Well...girls, I can't help being a bit shocked after reading Grace's message!
Ok..I admit that that article about Roman may be exagerated, but I always thought that Figure skating was a kind of " noble " sport where such shocking things weren't supposed to happen !!!
I really don't know anymore!

I'm laughing, not at you Maria, but because "noble" is the last word I would associate with skating, or any other sport. Skating is just a sport like any other-- there are some noble people in it, of course, and some perfectly ordinary people, and some really horrible ones. It's just like anything else in life.

I don't want to make it sound like things like partner abuse go on all the time, because it doesn't. Most of the time this doesn't happen-- either partners are actually friends, or they manage to set aside their personal differences enough to work together. I think Bourne and Kraatz are an example of that. They were definitely not close friends, and they fought a lot on the ice, but they would never have dreamed of hitting each other. Most partners don't end up in love/married, and most don't end up in an abusive relationship. As with everything else in life, most people are in the middle.

But it's not uncommon. For instance, at one rink I coached at, a boy asked his partner for a date, and she turned him down, and from that day on he was completely horrible to her-- running her into the walls, dropping her out of lifts, hitting her on the ice... and she took it because she knew how hard it would be to get another partner. Another team I know of had such an abusive relationship that the rink director threatened to ban the man from the rink. If the coaches put up with it, a lot of times it's because the coach is herself a woman who went through the same and thinks, "I went through it, now you will too." Even well-meaning coaches can feel helpless to do anything about it-- remember that Elena Berezhnaya's partner before Anton Sikuarlidze (Oleg Shliakov) beat her badly, and Tamara Moskvina had no idea what to do about it.

Again, I don't know if any of this about Roman is true. Anna Semenovich is very dramatic and probably resentful that she didn't have the success he had. But if some of it turned out to be true... I would, sadly, not be surprised.

Dear Grace!

In a way, i am speechless. !!! Please, don't laugh at me,but I had more or less the same impression as Maria!
Now, I see that it's not as simple as I thought !!!
And I think the coaches must have a difficult time too, when these things happen!
Quite unacceptable..in my opinion!

Bea

I am speechless too!
OK,...I know that all sports have problems and most of them are kept off the record , but I hadn't realized sometimes it could be soooo bad!
I understand now the important roles coaches must have trying to make the best of everything and making sure their students succed !!!!

yes, the role of coaches is really very important as if the woman in a team has such a terrible problem with her partner she (especially if she is young) might not know how to react and to put up with it when she doesn`t see any alternative. Then the coach shouldn`t stay aside, because he/she is the one with experience, she/he is the one to say the girl that success could be made also with other partner. Because in my opinion success isn`t the most important thing and I really don`t believe there there could be success in a team with abusive relationships, where the girl is under such a pressure. To be champion you should first of all be selfconfident and a girl that is being beaten by her partner isn`t that at all, not to mention about the reliability on your partner in competitions or the team-work. Maybe some will say that having such problems with the partner is like when the couple aren`t quite a good friends (if not even to say that they can hardly endure each other off the rink). But it`s not - in the first situation there is the fear of the partner, in the second - the competition in the team itself, which is a huge motivation for the skaters. In the second situation there is a lot of ambition from both of the skaters, and in order the achieve their goal they learn to put up with each other. So, it`s really important to be not only a coach, but a MAN foremost. Without that you can`t be anything else..

As a matter of fact, I knew that there had been problems with Elena, but I thought they were accidents. I am glad she later found Anton. She seems a very sweet girl, really!
And the big accident she had, the one on her head, when she had an operation , that was a real accident, wasn't it?
Well...when I was a little girl,I always wanted to be a skater and perhaps I have always looked at this sport as the ideal one , very pure, noble, the sport with no flaws!
Perhaps that's why I was soooo by some facts.

I'm really frightened...
Maybe i am naive (gullible) but i don't think by any chance that a couple like this (where somebody is abusing the partner) could survive. In the end, it will turn bad for both of them...

It's not necessary for the couple to be involved, not even best friends but there must be some level of understanding and friendship.

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And the big accident she had, the one on her head, when she had an operation , that was a real accident, wasn't it?

HOPE SO!!..I can't imagine somebody being so bad. To do this deliberately. I've seen anger and stress. I know you have to get rid of the pressure but I don't think that this was the case...it would be too much for me.
By the way, what happend with the previous partner?

Bruises don't match with the grace and beauty of this sport. Actually, bruises and violence don't match with anything...

Dear girls!
I agree with you too!!
I am remembering Albena and Max They went throught so many difficult situations! They would never have succeeded, if they weren´t sooooo much in loooooove!
And the example one of you gave of Bourne and Kratz! Thy had at least a kind of civil relashionship, no?
And so many others!
I think the Feds should punish or banish the skaters with that disgraceful behaviour!!

This is a fantastic/ soooo ridiculous/ hilarious story!

I think that there must some truth in it, though!


If half of this is true...how could the Russian Federation, tolerate this???'

Serena wrote!

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This is a fantastic/ soooo ridiculous/ hilarious story! I think that there must some truth in it, though! If half of this is true...how could the Russian Federation, tolerate this???' :kataus

If half that is written about Roman it's true It's obvious they have!!!

hehehe...look what I found.

Yes, remember we were mentioning some trios earlier...who is jealous on who..who likes who..who marries who...

Well..look a photo.
I'm not saying it can't be cute or nice...or that Roman doesn't love the woman he married, just that the photo matches with our previous discussion.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/5600/223708th.jpg

hehe, thanks, Alex verrrry interesting photo I suppose he loved her (Julia Lautova if I'm not wrong ) as he loved Tatiana before (probably) and now Oksana. Who is the next? :tongue:
I don't see nothing bad that he falls in love in different girl every year, but I'm not sure if this mariage was really "by love". Who knows

That's a very interesting pic!

I know iy's not my business, but they have divorced already, no I mean the bride and the groom...