https://rsport.ria.ru/20181210/1547707972.html
Cleaned (a little bit) google translate (not all of it yet, tbc)
Olympic champion Alina Zagitova after the Grand Prix Final told RIA Novosti correspondent Anatoly Samokhvalova how she twisted her leg, laughing at couch critics, and answered the question why they do not communicate with double world champion Yevgenia Medvedeva.
Remembered my worst start
In the Grand Prix Final in Vancouver, Zagitova won the silver medal.
“From the defeats you get more experience, and at the next competitions you know better what you need,” said Zagitova. - How to get together mentally. Each athlete has their own way. Someone takes the ice with the right foot. And I am going through through my successful starts, the way I behaved, how I slept, when I ate a little more, when a little less. An experienced athlete consists of such details.
- Did the start in Canada bring you worries because of acclimatization?
- It is the first time I acclimatized not as easy as usual. in Japan it was more convenient, as if I just wake up early there, the sun always shines. For me it is very important, what is the weather outside. Well, I'm such a person. If there’s sun, then I am in a good mood and in general I am energetic. If cloudy, it's hard for me to feel my body. Here, in Canada, before the free, I took sleeping pills, because I could not sleep at night, and during the day I had the feeling that I would fall asleep right at the practice.
- Sleeping pills?
- Yes, all athletes, I think, are doing this to acclimatize. But this is not always good, I try to still fall asleep by myself, because the next day you are sluggish. It was the only case (taking sleeping pills).
- What did you have in your head before this sleep, which preceded the free programme? The gap from Rika Kihira, something else?
- That too. And for some reason I remembered the world championship. My worst start (at the World Championships 2018 in Milan, Zagitova took the fifth place, being an Olympic champion). Here I remembered that there, too, I was the second. And then, in Italy, I thought before sleep what should I do to be the first. But now I have become more experienced. Now I set myself up in a different way: what should I do to skate the free programme. When you want to overtake someone, you only make it worse for yourself. It's bad when such thoughts come to mind.
- But how to learn to do it?
- Just beat it in your head and repeat the same phrase each time until you remember it. Only clean skate. And nothing else.
- Is the information correct that you injured your foot before the free skate in Vancouver?
- I had already warmed up before the skate and decided to run a little to shake the muscles so that they did not tremble. I tripped on the tv cable and sprained my foot. It happens.
After that, did you need the help of a doctor?
- Of course. Thank God, our doctor who was provided by the school came with us, and he did his job. Cold, painkiller. The foot was slightly swollen.
- Did you considere the option of withdrawing from the tournament?
- No. At that moment I remembered Yuzuru Hanyu, who, at the Grand Prix stage in Moscow, performed with a much more serious injury. I understood: to be an athlete, it is necessary to overcome difficulties. Not everything can be smooth.
You will never be loved by everyone
- After the Grand Prix Final, what conclusions did you draw?
- It is necessary to completely "clean" the programmes, so as not to skate as tense as I did. I have a large margin to improve points. My record, if I am not mistaken, is 238 points (238.43 points - the world record in the free skate program set by Zagitova at the tournament in Oberstdorf). There were only 226 (226.53). It’s a lot of work to do!
). And when I realize this, I thereby calm myself.
).
