Eteri Tutberidze interview 05.05.2017

andromache · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
What is even more startling this was followed by Polina's mother statement that Polina's injuries have nothing to do with her genetic predisposition, nor that her father suffers from genetic disease. I am sure that Eteri was not best pleased about being contradicted so publicly and would not be surprised if more is to follow. I hope Polina is alright, her jumps are to die for!

This whole situation is very weird. Who is telling the truth and why would the other person lie?? Very strange, and I imagine it could put a strain on the coaching relationship.

moriel · May 15, 2017

psusanne said:
I think that you can't expect the Fed or the club to help with housing problems, especially considering the level of competition in Russia. The funding of skaters in Russia is quite good if you compare it to funding in other countries. If you can't afford to live in a decent neighbourhood you have a serious problem, whether your child is a promising figure skater or not. I feel for all kids who have to grow up in an unsafe environment.
Only a sponsor could have helped Sima imo.

Regarding Eteri - I've followed this thread and I think that many unfair things were written about her. But yes, she obviously is a tough coach and I also don't like some of her approaches. My point is that the parents obviously want her to coach their children. I can only conclude that they want her to be tough with their children. They could chose a more pampering coach but they don't. And Eteri isn't hiding anything.
The only real criticism I have is that until now she has only shown that she is a successful coach for tiny girls and Evgenia is the only one who seems to make it through puberty. Time will tell if she can be successful with mature female skaters and male skaters.

As for the body type selection... I wonder if people here ever watched the selection to Vagankova. Their requirements, openly stated, such as "good looking because a ballerina has to be beautiful", good body proportions, etc, would make half of this forum freak out a big time.
But then, it worked well for last 250 or so years for them. If there is a lot of people willing to join, sure a coach / school can select also by whatever criteria they think is appropriate to make sure they form top students only.

Tutto · May 15, 2017

andromache said:
This whole situation is very weird. Who is telling the truth and why would the other person lie?? Very strange, and I imagine it could put a strain on the coaching relationship.

I could guess that Polina's endless injuries were causing some raised brows and I could see that it could have been in Eteri's interest to blame genetics. I can't imagine any possible reason for Polina's mother lying :scratch2:

Something definitely is odd but if so we'll hear more about it ...a coaching change?...

Tutto · May 15, 2017

moriel said:
As for the body type selection... I wonder if people here ever watched the selection to Vagankova. Their requirements, openly stated, such as "good looking because a ballerina has to be beautiful", good body proportions, etc, would make half of this forum freak out a big time.
But then, it worked well for last 250 or so years for them. If there is a lot of people willing to join, sure a coach / school can select also by whatever criteria they think is appropriate to make sure they form top students only.

Selection is fine by me- not knowing what to do with the girls after the puberty is not. I wouldn't be surprised if Evgenia's body will change all of sudden once the Olympics are over as it was with Yulia

silverfoxes · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
I suspect that there was more to this and it would be interesting to hear Sima's side of the story too. The fact that Eteri took trouble of explaining in such detail all the housing saga (I do hope she got Sima's family permission to broadcast their story) where a mere mention of the fact would have done, looks a bit fishy to me. Quite likely there were other problems which forced Sima to move back to St P. - issues within the group, coaching etc. As Eteri was a bit 'forgetful' on other accounts in this interview, it seems likely. As to lack of support of Sima by the Fed - who knows no push from the coach, too many other talented juniors in line?

I feel like if Sima wanted the whole world to know all those little details, she would have shared them herself back when it happened. She did write on her ask.fm that she had to move back because of family reasons, and left it at that, which is understandable. It's not really anyone's business to know her family's financial situation or how many times her flat got broken into.

Plushenko and Voronov had pretty bad housing situations in their early career, and maybe others too. They came up in a slightly different era, of course, but as much as I dislike the Russian Fed at times, I don't think they have limitless pockets to provide everything for every junior skater. Especially in Moscow.

moriel · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
Selection is fine by me- not knowing what to do with the girls after the puberty is not. I wouldn't be surprised if Evgenia's body will change all of sudden once the Olympics are over as it was with Yulia

Evgenia is 18.
Well, there were people saying Gracie Gold was going through delayed puberty last season.

plushyfan · May 15, 2017

moriel said:
Evgenia is 18.
Well, there were people saying Gracie Gold was going through delayed puberty last season.

You are evil..

Yes. Yulia was 15 in Sochi. It is ridiculous to think that Evgenia will go through a delayed puberty...

Tutto · May 15, 2017

plushyfan said:
You are evil..

Yes. Yulia was 15 in Sochi. It is ridiculous to think that Evgenia will go through a delayed puberty...

Not as ridiculous as you might think - it happens to gymnasts all the time - a diet + over training = delayed puberty

andromache · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
Not as ridiculous as you might think - it happens to gymnasts all the time - a diet + over training = delayed puberty

This is true. (But I don't think it's the case for Evgenia or Gracie.)

Look at Evgenia in her Sailor Moon costume. I think her competitive program dresses tend to very much hide/disguise her woman's body and her look more like a little girl, but in that Sailor Moon costume you can see that her body has developed quite a bit.

Tutto · May 15, 2017

andromache said:
This is true. (But I don't think it's the case for Evgenia or Gracie.)

Look at Evgenia in her Sailor Moon costume. I think her competitive program dresses tend to very much hide/disguise her woman's body and her look more like a little girl, but in that Sailor Moon costume you can see that her body has developed quite a bit.

Definitely not Gracie, but Evgenia I don't know she is so frightfully thin her legs especially and btw she is 17 not 18

plushyfan · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
Definitely not Gracie, but Evgenia I don't know she is so frightfully thin her legs especially and btw she is 17 not 18

I really believe that is genetic.

Sweet Dream · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
What is even more startling this was followed by Polina's mother statement that Polina's injuries have nothing to do with her genetic predisposition, nor that her father suffers from genetic disease. I am sure that Eteri was not best pleased about being contradicted so publicly and would not be surprised if more is to follow. I hope Polina is alright, her jumps are to die for!

I'm afraid that Polina will leave her group sooner or later. :rolleye:

Tutto · May 15, 2017

plushyfan said:
I really believe that is genetic.

Maybe or maybe not, I am only saying that Evgenia still looks like a little girl and haven't changed that much from lets say 2 years ago. Puberty as I mentioned is easily regulated by physical activity & malnutrition. My 19 y o niece who'd already gone through puberty, lost her periods completely when she went on a diet (a silly girl) and required a hormonal treatment for 6 months to 'restore' things to its normal course. So anything is possible

moriel · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
Maybe or maybe not, I am only saying that Evgenia still looks like a little girl and haven't changed that much from lets say 2 years ago. Puberty as I mentioned is easily regulated by physical activity & malnutrition. My 19 y o niece who'd already gone through puberty, lost her periods completely when she went on a diet (a silly girl) and required a hormonal treatment for 6 months to 'restore' things to its normal course. So anything is possible

Well, the same logic applies to most japanese ladies, for example.

solani · May 15, 2017

Tutto said:
Maybe or maybe not, I am only saying that Evgenia still looks like a little girl and haven't changed that much from lets say 2 years ago. Puberty as I mentioned is easily regulated by physical activity & malnutrition. My 19 y o niece who'd already gone through puberty, lost her periods completely when she went on a diet (a silly girl) and required a hormonal treatment for 6 months to 'restore' things to its normal course. So anything is possible

I agree, anything is possible. But Evgenia has matured quite a bit, only her legs and arms are still very thin. Last year at this point in time I was quite sure that she would have some issues this season, but she obviously didn't. So I guess chances are high that she won't have to face serious problems next season. She could be the exception. Good for her!

mrrice · May 15, 2017

plushyfan said:
I really believe that is genetic.

It is absolutely genetic!! Maria Butyrskaya may have had her problems but, she was never heavy. I've seen pictures going all the way back to grade school and she has always been as thin as a rake. Like Med, her legs have always been very thin and if you go back over her career, she has never been over 100lbs.

Some of it has to do with diet. When I was dancing, we'd train from 9am to 9pm during the final days before a performance. The boys would eat pure protein, beef, chicken breasts, eggs, and veggies. In those days cheese was forbidden and believe it not, so was fruit juice. We ALL drank of coffee or tea with no cream as dairy was an absolute no no. Look at this picture of Anne Bancroft from "The Turning Point" she is frightening thin and if you go to the ballet, all the dancers are thin as rakes. I don't know if this has changed but, in my day, I would say that 85% of all the dancers smoked.

Ann Bancoft
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aat8gURE...BHQTRmI3tN6Xct2wCLcB/s1600/bancroft-tp-8b.png

andromache · May 15, 2017

mrrice said:
It is absolutely genetic!! Maria Butyrskaya may have had her problems but, she was never heavy. I've seen pictures going all the way to grade school and she has always been as thin as a rake. Like Med, her legs have always been very thin and if you go back over career, she has never been over 100lbs.

I don't think we can assume anything is genetic without at least seeing what the parents look like. (I'm not familiar with either Maria or Evgenia's family.) But even if it's genetic, there's no doubt these ladies are on strict diets and have to maintain incredible discipline in order to control their weight. That's just part of being an elite figure skater, and we just have to hope that the strict diets are still healthy and not overly restricting. Because of course many ladies are not genetically-inclined to be thin, and they may have to be on less healthy, more dangerous diets in order to have the right body type. But it's likely that those ladies aren't the ones having a ton of success at the top of the sport.

(And someone can have an eating disorder no matter what size they are.)

mrrice · May 15, 2017

andromache said:
I don't think we can assume anything is genetic without at least seeing what the parents look like. (I'm not familiar with either Maria or Evgenia's family.) But even if it's genetic, there's no doubt these ladies are on strict diets and have to maintain incredible discipline in order to control their weight. That's just part of being an elite figure skater, and we just have to hope that the strict diets are still healthy and not overly restricting. Because of course many ladies are not genetically-inclined to be thin, and they may have to be on less healthy, more dangerous diets in order to have the right body type. But it's likely that those ladies aren't the ones having a ton of success at the top of the sport.

(And someone can have an eating disorder no matter what size they are.)

Absolutely true!! I will also add, that Men have the same problem. When I was on tour, it was kind of a joke that people just assumed that Men had great bodies and could still eat whatever they wanted. Some smoked as I guess it relieves hunger pains. As a vocalist, I have never smoked and had a very difficult time even being around it. You'd think that with all the stamina it takes to get through a show, that no dancer would ever smoke but, trust me, they do.

I was told more than once that if I hadn't been a decent vocalist, I never would have been cast in some of the shows I worked on. A Chorus Line was one of them. At 5' 9" I think I weighed 165lbs. and was called fat by every dancer in the cast and the director. Who once said..."Thank God you can sing" before rolling his eyes and leaving the dressing room.....I was so p*ssed..

plushyfan · May 15, 2017

andromache said:
I don't think we can assume anything is genetic without at least seeing what the parents look like. (I'm not familiar with either Maria or Evgenia's family.) But even if it's genetic, there's no doubt these ladies are on strict diets and have to maintain incredible discipline in order to control their weight. That's just part of being an elite figure skater, and we just have to hope that the strict diets are still healthy and not overly restricting. Because of course many ladies are not genetically-inclined to be thin, and they may have to be on less healthy, more dangerous diets in order to have the right body type. But it's likely that those ladies aren't the ones having a ton of success at the top of the sport.

(And someone can have an eating disorder no matter what size they are.)

I agree. But as mrrice said this is the problem of dancers, ballet dancers, rhythmic gymnasts etc. They love their passions so they will do everything for it.
Plushenko was on diet in half of his life despite he is a man. Before the competitions the diet became even more strict he ate yoghurt and banan. Now he has a little belly. :laugh:

Elaine1980 · May 15, 2017

My child took training in Hrustalny, but only until the age of six.
The parents of older children predominantly dreamt of joining Eteri's group. And generally it was considered that Eteri has managed to raise school

Eteri Tutberidze interview 05.05.2017

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