ИЛЬЯ АВЕРБУХ ОТВЕТИЛ НА КРИТИКУ ОРСЕРА В АДРЕС КОМАНДЫ ТУТБЕРИДЗЕ
Channel: RUFATVRUFATV
Date: 2018-05-09

Orser 'totally stunned' to be tabbed by Medvedeva

Brian Orser knows the period after the Olympics brings changes in coach-skater relationships, so he anticipated getting inquires from some athletes who might be interested in working with him.

But he never expected the April 2 text message from 2018 Olympic silver medalist and two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia.

"I was totally stunned," Orser said.

Orser immediately called Tracy Wilson, one of his co-coaches at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, and said, "You're not going to believe this."

Medvedeva's original message indicated only that she would like a private meeting with Orser later in April in South Korea, where she was skating in a show, "LG ThinQ Ice Fantasia," that Orser had helped organize and would attend.

"I kind of figured what it was about," Orser said by telephone Monday, after Medvedeva's statement via the Figure Skating Federation of Russia announced she was leaving coach Eteri Tutberidze's training group in Moscow to begin working with Orser in Toronto.

Since guiding South Korea's Yuna Kim to world (2009) and Olympic (2010) titles, Orser has become the sport's highest-profile and most successful coach. In the past five seasons, he has taken Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu to two Olympic and two world titles and Spain's Javier Fernández to two world titles and an Olympic bronze medal.

Orser met with Medvedeva, 18, and her mother, Zhanna Devyatova, on Sunday, April 22, at the Mayfield Hotel in Seoul. When the meeting ended, Orser realized what at first seemed unbelievable would soon become reality.
"She told me, 'I want to make a change,''' Orser said. "She didn't really give me any reasons why.

"I really had a lot of respect for her instantly because she told me, 'I don't want to say anything bad about my current coaching situation.'''

Medvedeva had been with Tutberidze for 11 years. Their relationship frayed during the 2018 Olympic season, when a stress fracture in the skater's foot and the ascendancy of another Tutberidze student, 15-year-old phenom Alina Zagitova, combined to deprive Medvedeva of the Olympic title she had seemed a lock to win.

Speculation that Medvedeva would leave Tutberidze had bubbled across the internet since Zagitova beat her for the Olympic gold by 1.31 points. Russian media began reporting it as news Friday.

Tutberidze told a Russian TV network Sunday that her messages to Medvedeva had gone unanswered for several weeks and that she learned the skater was leaving from a news report. The coach also recounted a conversation at the 2018 Olympics with a plaintive Medvedeva asking why Zagitova couldn't have been kept out of those Winter Games.
"She told me, 'I want to make a change,''' Orser said. "She didn't really give me any reasons why.

"I really had a lot of respect for her instantly because she told me, 'I don't want to say anything bad about my current coaching situation.'''

Medvedeva had been with Tutberidze for 11 years. Their relationship frayed during the 2018 Olympic season, when a stress fracture in the skater's foot and the ascendancy of another Tutberidze student, 15-year-old phenom Alina Zagitova, combined to deprive Medvedeva of the Olympic title she had seemed a lock to win.

Speculation that Medvedeva would leave Tutberidze had bubbled across the internet since Zagitova beat her for the Olympic gold by 1.31 points. Russian media began reporting it as news Friday.

Tutberidze told a Russian TV network Sunday that her messages to Medvedeva had gone unanswered for several weeks and that she learned the skater was leaving from a news report. The coach also recounted a conversation at the 2018 Olympics with a plaintive Medvedeva asking why Zagitova couldn't have been kept out of those Winter Games.
"She told me, 'I want to make a change,''' Orser said. "She didn't really give me any reasons why.

"I really had a lot of respect for her instantly because she told me, 'I don't want to say anything bad about my current coaching situation.'''

Medvedeva had been with Tutberidze for 11 years. Their relationship frayed during the 2018 Olympic season, when a stress fracture in the skater's foot and the ascendancy of another Tutberidze student, 15-year-old phenom Alina Zagitova, combined to deprive Medvedeva of the Olympic title she had seemed a lock to win.

Speculation that Medvedeva would leave Tutberidze had bubbled across the internet since Zagitova beat her for the Olympic gold by 1.31 points. Russian media began reporting it as news Friday.

Tutberidze told a Russian TV network Sunday that her messages to Medvedeva had gone unanswered for several weeks and that she learned the skater was leaving from a news report. The coach also recounted a conversation at the 2018 Olympics with a plaintive Medvedeva asking why Zagitova couldn't have been kept out of those Winter Games.
"She told me, 'I want to make a change,''' Orser said. "She didn't really give me any reasons why.