Thoughts on Evgenia Medvedeva's 2018-19 Season

Fluture said:

Yes, that‘s what I think, too. In Canada, the environment is much calmer. She has Gabby there who isn‘t really a serious threat and Jason and Yuzu who are simply friends and don‘t even compete with her at all. Some people might thrive in a place like Eteri‘s because the constant awareness of her rivals breathing down their necks pushes them to do even better and work harder but Evgenia... she doesn‘t need this to my mind. She sets the goals and the bars for herself and just because she moved to Canada doesn‘t mean she suddenly forgets her rivals in Russia. I‘d even go as far and say that staying with Eteri wouldn‘t have been healthy for her entire health, physical and mental. The former because of Eteri‘s approach (run-throughs etc) and the latter because you simply cannot train with a bunch of kids who are trained to defeat you one day + your biggest rival who literally crushed your dream of winning the most important competition in your life. She might be as mentally strong as few but this wouldn‘t have ended up well. Evgenia was clever enough to realise this and brave enough to actually take matters in her own hands and make a change.

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TGee said:

There seems to be a great deal of angst in some quarters about Zhenya's current competitiveness.

Some people are reading into her 'only getting silver' at ACI as being at risk of losing her top 3 status in the Russian National team.

Others are seeing good things after injury, a 4 month hiatus, and only 2 months to regain form, work on basics, and learn 2 new programs in a new style.

Let's carry on the conversation here....

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Fluture said:

Don‘t do this, I don‘t think I‘m ready for more “Zhenya will fail, Brian will ruin her and she should have stayed with Eteri“ posts. [emoji23]

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Fluture said:

Don‘t do this, I don‘t think I‘m ready for more “Zhenya will fail, Brian will ruin her and she should have stayed with Eteri“ posts.

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vorravorra said:

Hasn't she said she would not "be standing here and skating" in such a case? People who actually like Zhenya should be happy to see her career continue at least. People who only liked her with Eteri because it's Eteri that they are true fans of, well...

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TGee said:

I am not enthused either.

But I really believe we need to protect the fan fests on principle. Some of us are willing to engage. The ones who aren't should be able to cheer in their fan fests without all that.

And I suspect that many folks would welcome this being kept off the Russian Ladies thread as well.

Also, to be truthful, there are things I'd really like to see Zhenya improve -- spins, for example. There's only so far I feel I should get into that in her fest.

Maybe we can take a leaf from Ted Barton's positive 'there are things one can do about that' attitude, and get into some technical discussions here.

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NoviceFan said:

Thanks, for leading some of us here. I think what got lost in the conversation in the fan fest was that even if some fans were apprehensive, they were going to continue supporting Evgenia anyway. I, for example, was a little discouraged by her ACI performance, but I’m flying all the way to Laval, Canada to see her skate next month. And no matter the outcome (of course I would love for her to win, though), it is enough that I see her skate in person.

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TGee said:

Lucky you! I envy your being able to get to Laval.

We've had Canadian Nationals here and it's been great, but SCI hasn't been our way for some time.

And I believe that I speak for all of us when I say that we'd be ecstatic to have a live report once you're back to your hotel or other accommodation.

And I appreciate your saying what you did. It took a bit for me to understand the different expectations on fan fests when I came aboard GS, even though I'd lurked for quite a while.

Supporting eachother when we feel discouraged is important. However sometimes it appears that some of the folks who drop in have other agendas.

And as I said on the other threads, as a sincere believer in Zhenya's talent, I still have some pretty decided critiques that are best kept in discussions on the Edge. So, I'm happy to have this thread revived if I'm not talking to myself.

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vorravorra said:

You can hardly start a thread for every skater on the Edge if you want to express concerns though. Fan Fests are not meant to be all fluffy bunnies, surely? You can do it in skaters' Instagram accounts or VK groups or such. Fan fests being for fans and not haters or those who are indifferent seems a reasonable rule, but not a complete absence of criticism.

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TGee said:

Lucky you! I envy your being able to get to Laval.

We've had Canadian Nationals here and it's been great, but SCI hasn't been our way for some time.

And I believe that I speak for all of us when I say that we'd be ecstatic to have a live report once you're back to your hotel or other accommodation.

And I appreciate your saying what you did. It took a bit for me to understand the different expectations on fan fests when I came aboard GS, even though I'd lurked for quite a while.

Supporting eachother when we feel discouraged is important. However sometimes it appears that some of the folks who drop in have other agendas.

And as I said on the other threads, as a sincere believer in Zhenya's talent, I still have some pretty decided critiques that are best kept in discussions on the Edge. So, I'm happy to have this thread revived if I'm not talking to myself.

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NymphyNymphy said:

I hope Evgenia receives all the support she can get. How is she viewed in Russia? I've translated some of the russian comments on youtube and they were not very nice toward her. Evgenia seems like a strong and determined lady and I hope her parents are doing all they can to shield her from the disrespectful and hurtful comments.

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vorravorra said:

It depends on who you ask. She still has many fans, but also many haters. The press is determined to pit her and Alina against each other at every opportunity and some fans of both skaters are more than happy to engage in this too, unfortunately. Then there is a whole swathe of fandom who simply support whoever is currently winning.

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vorravorra said:

It depends on who you ask. She still has many fans, but also many haters. The press is determined to pit her and Alina against each other at every opportunity and some fans of both skaters are more than happy to engage in this too, unfortunately. Then there is a whole swathe of fandom who simply support whoever is currently winning.

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moriel said:

There are also people who simply are not her fans currently.

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vorravorra said:

"There are also people who do not care about her one way or the other" seems kind of self-evident, no? There are even people who have never heard of her still in Russia.

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NymphyNymphy said:

Wow. There are people in Russia who have never heard of her?? I always thought she was an icon in Russia akin to Yuna in Korea.

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