“ Do people want mature female skating? This is not a bikini contest, that's where shapely curves are needed. ” Sharp interview with Anna Semyonovich
Debriefing in figure skating from the star of the Russian pop scene and vice-champion of Russia Anna Semenovich.
Anna Semenovich (no ё apparently)
Born March 1, 1980 in Moscow.
Russian singer, actress, television and radio host.
In the past, she was a figure skater in the Russian national team, performed in ice dancing, an International Master of Sports.
Bronze medalist of the Japanese Grand Prix (1995) and the US Grand Prix (1997).
Participant in European and World Championships.
Bronze medalist of the Russian championship with Vladimir Fyodorov (1998), vice-champion of Russia with Roman Kostomarov (2000).
She finished her sports career in 2001.
Who is the most popular representative of Russian figure skating? Alina Zagitova? Yevgeniya Medvyedeva? Or maybe you should look in the past - and leave the author and producer of ice shows Tat'yana Navka out of work? Irina Slutskaya, Mariya Butyrskaya?
Not really. The correct answer is Anna Semenovich. 1.9 million followers on Instagram - Zagitova and Medvedyeva barely gain 1.6 together. Largest number of searches in search engines. True, she hasn't competed in professional sports for about 20 years, but at the turn of the century, the future star of the Brilliant group was predicted a great future. By 2000, the medals of the Grand Prix stages, Bronze, and then the Silver of the Russian championship, hung on her home wall. But at age 21, a meniscus injury overtook the girl.
Dozens of skaters do not know what to do after sports - they try to train, to pursue a career in business, politics or on television. Not everyone can do it. Semenovich is an ideal example of a successful transition. “SE” spoke with the actress, singer and TV and radio host about the phenomenon of Eteri Tutberidze, the transformation of figure skating into show business and whether she envies the Olympic success of her partner Roman Kostomarov.
Young women often won in women's figure skating, Tutberidze's pupils cannot be blamed for this
- How do manage in self-isolation? A month has passed after all. Don't you want to climb the walls?
- I fulfil self-isolation in the same way as the rest of the people of our country, I am at home in my apartment. Of course, it's hard when there is no way to walk. I especially miss nature and fresh air. For the May holidays, I even rented a country house to change the picture. It’s not that I want to climb the wall, but sitting at home for several weeks affects me. I have fitness machines, a treadmill, I can exercise, I am happy to cook something tasty for my relatives. To my surprise I even get a lot of business proposals. Well, I can still go out, because I’m a journalist by profession - I’m broadcasting on Ruskoe Radio. Media should work live, not online. But I work in a mask, gloves, I thoroughly disinfect everything.
- You follow figure skating?
- Of course, I follow! It occupied half of my lifetime, 19 years in all. And I achieved very high results, in my opinion. I am a Master of Sports International Class in figure skating, I have repeatedly won prizes and brought medals to the country. Entered the top ten in the world. And if there are competitions, then I’m happy to watch.
- It is customary to associate recent successes with the name Eteri Tutberidze, who strictly but effectively educates her pupils. In your experience, was figure skating always a strict discipline? Impossible without authoritarianism?
- I want to say that Eteri is a great person as a coach, she found the keys to unlock athletes, to girls in the first place. Figure skating equals enormous discipline. This is a difficult sport, and it involves far more thanf just jumping. In addition to two ice training sessions, I had daily physical training, dance and ballet lessons. Yes, I performed in ice dancing, but artistry is important in any kind of figure skating. Four workouts a day! In this mode, discipline is necessary, there can be no concessions. The most able-bodied and those who adhere to this best win.
- The best Russian skaters are 15-16 years old. Should this cause alertness? Many believe they are still children, and such stress at this age is evil.
- And why are we talking only about Tutberidze’s pupils? There were others who had such talented young athletes. Remember the American Tara Lipinski, who at the age of 15 won the Olympics? Oksana Bayul skated her “Swan Lake” in Lillehammer at 16. We are friends, I know her very well. It is normal that we have such talented young girls.
- They complain that skating is not feminine, not mature anymore. You had your main successes later, at the age of 19.
- Listen, this is not a bikini contest, right? Shapely curves are needed in beauty contests. Since this is sport, there are other rules. My results are not worth comparing with those of these girls. I was engaged in ice dancing, which in general is a different sport. Dancers have a longer lifespan.
(laughs) Torville and Dean almost won medals at age 40. Tat'yana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, with whom I skated in Turin, were also over 30 already.
And in women's single skating there have always been young winners. Irina Slutskaya appeared on top at the age of 16. And there have been only a few women who won in adulthood, Mariya Butyrskaya can be remembered if we talk about Russia.
- Do we need to raise the minimum age in figure skating?
- They have been talking about this for a very long time, but no decision has been made. So, while everything is within the rules, our girls can compete, and it is not necessary to wait until 18 years to advance to the senior level. There is no one to blame and nothing to discuss.
Haters just do their thing
- Figure skating is rapidly gaining popularity in Russia and is slowly turning into show business. There are two popular approaches: “don't bang the girls' heads together, let sports be sports” and “any confrontation gives ratings.” Which is closer to you?
- The girls are not pushed. Nobody takes them and pushes them literally and on purpose. There are simply athletes of about the same level who jump a set of elements of approximately the same complexity. They must fulfill this cleanly and impeccably. And it's normal that they fight in competitions. This is called competition! Someone will control their nerves and make all the elements clean, someone will lose. And to tell you the truth, I don’t care which of Kostornaya, Shcherbakova, Trusova will win. It is important for me that Russia comes first. As the country that I love and which I've also brought medals. And if we have the first, second and third places - fine. And these internal battles between athletes ... it's their business. But my opinion is that no one pushes anyone.
- But we are moving towards the hate in social networks, already wishes of death penetrate the fan culture. Do you have to fight this at all? Or is it an unavoidable side effect?
- Haters are everywhere, now is the age of the Internet, a different era. Yes, in our competitive era, no one could DM us. But figure skating was not so popular either. And now it is one of the highest rated sports, there are fans, there are haters. Which just do their job. The task of the athletes is not to pay attention to them.
- An approach characteristic to the cruel world of show business?
- Oh, this myth about the cruelty of show business! Yes, he is great, this world. Anyone has the opportunity to sing, the open spaces of the world of Internet are vast. Many artists came from the Internet - young, fresh. On the contrary, everything is transparent, and fans choose their favourites to their liking. There are haters in show business, I've come across such people. Like most public people. But there is no other advice than to remain indifferent. In the case of skaters, it is much more important for them to keep themselves in a smart shape and achieve results.
- The boom of figure skating in Russia began with the confrontation between Zagitova and Medvyedeva. Do you have any preferences?
- I really like them both, honestly. They are very different, but each of them is good in her own way. Zhenya is more feminine, Alina, probably more technical. I do not want to prefer anyone.
- In your opinion, will Zagitova really come back, and Medvyedeva will continue?
- I think so: if you like figure skating and can’t see yourself without this sport, then you definitely need to continue. If a person is already tired and has won trophies, and there are enough of those for a skater, then you need to go further, start life, skate in shows or do something else altogether. But I cannot judge the girls, can't tell them - it is necessary to finish or to continue. They themselves must decide whether they want to stay.
I never even for second regretted that I left the sport and chose show business
- I heard that in the 90s there was quite a lot of money in figure skating, in some American shows there were fabulous fees. If it’s no secret, have you earned a lot in sports?
- Of course, there were fees for ISU tournaments, there were official prizes. We gave a percentage to the coach, a percentage to the state, divided them in half, and there was not a very large amount left. Those who won all their competitions in a year earned good money, but those were few. Some could even skate without earnings.
- That is, in this sense, one does not have to regret leaving. And what about status? Your partner Roman Kostomarov subsequently became Olympic champion. Weren't you envious, somewhere deep down?
- Not at all. When Tanya and Roma won their Olympics in Turin, I really supported them. We were friends with Tanya and continue to be friends, with Angelica Krylova, with Nastya Grebyonkina. She loves figure skating so much that she opened a leisure-time school, she teaches people to skate. Tat'yana Navka makes beautiful ice fairy tales and skates in these herself, Angelica trains. It turns out that all the girls remained in the same sphere, I am probably one of the few who changed their lives so abruptly. If you raise the question with an edge, what I liked more - to skate or perform on stage, I will choose the scene. This is just my calling.
- You said that you left because you wanted freedom, “drink and hang out.” This does not outweigh any medals?
- Freedom is not only about drinking and hanging out, of course. You do not have such strict self-discipline anymore, you can sleep longer and eat more. In addition to training, you look at life differently, new countries, you can read books, study, develop. Drinking and hanging out once in a while, there is nothing wrong with that.
(laughs) Everything has its own time and place. I am very grateful for the discipline and strength that is within me. Once an athlete, always an athlete.
- You left the sport at the age of 21 and made a successful career. Your advice: how to find yourself after a career at an early age? Indeed, in our figure skating this is the now and then, strong rivals instantly “write off” the previous generation.
- You must enter a new period of life with your soul, know what you want. I always had a dream to sing. From childhood, I dressed up in my mother’s clothes, dresses, shoes, sang into my hairbrush. And when I finished with sports, there were many offers. They offered me to skate for the UK, offered me to go to the ballet, but I decided I would rather start a completely new life. I never for a second regretted I left the sport and chose show business. This is a very interesting profession, you can live in it for a long time. I really enjoy what I’m doing now.
In a word, you need to understand that your spectrum doesn't converge in sports. At 20, life is just beginning! Start learning something new, you just need to look broadly at the world, think about development, new directions. Love for figure skating is wonderful, but do athletes have other hobbies? Do anything you like.
(c) Дмитрий Кузнецов
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From:
https://www.sport-express.ru/figure...pala-anna-semenovich-v-tancah-na-ldu-1668765/
Kuznetsov just cannot let go of pushing his agenda, but Anna didn't comply
).
, so don't know anything about the "continuation of Sasha's controversy". If it was about her roller skating, the situation is very similar to Evgenia's (with one difference: in Sasha case, as you write, "people didn't even know when and where it was shot" and in Evgenia's case all the internet's resources were searched through to find when and where it was shot 
).
Where did Katia say that Zhenya told her that she traveled specifically to Japan to practice? I would be interested in seeing that.
