Ok, here we go. Disclaimer: people are putting together summaries of this interview. I tried to do it "word-for-word". There are fortunately not many idioms or figurative language, but they do interrupt each other sometimes, don't speak in complete phrases, skip from issue to issue in the middle, and it is not a smooth question-answer. I had to change few terms, simplify, or add explanations, because the phrases came with either facial expressions, or "nouns" were assumed from previous answers and not included in the next.. If explanations are need and something not clear, let me know.
====== first 23:35 minutes.
P: This is Posner Show, our guest tonight is Eteri Tutberidze. Greetings, Eteri Georgievna.
T: Greetings.
P: .. I can add the title of Honored Coach of Russia, but I don’t know your view on such titles?
T: well, they don’t really affect my life, yet they are a form of recognition of the work done.
P: of course, of course… I would like to start with questions not related to your profession, it’s my personal curiosity: can you speak any Georgian?
T: only several phrases..
P: ok. Do you feel you’re Georgian? (** Posner has 3 citizenships, national identification is always an issue for him for many years).
T: well, perhaps not. I was born in Moscow, my upbringing is Russian, and yet nobody drained "my blood" out of me (did not switch my genes), and my Georgian father always told me “forgot how to speak Georgian, but never fully learned Russian”.
P: (laughs) is that so? Ok, got it. So, then my first question to you is this. You started figure skating when you were 4-1/2 years old?
T: yes, correct.
P: not later than what age one must start in figure skating to reach maximum results, in your opinion?
T: I think on an average, not later than 5 years.
P: Ok, so you say it is 5 years then…
T: well, yes, but not earlier than 3-1/2…
P: So, you then started at 4-1/2, but did not accomplish any great results…
T: that’s correct..
P: why so?
T: due to various circumstances, one is I had injuries as a single skater, even though my coach was Pliner, Edward Georgievich, he was one of the best coaches at that time. Then as i grew taller, I was loosing coordination, and offered to switch to dance. I felt insulted and put down, I took it as I am not capable to be a single skater. I looked at ice dancing as an opportunity to remain in skating that I loved so much, but not the direction I wanted to follow. I made my self love it, but then I often looked at single skaters and was wistful. But then considering the height I reached…
P: How tall are you?
T: ..about 1m76cm. I don’t measure my height…
P: and… (what would you rather be?)
T: I always wanted to be little, average…
P: got it. That would be more convenient (comfortable)…
T: yes, more convenient (comfortable)..
P: I’ll skip the “age question”, and come to a widely discussed and highly debated by so many people topic, well… at what age can the kids start serious training, the amount of work load that leads to high results …. so then… there are certain types of sports, let’s say, where a 15 year old can never and will never become a champion…. For example weight lifting…
T: sounds right..
P: there are quite few other, and then there is opposite.. figure skating is one of the few where a young athlete can reach the highest possible results…. it is not the only sport…
T: yes, not the only, several others which require high level of coordination, gymnastics…
P: yes, yes…ok then…. and this issue is mostly about female venues, with men…. well, let’s say I have never seen this when it comes to men… but then in rhythmic gymnastics it is not an issue (there are no men), but in artistic gymnastics they are all grown men, there you need muscles…
T: yes, yes..
P:… and in figure skating too, I have not seen any at 13 who win… maybe you’ve seen some, but I have not seen, so in your opinion, why do you think the girls do win and boys do not?
T: now wait… Yagudin was young (when he started winning).
P: … but not at 15…
T: … at 18, but for a boy it is still young..
P: … well, at 18 you can call him a man..
T:… to some extent, yes... but perhaps men usually try to stay in Juniors as long as possible, before transferring to Seniors (she said “masters” in Russian terms).
P:… you think it is their choice, or…
T. .. it’s also their level of readiness, although, if there is an athlete who is ready (to take on others) at such age, he’ll transfer…
P:… you think?
T:.. yes, there is already boy like this, unfortunately he is not skating for Russia, Gogolev, who has all quads, a very young boy, 14-15, I think (he might).
P: so let’s see…… there are people out there who are against such young age, for example Zhulin, Alexander Zhulin..
T: … (smiles) but he seems to be thinking.. (does not finish)
P: … i am curious about what he says. He (Zhulin) says that the audience prefer to watch feminine (female) skating, and he puts “feminine” in quotations marks, when ladies have all the female body forms….
T: .. yes, he means the “female body”…
P:.. yes, the forms (meaning breasts and rear-end)…
T: … so in other words, if half of fully grown (adult) female athletes do not have the “female forms” then let’s not watch?
P: (giggles) yes, I guess that’s what he means… in his opinion (she’s not worth watching)
T: .. then if a fully grown developed female does not have the “full body”, then it’s a no go?
P: (smiles, jokes) well, then yes, too bad.. it’s her problem..
T: … and she then receives no components? Because she does not have a “full figure”?
P: yes… (he means according to Zhulin)…
T: (jokes) then I object…
P: ok, ok…. Then Zhulin also says, and this one interest me more, that coaches use artificial methods to hold back the body development, true?
T:.. no..no, no… of course, I read all sorts of stuff “about myself” that we over there are doing something to hold back the growth, how can we hold it back?
P: .. he did not name names, just said it happens…
T: . I know, I know… I read it here and there… even joke sometimes that if there is such substance out there, tell me where to find it… so we can hold something back. Because this season, for example, Alina was changing, going throw growth, and now became a young lady, body wise… and it complicated our path, because we wanted to prove ourselves (this season) that we’re not an accident, and this formation process in the body made it much more difficult… No, of course no, there are no such substances. However, the level of physical demands, continuing physical demands, they do slow down the process… But what’s there will eventually come out. Possibly they do not grow as tall, as otherwise they might have if they were not in sports. They are probably over all smaller when in sports..
P: … you mean from the physical demands…
T: .. when they leave for a vacation, we never know what we will get back.. what shape they will be in, and how much more difficult it would be to work with. They grow during this time…. When physical demands go down, they grow… the body system (organism) applies its energy towards something, if not for physical activities, then towards growth, growth of something..
P: … interesting.. Now I will read you a quote, which maybe familiar to you, but maybe not to the audience. It’s a very hypothetical quote, but it expresses a very concentrated view, by Irina Rodnina, who is known to make rather harsh opinionated comments… she said, in this instance about the Russian Nationals: “why do we let in younger girls, to tickle the nerves (to nudge) the older ones? I’d like to see these girls (younger ones) at 17, will they all be able to do quads? Then, as the practice shows, it’s not enough now to do quads, one must be interesting. To me when a 14 year old skates it is not interesting. If they grow up and develop personalities, then great, because I want to see competition between their personalities, and not the technical execution of the elements. This may sound rude, but coaches have a product with swift expiration date. Remember, 5 years ago the whole country was going crazy over Lipnitskaya, and we (Rodnina and some other coaches) were sitting thinking (about Lipnitskaya) such low jumps, such tiny body, obviously not eating, will start growing soon, what will happen… The girl then threw away her skates, does not want to look at them. Who is responsible? And to say that she became an Olympic champions is not enough.. after all the sport is there to make one grow physically, mentally, healthy, and not to kill them with quads, shatter their dreams, and outlook on life, and I am just talking about who reached good results. But what about all those who did not reach them, spent years, efforts, health, missed out on education…. Only adults must compete. Kids champions - are either products of parents’ ambitions, or of their coaches”.
P: pretend I am Irina Rodnina, and what answer would you give, please..
T: oh well, there are so many subjects one can address, don’t know where to start..
P: .. at your discretion…
T:… I absolutely do not agree with her.. first of all, she is currently not…. But wait..I don’t want to under mind her, she has so many accomplishments, one can respect and admire them till the end of her life… but she is not a practicing (working) coach, and perhaps it is not correct (for her) to comment in such manner. Now, regarding Julia Lipnitskaya. The whole world admired her, she received her portion of love. Yes, she did set her skates aside for a while. Because the efforts (to fame) are hard, non-stop efforts (physical demands), constant expectations, it’s hard pressure, the expectations of new programmes, the new wins, and not every athlete can handle it or wants it after a while. She followed her path, the path she wanted while she wanted it, with efforts/help of her mother, my help, all of us. But I am sure she is happy to be able to reach the very top, to reach success, to perform her best programmes.
(back to Ronina’s comments)… so she does not want to watch … Ah, wait..why do we let younger girls skate at Nationals, those who can not yet compete in seniors internationally? Wait a second, let’s note that our (Russian) ladies figure skating started to progress at the time when we started to allow young ones in. Sotnikova became Russian National Champion at 12 years of age, and then she, Sotnikova, became an Olympic Champion. Zhenya Medvedeva, at about 14 started to come up on the podium and it became clear that as an adult she will continue to get on the podium. Holding them back? Ok….. for example a 12 year old girl this year became a US National Champion. She has a 3A, and recently posted at 4ltz she learned. It is the hardest quad there is. Her name is Alysa L… what is it?
P: that’s not relevant..
T: They (Americans) do it, because it means progress.. (sarcasm) and we supposed to hold ours back? ..because it will “tickle the nerves” of the older ones? Maybe if we tickle them here, then out there they will know what they are up against… They (older ones) will be faced with it anyway… Why hold these (younger) girls back, when they are only few months away from turning senior in August of this year, after which they will be out there representing our country? The Russian Nationals are dated for the year 2019. It is the same year, 2019, when these “girls” are transferring to Seniors.
P: Ok.. I still want to ask you this…. When in the last programme I had here a great coach, Irina Viner (rhythm. gym.) I told her that when we’re young, boys too, we are much more flexible then when we’re older. Back when I was a 12 year old boy, I could flex my thumb to touch the wrist, like this (shows his thumb towards the wrist).
T:… still, not bad…
P:… not bad, but not the same as before.. So, the physical demands, that deal with flexibility… do they cause any harm? ..that’s the first part (of my question)… the over all development of this person, the life in the future, is there harm that will affect him in the years when one is no longer an athlete? And the second part… what a girl can do at 13-14, can she still, lets say, do it when she is 20… or not?
T: I don’t see an issue with doing it all at 20. But there is another aspect. At 20 they start paying attention to other things and get distracted (other things start occupying their minds). They start to practice less, they start to feel sorry for themselves, and all that affects the training process. A 14-15-16 year old teen deals with less issues that take away the concentration, he/she concentrates and is hungry for results. As soon as they reach a result, they start feeling sorry for themselves. And yes, all that can prevent when one is older.
P: So then you’re saying that strictly physically they can do the same at 20-21?
T: I would say this…. that personally, at lets say 19-20, definitely not after 20, I would not try to learn something new (that is difficult), because the body is not as flexible. Trying to learn any new element does cause some degree of wear and tear on the body. When you learn any element at younger age, it makes it easier on the body, the mind, in the head, mentally, and the micro-injuries, which always happen, heal quicker.
P: and there we have it, very interesting. Commercial break and then we’ll be back.
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P: Now I will address a touchy subject. There are sports out there, where people of a certain race have advantages. For example if we take Athletics, the sprint, distance running, it is mostly Blacks. They are not from one country, from USA, Jamaica, Africa…
T: they have different muscle structure..
P: regardless of what it is, it’s a fact.. So now I want to ask, if in figure skating there is the same lean, toward people from the East (Asia/Orient), mainly from Japan, but not only. Is it so?
T: .. perhaps… I will say this, that genetically they are more coordinated…
P: … more coordinate?
T: …yes, more coordinated… They have something special, we too have something special… First of all, it’s their average height (they are not as tall), they struggle less with weight gain, they are tighter, certain things are easier for them, what they learn by 12-13, they can carry over much easier into adulthood, they don’t have to fight weight gain, growth in height, 1 cm every month… So for us, of European decent…. (interrupted).
P: … and also the Americans…
T: yes, Americans too, but there in America many of them are of Asian decent.. (in skating), actually most of them (top skaters)..
P: when you spoke before about skaters/athletes from Asian countries, you said this: “they are raised properly to not question the coach, not just verbally but in their minds also. Our (Russian) athlete starts to over-think (debate) in his own head the coach’s instructions, to do it or not to do it, especially if the instructions have to do with repeating some thing. I just did this, and now I have to do it again, it means the coach did not like what I did. That creates an internal conflict which hinders the work progress. It is not an issue with Asian athletes, you tell them to do, and it does not matter if it is “do” or “repeat”, they go and do it.”..
P: … so do you think it is “mentality”?
T: I think it is in them, plus the upbringing.. yes, it is their upbringing, some sense of trust… Even now if we take my student from Kazakhstan, Elizaveta Tusynbaeva… 19 years old. Just recently we regained her 4S jump, but she did not even ask any questions.. Liza go and do this…. she is “ok”.. and so on. With our athletes it does not go so easy.. First you must explain it to the parents, convince them and it is not always easy or doable. Some parents think that without (an important element) they are simply marvelous.
P: (laughs)… so you say it is the upbringing..
T: yes, yes, of course, upbringing… with ours its like some kind of a fight… like throwing a ball against a wall, you throw but it bounces back at you.. You tell them it needs to be done, and they say “what for”, “not today”, “how about tomorrow”…and that’s how it is.
P: … and so this means the boys and girls have different mind sets? Because it seems the girls are doing it..
T:… oy… it is harder with our girls to take them through the process, than with Eastern girls, when it comes to new jumps or elements, to get them try something new, to repeat… and let’s say we had a full run through a programme, and see there are some mistakes, and it needs a re-skate, when you ask an Eastern girl, she’ll say ok, yes.. and if it is our own athlete, there is a possibility that he/she will skate in such a way that we’ll regret asking..
P: but you said something (in another interview), and it surprised me, and you said that your came to the conclusion, that an ideal formula for success, in order to make a champion in singles, is to try and find a young kid, and from an early age develop a certain mentality towards the jumps..
T: yes, towards the jumps..
P: …now in these words I heard some kind of determination to create a some kind of superhuman.. (laughs), to change mentality?
T: .. yes. look.. if we take now the current generation of skaters that are fully developed/formed (as athletes/people), and consider that during this time the skating rules changed several times, as far as spins, use of edges, changes of edges…. (interrupted)..
P: … wait, change of edge? (what’s that?)
T: … yes, there were rule changes, in spins, how many rotations in this or that position (explains details), for example Yagudin competed under the old system, then the new one came, it was interesting/developed (good for the sport)…. (interrupted)..
P: … and Pluschenko…
T:… yes Pluschenko too.. he tried, I would say he adjusted, but it was harder for him, to learn new patterns of spins, it was harder though. And now there are even more complicated rule changes, and it is harder to tell an already formed athlete that yesterday you were doing 3-3 and that was great, and today many other athletes, like from Romania and every tiny country out there, they are all doing it, and we need to move up to the next level, and for us to stand out, well then we need to come out on the ice with quads, 3A, etc.. But they (her athletes) see these jumps (quads/3A) as something special, they are afraid mentally to take make an entry (to step) into them (have a mental barrier), but fear itself, the fear of a jump entry is what contributes to the risk of injury, to change your mind (during the jump), to pop, to open up… Like when you push a drunk man off the 2nd story window, he’ll fall, roll, and then get up and walk away.. because he had no fear. And take a sober one, he’ll fall and break all his bones, because of fear, he’ll tighten up….
P: .. true, true..
T: so, the new generation of kids, they need to look at quads as given.. Like the generation before them, they had to learn doubles as a prerequisite to triples, and the new generation now needs to learn the triples in order to do quads.
P: yes… ok then. I read some of your interviews and watched your videos, with details about you and your methods, and I understood that you have some set principles, with out which, in your opinion, it is not possible to get to the top (high results). First one, is to be demanding…
T: yes..
P: .. in other words as you say “give brains a washing for a bad training session”, and it must be done on regular basis, and its important to scold…
T: …I just want to make sure, that when the practice did not go well, the skater went home with a sense of dissatisfaction.. Or, rather.. chose not to go home, but to ask me if he can stay and practice longer and fix the mistakes…
P:… yes, to prove, to prove himself… until there is a result..
T: yes..
P: Second. You feel that parents must be next to children during practice, to come with them, and be present.
T: yes, to fully participate..
P: and third, that they (parents) must not feel sorry for them (if they whine), because, as you say yourself, a person always seeks what’s easier, and a kid will go where he is cradled..
T: that’s right, absolutely..
P: well, so this sounds like a sturdy (tough) approach…. And thus it forms another question.. Those who left (your group), and some of them were exceptional skater..
T: .. yes, true..
P: .. I can name Pitkeev for example, Lipnitsakaya, Medvedeva… this toughness, in your opinion, had it play a role?
T: … perhaps this toughness played a role after an athlete started winning, and now decided that he/she can start training differently, and to expect special treatment: don’t call me by my last name when I mess up, call me by my first name… if I don’t think I need to do it then I won’t.. I think that causes conflict.. because, my dear, we’re still on the path to bigger goals (medals), we used a certain method to gain medals, and if we want more, we must stay on the same path. Because if I start changing methods, making exceptions, reduce your training, and you think can take a week off, then come back and expect everything to start working, that’s simply not true. If you spent that past week with coordination issues, when you return you’ll be right where you left off…. Why do you need that week off? Why suddenly you demand a private dance instructor and you no longer want to practice dance in a group with others? Why suddenly you want a preferential treatment? Just because you have a medal on your neck? … As soon as one steps off the podium, that’s it, you’re nobody (back at square one), until you can prove yourself again at the next competition. Until you earn another medal, you’re nobody. You have old medals and that’s good, but it will not help you (physically) at the next competition.
P: ok then. (proceeds to her personal story starting 1990’s. will translate next).
Is it true than physical demands prevent a person from growing or stunts growth? That is, without denying proper nutrition? 
