Raf interview:
http://www.sport-express.ru/figure-...-zagitova-rafael-arutyunyan-intervyu-1482368/
With Rafael Arutyunyan , we met at the rink CSKA, immediately after the completion of his training with Nathan Chen . In the holy of holies of the ice arena, the office of Tatyana Tarasova, hung with photos of her Olympic champions, we talked for over an hour. As expected, the conversation began with the fate of the current world champion brought to the capital.
“Now I very rarely see Nathan,” said Harutyunyan. - He is studying at Yale University, so most of the time we communicate via Skype. He can do a lot, he is trained in how to train, but he needs to correct his actions anyway. Therefore you have to use every opportunity for meetings. Since I arrived at the Moscow stage of the “Grand Prix” with En Soo Lim , and he has the next stage in Europe, he offered to come to Russia to train.
- Is it really possible to maintain a top level on Skype?
- He has formed a very solid preparation for 7-8 years of our training and there is a good reserve, so when he was offered a scholarship to study the university, he could not refuse. It is possible that this is the dream of his life. The university is very expensive, parents would never be able to pay him there. Nathan decided that he would study for two years, somehow he would endure and would come to me on holidays, some of them would be just before the national championship. While holding, he won the American Grand Prix stage and will try to win in France. He understands that he is losing in preparation, but he gains in another. In general, he has a plan to take, after two years of study, academic leave to prepare for the Olympic Games. He thinks that's enough. It may happen, but it will be difficult.
Fragile balance
- When an athlete has nothing in his life except figure skating, it leads to emptiness after the end of his career, but if he begins to get a serious education in parallel, the results fall
- But there is a balance, and it lies in the fact that even if skaters lose something in sports, they still gain life experience. After all, they are very motivated for the result and everything that happens around passes by them. And when a person learns and trains, his outlook expands, and he begins to evaluate everything differently.
“Doesn't education then become a hindrance to the achievement of the main goal - the Olympic medals, which can become a ticket to another life?”
- I do not agree with the fact that the medal gives a start in life. I know very many Olympic champions who have not been helped much by gold in their lives. So the balance is much more important: sport plus horizons.
...
- Medvedev grew in the system, when at every competition they were expected to win. Brian Orser in a recent interview with “SE” said that he would try to explain to her: victory at all starts, without exception, is not needed. Is it possible to rebuild the mind to the end?
- Chen is the same - he wants to win everything, even though he grew up in America. And because of this, he had injuries. This philosophy is in his family. Although I told him: "You have to lead yourself precisely to important starts and win them." Only he did not really listen to me, but now he is beginning to acknowledge my rightness.
