- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Here is a slightly older inerview with Victor Kudryavtsev, the coach of Elena Sokolova, Julia Soldatova, and VIctoria Volchkova (the latter trains with his wife Marina). It was taken shortly before Worlds, and contains some very interesting bits. NOTE: For some reason, the board won't let me post the whole inerview in one post, so Il''l break it into several posts
Figure skating – coaches, interviews by Elena Vaicehovskaya.
Kudryavtsev stayed silent, listening to his own thoughts, aloofly rolling a glass of water between his fingers, and finally, after pause, having measured me with attentively piercing eyes, curtly replied, "No".
From the many years when I've observed this coach's work in figure skating, two ideas materialized almost as an axiom: Kudryavtsev is one of the best, most nuanced technicians of his sport in the world (if not the very best), and... He is the unluckiest of all his colleagues. His students left him as regularly as the graduates leave the college, barely attaining substantive athletic education. It is almost as at some point of growing up, some vital mechanism in the athlete-coach link broke beyond repair.
"Could they just lack human understanding?” I once quietly inquired. This was after Ilya Kulik, crowned the European champion, left the Kudryavtsev team. Apparently, the wound was too fresh. "I am not going to become their nanny", grumbled the coach, and quickly switched the subject.
In consequent conversations I tried avoiding the subject of relationships, as it was becoming ever more painful. Maria Butyrskaya followed Kulik as she left Kudryavtsev to train with Elena Tchaikovskaya. In 1998, Julia Lautowa and Julia Soldatova left Marina (Kudryavtsev's wife) to train with Tchaikovskaya. The former started competing for Austria, the latter was forced by the coach to take Belorussian citizenship, rationalizing that not competing for Russia guaranteed a place on a national team. Skaters were promised gold mines, and neither Lautowa nor Soldatova suspected that Butyrskaya's success will remain unique, and they will be in for huge disappointments.
From once the largest and most competitive group in the country, only Victoria Volchkova remained with Kudryavtsev at the end of 2000 (Sokolova went to look for the athletic happiness with Alexei Mishin to Petersburg). To all the journalists who seemed most preoccupied with the question of "who next?", the skater stubbornly repeated, "I will never leave my coach. We have a complete understanding".
In 2002 season, Volchkova started training with Oleg Vasiliev.
Though by then the first martlet has come back under Kudryavtsev's wing -- Sokolova.
Figure skating – coaches, interviews by Elena Vaicehovskaya.
Victor Kudryavtsev: In his school, he followed the American way
The Russian National champions of 2004 became a true triumph of Victor Kudryavtsev. His students -- Elena Sokolova, Julia Soldatova, and Kristina Oblasova took up the whole podium. That, given that two of this trio have left the coach, certain they'll never be back.BAD LUCK FORMULA
Victor Nikolaevich, did you suppose they'd be back?Kudryavtsev stayed silent, listening to his own thoughts, aloofly rolling a glass of water between his fingers, and finally, after pause, having measured me with attentively piercing eyes, curtly replied, "No".
From the many years when I've observed this coach's work in figure skating, two ideas materialized almost as an axiom: Kudryavtsev is one of the best, most nuanced technicians of his sport in the world (if not the very best), and... He is the unluckiest of all his colleagues. His students left him as regularly as the graduates leave the college, barely attaining substantive athletic education. It is almost as at some point of growing up, some vital mechanism in the athlete-coach link broke beyond repair.
"Could they just lack human understanding?” I once quietly inquired. This was after Ilya Kulik, crowned the European champion, left the Kudryavtsev team. Apparently, the wound was too fresh. "I am not going to become their nanny", grumbled the coach, and quickly switched the subject.
In consequent conversations I tried avoiding the subject of relationships, as it was becoming ever more painful. Maria Butyrskaya followed Kulik as she left Kudryavtsev to train with Elena Tchaikovskaya. In 1998, Julia Lautowa and Julia Soldatova left Marina (Kudryavtsev's wife) to train with Tchaikovskaya. The former started competing for Austria, the latter was forced by the coach to take Belorussian citizenship, rationalizing that not competing for Russia guaranteed a place on a national team. Skaters were promised gold mines, and neither Lautowa nor Soldatova suspected that Butyrskaya's success will remain unique, and they will be in for huge disappointments.
From once the largest and most competitive group in the country, only Victoria Volchkova remained with Kudryavtsev at the end of 2000 (Sokolova went to look for the athletic happiness with Alexei Mishin to Petersburg). To all the journalists who seemed most preoccupied with the question of "who next?", the skater stubbornly repeated, "I will never leave my coach. We have a complete understanding".
In 2002 season, Volchkova started training with Oleg Vasiliev.
Though by then the first martlet has come back under Kudryavtsev's wing -- Sokolova.