Polina Tsurskaya retires | Golden Skate

Polina Tsurskaya retires

freeman21

On the Ice
Joined
May 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/InTheLoPodcast/status/1134325773362270209

https://rsport.ria.ru/20190531/1555132530.html

tl;dr She wants to focus on studying (international economics) and says she wouldn't be able to do that and skate at the same time. Also admits (or implies mostly) that not having a quad makes it impossible to compete in the next season. Coaches/parents were surprised; parents tried to convince her not to give up on skating. Most likely won't do figure skating shows.

Pretty sad, but I can see where she's coming from and also appreciate her maturity to admit that no quad = no chance at any medal this season. Will miss her long, "floating" jumps.

Good luck Polina :agree:
 

seimei

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
So sad.. I will never forget her huge delayed 3lz3t. Best wish to her future!
 

figurefan0726

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Noooo! I’m in complete shock, but I understand where she came from. With a struggle last season, it will still be a long and hard journey to even make Russian Nationals. Only 17, and may have had a huge career still to go, but I’m excited to see her create her future the way SHE wants it! Good luck Polina and thank you for blessing us with your correct and textbook 3Lz. I bid you well, and you will always be one of my favorite skaters, retired or not.
 

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
Understandable but sad 😔

It’d be interesting to see if she’s right about the quad being a deal breaker. I think it’ll be important but that we’ll all be surprised.
 

zounger

Medalist
Joined
Jan 18, 2017
One of the most talented ladies of the last decade retired. It is sad. The flying girl from Omsk. Good luck in your studies and life.
 

yume

🍉
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 11, 2016
I Will miss her. Her GOT "light of the seven" is one of my favorite programs of the last seasons.
A very talented skater. But her illness and injuries didn't allow her to shine as she should have.
She's the winner of 2017 NHK in my heart.
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
A very, very wise girl!!! Apparently she was aiming for the top only and did not wish to continue (or maybe be a financial burden to her parents without big results). Good luck to her in her future life!!!
 

Dr. Jenn

Medalist
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Wow - This is quite shocking news, given her age. I am glad that she seems to have a good head on her shoulders about her decision and will be focusing on education. I hope that she will look back at her (admittedly short) career with pride.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
So sad to hear this.

I am the first to admit that I wasn't a fan of Polina when she was in Juniors. There were two main reasons for this. Firstly, because I didn't like her style of skating and the programmes she was doing. And secondly, because I was a big fan of Maria Sotskova, and Polina was beating her regularly.

But when Polina moved into Seniors, I found that did like her now. Her style of skating had changed, and I was enjoying her programmes a lot more. So, it is a shame that she has decided to call it a day after only a couple of seasons in Seniors.

That said, I fully support her decision. After all, she knows what is best for her.

I wish her all the best for her studies, and for whatever the future holds after that.

Thank you for the joy you gave many people through your skating.

CaroLiza_fan
 

Autumn Leaves

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 22, 2018
It is sad news, but by quitting now, she has more options about her life. If she continues to skate until 20 or 25, she would have to remain in figure skating forever as a coach or doing shows. She seems passionate about studying, so I wish her all the luck in exploring the world!
She also works a bit with children, so she will stay connected to figure skating.
 

skylark

Gazing at a Glorious Great Lakes sunset
Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 12, 2014
Country
United-States
To my understanding of the interview, Polina sees this step as going for what she really wants. She's passionate about her studies, and she's pursuing the direction that's become most important for her. It's a positive. She had to fight her mother, who didn't want her to give skating up. (fwiw, I can understand her mother's view.) Friends and others felt the same. It sounds like nearly everyone in her life was very surprised, or tried to persuade her not to quit at this time.

This is a fascinating interview. I especially love the following interchange. (My apologies to everyone who knows Russian; I had to use Google translate. :))

Interviewer: Do not say only that you plunged into study, and you unexpectedly liked it more than training.

Polina: - In fact, that's exactly what happened. Every day I sat on textbooks for many hours, worked with tutors, passed some tests and very quickly began to realize that all this really captures and delays me. While you train, you don’t have the opportunity to study very seriously: you come from a workout tired, with a loaded head, you want to relax a little longer.

https://rsport.ria.ru/20190531/1555132530.html

Wise girl. Some thrive on combining serious study with serious training, but she realizes she doesn't. The only thing that makes me sad is that the sport of figure skating is diminished when such a beautiful skater, with truly individual qualities and soulfulness on the ice, becomes side-lined. But that's another subject.
 

Scott512

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Good luck to Polina. But it seems like a rash decision to me. How many quadstets are there and who says they're not going to fall? Polina is unique because she's 5 feet 8 inches tall very tall for a lady figure skater. So sorry she's retiring but I hope she's happy after skating and gets that education she wants.
 

nussnacker

one and only
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 16, 2019
To my understanding of the interview, Polina sees this step as going for what she really wants. She's passionate about her studies, and she's pursuing the direction that's become most important for her. It's a positive. She had to fight her mother, who didn't want her to give skating up. (fwiw, I can understand her mother's view.) Friends and others felt the same. It sounds like nearly everyone in her life was very surprised, or tried to persuade her not to quit at this time.

This is a fascinating interview. I especially love the following interchange. (My apologies to everyone who knows Russian; I had to use Google translate. :))

Interviewer: Do not say only that you plunged into study, and you unexpectedly liked it more than training.

Polina: - In fact, that's exactly what happened. Every day I sat on textbooks for many hours, worked with tutors, passed some tests and very quickly began to realize that all this really captures and delays me. While you train, you don’t have the opportunity to study very seriously: you come from a workout tired, with a loaded head, you want to relax a little longer.

https://rsport.ria.ru/20190531/1555132530.html

Wise girl. Some thrive on combining serious study with serious training, but she realizes she doesn't. The only thing that makes me sad is that the sport of figure skating is diminished when such a beautiful skater, with truly individual qualities and soulfulness on the ice, becomes side-lined. But that's another subject.


I think you are right about this.

I don't think Polina is quitting only because she got overwhelmed by competition.

Polina wanted to quit figure skating quite a few times by this point, I think I recall her wanting to quit as a novice and as a junior before going seniors.
But at the time her parents and coaches always managed to persuade her to stay and continue, although, I can imagine she probably didn't want to.

Her career, starting from a very young age, was always combatted by injuries, she had lots of very serious diagnoses on her plate by 17, and at some point, it probably was too much for her to handle.
Just like with Kovtun, it seems like constant injuries and unfortunate placements due to those injuries were outweighed by greater possibilities in the non-skating world.

She's just the right age to go to university and it seems like studying is something she enjoys more at this point than skating.
I think she made the right choice for herself, the risk of working on quads given her health issues, isn't worth it at all.



One thing I found to be tactless from the interviewer Vaitsekhovskaya (who isn't particularly to known to have class or tact), her asking Polina whether she thinks Polina is betraying her coaches and whether she thinks she's a traitor.
That's not a good formulation of a question I believe she intended to ask, it probably was "do you feel upset that you're quitting after so many years of work you've put into skating" or maybe "whether she thinks coaches might be upset by her quitting", but putting those words and formulating that question in that manner was quite absurd.

Another thing was that she continually implied that Polina isn't educated... her asking "whether Polina feels she's inferior to her peers, because she's not reading books they do, or that she's not able to hold a conversation on any topics aside from sports?" and "how would she know how educated her peers are if she practically didn't study"?
Polina calmly replied that she was going to an ordinary school and was never behind her classmates in terms of education, that Eteri always advised her students to go to theater to get culturally educated and that Anna is also a very educated girl despite her being an athlete.
But those questions really rubbed me the wrong way nevertheless. Whatever she wanted to ask, there was a better way to put it into words without sounding offensive.
 

eaglehelang

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 15, 2017
Yeah, she's 1.71 m , very tall, not to her advantage in figure skating.
She has to have very strong will , great passion in skating and a coach who really believes in her for her to continue.
Quads & 3A is not be all end all.
 

chuckm

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
Yeah, she's 1.71 m , very tall, not to her advantage in figure skating.
She has to have very strong will , great passion in skating and a coach who really believes in her for her to continue.
Quads & 3A is not be all end all.

It wasn't her height that was the problem (Bradie Tennell is about the same height), but her congenital physical disorder that had no real remedy (and her parents are both doctors).
 
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