2015 Russian Nationals Ladies FS

[Lfmesquite]

I think your assessment on Yulia as "unfairly a media darling" and your casual labeling of "haters" against people who point out Radionova's flaws contradicts each other.

It is okay for you to be harsh to someone, but not okay to the other. That is not fair to begin with.

Well in my opinion they were doing a bit more than just pointing out her flaws. If the judges in this forum were scoring, I bet Radionova would of been 3rd or even 4th, they were making it sound like she was not very good and putting the other ladies above her. Do the judges in here know better than the real judges? I don't think so, that's why I came to Radionova's defense.

And Lipnitskaya being a media darling is totally different. A media darling is someone who gets far more attention than their talent calls for. That's not an honorable thing to be, like I said I personally hate it, I hate media darlings, it's not fair for other people who work just as hard. Again, I hate media darlings and Lipnitskaya is one of them, so I don't like her, how can I make it more clear or connect it more than that?

How is being a media darling a good thing? And how does it compare to me defending Radionova's performance today? I'm being harsh to one but not the other? Yeah cause one is a damn media darling which is a bad thing to be and the other is not.

And you didn't answer my question either, do you think Lipnitskaya deserves to be the center of all the focus?

 

[ice coverage]

surprisingly, according to a stats, Julia is not among the top searched athlete in Sochi OG, the top 3 athletes are, Yuna, Yuzuru, Gracie ...
not sure about the legitimacy of the stats though.

The results could be skewed a bit by the fact that Yandex and not Google is the most popular search engine in Russia. They're almost certainly counting korean, japanese, and italian searches with regard to Yuna, Yuzuru, and Kostner.

Regarding YL and Sochi-related social media, per an IOC item on Feb 28:

Gold medallist and figure skating sensation Lipnitskaya became the No. 1 Olympic celebrity on VK with over 700,000 likes posted on her wall, and over 2 million likes of her photos in a single photo album.
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...S-Olympic-Team&p=882378&viewfull=1#post882378​

 

[oleada]

It's not like Julia did anything to court the attention except skate. She got attention because she skated well at Euros, and was the biggest hope at her home Olympics - I'm sure had, say, Gracie Gold, won a big title before a home Olympics she would have gotten tons of hype. If anything, the media attention was probably detrimental because people were harassing her while she was trying to train between the team and individual events.

 

[gmyers]

Well in my opinion they were doing a bit more than just pointing out her flaws. If the judges in this forum were scoring, I bet Radionova would of been 3rd or even 4th, they were making it sound like she was not very good and putting the other ladies above her. Do the judges in here know better than the real judges? I don't think so, that's why I came to Radionova's difference.

And Lipnitskaya being a media darling is totally different. A media darling is someone who gets far more attention than their talent calls for. That's not an honorable thing to be, like I said I personally hate it, I hate media darlings, it's not fair for other people who work just as hard. Again, I hate media darlings and Lipnitskaya is one of them, so I don't like her, how can I make it more clear or connect it more than that?

How is being a media darling a good thing? And how does it compare to me defending Radionova's performance today? I'm being harsh to one but not the other? Yeah cause one is a damn media darling which is a bad thing to be and the other is not.

And you didn't answer my question either, do you think Lipnitskaya deserves to be the center of all the focus?

Well I am not being asked but i certainly do. Olympic gold medalist who powered russia To team gold and helped make sochi a success.

 

[karne]

And Lipnitskaya being a media darling is totally different. A media darling is someone who gets far more attention than their talent calls for. That's not an honorable thing to be, like I said I personally hate it, I hate media darlings, it's not fair for other people who work just as hard.

Now, confession: the more a skater/driver is hyped, the less inclined I am to like them (unless I liked them already). That said - this is a completely unfair and ridiculous statement. Is Yulia overhyped? Yes, of course she is. Is it her fault? No, it's not! I have never seen any example of Yulia inviting the media attention and living it up. If anything, she seems to hate it.

The reaction of a skater/driver to the media overhype is always the telling factor for me. Yulia does not like the media intrusion - so that's fine. It's not her fault. I can't dislike her for that.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Maybe I'm alone but I loved Yulia far before Sochi and I will probably always will. That said....maybe I need therapy or an intervention or something of my own but from some of the posts I've read here from her detractors...maybe I'm not alone in needed a little help from my friends.

Just don't understand how people can detest so strongly what I would consider at the very least....one of our own. :confused2:

 

[sabinfire]

I'm not sure the media could've picked a more ill-suited skater to shower with all this attention.

She obviously doesn't want it, yet still feels compelled to live up to all this hype and the expectations placed upon her...

It seems to me that this is the dominating factor leading up to the meltdown at Nationals today, which is somehow sadly fitting that it occurred in the same place that all this craziness began for her back in February.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Now, confession: the more a skater/driver is hyped, the less inclined I am to like them (unless I liked them already). That said - this is a completely unfair and ridiculous statement. Is Yulia overhyped? Yes, of course she is. Is it her fault? No, it's not! I have never seen any example of Yulia inviting the media attention and living it up. If anything, she seems to hate it.

The reaction of a skater/driver to the media overhype is always the telling factor for me. Yulia does not like the media intrusion - so that's fine. It's not her fault. I can't dislike her for that.

Fantastic!!! This is why even when we get heated in discussion there will always be a common ground. Not liking a skater is far different from not appreciating them for who they are all feelings aside. Yulia has done nothing to attract the attention to herself more than any other other skater has yet people like me follow her. It's not her fault but maybe even a repercussion.

 

[studentsb]

I loved Yulia's FP this season, especially the music cut. I'm sad that she wasn't able to skate it cleanly. She has become my favourite Russian skater. I hope she can deliver next season. It is traumatizing to watch her struggle repeatedly.

 

[Lfmesquite]

Radionova - I was honestly amazed at her consistency throughout the Grand Prix season; I saw an interview where she said that some skaters don't have the resiliency to stay strong, and I guess she does. Her jumps are really high actually; I wasn't expecting her to have so much muscle (but hey, you don't judge a book by its cover).

You can't judge a book by it's cover, haha, true.

When I first judged Radionova I though she was a bit too upbeat and perky, and looking at her Gala performances she was too much of the show girl type. I was not sold on her, I felt that she probably lacked the blue collar toughness or she didn't have the critical bone in her body to be a champion, she was too upbeat, more of a beauty pageant on skates than a champion figure skater LOL. She still has a ways to go, this is only the beginning but boy she's been proving me wrong. I'm starting to like her.

Actually, my opinion on Radionova started changing a while back though, it was something as simple as when I saw a video of her walking with her dad, (who is a pretty big burly slavic guy, who looks like he could beat you up). And then Radionova started playing a bit of soccer barefoot or I think she was barefoot don't remember for sure, anyway she looks different moving with no skates, and as tiny as she was, she looked a lot more rugged and muscular than I thought. I know I'm crazy but for me that video started making me think a little different about her. If I saw that video again, it's probably different that I remember it, it was one of those moments.

 

[CarneAsada]

I think only because Mao's federation never dropped her and despite her setbacks that season she was still the most bankable skater in Japan. Loosing Mao was loosing sponsors.
She was already a world champion

No, it was more because Mao's Nationals competition was less fierce and she at least showed up to Nationals every year and skated two programs good enough to clinch a medal. Some of her worse Nationals outings might not have medaled at this year's Russian Nats but she also never fell and popped twice each in one LP. Don't get me wrong, I can recall several quite dismal outings, but they were never at Nationals.

 

[grantrf98]

You can't judge a book by it's cover, haha, true.

When I first judged Radionova I though she was a bit too upbeat and perky, and looking at her Gala performances she was too much of the show girl type. I was not sold on her, I felt that she probably lacked the blue collar toughness or she didn't have the critical bone in her body to be a champion, she was too upbeat, more of a beauty pageant on skates than a champion figure skater LOL. She still has a ways to go, this is only the beginning but boy she's been proving me wrong. I'm starting to like her.

Actually, my opinion on Radionova started changing a while back though, it was something as simple as when I saw a video of her walking with her dad, (who is a pretty big burly slavic man, who looks like he could beat you up). And then Radionova started playing a bit of soccer barefoot or I think she was barefoot don't remember for sure, anyway she looks different moving with no skates, she looked a lot more rugged and muscular than I thought. I know I'm crazy but for me that video started making me think a little different about her. If I saw that video again, it's probably different that I remember it, it was one of those moments.

Here's the full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1LqZtubZos&list=WL&index=1
It's a short documentary about Adelina and Elena, filmed right before last year's season. If you just want to see Elena playing with a ball, skip to the 6-minute mark...but I recommend watching the entire video.

 

[CarneAsada]

Maybe I'm alone but I loved Yulia far before Sochi and I will probably always will. That said....maybe I need therapy or an intervention or something of my own but from some of the posts I've read here from her detractors...maybe I'm not alone in needed a little help from my friends.

Just don't understand how people can detest so strongly what I would consider at the very least....one of our own. :confused2:

Oh, poor Sam-Skwantch. I'm being completely sincere here, it must be awful for you. Maybe not as severe as the torment AllYouDoIsTalk is surely undergoing, but here, some therapy! Go ahead, click and just replay while the two of you take a needed break and recover. (It's Julia-fan safe, I promise)

 

[Miss Ice]

I'm not sure the media could've picked a more ill-suited skater to shower with all this attention.

She obviously doesn't want it, yet still feels compelled to live up to all this hype and the expectations placed upon her...

It seems to me that this is the dominating factor leading up to the meltdown at Nationals today, which is somehow sadly fitting that it occurred in the same place that all this craziness began for her back in February.

I agree with this. It was too soon to hype up both Yulia and Adelina in 2014. Maybe this will be a good precedent for not doing so in the future?

 

[PyeongChang2018]

And Lipnitskaya being a media darling is totally different. A media darling is someone who gets far more attention than their talent calls for. That's not an honorable thing to be, like I said I personally hate it, I hate media darlings, it's not fair for other people who work just as hard. Again, I hate media darlings and Lipnitskaya is one of them, so I don't like her, how can I make it more clear or connect it more than that?

How is being a media darling a good thing? And how does it compare to me defending Radionova's performance today? I'm being harsh to one but not the other? Yeah cause one is a damn media darling which is a bad thing to be and the other is not.

And you didn't answer my question either, do you think Lipnitskaya deserves to be the center of all the focus?

My favorite sport is gymnastics. I always cheer on the graceful, headcasey, flexible Russians over the more robotic, consistent, powerful Americans. I didn't like Gabby Douglas, and when she media got hyped over her, it only exacerbated my dislike of her gymnastics--and her personality, but that's a different story for a different audience lol. Anyway, I totally understand how that works psychologically. However, my reason for disliking her gymnastics is, first and foremost, because I don't like her gymnastics. The attention she gets is the "cherry on top of it all". I'm sure you have similar feelings for Lipnitskaya. As it is, she cannot control the attention others put on her. She received it when she skated lights out at the Olympics. That's not her problem for doing her job. Furthermore, as much as you hate the attention she gets, Lipnitskaya hates it even more. Hell, one could argue that THAT'S THE REASON she's in this slump right now. Had it not been for the media attention following Sochi's team event, maybe she'd be the Olympic gold medalist in the women's single event. I'll bet Sotnikova and the other Russian ladies are glad the attention is on her and not them. It's only another burden of competing, and there are very few cases in which attention actually helps people win. Radionova is probably one who would feed into it, but remember Yuna's comments from Vancouver? Something along the lines of, "if I don't win, the whole country will turn its back on me." Surely that can't help one win. That's just another weight on her shoulders. And yes, I do think Lipnitskaya deserves the attention. At the age of 15, she was an Olympic gold medalist - the youngest ever, mind you - and she won Euros and later picked up a silver medal at the WC. No other 15 year-old has ever achieved such a feat. She may be down, but she's definitely not out.

 

[grantrf98]

I'm sure you have similar feelings for Lipnitskaya. As it is, she cannot control the attention others put on her. She received it when she skated lights out at the Olympics. That's not her problem for doing her job. Furthermore, as much as you hate the attention she gets, Lipnitskaya hates it even more. Hell, one could argue that THAT'S THE REASON she's in this slump right now. Had it not been for the media attention following Sochi's team event, maybe she'd be the Olympic gold medalist in the women's single event. I'll bet Sotnikova and the other Russian ladies are glad the attention is on her and not them. It's only another burden of competing, and there are very few cases in which attention actually helps people win. Radionova is probably one who would feed into it, but remember Yuna's comments from Vancouver? Something along the lines of, "if I don't win, the whole country will turn its back on me." Surely that can't help one win. That's just another weight on her shoulders. And yes, I do think Lipnitskaya deserves the attention. At the age of 15, she was an Olympic gold medalist - the youngest ever, mind you - and she won Euros and later picked up a silver medal at the WC. No other 15 year-old has ever achieved such a feat. She may be down, but she's definitely not out.

Yes! She skated lights out last season. Of course she deserved all the attention, virtually being #1 in the world rankings. That probably changed her perspective on competitions. Last year, it was her first year she was eligible to compete in Euros and WC, and it just so happened to be an Olympic year as well! She didn't have a benchmark to compare to the year before; only a couple Grand Prix events. This year, she came out the gates with the expectations of her country, fans, and herself of winning everything. These expectations on top of several other detrimental factors. Keep in mind, she's 16 and probably has not reached her peak. Yulia will be back, definitely by the next Olympic season.

 

[sabinfire]

I agree with this. It was too soon to hype up both Yulia and Adelina in 2014. Maybe this will be a good precedent for not doing so in the future?

Hindsight is 20/20, but I wonder if it would have been better for Julia to have sat out this season to rest up and try to regain a bit of her privacy. The lead up to the Olympics takes a lot out of an individual, especially when you're thrust into the spotlight so abruptly.

I've never criticized an Olympic medalist for taking a little time off after the season has concluded. They deserve it, if that's what they want. There are so few of them competing this year, aside from Yuzuru Hanyu, who seems better equipped to deal with the fame and a rollercoaster ride of a season. But even he seems on the verge of breaking at times, like when he started weeping uncontrollably in the K&C at CoC.

 

[starlight97]

Well before Vancouver Yuna said, and the commentators repeated it right before she started her FS:
"If my performance falters, not only people around me but the whole nation might turn their back on me."
Imagine that feeling people.
The thing for the Russian girls however, is that in addition their own federation might turn their back on them because they have 5 replacements ready.
The federation always likes the skater best who brings the medals and this skater will get the most support from them, eventually.
So what Yulia should do is not worry about this whole event and just rest to come back stronger next season.

And to people who dislike Yulia for things the media do to her-
It's ridiculous in so many ways. She, of all skaters, did not ask for this stalking! She detests it. And even media friendly girls like Radionova or Sotnikova would have or will learn to hate it at some point, if it becomes as crazy as it was for Yulia in Sochi.
Yulia didn't audition for the media-darling role, it was forced upon her like a way too tight bodysuit that hinders her free movements.

 

[LRK]

I agree with this. It was too soon to hype up both Yulia and Adelina in 2014. Maybe this will be a good precedent for not doing so in the future?

Unlikely. People - and the media espeically - like to hype things; it's exciting. They don't like it as much as tearing the overhyped one down again, of course! Because that is even more exiciting - and also getting rid of the bitterness and disappointment caused by the previously overhyped one not living up to the expectations they themselves set.

(I understand the English press is especially bad this way with their football/soccer team. They first laud them as if they were going to walk away with the Word/Euro Cup --and when they then don't, surprising no one but apparently the English press - said press then gets really nasty and tears them down. And then complain that the English team doesn't really play with any freedom, and look as if they were under pressure all the time... wonder why that is?)

 

[Lfmesquite]

Well before Vancouver Yuna said, and the commentators repeated it right before she started her FS:
"If my performance falters, not only people around me but the whole nation might turn their back on me."
Imagine that feeling people.

Yeah unless you're media darling Lipnitskaya who falters and people just forget about it and act like you still won. Even Sotnikova can't possibly really like Lipnitskaya, Sotnikova did it, she became the first Russian women figure skater ever to bring the gold for her country, she won the biggest prize you can win, and she still doesn't get full credit because of damn "media darling" Lipnitskaya who choked at Sochi but still gets more credit than she does. Lipnitskaya bombed at Sochi and she bombed even harder this season.

Like I said, her only real international title was the European championship. People talk about silver at worlds, that was an Olympic year, worlds was such a watered down afterthought event, all the best skaters were resting after the Olympics, Kostner, Sotnikova, Yuna Kim, and Lipnitskaya still fell if I remember right. Only Mao Asada went and good thing or Lipnitskaya would have a worlds gold right now, and her fandom would make an even bigger deal.

I also want to clear something up, by "media darling", I'm talking people who get more attention than they have talent, that means all attention and everything that comes with it, all the fans, photo shoots, social media page getting lots of followers. Like some dude said, when people decide that you have the so called "it" factor, that's what I mean, I don't mean just literally the press stalking her.

Yeah, it's the "it" factor, but like we saw this season, the "it" factor doesn't win you competitions.

Good bye Lipnitskaya, your season ended early this year, see you next October which is like a year from now, hopefully you grow up some and you're no longer the little girl prodigy so people stop paying so much ridiculous attention to you. And so that you're not left crying again like a little brat... I would use a different B word, but I don't want to get kicked off.

I'm not mad anymore guys, I'm just having a little fun with this now. I hope you can tell.