Update: Zabiiako not representing Canada

[mrrice]

Interesting point, I did not know that. For Daria who is placing in tournaments (I presume, I don't know tennis) that makes sense.

But if Natalia is receiving a payment from the Russian state for winning an Olympic medal, the state may insist that it be paid in rubles. Which doesn't help her much in Barcelona.

Correct, that's why players like Elena Demetieva, Olympic Champion, and Anastasia Myskina, French Open Champion in 2004 are more popular than Maria Sharapova. They continue to reside in Russia, and Maria moved to the US as soon as she went professional.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

That's too bad. I'm sorry to see this news. I was looking forward to seeing how well Zach & Natalia might progress.

 

[invisiblespiral]

This might be completely unrelated, but was Natalia ever planning to become a Canadian citizen?

 

[Mathman]

Correct, that's why players like Elena Demetieva, Olympic Champion, and Anastasia Myskina, French Open Champion in 2007 are more popular than Maria Sharapova.

Maria is consoled by the fact that she was the highest paid female athlete in the world for ten years and is now worth US$ 200,000,000.

 

[Hyena]

I was looking forward to seeing how Zabkiiako/Daleman would gel. But if Natalia decided she needed to be with her partner, I completely understand that.

Best wishes to her and Daria - it takes bravery to come out and to speak out right now.

 

[mrrice]

Maria is consoled by the fact that she was the highest paid female athlete in the world for ten years and is now worth US$ 200,000,000.

Yeah, I believe that following her upset win over Serena at Wimbledon in 2004, the endorsement deals came flooding in and, she never looked back. Like Serena, she is now rich beyond her wildest dreams.

 

[Corwin]

Correct, that's why players like Elena Demetieva, Olympic Champion, and Anastasia Myskina, French Open Champion in 2007 are more popular than Maria Sharapova. They continue to reside in Russia, and Maria moved to the US as soon as she went professional.

I will say more, if such athletes as Sharapova, Kasatkina or Zabiiako change their citizenship, no one in Russia will be upset by this fact, even on the contrary. Therefore, they are free to do anything.

 

[mrrice]

I agree, I think this is why Maria Butyrskaya and Elena Demetieva are still so popular. Even Putin praised Elena after her Olympic win. The Russian Women swept the Olympic Podium in Tennis that year. Demetieva, Dinara Safina, and Vera Zvonareva we're gold, silver, and bronze. Demetieva knocked Serena Williams out of the event which was quite an upset. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkSenwyh6E4

 

[mrrice]

I will say more, if such athletes as Sharapova, Kasatkina or Zabiiako change their citizenship, no one in Russia will be upset by this fact, even on the contrary. Therefore, they are free to do anything.

I think a player like Kasatkina, is probably trying to make a statement for people in smaller areas of Russia. When I was dancing there, it was the late 80s. I had a Russian BF and we had a great time together. The difference was that we were in St Petersburg. It was very progressive and I never felt afraid while I was there. Like the US, it's the small towns where young people have a legitimate fear of backlash just for being who they are.

 

[4everchan]

She may no longer be representing Canada, but Zabiiako is in Toronto right now... She's currently watching partner Daria Kasatkina playing against Andreescu at the Canadian Open

 

[amc987]

Correct, that's why players like Elena Demetieva, Olympic Champion, and Anastasia Myskina, French Open Champion in 2004 are more popular than Maria Sharapova. They continue to reside in Russia, and Maria moved to the US as soon as she went professional.

I'm intrigued by Zabiiako requesting to have her transfer request withdrawn because she wants to spend time with Kasatkina in Barcelona. Seems strange given how much Kasatkina travels, but maybe Zabiiako just wants a break from skating and to spend it with her girlfriend.

This is off-topic, and unsoliticited - sorry! But Sharapova grew up mostly in the US. She moved to Bradenton, FL to train at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy (now IMG) when she was about 8. She's lived in the US ever since, having spent time in Florida and California before she turned pro. She's resided predominantly in the Los Angeles area since the early 2000s - she spent a lot of time training with Robert Lansdorp, who is based there - but still maintains a place in Bradenton afaik. It wasn't a matter of Sharapova cutting and running from Russia when she got rich and famous. She moved here to train and never went back.

 

[el henry]

I'm intrigued by Zabiiako requesting to have her transfer request withdrawn because she wants to spend time with Kasatkina in Barcelona. Seems strange given how much Kasatkina travels, but maybe Zabiiako just wants a break from skating and to spend it with her girlfriend.

I'm not sure that was the intent behind the decision.

I am trying to stay within guidelines within the Edge. It was not simply to "spend more time" with Kasatkina. Kasatkina, a Russian, came out as lesbian and identified Zabaiiko as her partner. This was considered newsworthy in many circles. Zabaiiko decided almost immediately after that to return to Barcelona to be with Kasatkina.

Was it probably easier for her to leave because she was only returning to competitive skating and the partnership was new? Probably. But the request, under those circumstances, does make sense to me and had nothing to do with whether she felt it was "working out" with Daleman.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

But the request, under those circumstances, does make sense to me and had nothing to do with whether she felt it was "working out" with Daleman.

This is your assumption/ speculation though right? Nothing has been confirmed.

 

[el henry]

This is your assumption/ speculation though right? Nothing has been confirmed.

Bruno said she left to return to Barcelona to be withDaria during this difficult time, and not as a result of any issues with the partnership.

I do not see any pattern of Bruno “spinning”, and indeed he would have no reason to do so with such a new partnership.

I have seen nothing from Zabaiiko, and nothing about “issues” in the partnership.

 

[4everchan]

My humble opinion in this case : yes... I tend to take Bruno's words at first value because he usually is quite candid.
At the same time, I have no problem also believing that perhaps, Zabiiako didn't believe the partnership was going to lead her where she wanted to be or that she was not willing to make all the sacrifices needed to get it where it needed to be, or that 4 years was a very long committment. Often such decisions are multi-faceted.
Here are the indisputable facts :
They partnered up.
They announced the partnership so that means that the trial was somewhat successful enough.
They signed up for a summer competition (Skate Ontario) so that would mean that they thought they could make it to an event.
Bruno said that Skate Canada canceled the request for a release because Natalia wanted to be with Daria ---- Daria spoke up against the war, one of the very few Russian athletes doing so and is homosexual, which is not easy for Russians. So yes, coming out as and speaking up may require for them to be more often together.
Zabiiako left to be with Daria, and that's actually been seen on TV : as she has been attending some of Daria's tennis matches, most notably in Toronto.

The rest? We do not need to find out The silver lining for me in here is that there haven't been disgraceful posts (as far as I know) about Natalia leaving the partnership, as we often see on these boards when a partnership is dissolved.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

^^ Yeah I believe the above rundown is what we know, and per that, the common sense analysis of the little we know makes sense. Keeping in mind, of course, that there are no definitive answers, full explanations or confirmations of anything except that Natalia apparently changed her mind about committing to the partnership for her own reasons. Still, we also don't know how she actually felt about the training progress with Zach Daleman.

For all we know, there could have been pushback on Natalia from Russian sources. Perhaps she and Daria got ahead of announcing their relationship b/f someone else leaked about it to the international media. It could be a combination of factors that simply led to Natalia putting other needs ahead of focusing on a new competitive partnership. Also, Bruno can only share his views of the situation, which does not necessarily mean that Natalia feels exactly as he does about the partnership progress. Obviously, we don't know. Their training could have been progressing fine, or steadily with much more to work on. And then Natalia's personal concerns intruded.

As we know, no matter each individual's prior experience, a new pairs partnership involves a lot of hard work. It is more than just a notion. Sometimes, experienced skaters underestimate the amount of adjustments that may be necessary. Cases in point: Marissa Castelli and Mervin Tran; Vanessa James and Eric Radford. While both of these teams were/are stylish, well-matched and wonderful together, they had so many daunting challenges to face. V&E are amazing for what they faced and overcame in only one competitive season. M&M gave it their all, but were hampered by bad luck and by challenges in how they each responded differently personality-wise to the obstacles they faced.

 

[MKroff]

Well, I have no idea how relevant this topic is, but I founded some translations of Natalia’s recent Youtube video, in which she explained why she left Canada:

“In May, I flew to Canada. I didn't declare it, because at first I wanted to give it a try, to feel if I would like it. And then make some loud statements. But our people don't like to take care of their own lives, they snitch into someone else's. Therefore, all this quickly leaked out, the media began to write that I had left. I didn't comment it.
There are several reasons why I left there. The first reasons is that after skating in a pair with a Enbert, it is difficult to find a partner who would match his level, with whom I would be just as comfortable. And having trained with Vlad Zhovnirsky and Nina Moser, it is also difficult to find such a coach with whom you would understand each other perfectly.
The second reason is that it is difficult to find the team that would desire the same goals as much as you. To have a great desire, despite fatigue and failures. So that they would go ahead, go to training every morning cheerful and charged, so that everyone would give their all. Unfortunately, there was no such thing.
There is another reason that was written on the Internet – that Canada has withdrawn its request. But that's not the point. Canada sent a request to our federation to let me go, but our federation said that it would consider such cases only in December. And it's not a fact that they will approve the request.
It was a surprise for me, because I haven't been an active athlete for three years, and it still turns out I belong to them. It was very strange. It was enough to make a request to the ISU, but the Canadian federation decided to do the right thing, ask Russian federation’s permission.
Due to all these nuances, I thought that this is not what I want. If you resume your career, then it should be all serious, at the highest level. My desire is not enough, many, many factors must come together for everything to work out. So I packed my stuff and left.
And I don't regret it. Before that, I felt that I had not finished something. But after trying, I realized that it was time to move on, because in addition to sports, there is still a hell of a lot of interesting things. But this one was a cool experience, a cool couple of months”

 

[gsk8]

Well, I have no idea how relevant this topic is, but I founded some translations of Natalia’s recent Youtube video, in which she explained why she left Canada:

Do you have a link to the video?

 

[MKroff]

Do you have a link to the video?

Yeah, sure.
Here it is.

 

[gordana]

Do you have a link to the video?

Oh, the link has been posted. About resuming her career it's from 05:10 to 11:33.