- Joined
- Jul 28, 2003
http://ptichkafs.livejournal.com/28278.html
Alexei Tikhonov: Masha and I are in demand after leaving the sport
Recently, Russian skating team Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov took part in an ice show in a town of Odintsevo near Moscow. Later, famous skater Alexei Tikhonov answered some questions from the IA “Sportcom” correspondent.
“As an experienced person who has left amateur ranks to skate in the shows but then came back, what can you say about the plans of Evgeny Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin? Can they rise to the level of the world’s men skating leaders after a break?”
“If we are talking specifically about athlete Yagudin and athlete Plushenko, then the answer is yes. However, this will be very difficult, as they have already achieved the highest level one can dream of in this sport. They have Olympic medals, and they have won World championships. I haven’t seen Zhen’ka for a long time, but I think that Plushenko has a God-given gift. It all comes down to overcoming oneself. If Plushenko really wants to, he will make it happen. That’s how I see it.
When I look at Yagudin, whom I observe often enough, as we toured with Ilya Averbukh’s show together, I see himself given it his all even before the surgery. Even with a hurting leg, Yagudin took the ice and did not simply stop at simple jumps, seeing as this was just an exhibition; he did the max. Triple flip, lutz, combination of a flip with a triple toe loop – that’s what he did with a hurt leg!
Lesha is a very active person, who needs the constant adrenaline and the constant battle. I have discussed his comeback with him, and he said that it partially comes down to money. But I think he’s being disingenuous, as I see how much he loves figure skating.
He loves the competitive process. His strength is in competing, he loves it when the nerves are at their limit, everybody’s nerves that is, and he is calm and going towards his goal. However, as I said, he will have a hard time, as the Japanese skaters are doing magic. The Swiss skater Stephan Lambiel isn’t falling behind either. I adore him, and think he is a genius of a skater.
Of course, there are certain things. For example, I am someone who came back to the sport from shows. I was young then, I didn’t realize many things; I’d do it differently now. Right now, both Plushenko and Yagudin have their advantages. Yagudin has relaxed. He had a surgery. Right now, everything – knock on wood – is good. With that, he became more experienced. He has acquired experience in skating shows and projects*. He has matured as an athlete. I hope he succeeds.
I would love it if while the young ones, the new Plushenkos and Yagudins, are still growing up, those two would show themselves again. For me, it would be especially interesting if they came back together. Then you have Lambiel and the Japanese. It would be very entertaining, and the competitions would be at their most tense.
We’ll see how it plays out. I just wish both Zhen’ka and Leshka lots of health. And some luck, whatever decision they make.”
“What do you think of our pair skating today?”
“We’ve recently had test skates in Novogorsk. I have discussed it with the coaches, as I have been made a part of the athletes’ commission of the figure skating federation presidium. Such a commission has been formed recently, and contains Shabalin, Novitski, Petrova, Voronov, your truly, and the coach Yelena Vodorezova-Buianova. As of now, I don’t have a clear picture of what this entails, and don’t know how active our group will be. We’ll see.
May be something good will actually come out of it. In any case, I’ve had discussions both with our federation president Valentin Nikolayevich Piseev, and with other coaches. I am truly interested in figure skating, and I want to stay involved.
So, after the recent skates, there has been much praise of Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov. They went to the US with their coach Oleg Vasiliev, and worked very hard there. Apparently, Masha has lost weight, and the team is in a good shape. Yuka Kawaguchi and Sasha Smirnov are looking good. But that’s not all. Aforementioned kids have a good potential, but they need to work hard.
Kawaguchi/ Smirnov are working, and the results are evident. Fourth place after the sort at the Worlds, and the ninth overall isn’t bad at all. That was, of course, their debut. This team’s technical level is very high.”
“How will the Russian soil take to idea of international teams? There is Kawaguchi/ Smirnov, then Oleg Vasiliev is training a Russian-French duo…”
“I can’t say yet. I know Yuko well; we trained at the same club when I skated for Japan in an international team, and she was a single. Yuko is absolutely a workaholic. She can skate morning to night, and night to morning. Does a Russian athlete need this? I don’t know. Judging by me, one doesn’t need to work that much. In any case, I think that such a combination of different partner approaches is good as it develops figure skating. If the kids find common ground and compete well, why not?
Then comes the paperwork with the citizenship issues. This team can compete at Worlds but not at Olympics. What to do? Renouncing Japanese citizenship for the sake of the sport is absurd. Dual citizenship isn’t allowed. There are many issues here. As I sad, I myself have skated in an international team, and have enjoyed representing Japan. I don’t know how it looks from the outside, but somehow it was easier for me to accept myself skating for Japan then to accept Yuko skating for Russia. I don’t know why.
Also, other countries have such cases as well. For example, Ukrainian Alona Savchenko is skating magnificently with German Robin Szolkowy. The team has great technique and interesting programs that they showed at last Worlds. They just lacked experience to challenge the Chinese for the gold. Then again, Shen and Zhao are in a different category altogether. In my opinion, they are a part of figure skating history along with Gordeeva/ Grinkov and Berezhnaya/ Sikhuralidze. It’s the highest level, since that Chinese team does magic. I just wish all skaters reach for that level.
We, unfortunately, did not. We had a brilliant skate at the Calgary Worlds. Without a doubt, we won it, though we came third by judges’ marks. That’s not what worries me most, though. I’d love to skate our “Moon Sonata” from start to finish perfectly, as we planned. It didn’t pan out. No biggie. What matters is that we made people happy.”
“It’s good that you are still in demand after you athletic career is over…”
”Of course. This switch is difficult for any athlete. The sport is over; now what? Athletes, like children, are used to doing the same thing over many years. If you have no options, if you’re too scared to go off the path, things can go askew. Some start drinking, others become depressed… We had an opportunity to make a soft transition.
It’s not just coaching and “project” participation, but also being in movies. ORT channel decided to do a 100-series film about figure skating, and about coaches’ lives; famous coach Tatiana Tarasova will be the prototype. It’s possible that we will participate in this movie not just as skaters, but also as actors. That will be great, because then we can try something new.
By the way, last year I skated with Anna Bolshova in the “project”; she gave me a lot, and I started seeing some things differently. She’s cool. She talked to me a lot about movies and actors. Anya even had me film an episode with her in a TV show. I said I was scared, but promised and came. When I saw the filming stage, and just told her – you’re crazy, I’m leaving! But she started explaining what to do. Not acting, but finding some moments within yourself. In a word, it went OK. Afterwards, both the director and Anya praised me. I tried hard, and something came out. This experience will come in handy no matter what.
Also, I’d like to work with sports TV in informational programs. Other things as well. I now get up in the morning, and I don’t have time to sleep in. It’s great. We’re in demand, even though the team of Petrova and Tikhonov were never Olympic champions, though we were Worlds champs. I guess we’re just good people. Most importantly though, I’m glad that, despite everything, we have so many fans.”
Vadim KOMAROV, IA “Sportcom”
---------------------
* Russians refer to the “Skating with the Stars” type shows are “projects”. Yagudin took part in the “Stars On Ice” “project” last season, where he skated with Oksana Pushkina.
Alexei Tikhonov: Masha and I are in demand after leaving the sport
Recently, Russian skating team Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov took part in an ice show in a town of Odintsevo near Moscow. Later, famous skater Alexei Tikhonov answered some questions from the IA “Sportcom” correspondent.
“As an experienced person who has left amateur ranks to skate in the shows but then came back, what can you say about the plans of Evgeny Plushenko and Alexei Yagudin? Can they rise to the level of the world’s men skating leaders after a break?”
“If we are talking specifically about athlete Yagudin and athlete Plushenko, then the answer is yes. However, this will be very difficult, as they have already achieved the highest level one can dream of in this sport. They have Olympic medals, and they have won World championships. I haven’t seen Zhen’ka for a long time, but I think that Plushenko has a God-given gift. It all comes down to overcoming oneself. If Plushenko really wants to, he will make it happen. That’s how I see it.
When I look at Yagudin, whom I observe often enough, as we toured with Ilya Averbukh’s show together, I see himself given it his all even before the surgery. Even with a hurting leg, Yagudin took the ice and did not simply stop at simple jumps, seeing as this was just an exhibition; he did the max. Triple flip, lutz, combination of a flip with a triple toe loop – that’s what he did with a hurt leg!
Lesha is a very active person, who needs the constant adrenaline and the constant battle. I have discussed his comeback with him, and he said that it partially comes down to money. But I think he’s being disingenuous, as I see how much he loves figure skating.
He loves the competitive process. His strength is in competing, he loves it when the nerves are at their limit, everybody’s nerves that is, and he is calm and going towards his goal. However, as I said, he will have a hard time, as the Japanese skaters are doing magic. The Swiss skater Stephan Lambiel isn’t falling behind either. I adore him, and think he is a genius of a skater.
Of course, there are certain things. For example, I am someone who came back to the sport from shows. I was young then, I didn’t realize many things; I’d do it differently now. Right now, both Plushenko and Yagudin have their advantages. Yagudin has relaxed. He had a surgery. Right now, everything – knock on wood – is good. With that, he became more experienced. He has acquired experience in skating shows and projects*. He has matured as an athlete. I hope he succeeds.
I would love it if while the young ones, the new Plushenkos and Yagudins, are still growing up, those two would show themselves again. For me, it would be especially interesting if they came back together. Then you have Lambiel and the Japanese. It would be very entertaining, and the competitions would be at their most tense.
We’ll see how it plays out. I just wish both Zhen’ka and Leshka lots of health. And some luck, whatever decision they make.”
“What do you think of our pair skating today?”
“We’ve recently had test skates in Novogorsk. I have discussed it with the coaches, as I have been made a part of the athletes’ commission of the figure skating federation presidium. Such a commission has been formed recently, and contains Shabalin, Novitski, Petrova, Voronov, your truly, and the coach Yelena Vodorezova-Buianova. As of now, I don’t have a clear picture of what this entails, and don’t know how active our group will be. We’ll see.
May be something good will actually come out of it. In any case, I’ve had discussions both with our federation president Valentin Nikolayevich Piseev, and with other coaches. I am truly interested in figure skating, and I want to stay involved.
So, after the recent skates, there has been much praise of Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov. They went to the US with their coach Oleg Vasiliev, and worked very hard there. Apparently, Masha has lost weight, and the team is in a good shape. Yuka Kawaguchi and Sasha Smirnov are looking good. But that’s not all. Aforementioned kids have a good potential, but they need to work hard.
Kawaguchi/ Smirnov are working, and the results are evident. Fourth place after the sort at the Worlds, and the ninth overall isn’t bad at all. That was, of course, their debut. This team’s technical level is very high.”
“How will the Russian soil take to idea of international teams? There is Kawaguchi/ Smirnov, then Oleg Vasiliev is training a Russian-French duo…”
“I can’t say yet. I know Yuko well; we trained at the same club when I skated for Japan in an international team, and she was a single. Yuko is absolutely a workaholic. She can skate morning to night, and night to morning. Does a Russian athlete need this? I don’t know. Judging by me, one doesn’t need to work that much. In any case, I think that such a combination of different partner approaches is good as it develops figure skating. If the kids find common ground and compete well, why not?
Then comes the paperwork with the citizenship issues. This team can compete at Worlds but not at Olympics. What to do? Renouncing Japanese citizenship for the sake of the sport is absurd. Dual citizenship isn’t allowed. There are many issues here. As I sad, I myself have skated in an international team, and have enjoyed representing Japan. I don’t know how it looks from the outside, but somehow it was easier for me to accept myself skating for Japan then to accept Yuko skating for Russia. I don’t know why.
Also, other countries have such cases as well. For example, Ukrainian Alona Savchenko is skating magnificently with German Robin Szolkowy. The team has great technique and interesting programs that they showed at last Worlds. They just lacked experience to challenge the Chinese for the gold. Then again, Shen and Zhao are in a different category altogether. In my opinion, they are a part of figure skating history along with Gordeeva/ Grinkov and Berezhnaya/ Sikhuralidze. It’s the highest level, since that Chinese team does magic. I just wish all skaters reach for that level.
We, unfortunately, did not. We had a brilliant skate at the Calgary Worlds. Without a doubt, we won it, though we came third by judges’ marks. That’s not what worries me most, though. I’d love to skate our “Moon Sonata” from start to finish perfectly, as we planned. It didn’t pan out. No biggie. What matters is that we made people happy.”
“It’s good that you are still in demand after you athletic career is over…”
”Of course. This switch is difficult for any athlete. The sport is over; now what? Athletes, like children, are used to doing the same thing over many years. If you have no options, if you’re too scared to go off the path, things can go askew. Some start drinking, others become depressed… We had an opportunity to make a soft transition.
It’s not just coaching and “project” participation, but also being in movies. ORT channel decided to do a 100-series film about figure skating, and about coaches’ lives; famous coach Tatiana Tarasova will be the prototype. It’s possible that we will participate in this movie not just as skaters, but also as actors. That will be great, because then we can try something new.
By the way, last year I skated with Anna Bolshova in the “project”; she gave me a lot, and I started seeing some things differently. She’s cool. She talked to me a lot about movies and actors. Anya even had me film an episode with her in a TV show. I said I was scared, but promised and came. When I saw the filming stage, and just told her – you’re crazy, I’m leaving! But she started explaining what to do. Not acting, but finding some moments within yourself. In a word, it went OK. Afterwards, both the director and Anya praised me. I tried hard, and something came out. This experience will come in handy no matter what.
Also, I’d like to work with sports TV in informational programs. Other things as well. I now get up in the morning, and I don’t have time to sleep in. It’s great. We’re in demand, even though the team of Petrova and Tikhonov were never Olympic champions, though we were Worlds champs. I guess we’re just good people. Most importantly though, I’m glad that, despite everything, we have so many fans.”
Vadim KOMAROV, IA “Sportcom”
---------------------
* Russians refer to the “Skating with the Stars” type shows are “projects”. Yagudin took part in the “Stars On Ice” “project” last season, where he skated with Oksana Pushkina.
Ptichka!
My impression was that Tikhonov understands that he is "less comfortable" with the idea of international teams representing Russia than other countries. I thought he said (haven't checked) he'd feel more comf with Yuka representing JPN than RUS, but that "he doesn't know why". To me it comes across as someone acknowledging that they're uncomfortable with something, even though it's not wrong, it just doesn't feel "right, the best", etc. Like not a xenophobic comment, while still preferring Russians (i.e. Rossiskie or perhaps CIS athletes) to represent Russia than imported athletes, and realizing I'm not sure I have a philosophic leg to stand on with this feeling. 
)
