Alexandra Trusova | Page 208 | Golden Skate

Alexandra Trusova

Sasha, Kamila and Anya have all bulked up over the last two months. Sasha is strugling to do quads now looking at video from her last show. I wonder if Sasha even has the desire to go back to that regimented life that is required to be one of the best in the world. Losing that weight won't be easy.
I think rather it's easier to return to a healthy weight during the off-season than stay at an unsustainably low weight 365 days a year and risk osteoporosis. Bulking and cutting is common in many sports, particularly ones with weight classes. Sasha's dad being an ex-boxer would be familiar with this.
 
in this video - an interview with the first coach Alexandra Trusova, as well as her own interview:



the text of Sasha's interview in Russian is here:


I will try to publish the translation tomorrow, but for now you can use an automatic translator.
 
Sasha, Kamila and Anya have all bulked up over the last two months. Sasha is strugling to do quads now looking at video from her last show. I wonder if Sasha even has the desire to go back to that regimented life that is required to be one of the best in the world. Losing that weight won't be easy.
Anya has very lucky genetics. Kamila and Sasha though not so lucky....I noticed that Sasha is busting out of the black outfit. Hopefully getting back into training will help. Alina went through the same thing after the Olympics.
 
Anya has very lucky genetics. Kamila and Sasha though not so lucky....I noticed that Sasha is busting out of the black outfit. Hopefully getting back into training will help. Alina went through the same thing after the Olympics.
Depends on what qualifies as 'lucky'. An advantageous physique for figure skating doesn't boil down to the sole parameter of thinness. Sasha has a fairly unique capacity to build lean muscle mass, as well as a linear body frame, which I think contributes to her basic jump technique being more sound than Anna (whose technique isn't as bad as some people make out; she is an efficient rotator, but less explosive). Those muscles are still there even now, and they do increase basal metabolic rate i.e. resting fat-burning capacity.

I also don't think it's completely genetic. We can assume that leading up to the Olympics they had similar diets and exercise, training in the same camp. In the post-Olympic off-season, their day-to-day routines are up to them (until Novogorsk, obviously).

Anyway, comments are free, but I'd just like to point out that at the moment Sasha wouldn't look out of place standing next to some of the Japanese or Korean girls. The weight range for optimal performance varies between people and I think her mesomorphic traits may give her a bigger margin of error.
 
in this video - an interview with the first coach Alexandra Trusova, as well as her own interview:



the text of Sasha's interview in Russian is here:


I will try to publish the translation tomorrow, but for now you can use an automatic translator.


Trusova didn't deserve gold. She's got to move on from that.

Anna skated clean with a less complex program. It was very close between Anna and Sasha, but neither can really argue they were more deserving than the other. Sasha let herself down in the short program.

Both were lucky in a way that the result of Kamila's positive test was delayed until just before the individual event to cause maximum destruction, distraction and humiliation to Kamila. Otherwise Kamila wins very easily.

On the other hand you could say unlucky in terms of getting a team gold because if the result was revealed a few days earlier Russia can put Anna or Sasha into the team event and get an easy team gold, but there was a small window to cause maximum pain to a 15 year old and they used it.
 
translation of Trusova's interview (on video, starting at 41:45):

- Sasha, we are now talking in Ryazan. This is such a special place for you, here you took your first steps in figure skating. How often do you manage to come to your hometown, take a walk around it?

- When I first moved to Moscow, I rarely came to Ryazan - there was no time. But after the Olympics, I'm here for the second time.

- Well, you have now arrived at the ice palace in Ryazan. What are your impressions now? Maybe some images, pictures appear, do you remember how you came here when you were little, walked along these corridors, maybe about how you cried? Do you have any flashbacks?

- When I recently skated here and held a master class, I can’t say that I imagined my little self while working with children. When I walk through the corridors, I imagine, yes. There are certain places where I have been, where I came for additional training. In addition, I remember how I was at the usual mass skating with a coach. I remember this well. I lived on the other side of the city. I was usually taken to training by my mother or grandmother. And once my grandfather took me. We arrived at the rink, he prepared me for going out on the ice, and I got up and said: “You tied the laces on my skates wrong.” He said: "Well, then we'll go home?" I answered yes. And we went home (laughs).

— What did you think about when you worked with small children at the master class?

-I enjoyed helping them. At first, I didn’t quite succeed, because there were a lot of them. I didn't know who to look at. In addition, there were coaches. I believe that I cannot give advice when there are coaches of these children on the ice. Then the coaches moved away a little, and the children began to turn to me with questions. And only then I started to train them, it was very interesting.

(pause, showing Sasha's fans and handing her huge rocket)

-Your first coach Olga Shevtsova said that if we go out into the street with your portrait, then everyone here will recognize you. Do you feel special attention in your hometown?

-I can cite our current trip as an example. We have been in Ryazan for a short time, and I have hardly been on the street - I literally got out of the car, went to the skating rink, but three people on the street managed to recognize me, then two more girls here.
But I get recognized a lot in other places too. Recently I was in St. Petersburg, and people walking towards me said: “Oh, hello!” And in Moscow, this has also become a lot. So I can’t even say where more.


- Was there some kind of strange request from the fans that you thought “this is too much”?

- In general, I really like it when they recognize me, I like this popularity. But there are some moments when it is shown too strongly. For example, I don't like being approached on planes or airports. And I don't like it when I get off the plane after a long flight, when it's already night, and then it (attention of the fans) is strange. And I still don’t like it when they just take pictures of me or shoot me on the sly, as I walk somewhere.

-Is it better to come up and ask for a photo?

- Yes. I do not refuse it. Only if this is not some kind of event where there are a lot of people, and I just physically do not have time to take a picture with everyone.

-What do the fans usually tell you when they meet?

- Most often, “you can take a picture” or “I recognized you.” Recently there was a funny story with a taxi driver. He did not recognize me, but asked some leading questions about me. Asked, asked. And then we passed a large banner with an ice show poster, and he exclaimed: “Oh, I saw you on the poster just now!”

- Does great popularity discourage or vice versa gives additional motivation?

- Everyone is different. For me, when I was little, in my first international junior season, maybe that got in the way. Now I don't feel like that anymore.

-What is the most unusual place where you were recognized?

— Hmm, I don’t know… The Tretyakov Gallery!

-Do you read news about yourself?

- After the Olympics, I sometimes read (smiles). But I don't pay attention to some things.

-In the comments of experts, you can see the opinion that you are focused on jumping, and other components of figure skating in your performance do not look so impressive?

- This is their opinion. I work a lot not only on jumping, but also on skating. Last season I spent nights at the rink to improve my skating skills. I also worked a lot in this - I tried to invest as much as possible in the second assessment in my Olympic programs. Especially in the short program.

- Night training - what was it?

— Yes, we skated with Dmitry Sergeevich Mikhailov. We started at 9 pm and finished when we wanted. We skate as much as we could.

- One of your last demonstration numbers was set to the song of Elka "I won't leave halfway." Can you tell his story? Whose idea was is?

- The program was staged by Daniil Markovich Gleikhengauz and Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze. There were a lot of tiktoks to this music. I liked it, and I asked the coaches to make a number for this track.

— Which of your latest programs do you like the most?

- “I won’t leave halfway”, as well as our pair performance with Dmitry Sergeevich. It `s very unusual. I get great pleasure with every skating. I like it when there are many different programs and there are plenty to choose from.

- At the Olympics, you collected five quads in a free program. Which one was the hardest for you to stabilize?

- Can I answer "axel"? Haha! Okay, let's choose from quads. The most difficult are flip and salchow. The most important thing is not to fall off the flip at the beginning of the program, which is the first jump. In the event of a fall, more strength is spent, and salchow is definitely not possible.

- A triple axel is half a turn less than a quadruple, the less quads are much easier for you. What is the problem here?

- Someone has a difficult lutz. And it’s the other way around for me - I can jump it at any time without any problems, because it’s convenient for me. I don't have that on my axel. It is difficult for me, because you need to control the body very much in order to do it the right way. Due to the fact that I worry in competitions, I can not achieve the necessary control. This is at other tournaments, I can’t say anything about the Olympics, because I didn’t worry about it.

- Recently, the American figure skater Ilya Malinin was the first in history to perform a quadruple axel. Did you see?

- Of course I saw it! It's very cool, he's great. I thought that the quadruple axel would not jump so fast. But with a quintuplet, I hope he doesn't jump (smiles).

- Ilya in social networks calls himself the god of Quads. Wouldn't you like to be called "queen" or "goddess" too?

- No (smiles). I'm not so sure of myself.
 
part 2:

- Should we expect a joint performance with Mark Kondratyuk?

- I don't know (laughs). We haven't thought about this yet.

- Why did you decide to post joint photos and confirm your relationship?

-First, we were photographed. Of course, we were not going to hide it, but we were photographed every time we walked together. Then we posted our pictures. It wasn't great. I don't like that. It turns out that we can’t normally walk quietly because of the constant photos. It is very strange. So we decided to post it. What's more, the photos are beautiful.

- So you saw all this news about your affair with Mark?

-Of course I saw it all. It's all on social media right away. Weird and not very nice. But when people ask for a photo with Mark and me together, we don't say no. Even on vacation. We are approached in other countries as well. I think my hair plays a role here.

-May I ask you how long you've been together? Or are you avoiding this topic for now?

-Everyone knows we're dating. And this information is enough (smiles).

-Do you have a habit of reviewing your performances?

- Successful - yes, of course. Sometimes I just want to watch a video from some tournament, but sometimes I watch my performances from start to finish. Starting with the video where I am small, and ending with the last performance. I'm not doing this for anything, but just for myself.

- What skating do you watch most often?

- Since my first world championship among juniors.

- Did you review the free skate from the Olympics?

- Oh sure. At that moment I did everything I could. This is a very good performance.

-What are you thinking about at this moment?

- I think about what I had in my head before the skating itself. I remember that I was not worried. At least not as much as usual. I don’t know how I eventually managed to tune in to the skating. Now I can't imagine how I did it then. How did I manage to do everything at the right time. Before that, at every tournament I said to myself: “This is not the Olympics. These competitions are every year. Nothing bad is happening right now." And then the Olympics itself happened ... And everything is different.

— What are your memories of Beijing?

-Not quite what I expected. We were only in the Olympic village and on the ice. Because of this bubble, I can’t even say that I was in China. But the Olympic ice is not comparable to anything. The village was interesting. We walked with a group, took pictures on the rings. It was nice.

- Can I say that you are satisfied with how the Olympics went?

- Yes.

- And the result in the form of a silver medal?

-I am 100% satisfied with myself. Without any doubt, nothing would have changed.

- Sorry for such a question, but many people remember your emotional attack after a free program. Don't you regret it?

- That I expressed my emotions in such a way?

- Yes.

- I'm not sorry. Once I cried at the Russian Championship. After that, the fans asked me not to cry anymore, because they are crying themselves. Since then, regardless of the performances, I tried to hide my emotions, keep smiling, not show anything. But at the Olympics it was beyond my capabilities. And I couldn't help it.

- Do you hold a grudge against those journalists who filmed you at such a moment?

- I asked not to shoot me, I wanted to leave there and asked about it. But I was not allowed out of this room even into the locker room. Only on the ice, for the awards. And that's all. But the cameras were everywhere. I tried to leave this room, go anywhere. I tried to leave when other skaters were skating, when they asked me to give an interview. But I had nowhere to go. I just couldn't leave.

Of course, I wasn't going to cry in public. It happened because there was nowhere to go. I didn't want it to be filmed and I asked them not to. But what was, was.


- Five quadruples is a record. And you wrote your name in history. What is more important in this case - medals or records?

-Records are always important to me. But this medal, the one that I think I deserved with my performance, was important to me. It is this medal. I don’t regret other medals that I didn’t receive because of my skates. And in Beijing, I tried, I achieved my goal. And only this medal was important to me.

- Olympic gold?

- Yes.

-Did you keep the silver one?

- Of course, it is at home, in the corner where all the medals are. At home there is a separate place for the Olympics - there is a bouquet, Bing Dong Dun, my brother made a construction from Lego - I brought him Lego from Beijing. It turned out such an Olympic corner.

- One of the journalists said that you arrived at the reception in the Kremlin without your medal, and took the award from Evgenia Tarasova for the award. This is true?

- Yes, I took it from Zhenya. I just forgot my medal (laughs).

-So it's not a fundamental point?

- At the Olympics, I took silver, yes. But there I was not going to show it, I was not going to go anywhere with it. Well, in general, I take it everywhere to a minimum. As for that meeting, we were told to take medals there, but I just forgot. But I don’t wear a medal on purpose to show it to someone.

- Fans write everything, so let me just clarify. Do you communicate with Anya Shcherbakova after the Olympics, is everything all right?

- Yes.

- Do your parents watch your skates?

-Mom is watching and always has been. She worried, but watching.

- Did her absence at the Olympics somehow affect you there?

-On the result, on my emotions - probably not. It's just that for such a long time I have not been without parents, without dogs. Previously, it was not like I was going somewhere alone for more than three weeks. Before that, this happened at the World Championships in Stockholm, but there was only one week.

- When was the first time you managed to talk with your mother after a free skate?

- I talked to her when Kamila skated.

- What did she tell you?

- Basically, I spoke, and she listened to me (laughs). But my mother said that I was great and I was right when decide to jump. We have spoken many times.

-Your dance in high heels has taken social media by storm. How did you get started doing this?

- I always wanted to try frame up strip - this is a kind of strip. I watched the new "New Dances" and there was the Agny team. I really liked the guys, I rooted for them. It's a shame they lost. Once I watched them at a massage. The team comes out, its creator Nastya Yurasova is announced, and the masseuse says: “I know her, I knew her.” They were together in some camps. I asked if she could work with me. She found the phone, asked, and it turned out that Nastya created this style in general. She does not give individual lessons, but she agreed to work out with me as an exception. For a month, 2-3 times a week, I practiced, and then posted this video. But she says that it's not really choreography yet, but a set of basic elements that we put on music.

- Do you keep practicing?

- I didn’t study on vacation, but now I will continue.

- What are your plans for the near future?

- Now we are training in Novogorsk. From there I will go to the show, then I will return and I will train. I work like everyone else.

— Do you have any ideas for programs?

-Not yet (smiles). (The interview was recorded on June 8, - Sport24).

- Why did you decide to compete in the athletics tournament?

- In some interview, I said that I wanted to try, and I was invited to the tournament. I don't know why it caused such an uproar. Everyone writes something… I didn’t understand why it happened like that.

- Earlier you said that you plan to skate until the 2026 Olympics. Now there is an understanding of the long-term plans?

- Not. I don't know how things will turn out. I have never competed since the Olympics, so I can't say anything.

- Are you considering a change of sports citizenship?

- No, I don't.

-What quality do you consider the most important in people?

- Patience. This quality seems to me very important.

-Are Sasha Trusova on the ice and Sasha Trusova off the ice two different people?

- Probably not. I try to be sincere always. I always try to be the same, I don’t try to play someone. I am always very sincere. Perhaps that is why they tell me that in some programs I am not artistic. But I believe that everything should be sincere, and if I show any emotions, they should not be feigned. Maybe it's not as visible as when people play on purpose. But I think that on purpose is not always beautiful. As I feel, so I do.

- What will Sasha Trusova do in 10 years?

- I will be 27 years old ... Most likely, I will already have a child. Because I want it. And what I will do - I do not know. Too much time will pass.
 
Trusova didn't deserve gold. She's got to move on from that.

Anna skated clean with a less complex program. It was very close between Anna and Sasha, but neither can really argue they were more deserving than the other. Sasha let herself down in the short program.
No, even with a clean short program Sasha would lose and this is the biggest injustice in the history of women's skating (she deserved gold more than Yuna in Sochi). Not a single woman can repeat what Sasha did... Judges have been downscoring her all time because she goes against ISU policies that don't want women to have quads. Programs with 5 and 2 quads are in different galaxies in terms of complexity and should be evaluated accordingly. None of us have the slightest idea how these 5 quads cost Sasha.
 
Depends on what qualifies as 'lucky'. An advantageous physique for figure skating doesn't boil down to the sole parameter of thinness. Sasha has a fairly unique capacity to build lean muscle mass, as well as a linear body frame, which I think contributes to her basic jump technique being more sound than Anna (whose technique isn't as bad as some people make out; she is an efficient rotator, but less explosive). Those muscles are still there even now, and they do increase basal metabolic rate i.e. resting fat-burning capacity.

I also don't think it's completely genetic. We can assume that leading up to the Olympics they had similar diets and exercise, training in the same camp. In the post-Olympic off-season, their day-to-day routines are up to them (until Novogorsk, obviously).

Anyway, comments are free, but I'd just like to point out that at the moment Sasha wouldn't look out of place standing next to some of the Japanese or Korean girls. The weight range for optimal performance varies between people and I think her mesomorphic traits may give her a bigger margin of error.
I agree-and I felt she looked way too thin during the Olympics-I was glad to see her looking healthier after the Olympics. I suspect with quads though there is very little margin as far as weight gain. I think you can do a big powerful triple with a different body type, but a quad you need the rotation speed which becomes slightly slower with more body development.
On the other hand, for five years Sasha has set the skating world on fire, has accomplished probably more than she realizes for the direction of the sport. She, Anna and Aliona have had a great run-all three pretty famous inside Russia, and in the skating community outside of Russia-Although they worked hard for it, and took huge risks, I also hope they are grateful for their success-because the new generation is going to get a pretty raw deal thanks to the ban. (This should have been the year Sofia A set the world on fire. sigh.)
 
Don't cry, Sasha, you're a grown up now.
Sorry...

At 23 June 2022 Sasha is 18. The full legal status in Russia (you may drink, be enlisted and sent to the war, you may speak for yourself and don't need your parents' approval to do whatever you want).
 
Sasha's interview on her birthday:

Screenshot_20220623-104217_Instagram.jpg
 
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