New Interview with Evgenia Medvedeva

GS Forum Staff · Oct 10, 2018

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Please stick to discussing the article. Not every thread related to Evgenia Medvedeva should be used as an opportunity to rehash past discussions including her relationship with former coaches or her allegiance to Russia. These discussions has only derailed what could otherwise be interesting discussions.

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thedude · Oct 10, 2018

Having lived in a foreign country(Spain) for a little bit, kudos to Jason Brown for doing all the little things that make it an easier transition to live in a foreign country. Signing up for all the little things you take for granted in your native country can be quite a hassle.

GS Forum Staff · Oct 10, 2018

Since posters cannot discuss this without bickering or derailing this and other threads, GS Forum Staff will longer tolerate the constant rehashing speculation regarding Evgenia Medvedeva's coaching change or speculate on the interpersonal relationships between Medvedeva and her former coaches.

Those who do not follow this guideline will be warned or infracted accordingly.

Please stick to talking about skating, please.

chopinskate · Oct 10, 2018

https://tenor.com/oPtz.gif

solani · Oct 10, 2018

IceBallerina said:
-“Fifty percent really supported me, said ‘We believe in you, you can do anything.’ The other 50 percent say that I’m a horrible person,” Medvedeva said. “I wasn’t surprised about the hate, but I was so surprised and happy about the support I had.”

I want to pick that quote, because I think it shows how distorted the reality can be for an athlete / famous person.
Evgenia isn't polarizing at all. She's a nice, dedicated young lady. I think she has loads of support, very few haters and the majority of the fans "only" like her. And that's quite normal imo.
I'm not her biggest fan, but I'm curious how her career will progress from now on, especially what she can achieve artistically. This season's programs are only exploring her talents imo, I hope that the best is yet to come. :coffee:

cl2 · Oct 10, 2018

At that meeting, Orser said, Medvedeva told him of her need for change and earned his respect by promising she would say nothing bad about her coaching situation in Moscow.

That's maturity beyond her 18 years of age. She really comes across as very self-aware and articulate (despite not being fluent in English).

Baron Vladimir · Oct 10, 2018

[email protected] said:
I can't agree with that. They were basically at par and in Korea Zhenya would have won in a new system with +5 GOE and limited backloading. I think they would have started this season as absolutely equal in the eyes of judges who would wait for their mistakes to decide who should be higher. Hence, clean Medvedeva would start with 235+ and with 230 after one fall def. not with 204.

But she would not win (she may only win in the 6.0 system, or any similiar system based more on a subjective impression)! Alina (when she is clean) had better jumps and spins, and you can see how her GOE is higher in the new GOE system too. I think thats the reason Zhenya decided to leave (make a change). With Eteri, Alina was (and always would be) 'technically better' than her!
EDIT: I apologize if it is off topic. I was just reading random threads and needed to say my opinion on the subject.

Skater Boy · Oct 10, 2018

I like her positive attitude and willingness to move and sacrifice for her sport andart. I wonder if she is a Mao Asada stage - rebuilding, rectifying technique and whether she will get it together. They both were Oly silver medallists. Both immensely popular. Both wonderfulskaters gold or not.

Wheelz · Oct 10, 2018

thedude said:
Having lived in a foreign country(Spain) for a little bit, kudos to Jason Brown for doing all the little things that make it an easier transition to live in a foreign country. Signing up for all the little things you take for granted in your native country can be quite a hassle.

Jason Brown seems like a great friend.

hippomoomin · Oct 10, 2018

I think the "humble" position Evgenia is taking post Olympics is not doing her service PR wise. She is Olympics silver medalist and two time world champion, yet she takes a position that she needs to redo her techniques PLUS some serious change artistically. If I were a judge, how would I think about her as a skater? Mao had a similar situation with her jumps but her artistry was never a question.

Now I think the reason she got me worried is she does not talk like a winner, though not like a loser either. The strong, consistent, super confident image of Evgenia she built in the past three years do not exist for me now. I value her honesty but hope she can appear stronger, more ambitious for the media, because that affect perceptions of her as a skater.

Mrs. P · Oct 11, 2018

hippomoomin said:
I think the "humble" position Evgenia is taking post Olympics is not doing her service PR wise. She is Olympics silver medalist and two time world champion, yet she takes a position that she needs to redo her techniques PLUS some serious change artistically. If I were a judge, how would I think about her as a skater? Mao had a similar situation with her jumps but her artistry was never a question.

Now I think the reason she got me worried is she does not talk like a winner, though not like a loser either. The strong, consistent, super confident image of Evgenia she built in the past three years do not exist for me now. I value her honesty but hope she can appear stronger, more ambitious for the media, because that affect perceptions of her as a skater.

I think it makes her more relatable. People love comeback stories and transformations. People admire her for trying to speak in English even if it's not her first language.

In fact, what is making her attractive is that she is showing vulnerability. People in the past thought that showing "weakness" is a bad thing, but now there are folks, like Brene Brown, who are showing that when people show vulnerability, they show bravery and that endears more people to them. Not only that, it helps people, in this case, Zhenya, move forward and achieve great things.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dansch...n-will-bring-us-closer-together/#256b60362f06

True belonging is not passive. It’s not the belonging that comes with just joining a group. It’s not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it’s safer. It’s a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are. If we are going to change what is happening in a meaningful way we’re going to need to intentionally be with people who are different from us. We’re going to have to sign up and join, and take a seat at the table. We’re going to have to learn how to listen, have hard conversations, look for joy, share pain, and be more curious than defensive, all while seeking moments of togetherness.

I know not everyone is going to subscribe to this whatsoever, but looking on Twitter and seeing people feel more connected with her because she's showing some vulnerability in her journey, I don't think I'm off base.

el henry · Oct 11, 2018

I agree that an athlete who says they are always looking for ways to improve and always wanting to improve, as well as one who outwardly admits they were disappointed in results and want to do better, can make a good impression. Not just on fans, but more importantly, on the judges.

This does not mean Zhenya should not have confidence in herself. And use that confidence. She should. But I don’t think it will hurt her with judges that she takes nothing for granted.

hippomoomin · Oct 11, 2018

The fact is she is not really "coming back", because she did not disappear or was really defeated. Olympic silver is nothing but glory, and she did not disappear for a season or two.
She can state she needs improvement but she could appear a little more confident. When Wagner switched coaches, it was all about reinventing her jumps and improvement, but somehow she managed to make everything appear so positive for her and made the impression she was getting even better, from an already pretty good herself. Evegnia, on the other hand, made the impression she needs to learn from scratch... Judges awarded her with huge PCS and very good technical scores in the past three years, now she is hinting they were not good, or not good enough... If I were a judge, how would I feel?
Now you said you need some serous work yourself (and no particular goal of getting gold or anything like that) I really need to think hard before giving out those huge PCS.

KiraraChin · Oct 11, 2018

hippomoomin said:
The fact is she is not really "coming back", because she did not disappear or was really defeated. Olympic silver is nothing but glory, and she did not disappear for a season or two.
She can state she needs improvement but she could appear a little more confident. When Wagner switched coaches, it was all about reinventing her jumps and improvement, but somehow she managed to make everything appear so positive for her and made the impression she was getting even better, from an already pretty good herself. Evegnia, on the other hand, made the impression she needs to learn from scratch... Judges awarded her with huge PCS and very good technical scores in the past three years, now she is hinting they were not good, or not good enough... If I were a judge, how would I feel?
Now you said you need some serous work yourself (and no particular goal of getting gold or anything like that) I really need to think hard before giving out those huge PCS.

Saying that she wants to reinvent herself doesn't mean she thinks her past self was no good. It means she reached a point where she felt ready for something different, explore other things, which is fairly normal. So much so that she never said anything bad about her previous coach or any of her former rink mates.

As for feeling that she has still a lot to learn, again it's understandable when she went to such a different coaching style. If you look in her FF, there is a quote from Yuzuru Hanyu back in the day saying very similar things about when he moved to TCC. It's just part of the process.

Klarnet · Oct 11, 2018

Except when Yuzuru moved to TCC he was not Olympic silver medalist. Agree with hippomoomin, it seems like her and her new team overdid a little with "rebuilding", destroying the foundation.

KiraraChin · Oct 11, 2018

Klarnet said:
Except when Yuzuru moved to TCC he was not Olympic silver medalist. Agree with hippomoomin, it seems like her and her new team overdid a little with "rebuilding", destroying the foundation.

Er... Don't you think it's a bit early to judge?

The thing is, people are different. There's a great quote in the interview from Tracy Wilson that says for Zhenya there's only one outcome, it's all or nothing. This is who she is, you might not like it, but it's her personality. (I personally like it a lot)

In addition, the drive to improve is a constant in her career. Even when she was winning everything, she was always saying that she wanted to be better, she wanted to improve. She was never one to rest on her laurels.

So if you put 2+2 together, the huge upset of not winning gold medal, plus a burning desire to be the best she can be, it's not hard to understand her motivation.

This might not be your cup of tea, I understand not everyone likes ambitious and driven women. I personally love it.

samkrut@mail.ru · Oct 11, 2018

Baron Vladimir said:
But she would not win (she may only win in the 6.0 system, or any similiar system based more on a subjective impression)! Alina (when she is clean) had better jumps and spins, and you can see how her GOE is higher in the new GOE system too. I think thats the reason Zhenya decided to leave (make a change). With Eteri, Alina was (and always would be) 'technically better' than her!
EDIT: I apologize if it is off topic. I was just reading random threads and needed to say my opinion on the subject.

"Better" in figure skating is not 100% objective. For me Zhenya with Eteri was an overall better skater than Alina - I said it many times: she skated like a feather. And she was awarded with higher pcs. And she won the free skate in Korea despite Alina's backloading. "Reinventing oneself" may be a necessary step after what happened. But it comes with a big risk to lose scores and eventually a place in the team.

Katie0906 · Oct 11, 2018

[email protected] said:
"Better" in figure skating is not 100% objective. For me Zhenya with Eteri was an overall better skater than Alina - I said it many times: she skated like a feather. And she was awarded with higher pcs. And she won the free skate in Korea despite Alina's backloading. "Reinventing oneself" may be a necessary step after what happened. But it comes with a big risk to lose scores and eventually a place in the team.

If evgenia were judge correctly on her FS at olympics alina should have won the free,tbh her flutz were not called,so again alina is the right winner that day.

Baron Vladimir · Oct 11, 2018

[email protected] said:
"Better" in figure skating is not 100% objective. For me Zhenya with Eteri was an overall better skater than Alina - I said it many times: she skated like a feather. And she was awarded with higher pcs. And she won the free skate in Korea despite Alina's backloading. "Reinventing oneself" may be a necessary step after what happened. But it comes with a big risk to lose scores and eventually a place in the team.

I said technically better, meaning of TES, higher base value and better GOE for spins and some of the jumps. Also, if you remember they tried 100% backloading with Zhenya too. It just didnt planned out that well. I think they tried their best with her and it wasn't enough for the Olympic win, so i think changes are logical thing someone would consider/try...

Haleth · Oct 11, 2018

Klarnet said:
Except when Yuzuru moved to TCC he was not Olympic silver medalist. Agree with hippomoomin, it seems like her and her new team overdid a little with "rebuilding", destroying the foundation.

How would that be possible when good coaches including Brian and Raf are clear that major changes take at least a year to 2 years? Are the Eteri team’s teaching skills so astonishingly weak that what they taught one of their brightest students for many years can be destroyed in 2-3 months? Hint: Nein, nyet, non, I don’t think so [emoji23]

[emoji31]

New Interview with Evgenia Medvedeva

GS Forum Staff

thedude

GS Forum Staff

chopinskate

solani

cl2

Baron Vladimir

Skater Boy

Wheelz

hippomoomin

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

hippomoomin

KiraraChin

Klarnet

KiraraChin

[email protected]

Medalist

Katie0906

Baron Vladimir

Haleth

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