TAHbKA
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Andrey Simonenko's interview with Ekaterina Bobrova/ Dmitrii Soloviev for ria.ru
AS: Ekaterina, Dmitrii, this is your second Olympic medal. When have you first started thinking of the Olympics?
EB: The first thought that crosses my mine - the 2006 Turino Olympics with the falling skating stars. The ice dance, where I compete. I was rooting for our Navka/Kostomarov, knew the Italians Fusar-Poli/Margaglio came back... In the OD everyone suddenly started falling. That's when I realized how special the Olympics are. Then I rewind in my mind and recall the 2002 Olympics in SLC - the 2nd medals ceremony of Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze and the Canadians. Olympics and two gold medals...
DS: I recall 1998, Nagano. The Olympics where I was watching my idol who I so recently saw live. I came to the `Olympiiskii' rink in Moscow, can't recall why was I there. I open the door and Ilya Kulik flies at me in his quad jump. As if from the roof. I was following Kulik since, still can remember his skate at the Olympics, those rosy cheeks... I was asking mom `will I have such cheeks when I grow up?'. Of course later I recall Lobacheva/Averbukh's iconic dance in SLC, I still rewatch it from time to time. The starfall in Torino - yes, I remember that as well. Every Olympics is special. The celebration in Vancouver, our first Olympics. The amazing atmosphere where everything was great and fun. Some street carnivals where people danced and sang. And then the Sochi Olympics - the amazing organization, the celebration. I am not only saying that because it was our Olympics, but the athletes from the other countries say that as well.
AS: Dmitrii, but if you saw Kulik landing that 4T, you must had wanted to do that, not dance holding a girl?
DS: Of course! I was still in the singles back then and was struggling... no, not with the quads, but the doubles and triples that were so hard for me. Especially the toe jumps for some reason. That moment with Kulik I understood I want to become a figure skater, be like Ilya.
AS: And when you were told you'd be like another Ilya - the dancer Averbukh, what was your reaction?
DS: I was so upset! I was so much against it - was telling my mom I would not do the ice dance! I was laughed at as it was - a skater, a dancer, all that crap. The kids don't realize what hard work it is. I could not imagine myself in the ice dance. Katya's mom called my mom and they were begging me to come for a tryout, but I just couldn't accept it - me, a boy, and I have to hold a girl's hand? Then I gave up and thought if I show up once perhaps they will get off my back.
AS: Katia, while Dima was hesitating and fighting against, were you thinking `oh, whatever, I'll just try out with someone else!'
EB: Frankly, it wasn't for so long. It seems like eternity for a kid, but it was probably about a month. I do recall they wanted to pair me up with a boy, but decided against as I was too little for him. Svetlana Alexeeva kept me in the group and the parents kept looking for a partner. Then mom called Dima's mom and they talked. At some point I was told `you know who will come for a try out? Dima Soloviev!' We were skating in the same singles group, so I knew him. I thought it was fun I would be skating with a boy I knew. So there we were, took each other hands and still holding them.
Soloviev: Though frankly one of the big reasons I stayed with Katia was that I liked a girl from their group. First with her skating - powerful, with huge amplitude, much better than I did. I thought how come a girl can skate better than I do? I started chasing her. And I liked the way she looking. Hence I wanted to come back to that group and practice there. That was the reason I started skating with Katia to begin with.
AS: Did your feelings to that girl disappear fast?
DS: well.. after a while. It was Olga Orlova - she was skating with Maxim Bolotin. At that point she made a huge impression on me.
AS: Does she know it?
DS: Yes, I told her recently. We were together in a training camp in Sochi.
AS: My childhood was filled with football. You watch it on the TV, then you go out and off you go - you are one famous player, that guy is another and me a third. Did you have that?
DS: Of course. After the practice I would play football. I was exhausted after the ice, but football was a must.
AS: Did you want to be like the other great figure skaters?
EB: I remember the Russian nationals in Sokolniki where the soup company was an official sponsor. We, kids, got all these soups back home and, of course, were chasing the skaters, going out on the ice the next day and imagining how we'd jump the triples. We were collecting the autographs. I was going through my stuff recently and found Katia Rubleva's signature. She sometimes judges us now, so I told her `hey, I have your signature!'
DS: I was not into that silly things, didn't care about the signatures. But I do recall those nationals. Yagudin, Pluschenko, Petrova/Tikhonovm Slutskaya.. those names were magical. Now you can just talk to those people and discuss figure skating, and think wow, how the time flies! And not only figure skating - when I was recovering from my injury Evgeni Pluschenko and I were playing strikeball. I recall we were playing into the night! But yes, at some point I was watching them competing with my jaw dropped.
AS: What do you remember from your first Olympics in Vancouver?
EB: I remember the CD. It was Tango Romantica. We were so ready, we could skate it as if it was a warm up. So we go on the ice and I was so lost I forgot the steps! We skated so badly.
DS: I couldn't even see straight, was so nervous. The 2nd part of the dance I remember that.... no, I don't even remember.
AS: I.e. the saying that the Olympics are something special that everyone is so used to hear are indeed true?
EB: Of course. There was another story: Dima had an Olympic rings tattoo. I looked at him and was thinking `will my parents kick me out from home?'. Decided whatever will be will be - went and did the same the next day.
AS: Were you kicked out?
EB: I was able to hide it for quite a while but then mom noticed. She started shouting `what is that?!' I said a tattoo. She asked whether it will wash off. I said no, it was forever. She started calling my father saying `look, look what our daughter had done!'. Dad looked and was like `looks nice, I like it'.
AS: Do you give signatures now?
EB: Of course. I remember how I felt when a famous skater would walk by and you’d think - will he sign? And if they would - you would be so happy! So now when the kids are asking for my signature I never even think where it will end up, I just sign and feel happy for them.
AS: Sochi was a celebration - the Olympics and the team gold, but a disappointment in the personal event. Do those feelings live separately?
EB: Indeed the Sochi Olympics is divided for me. Something good, something bad, something very bad. For example when I was down with 40C heat. I couldn't go and watch the ladies nor biathlon.
DS: I also divide those Olympics. The amazing atmosphere and a huge disappointment in the personal event. But it's behind us. We are different now. All the hardships we went through made us stronger. We can overcome anything now.
AS: What would you like to take home from Korea?
DS: we want to feel we did all we could, skated clean. And, of course, the medals. We are only interested in medals. We are no longer the kids who just want to skate clean. It's for those medals we spend most of our lives on the rink and give all we have.
EB: Of course it's not for the nice food we came to Japan training camp and the Olympics in Korea. It's our 3rd Olympics and we want to go home after showing our best possible result.
AS: Ekaterina, Dmitrii, this is your second Olympic medal. When have you first started thinking of the Olympics?
EB: The first thought that crosses my mine - the 2006 Turino Olympics with the falling skating stars. The ice dance, where I compete. I was rooting for our Navka/Kostomarov, knew the Italians Fusar-Poli/Margaglio came back... In the OD everyone suddenly started falling. That's when I realized how special the Olympics are. Then I rewind in my mind and recall the 2002 Olympics in SLC - the 2nd medals ceremony of Berezhnaya/Sikharulidze and the Canadians. Olympics and two gold medals...
DS: I recall 1998, Nagano. The Olympics where I was watching my idol who I so recently saw live. I came to the `Olympiiskii' rink in Moscow, can't recall why was I there. I open the door and Ilya Kulik flies at me in his quad jump. As if from the roof. I was following Kulik since, still can remember his skate at the Olympics, those rosy cheeks... I was asking mom `will I have such cheeks when I grow up?'. Of course later I recall Lobacheva/Averbukh's iconic dance in SLC, I still rewatch it from time to time. The starfall in Torino - yes, I remember that as well. Every Olympics is special. The celebration in Vancouver, our first Olympics. The amazing atmosphere where everything was great and fun. Some street carnivals where people danced and sang. And then the Sochi Olympics - the amazing organization, the celebration. I am not only saying that because it was our Olympics, but the athletes from the other countries say that as well.
AS: Dmitrii, but if you saw Kulik landing that 4T, you must had wanted to do that, not dance holding a girl?
DS: Of course! I was still in the singles back then and was struggling... no, not with the quads, but the doubles and triples that were so hard for me. Especially the toe jumps for some reason. That moment with Kulik I understood I want to become a figure skater, be like Ilya.
AS: And when you were told you'd be like another Ilya - the dancer Averbukh, what was your reaction?
DS: I was so upset! I was so much against it - was telling my mom I would not do the ice dance! I was laughed at as it was - a skater, a dancer, all that crap. The kids don't realize what hard work it is. I could not imagine myself in the ice dance. Katya's mom called my mom and they were begging me to come for a tryout, but I just couldn't accept it - me, a boy, and I have to hold a girl's hand? Then I gave up and thought if I show up once perhaps they will get off my back.
AS: Katia, while Dima was hesitating and fighting against, were you thinking `oh, whatever, I'll just try out with someone else!'
EB: Frankly, it wasn't for so long. It seems like eternity for a kid, but it was probably about a month. I do recall they wanted to pair me up with a boy, but decided against as I was too little for him. Svetlana Alexeeva kept me in the group and the parents kept looking for a partner. Then mom called Dima's mom and they talked. At some point I was told `you know who will come for a try out? Dima Soloviev!' We were skating in the same singles group, so I knew him. I thought it was fun I would be skating with a boy I knew. So there we were, took each other hands and still holding them.
Soloviev: Though frankly one of the big reasons I stayed with Katia was that I liked a girl from their group. First with her skating - powerful, with huge amplitude, much better than I did. I thought how come a girl can skate better than I do? I started chasing her. And I liked the way she looking. Hence I wanted to come back to that group and practice there. That was the reason I started skating with Katia to begin with.
AS: Did your feelings to that girl disappear fast?
DS: well.. after a while. It was Olga Orlova - she was skating with Maxim Bolotin. At that point she made a huge impression on me.
AS: Does she know it?
DS: Yes, I told her recently. We were together in a training camp in Sochi.
AS: My childhood was filled with football. You watch it on the TV, then you go out and off you go - you are one famous player, that guy is another and me a third. Did you have that?
DS: Of course. After the practice I would play football. I was exhausted after the ice, but football was a must.
AS: Did you want to be like the other great figure skaters?
EB: I remember the Russian nationals in Sokolniki where the soup company was an official sponsor. We, kids, got all these soups back home and, of course, were chasing the skaters, going out on the ice the next day and imagining how we'd jump the triples. We were collecting the autographs. I was going through my stuff recently and found Katia Rubleva's signature. She sometimes judges us now, so I told her `hey, I have your signature!'
DS: I was not into that silly things, didn't care about the signatures. But I do recall those nationals. Yagudin, Pluschenko, Petrova/Tikhonovm Slutskaya.. those names were magical. Now you can just talk to those people and discuss figure skating, and think wow, how the time flies! And not only figure skating - when I was recovering from my injury Evgeni Pluschenko and I were playing strikeball. I recall we were playing into the night! But yes, at some point I was watching them competing with my jaw dropped.
AS: What do you remember from your first Olympics in Vancouver?
EB: I remember the CD. It was Tango Romantica. We were so ready, we could skate it as if it was a warm up. So we go on the ice and I was so lost I forgot the steps! We skated so badly.
DS: I couldn't even see straight, was so nervous. The 2nd part of the dance I remember that.... no, I don't even remember.
AS: I.e. the saying that the Olympics are something special that everyone is so used to hear are indeed true?
EB: Of course. There was another story: Dima had an Olympic rings tattoo. I looked at him and was thinking `will my parents kick me out from home?'. Decided whatever will be will be - went and did the same the next day.
AS: Were you kicked out?
EB: I was able to hide it for quite a while but then mom noticed. She started shouting `what is that?!' I said a tattoo. She asked whether it will wash off. I said no, it was forever. She started calling my father saying `look, look what our daughter had done!'. Dad looked and was like `looks nice, I like it'.
AS: Do you give signatures now?
EB: Of course. I remember how I felt when a famous skater would walk by and you’d think - will he sign? And if they would - you would be so happy! So now when the kids are asking for my signature I never even think where it will end up, I just sign and feel happy for them.
AS: Sochi was a celebration - the Olympics and the team gold, but a disappointment in the personal event. Do those feelings live separately?
EB: Indeed the Sochi Olympics is divided for me. Something good, something bad, something very bad. For example when I was down with 40C heat. I couldn't go and watch the ladies nor biathlon.
DS: I also divide those Olympics. The amazing atmosphere and a huge disappointment in the personal event. But it's behind us. We are different now. All the hardships we went through made us stronger. We can overcome anything now.
AS: What would you like to take home from Korea?
DS: we want to feel we did all we could, skated clean. And, of course, the medals. We are only interested in medals. We are no longer the kids who just want to skate clean. It's for those medals we spend most of our lives on the rink and give all we have.
EB: Of course it's not for the nice food we came to Japan training camp and the Olympics in Korea. It's our 3rd Olympics and we want to go home after showing our best possible result.
And a boy playing hockey was generally more welcomed than "figure skating"... but not on any serious level..
