Khokhlova interview | Golden Skate

Khokhlova interview

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/49979.html

Yana Khokhlova: “I don’t want to break up any teams”

Russian skater has gone to America to search for a new partner
One of the thrilling ice dancing teams of Russian figure skating, Yana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski have announced they were breaking up. The reason was Sergei’s injury, forcing him to wrap up his career. 24-year-old Yana, then, decided to try her luck one more time to fight for the Olympic gold. This time, the goal is Sochi. To this end, she started looking for a new partner. Now, the skater is trying to team up with Fedor Andreev, the son of a famous coach Marina Zueva. Yana has recently returned to Moscow from Detroit where she trained with Fedor. Yana has talked to us about the trip and about her plans.

“It was great”, said Khokhlova. “The flight, though, got delayed because of the volcano, so I stayed in Detroit for two weeks instead of one. However, this ultimately gave me more time to look and orient myself.”


“How did you first practices with Andreev go?”
“I’ve skated with the same partner, Sergei Novitski, for many years. We’ve gotten used to each other, and that means a lot. Now, though, I must change if I am to stay in the sport. In my opinion, our practices with Fedor went well; we had no trouble in either skating or communicating. We’re both happy with it.”

“Does this mean the issue of your partner is already settled?”
“Not yet. We’ll know for sure by early June.”

“Did you consider anyone else?”
“You see, it’s hard to find a partner at this level. Purely theoretically, we looked at many options, but in practice I could only skate with someone who already has a partner. Breaking up successful teams is not my style. That’s why we decided to search for a partner abroad.”

“Are you scared of partnering a singles skater, who’s never done ice dance before?”
“Scared but excited!”

“You’ll have to start from scratch.”
“I’m prepared for difficulties, though it’s not an easy decision for me. If Fedor and I skate together, I’ll have to change my life drastically. I thought a lot about it as I was going to Detroit. However, our practices showed that even though he’s never had a partner, he works well in a team. Besides, he is a very quick learner. We had no problem understanding each other.”

“Andreev has represented Canada. Will he have any problems seeing as you want to represent Russia?”
“He has dual citizenship, so it should be OK.”

“Many Russian skaters who’ve gone to train in America have complained of difficult adaptation.”
"I’m an adventurous person; I make decisions easily and get used to environments quickly. Moreover, my future partner has Russian roots, so that should help. I’ve been very warmly received in the group of Marina Zueva and Igor Shpilband, more so even than I expected, so I won’t be lonely. Though I guess their company is not what we call a group.”

“Why?”
“Things are very different over there, the relationships are different as are approaches to training. Nobody puts together a group; athletes themselves approach coaches. Some skaters train there all the time, others come and go, so there is no monolithic group as we tend to have. Only the Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Americans Meryl Davys and Charlie White train their constantly.”

“Are you afraid of competition with them?”
“It will only do as some good, providing us with added incentive.”

“Did you make the decision to no longer skate together with Novitski on your own?”
“It was our common decision. Sergei has many health problems. He understands that he can’t risk remaining in the sport. We considered skating in shows together. However, considering everything carefully, I decided to remain in the sport. Sergei was understanding about it.”

“How did your coaches Alexander Svinin and Irina Zhuk take to the news that you’ll most likely go to America.”
“It’s so hard… I am grateful to them for everything they did for Sergei and me. The four of us discussed the situation together. Each one expressed their view, and ultimately we all came to an agreement.”

Interview by Valentina Karelova​
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
There isn't enough new stuff there to do a full translation, so I'll just talk of the overall impression of this interview. Clearly, Sergei is extremely uncomfortable about this. He badly wanted to continue skating with her, though he understands her decision. He hasn't met Fedor yet - he isn't exactly avoiding him, but he isn't eager to have anything to do with the new partnership; he hasn't seen their tryout tapes either. He is being a good sport but clearly hates being in that position. He keeps trying to joke to wave it off but it clearly shows. About his knee, he says "the clinic doesn't have angles or the Good Lord working there", so there are no guarantees of anything. He also joked that his knee joint is like a "Lego" set pulled apart.

Jana is not all that relaxed either. Written interviews do not reflect this unease from both of them. One interesting thing she does mention (it's not in the written version of the interview) is that the job is made easier by not having compulsories - teaching those to Andreev would've been more difficult.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Novitski does not think his comepetive career is over? Or he wants to skate in shows with Khokloova with both of them retired from competition?
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
I think he's just understandably depressed about the whole situation. His knee is likely to heal enough to do shows; also, he might be holding out some hope of healing it completely. In any case - skating is all he knows, and he has no interest in coaching, so he is in a rather unenviable position any way you look at it. Once again, though, let me re-iterate that he is being very civil, that's why you can't even tell from written down interviews how upset he is. When you watch it, though, you clearly get the impression of someone who's using humor to cover up his unease.
 

Ituriel

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Thanks, Ptichka.

They look really uncomfortable in the video... but I didn't understand nothing...

I feel sorry for Sergei, It's a sad end for his career
 

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
ohhh, that is a tough situation. I hope things work out for the best for both of them.
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
New interview with Yana and Fedor
http://www.sport-express.ru/newspaper/2010-05-28/13_1/
All in Russian

Here's Google's translation. There are passages surprisingly well translated, and others... kind of cryptic. :laugh:
http://translate.google.com/transla...ess.ru/newspaper/2010-05-28/13_1/&sl=ru&tl=en

For example Jana was asked: "That is the right choice of partner was behind you?"
And her answer: "Actually, yes. But my desire, as you know, it was not enough - you need to and want to partner with me for a drive."

Can't figure out question or answer!

Among the more interesting bits that do make some sense, Jana says:
Positive affect and the fact that in recent years, he actively helped the Marina and Igor in the work with the dancers, practicing with the parallel tracks steps tvizzly.
I think she's talking about Fedor having positive attitude, and that he's been doing side-by-side twizzles with the dancers (tvizzly, hehe).
She also says that Fedor has signed on for a full Olympic cycle, though of course there's always the risk of injury that can derail anyone.

At one point, Fedor is asked about how he feels about having a partner who's already had major success.
- Excitement, of course. But there is an incentive. That's why I want as quickly as possible to begin to train. Besides, I can not say that starting from scratch. In training I often rode with the girls, who had no partner
That's a pretty awful translation, but I think he must have been saying that in training he did ice dancing with girls who don't have partners. That makes sense. Igor/Marina must have single female ice dancers in their camp, and it makes sense that Fedor could have been partnering them in practice and maybe tests.

I find it interesting that nobody has mentioned what ice dance tests he may have passed in all these interviews. I think that must mean that he's not passed any, or at least no advanced ones. They are very lucky that there are not to be any more compulsories.
 

Lucky Star

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
For example Jana was asked: "That is the right choice of partner was behind you?"
And her answer: "Actually, yes. But my desire, as you know, it was not enough - you need to and want to partner with me for a drive."

Can't figure out question or answer!
"So it was your decision to choose Fedor?"
"Yes, but it wasn't enough. I wasn't sure if he wants to skate with me"
Positive affect and the fact that in recent years, he actively helped the Marina and Igor in the work with the dancers, practicing with the parallel tracks steps tvizzly.
step sequences and twizzles ;)
 

Ptichka

Forum translator
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
For example Jana was asked: "That is the right choice of partner was behind you?"
And her answer: "Actually, yes. But my desire, as you know, it was not enough - you need to and want to partner with me for a drive."
Yana: [...] Zueva told me she had two potential partners - Lithuanian Deividas Stagniunas and her son Fedor Andreev [...]
So, it was up to you to chose a partner?
Yana: Essentially, yes. As you understand, though, my wishes are not enough - the partner also had to want to skate with me.

I think she's talking about Fedor having positive attitude, and that he's been doing side-by-side twizzles with the dancers (tvizzly, hehe).
Yana: [Fedor] has everything one can't just learn in figure skating - charisma and charm. Fedor has has an incredible feel for the music, and he's flexible. [...] It helps that over the last few years he's been actively helping Marina and Igor to work with the dancers, working on parallel footwork and twizzles with them. In addition, Fedor has very good skating skills. He also has some experience in pair skating, so we had no problems with the lifts.

At one point, Fedor is asked about how he feels about having a partner who's already had major success.
Fedor: Of course I worry. However, it's an added incentive as well. That's why I want to start training as soon as possibly. Additionally, I'm not starting from scratch. At practices, I would often skate with girls who didn't have a partner.
 
Top