2019 Russian Ladies World Team Selection

[shanshani]

29 minutes ago, hoodie axel said:

No, it's not obvious. She'd be at the mercy of the TP, compared to Tuktamysheva. If this were 2016-17 season, it'd make sense. And I don't know what you're looking at, her Tosca SP at RCF was easily one of her worst performances this season, staying on her feet aside.

So are Alina and Satton, and even Kaori is a bit vulnerable to the TP because of her flutz, yet all of them have been chosen for Worlds. And at the end of the day, a UR that the tech panel might not even catch is better than falling (not to mention it isn't as though Zhenya has a chronic UR issue, unlike Vincent Zhou), and fair or not Zhenya has a PCS cushion that Tuktik does not (while I think Zhenya is overscored on PCS in general, I do think she does deservedly get more PCS than Liza). I also don't know how anyone could possibly think CoR Tosca isn't leagues better than, say, IdF OCS. I mean, IdF OCS had no interpretation, like, at all, whereas in my opinion CoR Tosca is more or less up to Zhenya's usual standard (minus pantomiming, which more or less automatically makes it better haha), with somewhat smoother skating than before but a step sequence which I've seen her do better in practice. I'm pretty sure you're in a very small minority on this one.

 

You can argue about whether Zhenya's scores are fair, but if you're Rusfed and your job is to get Russia medals, the fact that Zhenya might UR sometimes is not going to weigh heavily in your considerations if you don't think the tech panel will catch it. Again, I'm not saying that Zhenya deserves it more than Liza. Merely that Rusfed is not necessarily being illogical in this decision.

[wpisces]

1 minute ago, hoodie axel said:

She's definitely improved. I'm more annoyed at people trying to justify her being on the team due to her "trajectory", as if we must insist on living in a world without context.

Her 2A is which I find improved the most but it is still bad in competitions. 

[hoodie axel]

Just now, wpisces said:

Her 2A is which I find improved the most but it is still bad in competitions. 

Her basic skating, and stroking especially have improved. She's learning more to use her legs in her jumping (and skating). It looks heavy currently, because the muscle memory isn't entirely there, but the power is becoming more obvious.

[Yuazz]

2 minutes ago, airi said:

I'm so disappointed and sad for Liza right now.

I don't have anything against Zhenya personally, Iike her as a person (not really as a skater...) but that really leaves a bad taste for me. Hard to root for her. Sorry.

Same. 

This is about sport and should be fair in making decision. This season liza did better. She deserves it. 

I'm disappointed and liza must be 1000x more disappointed than me. This killed the fun in watching the sport. 

[ICeleste]

I honestly think they chose Medvedeva just because she can sell more tickets. Sadly figure skating has turned into a popularity contest/reality show/circus, whatever you call it. I find it hard to keep calling it a sport.

[hoodie axel]

1 minute ago, ICeleste said:

I honestly think they chose Medvedeva just because she can sell more tickets.

Selling tickets definitely figures into reputation.

[PapiandPooh422]

33 minutes ago, ICeleste said:

Well, Liza worked just as hard. I said what I said. If Medvedeva's team is out there saying she earned the spot fairly then you can't expect me to have sympathy for her. They could've just said they're happy about it (which is understandable) and leave it at that.
When Takahashi was selected for Worlds, many people claimed that the right thing to do was for him to give his spot to a younger skater (even though he came rightfully 2nd at Nationals). Now those people are okay with Med taking a spot that actually shouldn't be hers. The double standard jumped out lol

I don't know what year are you talking about but if you're talking about the last Japanese Nationals then Dai really is not qualified to go since he doesn't have the minimum TES requirement in a sanctioned ISU event this season or last season. 

[wpisces]

4 minutes ago, PapiandPooh422 said:

I don't know what year are you talking about but if you're talking about the last Japanese Nationals then Dai really is not qualified to go since he doesn't have the minimum TES requirement in a sanctioned ISU event this season or last season. 

If he had been determined to skate at Worlds, there were still chances for him to get TES minimum by Worlds. But he did decline. 

[hoodie axel]

Trankov was rooting for Tukt.

[PapiandPooh422]

22 minutes ago, wpisces said:

If he had been determined to skate at Worlds, there were many chances for him to get TES minimum. 

He made it clear though, it's not his goal for this season. 

[makebelieveup]

18 minutes ago, ICeleste said:

I honestly think they chose Medvedeva just because she can sell more tickets. Sadly figure skating has turned into a popularity contest/reality show/circus, whatever you call it. I find it hard to keep calling it a sport.

What makes me upset is its not like they are doing figure skating favor by sending Zhenya esp when Worlds ticket sales are not dependent upon their skaters this season. I'm sure there are enough fanyus to fill the arena alone. 

[hopeandlegacy2018]

Not surprised about the decision. Like I said before, Zhenya has great political and financial power. Good for her.

[Fay]

3 minutes ago, hopeandlegacy2018 said:

Not surprised about the decision. Like I said before, Zhenya has great political and financial power. Good for her.

Yeah, some guys at a federal TV channel believe she goes through 6 million roubles a month in Toronto at the expense of the tax payer. It translates into just below 100k bucks. LOL. Zhenya somehow manages to spend 3k bucks daily. 

Mind you, these guys multiply 20k Zhenya is supposed to spend daily on a hotel (while she clearly rents a far cheaper apartment) by 30 days a month and get 6 mil...

[hopeandlegacy2018]

10 minutes ago, Fay said:

Yeah, some guys at a federal TV channel believe she goes through 6 million roubles a month in Toronto at the expense of the tax payer. It translates into just below 100k bucks. LOL. Zhenya somehow manages to spend 3k bucks daily. 

Mind you, these guys multiply 20k Zhenya is supposed to spend daily on a hotel (while she clearly rents a far cheaper apartment) by 30 days a month and get 6 mil...

 

Why does that matter? She’s bringing in a lot of revenue for the Fed and for Russian skating, probably way more than what the Fed spent on her. She has the power to make a lot more money for the stakeholders of the sport than other skaters. If she’s sent to worlds, tv ratings will be higher and advertisers will be willing to spend more money.

[Fay]

Just now, hopeandlegacy2018 said:

 

Why does that matter? She’s bringing in a lot of revenue for the Fed, probably way more than what the Fed spent on her. She has the power to make lots more money for the Fed than Liza. 

Look, these are silly numbers to begin with. They just don’t add up. She can’t go through that much money. But someone invented these numbers to emphasise the power a 19-year old girl has on the Fed and the Ministry for Sports. It’s a major Russian channel coming up with these numbers and making her into a financial liability for Russians. 

And the Fed is fed by state money, so they don’t function with business brains anyway. What matters for them are medals and the spots for the next worlds. But in this case, there’s a remarkable degree of lack of transparency, so clearly Medvedeva does have some clout.