Daisuke has split with Morozov

Nikkan Sports
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/f-sp-tp0-20080506-356761.html
Daisuke Takahashi had a press conference at Yokohama on 6th and revealed that he has split with Morozov who had worked with him as both of a coach and a choreographer since 2005. April 26th his rival, Nobunari Oda announced Morozov as his new coach. Takahashi who haven't heard anything about it talked with Morozov on the phone and he finally said to him "I can't work with you any more. Thank you for the three years." For the time being he is going to work with Utako Nagamitsu who also coahes him along with Morozov and search a new choreographer straight away.

Other news sources
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20080506-OYT1T00484.htm
http://www.sanspo.com/sokuho/080506/sokuho061.html
http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2008050600456
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/headlines/skate/20080506-00000055-kyodo_sp-spo.html


I just came back home. I'm sorry I don't have time to translate other news sources right now. But they are almost same.
Dai-chan also said "It's hard for me to have the same coach because Oda is my rival. Nikolai have a lot of skaters so I prefer a coach who can concentrate on me."

Whatever happens I will support Dai-chan all the way!!
Go Dai-chan!!!

OMG!! very sad news.......
But I met Daisuke today at PIW 2008, he looked fine. I think he was very shocked about this matter when he knew it.

miyu wrote:

Whatever happens I will support Dai-chan all the way!!

Yes, we always LOVE and SUPPORT YOU, Daisuke!!

miyu, thank you SO much for the translation.
Shocking indeed. I can only imagine how tough that decision was, for Daisuke.

Quote :

Yes, we always LOVE and SUPPORT YOU, Daisuke!!

Oh yes.

And thank you, Nikorai-san, for everything you've done for our guy.

Thanks for the translation, miyu and also thanks for the comment, hsuhs.
Actually, I don't worry about Daisuke as long as he stays with his long-time coach Utako Nagamitsu. I hope they will find a new choreographer who recognizes new rules soon.

Thank you, Morozov, for great works with Daisuke and Utako for three years. I love your works for him....

I've expected that this happens. I just hope that next season with new choreographer will be even more succesful for Daisuke than with Nikolai.

Well, that's very sad!
I think Daisuke and Morozov had a very good thing going there!
But of course training with a direct rival cannot possibly be an ideal situation for anyone...
It's just a shame that it had to end in such an unfortunate manner. But then again maybe ending a working relationship cannot ever be a smooth business...

Anyway, it's been three great years in which Daisuke improved tremendously and skated some fantastic programs!

So thank you, Mr Morozov, for that!

Thank you so much for this big news, miyu. I'm not too surprised that it happened either.

Despite all this, the work that Nikolai did with Daisuke will always be special for me. I wonder if Nikolai himself is a bit sad to lose such a wonderful student after working together for so many years? Even if I were a very practical person, I know I would be.

Quote :

Actually, I don't worry about Daisuke as long as he stays with his long-time coach Utako Nagamitsu.

I agree. One thing that has become really clear througout all this is that we can see how loyal, kind, and caring Utako has been for so many years to Daisuke. This is really admirable.

Thank you so much, Utako!

I'm also glad to know that he seemed "okay" at PIW 2008 when you saw him, Leode. I think that being able to firmly make this decision will help Daisuke's mind start to relax and ease up a bit.

Quote :

But of course training with a direct rival cannot possibly be an ideal situation for anyone...

Yes, this is tough, especially for two competitors who are on the same level, competing for the same honors and needing to split time between a coach to achieve these things.

Okay, so we know that Daisuke already has a wonderful coach in Utako, so all he needs now is a new choreographer. I've been surfing around the web and some people have suggested Kenji Miyamoto (choreographer of Daisuke's "Bacherlorette"). This might be promising?

I don't understand why Daichan leaves Morozov
Morozov is the choregrapher of plenty of skaters. Why not Oda?
It is difficult to find out a good new and exclusive choregrapher

OMG!!!
This decision had to be very hard for Daisuke! And I can imagine how he was shocked knowing Morozov started working with Oda.
Maybe Morozov could talk with Daisuke about it...
Now I think Daisuke took the right decision. He is one of the top skaters in the world and he needs someone who can concentrate on him... also Mao did the same thing...
I will miss Morozov's coreographies, but I'm sure Daisuke has no problem to find a new coreographer.
I really hope Dai is fine.

We always support you!
GO DAISUKE!!!

Wow...I'm only partly shocked by this. I hope this will be a good move for him. I wish him all the best and I can't wait to see where he ends up and what programs he has next season.

anne-marie wrote:

Morozov is the choregrapher of plenty of skaters. Why not Oda?

But he doesn't coach all of them. Nicolai is coaching Nobu but he may keep the programs choreographed by Lori Nichol. Dai left because he didn't think the coaching situation would be good for him. If he was just seeing Nicolai for choreography, then it wouldn't be a problem.

I can find the news also on this italian site:
http://www.artonice.it/?q=it/node/5566

It says that Daisuke knew relation between Morozov and Oda just after Worlds.
He needed to think over it and last week he told to Morozov his decision.

Thanks for the info, glorydave. The news is also on icenetwork.com.

Thank swandie!
I've just read the article on icenetwork.
This is the link:
http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080506&content_id=48086&vkey=ice_news

"Daisuke have split..."
Ouch.. Very basic grammer mitake.... It seems I was upset last night. Could you correct the thread title, Leode??

hushs wrote:

Shocking indeed. I can only imagine how tough that decision was, for Daisuke.

Yah....

glorydave wrote:

I will miss Morozov's coreographies, but I'm sure Daisuke has no problem to find a new coreographer.

Yes. I really love all of their works!! (My No1 is... maybe Rachmaninov.... )
I sincerely thank Nikolai for what he has done with Dai-chan so far.

glorydave wrote:

last week he told to Morozov his decision.

It is said in Japanese news too.



I'm not sure it's true but a few news said:

He began to consider about this after World Championships where he finished 4th. Morozov who have already a lot of skaters including Miki Ando and it turned out that he would start coach his rival Nobunari oda. He decided it considering the amount of coaching time for him.

I recalled a part of the interview in 'Men's Figure Skate Memorial Book'. Dai-chan said:

"I have a lot of feeling that I want to skate various choreographers. I'm curious about David or Lori-san. There might be good choreographers whose name hasn't emerged in the world. But maybe it will depend on encounters."

But he also mentioned Nikolai in the same part of the interview:

"Next year it will be nice if I will be able to skate to the pieces of music which I want to skate to most. ... Perhaps Nikolai will begin to think about it after he gives some rest to his brain while."


The interview of ''Men's Figure Skate ...' was held right after Worlds.

I read on some other message boards as well that Daisuke was considering his coaching situation since Worlds...but since the sources were Japanese articles I didn't understand the content and didn't know how reliable they were...

Only the people involved really know what happened for whatever reasons
and the rest is just media speculation (alright, and mine as well... )

I just hope that this works out well for everyone...what tremendous pressure for Oda already and him trying to come back after that difficult year!

And from a selfish point of view...I don't want Takahashi with Nichol choreography, she doesn't suit his style IMO.

miyu wrote:

Could you correct the thread title, Leode??

O.K, I corrected it already.

Takahashi parts with choreographer Morozov
‘‘It’s a bit awkward to have the same coach with my rival. I had expected Nikolai to concentrate on me toward the 2010 Vancouver Olympics,’’
http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/takahashi-parts-with-choreographer-morozov

When I read some articles about Daisuke and Morozov, I remember the song "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt.... I don't know why.

katha wrote:

And from a selfish point of view...I don't want Takahashi with Nichol choreography, she doesn't suit his style IMO.

Hi Katha!
I also have doubts about Nichol. But programmes choreographed by David Wilson could be interesting choise.

Hello Victoria!
As I already said elsewhere: I have a problem with Nichol choreography in general, so that makes me horribly biased...I can objectively apreciate
that her work is harmonic and well-thought-out, but subjectively for me it just all comes out in plastic...

As for Wilson, that depends on how much he "gets" a skater. Buttle has fantastic material most of the time, but I thought he sold Yu-Na Kim short this year. He also made a great SP for Oda in 2006 but seemed to be trying his best to hide all of his strengths in the 2007 season.

I could see Daisuke doing great with a Wilson program that focuses on his offbeat personality or his lyrical side.

Thank you for the link, Leode!

Quote :

"I had expected Nikolai to concentrate on me toward the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.’’

It's so sad...

I've always loved Morozov's work and style and I think he did a great job with Daisuke.
But now I'm a bit ...
I think Daisuke's choise was foreseeable. When I knew about Oda and Morozov, I immediatly tought about Daisuke's reaction... My question is: didn't Morozov think about Daisuke when he decided to coach Oda??? So he decided to risk his work with Daisuke for him...
Sorry, but I'm a it disappointed in Morozov...

I found this short video about the news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFsi8GQ0hpo

Daisuke's eyes are so sad in the interview...
Please, can someone translate Daisuke's words (if there's something new)?

Yes, this whole business is a headscratcher...
Personally it just doesn't make any kind of sense for me to willingly exchange Takahashi for Oda. Daisuke is the clear Number 1 in his country and always a contender for international medals. Quite a bit of that status is the achievement of Morozov. Why didn't he want to continue to build on that? Because he had to know that taking on Oda meant losing Takahashi!

Hi everyone! It's been great reading all your thoughts. Someone who commented on my blog suggested that Dai go to Kurt Browning for choreography. What do you all think? And thanks for the link, glorydave. Watching it was kind of sad with the footage of Morozov working with Dai and then listening to Dai talking. His eyes were so sad.

glorydave wrote:

When I knew about Oda and Morozov, I immediatly tought about Daisuke's reaction...

I think we all did! Remember the other thread? I know I was "freaking out" over what would happen to Dai.

katha wrote:

I don't want Takahashi with Nichol choreography, she doesn't suit his style IMO.

That was my first thought about Lori Nichol's choreography too!

katha wrote:

Personally it just doesn't make any kind of sense for me to willingly exchange Takahashi for Oda.

Yes, that is odd. Maybe Morozov saw more potential in Nobu? He said in that one video that Nobu has no negative points. I don't know...whatever went down, I hope it works out for all involved.

Maybe one day Morozov will reveal the true reason behind his decision, but I wouldn't count too much on that. BTW I wish Nobunari all the best with his brand new coach.

I'm usually not a huge fan of K.B. but I would definitely give it a try. It could work for Daisuke. Wilson, Nichol? Sure, why not.

Then there is a slight chance of working with Tarasova again. I personally wasn't crazy about her choreo for him in the past, but things may be different now.

katha wrote:

Because he had to know that taking on Oda meant losing Takahashi!

I, too, suspect he knew that perfectly well. Yet, Morozov still went through with the plan.

Quote :

Because he had to know that taking on Oda meant losing Takahashi!

Quote :

I, too, suspect he knew that perfectly well. Yet, Morozov still went through with the plan.

Or maybe Morosov chose to ignore this fact and somehow convinced himself that Daisuke would be naive and docile enough to just go along with the situation. Well, Morosov seriously underestimated Daisuke in this situation.

The problem is that we just don't know what happened there...
Since when did Daisuke know about the situation? The Japanese newspapers seem to be reporting conflicting things and since none of the "protagonists" is likely to come forward and explain things to us, all we can do is speculate in circles...

I've also seen speculation that Daisuke may have been on the move anyway and Morozov taking on Oda was just a pre-emptive strike...
And the one post-Worlds interview here has him talking about other choreographers. Again, not saying that this is actually true, but we just won't get confirmation from any side one way or the other on anything...

And I heard that Morozov turned down Johnny Weir last year because it would have been a conflict of interest training him and Takahashi, so it's difficult for me to believe that he was suddenly idiotic enough to believe that Daisuke would be just fine sharing his coach with his main national rival! No, this seems deliberate to me...

The armchair psychologist in me is just really baffled by all this! Morozov has always struck me as very ambitious, career-driven and business-savvy. So I would have understood something opportunistic in the way of Frank Caroll dumping Timothy Goebel for Evan Lysacek etc. I wouldn't have condoned it of course but it would have made sense to me. But he is taking a huge risk here that doesn't gain him anything at the moment and has the potential to turn into a disaster!

I just wish that this turns out to be a good thing for Daisuke and also for Oda who can hopefully stay relatively unaffected by all this drama! Because I do believe that Morozov can help him with motivation and self-confidence...and he seems to need that most of all at the moment

And on a selfish note: I just wish that Morozov would stop pulling stupid stunts like that so I could enjoy his choreography without feeling guilty!

Well, I think that was more than enough gossiping about people I have never met and know nothing about for one post!