world skating as Carolina. The country I feel sorriest for right now is Japan, which seems to be losing most of its illustrious skating dynasty all at once. Thank goodness for Hanyu! In a somewhat different way, I feel bad for Korea, whose one and only world-class skater--but she's the best in the world--is due to retire. As world skating fans, we all lose out when these splendid skaters leave us, but there's an extra distress for us as citizens of our particular country when we face the end of one or more of "our" skaters' competitive careers.

One nice thing, though, is that many of these skaters will skate professionally (at least I hope so!), so we'll be able to see their performances on YouTube if nowhere else. Look at how Shizuka and Stephane L. have continued to delight us! I do hope Carolina will do the same.

 

[FSGMT]

Yeah, but skating went into a decline in the U.S. I therefore understand your worries as an Italian with the departure of such a giant figure in world skating as Carolina. The country I feel sorriest for right now is Japan, which seems to be losing most of its illustrious skating dynasty all at once. Thank goodness for Hanyu! In a somewhat different way, I feel bad for Korea, whose one and only world-class skater--but she's the best in the world--is due to retire. As world skating fans, we all lose out when these splendid skaters leave us, but there's an extra distress for us as citizens of our particular country when we face the end of one or more of "our" skaters' competitive careers.

One nice thing, though, is that many of these skaters will skate professionally (at least I hope so!), so we'll be able to see their performances on YouTube if nowhere else. Look at how Shizuka and Stephane L. have continued to delight us! I do hope Carolina will do the same.

You're right, but I'll miss SO MUCH cheering for her during the big competitions!

 

[bebevia]

This thread is very "Blue", as with the title. Such a depressing anticipation, since we have landmark skaters (Ladies) retiring all at once.

Men, we were given time to prepare for ones who are, and have an unusually high number of amazing young skaters to take place, not to mention that most of them competed long enough to satisfy our favour. The ladies are retiring while they can still be podium contenders for some more years, not because their competitive years are over; feels so short lived. Basically, we are likely left with youngsters who may not even reach the level of current top ladies' off-peak years. (Sorry if it sounds unpleasant; that's just how it "feels like" when I think of this topic.)

...Just a reminder that I'm a pessimist, and was further depressed when Liza and Mirai, the ones I thought "well, if Yuna retires, at least we have these girls", became... I need another decade (to wait for another new-face miracle) to recover. This thread just hit me in the figure skating depression spot that I've been trying to avoid very hard. I was equally depressed when I confessed my crush in my freshman year, he liked me back, but rejected because he was about to leave to study abroad! Like that, we've only just started with some of these ladies, and they retire!