2023-2024 Georgian figure skating

[Jumping_Bean]

The default reaction of many people is to unfortunately be negative about Georgian skaters.

Ah, yes, so why have Kazakova/Reviya been fan favourites for years now? And why have I seen nothing but positive things about Inga Gurgenidze? (And yes, they too are also Russians. So it's not that either.)

Let's actually face it, there are many other reasons why some of the Georgians are disliked, and almost all of them are connected to one person - I'm sure you can figure that one out yourself. And, well, let's just say that one Georgian in particular has made himself very unpopular on the basis of his very own behaviour.

 

[lariko]

I miss Kazikova / Reviya as well. I think injuries derailed them a bit , but then they seemed to be coming back some this year, only to get injured again. Does anyone know what the injury is?

Also is this a "safe space" LOL to admit I actually like Metelkina ) Berulava's SP?

I like both, and I absolutely adored their exhibition!!! The idea that Metelkina is the roulette/casino who seduces a gambler is really so much fun in the contexts of so much spinning the pair guys do. Loved it!

Edit: I also hope K/R recover soon.

 

[Kittosuni]

How many spots do they have for worlds?

I'm guessing it will be the same team going to worlds? if they have 2 spots in dance then hopefully K/R is recovered and can go.

 

[skatingguy]

How many spots do they have for worlds?

I'm guessing it will be the same team going to worlds? if they have 2 spots in dance then hopefully K/R is recovered and can go.

Georgia only has 1 spot in each discipline.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Ah, yes, so why have Kazakova/Reviya been fan favourites for years now? And why have I seen nothing but positive things about Inga Gurgenidze? (And yes, they too are also Russians. So it's not that either.)

Let's actually face it, there are many other reasons why some of the Georgians are disliked, and almost all of them are connected to one person - I'm sure you can figure that one out yourself. And, well, let's just say that one Georgian in particular has made himself very unpopular on the basis of his very own behaviour.

I think your attitude is shocking. You are happily blaming a skater whose alleged actions have zero bearing on people on the internet making the choice to be hateful and prejudiced against people because of where they're from. Oh and children like Inga Gurgenidze and Polina Dzsumanyijazova have received a shocking amount of hostility. You might choose to turn a blind eye but that doesn't mean it's not happening. How can you possibly blame Luka Berulava for the abuse these kids are receiving? He's not posting those comments.




Americans and Canadians competing for other countries don't get the same hostility. Hell, a german and brit competing for Spain get praise for doing so. If a Russian competes for another country they're accused of taking funding from others and complaints that countries aren't prioritising native skaters. But you didn't see that during the collective tantrum after Spanish Nationals. All of a sudden, many of the same users were saying it would be totally wrong for the federation to prioritise a native skater. That's pretty contradictory if you ask me.

Oh and regarding Kazkova and Revia- they seemed to gain an awful lot more very devoted fans very suddenly when Davis and Smolkin switched to Georgia. All just an excuse to hate Diana Davis, make her into some sort of villain, like she's some sort of proxy for her mother. That's the polar opposite of holding someone responsible for their own actions, surely?

 

[throw_triple_flip]

I've seen their FS getting some bashing in the competition threads too, so I'll join you in admitting that it's one of my favourite pairs programs this season I think it's really cleverly choreographed (although I think the junior version is slightly better than the senior length version).

I actually like both the programs, they're so camp/wacky. Really different.

I also think that they make a better match than they did with their previous partners.

 

[Skating91]

I think your attitude is shocking. You are happily blaming a skater whose alleged actions have zero bearing on people on the internet making the choice to be hateful and prejudiced against people because of where they're from. Oh and children like Inga Gurgenidze and Polina Dzsumanyijazova have received a shocking amount of hostility. You might choose to turn a blind eye but that doesn't mean it's not happening. How can you possibly blame Luka Berulava for the abuse these kids are receiving? He's not posting those comments.




Americans and Canadians competing for other countries don't get the same hostility. Hell, a german and brit competing for Spain get praise for doing so. If a Russian competes for another country they're accused of taking funding from others and complaints that countries aren't prioritising native skaters. But you didn't see that during the collective tantrum after Spanish Nationals. All of a sudden, many of the same users were saying it would be totally wrong for the federation to prioritise a native skater. That's pretty contradictory if you ask me.

Oh and regarding Kazkova and Revia- they seemed to gain an awful lot more very devoted fans very suddenly when Davis and Smolkin switched to Georgia. All just an excuse to hate Diana Davis, make her into some sort of villain, like she's some sort of proxy for her mother. That's the polar opposite of holding someone responsible for their own actions, surely?

Not to mention the highlight of Europeans was the Lithuanian couple in ice dance, one of them having been born in the US and skated for multiple countries. Good for her she found an opportunity outside of the country she was born, the Lithuanian crowd didn't seem bothered that was as pumped up a crowd as I've heard in figure skating. She achieved a famous result for her country.

Davis does have the bonus of a connection to Georgia through her mother, so it seems like a perfect fit for her and Smolkin to skate for Georgia.

I thought Davis and Smolkin were brilliant but I don't follow ice dance too closely, but they executed it without errors and seemed a unique and memorable program to me. Respect to Davis she's only 21 and achieved a lot, living between countries and cultures. Never American, never Russian, never Georgian. I won't say she's had a hard life (there are people who have real suffering and no opportunities) but definitely has many challenges.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

You are happily blaming a skater whose alleged actions have zero bearing on people on the internet making the choice to be hateful and prejudiced against people because of where they're from.

Except that actions don't have to have a direct effect on anyone for them to be wrong and worth calling out. If you scale up that logic for everything, someone covering up SA (like Kevin Aymoz's coaches) isn't deserving of public discourse and shame because they didn't cover up my SA. People who have been racist should just not suffer any consequences because they were only racist towards a very small number of people. When people have been unkind to my friends and family, I guess I should also just ignore it, because they've always been kind to me, no?
On top of that, in a sport, where a single bad fall can permanently disable a person, the absolute lack of care Luka showed towards Karina in their last season is absolutely worth calling out. In a sport where disordered eating is as commonplace as in figure skating, his words about Karina's weight are also absolutely worth calling out.

And just to spell it out, because you apparently did not understand what I wrote, I said that a lot of Georgian skaters were disliked because of reasons completely separate from their birth country. You are so convinced that every Russian-born person is disliked because they are Russian-born, that you won't even consider other reasons for why some people are disliked, you just keep on coming back to "Well, it must be because they were born in Russia". The truth is, there are many well-liked Russian-born skaters, representing a variety of countries (including Russia), from Nikita Starostin over Ekaterina Kurakova and Artem Markelov to Aliona Kostornaia, how does that work with your theory?

Oh and children like Inga Gurgenidze and Polina Dzsumanyijazova have received a shocking amount of hostility. You might choose to turn a blind eye but that doesn't mean it's not happening. How can you possibly blame Luka Berulava for the abuse these kids are receiving? He's not posting those comments.

I didn't blame Berulava for anything except his own treatment. I've also seen zero negative comments about Inga, or a whole truckload of other Russian-born skaters like Makar Suntsev, Vladimir Samoilov, Ekaterina Kurakova, yes, even Nikita Volodin, and many others.

Americans and Canadians competing for other countries don't get the same hostility.

That's arguable, Beverly Zhu got a lot of hostility from Chinese and non-Chinese fans alike when she was chosen over Hongyi Chen for the Olympics, especially when she didn't deliver. There are also certainly much fewer Americans and Canadians representing other countries at a semi-high level (Of course, there are some exceptions, but in sheer numbers, there's a big difference), few people care about "country-hopping" when they've never even heard of the skaters/teams who "hopped" from one country to the other. After all, it's hard to care about something you don't even know about.

Hell, a german and brit competing for Spain get praise for doing so. If a Russian competes for another country they're accused of taking funding from others and complaints that countries aren't prioritising native skaters. But you didn't see that during the collective tantrum after Spanish Nationals. All of a sudden, many of the same users were saying it would be totally wrong for the federation to prioritise a native skater. That's pretty contradictory if you ask me.

Funding, championship assignments and prioritisation are different things. Nobody is getting mad at for example Hase/Volodin or Pavlova/Sviatchenko for getting assigned to Euros and Worlds, they are the best (or in P/S case only) pairs in their country.
People are getting mad at countries with very limited funding (as for example Germany) choosing to "import" & financially support the third foreign pairs partner in the span of 4 years (2019 to 2023, Elena Pavlova & Alisa Efimova for Ruben Blommaert and now Nikita Volodin for Minerva), when skaters on the National team are skating on only pain killers because they can't get physical therapy where they train and the training conditions in some of the federal training bases are very suboptimal to the point where even coaches are speaking out about it.
People are also getting mad at countries for prioritising foreign-born talents over their own, when they show similar potential at that moment in time. As you already brought up Polina Dzsumanyijazova, people weren't unhappy with her, they were unhappy with the federation apparently neglecting Hungarian-born skaters to the point where people were leaving the sport or the country (all while covering up abuse allegations against Hungarian coaches, which did not help the situation).

Oh and regarding Kazkova and Revia- they seemed to gain an awful lot more very devoted fans very suddenly when Davis and Smolkin switched to Georgia. All just an excuse to hate Diana Davis, make her into some sort of villain, like she's some sort of proxy for her mother. That's the polar opposite of holding someone responsible for their own actions, surely?

K/R have been quite popular since before D/S were even thinking about switching to Georgia, people absolutely loved their Linkin Park FD (2019-20).
And funnily enough, the biggest influx of haters for D/S are actually not international fans, as you surely must know. It's Russian fans, and even Russian coaches, commentators and federation officials who are calling them traitors and suddenly say that they aren't very good Ice Dancers, when they loved them before, so what's the truth there?
While Diana certainly is disliked for her connection to her mother, she and her husband are mostly disliked for the scores they get - Something she is certainly not alone with, just ask Chock/Bates or Fear/Gibson who definitely get to hear a lot of the same criticisms.
And can you really fault anyone for feeling like there is foul play going on here when a lift where the lifting partner is visibly heavily shaking gets higher GOE than similar lifts of higher quality? When D/S are released to compete for Georgia without any problems, while other skaters like Dario Cirisano get told they won't be released without a fight? Sure, Diana is not at fault herself for receiving unfair treatment, but it is impossible to call out double standards without somehow having to involve people who profit from it.
There are people on this very forum who do the same in favour of the "Russians" (if rightfully or not is not for me to decide), but you seem to have no problem with that.

 

[Kittosuni]

Congrats to the whole Georgian team for the new added sponsorship from Coca-cola, Bank of Georgia, Silknet, Georgian Industrial Group and Georgian Airways!

Funding has always been a big question mark for small federations like Georgia so it is nice to hear big companies supporting the team.

 

[Skating91]

They're become one of the strongest countries in Europe.

 

[Mariott]

The Olympic flame was lit in South Korea!
The 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games will be held from January 19 to February 1. Today, January 25, the figure skating competition week begins.

Two skaters represent the Georgian national team at the Olympic Games:
Inga Gurgenidze - girls
Konstantin Supatashvili - boys

This is the first time in history when the Georgian national team is represented in more than one category of figure skating at the Youth Olympic Games. We wish great success to our rising stars!

***
The schedule of the championship in Georgian time is as follows:

January 27, Saturday
21:00 - boys' short program

January 28, Sunday
21:10 - short program for girls

January 29, Monday
19:00 hours - boys' free program

January 30, Tuesday
19:30 hours - girls' free program​

 

[Skating91]

Go Inga!

 

[Mariott]

Go Inga!

Go, Kostya!
Looking forward to a clean 3A from both skaters.

 

[Skating91]

I can't believe how Inga was lowballed like that. 25 for components she was the only one with any real attack and so fast across the ice.

The officials should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Mariott]

4T+3T parallel cascade by Andrei Mozalev and Nika Egadze

​

 

[ladyjane]

So saddened about the retirement due to injuries by Kazakova/Reviya. I really liked them and missed them this year.