Not consistently and not perfectly. But I suspect we'll get there. The US uses older techniques which aren't as good. We don't need to abuse tweens to win, but I do think there is runway for the the US skaters to improve. |
Yeah, his orange galaxy outfit was designed by Vera Wong? My kid had a pajama top just like that when DC was in preschool! Lol
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OMG, Khorkina. She was a TOTAL diva. Like, you can just tell she is crazy. |
At least she was all on-brand. Very La Femme Nikkita. I expected her to pull out a gun with a silencer at the end and take out a judge. |
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Have you read this interview? http://eng.gymnovosti.com/khorkina-on-gymnasts-speaking-out-against-abuse-the-just-want-fame/ Amazing. |
Not sure there is a consensus and most people are focused on the drama with Valieva anyway. But it's a longstanding debate in figure skating what the balance should be between artistic and technical scores. I think many experienced commentators get annoyed with Trusova's skating because it doesn't feel like it would be *that* hard for her to improve her artistic score, or even to improve her technique on non-jump elements. Her jumps are amazing but the rest of her skating is sloppy and half-hearted. She often smirks through it like it's not worth her time to do the choreography with any sincere effort. But landing five quads in competition is a true feat. In virtually any other similar judged sport (snowboarding, freestyle skiing, diving, etc.) doing the equivalent of that would be enough on its own. Figure skating is unique in including the artistic element, which even extends as far as to musicality (matching movement to music), emotionality, etc. Some people love that about skating. Some people think it's silly. I think we know where Trusova lands on the issue, but she's one skater and is not going to sway the entire sport. Most people feel that there needs to be a balance between the technical and artistic sides, and that means the expectation is that Trusova should be putting more effort into her artistic skating. Her teammate was rewarded for striking that balance -- two quad flips, still impressive, but much better musicality and execution of choreography and non-jump elements. Though it should also be stated that Valieva was so heavily favored in this Olympics, before the doping scandal, because she is the rare skater who truly excels at both -- a phenomenal jumper with exquisite technique on all elements PLUS beautiful artistic qualities. One of the great losses of all this is that she is an extraordiarily talented and hard-working skater who is pushing the sport to new levels, and that would almost certainly have been true even if (presumably) her coaching staff were not doping her up. I wish we could have seen what she could have done with clean drug tests because we all lost something in what happened, not just Valieva and not just the Russians. |
At least Khorkina & Mustafina had artistry. Trusova looked rigid, like a robot just programmed to try quads. Zero artistry. |
Didn't she become a Russian politician? She's deep in the system. |
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What's really upsetting is that they clearly had this girl taking doping drugs.
Not only the banned TMZ but also hypoxen and L-carnatine, which are allowed, but also are performance enhancing. |
except, ARE the techniques good? The push to do quads in Russia is destroying young bodies. And they are likely doping and underfeeding their girls to get them. Is this really what we want? I think Alysa has done quads, but with her growing, it may not happen. I honestly think we need to lay off the quads. There is just a limit to what these young women should be doing to their bodies. |
She had a career in politics post-gymnastics in the russian parliament. She was a Putin ally and said it was a pity the USSR broke down. She's an interesting one. |
Something like that. "In July 2005, Khorkina gave birth to a son, Svyatoslav Khorkin, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, United States but refused to name the father of the child.[citation needed] The father was later revealed to be businessman Kirill Shubsky, who was married to actress and film director Vera Glagoleva.[37] In April 2011, Khorkina married Oleg Kochnev. He is a former general in Russia's Federal Security Service and 23 years her senior.[citation needed] Khorkina and Kochnev have a son, Ivan, born in October 2019.[37]" from Wikipedia. |
Alysa hasn't done quads as a senior. She's grown a lot since she did them, so it may never happen. |
Khorkina was elected to the Russian state parliament. |