How Georgians Davis and Smolkin made their debut on international ice with gold

This is bad? What are we now saying again and following those who are no longer in the Russian team? Moreover – leaving a bad trail of rumors, withholding, the decision made? Or should we pretend that now, after the change of sports citizenship, such a duet on ice does not exist at all? What the dancers were able to do during the time without performances, and we did not see them after the Olympic Games, is interesting to many. Only sports, nothing personal. And to follow them on the sly is simply ridiculous.

Another question is that there will now be fewer Russian spectators worried about Diana and Gleb at international competitions. However, the world ice, to which the skaters aspired, will absolutely not notice this loss. How will he not deal with the issues of morality and ethics, which nevertheless arose in the current situation: but it was impossible to tell by garlic? Why did you pull something, did you still want to stay in the Russian team? Or did you not want to right away?

But even this is now, as they say, without a difference. Davis and Smolkin started a new countdown in their careers, the basis for which is the Russian past. Fans of figure skating did not take very long, but at the most crucial moment of the Olympic cycle – before the Games and directly during Beijing 2022 – they analyzed the skating of the then debutants of adult ice literally with magnifiers. Someone liked it: perky guys, eager to prove their right to a place under the ice sun. For some, it didn’t fit at all: the middle peasants, who, as they say, are dragged by the tail and by the mane into the Olympic team by pull.

But ice dancing is like that: intricate for evaluation. Moreover, refereeing, which sometimes no one can calculate: neither in the world of figure skating itself, nor outside of it. There are initiates, of course, but their circle is narrow. The objectivity of the perception of Diana and Gleb’s skating was also undermined by a completely everyday factor: the great mother of the partner Eteri Tutberidze was, is and will be an irritant to the public. Both in good and in negative senses.

Skaters in that season fought for a place in the national team, led by a skilled coach Igor Shpilband. The programs carried away, hooked, promised the future. And after them, the dancers, through the efforts of Gleb, honed their ability to talk with journalists (the famous – “yes, we are thieves!”). The coach praised them. They were proud of the coach. The specialist did not hide: “I think that it was better to do the work that I did with them, I could not. I think they are grateful for our journey together.”

But with the Olympic Games, effective cooperation also ended. And further, without leaving the USA, they continued (and continue) their journey with coaches Elena Novak and Alexei Kilyakov.

And then, in the midst of a difficult season for our team, it sounded in plain text: “Skating for years inside Russia probably doesn’t sound very attractive to us.” We want, they say, to skate with the best, to understand among them what place we occupy on the ice. And – yes: parents invest a lot of everything in order for the skaters to train with the best, in the best environment, in the best environment, and “it has to pour out somewhere.”

In principle, except for the last one, about parents, any member of the team could say such words today. It’s true: a suspension is not a vacation. And the loss of competition throughout the world is a serious threat to moving forward. And this is clear to everyone. But what choice follows such an understanding is another question. Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin are now Georgians.

In the US, at their debut tournament, the dancers won with one of the best results in their careers. Only twice in the past they have shown better results. First, at the Warsaw Cup, which caused a flurry of discussions, in November 2021 (199.90 in the sum of two programs). Then everyone who knows how to count, for example, saw that the judging result was only 0.39 points less than at the parallel French Grand Prix with the venerable duet Alexander Stepanov and Ivan Bukin. Then – at the pre-Olympic championship of Russia (207.70), which brought them silver.

That silver of the national championship sent the duo to the main start of Europe, where the dancers became seventh. At the Olympic Games in Beijing, they took 14th place. They fought both on the ice and beyond. Kinship with Eteri Tutberidze again played noisily against them: the scandal around the doping test of Kamila Valieva was in full swing. We sympathized with them, and loved them.

The following season, Davis and Smolkin missed every start in Russia. They did not perform on our ice even in material and exciting shows, as some figure skaters did. And all this time they were preparing. I wanted to see the result of the preparation, but there was no opportunity. This made it even more curious. What could they do? What will make a breakthrough?

Unlike the members of the Russian team, they returned immediately to the international ice. The Russian Figure Skating Federation did not object to the change of the flag. It happened in June, and in July the duo even compensated the Center for Sports Training of Russian National Teams for the funds spent on their training last season. Diana and Gleb, one might say, created a precedent. This has never happened before in our figure skating.

Absolutely digital results of the performance are as follows: lead over rivals by eleven points. Davis and Smolkin: 191.82 points (74.35 points for rhythm dance, 117.47 points for free dance). Americans Una and Gage Brown: 180.66 (75.26 and 105.40). Americans Eva Pate and Logan Bai: 177.95 (72.78 and 105.17).

What about competition in Lake Placid? There were no participants in the European Championship or the World Championship, as well as the Olympic Games. Silver Una and Gage Brown, who beat Diana and Gleb in the rhythm dance, are the 2022 junior world champions and have been performing on adult ice for the second season.

Diana and Gleb stated after the victory: they were satisfied with the debut, there was a big break, it was necessary to start playing somewhere, Lake Placid turned out to be a suitable tournament.

Here – yes. So this tournament, about which no one would tell anything at all, and even more so to delve into the network, looking for information, should be treated. And do not expect any surprise, nor the appearance of a breakthrough. On the ice – the beginning of August. This is not the time in figure skating for serious discussions of programs and readiness for major tournaments. As well as amateur shooting of the same rhythm dance. The dancers who have gained momentum in the Olympic season have lost themselves, or they will amaze with something new, it will be obvious later. But the first gold is. “We are glad that we managed to win and successfully start the season under the Georgian flag.”