This interview with Brian Orser seems to shed some more (though not much) light on the Yu-Na Kim coaching shenanigans. Both parties seem to be acting for some reason as if this seemed to come as a surprise which I don't get. I must say I'm not so sure about Yu-Na's mother's 'agent powers'. But ho hum, what can be done?
Article from
the starFirst, Olympic champion Kim Yu-na’s camp gave Brian Orser the cold shoulder. Then, they showed the coach who took her to figure skating’s pinnacle the door.
Orser and fellow coach Tracy Wilson got the word earlier this month from Kim’s mother Park Mi-hee that their services were no longer required to guide the 19-year-old national hero from South Korea.
“It was very much a surprise,” said Orser. “There was really no valid reason. I still don’t understand why they did this. I don’t know. It came out of the blue. They sat down with me and Tracy and said we’re not coaching her anymore. And that was that.”
Kim blossomed under the tutelage of Orser and Wilson, who trained her out of the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, winning the world title in a landslide in 2009 and then overwhelming the field at the Vancouver Olympics to win the gold. Orser was a popular figure in South Korea, and was even featured in a commercial.
Orser and Wilson got the news from Kim’s mother at a meeting on Aug. 2 — the skater wasn’t present. He said he waited three weeks before issuing a release Tuesday because he thought there might be a change of heart and things could be worked out.
Orser, a former world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist, found the reasons for their dismissal given by Park Mi-hee rather lame.
“They just felt that we had not given much attention to Yu-na, but at the same time she was kind of talking out of both sides of her mouth.,” he said, “She had told us to move forward with other students.
“We were just waiting to get our orders from the mother because that’s what we always did. She always told us when they were ready to move in a certain direction and we had a meeting and we got pen and paper out and we did a plan. We never got to that point.”
Kim’s management company AT Sports later released a statement saying relations between the skater and coach have been “uncomfortable” since May.
Orser said that’s not the case.
“I spoke with her the other day … She seems confused about what’s going on. Because of all this turmoil with her mother, she doesn’t know what’s going on. Nor do I. That’s what I said to her, ‘I’m a little confused, but it’s been a great four years,’” said Orser.
“We just needed to have a little chat with her before I did this (went public), that the last four years were really magical and we had such a great thing and we support her in whatever direction she wants to go. She wasn’t part of any of these decisions about letting us go.”
Orser made it clear money was not an issue at all.
“None of this was over any kind of finances at all. No contract issues. I never had a contract with them from the beginning. I don’t now. There was no issue about bonuses or anything like that. This had nothing to do with money at all.”
Both Orser and Wilson had consciously decided to give Kim some space after the Olympics to figure things out because it had been such an emotional season and decisions had to be made.
“It’s one of those things you can’t force,” he said. “You have to make your choices and your decisions for the right reasons.”
Orser said he got the blessing from Kim’s mother to work with other skaters during the summer. Orser said she told him not to make any time for her daughter because they were unsure of their plans for the off-season.
Orser was left out of the loop all summer, including when Kim went off to Korea in July to do some shows. He read on the internet that she was pulling out of the Grand Prix events for this coming season but planned to compete at the world championships.
“I thought it was a little unfair that I had to read it on the internet, that they never consulted with me at all,” he said. “I kind of figured there was something up there.”
He further suspected something when he got a telephone call from former world ice dancing champion Shae-Lynn Bourne telling him that she would be choreographing Kim’s short program this season.
“It’s fine, but I wasn’t consulted on that, either,” said Orser. “I sent numerous emails to both her agents and to Yu-na when they were in Korea in July and I didn’t get one single response back from them.
“I was asking them what’s going on and saying I’m getting some media interest so I need to know what to say. There was literally not a single response, not one ‘Here’s what to say,’ or ‘We’ll talk to you when we get back.’ I even emailed at the end of it: ‘When are you coming back to Toronto?’ There was not even a response there. It was really kind of pathetic.”
Orser is philosophical moving forward. He’s working with a pair of fast-rising Americans Adam Rippon and Christina Gao, among others.
“I’ve got some great kids. I love my job, I love my work and I’ll continue to. I’ll probably lose more kids along the way.”
Also - contemplate Yu-Na's twitter message posted today (Before that she hadn't tweeted a thing in weeks) - Would you please stop to tell a lie, B? (Brian??) I know exactly what's going on now and this is what I've DECIDED.
There's something more behind this than has been leaked to Joe Public.........Yet.
At the Russian Cup, Aliya Mustafina showed she is back on form after collecting a number of medals at Europeans then looking lacklustre performance at the Japan Cup. Mustafina took the all-around with 62.271 (The scores here were inflated as the judges gave extra marks for originality). The Ksenias, Afansyeva and Semenova took silver and bronze respectively. I would love to see all 3 of these girls at Worlds, although I suspect Semenova will miss out on the AA final.
