Elena Buyanova: “Couldn’t even imagine this happening”, “He was looking at everyone with such wide eyes...”
- Don’t you think that in the free skate, Artur Danielian reminded a lot of young Javier Fernandez?
- In Graz, everyone, from each and every corner, keeps telling me that. I never associated Artur with Javi myself, but now I started to look at him slightly in a different light. Indeed, there is a distinct similarity between the two. But it is not because we are somehow trying to copy anyone. Artur is innately gentle and rhythmical, just like Fernandez. Although in comparison with the Spanish skater Artur loses right now, that’s because he hasn’t yet learned to skate open, unrestrained and free. You can feel some sort of tension in him. I hope that this tension lets loose when he gets older. In Artur, like in Javier, there is a lot of humor, self irony — he is able to wonderfully express grotesque characters. We, consequently, tried to highlight these exact qualities. In the beginning of the season, we tried to make something more masculine, more serious, but at the right time decided to let that go. We think that was the right choice.
- Did you expect that your skater will earn a medal at his debut on European Championships?
- I couldn’t even imagine that — after all there are two skaters in our team that are very experienced, far more experienced than Artur. It stings that in the free skate, there was a mistake on such a basic jump. Perhaps Artur used too much energy on the quads.
That is exactly what a lack of experience is: you can’t make such mistakes when you are fighting for a medal. But despite that, I liked the way Artur set himself up to skate before the program, the way he spent his warmups, training periods. I think an internal athletic spirit is starting to appear and grow in him — it is awesome when a skater starts to gain confidence.
- Did any worries show up before the debut?
- Artur arrived in Graz with a fervent desire to compete. He is a really big fan of figure skating, in the most broad sense of this word. He knows everybody, watches all programs, follows what is happening. If I were to speak about Danielian’s character, you can really sense his natural intelligence, which in relation to sport, can sometimes seriously hurt an athlete. I hope that the result which we were able to show will only give Artur wings in the future.
- What was the hardest for you as a coach at this competition?
- There were lots of small disturbances, but I wouldn’t call them hard. When an athlete first makes their appearance on this level, it is always easier for them than when they have competed two or three times. That is why I told Artur that this competition should be of some sort a party, a joy for him, where he can let himself fly freely despite the circumstances. Obviously this is not an easy task for a debuting athlete — appear among the faces who you mostly just seen through recordings. And of course, he looked at everyone with eyes open so wide.
“Still, Artur has some problems with his legs...”
- When Artur qualified for the Europeans, there were rumors that you would prefer for your student to spend the rest of the season in juniors.
- Well Artur is going to spend the rest of the season in juniors — we by no means want to reject the idea of going to Junior Worlds.
- In regards to this, there is probably going to be an another point open to discussion: should Danielian go to the Senior Worls in Montreal as well? Won’t it be too much of a load for Artur?
- I didn’t think at all about this, I am too overwhelmed with emotions. ‘I will think about it tomorrow,’ as said the heroine from a famous novel. All of this we will definitely discuss with the Russian Skating Federation, but our immediate plans are the Cup of Russia and qualifying for the Junior Worlds.
- Does a person who has won a silver medal of senior European Championships have to really prove that he has to compete at Junior Worlds, and earn his spot on the team on a regular basis?
- Those are the rules. I am not yet ready to predict how things will work out in the future, before the Europeans I even agreed with the heads of the Russian team that me and Artur will return to Moscow right after the competition, in order to have more time to prepare for the upcoming start. But it happens now that these plans will have to change because Artur has to perform at the Gala.
Artur started this season relatively early — in May. Then, like everyone else, we had boot problems. That is why it would be good to have the ability to rest a little bit and reenergize. Bur now our plans don’t only depend on our wishes.
- Could you please elaborate on the phrase you said in regards to the boots? What do you mean, ‘like everyone else’?
- Well, from the summer period didn’t many already have their boots break? It’s not normal, but that is how things are. So we have enough troubles. Artur still has some issues with his legs. We counted on a pause after the Europeans, so that we could change our boots and heal our legs, but that is hard when we have to train restlessly.
- Would you wish to be able to dismiss Danielian from having to qualify separately for Junior Worlds, in order to to conserve power?
- If we will be given this kind of opportunity, we, most likely, really will not compete at the World qualifying starts.
Original:
http://ltk-cska.ru/news/1867-«daje-predpolojit-takogo-ne-mogla».html
I hope you enjoyed reading Buyanova’s comments, I personally found them really interesting and informative.
I think I shook the whole of Rome with my scream when he fell 
but he kept it together much better than me, and so many other more experienced skaters!!! I am so, so happy and proud of our little Artur!!! The future is yours!!! :agree:
