The latest on Gracie Gold

daphna · Dec 10, 2016

She just had another horror competition in Zagreb. Can someone fill me in what's the deal with her? is she injured? is she mentally burned out? it'sheartbreaking to see her do so bad. I wonder if Frank is the right choice for her as a coach - he was good when she needed someone asap before Sochi, but I don't see any chemistry between them since.
anyone?

Jammers · Dec 10, 2016

daphna said:
She just had another horror competition in Zagreb. Can someone fill me in what's the deal with her? is she injured? is she mentally burned out? it'sheartbreaking to see her do so bad. I wonder if Frank is the right choice for her as a coach - he was good when she needed someone asap before Sochi, but I don't see any chemistry between them since.
anyone?

Gracie's problem go way beyond Frank or any coach to be honest. She's always been a not so great competitor but this is way beyond a bad competition or two. She can't even skate a clean SP now and she's popping jumps left and right. She's too good of a jumper to be this bad 3rd level girls who will never make it to Worlds are landing more jumps then her.

Alchamei · Dec 10, 2016

She is the perfect example of how one moment can completely twist your life for the good or the bad. Since her disapointing skate at FS at Worlds, she stopped believing in herself and still regrets the moment. I hope she can have a Lu Chen-like comeback. :sad21:

Ophelia · Dec 10, 2016

She's ALWAYS been a bit of a headcase, even before Boston, so this is just continuation of the pattern, except worse now.

tulosai · Dec 10, 2016

I strongly feel we don't need another thread about this topic. Surely there's somewhere this can be merged...

pjskater · Dec 10, 2016

It amazes me the lack of empathy this community has for her, if any of us had the pressure she had on her at worlds how would we have done? And then to feel that crushing disappointment! Gracie's skating is so much better than the skaters that are winning now, I hope everyone counts her out and she comes back for her.

matcha · Dec 10, 2016

tulosai said:
I strongly feel we don't need another thread about this topic. Surely there's somewhere this can be merged...

I came to say the same thing. At this point it just feels like a bunch of people slowing down or rubberncking to get a good look at an accident.

Tolstoj · Dec 10, 2016

Judging what she did at Golden Spin in the free skate: Frank decided with her to simplify to program watering down the choreography, but apparently there should have been the 3T out of the first axel and she did a mistake there so she wasn't able to land the combo, then i suspect they didn't have a plan b for this new routine, so from that moment she looked very confused.

On a positive note: good to see the 3F in the short program (although it's still probably a lip), and smart move to simplify the free since she doesn't seem to be able to backload her combos that much, especially now under these circumstances.

But the missing axel in the short is clearly a lack of motivation, while the new layout for the long, kills the artistry almost entirely: i wasn't a huge fan of this program, and now it's even worse. Why not bring back the Firebird FS instead?

Nathan13 · Dec 10, 2016

How many threads do we need to pick apart Gracie's problems?

We don't know what is up with her. Maybe she should leave Frank. Maybe not. We don't know. Period. Done.

NAOTMAA · Dec 10, 2016

I wonder if it would be different today if she was at least able to hang on for a medal at worlds last year instead of falling off the podium completely :think: Obviously not the gold she wanted but she would at least still have a world medal. To go from first to completely off the podium would hurt any athlete's ego/confidence but doing it in front of the home crowd surely rubbed salt on the wound. Ashley getting a medal and ending the American drought probably didn't sit well either. Her confidence today may not be so shattered if she just hung on for a bronze :confused2:

skatelikewind1966 · Dec 10, 2016

daphna said:
She just had another horror competition in Zagreb. Can someone fill me in what's the deal with her? is she injured? is she mentally burned out? it'sheartbreaking to see her do so bad. I wonder if Frank is the right choice for her as a coach - he was good when she needed someone asap before Sochi, but I don't see any chemistry between them since.
anyone?

Her problem is simple to diagnose - lack of confidence in herself which is leading to a breakdown at the technical level thus causing her to second guess herself before most jumps.

Eeyora · Dec 10, 2016

Alchamei said:
. I hope she can have a Lu Chen-like comeback. :sad21:

Same here! The truth is we truely don't now what was wrong or whether or not it was what happened in the free skate at last year's worlds. I thought maybe she could have a Nancy Kerrigan like comeback after the 93 Worlds whose free skate was even worse and she was nowhere near the skater of Gracie. But her 94 Lilliehammar skate was miraculous considering what she went through. I think a Paul Wylie(who never even won a national title) moment could happen. But I know people have mentioned Zueva but maybe she should talk or consult Liz Manley who has also been through severe clinical depression and had her moment. I think we can all speculate and I think it's because we've never seen a case like this other than Lulu in which a skater has suffered through such a decline ( I hate saying it). Maybe it's burn out, I think it's Carly's retirement (but we don't know) .
What I can say is I do agree with Brennan in one aspect. I like Brennan am not an expert and I was at worlds this year and saw the interaction with she and Frank and it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. He truely was trying to calm her down. I feel bad about talking about this poor girl pain. There still is time for maybe not a lights out skate at nationals but definitely make the team and help secure those three spots. Because I don't see Wagner on the podium this year although it's still possible. At this point I'd be happy with a fifth and sixth from the US ladies and move on to next year.
I know there has been lots of talk about Golds programs and choreography and the "Ice Princess" image. I'd like to see her work with the old Hollywood look. Possibly Monroe. Hopefully better than Ksenia Markarova program a few years back. I know she loves Grace Kelly. Remember Gilles and Poirers Vertigo program.

Nathan13 · Dec 10, 2016

skatelikewind1966 said:
Her problem is simple to diagnose - lack of confidence in herself which is leading to a breakdown at the technical level thus causing her to second guess herself before most jumps.

And you know this by watching her skate poorly, without ever having met her in person?
A trained, certified psychologist wouldn't even assume that. You can't draw conclusions without ever having spoken to her. I think its best to not rehash constantly, to be supportive of her, and then to step back.

Krislite · Dec 11, 2016

Maybe she should ask Pogorilaya how she turned things around and gained confidence. She was in a very similar situation--Pogo has big jumps but was prone to bombing and inconsistencies until recently. Now she's almost as reliable as Medvedeva, and that's the kind of drastic reversal that Gold needs to execute if she wants a medal in 2018.

elif · Dec 11, 2016

This year I don't think her problem is pressure. Before this year she skated one good-one bad program, often finishes 4th, pressure get her every time. This year her jumps completely wrong, she often tilt on air, axis is all wrong. I don't know what caused this.

pETEs (Sasha Fan) · Dec 11, 2016

She lost her mojo.

musicfan80 · Dec 11, 2016

It's obvious (and heartbreaking) that Gracie has not bounced back from 2016 Worlds. I really feel like she should have WD from GP Trophee and took some time to recharge. Or at least not got assigned to CS Zagreb. I don't know why USFS would assign her to that unless they were convinced that she would win it.

If Gracie does well enough at U.S. Nationals to make the World Team, USFS really shouldn't send her to 4CCs again. I can't imagine what skating badly there will do to Gracie.

FlattFan · Dec 11, 2016

Krislite said:
Maybe she should ask Pogorilaya how she turned things around and gained confidence. She was in a very similar situation--Pogo has big jumps but was prone to bombing and inconsistencies until recently. Now she's almost as reliable as Medvedeva, and that's the kind of drastic reversal that Gold needs to execute if she wants a medal in 2018.

Pogo had to make a choice when povo came knocking. Skate for your life or sit in some cramped apartment with no heat and no running water in the middle of the hood somewhere in Russia.
If someone tell Gracie she won't be able to use twitter, i'm sure she'll knock it out.

Biellmann · Dec 11, 2016

Maybe she should cancel social media and internet in general. I know how much evil people can affect your mental health, i know it from own experience, and there are a lot of evil people out there......

Jammers · Dec 11, 2016

Biellmann said:
Maybe she should cancel social media and internet in general. I know how much evil people can affect your mental health, i know it from own experience, and there are a lot of evil people out there......

Well Gracie stayed off of social media completely in 2014 at Nationals when she won her first title. If she doesn't do that now when she competes she needs to go back to doing that it couldn't hurt.

The latest on Gracie Gold

daphna

Jammers

Alchamei

Ophelia

tulosai

pjskater

matcha

Tolstoj

Nathan13

NAOTMAA

skatelikewind1966

Eeyora

Nathan13

Krislite

elif

pETEs (Sasha Fan)

Match Penalty

musicfan80

FlattFan

Match Penalty

Biellmann

Match Penalty

Jammers

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