Tuesday, August 31, 2010

More Drama, Final Comment

The Kim-Orser split continued to light up the skating blogosphere over the past week. Still a lot of he-said, she-said and speculation but no real answers as to what caused the split. Brian Orser talked to the media probably too much while also saying he was confused. At the same time, a handful of people affiliated with Yuna released statements to some Korean, Canadian and American outlets including social networking sites saying that they knew everything but weren't going to tell.

Sometimes, skaters just want to spread their wings and try new avenues. Sometimes, skaters feel their training space is getting too crowded with competitors or perhaps it's not competitive enough. Sometimes, the skater is just not as focused as the coach and friction can occur.

Elite skaters leave coaches all the time, so I'm still scratching my head as to why Kim's management didn't make a simple announcement that she's trying other avenues after her Olympic gold and seeing how far she can stretch her skills.

I can understand why Orser's management, IMG, made a simple statement last Monday.

Meehee Park, Kim’s mother and a representative with AT Sports,( Kim’s agency), met with Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson on August 2, 2010 in Toronto, Canada.  They both informed the two-time Olympic Medalist that he would no longer be retained to coach Kim.  No reason was given for the sudden and unexpected decision.  At the present time Kim continues to train at the Cricket Club in Toronto, Canada. 
Under Orser’s four year successful tutelage Kim captured the World Championships, the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal in Vancouver and countless other titles.  In addition to Kim, Orser coaches many future hopefuls including U.S. skaters Adam Rippon and Christina Gao.  
“I am honored to have worked with such a talented and gifted skater,” said Orser. “I wish her all the best as she moves forward in her skating career.”  
 Brian's still coaching skaters he's coached since last season. Those skaters have competitive events coming up and someone will ask how Kim is doing at one of those events. Orser would have to spill the beans that he doesn't know, and then Orser-Kim split would hang over that competition. Again, I'm not quite sure why Kim's team didn't think of this and go ahead and make an announcement first so they could control the story.

I'm lead to believe Kim has a support team growing around her since her Olympic triumph that doesn't know much about skating. I'm sure the new "team members" are providing good business advice to manage her win and image and are therefore people that she and her family trust. I'm sure the new management help is experienced in production and promotion which helps with he show opportunities. However, not putting out some basic info about a coaching change points to little experience in competitive skating.

Yet, this expanded team that may not be as skating-savvy doesn't give clues about the seemingly unhappy parting of ways. Tony Wheeler notes in his blog some buzz from the Toronto Cricket and Skating Club that it's not been a happy atmosphere. My guess is things went a little sour after Kim placed second at Worlds. While I thought it was great that see went on to compete and medal post-Olympics, there's a perception by some she could have used the time off.

I also think that post-worlds something got lost in translation. Orser talks about being told to work with other skaters as Kim is figuring out what she wants to do for next season. This reminds me of the Chinese custom for a hostess to present her best dish by saying modestly, "This dish is not so good," and then all of the guests heavily compliment the hostess on that particular dish. This really means, "This is my famous casserole, eat up!" and the guests ask for the recipe. I feel like Kim's camp dared Orser to work with other students by telling him he should go ahead and do so.

Whatever it was it's not fun to be at a rink with drama. As an adult skater I don't hear as much of the drama around the rink and gossip with skating moms. It makes coming to the rink a bit more enjoyable as a place to escape the drama of work. I've also had the pleasure of attending a PSA seminar with Orser and he seems to create an encouraging atmosphere. So here's hoping he has a great season and the Toronto club gets back to normal.

Monday, August 30, 2010

The buzz from Champs Camp

Lynn Rutherford's tweets (@LynnRutherford) from the USFSA's Champs Camp are making me dream of crisp fall weather and way early mornings watching skating on the other side of world via IceNetwork. It's the post-Olympic season and anything's possible!

Alissa Czisny has spanking new programs and she reports new coach Yuka Sato has changed her jump technique. I thought Brian Boitano and Linda Leaver had been doing that, but it's the dawn of a new season! Anything can happen! This may be the year Alissa knocks out those superb spins with jumps!

Speaking of Sato students, Jeremy Abbott showed off his new-fangled long program to the powers that be at US Figure Skating and included a fancy quad!

The rest of the Detroit crew in attendance represent the ice dancing discipline. Samuelson and Bates are working are becoming speed demons in Canton, MI while their training pals Davis and White are skating to, wait for it.... Amelie! The Amelie soundtrack is exceptional skating music in my humble opinion. Plus, their coaches, have charted Amelie territory in Belbin and Agosto's post-Torino season and it's one of my fave Belbin and Agosto programs! I can't wait to see this one with the speed and athleticism of Davis and White!

It's going to be a great year for skating and this is only the American side of it! The info out of Canada, Japan, and Russia will start flowing soon too.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

ISU JGP Courchevel Dance Results

The first Junior GP event is a wrap. The final dance results are in, with Russia prepping to dominate ice dance again by giving juniors strong international experience. Half of Russia's winning team, Ivan Bukin, is the son of former Soviet champion Andrei Bukin. The French didn't do to shabbily on home ice either. Conratulations to the US team of Cannuscio and McManus bringing home silver.
1Alexandra STEPANOVA / Ivan BUKIN

RUS
117.6011
2Anastasia CANNUSCIO / Colin MCMANUS

USA
108.6134
3Evgenia KOSIGINA / Nikolai MOROSHKIN

RUS
107.9325
4Gabriella PAPADAKIS / Guillaume CIZERON

FRA
107.2942
5Geraldine BOTT / Neil BROWN

FRA
102.4663
6Alexandra ALDRIDGE / Daniel EATON

USA
97.9557
7Lolita YERMAK / Alexander LIUBCHENKO

UKR
91.2879
8Carolyn MACCUISH / Tyler MORRIS

CAN
90.61106
9Gabriela KUBOVA / Dmitri KISELEV

CZE
87.91128
10Sarah COWARD / Michael COWARD

GBR
84.02910
11Xenia CHEPIZHKO / Sergei SHEVCHENKO

UKR
83.41811
12Magalie LEININGER / Maxime CAUREL

FRA
80.981112

ISU JGP Courchevel Men's Freeskate and Final Results

It's a North American podium in the men's event. Canada is continuing its tradition of strong men with Andrei Rogozine. Congratulations to Jason Brown and Max Aaron bringing home a silver and bronze, respectively.


1Andrei ROGOZINE

CAN
184.3912
2Jason BROWN

USA
180.5731
3Max AARON

USA
178.0023
4Thomas SOSNIAK

FRA
157.1544
5Romain PONSART

FRA
149.3375
6Ryuju HINO

JPN
144.6886
7Noah SCHERER

SUI
140.7757
8Franz STREUBEL

GER
130.49610
9Takuya KONDOH

JPN
129.14108
10Kevin ALVES

BRA
128.2399
11Harry MATTICK

GBR
118.831211
12Filippo AMBROSINI

ITA
112.691612
13Victor BUSTAMANTE

ESP
106.441113
14Viktor ZUBIK

FIN
101.491514
15Zsolt KOSZ

ROU
91.651315
16Ryan Zhi Jwen YEE

MAS
87.861416
17Suchet KONGCHIM

THA
76.731717

ISU JGP Courchevel Ladies Freeskate and Final Results

The pundits were correct, it's was all about Polina Shelepen of Russia. Congratulations to Yasmin Siraj for bringing home a silver.

1Polina SHELEPEN

RUS
151.4221
2Yasmin SIRAJ

USA
140.6462
3Rosa SHEVELEVA

RUS
139.5443
4Yretha SILETE

FRA
134.0314
5Nina JIANG

USA
131.0835
6Anais VENTARD

FRA
121.4957
7Lenaelle GILLERON-GORY

FRA
120.7876
8Jessica FÜSSINGER

GER
112.4798
9Roanna Sari OSHIKAWA

JPN
108.891410
10Gerli LIINAMÄE

EST
107.82169
11Malin MAGNUSSON-RUF

SWE
107.15816
12Vanessa GRENIER

CAN
106.271313
13Sila SAYGI

TUR
106.201115
14Anne Line GJERSEM

NOR
104.961712
15Alina FJODOROVA

LAT
104.571911
16Anastasia KONONENKO

UKR
103.391514
17Kana MURAMOTO

JPN
101.851018
18Caterina ANDERMARCHER

ITA
96.631817
19Cecilia TÖRN

FIN
95.481220
20Taryn JURGENSEN

THA
87.832619
21Laura KEAN

GBR
86.512321
22Tina STÜRZINGER

SUI
83.902522
23Celia ROBLEDO

ESP
83.282123
24Maria TSAKIRIS

GRE
82.362024
25Nika CERIC

SLO
77.952225
26Manouk GIJSMAN

NED
73.662426
27Sabina MARIUTA

ROU
69.882727
28Kai Jing LEONG

SIN
63.122828
29Raya M. WILLOUGHBY

MAS
57.272929