Gearing up for today. I don't understand a word but it seems to be a nice interview
Plus fragments from the FD practice.
http://www.ledauphine.com/skichrono...izeron-papakadis-toujours-pousser-nos-limites
Thanks for the video
. I am not French so this is more of a gist of things...hope it helps a bit
Gabriella says winning gold is their goal for this competition, and the competition is a step towards Olympics. They want to perform as best they can and if possible beat their own records.
Guillaume says they are concentrated on each step along their path/journey, and very concentrated on this competition in Grenoble, which is an important part of the first half of the season, and they are moving ahead one stage/step at a time.
What they took away from their competition in Helsinki according to Gabriella is that they made a few errors in the SD, losing a few points, so this year they worked really hard to improve their programme technique - and they are succeeding at the moment. It is hard work that is bearing fruit and they hope that will continue.
According to Guillaume what they dream about is to constantly improve, to accomplish more - artistically and sportingly - to perform better and more and more precisely all the time and they have integrated more and more people into their team, with new people who can teach them new things and help them complete their “education” and they are always trying to push their own limits.
Gabrielle says they are completely focused on the Olympic games as they are their first and are not thinking further ahead than that. They are still very young and it is difficult to think about the post-Olympics.
Guillaume says they don’t feel like they have really sacrificed a lot for their sport, but have had to invest more and more time in training as they progressed, which had an impact on the time allocated to education or the time they could spend with friends etc…and then leaving to Canada meant they were away from their families and close friends, but they still see it as a cool life and they are not unhappy. It is just a life that requires more discipline than regular students for example, so sometimes they have to push themselves and it is not always easy – psychologically- to do so.
In terms of stress Gabriella says they feel that it gets more difficult with time as the more successful they are, the more success people expect and hope for and mistakes begin to cost more and they put pressure on themselves, wanting to be the best and their competitors progress as well so they can’t rest on their laurels, so there is always pressure but this pressure is also what drives them forward pushes them to improve, so it is a good kind of pressure.
Asked about what is natural and what remains a challenge about skating together Guillaume says as they progress some things become easy and more natural and they progress further and do different things - not all working - but sometimes this means what they learned before is somewhat forgotten and must be refreshed and practiced again, like musicians who need to keep practicing. It’s constant work on technique, on artistry and on interpretation, as well as on the mental aspects, as their personalities and the challenges they face evolve, and the sport itself evolves and they need to evolve with it.
