Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Medvedeva

[bardtoob]

The situation with "what Medvedeva said about her diet and past struggles" is getting pathetic.

This girls is starting to sound ridiculous, she is lying, and/or twisting facts, saying what's convenient at the moment, and what will "present her in best light" right now. She keeps changing her "diet" story every few months, and it has even been noted by some journalists and her former fans, that she keeps doing it not just with "diet"..

Maybe her diet is changing every month.

She is a teenager in a much different environment ... Freshman 15 and such.

Maybe she was fibbing in the past.

Maybe she had an eating disorder of sorts and hid it from even Eteri.

 

[Japanfan]

And idiots out there criticize Medvedeva for her "heavier body". The girl is learning how to eat normally at 19 years old. Ugh. She must be incredibly mentally strong to withstand the circumstances of the last couple of years.

To be fair, teenage bodies can withstand a lot of abuse. A lot of teen girls and young women diet frequently and often excessively. When I was in my 20s I starved myself for about one year on a crazy, largely fruit diet - The Beverly Hills Diet if anyone recalls it, based on the premise of food combining (wine went with fruit - that was the consolation ).

After a year on that diet my metabolism crashed, and I gained back all the weight I had lost.

But a competitive athlete is going to have very efficient metabolism, at least I would think.

 

[Japanfan]

That is not the issue. The issue is that there are people who are ready to pounce on Eteri for ANY thing they can pin on her. When she speaks about "better eating habits now", it gives others an opportunity to jump on Eteri and accuse her of starving her students.

You said it is unfair to pin it on Eteri? you're right! But most people use Medvedeva's words against Eteri. Medvedeva knows it. She knows there are "rumors" about Eteri and diets; she knows there is "western opinion" that "russian coaches starve and mistreat their students. She uses "diet issues", praising how it is better now, to indirectly say "but before it was bad... when i was with Eteri". She and Co. know what they are doing, and part of it to get "popular in the West".

Aside from people on this board and other figure skating boards, most casual FS fans haven't heard anything about Eteri and diets. Unless it was mentioned on skating broadcasts - which it wasn't - casual fans wouldn't have a clue about it. So, talking about it will not make Med popular.

And IIRC, Lipnitskaya (sp?) and another Russian skater were both hospitalized for eating disorders? I don't recall whether Eteri or someone else was their coach, but do think Lip's coach was aware of and perhaps approved of her powder diet? If so, that would constitute mistreatment, IMO.

Also, abuse and mistreatment of athletes happens all over the world and isn't limited to Russia.

She gives absolutely conflicting stories, what was before and what is now.

It so, it makes her credibility questionable.

She sold her russian fans an image "for profit and gain", and her image was LIE.

Not sure what you mean by 'profit and gain', but if she present a false image in the past, chances are she is presenting another false image at present.

 

[zoe111]

It is wonderful that Medvedeva is learning to eat well, or any person, athlete learning to take care of one's health.

That is not the issue. The issue is that there are people who are ready to pounce on Eteri for ANY thing they can pin on her. When she speaks about "better eating habits now", it gives others an opportunity to jump on Eteri and accuse her of starving her students.

You said it is unfair to pin it on Eteri? you're right! But most people use Medvedeva's words against Eteri. Medvedeva knows it. She knows there are "rumors" about Eteri and diets; she knows there is "western opinion" that "russian coaches starve and mistreat their students. She uses "diet issues", praising how it is better now, to indirectly say "but before it was bad... when i was with Eteri". She and Co. know what they are doing, and part of it to get "popular in the West".

She gives absolutely conflicting stories, what was before and what is now. Plenty of people on russian chats are talking about it, rolling their eyes "oh, she is victim, who saw the light...", because these people read a lot more from Medevedeva herself, than westerners did before she came to Canada.

She sold her russian fans an image "for profit and gain", and her image was LIE.

So I gather from your statements that you know Med personally since that’s the only way you’d have any insight into what she’s thinking in her head because she would have confessed this to you personally. Once again, like the slanderous comments about Kostornaia’s behaviour and personality, if you know this girl personally and she has confided things to you, you have dramatically broken that confidence. If you don’t know Med and/or Kostornaia then you are whipping up falsehoods based on your own motives and reading chat boards as if they are the gospel truth. Either way, their personalities and off-ice life are none of your business. Perhaps focus on the actual skating...

 

[lala]

So basically by your definition Eteri is bad. Got it. Eteri acted like a bitter viscious psycho fish wife and got called on it. She needs to send a big bouquet of flowers to Med and apologize.

This not true on this way.Honestly.. This was ugly. If you read what happened with Eteri in that time..shame.

I have one biggest problem in this situation..I know almost everyone will denie but who is reading this forum and want to be sincere! remember as me.. :
Here Medvedeva became popular after her move to Orser, move to Canada. Immediately. Not slowly. Fact. He became the second big star (Yag) who lives and trains in N-A. Plus her trainer is Orser who is quite popular among the N-A posters.( I remember she was overscored, she was annoying, her mimic and opened lip was sooooo annoying, her programs were annoying, she had too thin legs, her hair was awful, she jumped with bad technic, she forced the jumps, she had wrong edged 3Lz. I forgot something? Help me.. ) And all of these became forgetten. Immediately.
This move shows - many Russians have the biggest problem with it- any Russian coach is not good enough for Med. Can you imagine that? In the biggest power in FS ther is no one coach who can help Zhenya..


-Med has many fans in Russia and outside in Russia. And will have many fans. This is so natural becaue she is a ...she deserves it.
-Eteri will have many haters here because she is the most succesful coach right now. Her pupils are unbeatable now and will be in the future. No chance. Plus she is not a smiling person and that is a big mistake! And her haters don't care about the little stars' positive opinions and Medvedeva' positive opinions (before her move) on her they love Eteri so much. They are not only talented skaters but great personalities, intelligent and educated girls.
-That is clear as I said the posters from N-A don't understand or don't want to understand the differency of the coach-pupil relationships in Russia and N-A. ( after those sarcastic posts in this matter)

 

[hanca]

I work with children who have been emotionally and physically abused. Interestingly, most of them, no matter what has been done to them by their parents, they still really love their parents, are very loyal to them and often would not say a bad word against them. So I am a bit sceptical when someone says, “but the students talk so nicely about her”. That really doesn’t mean anything.

 

[barbarafan]

I work with children who have been emotionally and physically abused. Interestingly, most of them, no matter what has been done to them by their parents, they still really love their parents, are very loyal to them and often would not say a bad word against them. So I am a bit sceptical when someone says, “but the students talk so nicely about her”. That really doesn’t mean anything.

Totally agree...From what I have read on the subject plus personal experience. My sister-in-law had a bizarre mother who also adored her eldest daughter, was sh**Ty to her, and of course loved the youngest daughter(she had cerebral palsy).Her mother was very high strung and a sort of power hungry snob as well and she had a lot on her plate but sometimes she was just plain mean. My sister-in-law always tried to get her approval and this was so important to her that when her mother was coming to visit she would get in a big frazzle almost like a panic attack to make sure everything was perfect in the house to please her mother. Otherwise she was a warm, fun loving person but when she was much older was she able to file everything where it belonged and just accept it.

 

[lala]

I work with children who have been emotionally and physically abused. Interestingly, most of them, no matter what has been done to them by their parents, they still really love their parents, are very loyal to them and often would not say a bad word against them. So I am a bit sceptical when someone says, “but the students talk so nicely about her”. That really doesn’t mean anything.

Ok. I don't think those chidren look menthally healthy or they ARE menthally healthy in your work.. That is the reason why you need to work with them. Wich Eteri's little skaters look menthally unhealthy or menthally weak? Plus Eteri is working in a team all of them are child abuser? Medvedeva, Shelepen, Lipnistkaya, Panenkova, Tsurskaya ( Darya wants to go back to her) and even Zagi are not children anymore..They would remember..

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Ok. I don't think those chidren look menthally healthy or they ARE menthally healthy in your work.. That is the reason why you need to work with them. Wich Eteri's little skaters look menthally unhealthy or menthally weak? Plus Eteri is working in a team all of them are child abuser? Medvedeva, Shelepen, Lipnistkaya, Panenkova, Tsurskaya ( Darya wants to go back to her) and even Zagi are not children anymore..They would remember..

Oh Lala, abused children can LOOK just fine. They have amazing coping mechanisms. In fact, they can appear incredibly strong. Some seem very well adjusted. Some put on the happy mask every day. The damage is often not visible until later in their lives. Eating disorders are kind of similar, especially with teenage girls. They may look fine, but as they get closer to 20 y.o., the bodies start breaking down. But now we are going a bit off topic.

 

[Wyliefan]

And IIRC, Lipnitskaya (sp?) and another Russian skater were both hospitalized for eating disorders? I don't recall whether Eteri or someone else was their coach, but do think Lip's coach was aware of and perhaps approved of her powder diet? If so, that would constitute mistreatment, IMO.

She was not only aware of it, she told the press about it, as an example of Julia's dedication and willpower. Https://sochi2014.rbth.com/yulia_lipnitskaya_russias_golden_girl

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Eteri on Lip in 2014:

"Tutberidze has said that Lipnitskaya has amazing willpower. “I have never seen anything like it,” said Tutberidze. “She can practically not eat anything. When she has to lose weight, all she eats is powdered nutrients, which give her energy. But she manages, thank God. She is intensely driven.”

We know what happened a couple of years later.

 

[Fairuza]

Eteri on Lip in 2014:

"Tutberidze has said that Lipnitskaya has amazing willpower. “I have never seen anything like it,” said Tutberidze. “She can practically not eat anything. When she has to lose weight, all she eats is powdered nutrients, which give her energy. But she manages, thank God. She is intensely driven.”

We know what happened a couple of years later.

Watch it blamed on Yulia’s mother now...

 

[Wyliefan]

Watch it blamed on Yulia’s mother now...

Yep. You know the drill -- we've been here before.

What matters in the context of this discussion (I know you know this, @Fairuza, I'm just saying it to everyone in general) is that Eteri knew it and was fine with it. Even though, as a coach, she of all people should know that athletes need food to give them strength and energy.

 

[barbarafan]

This not true on this way.Honestly.. This was ugly. If you read what happened with Eteri in that time..shame.

I have one biggest problem in this situation..I know almost everyone will denie but who is reading this forum and want to be sincere! remember as me.. :
Here Medvedeva became popular after her move to Orser, move to Canada. Immediately. Not slowly. Fact. He became the second big star (Yag) who lives and trains in N-A. Plus her trainer is Orser who is quite popular among the N-A posters.( I remember she was overscored, she was annoying, her mimic and opened lip was sooooo annoying, her programs were annoying, she had too thin legs, her hair was awful, she jumped with bad technic, she forced the jumps, she had wrong edged 3Lz. I forgot something? Help me.. ) And all of these became forgetten. Immediately.
This move shows - many Russians have the biggest problem with it- any Russian coach is not good enough for Med. Can you imagine that? In the biggest power in FS ther is no one coach who can help Zhenya..


-Med has many fans in Russia and outside in Russia. And will have many fans. This is so natural becaue she is a ...she deserves it.
-Eteri will have many haters here because she is the most succesful coach right now. Her pupils are unbeatable now and will be in the future. No chance. Plus she is not a smiling person and that is a big mistake! And her haters don't care about the little stars' positive opinions and Medvedeva' positive opinions (before her move) on her they love Eteri so much. They are not only talented skaters but great personalities, intelligent and educated girls.
-That is clear as I said the posters from N-A don't understand or don't want to understand the differency of the coach-pupil relationships in Russia and N-A. ( after those sarcastic posts in this matter)

1)-I am sorry Eteri lost both parents within 4 yrs of each other but she is an adult with a child in her teens herself and should be mature enoughhoo to deal with that. I had just turned 18 when I lost my father to lung cancer after being sick from it for almost 2 yrs. The last 6 months before his death had many ups and down and middle of the night emergency trips to the hospital following the ambulance when he was not able to breathe. I was older when I lost my mom and had 2 kids in elementary school and I certainly held it all together, acted mature and did what was necessary. I certainly did not at any time take it out on other people. MY husband lost his parents very close together when he was about 29.A heart attack took his father ...he was in a coma for a few wks after then passed on. His mother died a few weeks after. All this happened within a month. He was very upset but did not outwardly act in any way not normal and he certainly did not take it out on other people.
2)- I do understand that at the Olympics Med was blindsided as she did everything right and still did not win. She wanted to up her technical content - her coach said no....she was fine. It is possible that Eteri felt Med's pcs would carry her and was surprised when Alena won but it really was no skin off her nose.
3) When Med won in Boston I also was not impressed - her lines not nice...she was not extended enough- and I felt her pcs made no sense. I think it is horrible of you to remark on her looks like that but I do admit to hating the tights half over the boots. It makes the girls look like camels.As far as her technique...who taught her that technique and did not correct it? Eteri...so I guess she is not that great a coach.
4)- Med travelled and competed with many others and she compared herself to them. She tried to fix what she was lacking. She worked on her lines etc and I noticed a big diff. in her skating in her last year with Eteri.She started to grow into those high PCS and I admired her for that (and she got rid of the camel look). Some of Eteri's younger girls are actually beautiful all round skaters. This they learned from their previous coach and brought with them. They should be very successful.
5) Med was right to leave but she wanted to be the whole package and wanted to have a say in how she wanted to improve. A new start with a different mind set. She rec'd good recommendations from others about Orser and TCC and it was private and far away. She saw how Eteri had been horrid to others & did not feel like having that kind of undignified display so she dealt with the Federation about her decision to leave and her choice. I do not blame her for that. Eteri needs to do a bit of therapy and educate herself on proper deportment. She is trainer, mentor and caretaker of many children and needs more skills than she currently possesses to produce healthy happy athletes.She also needs to read up on nutrition, especially during puberty.
6)- I cannot talk for Russian coaches but others are not jealous ...they are concerned about her methods and the damage she could be doing to her charges.

 

[floskate]

This whole idea of taking comments and appearances at face value to suit ones purpose and then using it as leverage to prove a point is very dangerous in this instance. Of course you can't often see mental health issues and in an elite athlete as petite as Medvedeva you won't see the eating disorder if she's still functioning at the highest level. And of course she wasn't going to talk about it to the press at that time. I'm sure she wouldn't dare!

Eating disorders are emotionally as well as physically destructive. Mine started at the age of 18 after I started drama school in London and received some comments from a teacher who I was both in awe of and scared of. This particular teacher made my time there miserable and took every opportunity to undermine any shred of confidence I still had left. Yet all I ever wanted was to please them and gain one moment of praise. Never happened but that's another story! This all led to my disordered eating and a string of mental health issues that I did not speak out about, mostly because I was scared that no one would believe me, scared of offending the teacher and making them hate me even more than they already did (!!!) and scared that people would think I was just being ridiculous and weak. As a result I'm now 45 and only just dealing with the fallout from all of that. It has completely derailed my life.

So I applaud Evgenia for having the strength of character to tell the truth and to address her dysfunctional dietary habits. These habits have no place in a professional elite sports environment and the dismissal of her story to try and discredit her and exonerate her previous coaches will only enable others to continue to suffer. Enablers are just as guilty in these sorts of situations as perpetrators.

 

[Perky Shae Lynn]

Watch it blamed on Yulia’s mother now...

Of course....

To be fair, Lip is not the only Russian skater to come down with an eating disorder. Antipova almost died from anorexia and low water intake. She was coached by Natalia Pavlova and Dmitriev. People don't take this stuff seriously enough. Teenage bodies are resilient, for sure. But the damage last for decades.

 

[Fairuza]

Of course....

To be fair, Lip is not the only Russian skater to come down with an eating disorder. Antipova almost died from anorexia and low water intake. She was coached by Natalia Pavlova and Dmitriev. People don't take this stuff seriously enough. Teenage bodies are resilient, for sure. But the damage last for decades.

I have a sneaky feeling the Federation would have liked to conceal the true reason for Lipnitskaya’s retirement, but after Piseev’s moronic comments about her, her mother just went open with the diagnosis and thus left no opportunity to sweep the whole thing under the carpet. Antipova’s case was a lot more serious as her life hung on a thread there, so there was no way they could have concealed that. But I just wonder what are the real numbers of skaters - especially female skaters - suffering from anorexia and other eating disorders.

 

[layman]

This is why I think Eteri's "methods" (starvation diets, limiting water intake) are particularly brutal and unhealthy. None of these athletes will leave that camp unscathed. I hope Alina has the sense to retire and the others have the sense to get out of that camp before they suffer lasting damage (as was the case with Shelepen and Lipnitskaya).

 

[lala]

OK, folks. Nothing happened that wasn't expected in this thread. Eteri and her whole team child abuser Kostornaya, Trusova, Scherbakova , etc are abused children thus they can skate on that level. No one care about Eteri's tragedies in last year, she deerves those thing because she is an evil.....Shame.

Sometimes I really don't understand why I read FS forum. I say good bye to this thread.

 

[barbarafan]

OK, folks. Nothing happened that wasn't expected in this thread. Eteri and her whole team child abuser Kostornaya, Trusova, Scherbakova , etc are abused children thus they can skate on that level. No one care about Eteri's tragedies in last year, she deerves those thing because she is an evil.....Shame.

Sometimes I really don't understand why I read FS forum. I say good bye to this thread.

Bye Felicia

 

[kittysk8ts]

She’s very articulate, as usual. I found her description of competing “dry” very interesting. Good on her team for encouraging her to add a bit more muscle.

I found that interesting as well and Alina said she couldn't even drink water during the OG - only wash it around and then spit it out. Geez.

 

[Aerobicidal]

Ok. I don't think those chidren look menthally healthy or they ARE menthally healthy in your work.. That is the reason why you need to work with them. Wich Eteri's little skaters look menthally unhealthy or menthally weak? Plus Eteri is working in a team all of them are child abuser? Medvedeva, Shelepen, Lipnistkaya, Panenkova, Tsurskaya ( Darya wants to go back to her) and even Zagi are not children anymore..They would remember..

I'm just going to comment on one thing in this post.

The fact that Panenkova wants to go back to Tutberidze proves absolutely nothing about whether or not Tutberidze is a good coach, bad coach, abusive coach, anti-abusive coach, good person, bad person, or anything else.

Recently, I've seen very similar arguments being made in much more serious contexts, which has convinced me that there are a whole lot of people who believe that humans are generally likely not to stay in situations that are damaging to them. That is not how people work.

Adults with lots of life experience and education and sources of support still--all the time--choose to stay in situations that are mentally and/or emotionally unhealthy for them. There are all sorts of complicated reasons connected with power and emotions and irrationality. Relationships don't work like machines.

 

[bardtoob]

This move shows - many Russians have the biggest problem with it- any Russian coach is not good enough for Med. Can you imagine that? In the biggest power in FS ther is no one coach who can help Zhenya..

Top Russian coaches like Mishin want to build an athlete from elementary school age, not rebuild an athlete ready for uni. Top Western coaches accept more mature and already accomplished athletes because that is a more typical scenario in the west.

The only top Russian coach known to rebuild athletes was Tatiana Tarasova, and with a lot of controversy because athletes RUDELY left Czuk, Mishin, etc., and she is one of Medvedeva's fans in terms of her current work with Orser.

 

[Alilou]

I'm just going to comment on one thing in this post.

The fact that Panenkova wants to go back to Tutberidze proves absolutely nothing about whether or not Tutberidze is a good coach, bad coach, abusive coach, anti-abusive coach, good person, bad person, or anything else.

Recently, I've seen very similar arguments being made in much more serious contexts, which has convinced me that there are a whole lot of people who believe that humans are generally likely not to stay in situations that are damaging to them. That is not how people work.

Adults with lots of life experience and education and sources of support still--all the time--choose to stay in situations that are mentally and/or emotionally unhealthy for them. There are all sorts of complicated reasons connected with power and emotions and irrationality. Relationships don't work like machines.

NM. I need to learn how to read lol

 

[Ka3sha]

Evgenia Medvedeva target quad jumps
New interview for Olympic Channel

 

[barbarafan]

Top Russian coaches like Mishin want to build an athlete from elementary school age, not rebuild an athlete ready for uni. Top Western coaches accept more mature and already accomplished athletes because that is a more typical scenario in the west.

The only top Russian coach known to rebuild athletes was Tatiana Tarasova, and with a lot of controversy because athletes RUDELY left Czuk, Mishin, etc., and she is one of Medvedeva's fans in terms of her current work with Orser.

Brian has a huge heart and does take in people with problems. His rule of thumb is if he thinks he can help them with what they want or not. If he feels he cannot he will not take them. If he sees areas he can correct and improve them he will...especially if he feels they are in a predicament. A former cdn female champion came to him and it was that or retire.
She won young and then shot up to I think 5'8" and lost her triples..she got a few back but they were not consistent.She really tried but no use. She asked Brian's help finally and he took her for a season. The jumps she had became consistent but some jumps she still could not do so after the season she retired. At least she knew she had tried everything. He is also not shy with sharing and while Med stayed in Russia for a while she had plans from him and they were in contact and Tarasova was happy to oversee and be there for her as well. Whatever is best for the skater is right.

 

[bardtoob]

Evgenia Medvedeva target quad jumps
New interview for Olympic Channel

I bet she will be more consistent with it than Jason Brown.

 

[Spun Silver]

@lala, you could have been writing about me in the first part of your post #35. I had and still have quite a few of those beefs with Med's skating. I did start to look more favorably on her when she moved -- once again, not for political, anti-Russian reasons, but because her move showed a willingness to start over and hopefully correct some of those problems. I was thrilled with her first SP - I felt her artistry in that was achieved with her whole body and doing the choreography, not by time-outs for miming. That really made me feel she was on the right track in moving. Time will tell. At any rate I'm impressed by her fight and willingness to do whatever it takes to improve. It's going to get even harder for both her and Zagitova. They both have a champion mentality and that's exciting to see.

As for Eteri, I admire her a lot. How could I not, seeing her accomplishments? But who can admire forcing girls to live on powder and not drink water? That is going too far and cannot be considered sound coaching. Sorry not sorry!

 

[MarieM]

The problem of Russian coaches and diet is widespread. Even if you consider how dear Igor treats his own students.
Tanith said it when she left. Most of the skaters leaving russian coaches of that age / era say it's widespread because they want the perfect weight.
They don't have toned skaters, they don't work on anything else outside of the rink. Ask Bobrova. She managed to find herself and Solovier a personal trainer when she realized she wasn't trained as it should be.

That unhealthy view of figure skaters bodytypes is common in the skating world but IMO the russians took it to a whole new level.

 

[bardtoob]

As for Eteri, I admire her a lot. How could I not, seeing her accomplishments? But who can admire forcing girls to live on powder and not drink water? That is going too far and cannot be considered sound coaching. Sorry not sorry!

Maybe female skaters have such a bad reputation regarding attitude because they have 7 years of hangry.