2007 World Figure Skating Championships

Grace wrote:: The funny thing is I really don't have that much to tell. I'm so bad at reporting things. You've all seen the videos, right? Okay then, cool.

Grace wrote:: I don't mean to lead you on, though... I really don't have anything all that exciting to report. Just my general impressions.

General impressions - okay :twist:

Grace, your comments are always very professional, and we haven't seen ALL the videos :kataus:

so, we would like to know more about the competition, when you have time, of course. As for me, I was so concentrated to the Ice dancing competition, that I almost didn't pay attention to the other disciplines :blush2:

Grace wrote:: The funny thing is I really don't have that much to tell. I'm so bad at reporting things. You've all seen the videos, right? Okay then, cool.

Not cool!!! bla-bla-bla

hehe.

I'm sure we would all love to hear some of your general impressions about the event. Rose

(when you have time of course... Very Happy

) You got to see Albena and Maxim win Worlds, again!!! :bg:

You're beyond lucky! :wink:

It's really nice to see you back! zvet

I hope you had a wonderful time in Tokyo!!! Yahoooo!!!

Hola Grace!
I am glad you are back! sunny

I missed you during Worls , but I figured you were there in Tokyo...

Besos

Grace wrote:: I'll post some more stuff when I have more energy. Hopefully tomorrow. I was actually going to do it now but I had to do laundry instead. I don't mean to lead you on, though... I really don't have anything all that exciting to report. Just my general impressions.

Are you sure you need to do laundry??? Are. You. Sure?

poklon

Grace wrote:: Eeeeeeee! I'm back! I'm back! I've only just now got enough energy to actually come in here and write something-- the jet lag from Japan is terrrrrrible. But being there to see Albena and Max win again was incredible. Soooooo fabulous!!

Greaaaat!!!! I didn't know you were there either!!! You didn't tell us!!!! bla-bla-bla

It's extremely cool you were there & you were an eye-witness of the AM triumph!! Alby & Max!!

Faaaaaab. But now you must share :kataus:

Something

Lana wrote:

Grace wrote:: The funny thing is I really don't have that much to tell. I'm so bad at reporting things. You've all seen the videos, right? Okay then, cool.

Not cool!!! bla-bla-bla

hehe.

I'm sure we would all love to hear some of your general impressions about the event. Rose

(when you have time of course... Very Happy

)

I have an extra-question Razz

I need knowing your opinion on Nath & Fab, Grace!!!! I neeeed it Razz

And... it's wonderful to see you again and to read your messages!!!!! Kisssssssssss

Lerka wrote:: I have an extra-question I need knowing your opinion on Nath & Fab, Grace!!!! I neeeed it

Why didn't I see that coming? :kataus:

Lerochka's extra important & urgent question has to do with... Nath!!!!!! bla-bla-bla

hehe.

AM expert Number of posts : 534 Registration date : 2006-03-30

cute_n_gorgeous wrote:

Grace wrote:: I'll post some more stuff when I have more energy. Hopefully tomorrow. I was actually going to do it now but I had to do laundry instead. I don't mean to lead you on, though... I really don't have anything all that exciting to report. Just my general impressions.

Are you sure you need to do laundry??? Are. You. Sure?

poklon

Well, it was that or go to work naked. lol!

Yes! Surprise! I was in Tokyo. :kataus:

I had hoped to go, but wasn't sure until quite recently whether or not it was going to come off. But it did, yay! I totally adored it. I'd never been to Japan before, and had expected to find Tokyo very intimidating and hard to get around, but it wasn't. Everyone was so nice, and everything was so interesting, and I'd love love love to go back someday. It was amazing. (Except for the jet lag Razz

)

I really have very little to report on meeting Albena and Maxim, since I didn't. Razz

I saw them around the hotel a few times-- at breakfast, in the lobby, etc.-- but since I'm not one to bother people while they're eating, and they were always surrounded in the lobby, I was lame and didn't say anything. Probably all I would have said was "Ohmigod, who does your hair??" anyway. :kataus:

To answer Lerka's question, Nath and Fab were, well, fab. I'm quite convinced they would have ended up higher had he not made that mistake on the CD (which was otherwise quite well skated). I was really happy to see them skate a relatively clean competition, they're soooooo talented and I love their FD a whole big lot. heart2

I was very impressed with their improvement at SA, and they looked even better at Worlds. Too bad they had such a bad season otherwise. Razz

I personally would have had them as high as 9th or 10th in the FD.

The CD in general I thought was a surprisingly poorly skated event. I can only think of 4-5 teams that I thought actually skated well (D/L, Albena and Maxim, Isabelle and Olivier, Faiella/Scali and Davis/White). I thought the results for the top 5 were completely weird. I wouldn't have quibbled with D/L winning the CD, but they definitely should not have won it by as much as they did. .2, maybe. 1.5, not so much. They have too many technical faults to justify that. I also was surprised that Isabelle and Olivier weren't in the top three-- I thought Domnina/Shabalin had a very weak skate in the CD, and would have had them in fourth for sure. Also, I would have separated D/L, Albena and Maxim, and Isabelle and Olivier (the top three for me, in any order) and Domnina/Shabalin and Belbin/Agosto by a lot, points-wise. IMO Oksana and Maxim and Tanith and Ben didn't skate anywhere near as well as the teams I would have had in the top three, and should have been at least a point back. That D/L were so far ahead and the rest all within a point of each other definitely surprised me.

Okay, that's gonna have to be it for now. I can't believe how tired I still am. Razz

I'm planning to write a lot more (i.e., the rest) this weekend when I can do it in the afternoon instead of at night after work. If you have questions, ask! It'll give me ideas of what to write about. :kataus:

Queridinha Grace..

Thanks for taking time in writing sth interesting for us.... Kisssssssssss

Wow you really saw Albena and Maxim...that's soo cool Very Happy

....and in your hotel, wow i can't believe that you didn't say anything to them, but no matter how excited i am i would probably be shy too. Whatever , thanks for sharing with us
P.S. And maybe you did some pictures too.... king

AM expert Number of posts : 534 Registration date : 2006-03-30

I'm just not the kind of person to ever really go up and randomly start talking to people I don't know, even if they are people I really admire. Not my personality at all. Shocked

I do have plenty of pictures from my trip, of course, but they're 99.9% just of sightseeing. Cameras weren't allowed in the arena, so I only have one skating picture (and it doesn't involve Albena & Maxim, sorry :kataus:

). No random pictures from the hotel lobby, either.

I know, I'm no fun. jocolor

I don't talk to strangers and I don't take pictures, so I'm about the least entertaining person you could hope to get an event report from. Oh well. :kataus:

Grace, you are really a sport... Very Happy

All you have told is very interesting so far...
I am going to repeat the question of the last message..
Have you got pictures with them???? poklon

Oh, Grace, dear - your analysis is what I personally want flower

P.S. Have u done your laundry? Wink

AM expert Number of posts : 534 Registration date : 2006-03-30

Maria wrote:: Have you got pictures with them????

No, I do not. As I said in my last post, I only have one skating related picture, and they are not in it. And actually, come to think of it, it's a really boring picture. Razz

If anyone's interested in my pictures from Tokyo, I'm happy to post the link in the "About Us..." section, but be forewarned that it's a lot of Mt. Fuji and museums and parks and temples and no Albena and Maxim whatsoever. Wink

cute_n_gorgeous wrote:: P.S. Have u done your laundry?

Yes... it still needs to be ironed, though. Sleep

Grace wrote:: If anyone's interested in my pictures from Tokyo, I'm happy to post the link in the "About Us..." section, but be forewarned that it's a lot of Mt. Fuji and museums and parks and temples and no Albena and Maxim whatsoever.

Thank you for your valuable opinions zvet

. Really, thanks for making time to write them Smile

As for the other photos...I would love to see those as well. In fact I'd be thrilled, I'm very, very curious abt Tokyo and places there!! poklon

AM expert Number of posts : 534 Registration date : 2006-03-30

As one might imagine, I don't really have much to say about disciplines other than dance. I'm gonna try and cover it anyway, though. Laughing

Let's see, pairs. Well, none of them were all that terrifying, which is good. Generally when there are that many pairs in an event, some of them are just downright scary to watch. Not so in Tokyo, in fact, the only time I cringed and/or covered my face at all was when Jess and Bryce did their side-by-side spins-- luckily, they were a lot farther apart in the freeskate. I hadn't seen them skate since a summer competition a few years ago, and they're such a solid team. I really liked a lot of their transitions, especially into their death spirals. I was totally thrilled to be able to see Shen & Zhao again, and they were fabulous. I still can't believe they're the same team that showed up 10 years ago and couldn't do anything but lifts. :kataus:

Savchenko/Szolkowy, whom I also love, were really good in the short, but unfortunately not so great in the long. Ah well. Oh, I know the really memorable thing from pairs. Volosozhar/Morozov's long was INCREDIBLE. Shocked

I don't think I've ever seen them skate that well before. Hell, I've rarely seen anyone skate that well. :kataus:

They came and sat by us for the rest of the competition, and their reaction to where they ended up was very funny. It was pretty much a cross between Shocked

and

The Swedish team is very promising. If they'd skated clean, they would have ended up much higher.

Petrova/Tikhonov's short was just sad, and same for the Siudeks, but it was most heartbreaking to see the Siudeks go out the way they did after he got hurt on warmup. Dorota was just crying and crying... it was so depressing, and I'm sure also for the teams who train with them in Montreal. At least they got a medal at Euros in Warsaw.

One thing that was more noticeable in the pairs than in any other event, I think, was that a lot of people got really sick in Tokyo and somehow it seemed to be more pairs than anything else-- maybe because they competed first, so they were more heavily stressed earlier on and had less time to adjust? I mean, technically the compulsory dance is first, but at least then they have a day off. I dunno, but it seemed like a lot of people in pairs had the flu, and it really killed a lot of their performances. People just did not look perky. Brooke Castile? Craig Buntin? Dan Zhang? I'm looking at you.

If people have specific questions about pairs, I'll definitely try to answer them, I just can't think of anything very specific to say. I had no argument with the results at all, everyone seemed to me to be pretty fairly placed. Oh wait, except for last. I know they have throw triples, but there just is not a worse pairs team out there right now internationally than Kemp/King from Great Britain. Throw triples notwithstanding, everything else they do is so weak and their basic skating is so poor that I find it scandalous that they ever finish anywhere but last. That is all. Razz

WoW!!!
It's great to read reports or opinions with all the know you have on technicalities! :vo:

Thanks, Grace! zvet

Thank you, Grace, for your report!
zvet

Ladies, I just watched the official conference after Albena and Max's arrival in Bulgaria.

They were very excited, a little bit tired from the long travel, and positive as usual. Maxim's jokes made everyone in the hall laugh. They were very proud of the medals, and they showed them to all people - 6 beautiful golden medals!

Journalists asked them a lot of questions. And some that I remember concerned Bulgarian figure skating development. Albena said that in Bulgaria there was nowhere to train professionally, and there was nobody to turn for help. That is why she is going to start very formal communication with different institutions in order to build a large multifunctional ice rink and make foreign coaches come to Bulgaria and teach little kids.

Albena and Max thanked most graciously to the Japanese fans! They said that some Japanese fan of theirs informed them that there was a new Japanese website for Albena and Maxim after the world championship. Maybe we could find that website and check it out too.

Our beloved skaters will have a lot of galas, but first they want to have rest. Albena's foot is still not ok, and she has to heal some other trauma. So their first job is to be at peace.

The Bulgarian judge Raia, said that after every competition the panel of judges makes a separate conference out of everybody's eyes. And all the judges said that Albena and Maxim's tango was the most passionate, that their free dance was the most original and they all agreed that Albena and Max were the true champions of the competition.

Albena made some comments about their costumes. They wanted to perform with some other costumes, but they did not fir Maxim well or something like that, so they appeared with the old costumes.

The reporters were interested also in the idea of the program of the Seven Deadly Sins. Maxim once watched the commercial of Big Brother 3 and it combined truly the idea of sins. So they chose Mozart's requiem. When they arrived in the USA, Lininchuk also had that same idea. So it turned out to be a real coincidence! After that Albena thought of a more passionate ending, and they combined the music. Albena said that Lininchuk was a real master of music and movement. Some famous person from Balshoi Teater has confermed that Lininchuk is unique. And the famous baby in their performance - Lininchuk insisted on it. Albena and Max thought it was too simple, and they wanted something more abstract, but Lininchuk said "This will be it" And they did it, and they are very pleased with the result. And so are we! Wink

Finally, they said that Lininchuk and Karponosov are most probably coming to Bulgaria. They still do not know when. And that they want Albena and Maxim to continue. Lininchuk and Karponosov are convinved that Albena and Max could be on the top for long years. And we all agree with them! Also, Maxim said that if they want to get married, they will make it public, and there shouldn't be any speculations about their marriage.

I hope that I reported enough, so you could feel the wonderful atmosphere of Albena and Maxim being in their home country Bulgaria! Greetings to every one of you!

AM expert Number of posts : 534 Registration date : 2006-03-30

I didn't know she had hurt her foot (or anything else). Good thing they have some time off now.

Elfaria wrote:: Journalists asked them a lot of questions. And some that I remember concerned Bulgarian figure skating development. Albena said that in Bulgaria there was nowhere to train professionally, and there was nobody to turn for help. That is why she is going to start very formal communication with different institutions in order to build a large multifunctional ice rink and make foreign coaches come to Bulgaria and teach little kids.

I'm sure she is thinking of quite high level people, but that? Is something I'd drop everything to do in about 10 seconds.

Seriously, I envy her the opportunity, as frustrating and difficult as it's likely to be. She must have soooooo many ideas of things she'd like to try, and how she'd like to set things up, and building a system is going to be incredibly exciting (and tiring and exasperating and maddening and all the rest). But still, it would be so amazing to be part of building things almost from scratch. Buh..

Hi, I'm Vanya, I'm very regular at the Bulgarian forum, and I've been browsing quite often your site, but I haven't written anything so far. Nice to find here such a lovely international group of D and M fans. As for Albena's foot - yes, she stepped in a hole just before the FD, so her ankle was bruised and swollen and as far as I know - it still is. The doctors have insisted on giving her 7 painkilling shots in the ankle, but she said no - allthough I can't quite get it why she refused, but this is the story, told by the newspapers.

And Maxim also said that they have the strenght and the desire to compete more, but they first want to get a rest and then take a desicion. Some medias, covering the press conference is that they most probably will skip the next year, and return until the OG...i just so hope it is true....
R.Bakalova also said their program was the most competitive one, and some others was more looking like exhibition(i am pretty sure she was talking about "At Last" )
And also Albena said that she is sorry, but she is still a little bit inadequate from the great joy of the gold medals.. She said that she will have to organize some things about the upcoming 2 competitions in Sofia( i know one will be the JWC, but i don't have no idea what the other will be)

VanyaST wrote:: ...As for Albena's foot - yes, she stepped in a hole just before the FD, so her ankle was bruised and swollen and as far as I know - it still is. The doctors have insisted on giving her 7 painkilling shots in the ankle, but she said no - allthough I can't quite get it why she refused, but this is the story, told by the newspapers.

Yikes, poor Albena - seems she is either sick or injured so often before or during big competitions pale

Welcome Vanya!! zvet

Dear girls! Thank you so much for the information!!!!!! poklon

Elfaria wrote:: Finally, they said that Lininchuk and Karponosov are most probably coming to Bulgaria. They still do not know when. And that they want Albena and Maxim to continue. Lininchuk and Karponosov are convinved that Albena and Max could be on the top for long years. And we all agree with them!

Well, that would be smth very significant for Bulgaria. I still can't belive how many things they did, changed, created + Albena's desire to do more & more & more. I hope she will find the good people to work with. Everything is so impressive, overwhelming. I can't belive how somebody can fight so much and work so hard, but I can say for sure that this makes me want to change & fight harder, even for little things. :stari:

Wow....I respect & admire them so much..Hehe, nothing new here. But I felt I should say it again. Smile

Quote :: I hope that I reported enough, so you could feel the wonderful atmosphere of Albena and Maxim being in their home country Bulgaria! Greetings to every one of you! [/color]

Ohho....thank you milichka. It is very nice of you to do this!! Thank you. I appreciate it very much!!
Wonderful atmosphere indeed. :stari:

Aahh!!! I'm so happy that judges, journalists declared that their tango was the most passionate, alive and that the FD was the most original and strong l!! Wondeful news. Finally everyone admits that Bulgaria is strong, strooooong and that Albena and Maxim are a real force!!

AM expert Number of posts : 534 Registration date : 2006-03-30

lanadd wrote:: She said that she will have to organize some things about the upcoming 2 competitions in Sofia( i know one will be the JWC, but i don't have no idea what the other will be)

The other one is a Junior Grand Prix event, which they have quite often in Sofia, it seems like at least every other year. Smile

And

to her ankle! It's so easy to get injured off the ice.

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