Roman Serov - Plans To Skate For The US

[adrianchew]

From his website...

http://www.rachellior.com/RomanSerov/NotesFromRoman.htm


I have decided to skate for the USA. This is my new home, and I am so proud of it. This is the greatest country on earth, and I have been all over the world so I know.


He's working with Ari Zakarian now, and I saw him in practices at Mid Atlantics this past weekend. He had to withdraw, possibly from strain/pain after attempting a quad loop jump at the end of that practice session (close to complete on rotation too!). He's married now to Rachel Lior (who skates for Israel but is an American citizen).

[nartmit]

So i guess the rumors were true after all! My question is, will Roman be elligible for the Olympics in Turino assuming that he does place high enough at Nationals? I mean Tanith Belbin has been skating for the U.S for a couple years now and she might not even be elligible for the Olympics. But I have heard that since he is married to a U.S. citizen, he might get his citizenship faster. Can anyone tell me if this is true or not. And lastly, it seems like Roman is proud of skating for the U.S. and thinks the U.S. is a great country and all, but I wonder why he chose the U.S. of all countries to skate for. The competition in Russia was very tough but the competition in the U.S. is not much easier. Well anyways, best of luck to him!

[Emanfan]

Originally posted by nartmit
The competition in Russia was very tough but the competition in the U.S. is not much easier.

Other than Goebel, who in the U.S. has the talent of Yags, Plushy and Abt (and Klimkin)?

[Scott]

Concerning qualifying for Citizenship: The rules are no different formarried or non-married persons. If you are married to a US citizen you do not, as far as I know, get special treatment. The rules apply the same for all. Unless Congress grants a special dispensation the wait is seven years.

[Canskater]

In response to that last poster, the wait is NOT seven years.

Assuming one has a green card, the wait is five years before one can apply for citizenship. The wait for a green card can sometimes take as much as two years. There is one significant difference for those married to US citizens: If one has been married to a US citizen for a period of more than two years prior to applying for permanent resident (green card) status, then the wait is three years and not the customary five. I know this because that was the situation with my ex-husband. (of course ... then I divorced him and moved to Canada !!)

-- sheilagh

[Greek Chic]

As far as I know, that if you are married to a citizen of the US, you might be able to get your citizenship faster. I am about 80% sure of this however.

Competition in Russia is very tough, with Yags/Plushy/Klimkin/Abt, and many up and coming Russian skaters.

Good for him to make the move to skate to the US, and hopefully he might even be able to skate for the US in 2006.

Thanks for the link Adrian.

Cheers:!: :!:

[Trillian]

Originally posted by Emanfan
Other than Goebel, who in the U.S. has the talent of Yags, Plushy and Abt (and Klimkin)?

Well, you're not gonna convince ME that all of the top three guys will still be around in 2006, sorry. As for Klimkin, his results have been no more impressive than Savoie's recently, so he wouldn't be a lock for the top three here either. If Yagudin and/or Abt are out of the way within the next few years, there's a spot on the world team up for grabs with only Klimkin and Timchenko looking like real competition for Serov at this point. (And I'd consider Serov the frontrunner of those three, because Klimkin is extremely inconsistent and Timchenko is still pretty inexperienced.)

Meanwhile, the U.S. has Goebel, Savoie, and Weir, who are all likely to get better rather than worse over the next few years. And Russia's juniors haven't been any more impressive over the last few years than those from the U.S. They don't have anyone who looks like an immediate threat at the senior international level.

All that considered, I think Serov's chances of making the top three in 2006 would be about equal in Russia and the U.S. Therefore, I'm willing to accept the suggestion that he really does just genuinely want to represent the U.S., especially since his chances of having citizenship in time are so slim.

[Leanne]

Other than Goebel, who in the U.S. has the talent of Yags, Plushy and Abt (and Klimkin)?

I'm American, but as far as I'm concerned, Goebel has nowhere near the talent of any of those four guys. :) Look at run of edge, power, use of knees, quickness, ability to change levels, speed : Goebel can't match any of those four on any of those counts. What he does have is the ability to rotate in the air and land on one foot. If only Abt and Klimkin had the same consistency in their (better quality) jumps, Goebel would be behind them too. Abt was getting it this year, and it showed when he beat Tim in the short program at Worlds while landing equivalent jump content.

[A.H.Black]

There is a Cuban gymnast who married an American Citizen and is now eligible to compete for the U.S. Her only problem now is that Cuba has to give permission to the Gymnastics federation. I'm not sure how long she has been in the U.S., but not nearly enough time to gain citizenship, so, there must be a significant difference in the rules if one is married to a U.S. Citizen.

[NiceIce]

Being married to an American citizen does indeed make the requirements easier and the waiting period shorter.
We have some good jumpers in the USA, but the 2 very best males today are definately Yags and Plushy, with nobody else even close in delivering the entire package of speed, power, style, artistry, and personality.
Savoie and Weir?? dont hold your breath, cuz both are lacking that special ability to interpret music and show a sense of rhytym and artistry in a natural way
Our USA hope of the future is Rohene Ward...when his jumps equal his presentation this young man will have the star quality that most US males currently lack.
I am glad Roman wants to skate in the USA, for the USA!

[haribobo]

I would agree about Rohene Ward's enormous potential, but I don't think he is the only one. Derrick Delmore and Ryan Bradley are both showing technical improvement and star artistic quality. If any of these 3 guys get all their jumps and spins together in one competition, watch out!!! Here's hoping...

[Shi]

About the citizenship: The wait is 3 years - if you are married to an American citizen and lived with him/her for at leats 3 years in the US since you got married.

[Trillian]

Originally posted by NiceIce
Savoie and Weir?? dont hold your breath, cuz both are lacking that special ability to interpret music and show a sense of rhytym and artistry in a natural way

Guess that's a matter of perception; either way, both of these guys are already quite capable of putting up high presentation scores. Savoie has done a wonderful job with Tom Dickson's choreography. Anyway, if the judges cared that much about presentation, Ryan Jahnke wouldn't be getting 5.3's and 5.4's on that mark when he skates his best performances. It's sad but true--jumps count most; presentation is secondary.

Our USA hope of the future is Rohene Ward...when his jumps equal his presentation this young man will have the star quality that most US males currently lack.

I like Rohene's skating, but as far as I'm concerned he fits a lot more neatly into the "don't hold your breath" category. The problem isn't that he hasn't gotten the jumps--he has all of them he needs to be a threat on the international level. The problem is that he's shown very little ability to put down clean programs in a pressure situation, and he's past the age where immaturity can be blamed. I like his skating too and I'd love to see him succeed, but Weir and especially Savoie have already shown the ability to be competitive at the senior international level; Ward has not.

[AxelAnnie22]

Originally posted by NiceIce

Savoie and Weir?? dont hold your breath, cuz both are lacking that special ability to interpret music and show a sense of rhytym and artistry in a natural way
Woa! That is a matter of personal interpretation.

I happen to think that Savoie is the best stylist on the American Scene. And Johnny Weir's UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG made me cry each and every time I saw it. Both these guys IMO, have wonderful futures ahead of them. I know, I know, they both need quads.....but there are only three men in the world, who land those consistently, and one won't be skating at Worlds this year.

[haribobo]

Well, are we talking about great presentation, or great presentation + superstar quality? To me, Savoie and Weir both have shown that on their best days, they have great presentation. But if you are looking for a U.S. skater a la Michael Weiss, Rudy Galindo, Emanuel Sandhu, or Alexei Yagudin who really has that extra sparkle which makes them THRILLING to watch on top of having great presentation, then that is something Savoie and Weir have yet to develop, and I am not sure if it will ever come to them. Superstar quality is something very few male skaters ever manage to achieve, and at this point I'd say Rohene is much closer to it than either Matt or Johnny. IMO...

OTOH, the skating world would be a very boring place if every guy was a superstar, or trying to be one, so it's nice having skaters like Matt, Johnny, Ryan Jahnke, etc. to create a little diversity in the field. Depends what you are in the mood for, I guess. And just because you aren't a superstar, it doesn't by any means mean you are a worse skater, though all other things being even, I think the judges definitely tend to go for the most exciting performance, however you want to define that.

I'd have to say that aside from Yagudin, Plushenko, and Goebel, men like Chengjiang Li and Scott Smith seem to be landing their quad attempts more often than not, so it's not really accurate to say only 3 men in the world have consistent quads. What you can say, is that there are only 3 men in the world who manage to lands quads + all their triples + 5.6 level or better presentation consistently...

[pattern99]

ummm, since Roman skates here in Miami and I usually get to see him skate everyday.... I'll be rootin for him, mainly because he's an "older" skater and I suppose some people thought he was finished. He's very polite and nice. Personally, when I watch his programs in practice, I cannot help but chuckle cuz he gets so in to them. Regardless, good luck to ALL the guys.
*patt99*

[Scott]

Well, I recehecked the rules and those of you who have said that the wait for citizenship is shortened to three years if the couple were married for two years is correct. This will certainly cause a problem for Gregory & Petukov who also have an interest in the upcoming olympics. I am not sure about the marital statis of Roman but the fact is he does need a green card ( 2 years) then at least a three and possibly five year wait.

Concerning the presentation and positions exhibited by Matt Savoie and Tim Goebbel I don't think that they can hold a candle to the Russians. They both seem a bit stiff to me. I think that Johnnie Wier has much better flow on the ice.

[AxelAnnie22]

Originally posted by haribobo
Well, are we talking about great presentation, or great presentation + superstar quality? .


Great point. And I agree that in the superstar category Savoie and Weir are not there.......may never be. I think a good deal of that superstar-ness one is born with.

Sadly, I don't think any of the American Men of the last few years have that quality - and believe me, I know that is my very own personal opinion. With so very much attention on those quads, it is difficult to focus outside of yourself, and really "fill" the arena.

Originally posted by haribobo

I'd have to say that aside from Yagudin, Plushenko, and Goebel, men like Chengjiang Li and Scott Smith seem to be landing their quad attempts more often than not, so it's not really accurate to say only 3 men in the world have consistent quads. What you can say, is that there are only 3 men in the world who manage to lands quads + all their triples + 5.6 level or better presentation consistently...

I still think that there are only three men in the world who have consistent quads. Yagudin, Goebel and Plushenko don't make quad attempts, they land quads, just like everybody else lands triples. And, not only that, Yagudin and Plushenko (although I have been disappointed in his programs the last two years) both land all those jumps while dazzling us with choreography, character, style and just darned good skating!

And, then the next teir of skaters land that darned quad often. It is kind of like the 3/3 with the ladies. Very few ladies (maybe only Sarah?) plan it in their program, and land it when they plan it. And we know how often the ladies land two LOL! Irina once, and Sarah once? (It is barely 5:00 AM, my mind is fuzzy. Is what I said really correct? That is depressing!)
:o

TARA! How could I have forgotten Tara! Now I am less depressed.:lol:

[sk8nfamily]

It was a freak thing. He went into his quad toe at the beginning of the practice,elbowed himself in the ribs and basically his practice was finished after that. He was in terrible pain, and couldn't practice properly after that. He went to the hospital for an x-ray because he couldn't even breathe.