P'lina Edmonds
... The stress in on the second syllable which means that the first "o" is reduced and sounds like the neutral unstressed "ə". ....
Jun Hwan Cha saying his name in post competition interview with Ted Barton (Ted asked him for this, bless him!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxj9VM0uJeU
Bless Ted's heart. I also do think about saying chai when I read his last name.
Speaking of Jun Hwan, does anyone know his name in Chinese characters?
I still don't remember where I originally got the notion that the pronunciation for Edmunds' first name is "Pawlina" -- but in her video today, the first syllable does not sound like Paw-.
[It is plausible to me that others named Polina might say Paw-, but Edmunds does not.]
USFS has made things interesting by including a mini "Pronunciation Guide" in a new official promo packet, so make of these what you will:
USFS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
... Polina = PAUL-ina ...
Not related to the topic, but I made a video on how to pronounce Russian skaters names. I don't make any explanations, just pronounce their names. Seeing a discussion about Evgenia's name in this thread made me finally finish this video that I've been meaning to make since the end of last season https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G48sk-Vq5jo&feature=youtu.be Hope this video will be helpful to someone. And I hope my voice doesn't sound annoying
I only included single skaters that are going to be in the spotlight next season.