A Recent Brian Orser interview (Junior World Championship, Tallinn)

[Fay]

Hello, this is a fast translation of the recent Brian Orser interview in this blog. It was done quite fast, so if you spot any mistake, just let me know by putting my name next @

https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/figureice/2748065.html

 

Maya Bagryantseva interviewed Brian Orser in Tallinn 

 

I see you here at the rink all day long and I can’t understand when you get to eat and rest. Are you only watching your own skaters or is there anyone else you find interesting? 

 

Oh, I have my hands full with my own skaters. TCC has many skaters here: dancers, single skaters, our club is truly international. For instance we have a girl from Australia here, and it’s her first World Championship. God if you only knew how nervous she is. A girl from China – she has only started training with us. We have a lot of skaters here. 

 

How many team jackets did you bring? Or do you get given them here on the spot? 

 

No, I only have a Canadian team jacket. 

 

What can you tell us about Katya Kurakova? Did you like her short program today? 

 

I am happy with her short, it was great. There are some strong competitors here and Katya was able to get up into a good group before the free program. She had a great training group too. By the way, she was training with Russian skaters who are just incredibly good. It did her good to skate along with them. She was jumping better than ever, she gets excited by competition and is quite ambitious. It was great she had this opportunity to train with them for a few days. We are both happy. We are happy with the score as well, it was good – all levels were good, there was an underrotation call, but the underrotation was there, so it was fair. We worked a lot on underrotations and I can see the result, but there’s still room for improvement, so we have a work plan for the summer. She has been training with us for a couple of years, but last year she couldn’t compete, so she was mostly training. This season she is catching up on what she longed for,  competition after competition – Junior GP events, Challengers, Nationals in both categories, World Championships in Tallinn now and in Montreal later. She is getting better with every single of them. 

 

Is there any difference for the coach between juniors and seniors at competitions? 

 

For juniors the World Championship is the peak of the season, a very stressful event – they all want to show their best form, but they have very little experience. So there is quite a difference. You have to watch juniors more, you have to manage them more out of the ice rink too. Senior skaters know it perfectly when to start warming up for the skate, when to be ready, what to do at the warm up, while with juniors I have to text them reminding the time of the training session and reminding when the bus for it leaves. 

 

But they are not alone here, they have their parents with them. 

 

Yeah, but I don’t want the parents to interfere. Different families work differently. I have had to tell parents: ok, I will deal with this, let’s let the kids feel grown up and independent. Then they have a feeling they manage their lives and they start understanding what responsibility is. 

 

Do you let parents attend training session at TCC? 

 

They can’t get into the skating rink, but we have a special area where they can watch training sessions behind the glass. They can’t get in and give their comments on the session. We used to have that – well, it still happens when I am away at competitions. They also like to use body language! And it all depends on how old the athlete is. 

 

I think it’s Javier Fernandez who adapted to living without parents best of all. He came to us when he was 18 or 19, he spent 8 years with us. He was very independent, lived in a flat of his own, cleaned up and cooked for himself, did the shopping, got to the rink. During the first year he had some problems with making it on time for the schedule and I was told “What did you expect, he’s a Spaniard!” – which bugged me because I am not Spanish, I am strict about punctuality. But he fit in bit by bit and we adapted our schedule to fit him. 

 

Yuzuru lives with his mother, and she helps us a lot, but she never interferes into training. I’ve never had her come up and start telling me what Yuzu has to do during this session. But even back when Yuna was with us, her Mum never interfered with our work – not through me, anyway. All she did was tell her opinion to her daughter, and she was tactful about it. 

 

And what about Zhenya? 

 

Her Mum doesn’t interfere into our work either. I don’t think she found it easy. We have a completely different system of work and coaching. And she skated herself, she know figure skating and she know how they used to train. For her to trust us, to keep away and be patient took certain effort. I said many times before that there is a certain period – a year and a half. Zhenya and her team might have found it harder than the others because she was too rooted into the system which brought her up. It wasn’t bad, please don’t get it wrong, it was just completely different from what she was used to. Among the boys of our team Javi exemplifies it best – there were no serious results during the first year of his training with us, but in a year and a half he wins the bronze at the World Championship. Yuzu came to us with a World bronze under his belt – and in a year and a half he becomes Olympic Champion. Now we have the same story with Jason Brown. He was fantastic at the US Nationals, he was in great form, he managed to jump a few quads. We don’t rush things, and we move along in our rhythm though everyone around talks only of quads. He is patient – we needed 18 months to make him into what he is today. Tracy and I were surprised how well he controlled his skates at the US Nationals. 

 

Is it difficult to get skaters to believe the system? 

 

The main thing is understanding that the first season might not be as successful and it’s normal. Of course, we don’t want anyone to use that as an excuse and we don’t want to program them to it – everything might be all right. But it will get better with time, but it takes some time for athletes to get used to our system. We give them tools to make decisions and make choices. Many athletes get told what and how they should do everything. It might work with kids and junior athletes, but adults are adults, they have to bear responsibility for their own work, they have to be responsible and make it on time everywhere, they have to make decisions whether they have to work more on everything. That was my own choice, by the way. When I was still competing, I used every opportunity to skate and do some conditioning. I used to run past my coach’s house for him to see how well I was doing even though he didn’t know about it. I expect the same from my athletes. 

 

Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you if you told skaters what to do and they obeyed you? 

 

Ok, we tell them this, and we tell them that and then we face a choice: do we make a full run-through today? Some skaters will think and agree: ok, let’s do a full run-through. No one likes to do it because it’s hard. It’s like a marathon – ok, do we run a marathon today? As a coach I understand they have to do that run-through. I can do it a simple way – you do a complete run-through today. But I can make them feel it was them who made that decision. They have to do it – not because I made them, but because that makes them stronger. If they do it today their skating will get better in three weeks – because of a right choice. There are athletes who prefer not to do it. But you know what? They never achieve much. It’s that simple – some might find it difficult to deal with a slump in results, they want it all and at once. And there are too many ‘well-wishers’ who start telling them it is all their coach’s fault. 

 

How do you organise your training sessions – do seniors and juniors skate together? 

 

No. We alternate training sessions between juniors and seniors, though there are some sessions form both categories. It’s essential for juniors to be with successful skaters. Sometimes we have several seniors leave for their competitions and I come up to some juniors and tell them that they skate with seniors today. It’s a huge day for them and they try to show their skills off to be allowed to join the adults again. It’s a huge motivation to them to share the ice with Hanyu, Medvedeva or Jun Hwan. Joseph Phan as well as Katya Kurakova competes in both juniors and seniors this season. He’s going to Montreal too, that is, we’re bringing four skaters to Montreal – Yuzu, Jun Hwan, Katya and Jason. Not bad for our team. 

 

We had to interrupt our interview several times because so many people want to take a picture with you. Is it always like that and do you never say no? 

 

During competition – yes, especially in Japan and Korea. It hardly ever happens in Canada, by the way. 

 

The Canadian figure skating is going through a difficult time. Why do you think it’s happening? 

 

We had a fantastic time before the Olympics in Korea. We had Scott and Tessa, Meagan and Eric, Kaitlyn Osmond – we had a band of great skaters. Now we’re experiencing… well, not a slump, but a reconstruction. Canada, unlike Russia, doesn’t have as many strong skaters.  You don’t have to go through the reconstruction of the stores, you have continuous supply, you understand what I mean? It’s not bad. And yeah, the public is losing interest in the sport. To save the situation we need a superstar like Michele Kwan. Or the days of Brian Boitano and Scott Hamilton, the duel of Yuna Kim and Mao Asada. Miki Ando wouldn’t let them relax either. 

Let’s not forget that now you can watch figure skating from home at any moment – you have 24 hour access to any programs and any competitions. You don’t have to go to the other side of the globe to an ice arena. Russia has a completely different situation of course – the stands are full of people. 

 

Yesterday dancers competed and I saw Eteri Tutberidze support Diana Davis. But she didn’t watch the skate itself – she left the rink and stood in the hall while her daughter was skating. Were you ever so nervous for your students that you couldn’t watch their skates? 

 

Yes, I met her there, behind the stands, we said hello to each other and we smiled at each other. We are just people. 

Coaches can’t not watch their athletes perform. But parents are much more stressed about their children skating compared to friends and coaches. I can’t imagine how hard it must affect them to see their child out there on the ice, under that huge pressure, to know how hard they’d been working and not to be able to help them in any way. 

 

Do you ever get tired of figure skating? Do you ever want to give up and go away to a beach for a month? 

 

I am always looking forward to the end of the season and to a holiday somewhere. I have everything planned for this year too – but we all depend on coronavirus. But so far the plan is that after the World Championship my partner and I both fly to India because he’s from there. We have been married for 11 years and I’ve never been there, so we’re flying to visit his family. Usually I have a holiday in early June and it’s way too hot in India, so we never managed to go there. We booked tickets, but we haven’t booked hotels yet – we have to see how the situation with the pandemic develops. Usually my holiday is just one week, which is horribly short, so this year I tried to make it two weeks. I can’t get away for longer because of my work. In spring I have loads of seminars and I fly to Thailand, Italy, Australia, I hold practices and camps – a couple of weeks here, a week there.

 

Have you been invited to Russia yet? 

 

Not yet, but never say never! I enjoy coming to places where they need my expertise. I learn a lot during those seminars. I always say that if I stop learning new things as a coach I am finished as a coach. I learn as much from those young coaches as they do from me. I need this exchange of fresh ideas, I like inspiring them and get inspired by them. If I feel “Iknow it all” I stop being a good coach and lose the right of being their by the boards. 

I am often hired by ISU for consultations, to develop certain trends, to instruct coaches. I like feeling responsible for developing the sport. People complain all the time – rule change, judging changes – stop complaining! Do something, coach skaters, pay attention to what public expects from you, what skating they want to see. Don’t be lazy, act!

 

The innovation of the season is the ISU Award Ceremony, the Ice Oscars which is so much discussed. Do you like the idea? 

 

I think it’s a brilliant idea. Our sport is quite glamorous, so we can do with more flashes and glitter. Skaters will love putting some smart clothes and walking on the red carpet. It’s great they will have a chance of feeling like celebrities because they deserved it. It might bring back the public and media attention to figure skating in Canada and the US. And it’s a good thing that awards are given not only to champions. There are so many nominations there – “the newcomer of the season”, “Best Costume”…

 

… and “The Most Valuable Skater”. Who would you choose if you were to decide? 

 

Yuzuru Hanyu. Not only because I am his coach. He brought so much into figure skating – for athletes, for viewers, for fans. Of course, most of his fan base is Asian, but that’s our main market now. He’s very popular in Russia too, I know. He’s a boy, and men’s skating in Russia isn’t at its peak, unlike women’s skating. So he isn’t taking glory from Russian skaters, and he isn’t robbing Zhenya, Alina and your new girls of their opportunity to shine. 

 

He has done so much for marketing and promoting figure skating around the globe. He is a ready made brand for ISU: he attracts viewers, television, sponsors, ratings. He’s the best of the best. And this fantastic duel with Nathan. Two such brilliant skaters who push each other – that’s great for the sport. I know what I am speaking about: I had my Battle of Brians, 8 years of continuous competition. We started with the Junior World Championship in 1978 – I was fourth there, and he got the bronze – and we carried it through until the Olympics of 1988. 

 

You remember it was Tuktamysheva and Sotnikova first, then Lipnitskaya emerged. Healthy competition is always useful, it won’t let us stagnate. Brian Boitano helped me become better, grow a lot stronger. Yuzuru needs competitors too. At first Javier Fernandez, then Patrick Chan, now Nathan Chen. He needs those. 

 

What can we expect from Hanyu in Montreal? 

 

He brought back his old programs, which was a wise decision. There came a moment I told him: maybe we go back to last season’s short? And he answered: you know I’ve been thinking the same thing. We were going to change the music a bit in this season’s program, we weren’t happy with it. We loved the program, but he never found it comfortable, especially the part with the combo. 

 

Yuzuru is special, he doesn’t fit jumps to accents in music, he wants them to meld with music, he has his own rhythm and vision of ideal matching with music. Anyway, we had problems with the short program. We were planning to do something with the music, but we had difficulties doing it. Anyway, we loved the idea of going back to the old program because it’s a masterpiece. We haven’t skated it for a years, we missed it, it’s like getting our favourite suit out of the wardrobe. 

 

The same story with the free program – it just fits him better. What happens next? I don’t know, no one knows. What is he planning to do, next Olympics? One more World Championship? Yuzuru keeps his plans private, but it doesn’t matter for now. If he continues, if we still continue our partnership, we will have new programs, new directions of development. He’s a master in reinventing himself. Just remember his programs – they are always a new direction, a new horizon. He’s always out to do something new. 

 

Did you discuss plans with Evgenia? 

 

Sure, but it’s not the easiest moment now. She is at the skating rink, everything is going on as planned. But I guess she feels a bit dejected. You know we have skaters getting ready for the World Championship now and she isn’t one of them, though she deserves it, she’s a fantastic skater. She isn’t going there because of a broken boot at the Nationals. It’s all fair, no problem, we can’t complain, we were unlucky about the boot back then. We did see at the Rostelecom Cup what form she was in both mentally and physically. I think they were best skates of her life, I think they are better than her skates at the Olympics because it was a woman skating here, not a little girl. She was able to meld technique, emotions, performance, presentation – and it was a new step for her. And she’s finding it difficult because she’s hung up there. I am concentrating on work with the athletes who are going to the Junior and Senior World Championships, and she is going through her usual practices not related to any important events. It’s hard to motivate yourself in such a situation, but she’s a fighter. She comes, she trains along with the other guys, she never misses anything. We started work on new programs. Shae Lynn Bourne and she have decided on when to start choreographing the free program (with Cirque de Soleil music), we picked music for the short program, and, if I am not mistaken, it’s going to be choreographed by Jeff Buttle – they are starting it very shortly, maybe, even now. She’s doing everything she has to do, she thinks a lot, she’s going through a hard period. Athletes like her have their own pride and dignity, they find it hard to compete and not win, but that’s sport. Just imagine: an era changed within her lifetime. Two years passed, and the weapons of the skaters of her era – a flip or lutz combo – isn’t enough. Two seasons ago the main weapon was a 3-3 jump combination, now everything has changed. But now we need one of there new stars to stay on our sky for at least some time. They are great, they are fantastic athletes, but we have to get to know them better. I’d like to see their development – and not just in another quad jumped by them. I’d like to see them present their programs, develop their moves, their message to their public, to the viewers. It all comes with experience. It doesn’t matter which sphere – whether you’re a singer or an actor – you have to have something in you to share with the public. 

 

Have they ever offered you an opportunity to work as a commentator? 

 

I know I commentated the Olympics 1994 around a hundred years ago. I wasn’t a good commentator. I was unbiased, I said what I thought, I tried looking for good things to say about each competitor. I can tell the difference between good skating and bad skating, but I felt I wasn’t good enough, I am far from the ideal. It comes naturally to some people, while others find it hard. Tracy Wilson makes a perfect commentator. Someone watches figure skating in Colorado or Krasnoyarsk and they learn from Tracy’s commentary why they took off some points here and why this element wasn’t credited. It’s important to talk to the audience, not be above them. Scott Hamilton and Dick Button were like that, now we can say the same about Ted Barton. Just think – 48 competitors for the short program among junior women. You have to find words for each of them, say something good about them, feel sympathy with them if something went wrong. And most importantly you have to be ready to be crucified on the Internet if you said something rashly. Social networks today, Instagram provides a platform for anonymous commenting, which is my problem – I take everything to close to heart. I found it hard in December when the mess up with Yuzuru and the Grand Prix Final happened. I didn’t go there. It was simple: Yuzuru wanted to experiment a little, and since only one coach could be accredited, he decided to go with another coach because at that moment he wanted help in technical issues. 

 

But he discussed it with you, didn’t he? 

 

Not quite. I think he found it hard too. I learnt I wasn’t going the night before – it put me and the other coach in an embarrassing situation. I didn’t want to upset and worry Yuzuru, and then this whole story of the lost passport happens! And Yuzuru is all alone, as a result. 

I put out photographs from our practice sessions to dispel rumours I was somewhere else with other athletes. I was at TCC, I did my work. But then I decided to read comments to my posts (which I never do usually), oh my God. “How could you have left him alone?”, “Die!”, “Burn in hell!”, “you suck as a coach!”… But people didn’t know what was going on. It was horrible. Now I understand what to read in the internet and what I should avoid. In general don’t read anything, it’s pure poison affecting your life. Some people have far too much free time. Such people as Yuzuru, Zhenya, myself – we want to be appreciated by people, try to be nice to everyone, but it’s impossible. Some people don’t like your hairstyle, some your costume, some don’t like the wrong edge on your lutz. They sit on their couches and criticise someone for jumping off the wrong edge. Ok, get up from your couch and jump the lutz yourself! Or teach someone. It isn’t quite fair. 

 

Do you teach your students how to behave on the internet? 

 

Yes, we talk a lot about it. I try to get them to understand they shouldn’t reads any of it. Someone didn’t like your short program? It’s ok. You don’t have to know it. Someone might love your short program and hate your free program music. What do you do then? So I advise them to close up against it. 

 

There was no Internet when I competed, but there were newspapers. I still remember the morning after my Calgary Olympics program. Newspapers came out with “Orser is fantastic, but he’s still a loser” headlines. It broke my heart. Something like that is going on with social networks now, but it’s far worse. 

 

Perhaps one should have seminars with athletes about how to use social networks? 

 

We are going to hold such seminars soon. Someone has to speak to them and tell them that stupid things they post at 14 may affect their lives. Google remembers everything, there are no secrets anymore. We can’t get to our old photos in shoeboxes in the garage, but kids nowadays have their lives in the public. They are having a much more difficult life because of it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[liv]

Hey @Fay I presume you meant to type *now Nathan Chen* instead of *not Nathan Chen* when he talks about Yuzu needing competitors. Small thing but... you know.

 

And big thanks for the translation

[Paskud]

Thank you!

[rockstaryuzu]

3 hours ago, Fay said:

Hello, this is a fast translation of the recent Brian Orser interview in this blog. It was done quite fast, so if you spot any mistake, just let me know by putting my name next @

https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/figureice/2748065.html

 

Maya Bagryantseva interviewed Brian Orser in Tallinn 

 

I see you here at the rink all day long and I can’t understand when you get to eat and rest. Are you only watching your own skaters or is there anyone else you find interesting? 

 

Oh, I have my hands full with my own skaters. TCC has many skaters here: dancers, single skaters, our club is truly international. For instance we have a girl from Australia here, and it’s her first World Championship. God if you only knew how nervous she is. A girl from China – she has only started training with us. We have a lot of skaters here. 

 

How many team jackets did you bring? Or do you get given them here on the spot? 

 

No, I only have a Canadian team jacket. 

 

What can you tell us about Katya Kurakova? Did you like her short program today? 

 

I am happy with her short, it was great. There are some strong competitors here and Katya was able to get up into a good group before the free program. She had a great training group too. By the way, she was training with Russian skaters who are just incredibly good. It did her good to skate along with them. She was jumping better than ever, she gets excited by competition and is quite ambitious. It was great she had this opportunity to train with them for a few days. We are both happy. We are happy with the score as well, it was good – all levels were good, there was an underrotation call, but the underrotation was there, so it was fair. We worked a lot on underrotations and I can see the result, but there’s still room for improvement, so we have a work plan for the summer. She has been training with us for a couple of years, but last year she couldn’t compete, so she was mostly training. This season she is catching up on what she longed for,  competition after competition – Junior GP events, Challengers, Nationals in both categories, World Championships in Tallinn now and in Montreal later. She is getting better with every single of them. 

 

Is there any difference for the coach between juniors and seniors at competitions? 

 

For juniors the World Championship is the peak of the season, a very stressful event – they all want to show their best form, but they have very little experience. So there is quite a difference. You have to watch juniors more, you have to manage them more out of the ice rink too. Senior skaters know it perfectly when to start warming up for the skate, when to be ready, what to do at the warm up, while with juniors I have to text them reminding the time of the training session and reminding when the bus for it leaves. 

 

But they are not alone here, they have their parents with them. 

 

Yeah, but I don’t want the parents to interfere. Different families work differently. I have had to tell parents: ok, I will deal with this, let’s let the kids feel grown up and independent. Then they have a feeling they manage their lives and they start understanding what responsibility is. 

 

Do you let parents attend training session at TCC? 

 

They can’t get into the skating rink, but we have a special area where they can watch training sessions behind the glass. They can’t get in and give their comments on the session. We used to have that – well, it still happens when I am away at competitions. They also like to use body language! And it all depends on how old the athlete is. 

 

I think it’s Javier Fernandez who adapted to living without parents best of all. He came to us when he was 18 or 19, he spent 8 years with us. He was very independent, lived in a flat of his own, cleaned up and cooked for himself, did the shopping, got to the rink. During the first year he had some problems with making it on time for the schedule and I was told “What did you expect, he’s a Spaniard!” – which bugged me because I am not Spanish, I am strict about punctuality. But he fit in bit by bit and we adapted our schedule to fit him. 

 

Yuzuru lives with his mother, and she helps us a lot, but she never interferes into training. I’ve never had her come up and start telling me what Yuzu has to do during this session. But even back when Yuna was with us, her Mum never interfered with our work – not through me, anyway. All she did was tell her opinion to her daughter, and she was tactful about it. 

 

And what about Zhenya? 

 

Her Mum doesn’t interfere into our work either. I don’t think she found it easy. We have a completely different system of work and coaching. And she skated herself, she know figure skating and she know how they used to train. For her to trust us, to keep away and be patient took certain effort. I said many times before that there is a certain period – a year and a half. Zhenya and her team might have found it harder than the others because she was too rooted into the system which brought her up. It wasn’t bad, please don’t get it wrong, it was just completely different from what she was used to. Among the boys of our team Javi exemplifies it best – there were no serious results during the first year of his training with us, but in a year and a half he wins the bronze at the World Championship. Yuzu came to us with a World bronze under his belt – and in a year and a half he becomes Olympic Champion. Now we have the same story with Jason Brown. He was fantastic at the US Nationals, he was in great form, he managed to jump a few quads. We don’t rush things, and we move along in our rhythm though everyone around talks only of quads. He is patient – we needed 18 months to make him into what he is today. Tracy and I were surprised how well he controlled his skates at the US Nationals. 

 

Is it difficult to get skaters to believe the system? 

 

The main thing is understanding that the first season might not be as successful and it’s normal. Of course, we don’t want anyone to use that as an excuse and we don’t want to program them to it – everything might be all right. But it will get better with time, but it takes some time for athletes to get used to our system. We give them tools to make decisions and make choices. Many athletes get told what and how they should do everything. It might work with kids and junior athletes, but adults are adults, they have to bear responsibility for their own work, they have to be responsible and make it on time everywhere, they have to make decisions whether they have to work more on everything. That was my own choice, by the way. When I was still competing, I used every opportunity to skate and do some conditioning. I used to run past my coach’s house for him to see how well I was doing even though he didn’t know about it. I expect the same from my athletes. 

 

Wouldn’t it be more convenient for you if you told skaters what to do and they obeyed you? 

 

Ok, we tell them this, and we tell them that and then we face a choice: do we make a full run-through today? Some skaters will think and agree: ok, let’s do a full run-through. No one likes to do it because it’s hard. It’s like a marathon – ok, do we run a marathon today? As a coach I understand they have to do that run-through. I can do it a simple way – you do a complete run-through today. But I can make them feel it was them who made that decision. They have to do it – not because I made them, but because that makes them stronger. If they do it today their skating will get better in three weeks – because of a right choice. There are athletes who prefer not to do it. But you know what? They never achieve much. It’s that simple – some might find it difficult to deal with a slump in results, they want it all and at once. And there are too many ‘well-wishers’ who start telling them it is all their coach’s fault. 

 

How do you organise your training sessions – do seniors and juniors skate together? 

 

No. We alternate training sessions between juniors and seniors, though there are some sessions form both categories. It’s essential for juniors to be with successful skaters. Sometimes we have several seniors leave for their competitions and I come up to some juniors and tell them that they skate with seniors today. It’s a huge day for them and they try to show their skills off to be allowed to join the adults again. It’s a huge motivation to them to share the ice with Hanyu, Medvedeva or Jun Hwan. Joseph Phan as well as Katya Kurakova competes in both juniors and seniors this season. He’s going to Montreal too, that is, we’re bringing four skaters to Montreal – Yuzu, Jun Hwan, Katya and Jason. Not bad for our team. 

 

We had to interrupt our interview several times because so many people want to take a picture with you. Is it always like that and do you never say no? 

 

During competition – yes, especially in Japan and Korea. It hardly ever happens in Canada, by the way. 

 

The Canadian figure skating is going through a difficult time. Why do you think it’s happening? 

 

We had a fantastic time before the Olympics in Korea. We had Scott and Tessa, Meagan and Eric, Kaitlyn Osmond – we had a band of great skaters. Now we’re experiencing… well, not a slump, but a reconstruction. Canada, unlike Russia, doesn’t have as many strong skaters.  You don’t have to go through the reconstruction of the stores, you have continuous supply, you understand what I mean? It’s not bad. And yeah, the public is losing interest in the sport. To save the situation we need a superstar like Michele Kwan. Or the days of Brian Boitano and Scott Hamilton, the duel of Yuna Kim and Mao Asada. Miki Ando wouldn’t let them relax either. 

Let’s not forget that now you can watch figure skating from home at any moment – you have 24 hour access to any programs and any competitions. You don’t have to go to the other side of the globe to an ice arena. Russia has a completely different situation of course – the stands are full of people. 

 

Yesterday dancers competed and I saw Eteri Tutberidze support Diana Davis. But she didn’t watch the skate itself – she left the rink and stood in the hall while her daughter was skating. Were you ever so nervous for your students that you couldn’t watch their skates? 

 

Yes, I met her there, behind the stands, we said hello to each other and we smiled at each other. We are just people. 

Coaches can’t not watch their athletes perform. But parents are much more stressed about their children skating compared to friends and coaches. I can’t imagine how hard it must affect them to see their child out there on the ice, under that huge pressure, to know how hard they’d been working and not to be able to help them in any way. 

 

Do you ever get tired of figure skating? Do you ever want to give up and go away to a beach for a month? 

 

I am always looking forward to the end of the season and to a holiday somewhere. I have everything planned for this year too – but we all depend on coronavirus. But so far the plan is that after the World Championship my partner and I both fly to India because he’s from there. We have been married for 11 years and I’ve never been there, so we’re flying to visit his family. Usually I have a holiday in early June and it’s way too hot in India, so we never managed to go there. We booked tickets, but we haven’t booked hotels yet – we have to see how the situation with the pandemic develops. Usually my holiday is just one week, which is horribly short, so this year I tried to make it two weeks. I can’t get away for longer because of my work. In spring I have loads of seminars and I fly to Thailand, Italy, Australia, I hold practices and camps – a couple of weeks here, a week there.

 

Have you been invited to Russia yet? 

 

Not yet, but never say never! I enjoy coming to places where they need my expertise. I learn a lot during those seminars. I always say that if I stop learning new things as a coach I am finished as a coach. I learn as much from those young coaches as they do from me. I need this exchange of fresh ideas, I like inspiring them and get inspired by them. If I feel “Iknow it all” I stop being a good coach and lose the right of being their by the boards. 

I am often hired by ISU for consultations, to develop certain trends, to instruct coaches. I like feeling responsible for developing the sport. People complain all the time – rule change, judging changes – stop complaining! Do something, coach skaters, pay attention to what public expects from you, what skating they want to see. Don’t be lazy, act!

 

The innovation of the season is the ISU Award Ceremony, the Ice Oscars which is so much discussed. Do you like the idea? 

 

I think it’s a brilliant idea. Our sport is quite glamorous, so we can do with more flashes and glitter. Skaters will love putting some smart clothes and walking on the red carpet. It’s great they will have a chance of feeling like celebrities because they deserved it. It might bring back the public and media attention to figure skating in Canada and the US. And it’s a good thing that awards are given not only to champions. There are so many nominations there – “the newcomer of the season”, “Best Costume”…

 

… and “The Most Valuable Skater”. Who would you choose if you were to decide? 

 

Yuzuru Hanyu. Not only because I am his coach. He brought so much into figure skating – for athletes, for viewers, for fans. Of course, most of his fan base is Asian, but that’s our main market now. He’s very popular in Russia too, I know. He’s a boy, and men’s skating in Russia isn’t at its peak, unlike women’s skating. So he isn’t taking glory from Russian skaters, and he isn’t robbing Zhenya, Alina and your new girls of their opportunity to shine. 

 

He has done so much for marketing and promoting figure skating around the globe. He is a ready made brand for ISU: he attracts viewers, television, sponsors, ratings. He’s the best of the best. And this fantastic duel with Nathan. Two such brilliant skaters who push each other – that’s great for the sport. I know what I am speaking about: I had my Battle of Brians, 8 years of continuous competition. We started with the Junior World Championship in 1978 – I was fourth there, and he got the bronze – and we carried it through until the Olympics of 1988. 

 

You remember it was Tuktamysheva and Sotnikova first, then Lipnitskaya emerged. Healthy competition is always useful, it won’t let us stagnate. Brian Boitano helped me become better, grow a lot stronger. Yuzuru needs competitors too. At first Javier Fernandez, then Patrick Chan, not Nathan Chen. He needs those. 

 

What can we expect from Hanyu in Montreal? 

 

He brought back his old programs, which was a wise decision. There came a moment I told him: maybe we go back to last season’s short? And he answered: you know I’ve been thinking the same thing. We were going to change the music a bit in this season’s program, we weren’t happy with it. We loved the program, but he never found it comfortable, especially the part with the combo. 

 

Yuzuru is special, he doesn’t fit jumps to accents in music, he wants them to meld with music, he has his own rhythm and vision of ideal matching with music. Anyway, we had problems with the short program. We were planning to do something with the music, but we had difficulties doing it. Anyway, we loved the idea of going back to the old program because it’s a masterpiece. We haven’t skated it for a years, we missed it, it’s like getting our favourite suit out of the wardrobe. 

 

The same story with the free program – it just fits him better. What happens next? I don’t know, no one knows. What is he planning to do, next Olympics? One more World Championship? Yuzuru keeps his plans private, but it doesn’t matter for now. If he continues, if we still continue our partnership, we will have new programs, new directions of development. He’s a master in reinventing himself. Just remember his programs – they are always a new direction, a new horizon. He’s always out to do something new. 

 

Did you discuss plans with Evgenia? 

 

Sure, but it’s not the easiest moment now. She is at the skating rink, everything is going on as planned. But I guess she feels a bit dejected. You know we have skaters getting ready for the World Championship now and she isn’t one of them, though she deserves it, she’s a fantastic skater. She isn’t going there because of a broken boot at the Nationals. It’s all fair, no problem, we can’t complain, we were unlucky about the boot back then. We did see at the Rostelecom Cup what form she was in both mentally and physically. I think they were best skates of her life, I think they are better than her skates at the Olympics because it was a woman skating here, not a little girl. She was able to meld technique, emotions, performance, presentation – and it was a new step for her. And she’s finding it difficult because she’s hung up there. I am concentrating on work with the athletes who are going to the Junior and Senior World Championships, and she is going through her usual practices not related to any important events. It’s hard to motivate yourself in such a situation, but she’s a fighter. She comes, she trains along with the other guys, she never misses anything. We started work on new programs. Shae Lynn Bourne and she have decided on when to start choreographing the free program (with Cirque de Soleil music), we picked music for the short program, and, if I am not mistaken, it’s going to be choreographed by Jeff Buttle – they are starting it very shortly, maybe, even now. She’s doing everything she has to do, she thinks a lot, she’s going through a hard period. Athletes like her have their own pride and dignity, they find it hard to compete and not win, but that’s sport. Just imagine: an era changed within her lifetime. Two years passed, and the weapons of the skaters of her era – a flip or lutz combo – isn’t enough. Two seasons ago the main weapon was a 3-3 jump combination, now everything has changed. But now we need one of there new stars to stay on our sky for at least some time. They are great, they are fantastic athletes, but we have to get to know them better. I’d like to see their development – and not just in another quad jumped by them. I’d like to see them present their programs, develop their moves, their message to their public, to the viewers. It all comes with experience. It doesn’t matter which sphere – whether you’re a singer or an actor – you have to have something in you to share with the public. 

 

Have they ever offered you an opportunity to work as a commentator? 

 

I know I commentated the Olympics 1994 around a hundred years ago. I wasn’t a good commentator. I was unbiased, I said what I thought, I tried looking for good things to say about each competitor. I can tell the difference between good skating and bad skating, but I felt I wasn’t good enough, I am far from the ideal. It comes naturally to some people, while others find it hard. Tracy Wilson makes a perfect commentator. Someone watches figure skating in Colorado or Krasnoyarsk and they learn from Tracy’s commentary why they took off some points here and why this element wasn’t credited. It’s important to talk to the audience, not be above them. Scott Hamilton and Dick Button were like that, now we can say the same about Ted Barton. Just think – 48 competitors for the short program among junior women. You have to find words for each of them, say something good about them, feel sympathy with them if something went wrong. And most importantly you have to be ready to be crucified on the Internet if you said something rashly. Social networks today, Instagram provides a platform for anonymous commenting, which is my problem – I take everything to close to heart. I found it hard in December when the mess up with Yuzuru and the Grand Prix Final happened. I didn’t go there. It was simple: Yuzuru wanted to experiment a little, and since only one coach could be accredited, he decided to go with another coach because at that moment he wanted help in technical issues. 

 

But he discussed it with you, didn’t he? 

 

Not quite. I think he found it hard too. I learnt I wasn’t going the night before – it put me and the other coach in an embarrassing situation. I didn’t want to upset and worry Yuzuru, and then this whole story of the lost passport happens! And Yuzuru is all alone, as a result. 

I put out photographs from our practice sessions to dispel rumours I was somewhere else with other athletes. I was at TCC, I did my work. But then I decided to read comments to my posts (which I never do usually), oh my God. “How could you have left him alone?”, “Die!”, “Burn in hell!”, “you suck as a coach!”… But people didn’t know what was going on. It was horrible. Now I understand what to read in the internet and what I should avoid. In general don’t read anything, it’s pure poison affecting your life. Some people have far too much free time. Such people as Yuzuru, Zhenya, myself – we want to be appreciated by people, try to be nice to everyone, but it’s impossible. Some people don’t like your hairstyle, some your costume, some don’t like the wrong edge on your lutz. They sit on their couches and criticise someone for jumping off the wrong edge. Ok, get up from your couch and jump the lutz yourself! Or teach someone. It isn’t quite fair. 

 

Do you teach your students how to behave on the internet? 

 

Yes, we talk a lot about it. I try to get them to understand they shouldn’t reads any of it. Someone didn’t like your short program? It’s ok. You don’t have to know it. Someone might love your short program and hate your free program music. What do you do then? So I advise them to close up against it. 

 

There was no Internet when I competed, but there were newspapers. I still remember the morning after my Calgary Olympics program. Newspapers came out with “Orser is fantastic, but he’s still a loser” headlines. It broke my heart. Something like that is going on with social networks now, but it’s far worse. 

 

Perhaps one should have seminars with athletes about how to use social networks? 

 

We are going to hold such seminars soon. Someone has to speak to them and tell them that stupid things they post at 14 may affect their lives. Google remembers everything, there are no secrets anymore. We can’t get to our old photos in shoeboxes in the garage, but kids nowadays have their lives in the public. They are having a much more difficult life because of it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great translation, thanks for doing that! 

[Sombreuil]

Thank you for translating- always grateful for this - the horror of google translate......

[Fay]

1 hour ago, liv said:

Hey @Fay I presume you meant to type *now Nathan Chen* instead of *not Nathan Chen* when he talks about Yuzu needing competitors. Small thing but... you know.

 

And big thanks for the translation

Speak about the Freudian slip, thank you! 

[Henni147]

5 hours ago, Fay said:

Some people don’t like your hairstyle, some your costume, some don’t like the wrong edge on your lutz. They sit on their couches and criticise someone for jumping off the wrong edge. Ok, get up from your couch and jump the lutz yourself! Or teach someone. It isn’t quite fair.

 

Sigh, Brian... With this comment he probably fueled the hate against Zhenya even more...

 

Of course, you can't blame Zhenya for her technique and especially not attack her as a person. She tries her best and doesn't deserve the hate she gets. Full stop.

But figure skating is a sport, not a charity event. Fans fight a never ending battle for more integrity, objectivity and fairness in the judging system, while Brian downplays the whole situation by comparing technical flaws with costumes and hairstyles. I want to scream right now.

 

What exactly expects Brian from us fans now? To overlook and accept selective edge calls from now on? To stay silent and watch how real Lutzes are on the verge of extinction? Yes, I might not be able to jump a proper Lutz myself, but there ARE skaters out there who CAN do it exceptionally well and wait for the reward they don't get... one of them is your own student, Brian.

 

This one comment really annoys me, because I share Brian's opinion and philosophy as a coach in so many aspects, especially about longevity and personality in figure skating. I also appreciate the communication with parents and the protection of his students from social media.

[Fay]

16 minutes ago, Henni147 said:

 

Sigh, Brian... With this comment he probably fueled the hate against Zhenya even more...

 

Of course, you can't blame Zhenya for her technique and especially not attack her as a person. She tries her best and doesn't deserve the hate she gets. Full stop.

But figure skating is a sport, not a charity event. Fans fight a never ending battle for more integrity, objectivity and fairness in the judging system, while Brian downplays the whole situation by comparing technical flaws with costumes and hairstyles. I want to scream right now.

 

What exactly expects Brian from us fans now? To overlook and accept selective edge calls from now on? To stay silent and watch how real Lutzes are on the verge of extinction? Yes, I might not be able to jump a proper Lutz myself, but there ARE skaters out there who CAN do it exceptionally well and wait for the reward they don't get... one of them is your own student, Brian.

 

This one comment really annoys me, because I share Brian's opinion and philosophy as a coach in so many aspects, especially about longevity and personality in figure skating. I also appreciate the communication with parents and the protection of his students from social media.

You are being unfair at the moment. You’ve very little idea what sort of abuse Zhenya gets because of that flutz. I do, I read Russian forums, and they are merciless. The message is clear - before anyone criticises edges, try to imagine the kind of work they have to put into it. 

[Paskud]

This is March already and we have first new program announcements. Maybe it's time for a new topic?

[Paskud]

44 minutes ago, Fay said:

You are being unfair at the moment. You’ve very little idea what sort of abuse Zhenya gets because of that flutz. I do, I read Russian forums, and they are merciless. The message is clear - before anyone criticises edges, try to imagine the kind of work they have to put into it. 

Hmmm, I think there is quite a difference between "You can disagree with their scores, but respect them for their work. You don't know what they have to go through" and "They sit on their couches and criticise someone for jumping off the wrong edge. Ok, get up from your couch and jump the lutz yourself!".

Intention good, but argument bad.

[Henni147]

56 minutes ago, Fay said:

You are being unfair at the moment. You’ve very little idea what sort of abuse Zhenya gets because of that flutz. I do, I read Russian forums, and they are merciless. The message is clear - before anyone criticises edges, try to imagine the kind of work they have to put into it. 

 

I know, what terrible things happened to her and I condemn this anti behavior strongly. It's the judges and only the judges who should have been criticized for the scores and calls they gave. Zhenya didn't deserve anything of the cruel hate she received. It's the same with Sotnikova and Nathan and many other skaters who suffered terrible shitstorm waves from haters, while just working hard and doing their best.

BUT: You clearly have to distinguish between vicious haters, who attack you as a person, and people who simply criticize your technical flaws to point out the issues in the judging system. I have the feeling that this distinction between haters and critics doesn't happen in many cases.

 

What annoyed me about Brian's comment so much is that he threw Lutz edges, costumes and hairstyles in the same pot. Costume debates are something completely subjective and up to your personal taste. A technical flaw is not subjective and shouldn't be treated like that. This is exactly the reason why so many people question figure skating as an Olympic sport. Working hard is not a GOE bullet. All skaters work hard. What they deserve are scores that reflect their skating abilities properly.

 

However, if my criticism was inappropriate, I apologize. This is just my honest opinion.

 

 

@Fay Thank you very much for your translation work! 

[Fay]

6 minutes ago, Paskud said:

Hmmm, I think there is quite a difference between "You can disagree with their scores, but respect them for their work. You don't know what they have to go through" and "They sit on their couches and criticise someone for jumping off the wrong edge. Ok, get up from your couch and jump the lutz yourself!".

Intention good, but argument bad.

Brian never said the wrong edge should not be called. But despising someone for jumping the jump off the wrong edge is all kinds of wrong. 

[Katt]

I do think compare lutz edge to hair style, costume is wrong. We don't have stylist at tech panel, right ? His comment remind me of everytime people talk about tech flaw, there's always " if you can't do xxx jump, stop complaining". I mean that's one of the worse way to shut people down from discussion. There's very few skaters with correct technique on all jumps, we all know how its hard to fix the the edge, very few succeed. And its ok, just say  "its difficult, we will continue to work on it and won't give up". I  feel some of the hate Evgenia got towards flutz is because Brian saying they won't hide it in lutz conner (while they still did) or she landed alot of correct one in TCC. And then they put the lutz in SP or 2nd one in LP, it got backfire terribly.   

[liv]

It's an interview. Not a thought out research paper. He's going to put all sorts of random thoughts in the same paragraph.

[rockstaryuzu]

11 hours ago, Henni147 said:

What they deserve are scores that reflect their skating abilities properly.

This is the crux of the matter. A skater may or may not flutz, depending on their abilities and any given circumstance of the moment. That doesn't make them a bad skater. But the judges have a clear and present responsibility to correctly score said flutz, and not just give it a bye because of extraneous reasons like the country the skater is from. The issue is the failures happening on the judges bench, not on the ice.