- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/37776.html
Note: I know the article has many inaccuracies, such as Mishin confusing where the next Winter Olympic will be... I am, though, leaving it as is.
Mishin: “Ice Age” creators are more professional than the sport bureaucrats
Skaters are launching on a pre-Olympic season. A renowned Petersburg coach and an Honorary citizen of Saint Petersburg Alexei Mishin talked to the “Saint-Petersburg.ru” correspondent about the going-ons in the national team and the Russian skaters’ chances for success.
Alexei Nikolaevich, what can the figure skating fans expect in the new season?
The season ahead of us is the key to determining the real health of figure skating in our country. Our team representation at the Montreal Olympics will depend on this year’s World championships. If the team does well, we’ll have good representation; it could, though, skate such that we’d only get one athlete at the Games.
Following the Turin Olympics, Russian figure skating was in a very deep hole. Only real athletic results that various sportsmen groups can show will determine if we can climb out of this hole.
How did this deep hole come to be?
One country cannot dominate figure skating for 50 years. All natural processes develop in a sine-like fashion. One upon time, there were Americans Carol Heiss and Dick Button, Canadian Jenkins, and Austrians Dantzer and Schwarz. Those were the undefeated kings, and where are they now? Those countries no longer exist in figure skating. The only country that has remained a leader for many years is Russia. However, we, too, cannot permanently hold the leadership, as our country has encountered social, political and economic problems, as well as mass immigration of coaches and lack of interest in the remaining trainers. All of this couldn’t help but affect the outcomes.
You mainly deal with single men. Who can now vie for high placements among the Russian team members?
If we’re talking about senior category among men, the most favorable positions are held by Sergei Voronov, Andrei Lutai, and Andrei Griazev. The young shoots aren’t yet mature enough to find their place on the team.
What about Evgeny Plushenko? Is he coming back, or isn’t he?
Zhenya is a super-athlete. He conducted three training camps with me – in Italy, Estonia, and Germany – and reached the mastery level that no leading Russian skaters of the time had. A couple of elements he performed overshadowed everyone else with his perfection. Currently, however, he has a lot on his plate – his deputy’s duties, family, divorce, TV, and his own show. He therefore lost the opportunity to continue real training. If, however, he would seriously get back into it, he will become the best in Russia. I will welcome him at any moment, and will enjoy working with him, because such work always yields some creative ideas. However, I can’t say for sure that he’ll come back. That question should be addressed to him personally.
What are Russia’s chances in other types of figure skating?
Pair skating now has a strong team of Kawaguchi-Smirnov, but by Sochi there will be a generation change. It’s entirely possible that some of the teams now training with the extraordinary coach Natalya Pavlova will be real contenders in Sochi.
The ladies skating, though, looks like a Russian “Zaporozhets” acquiring “Mercedes” bumper. At the last European championships, the TV commentators talked excitedly about our girls’ 17th and 19th places, declaring this to be a great achievement. But even 50 years ago, when Scheglova and Grzhibovskaya got 4th, 5th, and 6th places, this was considered a failure.
Is it really that bad?
No, not really. If you look at the girls who are now 11 through 13, you see several young skaters whose skating is on par with the strongest girls of that age around the world. Heading this list is Lisa Tuktamyseva. I would also include Polina Shelepen, Nicole Gasviani, and Adelina Sotnikova. Those children can realistically be among the strongest by the Sochi Olympics, since having the Games in your home country has special significance for the athletes.
However, if we speak of figure skating in general, for a while now men skating has personified the most avant-garde thinking and the brightest accomplishments. I think, therefore, that a renaissance of Russian figure skating awaits us primarily in this discipline, since our group has wonderful children we’re putting our hopes into. For example, Feodosy Efremenkov and Vladislav Tarasenkov could get to the level comparable to the strongest skaters of the World by the time of the Sochi Olympics.
What about ice dancing?
I have my own opinions about this discipline. Sure, dances are bright, beautiful, and joyful, but due to the nebulous nature of judging criteria inherent in this discipline, they do not belong in Olympic Games. It would therefore be silly to talk about athletic prospects there. I, for example, like the tango, while you prefer foxtrot – how do we then judge the sport? The whole history of ice dancing says that the work of the judging corps determined the results more so than professional mastery.
What about the televised dancing on ice, what do you think of it?
I know many fans who enjoy “Ice Ages” a lot. Those shows do popularize figure skating. However, figure skating and “Ice Ages” are not one and same. I don’t overestimate their importance, let it develop as it may, but I tend to share Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s position, who, back when he was president, said, “How is it – many shows, but few medals”. I think we should have many shows and many medals. My diagnosis is that the mastery and professional level of those responsible for the shows is much higher than the mastery and professional level of those responsible for the sport.
Interview conducted by Alexandra BOIKOVA
Note: I know the article has many inaccuracies, such as Mishin confusing where the next Winter Olympic will be... I am, though, leaving it as is.
Mishin: “Ice Age” creators are more professional than the sport bureaucrats
Skaters are launching on a pre-Olympic season. A renowned Petersburg coach and an Honorary citizen of Saint Petersburg Alexei Mishin talked to the “Saint-Petersburg.ru” correspondent about the going-ons in the national team and the Russian skaters’ chances for success.
Alexei Nikolaevich, what can the figure skating fans expect in the new season?
The season ahead of us is the key to determining the real health of figure skating in our country. Our team representation at the Montreal Olympics will depend on this year’s World championships. If the team does well, we’ll have good representation; it could, though, skate such that we’d only get one athlete at the Games.
Following the Turin Olympics, Russian figure skating was in a very deep hole. Only real athletic results that various sportsmen groups can show will determine if we can climb out of this hole.
How did this deep hole come to be?
One country cannot dominate figure skating for 50 years. All natural processes develop in a sine-like fashion. One upon time, there were Americans Carol Heiss and Dick Button, Canadian Jenkins, and Austrians Dantzer and Schwarz. Those were the undefeated kings, and where are they now? Those countries no longer exist in figure skating. The only country that has remained a leader for many years is Russia. However, we, too, cannot permanently hold the leadership, as our country has encountered social, political and economic problems, as well as mass immigration of coaches and lack of interest in the remaining trainers. All of this couldn’t help but affect the outcomes.
You mainly deal with single men. Who can now vie for high placements among the Russian team members?
If we’re talking about senior category among men, the most favorable positions are held by Sergei Voronov, Andrei Lutai, and Andrei Griazev. The young shoots aren’t yet mature enough to find their place on the team.
What about Evgeny Plushenko? Is he coming back, or isn’t he?
Zhenya is a super-athlete. He conducted three training camps with me – in Italy, Estonia, and Germany – and reached the mastery level that no leading Russian skaters of the time had. A couple of elements he performed overshadowed everyone else with his perfection. Currently, however, he has a lot on his plate – his deputy’s duties, family, divorce, TV, and his own show. He therefore lost the opportunity to continue real training. If, however, he would seriously get back into it, he will become the best in Russia. I will welcome him at any moment, and will enjoy working with him, because such work always yields some creative ideas. However, I can’t say for sure that he’ll come back. That question should be addressed to him personally.
What are Russia’s chances in other types of figure skating?
Pair skating now has a strong team of Kawaguchi-Smirnov, but by Sochi there will be a generation change. It’s entirely possible that some of the teams now training with the extraordinary coach Natalya Pavlova will be real contenders in Sochi.
The ladies skating, though, looks like a Russian “Zaporozhets” acquiring “Mercedes” bumper. At the last European championships, the TV commentators talked excitedly about our girls’ 17th and 19th places, declaring this to be a great achievement. But even 50 years ago, when Scheglova and Grzhibovskaya got 4th, 5th, and 6th places, this was considered a failure.
Is it really that bad?
No, not really. If you look at the girls who are now 11 through 13, you see several young skaters whose skating is on par with the strongest girls of that age around the world. Heading this list is Lisa Tuktamyseva. I would also include Polina Shelepen, Nicole Gasviani, and Adelina Sotnikova. Those children can realistically be among the strongest by the Sochi Olympics, since having the Games in your home country has special significance for the athletes.
However, if we speak of figure skating in general, for a while now men skating has personified the most avant-garde thinking and the brightest accomplishments. I think, therefore, that a renaissance of Russian figure skating awaits us primarily in this discipline, since our group has wonderful children we’re putting our hopes into. For example, Feodosy Efremenkov and Vladislav Tarasenkov could get to the level comparable to the strongest skaters of the World by the time of the Sochi Olympics.
What about ice dancing?
I have my own opinions about this discipline. Sure, dances are bright, beautiful, and joyful, but due to the nebulous nature of judging criteria inherent in this discipline, they do not belong in Olympic Games. It would therefore be silly to talk about athletic prospects there. I, for example, like the tango, while you prefer foxtrot – how do we then judge the sport? The whole history of ice dancing says that the work of the judging corps determined the results more so than professional mastery.
What about the televised dancing on ice, what do you think of it?
I know many fans who enjoy “Ice Ages” a lot. Those shows do popularize figure skating. However, figure skating and “Ice Ages” are not one and same. I don’t overestimate their importance, let it develop as it may, but I tend to share Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s position, who, back when he was president, said, “How is it – many shows, but few medals”. I think we should have many shows and many medals. My diagnosis is that the mastery and professional level of those responsible for the shows is much higher than the mastery and professional level of those responsible for the sport.
Interview conducted by Alexandra BOIKOVA
I guess the U.S. loaned the Jenkins boys, Hayes Alan and David, to Canada. Too bad Canada then ceased to exist -- being represented thereafter by those ghosts Donald Jackson, Brian Orser, Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko and Jeffrey Buttle.
