During the warm-up before the short program of the Japanese stage of the Grand Prix, Daria Usacheva entered a triple flip and made a butterfly. She fell, hit her hip. The doctor carried away the crying Dasha from the rink in his arms. Tough shots from Tokyo hit the nerves even for those who are far from figure skating.
I hope Dasha Usacheva flew in these days and many, many words of love will come. And wishes to cope with the injury faster in order to have time to return to the ice fully armed. The Japanese did not allow her to fly home before the whole group. Dasha will return to Moscow only on Monday.
Live broadcast is alive with emotions. Sometimes shocking, yes. And then the “curve” begins. The authors are all of us. Dancing on skaters’ broken bones or torn muscles is becoming the norm. Rather, skaters. To be more precise – single women from “Khrustalny”. “How long? What are they doing with the children in this group? ”
And for some reason, this is also the norm – reasoning on the topic: since the injury happened in front of everyone, then everyone, and immediately, needs to know the diagnosis. As well as the impetuous comments of doctors, who, of course, are experts in their field. True, a specific athlete was not seen in the eyes along with his injury. But, as they say, by experience, why not speculate? At the same time, immediately and in absentia put an end to seasonal hopes: he cannot, will not work, will not.
We are hypocritical. We love in victories. In trouble – we whip, we must find the guilty one. And kick ahead of time. And to apply coaches – this is generally the finest hour for someone.
Girls from outer space, science fiction, extravaganza, will, talent without borders – this is when there are records. Also, by the way, live. And we choke with delight. And pride. And indignation: who needs to raise the age limit there in ISU, why on earth ?!
Ask any person, what is the cost of this delight? Everyone will answer: by work. He will also add: overcoming oneself. But forgets or does not want to add: and overcoming injuries. But when injuries happen – sooner or later, then this is the most “how long?” flies out like a cannon. And the age of the skaters begins to work in the opposite direction: the small children perform! And the ISU is right there, putting everything in the dossier.
Injuries are the unsightly side of big-time sports. Figure skating is a big sport. And there is also an elite in it, whose level is higher than a high one. But injuries don’t care. Coaches and athletes care. True, they, living with problems every day, do not have the right to throw up their hands. And hysterically groan in front of all honest people. And shake diagnoses.
Remember how Yuzuru Hanyu at one of the Grand Prix stages in 2014 collided with Han Yan during the warm-up? I was lying on the ice, waiting for the doctor. And then he skated a free program with a bandaged head and fell from jumps. After it ended, he began to cry. Did he need it? He needs it.
Modern figure skating, like any Olympic sport, is not about health. No, with him, maybe the road to the dream begins. So it was once at a time when figure skating sections were engaged in the open air: children were brought in just to improve their health. Now the argumentation is most often different: explicit – the child’s energy has nowhere to go, hidden – we want to raise a champion. Yes, and the social lift haunts, that too.
And when the way up from start to start begins, then the evaluation criteria change. This is not about coaching indifference: this one will leave, the other will appear, you should not make monsters out of mentors, arguing about an abstract respectful attitude (which supposedly does not exist) for each student. It is about overcoming in the broadest sense of the word. No compromise.
Only from the Japanese stage of the Grand Prix were Rika Kihira removed – an ankle injury. And Yuzuru Hanyu, who dreamed of performing an axel in four and a half turns in front of his native tribunes, starred. Also heals the ankle. “If nothing hurts, raise your hand,” like Eteri Tutberidze, any coach can ask before the formation of his athletes.
How many injuries did Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Dmitry Aliev, Alexander Samarin, Mikhail Kolyada, Nikita Katsalapov, our hotbeds have in their careers? Kolyada missed a whole year after a severe fracture of his leg. I didn’t skate at all due to a broken ankle for five months. When asked how it happened, he answered: I can’t speak, otherwise they will laugh.
Coach Alexei Mishin said: Tuktamysheva’s ankle was torn to shreds. Lisa fell from a jump during a home competition. The next year she became the world champion.
And hard not only is the ice of big sport. A recent example: gymnast Artur Dalaloyan is now an Olympic champion. And the diagnosis – the Achilles gap three months before the Olympic Games, and the performance at the Games in Tokyo shocked fans, colleagues, and doctors. And he is our hero.
When I was discharged from the hospital, I received recommendations from doctors: you can start running and walking only after six months. “Do you think I was waiting to be told that you can run and jump? Based on my feelings, feelings and sports experience, day after day I took some steps to start walking and then jump. “
Did you know this? All athletes are crazy. Because they are doing the unthinkable. But it’s unthinkable only for us.
No one has thrown a single reproach to Arthur Dalaloyan. Only he himself, about which he spoke in an interview with MK: “Of course, I had this moment of guilt that I did not keep track of myself. Such injuries do not happen overnight. Probably, you need to listen more to the body: what it requires, what it lacks. This is always visible, we just close our eyes to some signals or do not notice, or rather, pretend that we do not notice. This also gives me experience, not everything goes by gravity, you need to keep it under control. “
Giving advice to doctors and coaches of the same Daria Usacheva on how to keep the health of skaters under control is silly. Whether Dasha arrived at the Grand Prix stage in Japan with an injury is a question that is also pointless to discuss. To outsiders – for sure. How to assume that Sasha Trusova was literally taken off the plane at the insistence of the doctors, and Dasha was thrown into battle, so as not to leave the stage without Russian participants. Like, one is definitely going to Beijing! And the second – how it will turn out, but in the absence of ultra-s – more likely no than yes.
Prudence with any assumptions based solely on negative speculations was not close. And there is not enough of him in the discussion of our great figure skating. And mercy, by the way, too. Which is time to start showing in relation to our stars. We love the whole world – the whole world and you need to spare.
… The Olympic season is a straight road to a dream. Not everyone will get to her. And even not everyone will pass this path. When we say that the chosen ones become champions, we mean not only talent, but a set of terms. Lack of injuries – including.
After Aleksandra Trusova was removed from the stage in Japan – literally from the plane’s ladder – a seditious thought crept in: is it really necessary for all our singles, who will challenge a ticket to the Olympic Games in Beijing, to continue performing at the Grand Prix stages? Sliced - because it seems like it is impossible to deprive athletes of starts, taking away the opportunity to compete with different athletes, different judges and … generally compete. After all, the start is the goal of any training. And the way to make money in the end.
But this exhausting Olympic road … All our brilliant girls in the season passed one stage of the Grand Prix. They showed everything to the judges, and once again they proved it to the world, even taking into account the internal claims of know-it-alls not from the pros and debriefing through a magnifying glass. Maybe we need to slow down a bit, literally and figuratively? To prepare for a battle that will become the main one in someone’s career – the Russian Championship. Their ticket to Beijing is there.
And after all, for the sake of this ticket, even hefty and experienced guys do not hesitate to admit that there is not enough strength for everything in the season. For example, four-time biathlon world champion Sturla Holm Lagrade says: in the Olympic season I will skip the World Cup races, I am going to make the right choice to be in shape for the Olympic Games.
Of course, none of our wonderful girls will be removed from the starts, and the skaters will not do it just for the sake of self-preservation (see above about overcoming): they will not refuse the fifth stage in Grenoble, nor the home stage in Sochi, and then the final of the series. Right choice? It can only be done by athletes and coaches before each start. No entrance for unauthorized people.
