New Interview with Evgenia Medvedeva | Page 4 | Golden Skate

New Interview with Evgenia Medvedeva

skatingfan200

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
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.

She was asked about social media comments (she reads them). 50% is probably to high but "very few haters" is also not true.

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.

She is coming back from an injury what took her four month of the ice. As mentioned in the interview, they are working on the lutz and on the axel, which should be the first step if she wants to have a chanche in the future and to upgrade her BV.
PCS judging has nothing to do with an interview and it´s true, she needs to work on herself. (strengthening her body after an injury+ more muscle, working on her jump technique).
 

solani

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 8, 2014
Country
Austria
She was asked about social media comments (she reads them). 50% is probably to high but "very few haters" is also not true.
That's what I meant with "distorted reality". Haters are always the ones who want to be heard, that's why they are inexhaustible and loud.
 

Klarnet

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
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.

Drive for improve is only good, I'm just not sure constant accentuating her flaws for that is a good idea. She did not lose gold because of flutz,axel or not so fluid skating, she came up to new team as already perfect skater in the eyes of judges, olympic medalist and world champion. And the first thing new team do, is bring her flaws to light ruining the image of flawless champion and she appears as some freshman student who has a lot to learn. Well, that's their plan,they probably know what they're doing.

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]
I was more referring to image of a champion rather than destroying actual skills. They could have framed her desire to improve more subtly,accentuating solid background that would become even better not digging deep into how much work she needs.
I actually think if she restores her consistency she would have chances.
 

KiraraChin

Medalist
Joined
May 5, 2018
Drive for improve is only good, I'm just not sure constant accentuating her flaws for that is a good idea. She did not lose gold because of flutz,axel or not so fluid skating, she came up to new team as already perfect skater in the eyes of judges, olympic medalist and world champion. And the first thing new team do, is bring her flaws to light ruining the image of flawless champion and she appears as some freshman student who has a lot to learn. Well, that's their plan,they probably know what they're doing.
"Flawless champion"? LOL No. I don't know where you were in the past 3 years, but Zhenya was never considered a flawless champion, far from it.

In any case, I think you need to read the interview again. This is not about the judges. This is about her. The girl loves skating, she wants to be a better skater, and she's honest and humble about it.
 

vorravorra

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 9, 2016
Drive for improve is only good, I'm just not sure constant accentuating her flaws for that is a good idea. She did not lose gold because of flutz,axel or not so fluid skating, she came up to new team as already perfect skater in the eyes of judges, olympic medalist and world champion. And the first thing new team do, is bring her flaws to light ruining the image of flawless champion and she appears as some freshman student who has a lot to learn. Well, that's their plan,they probably know what they're doing.

I was more referring to image of a champion rather than destroying actual skills. They could have framed her desire to improve more subtly,accentuating solid background that would become even better not digging deep into how much work she needs.
I actually think if she restores her consistency she would have chances.
Yes, this theory has already been expressed: "judges got offended that after they gave her such high scores she now says her SS aren't quite up to par, she has a lot to learn etc., she is questioning their qualification/lack of bias and they are going to punish her in PCS."
 

moriel

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
Yes, this theory has already been expressed: "judges got offended that after they gave her such high scores she now says her SS aren't quite up to par, she has a lot to learn etc., she is questioning their qualification/lack of bias and they are going to punish her in PCS."

I dont think that would be the case, but i can see how the benefit of doubt can suffer some impact.
For example, you flutz a litte, but judges tend to give you benefit of doubt mos of the time. But then you say "I got a flutz to fix", so chances are at the next competition someone will remember, "eh wait, she said she flutzes herself" and call it. It kind of impacts the perception of the mistakes.
 

Wheelz

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2018
Drive for improve is only good, I'm just not sure constant accentuating her flaws for that is a good idea. She did not lose gold because of flutz,axel or not so fluid skating, she came up to new team as already perfect skater in the eyes of judges, olympic medalist and world champion. And the first thing new team do, is bring her flaws to light ruining the image of flawless champion and she appears as some freshman student who has a lot to learn. Well, that's their plan,they probably know what they're doing.


I was more referring to image of a champion rather than destroying actual skills. They could have framed her desire to improve more subtly,accentuating solid background that would become even better not digging deep into how much work she needs.
I actually think if she restores her consistency she would have chances.

Maybe Evgenia’s “old technique” was contributing to her injuries and that’s why she needed an overhaul than just a tweak.
 

princessalica

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 20, 2015
There has been plenty of discussion on her weaknesses before. the judges can't completely live in a bubble and be completely oblivious. She has been beautifully consistent. And I'm sure that with Brian's help she will become consistent again and fix her issues. He's taking a great skater and making her better. I think the US would give pretty much anything to have a skater near her consistency. (And maybe we are getting that with Bradie).
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Country
United-States
I wouldn’t know a flutz if I tripped over it on Main St. I know what I read on the fora.

I read, Zhenya, you won’t get away with that flutz forever. :roll5:

OK, Zhenya says, I’ll fix the flutz. :)

Oh no, Zhenya, now judges will be looking for the flutz:eekn:

Isn’t it just as likely a judge would give her the benefit of the doubt this way: she isn’t ignoring it, she said she would fix it, good for her:agree:

We won’t know until we have a GP comp. With actual judges, not us;)
 

vorravorra

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 9, 2016
I wouldn’t know a flutz if I tripped over it on Main St. I know what I read on the fora.

I read, Zhenya, you won’t get away with that flutz forever. :roll5:

OK, Zhenya says, I’ll fix the flutz. :)

Oh no, Zhenya, now judges will be looking for the flutz:eekn:

Isn’t it just as likely a judge would give her the benefit of the doubt this way: she isn’t ignoring it, she said she would fix it, good for her:agree:

We won’t know until we have a GP comp. With actual judges, not us;)
"She is working on it, give her time/opportunity to fix it" is not what "benefit of the doubt" means :scratch3: A lot of people are working hard on fixing their flutzes/lips after all, let's not call them either then.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
"Flawless champion"? LOL No. I don't know where you were in the past 3 years, but Zhenya was never considered a flawless champion, far from it.

Nobody's perfect, but my recollection of the 2015-16 season and the 2016-17 season, Evgenia won everything in sight, usually by huge margins, including GP Finals, Europeans and Worlds. I think she was considered, if not flawless, nevertheless without peer or rival.

Nothing is forever, of course.
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2017
Nobody's perfect, but my recollection of the 2015-16 season and the 2016-17 season, Evgenia won everything in sight, usually by huge margins, including GP Finals, Europeans and Worlds. I think she was considered, if not flawless, nevertheless without peer or rival.

Nothing is forever, of course.

She had the same story as every other dominant skater has had: a side that praised every single thing she did as if it were magic, and a side that overstated her weaknesses to a comical level. The centrists, as usual, had their voices drowned in the din. Good times, good times, when you simply don't care, because then it's just :popcorn:

"Flawless champion"? LOL No.

For fans? True, "LOL No". In the minds of the judges, given her consistency, and the fact that she hardly ever got called for her poor technique? Very probably. Same thing happened for Zagitova last season, when her backloading and tanoing started to get viewed as her having great technique, and is now continuing.

(not sure how appropriate of a response that is, given the new guidelines, but oh, well.)
 

esteticlove

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
She did not lose gold because of flutz,axel or not so fluid skating.

Well, this is debatable. Medvedeva lost mainly because of the SP, where she had a 3F in a combo and Alina a 3Lz. You see, knowing that her lutz has flaws they never added it to her short and this contributed to a lower TES. And this was essential for the Olympics because at the end both girls landed on the podium with 1-2 points difference.

Still, regardless if she has some chances or no to win some major events in the future, I kind of understand her decision to train in Canada and also her new team's strategy. Even though we all presumed that she left Eteri because of her defeat, I think that it's also not a coincidence that she moved to Orser just before the new rules were approved. And those new rules favour superior technique, which she didn't really have.
 
Joined
May 7, 2018
Listen, we all know what would happen, the moment another russian girl appear would be the end for the current one, its always like that, next year when all those juniors become seniors I doubt we will continue to see Alina. Thats how it is, its always being like this.

The top russian girl get everything highly praised. When Evgenia was skating she was the only consistent top russian lady, until Alina came in the picture and it all happen with the injure bla bla bla we know that story. We cant denied she was overscored with her technique, but again, the top girl always get overscored, its always being like this, well Im speaking since Sochi, I join there.

Evgenia wants longevity, she did all of this to change her chances, with Alina in the picture judges wouldnt be so...fair to her She needs a strong technique if she wants an opportunity to continue, not mentioning the current one was damaging her body. Either way it was her decision, let just hope everything goes well for her. Her motivation is nice. It was a good interview, would want more about her training but I can imagine it

*Runs and hide*
 

skatingfan200

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
For fans? True, "LOL No". In the minds of the judges, given her consistency, and the fact that she hardly ever got called for her poor technique? Very probably. Same thing happened for Zagitova last season, when her backloading and tanoing started to get viewed as her having great technique, and is now continuing.

(not sure how appropriate of a response that is, given the new guidelines, but oh, well.)


Called for what? Prerotation and full blade take-off is the new standart, there are not many girls left who has the right technique in the current field. She is definetly not a UR jumper.
 
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