Kim-Orser Controversy Jumps the Shark?
by LauraS on Aug 27, 2010 10:39 AM EDT
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PrintThe latest round in Kim vs. Orser (Smackdown 2010) is the news that Brian Orser (gasp!) leaked the details of Kim's new program to the media. The program will be to Arirang.
Universal Sports says this reveal is breaking a cardinal rule and that skaters typically do not reveal their music until right before their first competition. While I can see it was out of line for Orser to speak about Kim when she is no longer working with him (and not right for him to reveal her music if she wanted that a secret), as an aside, I must say that Universal Sports is being a bit dramatic. I knew pretty much everyone's music last summer, months before their first Grand Prix events. And that includes Kim. So let's not pretend these things are actually under wraps. Still, it is the skater's choice when to reveal it, not the disgruntled ex-coach...even if he just did it conversationally.
Kim's team is absolutely appalled and is sure that this is a malicious move. They are pouncing on this (and publicizing it) as a way to further escalate the drama and try to make Orser look bad. If AT Sports is so concerned about keeping the reasons for the split private, why are they exacerbating every situation by publicly expressing their displeasure? Why not just call Orser, and have a truce or something?
I also don't know why Kim's team was surprised that Orser finally announced that he had been canned (or that his contract was not extended...ostensibly the same thing). I mean...it had been weeks since he was let go. I think it's time everyone just chills out...maybe they can just ignore each other and Orser could (for the love of god) stop discussing Kim.
I am hoping that maybe Kim will announce a new coach or something soon so that we can move on from the Kim/Orser mess. No one is coming out smelling like roses.
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AT should have made a transparent move
This revealing music thing is all background noise and not the essence of the issue.
We have yet to see what Orser has to gain by starting all the noise. Certainly Yuna’s image got tarnished, but I don’t think Orser gained any favors from the figure fans either. The question is, did he really take in Japanese skaters to his Toronto club and make Yuna ‘uncomfortable’ ? That is what I am reading in the Korean press. In principle, there is no rule that says Orser can’t accept Japanese students, but from the abuse Yuna took from the Japanese that would be a no-no, and a clear message that Orser is more interested in the $$ from the Japanese players than the ‘honor’ of being Yuna’s coach—with significantly (?) less pay. Perhaps Yuna’s camp did not pay him enough $$? Orser mentioned “usually skaters pay their coach 5-30% of their earning” (something like that). He might have expected a bigger cut from Yuna’s 10 million, which Yuna’s mom, being the penny pincher she is, would not approve. There is nothing morally wrong about wanting more money, but I don’t like how it had to come to this. Usually, it all about money.
It does seem Simon Bo is right about Orser pressuring Yuna to make up her mind quickly. His email to Yuna was revealed yesterday. It has a subtle message of comparing Mao Asada with Yuna. It could mean he wants more pay, or Yuna should make up her mind soon because he has offer from Mao camp willing to pay top Japanese currency Yen.
I Don't Get The Feeling...
…that any of this has been about money. I think that would have been a much more straightforward matter. One of the more eye opening statements Orser has made was in regards to what he is paid. I find this difficult to believe but he says that he gets 110 dollars (Canadian) per hour to coach Yu-na. He’s cheerfully admitted that he’s one of the lowest paid people on this level of skating. And yet, he coached Yu-na for four years without concerning himself much with compensation. He apparently never even had a written contract with Yu-na and her Mom. Again, I don’t think money was the primary kindling in this fire.
Brian Orser made two mistakes here. The first is that he hung onto this situation far too long. Orser says that he found out about Yu-na’s plans (such as they are) for the upcoming season through the media. If that is the case then he should have offered his resignation right on the spot. (I also realize that it’s very easy for me to say that in hindsight.) The second mistake is that Orser probably has gone a little overboard in his recent media blitz. Regardless of who is right or wrong here, he’s probably guilty of a little overkill. Now, Yu-na and Mom brought a lot of that on themselves but from a PR perspective Orser really isn’t helping himself at this point. Prospective clients (skaters and their mothers) might perceive him as a loose cannon and that could give them pause in deciding to hire him as a coach. In the end I don’t think it will hurt him too much. Figure skating is a catty world and everyone involved knows it. What most young skaters, and their pushy parents, will see is that Orser was the one who guided Kim Yu-na to the fame and fortune of Olympic gold. That will stick in their minds more than any of his recent comments.
No abuse, no barrier from Japanese skaters
There was only one Japanese junior skater who trained at Cricket Club this summer. And it was only for a month or so, and no JFS staff accompanied her.
Do you think that only one junior skater can be a spy and do harm to Yuna? If so, Yuna need a grip.
And first of all, every skater goes to rink for training, not for abusing others. They are all busy preparing for competitions.
And I tell you what, I’ve never considered Korean media as reliable source regarding Yuna-Mao(Japan) matter. Anytime Yuna says she has hardship, Korean media read too much into her situation to tag Japan with it. Orser denied his interest in coaching Mao, Yuna once told in her Reuters interview that coaching rumor was not a problem. Only Korean media gets Japanese skater into this drama again and again.
Now I should uncover the dirt for it. Yuna and her mother are now being accused of being selfish and greedy in Korea. People know that it is not the first time for Yuna and her mother to fire a coach suddenly, and that they had several lawsuits against Yuna’s agent-hopping.
Thus Yuna is losing her popularity and fame in Korea. Some people are calling for a boycott of the products which Yuna is doing commercials. Actually Yuna had already lost some of her sponsors.
Korean people know that huge amount of their taxpayer money had been spent on supporting Yuna and bidding to host the Olympics. So they are disappointed with her inappropriate behavior as a symbolic icon of Olympic bidding committee.
And this is the very reason why Korean media is blaming this split on Japanese skaters without any valid evidence. It is all to intensify anti-Japanese sentiment among Korean people to deflect their resentment from Yuna and her mother.
Maybe it is difficult to know local situation for those who live in North America. There are really a lot of untold facts behind this drama.
interesting
I’m not even sure Asada really wanted to work with Orser…although it could have been a mind game or something to get at Kim. No love lost between them, I assume.
I think we might find out a lot based on what Orser’s next move is…as in, which students he takes on.
I agree, it is background noise at this point. Really, I wish both sides would move on and stop the hijinks. They both have so much to offer skaters and fans…it just didn’t work out between them. Wish it could have been left at that. As much speculation as there was when Michelle Kwan left Frank Carroll, I respect that neither side engaged in the activities that are going on right now.
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Laura
RequiredElements.com
Decisions Left Hanging.
Yes, Kim Yu-na will have to hire a new coach fairly soon, but first she is going to have to decide something that she has been putting off since the Olympics, that is to say what kind of career she wants to have. There’s no point in getting a coach until you’ve made up your mind as to what you really want that coach to help you with. It’s that uncertainty that I think fueled this whole mess to begin with. First, Yu-na took her sweet time deciding to even start training, though for what she didn’t really say. Then she announced that she would only compete at the World Championships which is so far off that it was really a decision not to decide. In this period of indecisiveness and inactivity that the situation with Orser began to fester into what it has turned into today. Does anyone believe that if Yu-na had made a timely choice about her career and then set up training with Orser, or at least let him go in a decent fashion that any of this would have happened? I sure don’t.
I think you’re right about Mao Asada. I don’t think she had any desire to train with Orser. She doesn’t need him and he doesn’t need her. I have to think though that Mao must be having at least a little chuckle over this controversy.
It's All A Bit Much.
" While I can see it was out of line for Orser to speak about Kim when she is no longer working with him (and not right for him to reveal her music if she wanted that a secret), as an aside, I must say that Universal Sports is being a bit dramatic."
I can see where Team Kim would be a little annoyed but this idea that some sort of sacred trust had been broken is pretty inane.
“I also don’t know why Kim’s team was surprised that Orser finally announced that he had been canned (or that his contract was not extended…ostensibly the same thing). I mean…it had been weeks since he was let go.”
This is one of the bigger mysteries of this whole mess. Mom cans the coach and AT Sports makes no announcement. If a sports agency can’t even handle that rather routine matter, what exactly do they do?
Please, taking sides based on what a fired coach says? You are that naive?
Orser has every incentives in the world to paint Yuna and her mom negatively and distort or hide facts that would affect his future coaching career negatively. Orser has been just way out of his line for the last three days giving away information, which no one, including Tracy Wilson (where is she anyway), is validating whether it is true or not, that he should have kept to himself for all who is involved. Instead, he just has been on an interview spree with the media, and he should have call it quits when he did the one on CTV. After that, it was just a series of display of how immature and self-righteous he can be.
About the program music revelation: Orser has been known to be very attentive in choosing the release date of any information regarding Yuna’s program – her music, costume, choreo, etc, and the timing was always right before her first competitive appearance of the season. If he was still Yuna’s coach, he would never have thrown that information to a reporter like that. Considering he is not even her coach any more and everyone being emotional, it was a total step on her toe and he should have known better if it wasn’t intentionally done to hurt her. I am glad ATS finally came forward and gave him a warning that they would not just sit back and watch him go on with his actions that hurt her reputation. And see what happens, once he shuts his mouth, finally everyone moves on. The bottom line is, no one knows what triggered the fallout, and Orser should have kept his mouth shut and left it that way for all who were involved instead of spreading his version of “what happened”, which has so many holes in itself.
Well, There's Naive And Then There's Naive.
“Please, taking sides based on what a fired coach says? You are that naive?”
Are we? Maybe we is and maybe we ain’t. My feeling is that anyone who immediately “takes sides” in a figure skating catfight is being as naive as the brain trust at AT Sports who thought they could fire Kim Yu-na’s coach without anyone noticing. Now, THAT’s naivete’ worthy of a platinum medal.
" I am glad ATS finally came forward and gave him a warning that they would not just sit back and watch him go on with his actions that hurt her reputation."
I think we’re all relieved that the good folks over at ATS finally figured out what a press release is. Sure, it looks like a baby step to us but they have to start learning this business somewhere. As far as any damage to Kim Yu-na’s reputation is concerned, Yu-na and her mother certainly don’t need Brian Orser’s help in that department. On that score they’re doing just fine on their own.
“…and Orser should have kept his mouth shut and left it that way for all who were involved instead of spreading his version of "what happened", which has so many holes in itself.”
Far fewer holes than AT Sports has in its collective foot from where they’ve shot themselves. If I were Kim Yu-na (and I’m glad I’m not!) I’d give serious consideration to two things: 1) closing the twitter and similar accounts and 2) firing Mom. Since winning the Olympics she has been ill served by both.
You just don't get it do you.
There are some idiots out there who just can’t take the fact that Orser is just another coach who can be fired as easily as a million other coaches out there. The bottom line is, his service as a coach wasn’t up to his client’s expectation for whatever reason. The client didn’t like his service so she fired him. That’s all there is. Now this baby Orser prepares his surprise announcement – this is as cheap as it gets – to get back at her and to show the world just how painful being fired is to him. Yuna’s side was completely off guard because they wouldn’t imagine he could get that low and vicious. They fumbled as he expected when he made that surprise announcement, basically a cheap shot. From then on Orser had a field day with the media scapegoating Yuna’s mother as he planned with his PR for the last 3 weeks, acting like one crazy donkey. If Orser can’t suck it up, maybe he should stop pretending to be a coach and do something else. He seems pretty insecure about being a coach anyway so he might want to give it a thought. He had his last chance to draw some sympathy to his way when he did his CTV interview, but this self-righteous genius just didn’t know when to shut up, and finally he showed how bitter and immature he can get. I mean he doesn’t stop talking!
Now I am curious what Adam and Christina, Yuna’s buddies, and other skaters under his tutelage will feel around Orser. After seeing just how irrational and vicious he can get, I bet they will buy lawyers for their moms first before they fire him. He hasn’t proved himself as a coach he and his PR would like to portray him, and it won’t be too far from now that Adam and Christina will get their lawyers.
Oh, I Get It, Mrs Kim.
No, really, I understand it perfectly, Mrs Kim, and let me assure you that we all love your daughter as much as you do!
(That was a joke, shreve. A joke. You remember what jokes are, don’t you?)
“There are some idiots out there who just can’t take the fact that Orser is just another coach who can be fired as easily as a million other coaches out there. The bottom line is, his service as a coach wasn’t up to his client’s expectation for whatever reason. The client didn’t like his service so she fired him. That’s all there is.”
shreve, you’ve written some bizarre stuff before but those few sentences really win the platinum medal. Brian Orser is just another coach? Yea, and Kim Yu-na is just another skater doing figure 8’s down on the frozen pond. I know this upsets you but Mama Kim’s firing of Brian Orser is a little different than her ditching the chambermaid. Her handling of the situation is the figure skating equivalent of the New York Yankees giving Joe Torre the boot a couple of years ago. Imagine if the Yankees had done that and not told anyone for weeks and then, when the story did get out, saying “Oh, he’s just another manager.” That is essentially what AT Sports, under Yu-na’s mother, has done with regard to Brian Orser. It was an incredibly stupid mistake, one that I suspect is going to haunt them for a long time. They’ve been compounding that error ever since by saying that Orser knows the reason for his firing but then refusing to even discuss the matter or give their side of the story. Now, there’s no law that says they have to answer any questions, but the rules of the court of public opinion are quite different from a legal court and Kim’s camp not getting their story out has left the field to Orser. And for this these knuckleheads are getting paid? The crown jewel of this comedy of errors was when Yu-na essentially called Orser a liar on Twitter. Up until that point, Yu-na’s image had been one of a beautiful and sweet young lady devoted to her craft and good to her fellow human beings. With one ill considered, though thoroughly human, tweet she set a match to all that. As they say on those beer commercials, “Brilliant, BRILLIANT!” Yu-na has informed us that she is “no longer a child”. Well, if that’s true then she needs to start behaving like an adult and not an over protected middle schooler. This is going to require her to start taking better care of business because, fairly or not, she’s in a business with a lot of people who are playing for keeps. And her mother doesn’t appear to be up to the task.
“Now I am curious what Adam and Christina, Yuna’s buddies, and other skaters under his tutelage will feel around Orser. After seeing just how irrational and vicious he can get, I bet they will buy lawyers for their moms first before they fire him. He hasn’t proved himself as a coach he and his PR would like to portray him, and it won’t be too far from now that Adam and Christina will get their lawyers.”
One suspects that “Adam and Christina” and their families already have attorneys, and if you think what Orser has done qualifies as “irrational and vicious” then you need to get out more. Why do you assume that “Adam and Christina” see these things exactly as you do? They know both Kim Yu-na and Orser and you don’t. It is very possible that far from being upset with Brian Orser they are sitting with their families (and attorneys!) saying “What are Yu-na and her mother THINKING???” I don’t know much about Adam, but I do know that Christina Gao made great strides last season and a big splash at the Nationals. She may be a “buddy” of Yu-na’s but I don’t think she or her parents are simply going put all that at risk just because of Kim’s hurt feelings. That’s generally not the way figure skating works.
“He hasn’t proved himself as a coach…”
YEA! If Yu-na had had a REAL coach just think of what she might have accomplished! Why, she might even have won a gold medal at the Olympics or…oh…nevermind.
shreve, old “buddy”, if Frank Carroll told me that Brian Orser wasn’t a good coach I would have to at least listen, but with you not so much. Brian Orser coached Kim Yu-na for four years. Medals and world championships and record scores resulted. He must have been doing something right.
Other theories from Korean media
I agree the revelation of program music by Orser was a mistake. I don’t understand that part. It had no purpose than to hurt Yuna. I have to think it was a real innocent, but stupid mistake, since he probably doesn’t have much grudge against Yuna as he has to her mom. He really had no business doing that when he is not even her coach anymore.
BTW, I read they both seem to be wanting a ‘truce’, as this benefits no one.
Also, recent Korean news suggests 1. IMG management conspiracy theory (there is always a conspiracy theory in every scandal) since they are the management for Mao Asada and Orser. IMG had a bitter legal fight with Yuna in 2006 when she switched to IB Sports. IMG lost the court ruling and got some bad publicity and pretty much lost business in Korea. IMG Korea, and its mother company IMG had an axe to grind. It was a bitterness that equals that of Fidel Castro and the Mafia against JFK.
The other suggested theory is 2. a simple drifiting away, like middle aged married couples. It is hard to pin point to one incident. Small things accumulate and egos clash. THen before you know it, you hate the guts of the other significant one and you are talking about divorce…
Theories And More Theories.
I’m with you on that. I don’t think Brian Orser was out to get Yu-na when her revealed her music. Reading the whole quote I get the feeling that he was just talking and got carried away. If anything, he was gushing on about it in a rather positive manner so it doesn’t seem he was plotting Yu-na’s downfall when he said it. He just doesn’t strike me as being that devious. Kim’s camp’s hysterical reaction aside, Orser’s revelation caused no real damage. And besides, I don’t believe Yu-na will ever skate to this music, not in competition anyway.
Theory #1: I don’t know what all happened between the various sports agencies you’ve mentioned but it sounds pretty much like business as usual. At the top level of this sport there is a whole lot of money at stake and a large school of sharks with long memories ready to sink their teeth into one another to get it. That is why Kim Yu-na really needs to step up and take a strong position in the running of her daily affairs. She can’t just imagine that she’ll take care of the skating and let Mom handle the business. I know that is a lot to put on a sheltered 19 yr old, but if Yu-na doesn’t do better at taking care of business then she’ll get eaten alive.
Theory #2: I think there are probably elements of drifting apart in the Kim-Orser relationship. Among other things, Yu-na has said that she wasn’t always happy working with him, but that can be taken a lot of ways. I mean, who is happy with anyone all the time? The coach-athlete relationship is particularly fraught with potential conflicts for the simple reason that the coach, like a parent, is often in the uncomfortable position of telling the athlete to do things they don’t particularly feel like doing. Nerves on both sides are going to fray and I’ll even go so far as to say that a coach and skater who love each otther all the time probably aren’t going to be very successful. So there is definitely that aspect to what happened between these two, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. Kim and Orser were together for four very successful years. If you go back and look at pictures and video of them together and read media accounts from over the years you see two people who are clearly very comfortable with one another. There is a wonderful photograph from the Olympics of Orser and Kim sharing a laugh about something where they are so happy that anyone who didn’t know anything about them looking at the picture could easily suspect that these were two people in love. All this makes me believe that something happened between them, possibly some kind of misunderstanding, that caused real hurt feelings that were not addressed in a timely fashion and that may have been taken advantage of by others. I could be completely wrong about all of this but two people who are indifferent don’t turn on one anothe the way Yu-na and Orser have. It’s one of the ironies of life that it’s your friends who are most capable of hurting you.
More news from Korea
I read that it is a matter of time for the Queen to move the USA. Also, the iconic US figure skater Michelle Kwan will most likely give the Queen a jump start in the US. It says Kwan is even searching a new coach for Yuna. It commented Caroll is commited to Mirai, so he is probably not a candidate. Hey, good riddance of Orser, the big fat idiot.
If the Queen moves to LA, I might consider getting a job in the West coast and live in LA. Maybe even apply for a job at All That Sport ??? I could do better public relationship than what they are doing now…
A Good Move, If True.
When I was typing about this subject earlier I thought that the best person who Kim Yu-na could call for advice would be her friend Michelle Kwan. Now there is someone who knows how to exhibit grace under pressure in public. Michelle could definitely give her a few pointers and help her wade through the no doubt long line of alleged coaches that is forming to work with Yu-na.
You and I could both sign up as interns to work at AT Sports, and we wouldn’t even have to move to LA. We could do a far better job than the dopes there now even from wherever are keyboards are right. Of course, that’s not a very high standard to beat.
It is the smart move, indeed
In the end, divorce with Orser just might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Canada is not exactly the center of the world. I guess LA is 2nd center (first being NYC), so the Queen will get more exposure. Everything is bigger than life in LA. Could she even migrate to Hollywood ? She said she is not interested in entertainment, but her mom might like the $$$, ha ha… Never say never!!
If she could perform at the highest level for couple years (or 2014 Olympics !), she could jump start the interest of women’s figure skating in US. She is beautiful enough, the Americans just might adopt her as theirs (kind of like what the Canadians did). Also, I think this fiasco might rekindle her fire for compition as well. Something she needed since Vancouver.
Now, only if her management (AT) acts like professionals. Sigh…
Canada Isn't The Center Of The World...
…but neither is LA, at least not to Kim Yu-na and her people. The center of the world to them is Seoul. One of the interesting aspects of AT Sports’ management of Yu-na has been their failure to cash in on Yu-na’s world wide popularity since the Olympics. I don’t know if that is from a lack of desire or sheer incompetence. It’s almost like they don’t realize or care the the US and the West exists. Since Vancouver, Yu-na has put on two well received ice shows in Korea and they’re scheduled to do another in October in LA, which will provide them with a large and adoring Korean-American crowd. My feeling is that if Yu-na had signed on with a big time management agency like IMG, she would have done some kind of ice show tour by now, to strike while the metal (medal?) is hot. Not doing so is certainly Yu-na’s prerogative but I’m surprised they’re letting an opportunity like this slip by. There are huge potential commercial markets that they are just kind of frittering away.
At this very moment I don’t think Yu-na has any desire to compete. It’s that loss of desire and the resulting lassitude that helped lead to the rift with Orser. As I’ve wrtten before, this could all change but I think it will be awhile before Yu-na really wants to compete. Maybe even never.
“She said she is not interested in entertainment, but her mom might like the $$$, ha ha… Never say never!!”
Ha! That’s a laugh. I dont’ think Yu-na has ever seen a microphone that she didn’t want to sing into.
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