Was media harsh with Gracie Gold? | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Was media harsh with Gracie Gold?

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Ic3Rabbit

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I thought Marina was known for her work with ice dancers. If that is correct, I can see Gracie (or Nathan) going to her for help on skating skills (edgework) and choreography. But for a singles skater to seek her out as their primary coach, I find that strange. Maybe I am missing something.

She's known for all disciplines: Pairs, Dance and Singles.
 

Ic3Rabbit

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Look at Patrick's former coach Kathy Johnson. Whatever she did for him, it worked for him and I hope Marina can do the same thing for Gracie.

Actually, what Kathy did was nothing, hence why Patrick left her for Marina and company.
 

mrrice

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Actually, what Kathy did was nothing, hence why Patrick left her for Marina and company.

Wasn't she there during the biggest moments of his career? IMO, Take Five is still the greatest SP of all time. I thought she and Christy Krall were both with Patrick. I thought Kathy was there to help him with his performance quality and character development. Is that not the case? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rli8z8Yv78Y
 

Ic3Rabbit

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Wasn't she there during the biggest moments of his career? IMO, Take Five is still the greatest SP of all time and that's Kathy sitting right next him. She and Christy Krall were both with Patrick. I thought Kathy was there to help him with his performance quality and character development. Is that not the case? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rli8z8Yv78Y

What I'm saying is Kathy isn't a coach and has never been a coach. So anything Patrick had to deal with that way wasn't Kathy's doing and the best thing he's ever done for his skating career is dropping her and getting a real coach again.
 

mrrice

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What I'm saying is Kathy isn't a coach and has never been a coach. So anything Patrick had to deal with that way wasn't Kathy's doing and the best thing he's ever done for his skating career is dropping her and getting a real coach again.

Who is Patrick's coach at the moment? His Bio says he's with Marina.
 

Ic3Rabbit

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Who is Patrick's coach at the moment?

Marina Zoueva, Oleg Epstein, Johnny Johns. Same as Gracie.

And to answer your previous question....Kristy Krall and Lori Nichol were with Patrick in 2010. Lori's responsible for Take Five.
 

mrrice

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Marina Zoueva, Oleg Epstein, Johnny Johns. Same as Gracie.

And to answer your previous question....Kristy Krall and Lori Nichol was with Patrick in 2010. Lori's responsible for Take Five.

That's what I thought. I think Gracie is in very capable hands and now it's up to her to rebuild her skating career. I was listening to some music tonight and I found a song that Gracie might want to skate to, or at the very least, listen to. It's from the TV show Fame and it's called "I Still Believe In Me"

I Still Believe In Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWaCQlW_FBU
 

Jammers

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Who does Marina have to help Gracie work on her jumps? She needs that as well as getting mentally out of her funk and in fighting shape.
 

SnowWhite

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Who does Marina have to help Gracie work on her jumps? She needs that as well as getting mentally out of her funk and in fighting shape.

I believe that Oleg is the one who does jump stuff, but I'm not 100% sure.
 

DexterK

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Getting back to the question posed in this thread, I would like to know what your opinion is regarding her treatment by the media. Would you feel the same if instead of Gracie Gold(female figure skater) we were talking about a male American football or baseball player, a swimmer, or any other sport whose athletes are perhaps seen as less fragile? And although I don't think I should have the make the distinction here, but knowing Golden Skate..., I am only talking about other adult athletes and not players who are not yet 18 or the equivalent age of majority in their respective country.
 

drivingmissdaisy

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Browsing through the thread, it seems like no one thinks the media has been harsh with Gracie. She hasn't received harsh treatment, nor has she done anything to deserve it. Unlike some professional athletes in men's sports, she hasn't broken any laws or made questionable decisions in her personal life. Even what Johnny and Tara have to say is based in fact, because she does underperform given her level of talent.
 

Ic3Rabbit

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Who does Marina have to help Gracie work on her jumps? She needs that as well as getting mentally out of her funk and in fighting shape.

I believe that Oleg is the one who does jump stuff, but I'm not 100% sure.

Zoueva, Epstein and Johns are her team (Johns is mostly jumps, Epstein helps), as I've stated back in post #89 in this same thread.
She worked with this same team for a short time before going to Frank after breaking from Alex O.
 

Moxiejan

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Browsing through the thread, it seems like no one thinks the media has been harsh with Gracie. She hasn't received harsh treatment, nor has she done anything to deserve it. Unlike some professional athletes in men's sports, she hasn't broken any laws or made questionable decisions in her personal life. Even what Johnny and Tara have to say is based in fact, because she does underperform given her level of talent.

I think the comparison DexterK was making is to the media treatment of male athletes when they make performance mistakes, such as a quarterback throwing multiple interceptions or an infielder botching plays (comparable to a skater missing multiple jumps). The press conferences these guys go through are often aggressively negative, as are the on-air comments by announcers. (This is quite a different matter than the treatment of those who break laws or behave poorly.)

I have made a similar point several times in various threads on GSF: Skating will never be treated as a "serious" sport (rather than entertainment fluff) until its fans are willing to have its elite senior competitors face the same kind of media scrutiny as those in other professional sports (male or female). No, this does not entail being mean to children; for example, players in the Little League World Series are given kid-glove treatment.
 

DexterK

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Yes, thank you for better explaining my perspective on this matter.

Even when skaters are asked to explain "what went wrong" in a program, the interviewers question always seems to come from a place of "lead us through your mistakes so that we can empathize, accept, and continue to support you" rather than a more honest and accusatory questioning format. How often do we hear other athletes go on about "trusting myself and my training", "getting in my own head", "now I know how to perform"?
 

Barb

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I think the comparison DexterK was making is to the media treatment of male athletes when they make performance mistakes, such as a quarterback throwing multiple interceptions or an infielder botching plays (comparable to a skater missing multiple jumps). The press conferences these guys go through are often aggressively negative, as are the on-air comments by announcers. (This is quite a different matter than the treatment of those who break laws or behave poorly.)

I have made a similar point several times in various threads on GSF: Skating will never be treated as a "serious" sport (rather than entertainment fluff) until its fans are willing to have its elite senior competitors face the same kind of media scrutiny as those in other professional sports (male or female). No, this does not entail being mean to children; for example, players in the Little League World Series are given kid-glove treatment.

I don´t know. The most of figure skaters don´t make money from this sport, at the contrary, they invest a lot of money, time and effort, physical and mental. Their families make sacrificies to continue. I do not think it's fair to be so hard to them in the media when they are in this just for their love for the sport. Russia and China are different, they invest in their athletes, they have the rights to be super exigent. I know that in this forum we are very critical, but it is different opinions in a forum than shout it to the four winds in the media.
 

VIETgrlTerifa

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And why is the answer to conform to negative sports reporting and treatment? I think the way athletes from other sports are treated can be seriously over-the-top and is probably done to create conversation 24-7 since sports reporting is such a huge business and they need to create some news and controversy. Of course, when they become celebrities and make money, then some people think they can take more negative treatment. I also don't think media treatment of figure skaters are why figure skating isn't taken seriously but may be a sign that it is not taken seriously. I think figure skating is at a weird place where many of the big profile athletes tend to be very young adults (I don't see the men get treated much differently from the women but then the men in the U.S. don't get much attention) or young teens, so that influences the reporting some what. I also think we get most negative reporting during Olympic years, like with Ashley Wagner and Jeremy Abbott in Sochi. That makes sense as that's when the many more sports reporters are paying attention.
 

bevybean

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And why is the answer to conform to negative sports reporting and treatment?

Agreed. One of the things I like about figure skating interviews is the good example it presents for kids who may be watching. The answers tend to focus on how to solve the problems and not the problems themselves which is a great attitude to have --and more productive than being so negative.
 

sinnerspinner

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I do see tge point about the media, but i dont think being harsh on then would help.

When figure skaters are 18 and up, they are at or close to retirement age. Does it make sense to drill them when they are on the way out?

As a casual viewer, when i think of figure skater, i mostly see pretty young ladies in cutesy dresses. Im not sure if i want to see them get criticized like a quarterback or pitcher, tbh.

Unlike the quarterback, the ladies and sometimes children are on the ice by themselves. Everyone is looking at them and judging them already. Its a lot of pressure being out there by themselves (or maybe with one more person).
 

louisa05

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I don´t know. The most of figure skaters don´t make money from this sport, at the contrary, they invest a lot of money, time and effort, physical and mental. Their families make sacrificies to continue. I do not think it's fair to be so hard to them in the media when they are in this just for their love for the sport. Russia and China are different, they invest in their athletes, they have the rights to be super exigent. I know that in this forum we are very critical, but it is different opinions in a forum than shout it to the four winds in the media.

Two words:

College Football.

Those guys can only be given a sandwich under very specific guidelines. There was an NCAA controversy a few years ago about whether or not the universities could give them peanut butter with bagels without being in violation of rules about benefits for college athletes. I'm pretty sure that U.S. Figure Skating can give them peanut butter without scandal ensuing.

And if you think those kids (typically ages 18-23) or treated with kid gloves and reporters and fans are saying "well, they aren't making any money, so the media shouldn't be harsh with them", think again. They were threatening to lynch a Nebraska player on Twitter last fall.
 
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