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"A must-have quality for figure skaters is, I think, [showmanship]."

Japan's Daisuke Takahashi throws his head back and laughs, but he is serious.

His is a sport where performance is everything -- from the flamboyant routines to the glitzy outfits to the interaction with the crowd.

"The best part about figure skating is how I can have the entire audience's attention to myself," the former world champion told CNN's Human to Hero series.

"I believe performing and showing off is very important, but I constantly prevent myself from becoming too self-absorbed. The audience won't be moved if I'm performing only for my satisfaction.

"It's sort of like playing 'catch.' For me, when I'm watching musicals or performances, I feel a bit uncomfortable when the actor is too self-absorbed. I like the people who can perform while being sensitive of the atmosphere."

"I never thought I have anything special. I've always thought about what I don't have compared to other skaters," he says.

"I tend to think like other skaters get more applause than I do. I constantly think about ways I can level up, and I'm often jealous of other skaters," he adds, laughing. "When I see someone's cool performance, it makes me want to be like them, and that's what motivates me."

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National teams of Russia figure skating for the season 2013/2014 period.

In the national team of Russia were not included skaters showed high sports results at competitions of the season 2012/13 and fulfilled the criteria for the formation of the official teams of Russia, established by the Ministry of Sports. Among them:

Valentine Chernishova (7th Championship of Russia);
Alsou Kayumova (5th Russian Cup Final);
Feodosiy Efremenkov (4th Cup of Russia);
Zhan Bush (5th Russian Cup Final);
Alla Loboda - Pavel Drozda (5th Russian Cup Final).

Also with the Championship of Russia in the older age groups (1-6 places, according to the criteria of the Ministry of Sports of Russia) included only winners and holders of 1-4 seats in pair skating and ice dancing, respectively.

In addition, the squad does not include winners of the Championship of Russia on young children in the younger age group that practiced in previous years.

Figure skater of the Samara region Pervushkina Diana was the only one included in the squad due only performance at the Games of Russian students, which, by virtue of the rules, can not be a large number of strong competitors.

In team sports couple got Katarina Gerboldt - Alexander Enbert not compete(?) at the event in the 2012/13 season.

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I received a call from a young man who wished to apply for a job as a skating instructor at the rink. The boy was very enthusiastic about teaching skating, and explained that he had played ice hockey when he was young, but had not skated in awhile and that he was a bit out of practice.

The next day, the young man showed up for our "interview-appointment." I was caught by surprise since he did not own his own skates, and was wearing rental skates! He then struggled to walk in those rental skates towards the ice sheet's entry door when I asked him to show me his skating skills... he figured he would somehow learn to skate once he was hired!

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