Dice-K Drama

Lifeskate linked to this enlightening Japan Times article about Japanese skater and world silver medalist Daisuke Takahashi’s recent split from coach/choreographer Nikolai Morozov. The reason given for the breakup at the time by Dice-K was that Morozov had decided to work with Japanese rival Nobunari Oda.

However, the article posits that the split actually came when Takahashi essentially chose his agent, Tak Ihara, over Morozov. Morozov mentioned to the article’s author as early as last fall that he was unhappy with Ihara. The author, Jack Gallagher called Morozov for his side:

But I knew better, and when I contacted Morozov in New Jersey, he immediately confirmed my suspicions in an exclusive interview.
"He had the choice to continue to work with me or work with his agent," Morozov said by telephone recently. "It is not a simple situation. I don't know why he chose the agent, but I think it is more important for him to make money."
Morozov was just getting warmed up.
"He lost the world championship because of his agent," the coach said. "He couldn't prepare properly."
When I asked Morozov to elaborate on the worlds, where Takahashi was favored to win the gold but ended up fourth, he kept on firing.
"His boots (skates) were not ordered on time. His agent didn't do it," Morozov said. "The agent was trying to do things on his own and he eventually wanted to do everything."

Morozov said he essentially chose to work with Oda because he could see the writing on the wall that he was going to lose Takahashi. And after giving the skater an ultimatum (continue working with Morozov or stay with Ihara), he did.