- Joined
- Sep 21, 2016
Yes, Soyoun Park has announced her retirement. However, she will continue to skate in shows and has joined Cirque du Soleil.
Here is summary of the second page of Joti Polizoakis' post https://www.instagram.com/p/Byaa9EBpcKO/
I would like to thank my coaches and sport clubs. I began in REV Heilbronn, I was there only for three years but everything began there and I’m happy that you followed my career. Then, I was in TUS Stuttgart and that’s where my competitive career really began. Then Waldau and of course Oberstdorf. I’m proud that I can say I trained in Oberstdorf.
My coaches over the years… Tracey Solomons-Henn, Rolf Oesterreich, Christel Hacker, Michael Huth, Igor Spilband, Marina Zoueva and Martin Skotnicky and all choreographers, ballet coaches, athletic trainers, mentors. Behind my success is the work of you all. Thank you that you believed in me, that you were patient with me and brought out the best from me.
My biggest thank you goes to my family – my parents and siblings. My parents seemed to always be able to turn the impossible into possible and make me happy. Mom, dad, I will be forever thankful to you.
My love for skating is as strong as ever. I will remain in the figure skating world. I will train and perform and you will see me in shows! But I would also like to do choreographies and to coach.
Dear fans and friends, thank you for you support over the years. It means the world to me. Till today I have every gift and letter I’ve received from you. This is not a goodbye, we will see each other in the future.
I’ve always been a skater, I’m a skater and I will forever be a skater.
Thank you.
^ It's been added, though the discussion was mostly in Polina's retirement's own thread. IMO this one has really derailed. I find the language talk interesting, but I'd be happier if it was moved to a new thread, and if hints/personal beliefs about politics, no matter how veiled, were left out altogether by some posters.
I wince at being the one to set up such a thread, but there have been a few retirements already and I think it would be good to keep track of them this way, as the less famous skaters usually don't have a thread in the Edge when they quit skating. I intend to keep updating the OP throughout the season.
Have I omitted anyone?
- confirmed retirements up till now:
Men:
Javier Fernandez
Maxim Kovtun
Alexander Majorov
Phillip Harris
Ladies:
Kaetlyn Osmond
Anna Pogorilaya
Polina Tsurskaya
SoYoun Park
Larkyn Austman
Camilla Gjersem
- unconfirmed retirements:
Ashley Wagner
Mirai Nagasu
Carolina Kostner
Elena Radionova
the Shibutanis
Savchenko/Massot, I think there's no way either is coming back now
Well Savchenko could be the new Zoe Jones. Don't count her out. Her theme song is from the Greatest Showman - Never Enough! She is competitive, fierce and a diva after all. She gets what she wants.
That's true. But I think Bruno is done with competitive skating now, so Aljona may need a new partner if she does return.
Well Savchenko could be the new Zoe Jones. Don't count her out. Her theme song is from the Greatest Showman - Never Enough! She is competitive, fierce and a diva after all. She gets what she wants.
In a John Wilson Blades interview 5 days ago, Aljona said,
"I hope we can come back and beat again ourselves." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9PSkrgmMDo
The interviewer had asked how it felt to establish an IJS record. Aljona seems clear in her thinking that she wants to come back. The question is Bruno, but you're right that "she gets what she wants." She might be able to persuade him, but she's wise enough to say she takes life from year to year.
Aljona gives a sublime answer to the question "what is special about this place (Obertsdorf)?" A few phrases from 6:07 onward:
Like magic.... you have great opportunity to do what you love to do without any distraction ... and I think this is the platform for success. If you don't have this, it's like energy going hop-hop.... Here at the end of the day you are calm again. Next day you are fresh. And yeah this is something special what make this to success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9PSkrgmMDo
I'm in love with her, her answers, her ideas, her reasons for skating. In love with her and Bruno's skating. I believe skating with Bruno (also her new coaches and being married to Liam Cross) brought out things in her, made them visible, which had perhaps been there, dormant or not, but not yet having been made visible in her skating. She's such an interesting human being, and it goes far beyond her being such a great competitor, which is awesome, but not the whole story.
Well, first she will give birth to a beautiful baby girl this year !
One did return to the ice after giving birth to her 1st baby. The tragedy followed but it wasn't related to the fact of her motherhood.
P.S. Also there is one prima-ballerina in some Russian ballet (not The Bolshoy) who is a mother of three. And still dancing prima.