That was quick; after being dropped by Jean-Christophe Simond, Brian Joubert has found a temporary solution to being coachless.
"For next season, before the Olympics in Vancouver, I'm staying in Poitiers. I want Laurent Depouilly to remain at my side and Tatiana Tarasova to be my choreographer."
And there you have it. Depouilly is going to be temporary coach for Brian for the next two weeks, through the ISU World Team Trophy, which is April 16-19.
Depouilly coached Joubert in 2004 and 2005, during which time the Frenchman won his first European gold medal. In 2005, however, the duo split. Joubert thought Depouilly was not professional enough, and Depouilly argued that Joubert was not practicing hard enough.
Is it a good idea to go back to an old coach after that trust has been lost? It's been a long time, so obviously it must just all be forgotten, but there has to be better options for BriJou.
After this first two-week period, the French Federation has plans to ask several skating experts to coach Joubert in all aspects of his skating -- spins, steps, choreography and artistic impression. Their names remain unknown, though.
I guess we'll have to see how Joubert fares at the Team Trophy and wait in anticipation of these elusive coaches' names. One thing's for sure; they're going to have to be spectacular if they're going to get him back on course for Vancouver.
Despite these decisions having been made, Joubert and Simond are still snarking at each other. In this article, Joubert says that Simond was only around at his rink for 125 years, and Simond obviously thinks Brian is lying, and speaks out pretty strongly about it:
"To say that it had become unbearable and that I was only around for four months of the year is a gross lie," he said.
"You must think before saying such things. I really feel betrayed. I don't understand why you'd look to destroy someone rather than just saying that you want to change coach.
"It's really a rotten thing but I don't want to argue. He's probably been badly advised."
Enough already!
The full IceNetwork article quoted earlier can be read here.
