Her mother called me, and I think she was perhaps a little apprehensive about my reaction. But I was very positive. I was only too pleased. |
I think it was obvious that the standard of skating tonight was not particularly good. I coached the same (system) for 45 years; now in two years you have to get ready for something else. |
I think it was obvious that the standard of skating tonight was not particularly good. Particularly not as good as the short programs where we had a lot of good runs. The new [scoring] system is so demanding and so different, I've taught for 45 years and in the last two years I've had to re-do my whole philosophy and thinking. |
I think it was obvious the standard of skating tonight was not particularly good. |
I think the visit to the East Coast helped her. She worked with two very wonderful coaches. |
I thought she should practice. Then, when I heard of her rest issues, I thought she shouldn't do it. |
I thought she still had a chance (after her imperfect program). I've been around a long time, seen a lot of mistakes made. I think it's obvious the standard of skating overall was not particularly good, definitely not as good as the short program. |
It was a good start. But it was just a start. |
It's been quality, not quantity. We've been working harder, not longer. Today for her was a good start, a very good start, but it was only a start. |
It's been very difficult to strategize with Michelle because I haven't seen her compete but one time, and that wasn't a legitimate competition. |
Not that they don't have wonderful skaters, but when I look at the results from some of the junior competitions, I'm not seeing the depth now that I used to see. So I have a question as to when this current crop of Russian skaters are finished whether they'll be as strong. Originally, the (Soviet) system was to assign a wonderful coach to perhaps one or two wonderful competitors and government would reimburse the coaches. Once that was removed, there was anticipation that this method wouldn't continue to produce any good skaters. So far it's been wrong. We'll see in the future. |
Only one thing has changed. I was an old man then and she was a young girl, and I'm an old man and she's a young lady. That's the only difference. |
She came back a different skater. She used to think about winning. Now, she's more focused on excelling. It's the right attitude for a champion. |
She fought back and didn't give up. A lot of other skaters would have packed it up in the same situation. |
She has a few aches and a few pains. As we all do when we get older. |