Yu-na Kim Splits with Brian Orser
by LauraS on Aug 24, 2010 7:17 AM EDT
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PrintWOW. According to several news sources, Yu-na Kim is no longer training with Brian Orser. UM??? Apparently, the relationship between the two has been icy (pun intended) since May, when another (unnamed!!!) skater approached Orser to coach him or her. News sources are stating that both Kim's representatives and Orser's are stating that the other initiated the split (corrected).
So, who is the mystery skater? I mean, is it Mao Asada? Or someone else of her caliber? It's obvious that Kim doesn't mind Orser training other skaters, but was this one skater too many (no matter who it was?)? Or an excuse to leave Orser and move on? I mean, I think Orser has proven himself as a coach, or he just knows how to pick the right students. But to have their relationship fall apart so soon after they happily worked together to win the Olympic gold medal is pretty devastating. I haven't felt this bad about a coaching split since Michelle Kwan left Frank Carroll in the 2002 Olympic season.
Kim has not announced a new coach.
UPDATED: Per AFP:
Orser said he was "surprised" that he would no longer be her coach, and said the split was not related to any plan to coach another skater, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
If it was not another skater, and Kim has just decided she no longer needs Orser, perhaps she is just preparing for her leave from competitive figure skating? If she doesn't plan on competing anymore it would make sense that she would no longer need Orser. However, that is obviously pure speculation. I just don't want to believe that they are parting due to another skater or animosity or something. That would be so sad.
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I hope it's not due to another skater also
And I hope she finds another coach. If she doesn’t, I would take it as a sign she’ll leave competitive skating.
Oh, The Drama!
This would seem to be a fairly straightforward story but, alas, this is figure skating where the shortest distance between two points is rarely a straight line. Money, egos, easily bruised feelings and more ego get involved. I think there are two important factors at play here. The first is that ever since she broke down in tears of relief after her astounding performance in Vancouver, Kim Yu-na has shown zero interest in competing. She basically mailed in her routines at the World Championships and then showed not the slightest regret over it, saying again and again how she was just glad the season was over. Factor #2 is that ever since the Olympic medal was won, Kim Yu-na’s mother has moved forcefully to fully take over the guidance of her career. They unloaded their sports management company and formed their own under the direction of-surprise!-Mom. My guesss here is that Mom wanted Orser out too, if for no other reason than that he got so much public credit for Yu-na’s success. I really think that this story about ‘another skater’ is just so much hoo-ha.
So, what will we see? I think we’ve seen the last of Kim Yu-na as a competitor, at least for awhile. She had no interest in the Grand Prix events and, I suspect, none in the coming World Championships either. This probably more than anything caused a rift were her and Orser, who frankly has better things to do than wait for Yu-na to make up her mind. And Mom was more than happy to send him packing.
I hope not...
Your analysis sounds reasonable, but I really hope you are wrong. No Kim Yuna means the return to the ‘Dark ages’ of figure skating. I mean, I don’t even remember the name of the Japanese woman who won gold in 2006 Torino Olympics. Now, who won 2002, for that matter ??
Is Yuna’s mom really that ‘ruthless’ ?? I read her book, she sounded like a no-nonsense, extremely smart woman (smarter than most CEOs in Wall St.). She also never hesitated to fire coaches if he/she were not up to par (or became distracted with other obligations), but firing a totally ‘innocent’ Orser?? I say wait and see. Come October, you might be surprised to see Orser coaching Asada Mao… Also, I have to strongly disagree about her not liking Orser getting a lot of attention. She is not that shallow…
One more thing
Also, I read a Korean newspaper saying that Yuna had to train alone in Toronto in June due to Orser’s ‘unavailability’. So, think of poor Yuna without a personal attention from the coach. That will never sit well with Yuna’s mom…
I'll Fully Admit...
…that I’m shooting from the hip here, at least a little. We don’t know these people and we don’t know who is planting what stories with what media outlets. I’m frankly a little dubious about this Yu-na practicing for a month without a coach story. It just doesn’t ring true. If Kim Yu-na was in serious training and needed a coach, one would have been there and Mom wouldn’t have waited until August to do something about it. My feeling is that whatever “training” Yu-na was doing in June had more to do with her upcoming ice shows in Korea and that is something she wouldn’t have needed Orser for. Now his absence is being used as a convenient excuse.
Of course, it is possible that the incident involving (or not involving) Mao Asada and Orser back in the spring stung Yu-na more then we realize. There may have been some hurt feelings that caused a rift. There seems to have been a fairly intense personal relationship between Yu-na and her team and coming off the Olympics she was hurt by seeing that Orser’s attention could be drawn elsewhere while she decided what to do with the rest of her career. There are all kinds of possibilities here and I think we’ll have to wait for awhile before something like the truth emerges.
And yes, I think that Yu-na’s mother may just be that “ruthless”. If you read the AP report, it says that it was Mom who informed Orser that he wouldn’t be “retained”.
I’m with you, I’ll miss Yu-na but I don’t think she will necessarily stay away from competition permanently. She’s a competitor and as burned out on competition as she perhaps is now, I think there will come a time when Kim Yu-na sees that the sport can thrive without her and that just doing ice shows can get really old really fast. I can easily see her watching other skaters move up into the spotlight doing things that she thinks she can do better and deciding to get back in. I certainly hope so. But I also think that there are women skaters coming into their own who will still keep the sport worth watching.
And the plot thickens...
It was reported that Yuna wrote on her Tweeter the following,
“Would you please stop to tell a lie, B?
I know exactly what’s going on now and this is what I’ve DECIDED.”
Now, granted the cute Yuna had the grammar wrong (it should be “stop TELLING a lite”), “B” seems to be an initial for Brian (!)… So, there must be something seriously going on. Like I said, you don’t mess with the Queen and expect to ‘live’.
What With The Grammar And All...
…and the total lack of context, it’s hard to know just what that tweet actually means. If it is aimed at Orser I think (and I say this as a Yu-na fan) that maybe she needs to do a little maturing. I know it’s all the rage now, but people shouldn’t take these matters to twitter or facebook or whatever. I’d like to see Yu-na, and more athletes in general, take the high road and not fall into digital sniping. She’s never been shy about facing the press so maybe Kim could just call a press conference or set up an interview with a friendly reporter and tell why she wanted to part with Orser. Either that or just say nothing at all.
Hrm
http://twitter.com/Yunaaaa/status/22028132619
It might not be up for long! If you look on her main page, it’s gone. If you are on the list provided by this site, it’s still on there…
oooh scoop
I have been away from Internet access all day but that is quite a scoop! Thanks. So sad that the relationship has come to this.
--
Laura
RequiredElements.com
Check Out This Link...
…from the Korea Herald:
http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100825000300
Seems that Mr Orser is sticking to his story and seems to be ready to blame Yu-na’s mother for this mess. Something tells me we’re going to be hearing about this story for quite awhile.
Stop to tell a lie?
You can say that as a cool observer, but unless you are in their shoes it is hard to imagine how they feel… It must feel like a divorce to her, a 20 yrs old tender aged girl. I just hope it was not a stupid misunderstanding, like we see so many times in Korean soap operas.
I remember learning the difference between “stop to …” vs “stop -ing”. That was in 9th grade English class. Yuna was 15 yrs when she was 9th grade, and obviously she put 100% of her time in training (she won the silver medal at her 1st Junior Worlds that year). She is making 10 mil a year, so who cares if she messes up grammar once in a while. I find that rather cute…
I Strongly Suspect...
…based only on skimpy media reports, that it probably was a “stupid misunderstanding” manipulated by any number of people with their own agendas. Athletically and commercially Kim Yu-na is playing in the big leagues and the game is hardball. This is something that could be a very painful education for what seems to be a very sheltered 19 year old.
BTW, my mentioning Yu-na’s grammar was not a criticism. It was merely to point out that all we had to go on was a poorly written tweet taken completely out of context. As such, I was being cautious not to read too much meaning into it.
Scorched Earth Policy.
It appears that not only Kim Yu-na won’t be training with Brian Orser anymore. Neither will South Korea’s second ranked figure skater, Kwak Min-jung. She’s managed by Kim’s management company and they’ve pulled her away from Orser too. Seems that Kim’s mother really wants Orser to burn in hell. I’m just glad that South Korea doesn’t have any nuclear weapons, or at least none under Mom’s control, or I’m afraid Canada would disappear under a mushroom cloud.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/08/25/2010082500921.html
Wait and see...
Orser says in about 2 1/2 weeks everything will be revealed… Let’s see what that means. The truth will come out since things have come this far. It has to.
As a person who read two books (one by Yuna’s mom and the other by Orser), this is the last thing I thought would happen. But, I guess even the two most talented and intelligent people can divorce in a marriage, not necessarily because one person was an asshole. Business relationship is even more so. The honeymoon is over now…
But Why The Wait?
One of the stranger aspects of this saga is that Orser was apparently given his walking papers on Aug 2 but the story is only now emerging in the media. Orser says that he didn’t say anything for three weeks because he was hoping Yu-na and Mom would change their minds. That sounds reasonable enough but now, according to your post, he says all will be revealed in 2.5 weeks. Why the wait? If everything is on the up and up why doesn’t he just tell his story now? But it’s far more weird on Kim’s side. Mom dismissed Orser three weeks ago and then said nothing to the media about it. No announcement at all until Orser spoke up. Is this what she calls “sports management”? The guys at Yu-na’s previous management company must be getting a grim laugh out of this public belly flop. Isn’t there anyone in Kim’s camp who realized that the firing of Orser was going to be big and controversial news and that they best get out ahead of the story? Or did they really think they could say nothing and that no one would notice Orser wasn’t coaching Yu-na any longer? No matter who is at fault here our ice princess is going to end up with more than a little mud on her once pristine image.
" But, I guess even the two most talented and intelligent people can divorce in a marriage, not necessarily because one person was an asshole. "
You bring up an interesting point here. This whole thing has the sound of a lovers’ quarrel. Now, I don’t think Yu-na and Orser were romantically involved but I think there were very powerful personal feelings between Yu-na and her team and the way this is playing out I get the impression that someone’s (Kim’s probably) feelings got hurt and she’s reactiing very angrily.
Figure skating stands at the juncture of sport and show business. Along with the sublime athletic moments, however, figure skating often brings out the worst of both worlds. Lots of ego, pride, flightiness, envy and brittle feelings in a business where everyone seems to get to play the diva at one time or another. You have to admit it’s making for some pretty good soap opera.
Well? What about IMG?
Why does not Orser tell the media about IMG?
Orser signed with IMG in May-June, before then he was a freelancer and everything was okay.
IMG’s a multinational company that did not care about Yuna much and cared about Japanese junior skators… Mao does not come out of Japan, but the juniors did.
They came to Cricket Club and Orser coached them. This was a top security issue for Yuna and Orser did not help much.
Of course he was a freelancer before and IMG wanted him to coach the Japanese juniors, and I don’t blame him for that.
He did not show up to Yuna’s ice show in July, but he went twice to Japan to see Adam Rippon?
The first press release (about the split) that came out on August 24 was from IMG too…
He may not be coaching Mao, but he did damage Yuna.
If he wants to have both Japan and Yuna, that’s asking for too much, imo…he even mentioned Yuna’s arirang program, and he’s not supposed to do it!
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