Figure Skating: He's Here, He's Weir, Get Over It

[bitterntwisted]

Did anyone catch the Skate Canada competition? Did you see Virtue and Moir's Umbrellas of Cherbourg free dance? It's still in the rough stage and it was amazing!

[oceansun]

Virtue & Moir are talented but not my cup of tea at all.

[Deleted]

Those Russian coaches are a different breed. They grew up in a different world and they can have a very dictatorish attitude. I don't know what the fight was about, but I do know that Terasova and Sasha's mom had a HUGE blowout and that was the end.

Its a shame they couldn't keep the dueling egos in check because she really was the best coach for Sasha.

I know nothing about Naomi and Peter.


ETA- Its really interesting how the Hughes girls managed to get into Harvard considering they never went to school.

[Deleted]

Re: Sasha and Tarasova. What I have read (so take it with a grain of salt) was that Mrs. Cohen was a skating/stage mom who tried to make decisions in how Sasha was trained and didn’t think that TT was paying enough attention to Sasha because she also had other skaters to pay attention to.

In addition, I have also heard that there was a cultural difference in the perceived respect between Sasha and TT. As DeaconBlue pointed out, the old-school Russian coaches are very dictatorial and they expect to be listened to. If not, it is a sign of disrespect. Sasha, as an American, questioned TT and didn’t automatically stick to TT’s plan and she and her mother also had the American attitude that the coach worked for them since they had hired her. Sasha and Mrs. Cohen decided to go ahead with a competition when Sasha was sick, going against TT's advice and per TT, Sasha lost a lot of training as a result.

Everything came to a head when Mrs. Cohen found out that TT wasn’t charging Russian skaters as much as she was charging to coach Sasha. Mrs. Cohen thought her money was subsidizing the Russian skaters (who she already thought were taking time away from Sasha) while TT thought that it was her time and money and none of Mrs. Cohen’s business who she decided to coach and give discounts to.

Again, grain of salt.

[Deleted]

So much gossip. ;D

I remember hearing a while back that another problem between Sasha and Tarasova (and basically all her coaches) is that Sasha only wanted to work on her spins and spirals and not the other aspects of her skating. So while her spirals and spins were always impeccable, other aspects, such as her jumps were not.

[Deleted]

My daughter's first coach was Russian. He had all sorts of weird ideas. My daughter was an extremely powerful skater, but she skated hunched over like a speed skater when she was young. He didn't feel it was necessary to correct the situation because it would straighten itself out "in a few years". Personally, I didn't think I wanted to wait three or four years to make sure he was correct.

Once I also caught him making my daughter do squats in the penalty box because she wasn't obeying him (she was 7). That was the day I fired him.

[Deleted]

Wow, lots of great gossip to catch up on. Thanks, DeaconBlue. Speaking of weird Russian coaches, in Ekaterina Gordeeva's memoir she wrote about a terrible club coach assigned to her and Sergei...I think his name started with a 'Z'. The guy was a drunk, abusive (in every way possible), and had some funky training methods. At one point, he made Ekaterina wear a patch on her shoulder to ward off bad spirits, and she was left frantic after she lost it. I think that's how the story goes.....

Anyway, I was also catching up on all of the new programs this season. I think all of the major players have debuted their routines. Here's Mao's and here is Yu-Na's. I was most looking forward to their debuts, and wasn't left disappointed. I love Mao's choreography. Her performance is a little slow, which is to be expected for a debut, but the footwork is gorgeous. Yu-Na skated well considering she had to cope with really bad rink conditions. Her spins need work.

Is Mirai Nagasu competing on the senior circuit this year like Zhang or is she still in juniors?

[carrier76]

I think Nagasu is on the senior circuit as well.

Watched ESPN's coverage of Skate Canada today and was SO glad to hear the old gang (Gannon, Wylie, Carruthers). Joubert was a disappointment. I'm not sold on Emily Hughes' program at ALL. I love Mao's style. And I'm sad that Joannie Rochette medaled. I don't know why I hate her so much, but I do. She just looks bitchy. *Shrugs*

[swanflake]

Mirai Nagasu will skate at the senior level at Nationals this year, but she's not on the senior level Grand Prix. She won both of her Junior Grand Prix events, though. Neither she nor Caroline Zhang are age eligible for Worlds this year.

Did anyone watch "Kurt Browning's Gotta Skate" today? Sasha Cohen was there and she looked to be in great shape. In both of her programs she did each a Triple Salchow and a Triple Toe Loop excellently. She might not be competing, but she certainly hasn't gotten off track of making a comeback next season.

I was surprised how few of the older skaters were there in the show today. I think the cast was: Kurt Browning, Sasha Cohen, Jeffrey Buttle, Evan Lysacek, Shae-Lynn Bourne, Marie-France Dubreuil & Patrice Lauzon, Ryan Bradley, and Joanne Rochette. None of those skaters are really even from Kurt's generation. I wonder if Disson Skating has decided that they need to start casting younger skaters in their shows. Tomorrow I'll try to look at the cast lists for the other upcoming shows and see if there's any such trend.

[Xerox]

I read that Irina Slutskaya gave birth to a son today. No name so far.