Speaking of Tartars, I enjoy listening to (and watching) the Tartar opera soprano, Aida Garifullina videos.
Posted on 01/22/2022 10:17:23 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Barring a minor miracle, three Russian teenagers would have battled it out for the podium places: 16-year-old Alena Kostornaia and a pair of 15-year-olds, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova. The trio have revolutionized figure skating.
What makes them so good? Well, owing to their remarkable jumps, they maximize the technical points on offer. Trusova and Shcherbakova have both mastered skating’s holy grail: the quad, an exhaustive element – and up until recently an unheard-of feat for ladies, which is four full rotations in the air.
However, there are concerns. First, rather than a skating competition for women, are we now dealing with a jumping competition for girls? Second, and much more importantly, what’s the cost of success – physically, emotionally and psychologically – for this collection of raw, developing children?
All three Russian teenagers boast the same coach: Eteri Tutberidze, who has built a stable of female talent. She is a divisive figure, though not much is known about her – unusual for a skating community that can border on the incestuous...
Zagitova, the reigning Olympic and world champion. Still just 17, she announced in December that she was taking a break from skating for an indefinite period. The previous month, she had admitted finding it difficult to keep up with younger competitors, who she still trained alongside in Moscow. Most worryingly of all, she described how even attempting a quad jump was unrealistic for her until she got slimmer.
...And this is a cornerstone of the debate surrounding the jumping phenomenon in women’s skating and the rise of the so-called Russian Dolls: the female body.
Puberty can vastly change how a skater performs...Most critically of all, it’s natural. But in some skating quarters it’s seen as an unwanted development and detrimental to skills such as the quad jump...
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
We have a granddaughter, now 22, who has been competitively figure skating since she was 6... She is still, as a pre-med student, competing and, part time, teaching young figure skaters...
By the time she was 16, she had skated in the Nationals, gotten her pilots license, and loved training in the gym with her grandfather...
I think “Russian Dolls” is a cute title for them.
That's a curious statement. Incestuous the way champion dog breeders breed a line too closely in order to reproduce champion traits? Or is there a dark secret among figure skaters?
Wow! Very impressive. Figure skater Debi Thomas was also a pre-med student at Stanford while training for the Olympics. She eventually went on to become an orthopedic surgeon.
Precisely.
If they “grow out of the mold” just a little bit, the quad jumps go away.
“It has become gymnastics on ice.”
That is why I like ice dancing more than pairs.
I wonder when the first same sex pairs is going to appear?
And Katarina Witt was always hot.
It depends on the jump and if whether or not you are taking off from the edge of the blade or the toe pick. Tonya Harding at age 20 was the first American woman to land the triple axle in competition. The axle is the most difficult jump in figure skating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIGoWGjetog
Jealousy
I imagine that a fully developed woman might spin in a more eccentric manner.
“And Katarina Witt was always hot.”
One always wondered why the ice didn’t melt.
“Interestingly, the ethnic group of some of these skaters (Tatar Muslims) have historically been discriminated against in Russia...”
Tatar enslaved Russia for 2 and a half centuries also. You can say they historically discriminated against ethnic Russians.
“Russia’s top skaters are of Tatar Muslim descent ironically.”
Only one of the three listed here is tatar — Alena.
Trusova and Scherbakova are not. There is a 4th famous skater though who is tatar though, Kamila. At least she has arabic name.
It isn’t really ironic to have a tatar leading athlete in Russia, it doesn’t pretend to be a single ethnicity country. It is as surprising as having blacks on USA olympic basketball team.
Kabaeva won the Gold in 2018.
Kamila Valieva is the favorite to win Gold this year and just broke a bunch of records last week.
Alina* Kabaeva won the Gold in 2018.
Kamila Valieva is the favorite for Gold in 2022.
omg Kabeva is Putin’s ex- mistress LoL. I meant Alina ZAGITOVA LoL. And her fellow Tatar, KAMILA VALIEVA. Both are the reigning champs from among the Russians.
Peggy Fleming had already been there. If that ice was gonna melt it would’ve melted in 1968. :)
For years one had to pass the special figures in the ice...perfect circles, figure 8s, etc. Many really great skaters lost out because they missed one of these figures. Tragic, really!
The Guardian’s woke readership probably won’t like that title.
“Heck..if they want something to complain about they should be griping about the Designaged Hitter.”
An abomination.
As unnatural as the mule.
The defenders of the Designated Hitter should be cast out, shunned if not stoned and hung up as a warning to others.
(I really, really don’t like the DH)
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