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Elena Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Elizaveta Tuktamysheva for ria.ru
She is unique in Russian figure skating. Probably in the world figure skating. A rising start at the 2011-12 season at the age of 15 with a victory on both GP events and a junior Olympics and nothing for the next 3 years. A triumph come back at 2015, when she picked all the possible titles - the GPF, Europeans and the Worlds and disappearing again.
Tuktamysheva talks to Vaytsekhovskaya about recovering the 3A, which year was the defining for her and why the Olympic champion Pluschenko has no reason inviting her to his academy.
EV: I know you were dreaming participating the Olympics, and yet twice - before Sochi and Korea you showed your probably worst skating in the defining events. Is it destiny? That Olympics are not about you?
ET: I had many different feelings about it and I came to terms with it. Hence now I take anything as a given: everyone has a sports destiny, their way and their actions they have to follow. Hence I take calmly all that happens to me. Am quite satisfied with my last season and the current work. I made a lot of mistakes the last 3 seasons and hope the defeats will be compensated in a way.
EV: I was re-reading one of your interviews over the summer and thought you were as if telling yourself if something goes wrong and I won't be able to come back and be competitive on the top - oh well. It's for a reason.
ET: It is true in a way.
EV: Then why recover the 3A?
ET: To overcome my fears, be stronger than Liza, who skated a year ago, 3 years ago and even 5 years ago when first winning the nationals. It's not about the comparison to the little girls. I just try to improve every practice. Of course I would love to come back this year and participate the main competitions. But every time I start thinking about it I lose my rhythm. Hence I stopped thinking about the future: I just do my job and try to be reasonable at the practices and the competitions
EV: The same interview you said none of the old injuries bothers you anymore. How did you manage it? Have you changed the preparations system or just take your muscles more seriously?
ET: The only injury that I still have is the back injury. To heal it completely I needed 1.5 years. At the same time I learned to prepare my feet to the boots breaking and the training in general - I know where to put the silicon adds so the legs would be always comfortable. Thanks to all that I forgot what is it pain in my legs. It's so great skating when nothing hurts! So after going through all these injuries I found a way to prevent them. I now learned really well letting the discomfort deteriorate till the injury is a no go - anything that feels wrong must be mended immediately. And of course we do put a lot of stress on the physical and special preparations, so the body would be ready for all the figure skating elements. Unfortunately, understanding how important those things are only comes with the age.
EV: How long did it take you to recover mentally from the previous season?
ET: It was surprisingly easy. We started preparing to the new season after the nationals and despite the 7th place, which I can't really count as a success I was quite satisfied with how the work went. All my thoughts suddenly became very clear. Starting February we were working on the new elements, were learning new jumping combinations. And I was really having a great time skating. In April we choreographed 2 new programmes that I just love. The work was so fruitful that at the end of the season I started landing the 3A. And with these feelings it was easy to recover the jump when we got back to work after the vacation. The summer preparations were quite good as well, in my point of view.
EV: I recall in 2015 you said the first time you landed the 3A at the competition you had goosebumps and it was an amazing feeling. Yet you were entering the jump as a suicide. What have changed now?
ET: I still remember the goosebumps. I can't say it became easier mentally, but am not as nervous anymore before the jump. I was landing the 3A in St. Petersburg test skates in the warm up. Am not yet as consistent as I would like to be, but am confident: yes, it's my jump, I can land it. I learned to land the 3A with less speeding up - it's enough doing half a circle to enter the jump and land it. In 2015 I needed a whole circle.
EV: That season I recall how you and Aleksei Mishin surprised everyone with the amount of the competition you participated - before the Nationals you went through 7 competitions, including the GPF and won 6 of them. Do you plan doing the same this season?
ET: Am not yet certain which competitions I will participate. Am certain about the Lombardia Trophy, where we'll go after the test skates in Moscow. Then perhaps another B competition or one of the Challenger and then I'll prepare for the GPs in Canada and Japan.
EV: Before the ISU have changed the rules about the jumps at the 2nd part of the programme, have you considered changing the usual layout?
ET: We did try to change it. But guess am so used to the usual content that I understood from the very beginning: I'd better skate the whole programme clean even if the last 3 elements would not be the hardest and beat with the quality of the jumps. With the current system, if I understand it right, it's exactly what the judges want to see: the better execution of the elements, the better jumps, higher, more time in the air. If moving all the jumps to the end of the programme doubt it will be possible to perform them as well as at the first part. Hence the programme will not look that well. That's the reason when we started working on the new programmes we made a decision to leave the old content with just some minor adjustments.
EV: Speaking of the rules changes, I think they are for the benefit of the older skaters.
ET: I thought so two. The first emotion after reading the new rules was that it was done for the skaters whose forte is a mature gorgeous skating. And not a 3z3r at the end of the programme.
EV: Did it inspire you?
ET: In a way, yes. There is now a hope to be able to compete with the younger skaters.
EV: During the last two season you trained quite a lot together with Carolina Kostner. What was the most interesting experience?
ET: It was interesting just to watch Carolina training. Of course Mishin gave us almost the same things to do. But Kostner's approach to work, her thoughts, the way she warms up, sets herself for the skate - it was very educational for me. I tried to copy some of the things and understood how important it is to find the inner spine, the feeling of the right work. Carolina has a very mature approach. Her health, for example. She is not young and had some injuries. In the last years she found an amazing inner harmony. She skates amazingly.
EV: Who were you rooting for at the Olympics? Kostner?
ET: For Medvedeva. I think she deserved the gold medal more than anyone else.
EV: Did Carolina participate the summer training camps in Courchevel and Tartu?
ET: No, she didn't come there. But I don't think she is going to retire yet.
EV: Do you believe she can continue being as successful?
ET: Watching how much she wants and loves to skate I think she can do quite well at the competitions.
EV: Did you mind when you haven't made it to the main competition and Mishin focused on the Italian?
ET: We also have Tatiana Prokofieva in the group, who, as a second coach, sometimes replaces Mishin. So it was fine. Many coaches have 5-6 elite skaters and have enough time to give attention to everyone. Alexey Mishin did just fine as well.
EV: Does it matter for you who stands near the border during the practices and the competitions?
ET: In the recent years it just happened Mishin and Prokofieva came to all the main competitions, so I haven't even thought about it. Mishin and Prokofieva have been working together for so long - they have the same system, the same approach to a lot of things. Which, of course, is even more comfortable when one of the coaches is not there. They also know exactly how to set the athlete in the right mood for the competition. They need no shrinks.
EV: What are 3 main things that happened over the summer in your life?
ET: The most emotions are about the 3A. In July I landed it for the first time clean.
EV: In Courchevel?
ET: No, by then we already moved to Tartu. For me it's a city of destiny: I first started landing the 3A in Tartu and came back there again. Guess there are some special conditions that suit me, some special aura that gives the athlete some confidence. I was never so confident about the 3A in the off season. When it started working it was like a breath of a fresh air. There were some other amazing moments. I started landing a 3z3t combination. And, guess I should mention the new programmes. When I love the programmes so much and I manage to skate them clean it's a very emotional experience.
EV: What will you remember outside the ice and the trainings?
ET: Unfortunately nothing special happened this summer.
ЕV: Not even a new dress?
ET: Even if I did buy something the emotions were not nearly as strong as the jumps. Guess my life rotates around the ice anyway.
EV: In how many shows you constantly participate?
ET: None. I decided not to waste my time on the shows and concentrate on the professional work only, hence I decline all.
EV: Do you often get invited?
ET: Yes, I can reveal it was hard declining some of the offers. But I had to: it's hard creating a schedule that includes the travels and practices and find several free days. For now the sport is the most important.
EV: Did you have a chance to visit the Academy your coach's pupil Pluschenko opened in Moscow?
ET: No, never.
EV: Didn’t Zhenya invite you there?
ET: No. I think he knows I would never leave Alexey Nikolaevich. Hence no point inviting me.
EV: Your current sports plans end up with one season or the whole Olympic cycle?
ET: I don't really like deciding in advance, but think more than one season. When I think I might end up without the competitions, the sports, the practices, without all that hype my heart misses a bit. I am not ready to leave figure skating, I will skate for as long as I feel I have the power. I love it. It's a huge stress, but it's so interesting. Hence I will just say now I plan skating for the next 2 years and then we'll see.
EV: What are you afraid of about leaving the sports?
ET: I don't know. The retirement, I think, is a major step for an athlete. And a very hard. After all it's leaving the most full and the most interesting part of your life that demanded you to give up everything for so many years. Perhaps I'll miss the adrenaline, people, who surround me now. When I start thinking the end of my career is not so far away I feel very sad. It's hard to accept. Hence I chase away such thoughts for now.
EV: Many of Mishin's pupil after retiring stay and work with him. Do you see yourself in that company?
ET: I thought about it. But as I said, for now I put such thoughts into a black box in my head and will think of it when the time is right. Of course am almost certain after retiring life will bring me to figure skating again in some other role. But I don't know yet how and where exactly will it happen.
EV: If am not mistaken you are studying in the sports university.
ET: Right, am doing the 3rd year.
EV: Is it hard?
ET: Fortunately the lecturers understand what kind of sports am part of and how demanding the practices are. I do the exams externally when I can't visit the uni. I come to the lecturers, they give the assignment and do it in my free time. In general it's not too hard. The most important is that I have to study things I know more or less anyway and what I will need in my future sports profession.
EV: How would you describe your state before the test skates? Nervousness, fear that the new season had almost began or you are looking forward?
ET: Uplifted, because I want to show my new programmes so badly both to the federation and the public. And I think am in a pretty good shape right now. Hence we decided to participate the test skates that took place in St. Petersburg.
EV: Have you skated both programmes in the test skates?
ET: Yes, but without the 3A. I only landed it during the warm up to show I have it.
EV: Do you plan to kill your rivals morally with the 3A in Moscow?
ET: I plan landing it twice in the warm up. Before the SP in Novogorsk and before the LP in Moscow. I'll just have to find the spot during the 6 minutes warm up in Moscow - there are so many elements everyone needs to do, it might be a problem.
EV: What do you expect of this season?
ET: I don't think the new rules will cause a revolution. The rivals are known, I don't think anyone will experiment too much with the programmes. Of course I judge by myself: when you do the same set of elements year after year it's hard to make a decision to change something. To make the progarmme harder - yes, that you should at least attempt. But changing the programme layout completely - I think not many will dare. Especially with the new rules.
She is unique in Russian figure skating. Probably in the world figure skating. A rising start at the 2011-12 season at the age of 15 with a victory on both GP events and a junior Olympics and nothing for the next 3 years. A triumph come back at 2015, when she picked all the possible titles - the GPF, Europeans and the Worlds and disappearing again.
Tuktamysheva talks to Vaytsekhovskaya about recovering the 3A, which year was the defining for her and why the Olympic champion Pluschenko has no reason inviting her to his academy.
EV: I know you were dreaming participating the Olympics, and yet twice - before Sochi and Korea you showed your probably worst skating in the defining events. Is it destiny? That Olympics are not about you?
ET: I had many different feelings about it and I came to terms with it. Hence now I take anything as a given: everyone has a sports destiny, their way and their actions they have to follow. Hence I take calmly all that happens to me. Am quite satisfied with my last season and the current work. I made a lot of mistakes the last 3 seasons and hope the defeats will be compensated in a way.
EV: I was re-reading one of your interviews over the summer and thought you were as if telling yourself if something goes wrong and I won't be able to come back and be competitive on the top - oh well. It's for a reason.
ET: It is true in a way.
EV: Then why recover the 3A?
ET: To overcome my fears, be stronger than Liza, who skated a year ago, 3 years ago and even 5 years ago when first winning the nationals. It's not about the comparison to the little girls. I just try to improve every practice. Of course I would love to come back this year and participate the main competitions. But every time I start thinking about it I lose my rhythm. Hence I stopped thinking about the future: I just do my job and try to be reasonable at the practices and the competitions
EV: The same interview you said none of the old injuries bothers you anymore. How did you manage it? Have you changed the preparations system or just take your muscles more seriously?
ET: The only injury that I still have is the back injury. To heal it completely I needed 1.5 years. At the same time I learned to prepare my feet to the boots breaking and the training in general - I know where to put the silicon adds so the legs would be always comfortable. Thanks to all that I forgot what is it pain in my legs. It's so great skating when nothing hurts! So after going through all these injuries I found a way to prevent them. I now learned really well letting the discomfort deteriorate till the injury is a no go - anything that feels wrong must be mended immediately. And of course we do put a lot of stress on the physical and special preparations, so the body would be ready for all the figure skating elements. Unfortunately, understanding how important those things are only comes with the age.
EV: How long did it take you to recover mentally from the previous season?
ET: It was surprisingly easy. We started preparing to the new season after the nationals and despite the 7th place, which I can't really count as a success I was quite satisfied with how the work went. All my thoughts suddenly became very clear. Starting February we were working on the new elements, were learning new jumping combinations. And I was really having a great time skating. In April we choreographed 2 new programmes that I just love. The work was so fruitful that at the end of the season I started landing the 3A. And with these feelings it was easy to recover the jump when we got back to work after the vacation. The summer preparations were quite good as well, in my point of view.
EV: I recall in 2015 you said the first time you landed the 3A at the competition you had goosebumps and it was an amazing feeling. Yet you were entering the jump as a suicide. What have changed now?
ET: I still remember the goosebumps. I can't say it became easier mentally, but am not as nervous anymore before the jump. I was landing the 3A in St. Petersburg test skates in the warm up. Am not yet as consistent as I would like to be, but am confident: yes, it's my jump, I can land it. I learned to land the 3A with less speeding up - it's enough doing half a circle to enter the jump and land it. In 2015 I needed a whole circle.
EV: That season I recall how you and Aleksei Mishin surprised everyone with the amount of the competition you participated - before the Nationals you went through 7 competitions, including the GPF and won 6 of them. Do you plan doing the same this season?
ET: Am not yet certain which competitions I will participate. Am certain about the Lombardia Trophy, where we'll go after the test skates in Moscow. Then perhaps another B competition or one of the Challenger and then I'll prepare for the GPs in Canada and Japan.
EV: Before the ISU have changed the rules about the jumps at the 2nd part of the programme, have you considered changing the usual layout?
ET: We did try to change it. But guess am so used to the usual content that I understood from the very beginning: I'd better skate the whole programme clean even if the last 3 elements would not be the hardest and beat with the quality of the jumps. With the current system, if I understand it right, it's exactly what the judges want to see: the better execution of the elements, the better jumps, higher, more time in the air. If moving all the jumps to the end of the programme doubt it will be possible to perform them as well as at the first part. Hence the programme will not look that well. That's the reason when we started working on the new programmes we made a decision to leave the old content with just some minor adjustments.
EV: Speaking of the rules changes, I think they are for the benefit of the older skaters.
ET: I thought so two. The first emotion after reading the new rules was that it was done for the skaters whose forte is a mature gorgeous skating. And not a 3z3r at the end of the programme.
EV: Did it inspire you?
ET: In a way, yes. There is now a hope to be able to compete with the younger skaters.
EV: During the last two season you trained quite a lot together with Carolina Kostner. What was the most interesting experience?
ET: It was interesting just to watch Carolina training. Of course Mishin gave us almost the same things to do. But Kostner's approach to work, her thoughts, the way she warms up, sets herself for the skate - it was very educational for me. I tried to copy some of the things and understood how important it is to find the inner spine, the feeling of the right work. Carolina has a very mature approach. Her health, for example. She is not young and had some injuries. In the last years she found an amazing inner harmony. She skates amazingly.
EV: Who were you rooting for at the Olympics? Kostner?
ET: For Medvedeva. I think she deserved the gold medal more than anyone else.
EV: Did Carolina participate the summer training camps in Courchevel and Tartu?
ET: No, she didn't come there. But I don't think she is going to retire yet.
EV: Do you believe she can continue being as successful?
ET: Watching how much she wants and loves to skate I think she can do quite well at the competitions.
EV: Did you mind when you haven't made it to the main competition and Mishin focused on the Italian?
ET: We also have Tatiana Prokofieva in the group, who, as a second coach, sometimes replaces Mishin. So it was fine. Many coaches have 5-6 elite skaters and have enough time to give attention to everyone. Alexey Mishin did just fine as well.
EV: Does it matter for you who stands near the border during the practices and the competitions?
ET: In the recent years it just happened Mishin and Prokofieva came to all the main competitions, so I haven't even thought about it. Mishin and Prokofieva have been working together for so long - they have the same system, the same approach to a lot of things. Which, of course, is even more comfortable when one of the coaches is not there. They also know exactly how to set the athlete in the right mood for the competition. They need no shrinks.
EV: What are 3 main things that happened over the summer in your life?
ET: The most emotions are about the 3A. In July I landed it for the first time clean.
EV: In Courchevel?
ET: No, by then we already moved to Tartu. For me it's a city of destiny: I first started landing the 3A in Tartu and came back there again. Guess there are some special conditions that suit me, some special aura that gives the athlete some confidence. I was never so confident about the 3A in the off season. When it started working it was like a breath of a fresh air. There were some other amazing moments. I started landing a 3z3t combination. And, guess I should mention the new programmes. When I love the programmes so much and I manage to skate them clean it's a very emotional experience.
EV: What will you remember outside the ice and the trainings?
ET: Unfortunately nothing special happened this summer.
ЕV: Not even a new dress?
ET: Even if I did buy something the emotions were not nearly as strong as the jumps. Guess my life rotates around the ice anyway.
EV: In how many shows you constantly participate?
ET: None. I decided not to waste my time on the shows and concentrate on the professional work only, hence I decline all.
EV: Do you often get invited?
ET: Yes, I can reveal it was hard declining some of the offers. But I had to: it's hard creating a schedule that includes the travels and practices and find several free days. For now the sport is the most important.
EV: Did you have a chance to visit the Academy your coach's pupil Pluschenko opened in Moscow?
ET: No, never.
EV: Didn’t Zhenya invite you there?
ET: No. I think he knows I would never leave Alexey Nikolaevich. Hence no point inviting me.
EV: Your current sports plans end up with one season or the whole Olympic cycle?
ET: I don't really like deciding in advance, but think more than one season. When I think I might end up without the competitions, the sports, the practices, without all that hype my heart misses a bit. I am not ready to leave figure skating, I will skate for as long as I feel I have the power. I love it. It's a huge stress, but it's so interesting. Hence I will just say now I plan skating for the next 2 years and then we'll see.
EV: What are you afraid of about leaving the sports?
ET: I don't know. The retirement, I think, is a major step for an athlete. And a very hard. After all it's leaving the most full and the most interesting part of your life that demanded you to give up everything for so many years. Perhaps I'll miss the adrenaline, people, who surround me now. When I start thinking the end of my career is not so far away I feel very sad. It's hard to accept. Hence I chase away such thoughts for now.
EV: Many of Mishin's pupil after retiring stay and work with him. Do you see yourself in that company?
ET: I thought about it. But as I said, for now I put such thoughts into a black box in my head and will think of it when the time is right. Of course am almost certain after retiring life will bring me to figure skating again in some other role. But I don't know yet how and where exactly will it happen.
EV: If am not mistaken you are studying in the sports university.
ET: Right, am doing the 3rd year.
EV: Is it hard?
ET: Fortunately the lecturers understand what kind of sports am part of and how demanding the practices are. I do the exams externally when I can't visit the uni. I come to the lecturers, they give the assignment and do it in my free time. In general it's not too hard. The most important is that I have to study things I know more or less anyway and what I will need in my future sports profession.
EV: How would you describe your state before the test skates? Nervousness, fear that the new season had almost began or you are looking forward?
ET: Uplifted, because I want to show my new programmes so badly both to the federation and the public. And I think am in a pretty good shape right now. Hence we decided to participate the test skates that took place in St. Petersburg.
EV: Have you skated both programmes in the test skates?
ET: Yes, but without the 3A. I only landed it during the warm up to show I have it.
EV: Do you plan to kill your rivals morally with the 3A in Moscow?
ET: I plan landing it twice in the warm up. Before the SP in Novogorsk and before the LP in Moscow. I'll just have to find the spot during the 6 minutes warm up in Moscow - there are so many elements everyone needs to do, it might be a problem.
EV: What do you expect of this season?
ET: I don't think the new rules will cause a revolution. The rivals are known, I don't think anyone will experiment too much with the programmes. Of course I judge by myself: when you do the same set of elements year after year it's hard to make a decision to change something. To make the progarmme harder - yes, that you should at least attempt. But changing the programme layout completely - I think not many will dare. Especially with the new rules.
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Sergei has been coaching on the side for awhile now, and yes CSKA helps him with that. And he WANTS to keep skating, as does Liza. Why is that such a hard concept? If someone is 21 or 31 and they are healthy and doing what they enjoy...why in the world should they stop? Neither one of them is remotely like Fumie Sugiri 
who couldn't even qualify to Nationals in the last years of her career. Sergei just won a Grand Prix last season and had the best results of his whole career. Liza would be a top skater for any other country, but it's not her fault that Russia has so many good girls.
