Stephen Gogolev | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Stephen Gogolev

StephenGfan

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
from Stephens fan account:This interview with Brian Orser was published near the conclusion of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. The translated title is ‘Brian Orser speaks about Cha Jun-hwan, Hanyu Yuzuru, and Kim Yu-na‘. Brian brought up Stephen in this interview, and the site shared his 2018 Nationals SP. A rough translation, thanks to Google and Naver, is below. (Apologies for any mistakes/misunderstandings.)

Q: Is there any young skater you are paying special attention to right now?

A: He is a young but talented skater. He is due to start his junior career this year, and will prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Canadian Stephen Gogolev. He turned 13 years old two months ago and already has all the quadruple jumps. He landed the triple Lutz when he was 10 years old. Though we have coached him, he has God-given ability. He is a beautiful skater, born to rotate and jump. However, I think there will be some obstacles to overcome because he has yet to grow.
I am also watching Cha Jun-hwan. Stephen, who is three years younger, can do better quad jumps than him, but Cha Jun-hwan has better flow and maturity. It will be a face-off between them at the Beijing Olympics. It may become a rivalry, but it seems really interesting.
 

icetug

Medalist
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Any info of what GP's he's competing in yet?

I'm not sure of the exact procedure, but I remember that last year the first assignation of Canadian juniors was known only in the beginning of August while the second one depended on their performance in the first event (it means that not everone was given the second assignation) and was known some month before that event.
 

Mango

Royal Chinet 👑🍽️
Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
The first skater we heard of last season getting an assignment is Emily in early July. Bruce & Natalie also got an assignment around that time. So we won't hear of it until the summer.

There is a Next Gen camp next week so maybe we'll get some more info about next season's team. It's been made and the skaters have been informed about their inclusion. The site hasn't been updated though. That also happened in the summer last year.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
omg.. he looks so much older... the lil boy is now really a teen :) boy band looks
 

StephenGfan

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
There's a tumblr post with him landing a quad and it has over 350 notes, quite the popularity for someone who is going into their first junior season at the age of 13. :) I also do worry about the age for seniors being pushed up to 17 since even though he will be seventeen in 2022 he's born after July which means he won't qualify if the suggestion is passed and put into placed and will have to wait until 2026 to compete at the oly's. He will be only 21 by then but I still find it unfair.
 

lichi

sui holding a deep edge
On the Ice
Joined
Apr 24, 2018
Oh, okay, for EX, that makes sense. :laugh:

I was expecting some of the choreographers that work closely with TCC to choreograph his junior (hopefully, considering the age limit) programs. Maybe David Wilson? I'm not sure who choreographed his previous programs though.
 

fierysky

Rinkside
Joined
May 21, 2018
Ahhh....! I discovered Stephen about a week ago and have been watching his videos on replay since. I generally lurk around this forum, but then finally caved and decided to make an account so I can gush. :love: I don't think I've ever been so obsessed with a skater in a long, long time. He's just absolutely delightful to watch and adorable to boot. I'm beyond excited for his JGP debut. I'm a bit anxious for him too, but I tend to do that when I like a certain skater a lot. Nevertheless, Brian Orser is likely the best coach around to guide him through his development, so fingers crossed he will prevail the puberty monster when it comes. :pray:

Also Stephen has started me on my current junior skating scene adventure, since I don't usually follow Junior skating very much. But now I'm kind of caught up with it, and am pretty excited to see all these new, upcoming talents. :)

There is one concern I have though. I find Skate Canada has a tendency to go full steam ahead behind one single skater, and often it either puts tremendous pressure on the athlete, or can sometimes create over-inflated egos. Its a bit worrisome that there are signs of them hyping Stephen up already, and while it's nice to see support for him, that's a lot of pressure on a kid who is just 13!! We will have to see what happens I guess.


I also do worry about the age for seniors being pushed up to 17 since even though he will be seventeen in 2022 he's born after July which means he won't qualify if the suggestion is passed and put into placed and will have to wait until 2026 to compete at the oly's. He will be only 21 by then but I still find it unfair.

I find it unfair too. I think the age can be bumped up to 16, but 17 seems a little too much. I'd love to see Stephen at the Olympics in Beijing, and don't really want to wait so long to see him at the Olympics. Honestly, even if he's not a medal contender, it's still valuable experience that he could take to the 2026 one. Sure, he will be only 21 if the age bump gets passed, but having that Olympics experience at 17 will help him I think, since the Olympics can get so overwhelming.
 

fierysky

Rinkside
Joined
May 21, 2018
What has Skate Canada done to hype him?

Hmmm... nothing "overtly" yet, but I suppose it's the general vibe I'm getting? Like from all the commentaries (esp from nationals), to hailing him as the quad lutz kid, and even with Patrick Chan name dropping him. People online referring him as Canada's golden boy etc. It's obvious that the Canadian skating community is excited (and with good reason). Patrick has retired and naturally people are looking towards the younger generation for someone to take up the mantle in the future. Add that with SC's tendency to rally behind one male skater, it can cause a lot of pressure.

Of course it might be just me being overly worried over nothing since Stephen is still young. ;) Haha. We will see. For now I'm trying to concentrate on Stephen's new programs. I am so curious to see what they have made for him and the song choice!
 

NanaPat

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Country
Canada
The commentators aren't (don't represent) Skate Canada. Patrick Chan isn't (doesn't represent, except through his skating) Skate Canada. Fans who comment on the internet aren't Skate Canada.

I don't agree that Skate Canada has a tendency to rally behind one skater (male or otherwise). If they are really pushing one skater, they would keep sending the same skater to major international competitions, year after year, regardless of results. I don't think they've done that. They certainly haven't in the ladies and pairs (not sending Kaetlyn to worlds in her comeback year, and not sending Lubov/Dylan to the Olympics this year).

The media, and fans can be another story. So you may be right to worry about over-hype and putting too much pressure on one promising skater, but I don't think it's Skate Canada that is doing it.
 

StephenGfan

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
I personally think he's being hyped up but not too badly. I think its just people being excited of the all possibilities Stephen has as a skater.
 

StephenGfan

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 10, 2018
Ahhh....! I discovered Stephen about a week ago and have been watching his videos on replay since. I generally lurk around this forum, but then finally caved and decided to make an account so I can gush. :love: I don't think I've ever been so obsessed with a skater in a long, long time. He's just absolutely delightful to watch and adorable to boot. I'm beyond excited for his JGP debut. I'm a bit anxious for him too, but I tend to do that when I like a certain skater a lot. Nevertheless, Brian Orser is likely the best coach around to guide him through his development, so fingers crossed he will prevail the puberty monster when it comes. :pray:

Also Stephen has started me on my current junior skating scene adventure, since I don't usually follow Junior skating very much. But now I'm kind of caught up with it, and am pretty excited to see all these new, upcoming talents. :)

There is one concern I have though. I find Skate Canada has a tendency to go full steam ahead behind one single skater, and often it either puts tremendous pressure on the athlete, or can sometimes create over-inflated egos. Its a bit worrisome that there are signs of them hyping Stephen up already, and while it's nice to see support for him, that's a lot of pressure on a kid who is just 13!! We will have to see what happens I guess.




I find it unfair too. I think the age can be bumped up to 16, but 17 seems a little too much. I'd love to see Stephen at the Olympics in Beijing, and don't really want to wait so long to see him at the Olympics. Honestly, even if he's not a medal contender, it's still valuable experience that he could take to the 2026 one. Sure, he will be only 21 if the age bump gets passed, but having that Olympics experience at 17 will help him I think, since the Olympics can get so overwhelming.

This! even if he's not a shoe in for gold or a medal it would be good foundation to have so he has the olympic exprience under his belt.
 
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