Interview With Linda Villella

If the name doesn't ring immediately ring a bell, Linda Villella is her married name. You may know her by her maiden name, Carbonetto. In 1968, Linda Carbonetto finished second at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships behind World Champion Karen Magnussen and earned a berth on the Olympic team that traveled to Grenoble, France. The following season, nineteen year old Carbonetto, who had been touted as "the nation's next great international champion" by the Toronto Star's Jim Proudfoot, traveled to Toronto and unseated Magnussen to win the Canadian title, even earning a perfect score of 6.0 for her flawless free skate. The student of Ellen Burka then traveled to the North American Championships in Oakland, California and won the bronze medal. She followed that up with a sixth place finish at the 1969 World Championships in Colorado Springs. Then as quickly as she rose to the top, she decided to move on. Carbonetto joined the professional ranks, toured with Ice Capades and later married renowned ballet dancer and choreographer Edward Villella and turned her attention to the dance world, taking on a key role with the Miami City Ballet School. Villella took the time to talk about her life in skating, her thoughts on the sport's evolution and her current life both in and out of the sport:

Q: Since you competed at the 1968 Olympics, only three Canadian ladies (Karen Magnussen, Liz Manley and Joannie Rochette) have won Olympic or World medals. Why do you believe Canadian ladies skaters have historically been labelled as "having a hard time laying it down when it counts" and how bright do you think the future of Canadian skating is?

A: I don’t think I am qualified to answer your first question. I was in Miami for twenty five years involved with ballet and Miami really does not make ice skating a priority. It was wonderful to come back to New York where ice skating is so much more appreciated. I have no idea what the training is like in Canada. I do believe consistency is the key to successful competing. It always amazed me, when I was competing, how skaters would put in jumps to their program that they hardly ever landed.

Q: Compulsory figures played a huge part in the scoring when you skated. Do you think that the end of figures was a good or a bad thing? 

A: I think figures are really important. Edges are the key to great skating and figures also teach you control. I don’t believe they should be a part of major competition but I do believe it should be compulsory for skaters to take figures and pass the figure tests in order to compete.

Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

Q: You skated professionally after your eligible career ended, touring with Ice Capades. What were the most fun and most difficult aspects of a grueling tour schedule?

A: Skating in Ice Capades was very hard for me. I really was not ready to join an ice show but my parents were out of money for my training and I had to put my brother through college. I was heartbroken that I could not compete in the Olympic in 1972. Remember: I had beaten Karen in 1969 and my figures had improved tremendously. I often wonder if I could have medalled in 1972. In Ice Capades, we toured ten and a half months a year, we were in a different city every week and we did nine to eleven shows a week. It was grueling and we didn't have much time for ourselves. We also were doing the same routine for that whole year which made it monotonous. Again, it was a hard time for me anyway so I had trouble adjusting. Ice Capades was very good to me so I think it was more my attitude at the time. I still made some good friends and had a lot of laughs.

Q: As a professional, you also appeared on a TV show called Ice Palace. What can you tell us about it?

A: Metromedia owned Ice Capades and when we did the Ice Capades television specials they sent a producer named Peter Engel to oversee the show. He then decided to do the Ice Palace variety show where he had different stars like Robert Goulet and Florence Henderson along with skating stars like Tommy Litz. There was also a skating corps. Bob Turk choreographed the show. I did seven of the eight shows.

Q: You are married to legendary U.S. ballet dancer and choreographer Edward Villella and are the founding director of the Miami City Ballet School. What do you love most about dance that skating doesn't offer and vice versa?

A: What I love about dance most is the wonderful choreography by truly brilliant people like George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Paul Taylor that made you "see the music". In ballet, pieces can be thirty minutes long and the theme of the piece can be choreographed on a whole corps of dancers with the lead couple integrated into the piece. Some of this work is very sophisticated and the abstract movements came from the great ideas in history and art. These pieces are in a company repertoire for years. Different dancers will be selected to dance the different leads and you can watch each dancer's interpretation of the piece. In skating, most pieces are done on a soloist or pair skater, they are the only ones to do that choreography and it usually is a five minute piece and then you go on to watch another skater. In skating, I love the flow that the ice gives you and the movement it can create. There is such a wonderful freedom to moving across the ice and when I used to jump I felt like I was flying.

Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

Q: You competed against skaters like Peggy Fleming, Gaby Seyfert, Trixi Schuba, Karen Magnussen and Janet Lynn. What were your impressions of these iconic skaters? 

A: All the skaters I competed against were incredible athletes. They all had special qualities in their skating. With Trixi, her figures were amazing. Peggy had grace and beautiful jumps, and Gaby and Karen were incredibly powerful. I leave Janet Lynn for last because she was the skater that I loved to watch most. She was ethereal on the ice. Her calm, her beautiful lines and beautiful jumps were the epitome of ice skating to me.

Q: What's one thing about you most people don't know? 

A: Most people don't know I was crippled and wore iron braces on my legs when I was three years old. I started skating at seven because my dad heard about children who had polio and were strengthening their legs through ice skating.

Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

Q: What are your feelings on competitive skating today - the new system, no more 6.0, no figures, no compulsory dances.... so much has changed. Is it for the best?

A: I really don't like the new system of judging. It is too complicated for most people who don't know skating and even a lot of us older people who used to skate. I worry that it will take a toll on developing an audience. The freestyle numbers have so many requirements that sometimes the quality of the skating is not what it should be. My recommendation would be to judge each requirement individually (like in gymnastics) and then go back to the original way the long program used to be judged with two sets of marks, one for content and the other for your presentation. I would have nine judges and throw the high mark and the low mark out in order to prevent favoritism.

Q: Skaters of the 70's and 80's like Brian Boitano, Midori Ito, Dorothy Hamill and Liz Manley (for instance) are still actively performing. When is the last time you were on the ice and would you ever perform again? 

A: I did not skate for about fifteen years in Miami and started to skate again last year when I moved back to New York. Skating is like an old friend. It is always there for you. I would never perform again. I am just not the skater I used to be, although I still skate and it makes me very, very happy.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Age (Like 6.0) Is Just A Number: Ageism And Skating

At the risk of sounding like Peter Griffin (which absolutely isn't a bad thing), do you know what really grinds my gears? Ageism, especially in figure skating. American civil rights activist Maggie Kuhn once said, "I think of age as a great universalizing force.  It's the only thing we all have in common.  It doesn't begin when  you collect your social security benefits.  Aging begins with the moment of birth, and it ends only when life  itself has ended.  Life is a continuum; only, we -- in our stupidity and blindness -- have chopped it up into  little pieces and kept all those little pieces separate." 

The culture and emphasis on youth in the figure skating community lends people to think they're 'too old' and their careers are over in their early twenties. They're 'over the hill' at legal drinking age and 'need to step aside to allow a new generation to move up'. Bitch please. Yes, our bodies change as we get older and don't always do things the way we always might like... or as easily. Judging by the evidence of so many skaters having both "amateur" and professional careers that extended well past their teens and twenties and all of the incredibly talented adult skaters out there, is there any reasonable excuse for the belief that people should hang up their skates at twenty one because 'the clock is ticking'? It's really a quite delusional mentality. I started the conversation on this issue a little in my May 2013 article Midori Ito And Why Adult Skating Makes Me Smile, but I wanted to delve a little further into some of the history of 'older' skaters in the sport and their talk about their achievements.

1964 and 1968 Olympic Gold Medallists Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov still perform regularly in their golden years (Ludmila's in her late seventies and Oleg's in his early eighties) but the ISU have even imposed ageism in their own international adult figure skating competition. Skaters in their 80's have competed at the U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships but the ISU International Adult Figure Skating Competition held annually in Obertsdorf, Germany only allows skaters under the age of seventy one to compete. I think it's pretty ludicrous that you'd offer a competition to adults in the spirit of inclusiveness and then exclude people based on their age. The Queen Of England is eighty seven years old. I most certainly wouldn't be telling her what she could and couldn't do based on her age and with the fine lines blurred between "amateur" and professional these days (World Champion and World Professional Champion Midori Ito competed at the Oberstdorf event), you would think the ISU would want to include skaters like The Prototopovs, should they ever wish to compete, to raise the profile, interest in (and in turn, money for) their biggest international adult competition. We all know how much sense the ISU likes to make, after all.

Midori Ito competing at the 2013 ISU International Adult Competition

Skating wasn't always so immersed in the culture of ageism. U.S. Champion and Attorney Joseph K. Savage competed at the 1932 Winter Olympics with his pairs partner Gertrude Meredith at the age of fifty one and continued his competitive career for over a decade after that, winning the silver medal in the 1943 U.S. Figure Skating Championships with partner Nettie Prantel when he was sixty three years young. Similarly, Norway's Martin Stixrud, who went on to coach Sonja Henie, was forty four years old when he won the Olympic bronze medal in the men's figure skating competition at the 1920 Summer Olympics in London, England and 1924 Olympic Bronze Medallist Ethel Muckelt of Great Britain was thirty eight at the time of her Olympic medal win. Chris Christenson, who won the 1926 U.S. men's title at the age of fifty one, remains the oldest U.S. champion of all time. Skating was a very different sport in those times. The emphasis wasn't on quadruple jumps but on compulsory figures and even the free skating performances were largely based on the evolution of figures. A 1926 newspaper account of Christenson's winning free skate stated "his figures were smooth and precisely correct. He looped and spread-eagled with an unhurried calm that must have piled point after point in his favor on the score-pads of the judges. But his was an exhibition of mathematical certainty. It was a typically masculine performance, devoid of teeming nervous energy and one of cold and accurate calculation." Rather than discount the efforts of these early champions based on the fact that their programs didn't feature of a host of different triple jumps, we have to consider that compulsory figures were incredibly difficult in themselves and many skaters today would undoubtedly struggle with them based on the way they have been trained right from the beginning of their careers.

In winning the 2010 Olympic pairs title with partner Xue Shen at the age of 36, Hongbo Zhao became the oldest person to win an Olympic medal in figure skating since Muckelt in 1924. Zhao, however, is the exception - not the rule. While we don't see many skaters competing in 'amateur' competitions outside of adult events in their thirties, forties and fifties these days, that's not say that skating ends when you stop competing or that you can't. As long as you have two feet and a heartbeat, you can go out and do anything your little heart desires. People have, and people can.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Interview With Tim Wood

It's interesting. Almost every interview that I do usually begins with whatever wonderful skater I'm lucky enough to be interviewing either asking me about Nova Scotia or telling me about a connection they have had to the area. My interview with Olympic Silver Medallist and two time World Champion Tim Wood was no different. Tim's Nova Scotia connection came from his brother, who came here and ended up out on lobster boats... which led to an annual family tradition of a lobster boil, which being a proper Nova Scotian I think is right some fantastic! It's nice to see we're rubbing off on the rest of the world! At any rate, speaking with Tim was an absolute pleasure. His incredible career which also included three U.S. titles and a North American title speaks for itself, but there's so much about his career that a lot of people probably don't know and would be fascinated by: how he lost the Olympics on a technicality, his work with Elvis Stojko, the fact he still skates three times a week at age sixty six and was landing double Axels - yes, you read that right - just a few months ago. Another thing that I think you will all really appreciate about this interview is Tim's frankness and honesty when it came to the very timely topic of Ottavio Cinquanta and the current state of skating. Grab yourself a coffee or tea (or a nice martini as Tim will soon suggest) and get ready for a fantastic read!

Q: Your career was nothing short of amazing. You won the Olympic silver medal in 1968 in Grenoble, the World Championships in 1969 and 1970 and three U.S. titles and the North American Championships to boot. Looking back on your competitive skating career, what moments or memories stand out as the most special for you?

A: Well, in those days your focus was really different. There was no short program and your free skating was five minutes long. A lot of the focus was on figures, so I'd have to say I had two standout moments - one in figures and one in free skating. For figures, I wouldn't have to say the Grenoble Olympics. In figures, we had thirty six figures (in six groups) and you had to practice all thirty six... and I did for four to five hours a day for ten years. The problem was that in figures if you were getting scores of 4.5-5.5 you were winning, which is weird. The scores were lower on figures. When you added all of the scores out, it really was 60% in favor of figures. I realized that if you didn't get where you needed to be in figures, you were never going to win a championship. Look at Janet Lynn. You can't climb from that far behind and win. She should have been World Champion!  At any rate, the left backward change loop and the left backward paragraph loop were the ones everyone feared. I worked especially hard to make sure my left foot was strong. Guess what we ended up having to do at the Olympics? There were nine judges, they'd just made ice and I had to do the very first figure. No pressure there! Whatever happened out there on that figure, I could do no wrong. It was like somebody did it with a protractor. I just got in a groove and couldn't get out of it. It was really a once in a lifetime experience at the right time. When I finished, the audience was clapping and then I turned at judges and all nine judges were clapping. That just never happened! The freestyle performance would probably be Worlds in 1969 when I won my first world title. The problem with skating in competition is that there's so much in the way of nerves and compression through it all. It's so internal. Those perfect skates like you have in practice are very, very rare in World and Olympic competition. They're once in a blue moon things. Everyone is so focused and directed. I watched Elvis Stojko do it when he won his first World title in Japan, Michelle Kwan has had those moments and I'd have to say Meryl Davis and Charlie White had a moment like that in Sochi too.

Q: You decided to retire from competitive skating when you were on top after winning the 1970 World Figure Skating Championships. Did you give thought to continuing until 1972 and going for the gold at the Sapporo Games or was it simply time?

A: I considered continuing strongly. I wish I would have stayed in to do that. I was coming out of university, I was twenty one and I was really fed up with my coach at that time. Ronnie Baker was an old world English guy who wanted his skaters to be completely dependent. It became suffocating. When I won my second World title, I was so mad at him that halfway through the figures, I told my father to tell him I didn't want to see him anymore. I skated the rest of the Championships by myself. My father was a surgeon and he paid for my skating and education but we had four boys in my family who all got advanced degrees. My poor father had nothing left. It was time. I just couldn't ask him to support me for another two years. You weren't allowed to have support from outside back then but I knew other people were getting anyway, even if you weren't allowed to. No one came and offered to help and I was just DONE with my coach. I suppose I should have gone with Carlo Fassi if I wanted to stay. I should have jumped over to him. I needed someone to keep me interested. I didn't need someone technical; I needed someone to motivate me. He was a much better personal coach. He knew how to keep a kid inspired and motivated. That said, if I had become Olympic Champion maybe my life would have been different and maybe I wouldn't be doing what I am today. It is what it is.

Q: You still skate regularly every week at sixty six. I think that's incredible! Would you ever get out there and perform professionally again?

A: Well, I am sixty six and still skate three times a week! I recently had to have a new hip put in on December 10 but I started back on the ice in March after being off for a few months. I'm not allowed to jump anymore. Up until thirty days before my surgery, I was still doing each of the double jumps up to a double Axel. I just go out and put my headphones and iPod on and have a blast. I am currently involved in a major project building a sports recreation/family entertainment area in a fifty acre zone. It will house venues for thirty two to thirty four different World and Olympic sports, and will also have a new high school, new hotel, performing arts center, pool, huge medical and sports performance center and gymnastics complex. We'll also be building a theatre similar to what they use on Dancing With The Stars as a dance center/nightclub kind of place. It's a new concept of mixed use space in real estate development and no one's done that in the country. This project will be the flagship for us and we hope to do something similar and bigger in Colorado.  I hope to be able to skate in the opening of that. I'm still alllowed to do things like ballet jumps, I just should not be doing double jumps and certainly not triples, although when I turned sixty and worked really hard to get all of my doubles back, I did try and land one but then I thought, wow... but I shouldn't be doing be that. The only triple I can do is copious amounts of gin with three olives.

Q: You actually lost the 1968 Olympic title to Wolfgang Schwarz on a technicality. Can you explain what happened?

A: They actually all thought I had won. Back then, at the Olympics the factor of scoring was ten and the factor was twelve at Worlds. You had a smaller margin you could give to someone if you were judging. The Canadian judge Ralph McCreath wanted me to win but he mismarked me and realized he made a mistake but it was on paper and you couldn't change it back then. He went to the referee Josef Dědič and there was nothing he could do. I lost the Olympics by one judge by one tenth of a point. Can you imagine that? My coach came over and could not have been worse about it. He just couldn't compliment anyone and give them credit. That was just him. He was more impressed with John Misha Petkevich than me, his own student. So here I am - I am the World Champion and he's telling me to skate like John. We were just at each other's throats and it was a shame it had to end that way. I think going through those kinds of experiences made me much more sensitive to the human being and sensitive side when I coach; when I work with kids. As they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Q: Who are your three favourite skaters of all time and why?

A: Janet Lynn for sure. Janet was a combination of Dorothy, Peggy and maybe Katarina Witt. She had all of the interpretive qualities and the power and energy, yet she had this delicacy about her. I remember specifically becoming aware of the ballet side of her skating. Janet had that. Her feet were magnificent and nobody has come anywhere close to that. I remember a footwork sequence she did where she got a standing ovation almost in a wave while she was going down the rink doing to a step sequence. It was one of the most incredible things I've seen. Michelle Kwan as well. Now there's a person who could perform! What she did out there transcended ice skating. It was like she was going on a journey and she was taking you with her. On the men's side, John Curry was one of my favourites. He could do camel spins and jumps in both directions, but there was just this talent there that was unbelievable. Another skater as well I'd have to say would be Doug Ramsay. He was a favourite of mine and we trained at the same club. I think Doug Ramsay without question would have been a World Champion.

Q: The loss of Doug Ramsay and the entire U.S. team in the Plane Crash in 1961... how do you look at all of that now?

A: I am sixty six and I have enough history behind me to look at things differently although it was so hard at the time. You tend to look at the bigger picture. They were saying that because the team and the coaches were all gone, it would take fifteen to twenty years to develop another team to get to that level. We did it in seven years. 1968 was one of the strongest years at the Olympics for the U.S.

Q: What don't people know about you? 

A: I used to play guitar and sang all the way through high school and college. I sang to my own vocals in a show as well. Music was always a big part of me. I used to write music. I wrote love songs. Also, my wife was my childhood sweetheart. We met in high school in Bloomfield Hills High School in Michigan. I was a senior, she was a junior. Our first date was a sweetheart's dance on Valentine's Day. Get out the saccharine, right? I need some insulin here! We have been married since August 1970. I first came to California when I signed Ice Capades in 1970 and I had family in the Van Nuys area. We bought a place and moved to California in 1976. I was the first person to put show in Knott's Berry Farm Good Time Theatre. That show still plays and I think Willy Bietak does it. I haven't had chance to see it recently.

Q: In skating with Ice Capades and later Ice Follies and producing and starring in the show at Knott's Berry Farm, you really did so much professionally as a skater beyond your eligible career. What did you love most about skating professionally?

A: I really enjoyed it. I did Ice Capades for two years then went to Ice Follies (we were the first to do the Vegas show), then I did two years with Holiday On Ice and moved on to do my own shows at Knott's Berry Farm. I decided to stop skating professionally regularly by around 1978. There wasn't anything for us to do beyond tours and shows back then. We really didn't have professional competitions just yet. I was tired of being on the road, there wasn't any new place to go and it was just time. 

Q: So much has changed since you skated competitively. Skating has a new judging system, compulsory figures are long gone and now ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta wants to get rid of the short program. What do you think of the way figure skating has changed or evolved over the years and its present state?

A: Cinquanta needs to go! He's single handledly done more damage to figure skating in the last twenty years than anyone else. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He was a speed skater. He used the Olympic debacle in 2002 as his political power to change the sport. What we do now in this system is give objective points to everything like in gymnastics. You know in high school when you dissected a frog in biology class? At end of the dissection, it's not a frog anymore, now is it? When you award more points for grabbing your skate and putting it behind your head than doing a spin well, you've completely missed the point of what figure skating is about. We don't know anything about skating under this system. Whenever I go to skate here in California, there is without fail a coach or a student who comes up and asks me to help them with something. In every single instance, I have to go back and teach them the principle of the very first figure. What does that tell you? That basic understanding of movement and of edges... they even don't know what it is! Never mind the intellectual understanding, they have no understanding of how to do it with their body. I'm not saying the kids aren't talented. I watched all of the Olympic men and women on TV and almost every single one did a triple toe jump (toe-loop, flip or Lutz) and the technique? I would scream at the top of the lungs if I saw a student of mine do that! They look at me like I'm the old guy but they have no understanding of what mastery is when it comes to skating correctly. They don't even know what mastery looks like. Officials in U.S. Figure Skating have asked me over the years if it's the judging system and I would have to say the judging system is the outward expression of what's really wrong. The judging system is ridiculous, don't get me wrong. The real error is that the knowledge of how the body moves to create good technique is gone. I worked with Elvis Stojko for a year. After eight months, he said to me "I never knew it could be this easy!" I told him that technique is all about the perfection of positions. There are so many training tools they're not using. Skating without figures it like taking the scales out of music. I'd also be shocked if 2% of the coaches in the U.S. had ever been to a ballet class or production. Look at all of the wonderful ballets in Russia - how does that fare for them? But as for Cinquanta, he needs to go. He's done more devastation to the sport than anyone.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The Letters: Skating Community Calls For An End To Cinquanta's Reign

A lot has gone on in figure skating world in the last week. Canada won a medal at the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships in Courmayeur, Italy, Stars On Ice kicked off the U.S., Johnny Weir was all over the news as usual and the skating community has rightfully been in an uproar over Ottavio Cinquanta's latest in a long string of autocratic debacles that started in the mid 1990's and has brought us to the boiling point today. I admonished his defense of anonymous judging and bid to eliminate the short program in my recent article How Do You Solve A Problem Like Cinquanta? and provided a list of contact information for skating federations around the world, urging skaters, coaches, choreographers and fans alike to speak up and contact their skating federation and express their concerns and people have in overwhelming numbers. In mere days, Monica Friedlander's Facebook group Save The Short Program has reached over 4000 likes from all corners of this fine Earth, two time Olympic Gold Medallist Dick Button has called the figure skating community to action on the issue, a petition to ISU federations to take action to impeach or call for a no confidence vote to remove the aging dictator of the ISU is in the works and letters and emails to member federations around the world are flowing in steadily. I wanted to share some of these letters that have been shared with me to remind you that now is the time to right your own. If governing bodies of figure skating from here to Beijing are inundated with letters from the people filling seats at skating competitions and paying their salaries and stipends, they would be wise to give them more than a passing glance, no? Skating is not only a sport and an art, but it's also a product. If people are paying to watch or see something, they are customers. Will the customer always be right? Time will only tell.

THE LETTERS

From La'Chia: "Dear President St. Peter and Mr. Raith, As a fan of figure skating, I am writing to express my concern over Ottavio Cinquanta's leadership of the International Skating Union (ISU). He clearly knows nothing about figure skating and could not care less about it. His recent letter filled with ill-advised ideas such as eliminating the short program is evidence of this. Eliminating the short program would result in dire consequences for the sport. First and foremost, it could potentially make the long program even more demanding for the skaters. Asking them to do more in one program could increase their risk for injuries that either severely stunt their careers or end them entirely. Also, getting rid of the short program would put more pressure on the skaters because they would only get one chance to prove to the judges they are worthy of a medal. Mr. Cinquanta is wrong when he says that almost no other sport has two segments. Gymnastics and half pipe snowboarding and skiing have qualification rounds. Track, swimming, and even short track speed skating have qualifying heats. The artistic side of the sport would be negatively impacted as well. Skaters and choreographers would be limited to one theme per season. This could stunt artistic growth because it could potentially take twice as many seasons for a skater to find a suitable style. Having two programs means more skating for fans like me to enjoy at each competition which leads me to another consequence. Eliminating the short program would cut the number of sessions at competitions nearly in half which means less ticket sales and therefore less money for host federations. Choreographers would also lose money because they only would be creating half as many programs. Mr. Cinquanta suggests that all five disciplines (men and ladies singles, pairs, ice dance, and synchronized) have programs of the same length too. He does not understand that each discipline has different demands. What works for the men's event may not work for pairs. Speaking of that, I already feel that the pairs long program is too long. Over the years, I have often seen the pair men nearly drop their partners during lifts because their legs are so tired. Time lengths should be based on the unique requirements of each discipline. Another troubling suggestion is that judging remain anonymous. Despite what Mr. Cinquanta says, anonymous judging makes it so much easier to conceal cheating. Some judges think, "I'm not going to get caught, so why not?" Of course, scores that are off may also be the result of a judge who is in need of remediation. If almost everyone is unable to determine which score came for which judge, then it would be impossible to find out who might need some retraining. Overall, transparency would improve the quality of the judges and the integrity of the sport, which is desperately needed. If all this isn't enough, Mr. Cinquanta also makes suggestions that would harm speed skating, his own sport. Clearly, he is not fit to lead the ISU any longer. I urge you and your colleagues to take action and vote to impeach Mr. Cinquanta. Figure skating cannot take another two years of his leadership. It needs a ISU president that will bring about positive changes."

From Bill: "Dear Gale and Phyllis and all ISU Representatives and Council Members, The time has come to boldly take control of the sport that we all love and enjoy. The quiet waiting game has to end, time is of the essence. It is not about what is best for me, or for you, it is what is best for the sport of figure skating world wide. Knowing how things have worked in the past at the ISU it is not time to hide and think someone else will make those changes or that if you stand up you will be removed from ISU committees. It is time to rise up as one body and change the direction of both speed skating and figure skating for the better. It is hard to imagine how far our sport has deteriorated. For too long the ISU Council Members and Representatives have been party to the tail wagging the dog. The facts are clear, the leadership of Mr. Cinquanta has been disastrous and now he threatens to further destroy what he does not clearly understand. There are no excuses. I ask all skaters and those who love skating to rise up and be a part of this movement. If someone can get a list of all of the ISU Representatives we can reach out to them all. Since the petition regarding the Olympic Ladies event garnered two million votes can we not take the next step and demand the retirement of Mr. Cinquanta?"

From Kathy: "Attention Mr. Dan Thompson: As you are aware, many people are disillusioned with the ISU and its leadership.The problems have been highlighted during and since Sochi 2014 and now there is a danger that the short program is in jeopardy not to mention; there is no transparency. I urge you to add Canada's voice to those who are insisting on an overhaul of the ISU. There should be a vote of confidence for the leadership with haste before the credibility of World Figure Skating is destroyed completely!"

From Claire: "An Open Letter to ISU Council Members and ISU Figure Skating Federations: Reject Ottavio Cinquanta's Recent Proposals and Request His Resignation. This week, the figure skating season ended with the World championships in Saitama, Japan. Normally in the skating world, this is a time of relaxation for skaters and coaches who have finished their season's work, and a time for skating fans to reflect on the memorable performances of an Olympic season. But not so this year. This year, the season is ending on a note of worry and concern. ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta chose to announce, on the eve of Worlds, a bizarre list of proposals that would drastically change the sport of figure skating. As a result, the World championships, normally the highlight of the skating year, took place under a shadow. And now we are left to confront Cinquanta's demands. In a letter to ISU officials, Cinquanta put forth proposals for major changes in both figure skating and speed skating. Let me note, first of all, that he offered no detailed rationale or reasoning behind any of the proposed changes. Basically, we have no idea why he is suggesting these changes. Is the ISU in financial trouble? Is he facing pressure from the IOC? There is no explanation. In his failure to lay out a solid rationale for the proposals, Cinquanta falls short in a basic standard of leadership. The most serious and drastic change he proposes in figure skating is the elimination of the short program. It is my opinion that this move would have a disastrous effect on the sport. And it's my contention that, in even suggesting this, Ottavio Cinquanta demonstrates such a complete lack of understanding and respect for figure skating that he is no longer an acceptable leader of this sport. The short program was established for all skating disciplines in 1972. In the ensuing 44 years, it has become an integral and popular part of the sport. It was therefore a complete shock to the skating world to hear Cinquanta call for the elimination of the short program. No one had ever suggested such a thing before, as far as I know. And again, with no explanation as to why. The proposal was so bizarre, many at first thought it was an early April Fool's joke! Eliminating the short program is a terrible idea. It would negatively affect many aspects of the sport. First and most important, it would damage the quality and integrity of the competition itself. The short program helps balance figure skating competition and gives skaters more opportunity to demonstrate their skills. Years ago, when people were complaining about having to skate qualification rounds at Worlds, the famous Russian coach Alexei Mishin commented that he had no issue with qualification. Mishin's opinion: The more phases/events in any single competition, the more likely it is the overall best skater will win that competition. Having more phases in the competition smooths variances, averages the results, and makes it less likely that atypically great or atypically bad performances will disproportionately affect the outcome. It's the same principle behind having a 7-game championship series in the NBA (instead of just one game). If the short program were eliminated, the long program would quickly turn into a high-risk jump drill, with everyone throwing as many hard tricks as possible and consequently, in all likelihood, failing in many elements. The pressure would be so intense that the chances of seeing great performances would be lessened. And we would soon start to see many one-hit wonders and flash-in-the-pan wins. Getting rid of the short program would negatively affect the quality of the competition as a whole. Eliminating the short program would also negatively affect the artistic side of the sport. Having two programs gives skaters more opportunities to try different program concepts, different music, and different styles of skating. It gives them two chances each season to make an artistic statement. Eliminating half of those opportunities would hamper skaters' artistic development and would lead, immediately I think, to the end of any artistic/musical innovation. With everything riding on one program, I don't think skaters would feel comfortable using anything but proven “warhorse” music pieces. Nor would they feel comfortable presenting new, innovative choreography. I believe cutting the short program would also be disastrous in terms of ticket sales/revenue. It would eliminate half the competition, and thus half the ticket sales and TV rights possibilities. Some might argue that, at many competitions, short programs are poorly attended and often not shown on TV. But this is not the case at bigger competitions. And especially for bigger events like Worlds and Nationals, organizers depend on many fans traveling to the event and buying all-event packages. For serious fans, all-event packages currently provide a satisfying experience: Four to five days of practices and eight separate events (short programs/long programs) to enjoy. Eliminating the short program would cut the value of that package in half, which would certainly affect ticket sales and fans' willingness to travel to events. Eliminating the short program would also negatively affect the overall dramatic tension of the event and, thus, viewers' enjoyment. It is reckless and dangerous to propose such a drastic change at a time when the sport is already struggling mightily to maintain attendance, viewership, and popularity in North America and Europe. The lack of professionalism and careful analysis revealed in his proposals is reflective of Ottavio Cinquanta's leadership of the ISU. Time and again, Cinquanta has failed to adequately perform the duties of president/CEO. He has been ineffective in responding to difficult situations. He has proven inept in communicating with the press and public. In 2011, he responded poorly when an earthquake in Japan forced the cancellation of that year's world championships. He kept the skating community in limbo for weeks before finally resolving the situation. Since 2011, we have seen increased criticism of the current judging system and the anonymity of judges, which Cinquanta has brushed aside. In his current proposals, he insists again on the “necessity” of anonymous judging, declining to address this serious issue. In Sochi, the ISU faced a scandal over Adelina Sotnikova's victory; questions were raised about judges on the ladies' event panel having potential bias or checkered judging histories (Alla Shekhovtseva and Yuri Balkov). Cinquanta's response: “It's more important to have a good judge than a possible conflict of interest.” Why, as ISU president, would he tolerate either situation? Isn't it his job to prevent this? The callowness and cynicism of his response was stunning. The ISU was also confronted with a petition protesting the results, signed by almost 2 million fans, which was essentially completely ignored. Any manager in business or government, facing a scandal of this magnitude, would certainly have been compelled to answer for the situation and provide a logical, coherent defense of his or her organization's activity. Not Cinquanta, apparently. Cinquanta's request to eliminate the short program is his worst proposal yet and reveals his lack of informed leadership and failure to understand the sport. He did not offer a single well-reasoned, well-supported, logical argument to support such a huge change in the structure of the sport. I strongly believe that the national figure skating federations need to stand up and call for Ottavio Cinquanta's immediate resignation. He has failed as a leader of this sport. His presence and actions are now hurting this sport rather than helping it. He needs to go now--before he can do any more damage. We can't wait any longer for the end of his misguided reign."

FIGURE SKATING DESERVES BETTER

Ottavio Cinquanta and his actions as a leader of the ISU has been loudly booed and protested at international figure skating events dating back to 1996, when the audience at the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships in Edmonton, Alberta booed him for not allowing four time World Champion Kurt Browning and Olympic Gold Medallist Kristi Yamaguchi to skate in the gala. Only three years earlier, Olympic Gold Medallists Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin had performed in the gala at Worlds in Prague. Rule 128-6B in the ISU's Constitution and General Regulations, a technically enacted by Cinquanta, stated that "no exhibition by ineligible persons may be held in the same rink" after the conclusion of the competition of major ISU championships. He was faced with loud derision and jeers just two years later at the 1998 Worlds in Minneapolis and in 2002 during the Salt Lake City scandal admitted he "didn't know about figure skating too well". The speed skater promptly enforced a seemingly incomprehensible judging system built around anonymity that sucked the excitement and artistry out of the sport only years previous hugely popular OUTSIDE of skating circles around the world. Under his leadership, we've seen professional competition die an ugly death, the Salt Lake City scandal, numerous petitions about questionable judging brushed and laughed off, judges and officials directly involved in unethical behavior put right back into positions of power and control and now we have this man who knows relatively little about skating wanting to get rid of the short program and keep judging anonymous, right after what happened in Sochi. If you haven't written a letter yet, please do. Figure skating deserves better.

ISU MEMBER FEDERATIONS - GENERAL SECRETARIES AND EMAIL ADDRESSES

Andorra - President: Mrs. Mónica López - General Secretary: Mrs. Raquel Puigcernal  faeg@faeg.org
Argentina - President: Dr Jorge Fazio - General Secretary: Ms Maria Luz Carricart  srfazio@hotmail.com
Armenia - President: President: Mr Dario Urssino - General Secretary: Mrs Maria Dolores Cazorla secretaria@faph.org
Australia - President: Ms Catherine Taylor - Secretary: Mr Sean O'Brien  administration@isa.org.au
Austria - President: Ms Christiane Moerth - General Secretary: Mrs Friederike Worff  off-ice@skateaustria.at
Azerbaijan - President: Mr Iskander Khalilov - General Secretary: Mr Ramin Mammadov  azskating@mail.ru
Belarus - President: Mr Mikalai Ananyeu - General Secretary: Ms. Julia Komleva belskate2004@yahoo.com
Belgium - President: Mr Antoine Van Vossel - General Secretary: Mrs Gaby Deckmyn antoine.vanvossel@skynet.be
Bosnia and Herzegovina - President: Mr Zikrija Donko - General Secretary: Mr Vladimir Kezunovic  info@ksbih.ba
Brazil - President: Mr Emilio De Souza Strapasson - Secretary: Ms. Otilia Faria  mail@cbdg.org.br
Bulgaria - President: Ms Tatiana Yordanova - General Secretary: Vacant  bsf@mbox.contact.bg
Canada - President: Mrs Leanna Caron - Chief Executive Officer: Mr Dan Thompson skatecanada@skatecanada.ca
China - President: Mr Tian Xiao - General Secretary: Mr Lixin Tong  chnfs@chnfs.org
Chinese Taipei  - President: Mr Jan-Tar Wang - General Secretary: Mr Rich K.H. Lee  tpefsstssskating@gmail.com
Croatia - President: Mrs Morana Palikovic-Gruden - General Secretary: Mrs Melita Juratek Cipek info@croskate.hr
Cyprus - President: Mr Andreas Georgiades - General Secretary: Mrs Soula Constantinidou geoandr@cytanet.com.cy
Czech Republic - President: Dr Vera Tauchmanova - General Secretary: Mr Karel Oubrecht  cfsa@czechskating.org
Denmark - President: Mrs Ingelise Blangsted - General Secretary: Mrs Mariann Vasbo  office@danskate.dk
Estonia - President: Mr Edgar Savisaar - General Secretary: Mr Gunnar Kuura  info@uisuliit.ee
Finland - President: Mrs Susanna Rahkamo - General Secretary: Mrs Leaman  office@stll.fi
France - President: Mr Didier Gailhaguet - General Secretary: Mr Francis Fontanie  patinage@ffsg.org
Georgia - President: Ms Mariam Giorgobiani - General Secretary: Ms Salome Chigogidze  geoskating@gmail.com
Germany - President: Mr Dieter Hillebrand - General Secretary: Mr Michael Talermann  info@eislauf-union.de
Great Britain - President: Mr Ken Pendrey - Chief Executive: Mr Nicholas Sellwood
Greece - President:Mr Georgios Markouizos - General Secretary: Ms Georgia Proimou  figureskating@hisf.gr
Grenada - President: Mr Earl Clarkson - General Secretary: Ms Reena Leschinsky grenadafigureskating@yahoo.com
Hong Kong - President: Ms Yin Yip Siu - General Secretary: Mr Kwong Lin Hoi  hksu@hkolympic.org
Hungary - President: Mr Lajos Kósa - General Secretary: Mr György Sallak  info@hunskate.hu
Iceland - President: Mr Björgvin I. Ormarsson - General Secretary: Mrs Bjarnveig Gujónsdóttir skautasamband@skautasamband.is
India - President: Mr Bhavnesh Banga - General Secretary: Mr Saurabh Gupta icesai2003@yahoo.com
Indonesia - Chairman: Mr. Ir. H. S. Wibowo S. Hardjito, General Secretary: Drs TB. Ade Lukman wiwin.salim@gmail.com
Ireland - President: Ms Karen O'Sullivan - Vice President: Ms Cindy Mundow  info@isai.ie
Israel - President: Mr Boris Chait - General Secretary: Mrs Anna Slavin  info@iisf.org.il
Italy - President: Mr Giancarlo Bolognini - General Secretary: Mr Alberto Berto  figura@fisg.it
Japan - President: Mrs Seiko Hashimoto - General Secretary: Mr Yoshihito Amano  info@skatingjapan.or.jp
Kazakhstan - President: Mr Vasily Krylov - General Secretary: Ms Anzjhelika Gavrilova  skatingkz@mail.ru
Latvia - President: Mrs Marika Nugumanova - General Secretary: Mrs Strautmane Arta skatinglatvia@gmail.com
Lithuania - President: Ms Lilija Vanagiene - General Secretary: Ms Dovile Pervazaite  lsf.secretariat@gmail.com
Luxembourg - President: Mr Neil Valentine - General Secretary: Mrs Thiresia Kafatsaki  ulp.secretariat@gmail.com
Malaysia - President: Ms Laila Abdullah - Honorary Secretary: Ms Jennifer Campton  jencampton@isam.my
Mexico - President: Mr José Luis Aguilar-Urzaiz - General Secretary: Mr Alfonso Morones-Bulnes joseluisaguilar@telmexmail.com
Monaco - President: Mr Pascal Camia - General Secretary: Mr Gérard Ravera  info@skatemonaco.com
Netherlands - President: Vacant - General Secretary: Mr Paul Sanders  p.sanders@knsb.nl
New Zealand - President: Ms Jeanette King - General Secretary: Mrs Bridget Danbrook  secretary@nzifsa.org.nz
North Korea - President: Mr Jin Choe Kwang - General Secretary: Mr Thae Kim Sung  prk@star-co.net.kp
Norway - President: Mr Rune Gerhardsen - General Secretary: Mr Lasse Sætre  skoyteforbundet@nif.idrett.no
Philippines - President: Mr Manuel Veguillas - General Secretary: Mr Benito Lim  mvveguillas@gmail.com
Poland - President: Mr Dagiel Zenon - General Secretary: Ms Ewa Kierzkowska  office@pfsa.com.pl
Puerto Rico - President: Ms Lynette Spano - General Secretary: Vacant  info@prfsf.com
Romania - President: Mr Adrian George Ciobanu - General Secretary: Mr Ion Armenciu  patinaj@frp.ro
Russia - President: Mr Aleksander Gorshkov - General Director: Mr Valentin Piseev  oxrlat@dol.ru
Serbia - President: Ms Vojislava Vasovic - General Secretary: Ms Vesna Rakovic klizacki.savez.srbije@gmail.com
Singapore - President: Ms Sonja Chong - General Secretary: Ms Alison Chan  administration@sisa.org.sg
Slovakia - President: Mrs Felicitas Babušiková - General Secretary: Mrs Mária Zervanová  skrz@sztk.sk
Slovenia - President: Mrs Darja Gabrovsek Polajnar - Technical Secretary: Mrs Andreja Zelinka drsalna.zveza@siol.net
South Africa - President: Mr Vincenzo D'Aguanno - General Secretary: Mrs Deborah Rees  natsecsafsa@gmail.com
South Korea - President: Mr Kim Jae-Youl - General Secretary: Mr Kim Kwan Kyu  info@skating.or.kr
Spain - President: Mrs Maria-Teresa Samaranch - General Secretary: Mr Antonio Fdez. Arimany figureskating@fedhielo.com
Sweden  - President: Mrs Katarina Henriksson - General Secretary: Mrs. Malin Jarl  info@skatesweden.se
Switzerland  - President: Mr Roland Wehinger - General Secretary: Mrs Yvonne Zahnd  info@swissiceskating.ch
Thailand - President: Ms Suwanna Silpa-Archa - General Secretary: Dr. Srihasak Arirachakaran fsat@windowslive.com
Turkey - President: Mr Fahrettin Kandemir - General Secretary: Mrs BaŠŸak Derbent federasyon@buzpateni.org.tr
Ukraine - President: Mr Evgeniy Larin - General Secretary: Mrs Anastasiya Makarova office@ufsf.org
United Arab Emirates - Chairman: Dr Ahmed Almazrouei - Chief Executive Officer: Mr Juma Aldhaheri uaeiha@gmail.com
United States - President: Ms Patricia St.Peter - Executive Director: Mr David Raith  info@usfigureskating.org
Uzbekistan  - President: Mr Bakhrom Ashrafkhanov - General Secretary: Mr Evgeniy Nujdin  wsau@mail.ru

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Interview With Denise Biellmann

It has been a pretty good time lately on the blog from a writer's perspective... I have been fortunate enough to interview many of my OWN figure skating heroes and the opportunity to interview 1981 World Champion Denise Biellmann was an absolute dream come true, let me assure you. Not only does she have a spin named after her, but one of the longest and most successful careers IN figure skating to her credit. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, she won her first international competition at the age of EIGHT and went on to win the free skate at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games and the 1981 European and World titles, all the while making history not only with the Biellmann spin that she popularized but by becoming the first ladies skater to land a triple lutz in competition AND the first ladies skater to earn a perfect score of 6.0 in ISU competition. After becoming a World Champion, Denise turned professional, touring with Holiday On Ice and having one of the longest and most decorated careers as a professional skater out there, winning the World Professional Championships (both the Jaca and Landover events), the Challenge Of Champions five separate times, the Miko Masters (five times as well) among countless other professional competitions in a twenty year span. A skater who pushes boundaries not only technically but artistically as well, Denise continues to perform to this day as well as teaching skaters and passing on her remarkable knowledge and expertise to a whole new generation. She was SO kind to take the time to talk to me about both her "amateur" and professional careers, unique programs and style, coaching, the current judging system and much more in this fabulous interview.

Q: Your first trip to the World Championships came at age 13, 2 years after you introduced the Biellmann spin to your programs. You made history in 1978 by landing the first triple lutz by a woman ever in competition and becoming the first woman to achieve the perfect score of 6.0 in technical merit in ISU competition. You went on to win the free skate at the 1980 Olympics and finish 4th overall and then go on to win the 1981 Swiss, European and World title. What are your proudest and most memorable moments from your eligible career?

A: My most proudest moment is of course the World title from 1981 but the one of most memorable and magic moments was the standing ovation I received at the 1980 Olympics when I won the free skate.

Q: Compulsory figures were an area of skating that ultimately cost you a gold medal so I'm sure you were probably happy to see them go in 1990. Do you think compulsory figures are a valuable training tool or something that skating needs to leave in the attic forever and what are your thoughts on the way skating is being judged today?

A: Of course, if it hadn't have been for the figures, I would have been first or second in every competition since I was fourteen, so I was not sad to see them go but nevertheless, as a coach today, I do think they are a valuable training tool. Today's judging system might not be so attractive for the normal spectator, but I personally like it.

Q: You have had probably one of - if not the most - successful long and decorated professional career of any ladies skater. You've won the World Professional Championships (both the Landover and Jaca events), Challenge Of Champions (5 times), Miko Masters (5 times), International Pro Championships, Vicks 44 North American Open, Nikon Skating Championship, American Invitational, Rowenta Masters On Ice, toured with Holiday On Ice and performed in shows around world. What moments have stood out the most from your professional career and what has been the secret to your consistency and dedication over the years?

A: Naturally, the wins are always memorable but I had some wonderful moments skating in shows to live performances of such people like Montserrat Caballé. The chemistry when that atmosphere and those feelings connect with an audience are really special. Regarding the secret to the consistency and dedication, apart from the passion and love to the sport, I think it was just hard training and always wanting to try out different ideas, choreographic styles and costumes. Generally, doing new and original things.

Q: You continue to stay active both as a performer in shows, in the fashion world  coaching your own students and in teaching at skating camps and workshops (for example in Dolder, Bellinzona and Davos). What is the most rewarding part of working with young skaters and have you seen the next Denise yet?

A: Along side working with young people and being able to pass on my knowledge and experience to young skaters, the most rewarding part is seeing the progress they make. I have a couple of young girls who are very promising, but only time will tell if they are going to follow in my footsteps.

Q: Throughout your professional career, you've always had such a close relationship with your mother Heidi. She travelled to competitions with you acting as your coach both through your eligible and professional careers and has been such a support figure. What is your relationship with your mother like today and how did you separate your lives at the rink and at home and make it all work?

A: My relationship with my mother today is still very close and we see each other most days. In those days, we didn't really have to separate skating from our home lives. It just worked out quite naturally.

Q: If you could go back and change anything in your life, would you or not?

A: No, I wouldn't change a thing!

Q: On a perfect day, what movie you would be watching, what book would you be rereading, what song would you be playing on repeat and what would you be having for supper?

A: On a perfect day, I would be out in the country side in the fresh air. I might be reading the newspaper or listening to something from David Guetta or Rihanna, then I'd have good massage and round it off with something spicy at the Indian restaurant.

Q: Your programs have always been some of the most technically demanding and artistically interesting. I just loved your "Test Overdub/Frantic", Salt N' Pepa programs, "Whirl-Y-Reel", "Istanbul", "When I Look In Your Eyes" and "Lullaby" programs, to name just a few. I know you worked with Robin Cousins on some of your choreography and programs but where did the bulk of your ideas for costuming, music and choreography come from?

A: I always knew what number I wanted to do and in which direction it was to go, so then I always approached the person which I thought was best suited for that choreography style and then the rest was always a joint effort, exchanging ideas and working as a team.

Q: You were one of the first skaters to travel with a sports psychologist throughout your career. How important, in your opinion, is sports psychology in really making instead of breaking that competition moment for skaters? What worked for you?

A: I believe mental training is very important in sport. You can't just train the body and neglect the mind.

Q: Who are your three favorite skaters of all time and why?

A: Robin Cousins! I loved his artistic interpretation and strong jumps. Yuna Kim, for me a perfect all around skater, artistically and athletically. Thirdly, Evgeni Plushenko. He never ceases to amaze me!

Q: At the end of the day, what do you love the most about being on the ice?

A: I love the challenge of combining the jumps and the artistic creativity. When I am on the ice, it is as if the world around me stops.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Interview With Anna Ovcharova

Placing in the top twenty in your first trip to the World Figure Skating Championships is certainly nothing to sneeze at, especially for a skater who has just moved to - and decided to represent - a different country. Russian born Anna Ovcharova made a name for herself while representing Russia then moved to Switzerland and recently became the 2014 Swiss National Champion, adding her name to a list of great Swiss skaters like Denise Biellmann, Lucinda Ruh, Nathalie Krieg and Sarah Meier who had previously one the title. With the world her oyster, her devotion to training to be the best she can possibly be is unwavering and admirable. Anna took the time to talk about her career to date, how she came to represent Switzerland and life off the ice in this wonderful interview.

Q: What are your proudest or most special moments from your competitive career so far?

A: First of all, thank you for promoting such an amazing sport! The proudest moment (even though I don't like this word very much) from my career is winning the Swiss Nationals in 2014 and taking part in Junior Grand Prix Final in 2009.

Q: Following the 2011/2012 season, you decided to move to Switzerland, begin training with Stephane Lambiel's former coach Peter Grütter and represent Switzerland internationally as opposed to Russia. How did you make this decision and was it an easy one?

A: It was not an easy decision, but I can't say it was a very difficult one either. My family moved here and when Mr. Grütter proposed it like a vague idea I realized that this was a great opportunity for me.

Q: What's your favourite jump and favourite spin - and least favourite?

A: My favourite jump and spin are the loop and the sit spin. My least favourite jump is the toe-loop and least favourite spin is the layback spin.

Q: What do you tell yourself when you're having a hard day on the ice to motivate yourself?

A: I just remind myself that I have always overcome these moments and I remind myself about my essential goal. After this ritual, I don't feel that the day is hard anymore.

Q: In addition to your skating career, you're also currently a student at Collège du Léman in Geneva. What are you studying and what do you hope to do with your education?

A: I am graduating Collège du Léman in two months and I am very excited about that. I was accepted to the Webster University in Geneva, where I will be doing Business Administration in September.

Q: Your first coach was Olympic Silver Medallist and World Champion Marina Cherkasova. What was your relationship like with Marina?

A: It was really harsh. You had to keep your mouth shut and work "all day, all night". There are two important things Marina gave me: the discipline and the basics of figure skating.

Q: Who are your three favourite skaters of all time and why?

A: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir: they don't skate, they fly on the music. Stephane Lambiel: he is the artist on the ice. Alexei Yagudin: once you watch his performance in the 2002 Olympics, you will never forget, even if you are sclerotic.

Q: What is your favourite book, favourite song and favourite midnight snack?

A: No midnight snacks! I hate eating at night. With songs, every week I have a new one so I can't really answer this question. My playlist for this week is full of L'One and Disclosure's songs and Frederic Chopin's melodies. Same with books! I love Russian classics (Dostoyevsky, Bulgakov, Tolstoy, Pushkin) as well as English speaking writers (Jack London, Hemingway, Jane Austen, G. Owen, Agatha Christie) and of course, French writers (Francoise Sagan, Saint-Exupéry and others). I can't choose the genre either.

Q: What is one thing most people don't know about you?

A: I am not a morning person, even though I have to be on the ice at 6.30 A.M. every day.

Q: If you could be anyone else for a day, would you? 
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A: No, I would not. I love my life.

Q: What are your goals looking forward in your skating career and next season? What are you focusing on most in training?

A: I certainly want to improve my skating in all the areas: jumps, spins, steps, choreography etc. Everything! I want to concentrate on everything related to my skating.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Spotlight On Charlotte Oelschlägel

Long before Sonja Henie, before Belita, before other great divas of the ice like Dorothy Hamill, Janet Lynn, Katarina Witt and Michelle Kwan, Germany's Charlotte Oelschlägel paved the way with her mesmerizing and innovative performances, making a whole generation fall in love with love with skating and pioneering the professional skating movement.

Born in Berlin, Germany, Charlotte was not only a precocious figure skater but a talented musician as well, performing on stage with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra at age seven, three years before she even started skating. She excelled at playing the piano, harp, lute and mandolin and only ended up on the ice originally as the result of medical advice, her doctor advising her start skating as a treatment to nervous and growth issues. First skating under the tutelage of Paul Münder, Charlotte skated originally as part of a duo with her brother Fritz.

A 'pre-teen' by today's terminology, Charlotte bypassed a career in the 'amateur ranks' and embarked on a professional career despite her father's disapproval of her getting into show business. By 1909, she was starring in Eisballets at Admiralspalast in Germany, which were essentially combinations of pantomime and musical comedy acted out on ice skates. When these productions became cost ineffective in Germany at the onset of World War I, Charlotte made history in becoming the first performer to star in a Broadway show when she appeared in 'Hip-Hip-Hooray!' at the New York Hippodrome with twenty other Eisballet performers. This show kicked off four hundred and twenty five performances by Charlotte in three hundred days days. Following "Hip-Hip-Hooray", Charlotte traveled the U.S. with "Hip-Hip-Hooray" and went on to star in another successful production called "Get Together" which had a nearly four hundred performance run. Charlotte not only starred in the "Red Shoes" ice ballet in "Get Together", but choreographed for the production as well. 

Natalie Merchant's beautiful song "Frozen Charlotte"

An instant star with American audiences, Charlotte also made history when she became the first skater to star in a film (a six-part serial called "The Frozen Warning") filmed in Chicago in 1916. Her performances highlighted excellence not only in free skating (she was the one of the first female skaters to include single Axel jumps in her programs) but in compulsory figures, which were held in high regard by audiences early in the 20th century as being as much a measure of a skater's merit as their free skating skill. Her performance in "The Frozen Warning" was certainly memorable. Her character, a college student who learned of a plan to steal government secrets, carved out the word 'SPIES' with her two skates at a skating party she attended. A frozen warning indeed!

Charlotte was not only a larger than life personality and thrilling artist, she was an innovator as well, the inventor of the 'Charlotte' flexible spiral like movement popularized by skaters like Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan in recent years and long a ice show standard. In the year 1928 in Budapest, Hungary, with her second husband Curt Neumann, she performed a version of the one-arm death spiral. The death spiral, performed on a backward outside edge, is now obviously a staple of pairs skating. In 1925, she was also the first ice skating artist to perform at Madison Square Garden.

After giving performances in Mexico and Cuba, Charlotte skated for North American audiences for the last time in 1929, appearing in a show in Cincinnati, Ohio. Exactly ten years later, her professional skating career was cut short when World War II came to a head, her passport confiscated by the Nazis around the time of her mother's passing.

A survivor of two World Wars, Charlotte worked as a coach at the club Grunewalder TC in Berlin, retiring in 1976. Sadly, her story came to an end when she passed away at a retirement home in Barbarossastraße, West Berlin in 1984. She was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall Of Fame the following year, recognized for her remarkable and pioneering contribution to the sport's history. Roy Blakey has a wonderful tribute to Charlotte on the website for his IceStage Archive which features wonderful posters and memorabilia from his collection relating to her career which you definitely need to check out. Gone but not forgotten, Charlotte was a true pioneer of professional figure skating and one of the sport's first real stars.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.