|
|
|
|
Vakhtang MurvanidzeGetting By With a Little Help From His FriendsOctober 15, 2004
We sat down for dinner at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant not far from the rink in Montclair, New Jersey where Murvanidze trains. Like many skaters getting ready for the competitive season, Murvanidze was feeling weight conscious and torn about what to order. "I really want a big plate of pasta," he said, "but I know I should stick to protein because I'd still like to drop a couple pounds to make the jumps easier." Finally, he decided to splurge and ordered both: pasta with sausage. When the waitress adamantly insisted the dish wasn't on the menu, Murvanidze good-naturedly refused to budge and charmed the waitress into convincing the chef to prepare it. His determination paid off and within minutes a steaming platter was presented. Murvanidze poked at it with his fork, frowned, and then laughed, declaring, "I knew it – not enough sausage!" Kathleen: Speaking of weight, does just a few extra pounds really get in the way when it comes to jumps? Vakhtang: "If you gain like even 2-3 pounds it can make it tougher. If I'm ten pounds heavier, I for sure can't jump up high enough to make the rotations for the quad, it's too difficult. Triples jumps, however, are no problem, even in the summer when you're fat you can do them." Kathleen: You recently became engaged to the American ice dancer, Kristin Fraser, who competes with partner Igor Lukanin for Azerbaijan. Can you tell us a little about that? Vakhtang: "I met Kristin four years ago at the European championships. We would sort of hang out together at competitions, call each other sometimes. I really didn't want to be in a serious relationship, and I wasn't ready. After the 2003 World championships, I decided I really loved her and moved to the US. Of course there were other considerations: the money from my federation stopped flowing and I had to make a change. But once I arrived in New Jersey, she was not too far away living in Maryland and we would alternate driving to see each other on weekends. We grew close and I began to feel like a part of the family with her parents." "Last season at worlds in Dortmund, I arrived with the engagement ring, and proposed to her at the hotel right before the competition began. I had planned to wait, and we hadn't seen each other in one month because she'd been training in Moscow. But I missed her so much and was so excited when I first saw her that I just asked her to marry me right then." Kathleen: What can we expect to see from you this season? Vakhtang: "My new short program music I think is perfect for the new judging system because you can work in a lot of steps, and things like Choctaws and connecting moves. The long program is from last year – I changed it only two weeks before Worlds. My agent Ari Zakarian found it for me – it's from the movie soundtrack Natural Born Killers. He has like millions of different types of songs in his music collection, and he also found all of the music for my show numbers. My federation doesn't like the long program music, but my coach Sasha Zhulin told me, "They didn't like it because you skated it really bad." We both think if I can do my jumps and skate clean, they will approve, as the program will look so much better. It's like Stanick Jeannette – when his jumps are on and he skates clean – he is great. When he starts doing mistakes, it's not so good." "Last year I skated my free program before worlds and it was perfect – I did two triples axels, a quad, and everything was clean. Then I flew to Germany. Jet lag is a big, big problem for me. I couldn't sleep for two days and it's horrible, because when you do finally fall asleep you wake up two hours later and that's it – might as well turn on the television because you're up for the rest of the night. The next day at the rink you're completely in a fog. Trying to acclimate to the time zone changes is really hard for me, although going east to west is much easier." Kathleen: Beyond your reign as seven-time Georgian National champion, can you tell us your highest placements at past major events? Vakhtang: "The highest I've placed on the Grand Prix circuit, prior to 2004, is 6th at both 2003 Skate America and 2002 Bofrost Cup. In my career I've been 5th at junior worlds, 7th at Europeans, and 17th at both worlds and the Olympics. I'm in pretty good shape right now, but still I have a lot to work on. I'm interested in seeing how this judging system works to know if a quad is even necessary to medal." Kathleen: This summer Brian Joubert said he was thinking of putting three quad jumps into his free program later in the season. What do you think of that strategy? Vakhtang: "He better learn the Level 3 Steps and Spins and keep his quads clean - I think he would be more successful with that. What's the point to put three quads in there and then only do Level 1 Steps, Spins, etc? Meanwhile Jeffrey Buttle is going to make one quad and all the triples and he's going to do Level 3 Steps and Spins and that's it – he'll beat him. I think the code of points system still needs work – it's nowhere near perfect yet." Kathleen: What would you say is a positive about the new judging system? Vakhtang: "What's good, is that for the skaters who aren't as reliably strong jumpers, they still have a chance to win. Buttle, Lambiel – and for all the guys that can't do five quads (laughs) – but they're still really good skaters – there's more opportunity." Kathleen: Where are you at with your quad? Vakhtang: "In competition I've never landed one, but when I'm in good shape I can sometimes land three or four out of five during a practice session." Kathleen: Your father died suddenly when you were only a baby. Then more recently your longtime coach, Igor Rusakof, died from cancer. What was his influence in your life? Vakhtang: "I really want to say, for people to know, that Igor Rusakof raised me like a real dad would. He fought for so long to battle lymphoma. He was not just my coach, he was like my father, my best-friend, he was everything for me – and for Ilia Klimkin too. We both loved him very much. I'm the godfather for Igor's young daughter. Everything that Ilia and I are capable of is because of him. I've had other great coaches like Vladimir Kotin and Elena Tchaikovskaya. They also gave me knowledge and taught me so much." Kathleen: What are your other interests outside of skating? Vakhtang: "I'm crazy about boxing. That is my other passion. I like to watch it, do it, train for it. I had my nose broken twice, but they fixed it and I didn't care. I love it! The good boxers I know are not brutes, they are real men. You have to be strong also mentally to do the sport. My favorite actor is Mickey Rourke. He was also a boxer. I know he's crazy but I really like him, although I don't like any of the Hollywood boxing movies because they do not show what it's really like." "I also love to dance. If only I could do everything on the ice that I'm capable of doing on the dance floor (laughs)! Slow, fast, break dancing – anything – and I can do it. One of my best friends, Sasha Abt, is really an amazing dancer. Amazing! We used to go to clubs together and now he jokes, "Oh, I'm too old for this." But of course it's not true. At the competitions we'd go to the discos and he would break dance and do back flips on the floor like it was nothing, which is something because he's pretty tall. I remember once before a competition in Germany, right before it was his turn to go and skate, he asked me if I wanted to see him do a back flip, and I said sure, and he did it right there in the arena hallway." Kathleen: Unlike some competitive skaters, it seems that all of your closest friends are also other top skaters. Is that true? Vakhtang: Yes, and now that I have just turned twenty-five, I really understand that it's impossible to ever find new friends that could be better than my best friends: Evgeny Plushenko, Sasha Abt, Roman Kostomarov, and Ilia Klimkin. We've all known each other forever, since I was twelve-years-old, and they are really brothers to me. If I ever need anything, or if I am ever in a bad situation, they will do anything I ask of them and they know they can expect the same from me. This is something that has been proven many, many times. I think maybe you become friends with someone because in a way you see yourself in them, and all of us guys (laughs) – we are too much the same! But when we talk we are so comfortable. Some of us live close together and I used to live with Roman before he got married this summer. We miss Evgeny and Ilia and when I see them I expend too much energy because I'm just so happy, I want to tell them everything." Kathleen: Can you provide a glimpse into those relationships? Vakhtang: "Well, Evgeny Plushenko, compared to the rest of us, is much younger. But he acts like a man because he has lived as an adult for so long. He's a very smart guy and he has a soul that you can almost see. He is a person that you can trust and tell anything to. I think he is an excellent person. Someone who did not change after becoming a rich and famous champion." "Roman Kostomarov is a hard worker. There are no accidents in life, and I think his world title last year was his fate – and his hard work. I still live in the same apartment building as Roman, and we skate together all day, so I see him all the time. When I was thinking of asking Kristin to marry me, I went to Roman and Sasha for their advice and their approval." "Sasha Abt is a tough, strong person. The way he lives his life he is an example to me on how to live mine, and he was a big influence on my decision to get married. I also really admire his skating ability because some things you can't teach, it's either there or it's not, and he had this gift, this ability to feel the music, born into him. His Armenian Dances short program gave me goose bumps, the way he did every step in time with the music. If he didn't have all the surgeries, I think he could have won it all. The guys that have won don't know how lucky they are to have avoided big injuries. He had so many operations, he has huge scars on his leg, even has implants in there. We call him (laughs), "The Terminator." I knew how hard it was to recover. I knew how big his injuries were and most people just could have never come back like he did." Kathleen: During August you spent a few weeks performing in Italy. What was that like? Vakhtang: "The Italian summer tour was unbelievable. Our sponsor was Tampax," – that's funny, yes? I skated with a great cast, and every day was a different village because we did fifteen shows in sixteen days. The local people were so appreciative they made enough noise and excitement to fill a huge arena. The crowds loved us. They just wouldn't let you go. They were almost jumping on the ice (laughing)! We ate at these wonderful restaurants and Sylvia Fontana was like our guide. We had this nice, big bus and everybody was so friendly. We just laughed the whole time." Kathleen: What made you decide to train with Sasha Zhulin as your coach? Vakhtang: "There is always some moment that comes in your life when you need something to change. You need the new way. Sasha Zhulin was my friend and I always liked his style. He's different than the "old school" guys. He's one of the hungry coaches, like Nikolai Morozov, they want the medals, they want success. Some coaches that have already won a million medals, they're not that hungry anymore. Coaching is fun for them and they're doing it because of that and because, actually, it's the only thing they can do. They push you, but still, the younger coaches push harder. I think it's interesting to work with Zhulin because he has so many ideas, even from one day to the next. So many years I trained and everything was totally predictable, boring, nothing new." "Zhulin is also smart about life, women, money, skating, everything. This is why I'm so happy here. Around me I have the people that care about me, give me good advice. Smart people that I can count on. Roman, Zhulin, Sasha, we all spend so much time together on the ice, and then after we go to swim, sauna, play tennis, barbecue. And now since July, my fiancé Kristin, and her partner Igor, train with us too. We are like a big family. We all work together, spend our lives together, love each other, and have the same image of how life should be and how we should live it. We're not millionaires yet, but we're really happy people. I think (laughing) we should all just live together in one big house, right? Then we could be like the "Adams Family." |
Vakhtang Murvanidze has won the national title in his home country of Georgia, "So
many times," he says laughing, "I've lost count." The twenty-five year old
self-deprecating showman is a hit with audiences wherever he takes the ice and this season North
American fans will have the opportunity to see him compete live at the first two Grand Prix events
of the season – Skate America and Skate Canada.