Muhortova/Trankov and Trankov's interviews translations

[CynicElle]

Thanks so much for the translations -- on top of looking wonderful together, V&T give great interviews! Can't wait to see more of them.

[Asli]

Mozer sounds awesome, here's hoping she becomes the next great pairs coach.

I agree she seems great. However, her lack of experience as a coach of senior pairs has really hit me after reading this interview. Not only has she never been to the Olympics, but she has never been to the senior Worlds, Euros or even a senior GP event as a coach. Oh well, hopefully both Volosozhar and Trankov have enough experience to do without her support there.

[oleada]

I agree she seems great. However, her lack of experience as a coach of senior pairs has really hit me after reading this interview. Not only has she never been to the Olympics, but she has never been to the senior Worlds, Euros or even a senior GP event as a coach. Oh well, hopefully both Volosozhar and Trankov have enough experience to do without her support there.

Novik/Kuznetsov had a GP event this year.

[rfisher]

I agree she seems great. However, her lack of experience as a coach of senior pairs has really hit me after reading this interview. Not only has she never been to the Olympics, but she has never been to the senior Worlds, Euros or even a senior GP event as a coach. Oh well, hopefully both Volosozhar and Trankov have enough experience to do without her support there.

While that's true, I do wonder if at this stage of their careers they needed more of a mentor rather than a rigid coach. They are both very experienced and talented. Stas is there for the technical elements (I never would have believed Maks would get that height on the twist :) ) and Maks clearly resented the more traditional coaching he had Vasiliev. I think Moser may have been the perfect personality for them. It sounds like this really is a team effort with input from all parties and based on the Russian nationals results, I'd say it's working.

I love their interviews. They make me want to hang out with both of them and have a drink or two and laugh.

[Taso]

I was going to say, it seems like Nina Mozer might have the people, psychology, and organizational skills and Stas Morozov the technical skills, which if they can figure out how to choreograph (and honestly, the sp is just fine IMO) or have the money to hire someone from the outside I think it's quite a good situation. This might be a much better combination for the current generation of Russian skaters than the old Soviet style of coaching - after all, the new crop of skaters are growing up in a somewhat different society.

BTW, Mozer did have a team on the gp circuit in the fall of 1998 as well, the 1996 junior world champions Maksiuta & Zhovnirsky.

[kwanfan1818]

Literary "a bad dancer always thinks his legs are on his way." Some kind of "a poor dancer blaims his balls," or "a bad workman blaims his tools."
Thank you for the explanation.

[Jackie Sparrow]

We couldn't change the title of this thread or start a new one, could we?

[reut]

More work for TAHbKA. ;)

http://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/volosozhartrankov/143243.html
http://stolica-s.su/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17248&Itemid=62 (Part of this was already translated in the previous interview, on winter.sport-express.ru; part is new, Max doesn't filter his words, as always)

[let`s talk]

An interesting comment he made about the style of work in St-Petersburg and in Moscow: "We never refused the help of other coaches. Today TAT, tomorrow Zhulin, the day after tomorrow Morozov. Here's not like in St-Petersburg. There each coach has his/her sect. People have to go out to the corridors to do lifts in order to "hide" them from competitors. Vasiliev also had his "circle" and his trainings were closed. Now we are open for everyone, even for Vasiliev."

Hmm.. not sure if this concept has something to do with Moscow vs. St-Petersburg styles. Maybe just all best coaching forces are now available for V/T. They have a good backup and good promotion.:cool:

Maxim said he likes hip-hop and rap. I would never guess! :)

[TAHbKA]

reut, you realize Jerusalem is not big enough for you to hide now, do you? :eville:

Am a bit :huh: about Mikhail Nikishin's interview- he seems to be asking the same questions Simonenko did and receiving the same answers. Either it was part of the pressconf, of Nikishin is good at copy/pasting. So will only add the parts that differ:

TV: We are happy with our skate and very grateful to people of Mordovia who came to congratulate us. The fans in Saransk are very knowledgeable and kind. We were moved to tears and were helped by the crowd to win. It happened that we didn't do too well in the SP and the margin wasn't that big. I think it was the pressure - it was my first serious Russian competition
MT: We were worried about the pair spin - our last element. We received 0 points for it in our previous competitions. We had a very emotional skate in Saransk which helped to overcome the fears. Before the breaking point we stopped, looked each other in the eyes and everything worked! Someone even called our skate the grand theatre on the ice.

MN: Did you realize it was a champions skate?
TV: We skated for the crowd and they understood it.
MT: It was our best skate of the season, we managed to do everything we worked on. There are still things to improve though.

MN: If you haven't won, would you be criticized for the uselessness of your pair?
TV: Actually not too many believed we'd win in Saransk
MT: But of course we realized we could win. Though we were not sure. I think the lack of too much assurance helped.

MN: Whose idea it was to skate together?
MT: Tatiana's and her husband and ex partner Stas Morozov
TV: It was decided before the Olympics where I competed with Stas and Maksim with Maria (I assume she means the idea for her and Morozov, not Trankov necessarily)

MN: The legendary Tarasova gave you a standing ovation. Is she related to you somehow?
MT: She is related to all the Russian team members being the main adviser of the national team. When she sees a good skate she cheers. Tarasova helped us choreographing, came to the trainings, advised. Before the LP in Russian Nationals she even corrected some things.

MN: She is consulting the whole team, but not everyoen listens to her.
TV: We do. And we are opened for everyone and appreciate the advice of the knowledgeable people.

MN: Because of the rules you wouldn't be able to participate the Euros. Will you be able to keep the mood till the Worlds?
TV: First of all we will be skating in Italy on February the 16th - the day after I can. And we are going to Switzerland to participate the Art on Ice.
MT: I skated with Mukhortova in Art on Ice and can tell it's something amazing. There are 14K viewers and it's always full! Emotionally it's huge. Besides , the Olympic champions Shen/Zhao will be skating there and even though they retired we still have so much to learn from them.

MN: So you will be going to the worlds with the right mood?
MT: Sure. After all we haven't yet had a chance to compete with anyone there yet. I mean Tanya and I. We don't know how the judges will take us. We've seen how the Russian judges took us, though till the last moment I was sure Kawaguti/Smirnov would win. Waiting for their marks was more exciting then for our own.

MN: Except for Shen/Zhao everyone else remained amateurs. Do you have a plan how to beat them?
MT: I doubt we will be working much harder or breaking the boundaries now. We feel we can improve.
TV: I don't think we should jump above our heads this season. Though you really should be asking our coaches that. Time will tell. We aim to be the best, to fulfill our potential. Later it will become obvious who is the best and the rivalry is strong, especially in Russia.

NM: How do your current partners differ from your previous?
MT: The main difference is in the attitude to work. What I was doing before I wouldn't call work at all.
TV: Maksim is very emotional and it helps me a great deal. I'm a very remote person. We compliment each other.

NM: Maksim, did you agree immediately to pair with Tatiana?
MT: It was decide before the Olympics in Vancouver that Tanya will continue skating. Stas would become her coach and would look for a partner for her. When their pair split thousands of hands were reaching for her. About 75% male partners from the whole world wanted to skate with her. I was lucky - she chose me. Stas asked me what are my plans after the Olympics. I was thinking then of retiring. I replied : If I should go on skating - it's only with Tanya.

MN: Tanya, why have you chosen Maksim?
TV: He seemed the most reliable.

MN: But Trankov has a reputation of someone hard to work with. It is rumoured he can't get along with the partners, the coaches...
MT: I skated for the longest time in St. Petersburg in Velikovs group. Think they are the first ones to ask. This reputation was created by my previous coach who believed fame and money should come first. All that Oleg Vassiliev had said about me I consider his own biased point of view. But I don't hold a grunge. He is a foreign person with a foreign point of view. Tanya, Stas, Nina Mozer and I share the same believes. We care about the families, the mood on the ice rink and home. Money and fame are less important. I was constantly explained that was the main goal in life. Oleg Vasiliev used to say that Trankov is not a champion only because he never says he wants to be first. Am more used to do, rather than talk riiiiiiight
TV: We all are different people. Perhaps he didnt'come to terms with his previous team for a number of reasons. I am not going to dig into his past. I'm getting along with him just fine. Besides, Stas had a serious talk with Maksim (laughs). He said to Maksim that if the rumours are right about Trankov then he'd better not to behave that way around Volosozhar. In real life Maksim is very kind and a funny person.

MN: Maksim, when you parted with Maria Mukhortova, did other partners offer you to skate with them?
MT: They didn't have time. I announced of retiring after the worlds. Before that I pretended to hesitate and thing. Though I guess there would be some offers. When we first paired with Tatiana everyone were very positive about it, including such stars as Pluschenko, Yagudin..
TV: Besides there were so many rumours. For 5 years people were pairing us in their minds. I overheard myself at one of the Europeans: it would be so interestin to see how would Tanya and Maks look!

MN: Were there more supporters or haters of the new partnership?
TV: Both. The Urkanian Federation didn't want to release me and tried to convince Maksim to change the nationality. Many fans were not ready for such a change.
MT: I was offered various goods, but it was all useless. Tanya is actually very supported in Ukraine. Thanks to all the funs who realize Volosozhar deserves so much more than she could had received back home.

MN: Why didn't the Ukranian federation go against you and made you sit out for 2 years rather than 1?
MT: It is always decided between the federations. If there are interesting sides the means to achieve it might vary - money, sportsmen switch. Nina Mozer was a great help in all that. Besides, it's Volosozhar we are talking about - everyone were interested in her skating for Russia.
TV: If they said they didn't care I would do all the papertwork myself. When Maksim was still skating we approached then russian skating federation president Piseev and told him of our wish. He immediately agreed. I burned all my bridges with Kiev. The figure skating situation there is bad.

NM: Why Russia? To get into the national team in other countries is so much easier.
TV: Because. Besides, it was decided quite fast I would be skating with Trankov, so there were no other options. I had other offers- France, Canada... but it's easier for me to skate with a Russian partner.

NM: Now you have to think of Sochi?
MT: We do for a while now (laughs). of course we want to participate and be high. We've been to the olympics before, we don't want to go there as supporting actors again. Sochi is our main goal for the next 4 years. In many ways we partnered and prolonged our skating careers for some more years for that.

NM: For Nina Mozer it's her biggest success in her coaching career. Would it mean she became an elite coach now?
TV: As Nina Mozer says herself she realizes working with us means being part of that crowd, but she knows how to deal with them. We only think of our job.
MT: We never decline other coaches help. We need the results, not the names. Today it's Tarasova, tomorrow perhaps Zhulin, may be the day after Morozov. We don't do things the way they are done in St. Petersburg: there every coach creates it's "sect". People leave to the corridors to practice their lifts, so god forbid, the rivals will see it. It was the same with Oleg Vasiliev. His trainings were always closed for everyone. We are opened for everyone, even for Vasiliev

NM: I heard it was quite hard for you in Moscow to begin with
MT: At first I was overwhelmed by Moscow. Now we live in a quiet neighbourhood quite distant from the centre. We hardly go anywhere - just home - rink. Sometimes to the supermarket. We don't have to deal with the traffic or the metro. We don't really go out. Though once we were invited to an anniversary of a journal `Moscow Sport'. It took us 4.5 hours to get there. I come from a big city and I'm used to drive, but such thing never happened to me before.
TV: Moscow overwhelmes me for the same reasons.
MT: At the summer during the fires we couldn't remain here and moved to St. Petersburg. Got into the car in the middle of the night. We drove for 12 hours - half of Moscow were driving to St. Petersburg.

skipping the parts about Savchenko's reaction, Volosozhar's citizenship. It was in other interviews word to word

MN: Why is your pair listed representing Moscow, St. Petersburg and Tver?
MT: According to the programme in which Tatiana gained her Russian citizenship the cities Moscow and St. Petersburg don't appear. The closest to Moscow was Tver. Gaining the citizenship there was the most convenient. We could be representing the Jewish autonomy just as well

[Nan]

TAHbKA, you are a :rockstar:

Thank you!

[TAHbKA]

As for their blog (http://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/volosozhartrankov/143243.html) entry:

TV: We liked everything in Saransk , the organization was great, especially we remembered the opening ceremony - it was beautiful. And of course we are thrilled to have won our first national championship
MT: We would like to mention the ice rink in Saransk: it was really modern. The crowd was very supportive to us and the other competitors. It was a pleasure to skate there!

TV: After the LP we didn't want to leave the ice because the crowd kept cheering, and it was a great feeling.
MT: We didn't expect to win with such a margine. We didn't think of the results , just of the skating.

TV: I'm thrilled for our coach Nina Mozer. It's great that everything worked out and she proved that not only she is a successful juniors coach, but the seniors as well.
MT: There is plenty of work ahead of us. Tatiana Tarasova made several remarks, explained what should we fix.

TV: In the middle of February we are going to Italy where we'll try to gain the needed points to participate the Worlds. The work we had done so far gave good results ,so we are not going to change anything right now.

MT: We were interviewed all the time in Saranks. The most frequently asked question was about my previous partner Maria Mukhortova: `What do you think of Mukhortova/Blanchar'ds programmes?' `How does Tanya differ from Masha' and so on. I'm quite an open person and usually say what I feel. Later my answers are taken out of the context and given a totally different meaning. So journalists, please, stop asking me those questions, don't look for sensations here - it's over. We went our separate ways and this is it. In the future I will leave all the questions about Mukhortova/Blanchard with no comment. Thanks in advance.

TV: Now to our readers questions.

naturprodukt: Was it hard to get used to the new partner technically?
MT: It was easy for me, the only problem was the jumps : I jump faster than Stas, so I had to change things to be together with Tanya.
TV: The split twist was hard for me. I had to change the pace. With Stas we did it slower than with Maksim. Every pair has it's own technique. The throws took a while as well - we changed the hold. Now everything is easier.

PbICb_PbICb: What is your favourite element?
TV: I love the throws. I love the feeling of the flight I get.
MT: I love doing all the elements with Tanya except for the pairs spin.

FS2010: to Tanya - is it hard t o combine the working and personal relationships with Stas? Does it happen that you come home and the training continues?
TV: Since we stopped skating together it became much easier. Besides, Stas has other teams he coaches. He works with them at the morning before we come to the rink, then he has plenty to do later. I hardly see him. At the evenings everythign is calm.

таврийский фан: What is that thing you are standing on on the photo from Portugal?
MT: We have no idea. WE were in Faru, there is a port there...
TV: We saw that thing and thought it would make nice picture, like in `Titanic'


Большой Ди: What music do you like, what are your favourites?
TV: I love everything. Instrumental music in particular.
MT: I like hip-hop, russian rap. The classical - Rachmaninov, Schnitke. I like the Russian classics, especially the piano music. I hate the pop music.


Edit: grammar mistakes, typos and other bugs

[HisWeirness]

So, it looks like it will be Mont Blanc Trophy (http://www.mbtc.it/event_info.php) where V/T are going to get their Minimum TES scores for 2011 Worlds.

Entries by name are due by Jan. 10, 2011. The Senior Pairs SP is scheduled for 17 Feb and the FS for 18 Feb.

[nro]

TV: The split twist was hard for me. I had to change the paste. With Stas we did it slower than with Maksim. Every pair has it's own technique. The throws took a while as well - we changed the hold. Now everything is easier.

Thanks for the translations!
I don't understand the part in bold, could you please clarify.

[HisWeirness]

Thanks for the translations!
I don't understand the part in bold, could you please clarify.
I think paste = pace, it would make sense in context.