hopeandlegacy2018

At least no one can force an anna karenina or orange colored sky program on Zhenya anymore. I feel for skaters who have to skate to things they don’t like. 

11 hours ago, Old Cat Lady said:

Is it fair to say that Yuzu and Yuna Kim are the 2 most popular skaters in the last 30 years or so (the only skater I can think of that would rival them is Sonja Henie, maybe Witt)?  Mao is pretty popular too but not quite as famous as these two?  Michelle Kwan is probably the most famous American skater but from everything I hear she wasn't very popular outside the US - do you think winning gold would have changed that or do you think being more average looking would have held her back from attaining the fame of the other 2 no matter what? How much of Yuzu and Kim's popularity is due to their physical beauty - before each of their second Olympics they were very successful but not more than a lot of other champions.  How much of Alina's (and Masaru's) popularity is due to her being so beautiful? 

I think Olympic Gold is the most important factor of fame for both Yuna and Alina, but good looks definitely help with endorsements, especially in Asia. Beauty standard is a bit different across regions, maybe Japan prefers Gracie’s and Alina’s looks since they both got Shiseido offers and Gracie didn’t have superior results compared to, say, Zhenya, but Russia on the other hand may prefer Zhenya’s looks to Alina’s etc etc.

Personally I think Marin is the most pretty Japanese ladies skater. She got the Kose commercial as a junior, which Satoko didn’t get even with better results. But Marin won’t get to Mao’s popularity level if she doesn’t have results. 

I wonder if the looks of a skater affects judges to some extent. I hope not. 

Imagine Yuzu in this

Haha Kaori looks like Snoopy here

17 hours ago, kaeryth said:

Mai's FS will be by Lori Nochol

 

 

Jack seems to have special connections with IMG skaters to get exclusive information? 

Kaori memes

Xiaoyu is so elegant

Haha this seems fun

That’s a bit tight for Masaru. 

New Kose Blog by Oto!

1 hour ago, Fay said:

That’s why she’s still bellyaching about students who left her “in a strange way”. Publicly again. That’s a proof of strength. 

It’s unbelievable how much she had to go through. This past year must be so hard for her given her mom’s health. Can you imagine if you were in her shoes? It must hurt so so much. After reading this, I just thought no wonder some people are successful; they have to fight through so much more pain than others. 

It must also be hard to break into the Russian skating circle as a new coach, since you are taking away other people’s benefits. I still think she doesn’t have enough resources to offer her students. A lot more coaches are better connected and can offer their students great opportunities both in and outside of skating. 

She lost her dad before the Sochi Olympics, and her mom is diagnozed with cancer right before PyeongChang. Sigh. She is so strong.