Figure Skating

Current world bronze medalist Brian Joubert of France faces a troubling future, after having lost the world title a month ago in Los Angeles.

The French skating federation announced on Friday that Joubert has split with his coach Jean-Christophe Simond. In the days leading up to the new World Team Trophy event in Tokyo in another 10 days, he has returned to his old coach, Laurent Depouilly.

Too many changes. Too little time. Too much strife. Too many bad feelings. The Vancouver Olympics is only about 10 months away.

Published reports say that French federation president Didier Gailhaguet, who accused Simond of changing Joubert's free program at the last minute in Los Angeles, is strongly recommending that Joubert head to Canada to work with Brian Orser or Kurt Browning, who has worked with the French skater in the past.

The report stated that the French federation has started some contact with both Canadian stars.

On Friday, however, Browning says he hasn't been contacted at all by anyone from the Joubert camp.

If it were up to Joubert to make the contact, however, it might come at the last minute.

"We never communicated, even when I was working with him,'' Browning said. "He would say he might come in May and he'd phone a few days ahead of time and say: ‘I'm arriving this day, and by the way, I think I know what music I want.'

"Maybe he's coming to Canada and I just haven't heard yet,'' Browning said.

Browning worked on Joubert's choreography the year he won the world title in 2007 in Tokyo. After the event, Browning told the powerful French skater that now was his chance.

"You've got to take this world class, I'm-the-champion-of-the-world thing and go work with new people,'' Browning told him. "You can get whoever you want you. You're the bloody world champion.''

Browning told him that he could stay working with him and he'd love to be on his team, but he wasn't the guy to give him the big picture, to organize his path to the Olympics. And that he needed somebody like Canadian choreographer Lori Nichol to keep what's good and strip away what's bad, and give him a chance to win the Olympics.

"I just couldn't get him interested in anybody else,'' Browning said.

Yesterday, Joubert was quoted as saying that he wants to stay in his hometown of Poitiers, train with Depouilly and have Tatiana Tarasova as choreographer. Interestingly enough, Tarasova was the choreographer for Mao Asada and Evan Lysacek this year.

Asada finished fourth in the women's event at the world championships, the only time she's been off a podium at the junior or senior level. And Lysacek had to humbly return to his previous choreographer, Nichol, to tinker with Tarasova's choreography. He knew he needed help after missing the Grand Prix Final and losing a U.S. title before rising from the ashes to win the world championships.

Will Joubert be able to do the same with Tarasova at the helm? In the past, she's had a knack for polishing off skaters who had come to her from other coaches, and getting them to win Olympic titles.

"After a good first season, it started to go downhill at the Europeans in Warsaw,'' Joubert said of the split with his coach. "Jean-Christophe wasn't present enough in Poitiers. He only came there 125 days of the year.''

He said it became difficult for the coach and unbearable for him.

Simond, stung at the accusations, said he felt betrayed and said Joubert wasn't telling the truth.

"To say that it had become unbearable and that I was only around for four months of the year is a gross lie,'' Simond was quoted as saying.

"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.''

Simond suggested that Joubert had probably been badly advised.

Like Gailhaguet, Joubert blamed Simond for bad advice on skate blade issues as well as program switches. Joubert has had a habit of switching around his program. He did it in Tokyo, when he won, letting a seven or eight point lead slide as he backed off on elements.

He did it again last year at the Sweden world championships. He had planned three quads, attempted two and landed only one, and Jeffrey Buttle sailed past him to win by more than 14 points.

Browning was astonished when he saw Joubert delete his second quad and then switch his program all around, attempting a double Axel instead of a triple Salchow at the end of his program. He did a belly flop on that unplanned double Axel.

"Somebody on his team is making bad decisions at the last minute and it's unfortunate for him,'' Browning said. "He's got potential but the raw power card is running out. We need some subtle blade work and something to challenge the other aspect of skating a bit more. That's what I want as a fan.''

Doing such things flies against Joubert's nature, Browning said. "But live, he's hard to beat,'' said Browning. "On TV, you can knock him, but live, the real thing, the guy is intense.''

Will he follow the right path?

Browning said last week that when he was on air as a commentator for CBC, co-host Tracy Wilson asked him who he'd give an edge to: Patrick Chan, who skated first in the group of Joubert, who skated last.

Browning picked Chan. "Patrick sticks to his guns and all he has to figure out is his warmup,'' Browning said later. "Then he'll skate his program, which he wasn't going to change for anybody anyway.

"Then Joubert likes to watch and figure out what he can take it out and figure he can still win.''

Then suddenly as Joubert watched and switched, his choreography disappeared, as well as his transitions and he lost his momentum. It was a fatal error.

The funny part of it all? Judges still gave him high marks for his presentation, which includes transitions. Go figure.