Konov's interview with Arutunian

[Sylvia]

Vasily Konov's interview article (April 30, 2021):

Арутюнян: Москвина и Мишин — иконы, а у Тутберидзе не вижу чего-то особенного

РИА Новости Спорт, 30.04.2021

rsport.ria.ru

"... in an interview with Vasily Konov on the KonOff YouTube channel [link to watch the 1 hour 25 min. interview in Russian, titled "Chen, Trusova, Hanyu, Plushenko, Mishin, Moskvina, Tarasova, USA, family, citizenship": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrxHLDZSPOg], Rafael Arutyunyan said that Alexandra Trusova's father asked him for cooperation, how he returned the money for training to Nathan Chen, remembered the one-day champions and admitted that he would like to work with Russian skaters. A bonus is recognition of a hobby and, for the first time, stories about children and service in Azerbaijan."

Russian media, predictably, is having a field day with this part :

Q: Who is the number one coach in Russia now?
- At one time, Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk was an icon for me. Now, for example, Tatyana Anatolyevna does not work, but two people are working, in my opinion, and for me there are icons - Tamara Nikolaevna and Alexey Nikolaevich. Well, not bad Eteri with the group.
Q: Not bad?
- Fine. I don't see anything special there, just a good situation, good guys, good coaches. The staff is good, the coaches are good, she works well and supervises this whole process well, they recruit good guys. But it still takes time to become Alexei Nikolaevich and Tamara Nikolaevna. We'll see.

Excerpt from the end:

Q: What do you need now for absolute happiness?
- Yes, I'm happy!
Q: Absolutely?
- Yes. Lower the level of your aspirations and you will be happy (smiles). My level of aspirations was very low, I achieved much more than I thought. I never thought that you would talk to me. Earlier, when I was a young coach, I always envied those about whom they wrote in the newspaper somewhere, I thought that someday they would write about me (laughs). And now I'm already hiding.

 

[Hindernisse]

A fascinating interview. I had the luxury to be able to watch it in full. Besides all the figure skating insights, it was interesting to hear about his path and mixed Armenian-Russian-Georgian-now-also-American identity.

 

[cheremary]

Someone posted a translation of the parts where he talks about working with Nathan, starting from when Nathan was a kid and how they’d drive from Utah to CA to learn a jump and how his mom wrote down everything and they always did what was asked. Eventually Rafael returned their payment and stopped taking money because Nathan doing everything he asked became his reward/compensation, so to speak.

He also admitted to their trying the 4A but doesn’t think it’s worth it scoring-wise. https://twitter.com/intonathanchen/status/1388165820581359616?s=21

 

[Sylvia]

Someone posted a translation of the parts where he talks about working with Nathan, starting from when Nathan was a kid and how they’d drive from Utah to CA to learn a jump and how his mom wrote down everything and they always did what was asked. Eventually Rafael returned their payment and stopped taking money because Nathan doing everything he asked became his reward/compensation, so to speak.

Thank you for posting the link to the 2 tweets above, @marysy!

Thanks to @TAHbKA for translating this section at my request:

Konov: there are serious contracts the athletes sign. Do you reckon it will enter the figure skating world as well?
Arutyunyan: I think the odds in Russia are higher than in the USA. Our system is rather easy: they come, work with you, pay and go.
Konov: Client/supplier.
Arutyunyan Quite. However, when the situation where the skater leaves you and goes to a different coach arises the other coach will ask "do you owe anything at the previous place?"
Konov: Money-wise?
Arutyunyan: Money-wise. The coach you worked with previously. They can skip asking it, but it's a better idea to ask, or even better call and say "This athlete came to me, do they owe you anything?" That's it. And if they owe something I, for instance, would say "First do your obligation there, then come back and we'll talk. As long as you are not done with your payments there don't come." Hence the contract as such is perhaps needed if I want to coach you as I coach Nathan. You remember how we began the conversation?
Konov: That his mom drove him there [to Lake Arrowhead, CA from Salt Lake City].
Arutyunyan: When I learned their conditions were not the best and the mom comes and gives me $400 [for each visit]. I take it and give it to him (Nathan) so he would understand that his mom paid it. I said "Here is the money and I don't want to take it." And I stopped taking money, you can ask him yourself. I believed in him. Now he can transfer me 10K. 20K. He paid fully back. He paid back by working so well, for working with me, for being a great skater. Perhaps he'll just transfer me 15K just like that.

 

[jlai]

Thank you so much for the translation!

 

[Rukia]

I like the idea that Nathan is just like, "Sure, you can have 15k as a little treat coach"