Mark is back in Moscow:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CaCy21hs2HU/
12K likes, 59 comments - mark.kondratiukteam on February 16, 2022: "Марк вместе со Светланой Владимировной вернулись в Москву, их встречают аплодисментами👏🔥 🎥 Матч ТВ #markkondratiuk #markkondratiukteam #марккондратюк #мырусскиеснамимарк #пекин2022".
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779 likes, 51 comments - mark.kondratiukteam on February 15, 2022: "Марк вместе со Светланой Владимировной возвращаются из Пекина домой🥳 📸 сторис Марка #markkondratiuk #markkondratiukteam #марккондратюк #мырусскиеснамимарк #пекин2022".
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New interview:
https://www.fsrussia.ru/intervyu/60...hast-e-chto-ya-popal-na-olimpijskie-igry.html
Mark Kondratyuk: “No one will ever take away my emotions, memories and happiness that I got to the Olympic Games”
European champion Mark Kondratyuk held his final training session on the Olympic ice in Beijing on Tuesday. After it, we crossed paths in the mini-zone of the training rink and asked Mark to tell what those few days were like for him at his first Olympics.
- Mark, with what feelings will you remember this Olympics?
- I'm happy to be here. Regardless of any situations, results, rentals. I'm just happy to be here, because such an opportunity falls to very few people, athletes. Probably, a series of accidents helped me, such a golden ticket, because a year and a half ago I was still skating very badly and could not even think about it. I dreamed: “Now, if I work well, then in 2026, perhaps, I will get there.” And I'm happy that I'm here and now.
- Participation in the Olympics will be an impetus in the future?
- It seems to me that training here will give impetus. Before the competition, I managed to ride with Yuma (Kagiyama - approx.), Nathan (Chen - approx.), after - with Yuzuru (Hanyu - approx.), Yuma, Nathan, Shoma (Uno - approx.). It is a great honor for me to be with them, to see how they work. In general, riding with Yuzuru was my dream, which could come true in Sochi at the Grand Prix stage. But Yuzuru withdrew. I am disappointed. And who would have thought that two months later this would happen at the Beijing Olympics.
“Does it feel like it’s all happening in a dream?”
-- Not anymore. But when the Olympics were just starting, yes. It seemed like it wasn't happening to me.
Are the Olympic Games really something special?
- The Olympics is fundamentally different from any other competitions where I have been. Different for everyone. Olympic village, athletes from completely different sports, different countries. Everyone is talking...
The biggest start for me was the European Championship, but this is different. Absolutely different scale of what is happening!
And what did you like most about the Olympics? Honestly, I liked everything. Every day something happens here, you remember it and just enjoy that it happens to you.
- You made your debut at the Olympic Games. According to your feelings, did you manage to show everything you are ready for here?
- If we take the team and individual tournaments as two separate competitions, then in one of them I managed to show my maximum, almost my maximum. And I am pleased that we managed to skate two programs in a row well, we managed not to let the team down. Probably, after years, when I want to reconsider the Olympics, I will choose the team tournament.
- Is it difficult to withstand four rentals?
- It was the first time for me. But it was also the first time for Vika (Sinitsina), Nastya (Mishina), Sasha Gallyamov), Kamila (Valiyeva). And for Nikita, by the way. At the Olympics in Sochi, he skated three programs. The same was true for guys from other countries.
- But the men's competitions began almost immediately after the team competitions?
“Physically, it was not very difficult. We work in training, we skate a lot of programs. So everything is possible. There is an emotional issue here. I have a feeling that I accumulated all my energy reserves for the team tournament, and they simply were not enough for the personal one. This is probably my mistake. Maybe it was necessary to keep himself in the team in order to leave strength for the personal one. But as is. But I didn't let the guys down. Perhaps if I had saved my energy, then in the end it would have turned out badly both there and there.
It is emotionally difficult to withstand four rentals. I remember going to the team tournament and I was absolutely charged to do my job. And when it was personal, I understood that I could do everything, but there was nothing inside. Emptiness. Therefore, in the team and individual tournaments, I looked different.
“But it's an experience.
-- Agree. But I had the opportunity to skate on the Olympic ice four times, when most have two, three or none at all.
- Coach Svetlana Sokolovskaya believes that the trainings that took place here did you good, you restored the quadruple lutz.
-- In outline. I really wanted to stay here. But it didn't depend on me. If it were my will, I would not fly away tomorrow, but at the very end, because I don’t know how my life will turn out. Perhaps this is my first and last Olympics, and I wanted to take everything from it.
Initially, I was supposed to fly away with Zhenya (Semenenko) and Andrey (Mozalev), but the night before they called me and asked: “Have you packed your suitcase?” - and added: "You can disassemble." What, how, why - I do not know. We then sat in a company, and when I was informed, I almost jumped with happiness that I was staying here longer!
- Normal conditions in the Olympic village?
- I read the comments of other athletes that the conditions are not very good. But to be honest, I don't see anything like that. Everything is done either well or okay. Comfortable, convenient. Probably, in such a difficult situation in the world, this is the maximum that could be done. Everything suits me.
The room in the Olympic village is designed for three people. Large room with a common entrance, living room, three separate rooms. Each room has its own bathroom. Someone told me that four of the guys from other countries live in such rooms. We lived together - me, Andrey and Zhenya. We constantly spent time together. In the evenings, we also gathered with Sasha, Camila, Anya and walked, played cards, and talked.
How far was the dining room?
- No, we have a very conveniently located building. One minute walk from the dining room. Immediately at the exit from the entrance, after 20 meters there is a building where PCR tests are taken. Near the bus station. It was quite a long walk for the guys from some other teams to the bus, but we were lucky.
Did you manage to buy souvenirs?
- At first, we had a lot of Bing Dun Dun (the mascot of the Games - approx.) in our store. They just lay on the shelves, we went to the store, no one bought them. I thought I would skate the competition and buy. And then the madness began. Not like journalists, I saw photos of huge queues in the press center. We also have queues. And they also give out one Dun Dun in their hands, moreover, at certain hours - in the morning, afternoon and evening. Ideally, you need to arrive half an hour in advance, stand in line and get one panda. I bought four things. Went several times.
- With what feelings do you return home?
I don't see any reason to be sad. I was at the Olympics. Few get that chance. I skated four programs at the Olympics, although most skate two. I've been here longer than many guys who have already left. It turned out to work out with great athletes. I spent a lot of time walking, seeing guys from other countries, talking with ours. We were always going somewhere, doing something. I started...
You know, I thought for a long time and came to the conclusion that on the ice we showed everyone that we won as athletes. The rest is out of our control. Others decide. But no one will ever take away from me the emotions, impressions, memories and happiness that I got to the Olympic Games. And everything else is secondary.
-- Postponed award ceremony, Camila story. Was it possible to abstract from it?
- Actually, the awards ceremony was supposed to take place on February 7, but all three countries decided to postpone it for a day, because the next morning there was a short program for men, and guys from Japan and the USA were the main contenders for gold. Rescheduled for a day. On the 8th, we got dressed, got ready, moved towards the bus stop, and at that moment we were informed that there would be no ceremony ...
- Shock?
- An unexpected situation as a whole ... And there are two options: either you sit, drive, worry yourself; or help Camila. It seems to me that I did what any person in my place should have done!
- Supported Camila?
- I help as much as I can ... I just understood that she was a girl, that she was alone, that there was almost no one here except her coaches. But coaches are one thing, and friends are another. Maurice (Kvitelashvili - approx.) and I constantly talked with Camila. I went somewhere with her, sat together, assembled LEGOs to keep her occupied, to switch.
You know, already the tension before the Beijing Games was huge. Before the Olympic Games, it was necessary to “lay down” all my life - to qualify, to go without injury, to perform well. And then there was such a “variable” as a positive test for covid, when you get up every day and don’t know how this day will end. If the test is positive, maybe they will take me somewhere... Really, it came to paranoia.
But all this was before the short program in command. When the test came to me the day before the start, I skated a short one, it became mentally easier. I already understood that if everything suddenly goes badly with the tests, at least I have already reached the program. Well, let's be honest, if you're skating in command for Russia, it's most likely a medal.
-- This is true. Future plans?
- A little rest, a little recovery, after the "Cup of the First Channel" and the World Cup. Then performances in the show. Probably, this can already be said, Ilya Izyaslavovich (Averbukh - approx.) invited me, I will ride in his show.
Olga ERMOLINA, Tatiana FLIDE
(funny but also very sad as well)
