- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
Original
[size=+1]Maria Petrova, Alexei Tikhonov: “WE DID ALL WE COULD”[/size]
We did not discuss possible placements, though we were all thinking the same thing. That after a remarkable skate that Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov showed in the free skate the competitors can’t not be afraid. Meaning there will be a medal, possibly a gold one.
We had not clue that fate was once again concocting an intricate plot for them. That the leading Chinese team would pass the Russians by 0.2 points. That the second team would get more than a point above them in the free skate despite the non-champion-like skating. That the International Skating Union president Ottavio Chinquanta, meeting the Russian Skating Federation president Valentin Piseev in the hallway, would say weakly and at the same time with some guilt, “I thought your athletes were the best”.
Masha’s tears were only destined to be shed. Then, right after their skate, her eyes were shining with unrestrained happiness.
“What was the most difficult? I don’t know. Normally, we are far more nervous at competitions, because practices on the day of the finals are early in the morning, and then you wait the whole day for the performance. Here, we practices during the day. So we had no time to get nervous. At practice we skated great, everything worked, so we became confident. Though acclimatization made itself known. After all, Calgary is very high, the air is dry, and it was difficult toward the end of the program, we didn’t have enough air.”
“Did you consider that this was your last performance as eligible athletes?”
“Of course. In reality, we were no longer thinking of placements. Only about doing something nice for our fans and our families. As well as for ourselves. So that later we don’t tear ourselves for not doing all we could.”
Alexei Tikhonov, standing near his partner, nodded in agreement:
“I am very happy everything happened the way it did. Masha landed as if she were driving in nails – both on side by sides and on throws. Somehow I always thought that toward the end of the season we will both run out of energy, but it was the exact opposite. Of course, we’d love to finish or careers as world champions. With today’s competition that’s a big deal. But I tried not to think about it. I made myself think about putting my soul into the program, about doing all the elements cleanly – just as we did it countless times at practices. It’s great that it all worked. The only tiny thing, which almost doesn’t count, happened in the last lift when I slowed down. Overall – I’m happy.”
“With this program you twice became European champions and once - world champs.”
“We only won Europeans once”, corrects Tikhonov. “We were given the second gold medal after Lena Berezhnaja got disqualified for a positive drug test. It all left a bitter taste. That competition, we won the short program and could very well fight them in the free. But we made a mistake – Masha pooped the triple toe loop. If it weren’t for that, we’d surely have been first – Lena and Anton were at the time somewhat down, they weren’t in best shape. Then I’d have been really happy to get that medal. But to get someone else’s prize… Especially since I absolutely don’t believe that Lena consciously took any banned substances. That’s why I consider that we won Europeans just once, not twice as it’s written in our bios.”
“Do you remember you victorious performance at the 2000 Worlds?”
“Of course. I was so nervous before the short program, I was in a daze. We did a good jump, a split twist, a throw jump, and then after a lift I suddenly forgot what to do next. It only lasted a millisecond, I’m sure no one noticed anything, but Masha felt it. We were second after Chinese Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, but then stronger then they in the free. So we won, even though we weren’t favorites at all.”
“Can you compare your feelings then to today’s?”
“Today’s are stronger. Then, as they say, we had our whole lives ahead of us; now - it’s our last skate. So it’s double nice to have such a worthy performance.”
[size=+1]Maria Petrova, Alexei Tikhonov: “WE DID ALL WE COULD”[/size]
We did not discuss possible placements, though we were all thinking the same thing. That after a remarkable skate that Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov showed in the free skate the competitors can’t not be afraid. Meaning there will be a medal, possibly a gold one.
We had not clue that fate was once again concocting an intricate plot for them. That the leading Chinese team would pass the Russians by 0.2 points. That the second team would get more than a point above them in the free skate despite the non-champion-like skating. That the International Skating Union president Ottavio Chinquanta, meeting the Russian Skating Federation president Valentin Piseev in the hallway, would say weakly and at the same time with some guilt, “I thought your athletes were the best”.
Masha’s tears were only destined to be shed. Then, right after their skate, her eyes were shining with unrestrained happiness.
“What was the most difficult? I don’t know. Normally, we are far more nervous at competitions, because practices on the day of the finals are early in the morning, and then you wait the whole day for the performance. Here, we practices during the day. So we had no time to get nervous. At practice we skated great, everything worked, so we became confident. Though acclimatization made itself known. After all, Calgary is very high, the air is dry, and it was difficult toward the end of the program, we didn’t have enough air.”
“Did you consider that this was your last performance as eligible athletes?”
“Of course. In reality, we were no longer thinking of placements. Only about doing something nice for our fans and our families. As well as for ourselves. So that later we don’t tear ourselves for not doing all we could.”
Alexei Tikhonov, standing near his partner, nodded in agreement:
“I am very happy everything happened the way it did. Masha landed as if she were driving in nails – both on side by sides and on throws. Somehow I always thought that toward the end of the season we will both run out of energy, but it was the exact opposite. Of course, we’d love to finish or careers as world champions. With today’s competition that’s a big deal. But I tried not to think about it. I made myself think about putting my soul into the program, about doing all the elements cleanly – just as we did it countless times at practices. It’s great that it all worked. The only tiny thing, which almost doesn’t count, happened in the last lift when I slowed down. Overall – I’m happy.”
“With this program you twice became European champions and once - world champs.”
“We only won Europeans once”, corrects Tikhonov. “We were given the second gold medal after Lena Berezhnaja got disqualified for a positive drug test. It all left a bitter taste. That competition, we won the short program and could very well fight them in the free. But we made a mistake – Masha pooped the triple toe loop. If it weren’t for that, we’d surely have been first – Lena and Anton were at the time somewhat down, they weren’t in best shape. Then I’d have been really happy to get that medal. But to get someone else’s prize… Especially since I absolutely don’t believe that Lena consciously took any banned substances. That’s why I consider that we won Europeans just once, not twice as it’s written in our bios.”
“Do you remember you victorious performance at the 2000 Worlds?”
“Of course. I was so nervous before the short program, I was in a daze. We did a good jump, a split twist, a throw jump, and then after a lift I suddenly forgot what to do next. It only lasted a millisecond, I’m sure no one noticed anything, but Masha felt it. We were second after Chinese Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, but then stronger then they in the free. So we won, even though we weren’t favorites at all.”
“Can you compare your feelings then to today’s?”
“Today’s are stronger. Then, as they say, we had our whole lives ahead of us; now - it’s our last skate. So it’s double nice to have such a worthy performance.”
