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.

Cracked Ice

Oh Snap! There's a been a seismic event in the skating world. Skater Kim Yuna has left Brian Orser as her coach. This was seemingly a perfect partnership and wonderful story in skater-coaching relationships.

Kim was this junior phenom from South Korea. Over four years ago she defeated Japan's phenom, Mao Asada at the Junior Worlds despite Asada's jumping arsenal that included a triple Axel. Preparing for the future, she went to the Toronto Skating and Cricket Club to work with "Mr. Triple Axel" Brian Orser.

I've heard  Kim's mother eventually asked Brian if he would coach her full time. Here's where the charming part of the story begins, Orser, had never coached before and never thought he would. He had been asked to help rebuild the Toronto Skating and Cricket Club as he was winding down his professional skating career. It wasn't meant to be a full time coaching gig. However, his world collided with Yuna's and they seemed to help each other rediscover the joys in skating.

Kim went on to win consecutive bronze medals at worlds in 2007 and 2008. Following the 2008 season, she dominated the skating world culminating in gold at the 2009 world champs in LA. She would go into the Olympic year as the favorite for taking the coolest souvenior of the games - Olympic gold.

Amazingly, she had a unique coach in her corner to guide her through the Olympic pressures and expectations of a nation. Brian Orser narrowly missed winning two consecutive Olympics, one in the epic Battle of the Brians in Calgary. Despite missing the top of the podium, he has two Olympic silvers which is still more than most. He knows how to handle rivalries and pressure while turning out triples. With the Olympics in Canada, the media started to write stories of how this could be Orser's gold. He brushed off such talk and focused on keeping Yuna prepared.

The golden story line played out on the ice in Vancouver and was the first gold medalist since Kristi Yamaguchi to go one to the world championships. It looked as if Kim would be carving a name for herself as one of the true skating greats and would go on to compete the next four years. However, the season caught up with her and she finished an impressive 2nd. Her rival, Mao Asada won.

Skating shows followed during the summer and finally, the Kim camp announced she was skipping the Grand Prix season. Disappointing, but there was word she was planning to compete at worlds, it was understandable she needed a break to come back strong.

However, this news of the break leaves the head shaking. It appears something has been brewing during the "off-season" in between the shows. Kim's mother apparently gave the official word at the beginning of August, but Orser's management team just announced it today. Apparently there was hope for change of heart. Orser's announcement seems to point the finger at Kim's mother and management team. Then there was this strange tweet today from @Yunaaa:

Would you please stop to tell a lie, B? I know exactly what's going on now and this is what I've DECIDED

Now @Yunaaa is not listed as a "verified account" but it's followed by verified accounts from several skaters that train with Kim. From the history of posts, I've assumed the account is related to Kim's team although I'm not exactly sure who manages the account. Even though this may not have come from Kim or anyone truly close to her, I have a feeling this break up will get ugly.

It's unfortunate situation as it seems Kim Yuna will probably no longer compete in ISU events. She was raising the bar, so it's sad to see her go.

For more info:
Aaron's take at Axels, Loops and Spins

Eric's take at Minnesota Ice

Kelli's post at State of the Skate

Phil Hersh reporting at the Chicago Tribune

Last Week of March, Last Week of Skating

Ah, March, my favorite month! The month where the grass turns green and bulbs bloom. The weekends are filled with exciting basketball games and bracket analyzing during the work day. It's also a month that features the climax of the skating season with the world championships.

This year's worlds are probably a bit anticlimatic as the Olympics occured in February. Two of the Olympic gold medalists are competing at worlds this year, Virtue & Moir and the Queen, Yu-Na Kim. Since the mid-90's the Olympic medalists, particularly the golden winners have been ducking out of worlds. It will be a treat in Torino to have two of the Olympic champions competing.

While some skating fans are bemoaning the lack of TV coverage of the event, I'm excited that the ENTIRE event will be streamed on Universal Sports' site. Generally when it's on TV, they only show the top  6 skaters and the Americans. This way skate fans will get to enjoy all the performances, observe up and coming skaters, and see how the penultimate group impacts the final standings. I love seeing Chris Anderson's long tail theory working in accessing figure skating online! I'll be going to work early and hitting the Java Brewing Co. on the corner to watch before work.

This week got started with bonus skating on TV. The finale of Thin Ice rocked on Sunday. I totally want this to become a series in the fall. It was dorky but fun. It was a great show skating talent outside of a serious competition. Shae-Lynn Bourne skated to Lady Gaga with John Zimmerman and did an Axel! She's an ice dancer and she did an Axel! I'm so getting my 30-something behind to do an Axel this week. Screw the Junior Moves, it's all about Axels.

Tonight has skating related TV too, with Dancing With The Stars premiering with Evan Lysacek. I'm sure there will be plenty of goofy skating references and "pressure" hyped up with Kristi Yamaguchi's win. As long as Evan can balance DWTS and touring with Stars On Ice so he doesn't suffer a career-blowing injury more power to him. I just want to Buzz Aldrin do his version of a moonwalk and the original Octo-Mom, Kate Gosselin gone.

Skate America

Ugh, I've not been able to shake an upper respiratory thing... I missed all my skating practices this week due to this pesky cough. I set my alarm and got up at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday as I had been feeling better, and having a scheduled lesson instead of one that was snuck in due to people not showing was motivating. However, as I started to get dressed I could tell my congestion was going to get worse if I exercised in cold air. Oh well. I decided to work from home and spent some break time watching Skate America on IceNetwork. Here are some of my faves from the competition in Lake Placid:

Yu-Na Kim's short program. Love the James Bond-girl theme. She plays it well. Love how the James Bond music isn't overbearing and selections throughout the movies are used. Yu-Na built a large lead coming into the free program. Which she needed as Rachel Flatt rocked her free skate.

Rachel Flatt winning the free skate despite her last two spins not even counting. She did a combination spin, but the steps between her change of foot were too wide. This made the combo spin count as two separate spins. However, since she already completed individual spins she maxed out on spin elements. So her last 10 seconds basically didn't count. She could have just stood there and would have won the free skate. She's solid, but she still doesn't have great pizzazz and panache in her skating. Still I was excited for her.

I also enjoyed Evan Lysacek's dominating performances. The feather-hands in the Firebird short program are growing on me. I've heard they look much better in person. He seems to be focused and building a strong collection of performances in route to the Olympics.

I felt fortunate to be able to experience Belbin & Agosto's Golden Waltz in the compulsory dance. Wow! That is how waltzes on ice are to be done. I hope NBC spends time broadcasting some of the compulsories during the Olympics. The compulsories really separate the skaters, you can truly break down the skill level of the couples.

I also must say I enjoyed Adrian Schultheiss from Sweden skating in a straight jacket to Insane in the Membrane and Pac-Man. Ryan Bradley medaling after landing two quads whilst channeling Scott Hamilton was fun too.

Trophee Eric Bompard

The Grand Prix season kicked off this week in Paris. As I described to my husband, the Grand Prix Series is a bit like getting into conference play. The smaller, opening competitions such as Nebelhorn and Finlandia are over. Now's the time to play with the big guys and face the serious competition.

Wow Yuna Kim! Second time breaking the 200 point mark in a year. She did it with a wobbly spiral sequence in the short and skipping her triple flip in free. The James Bond themed short is classic, another great program by David Wilson.

Loved the break out by Adam Rippon too. The 'Tano Lutz is back!

How about Nobunari Oda as Charlie Chaplin? Classic program as well. He ticked off the elements while giving an entertaining skate.