Part 3
In this part Davydenko repeats his pitch that Mozalev is a slow and steady gainer vs an overnight sensation, and describes Mozalev’s approach to training and speaks directly to the fans expressing his complete faith in Mozalev. Also, Mozalev participates a lot, particularly when they talk about food. 
(during the news pause AMM reacts to the segment about the Ukrainian athlete’s doping suspension. He tenses up, winces, glances at Davydenko and slightly shakes his head.)
Host: Dear friends, we are continuing our program. Today, we have Andrei Mozalev—the JWC and an Olympian—and his coach, Kyrill Davydenko—a mentor of considerable experience—arriving from the ground-zero zone, from Beijing. We have already discussed a lot of topics, as well as heard your opinions, well-wishing and questions.
Anastasia from Ekaterinburg had sent us a bunch of questions, including one very thorough. I’d like to read it out loud.
“Andrei is a figure skater with very beautiful, high-PCS skating. Unfortunately, not all jumping elements are landed in all starts. What causes this: state of mind, his current form, not enough volume of training for a new jump, or maybe something else entirely?”
Here is this long, broad question for you.
KAD: Well, if you look at the season where we won the JWC, you can’t really comment on the psychological side of things, because he placed well, earning good ranking, with good skating. The move from the juniors to seniors, it is a different level of responsibility, different emotions. Plus, if you add in the injuries that had happened at the beginning of this season… Andrei had been training 4F and 4Lz, he knows all the jumps. However, knowing a jump is a different thing from putting them all in the same program.
I know Andrei for ten years, since childhood. He’s the kind of a person who spends a long time hitching the horses, but rides fast. He’s not an adventurer who ‘comes, sees, wins’--and leaves. That’s how he works, his mindset.
Host: Andrei is an essential Russian athlete in this. That's important.
(AMM chuckles)
KAD: He needs time to try things, understand them, think them over. Even now, right after the Olympics, he came to me—on his own initiative, immediately after the Games—this surprised me, because Andrei is usually the silent one.
He said something that I was trying to impress on him for a while, “We need to plan thoroughly for the next 4 years, with all the details and all the nuances taken care of.”
So, everything I was trying to impart, he thought it over and voiced it. Those are all very sensible decisions. This is his psychological makeup. I am sure that our fans will have reasons to be happy and will see good, stable skating. I don’t doubt that. Dear fans, we will deliver what you are waiting for from us.
Host: Andrei, what was the most important athletic lesson you have learned during the Olympics in Beijing?
(AMM glances down, starts to answer, but the host interrupts)
Host: Maybe the rivalry with the likes of Hanyu and Chen?
(AMM smiles and tries to answer again, and the hosts speaks over him again)
Kyrill had described you as someone not adventurous, but Hanyu is. He took a risk, and didn’t become—if not a champion, then at least the 3x Olympic medallist?
AMM (fidgets): I’m going to say that it doesn’t matter to me who my rival is. I don’t pay attention, don’t think about it, because I focus on my skating. Mostly, I stay in my own head during the competitions. Everything that goes on around me, I don’t pay attention to it.
KAD: I always teach my athletes that your main rival is yourself. You, you, and only you.
(AMM nods slightly a few times while Davydenko says it)
KAD: Go out on the ice, go full throttle, let the judges do their thing. When you come off the ice, you must be able to say, “Yes, I did everything I could, maximum effort.”
Host: Andrei, did you conquer yourself, won over yourself, from your coach’s standpoint?
(AMM smiles, then looks up)
KAD: No, not completely. But this is precisely what will let us analyze our mistakes and deliver good skating in the near future. If he would have conquered himself completely, you would have seen clean skating.
Host: In these circumstances, it’s customary to ask, “What were you aiming for in terms of the results?” Naturally, it’s understandable that planning is a difficult enterprise, but a lot of us were eager for a slightly higher result. Not that we should fixate on the 19th place. The more important thing was that he had debuted, and the experience and the analysis that you were talking about.
KAD (takes a sip of water): No doubt. Because I see the athlete who is plugged in and involved to the maximum. He understands what he wants, point by point. This kind of understanding forms gradually, with time.
We are talking about boys. And the boys kindle later. Naturally, all boys are different. I am speaking specifically about this person here. He has to think everything through, and only then he processes the information and produces the output.
In the practices after the Olympics, I see how Andrei had adjusted his attitude. Regardless of the result, this Olympics gave him experience. Experience is invaluable. There is nothing more valuable than that. I’m grateful to the fate, and to everyone who gave us the opportunity to accumulate this experience. Thanks to this experience, we will develop further, so that I won’t have to say that we didn’t overcome, that something didn’t work out. We are aspiring to reach the place where we can say that everything has worked out.
Host: Just wanted to clarify, to avoid any misunderstanding, is that the attitude had changed in a sense that he had been irresponsible and now he is responsible.
KAD: Of course not!
Host: More mature…
KAD: Mature, of course. I’m not sure how to put it… it’s like being in a relationship with a girl…
(AMM rubs his brow, then glances at KAD, turns away and smiles, then returns to Mozalev-neutral-smile state)
KAD: …when you are 15, 18 or 25, it’s a different way of thinking. I’m not sure if it’s a good example or not.
Host: No, no, it’s a good example.
KAD: At least, it’s relatable.
(all 4 guys in the studio chuckle embarrassedly)
Host: Andrei, was there a moment when you were upset over the result, a little bit or a lot? Because from the way you commented to the press, you remained calm from start to finish. Was there a moment of upset, then getting over it?
Naturally, I was calm because I was happy to make the Olympics at all. After the short program, when I didn’t skate all that well… (winces) I got a little upset. How to put it? I was upset, but then I realized that there was nothing left to lose, so I might as well relax and enjoy the moment.
Host: And then you immediately felt better, did I get it right?
AMM: Yes.
KAD: See here, some people say, “Just don’t think about this being the Olympics, or the World Championship…”
What I always tell them, “Guys, our brain doesn’t have a button to push and say, ‘cut it out, I’m not thinking about it.’
(AMM is chuckling)
KAD: Those words are from the dilettantes.
“Don’t think about it, just enjoy!”
How can you not think about it? Of course, he had thought about it. And that’s normal. He is a living human being.
But—and that what makes the difference—is that we now have this experience. We’ll use it to change things, improve, and deliver.
Host: The World Championship is coming up.
(AMM freezes while the host holds a tense pause).
Host: What can you tell us about it?
KAD: I don’t know as of yet. If they tell us to go, we’ll go. If not, then not.
Host: So, there is no clarity?
KAD: No announcements yet.
Host: Are you ready inside, however?
KAD: For EC, we were told a day before. The night before. We flew the next day.
Host: You were ready?
KAD: Yes.
Host: And came so close to medalling…
KAD (with a grin): We did get a medal.
(AMM smiles as well, glances down)
KAD: The small gold. Life is a lottery, you know. It brings all kinds of things to the table. So, yes, you need to be ready, need to prepare, need to train. If God wills it, we’ll go.
Host: There are more questions, opinions and well-wishing coming in.
Mikhail is asking: “Can you tell us about your feelings during the performance? Were you frightened?” I think we’ve already partially covered dealing with anxiety.
Another question is if you can comment on the logistics of the Olympics. And the most important thing—did they feed you well? Because different people say different things. There were rumors that some people were half-starved. I understand that it wasn’t your case?
KAD: Are you hinting that my sweater fits me too tightly? I’ll have you know I've lost some weight in Beijing.
(AMM sits up and laughs)
Host: I’m just as sensitive on the topic as you’re, so I get it. What I am just asking that one of our biathlon athletes had to stay longer and said that she was fed like she a prisoner.
KAD: I can’t say that they were serving gourmet cuisine and a banquet every day, so that you eat with your eyes, and really understand what it means that your eyes are bigger than your stomach. I can’t say that this was the case, but I didn’t go around hungry.
Host: Did they serve European cuisine or fusion?
AMM (perks up): There was a variety, both European and other stuff.
KAD: European with Asian fusion.
AMM: They had peculiar flavors. (This is basically the only time AMM talks over KAD).
KAD: Meat, for example. I’d never prepare meat like this. I love cooking, but I wouldn’t cook it that way.
Host: Since we’re on the topic, let me ask the most intimate question one can ask an athlete. Andrei, do you like to eat your fill?
AMM (laughs): Sure, I do. I like a good meal, but for me the results are more important in the end, so I limit myself in some things.
KAD: That’s why we weighed him in today. Yes, actually today.
AMM (laughs)
KAD: We have regular weigh-ins. He does like his food, but I control it through the weigh-ins—
Host: Come on, Kyrill, he doesn’t look like a guy who likes to eat.
(AMM laughs even harder)
KAD: Hey, hey, hey—
Host: We are not the ones to talk, I take it.
KAD: Jokes aside, to finish the free skate, and have multiple quads in it, every 300-500 grams count (half a pound to a pound).
Host: Of course.
KAD: And if you, god forbid, yo-yo a kilo up and down (2 lbs), you have a different feel for a jump.
Host: You fly differently?
KAD: Yes. The feeling is different. When your weight is oscillating, you get a different feel, so I always monitor my athletes’ weight closely. You may think you need to watch girls’ weight and not worry about the boys. Heck, no. So, yes, we monitor it, and weigh-in regularly.
It’s an important part, and I always tell you, take a dumbbell that weighs a kilo, and go on, try jumping with it. Obviously, the extra weight is not localized like this, in your hand. It distributes itself more or less equally around the body, but if you are just walking down the street or doing regular fitness routine, sure, a kilo is nothing. But take a program with multiple quads, and your 300 grams do really matter.
Host: That’s obvious.
KAD: Speaking of specific examples of what Olympics gave Andrei. He is now concerned about nutrition. We are planning to create a proper nutritional plan. He came up with what, when and why.
I told him, “You can’t martyr yourself all the time. Sometimes you gotta have joyful minutes.”
Host: Would you use a nutritional consultant for this or will you do it yourself?
KAD: Why myself? I prefer a specialist to do the job. I am not messing with what I don’t know.
Host: Maybe you can give us a feel for it anyway. Is it the stewed chicken with vegetable type of a deal? Or do you plan for a bit better variety?
(AMM fidgets)
KAD: More than that, obviously. Again, it’s all in the hands of the pros. But I want to emphasize that everything there is legal. Everything there is right. Nothing forbidden. During the discussion over what’s doping, what isn’t, naturally we simply are doing what’s legal. So a person could obtain all the proper nutrients, don’t go around hungry, and, at the same time, he doesn’t plump up, since every 300 gras matter.
(Commercial break #3)
also followed his performance very carefully. Now it seems very strange to think that two years ago they were in the junior team and competed at the same level 
for the translation 
Thank you for being able to just calmly discuss past unnoticed Mozalev's interview. This is my salvation and refuge in the world of fierce women's single skating wiht his dramas 
in my opinion, this should happen at the beginning of next summer.
I'm ready to see him at the rink in 3-4 years 
