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Elena Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Arthur Danielian `Am not a plausible gladiator' for rt.com
EV: The time that passed since the competition was it hard to believe you are no longer a junior skater, but a European silver medalist? Did you gasp that before the medals ceremony?
AD: Frankly, think I still don't get it. On one hand the silver medal is real, on the other hand it's like a dream, as if it happens to someone else.
EV: You had a small medal after the SP. Were the thoughts the real medal is so near exhausting you?
AD: Exhausting is nothing to what I felt. It was all I could think of: what place will I end up being, how many points will I gain... I understood those thoughts will lead nowhere good, but I couldn't stop thinking it no matter how hard I tried. My female friend who I spoke to on the phone helped. She is good in putting me in the right place of mind. So together we were able to get me concentrated on the skate.
EV: Did skating the first among the leaders make the task overcoming your nerves easier?
AD: Once the draw was over and I knew I was skating first I thought: if by that moment I'll be in the lead I will surely end up with a medal.
EV: I.e. you still kept thinking of the odds of a medal?
AD: Well yes, till the beginning of the skate. Later before the warm up I was able to switch it. I only thought of showing the work I have done. That we were not training in vain.
EV: Many skaters like repeating that during the competitions they don't know the others' marks. Is it true or just something you all say?
AD: I can speak for myself. The moment the marks of the skater who went before me in the SP were on I was talking to Elena Buyanova, who was setting me for the skate, hence I didn't hear anything but her words and I didn't look at the screen. During the off ice warm up before the LP I did watch on the TV how those before me were skating.
EV: What for?
AD: Don't know. It was still during the time period I was thinking of the odds to get a medal. So I was watching everyone, calculating something, building something in my head.
EV: Were you ever afraid going out and competing?
AD: Not in the last 2-3 seasons. Guess it depends on how ready you are, how much the coaches believe in you. In Graz my coaches believed in me probably more than I believed in myself. In that regard things were great during the last two weeks. We worked easily and fruitfully. Hence I didn't even think I might make mistakes.
EV: Yet you made two mistakes
AD: Yes, one was very out of character - on the 3lz. I never have troubles with that jump. It was completely unexpected.
EV: In the SP you also made an out of character error on the 3A
AD: Yes. I lacked concentration. It's an easy jump. I thought I'll get it out of the way after the 4S, but no. But it's also an experience.
EV: You began the season with the JGP. Were you thinking then you would continue the season among the seniors and so successfully?
AD: Yes, though the goals at the beginning of the season were different. I was trying to make it to the JGPF. When that didn't happen I started thinking I have to rehabilitate myself at least in my own eyes at the Nationals.For example to try making it to the team to Euros. Especially since by then I knew I would not be participating the Youth Olympics.
EV: Does the seniors success change something in your mind?
AD: It stimulates me to work more
EV: Let me rephrase: what do you think about more: the junior worlds which will take place in Tallinn at the beginning of March or the Worlds in Montreal?
AD: No thinking about it at all. I can't chase two birds at once. I'll leave those thoughts to my coaches.
EV: Evgenii Rukavitsin said his pupil Aliev is very independent in his training and competing. How independent are you? Do you still need your coaches to watch you closely?
AD: They were when I first switched to their group. Not so much anymore. Before the competition, for example, they always ask what is my plan for the warm up, i.e. they let me decide on that. I start to realize myself that I feel my mind and my body and my abilities much better.
EV: Do you, a hot blooded Armenian mind being put under such a strict coach as Buyanova?
AD: First of all no one pressures me. Elena Germanovna might shout at me during the practice, but it's part of work. A harsh shout is always very effective when you need to get back to your senses.
EV: Some a hurt by it.
AD: I used to. I thought the coach shouts at me because am doing something wrong or not well enough. Now I try not to give a reason to be shouted at and am able to understand what the given information means. It was very nice Elena Germanovna praised me for the character I showed in Graz. It was the nicest thing I heard after my skate.
EV: Were you told in Graz your skating reminds of Javier Fernandes?
AD: I read it on the internet. Javier was always my idol so it should be nice to read, yet it was much nicer reading I start developing my own style.
EV: Your coach mentioned you were always interested in what is going on in figure skating and know the sport better than many skaters.
AD: If it was up to me I would be watching figure skating 24/7. I am interested in everything: who skates, how they skate, what elements do they do.
EV: I think it should had been very disrupting in Graz. You should be warming up and you are looking around instead.
AD: I can't say it was: first of all I did my job and then I would go, sit and watch the others. It was really cool to be among those who I've only seen on the screen before.
EV: Who was the most memorable?
AD: Dima Aliev with his FS. Of course I knew how he skates and saw him skating many times, but I've never seen Dima delivering so much.
EV: Were you jealous Aliev pulled a clean skate while you didn't?
AD: No. It's Dima's second Europeans. I don't know whether it made things easier or harder for him, but it's that very experience I lacked.
EV: I read you really like Yuzuru Hanyu
AD: True
EV: In what?
AD: His ability to project the emotions. His inner freedom. I don't think there is another skater in the world who skates so freely.
EV: Was skating in Graz painful?
AD: With the excitement of the competition you don't pay the attention. Usually the pain comes during the exhibition.
EV: What is wrong with everyone's boots this season? You are by far not the first who has troubles.
AD: From what I know Edea, whose boots am using changed the last of the Ice Fly model. Hence almost every skater complains that something hurts now. When I started breaking the new boots at the beginning of the season I developed an osteoma (am not 100% sure what did he develop there exactly) Because of that I even missed several practices. I then got back to the previous, much softer model, which usually takes a couple of days to break. But because of the injury on my foot that process took a while as well. When things went more or less ok the boots broke down. So I had to go back to the Ice Fly model, and more or less got used to it, but now that pair starts falling apart. I don't know what will we do from here. Though I do have another pair which I haven't yet broken.
EV: A lot of skaters don't really like skating to the classical music because it's too serious and demanding. You don't only interpret the music, but toy with it.
AD: There is that.
EV: Is it something you can learn?
AD: My current LP is the programme I skated in the juniors last year. First when we first started I did all exactly as my coach and choreographer told me- held the position here, smiled there, did some move. This season when we decided to go back to that programme the coaches offered me to try skating more freely, not be afraid to show my own emotions. And I felt I can skate to that music with much more freedom and enjoy it much more.
EV: Why the new `Gladiator' programme didn't work out?
AD: The initial idea was taking some kind of a very serious character for the programme but... Anyway, am not a plausible gladiator. I had to make some sharper moves, move in a way am not yet really good at. Though I wouldn't write off that programme for the future
EV: When skating do you have time to pay attention to the crowd?
AD: Of course, not only them but the judges as well. We work on that all the time. sometimes I smile to those who sit near the border, I can even wink once the elements are done.
EV: If you had a chance to do the Europeans again what would you change?
AD: I would make that lutz.
EV: But you would still not win the gold medal
AD: So? At least now I wouldn't be eating myself that I got my silver medal with a fall.
EV: The time that passed since the competition was it hard to believe you are no longer a junior skater, but a European silver medalist? Did you gasp that before the medals ceremony?
AD: Frankly, think I still don't get it. On one hand the silver medal is real, on the other hand it's like a dream, as if it happens to someone else.
EV: You had a small medal after the SP. Were the thoughts the real medal is so near exhausting you?
AD: Exhausting is nothing to what I felt. It was all I could think of: what place will I end up being, how many points will I gain... I understood those thoughts will lead nowhere good, but I couldn't stop thinking it no matter how hard I tried. My female friend who I spoke to on the phone helped. She is good in putting me in the right place of mind. So together we were able to get me concentrated on the skate.
EV: Did skating the first among the leaders make the task overcoming your nerves easier?
AD: Once the draw was over and I knew I was skating first I thought: if by that moment I'll be in the lead I will surely end up with a medal.
EV: I.e. you still kept thinking of the odds of a medal?
AD: Well yes, till the beginning of the skate. Later before the warm up I was able to switch it. I only thought of showing the work I have done. That we were not training in vain.
EV: Many skaters like repeating that during the competitions they don't know the others' marks. Is it true or just something you all say?
AD: I can speak for myself. The moment the marks of the skater who went before me in the SP were on I was talking to Elena Buyanova, who was setting me for the skate, hence I didn't hear anything but her words and I didn't look at the screen. During the off ice warm up before the LP I did watch on the TV how those before me were skating.
EV: What for?
AD: Don't know. It was still during the time period I was thinking of the odds to get a medal. So I was watching everyone, calculating something, building something in my head.
EV: Were you ever afraid going out and competing?
AD: Not in the last 2-3 seasons. Guess it depends on how ready you are, how much the coaches believe in you. In Graz my coaches believed in me probably more than I believed in myself. In that regard things were great during the last two weeks. We worked easily and fruitfully. Hence I didn't even think I might make mistakes.
EV: Yet you made two mistakes
AD: Yes, one was very out of character - on the 3lz. I never have troubles with that jump. It was completely unexpected.
EV: In the SP you also made an out of character error on the 3A
AD: Yes. I lacked concentration. It's an easy jump. I thought I'll get it out of the way after the 4S, but no. But it's also an experience.
EV: You began the season with the JGP. Were you thinking then you would continue the season among the seniors and so successfully?
AD: Yes, though the goals at the beginning of the season were different. I was trying to make it to the JGPF. When that didn't happen I started thinking I have to rehabilitate myself at least in my own eyes at the Nationals.For example to try making it to the team to Euros. Especially since by then I knew I would not be participating the Youth Olympics.
EV: Does the seniors success change something in your mind?
AD: It stimulates me to work more
EV: Let me rephrase: what do you think about more: the junior worlds which will take place in Tallinn at the beginning of March or the Worlds in Montreal?
AD: No thinking about it at all. I can't chase two birds at once. I'll leave those thoughts to my coaches.
EV: Evgenii Rukavitsin said his pupil Aliev is very independent in his training and competing. How independent are you? Do you still need your coaches to watch you closely?
AD: They were when I first switched to their group. Not so much anymore. Before the competition, for example, they always ask what is my plan for the warm up, i.e. they let me decide on that. I start to realize myself that I feel my mind and my body and my abilities much better.
EV: Do you, a hot blooded Armenian mind being put under such a strict coach as Buyanova?
AD: First of all no one pressures me. Elena Germanovna might shout at me during the practice, but it's part of work. A harsh shout is always very effective when you need to get back to your senses.
EV: Some a hurt by it.
AD: I used to. I thought the coach shouts at me because am doing something wrong or not well enough. Now I try not to give a reason to be shouted at and am able to understand what the given information means. It was very nice Elena Germanovna praised me for the character I showed in Graz. It was the nicest thing I heard after my skate.
EV: Were you told in Graz your skating reminds of Javier Fernandes?
AD: I read it on the internet. Javier was always my idol so it should be nice to read, yet it was much nicer reading I start developing my own style.
EV: Your coach mentioned you were always interested in what is going on in figure skating and know the sport better than many skaters.
AD: If it was up to me I would be watching figure skating 24/7. I am interested in everything: who skates, how they skate, what elements do they do.
EV: I think it should had been very disrupting in Graz. You should be warming up and you are looking around instead.
AD: I can't say it was: first of all I did my job and then I would go, sit and watch the others. It was really cool to be among those who I've only seen on the screen before.
EV: Who was the most memorable?
AD: Dima Aliev with his FS. Of course I knew how he skates and saw him skating many times, but I've never seen Dima delivering so much.
EV: Were you jealous Aliev pulled a clean skate while you didn't?
AD: No. It's Dima's second Europeans. I don't know whether it made things easier or harder for him, but it's that very experience I lacked.
EV: I read you really like Yuzuru Hanyu
AD: True
EV: In what?
AD: His ability to project the emotions. His inner freedom. I don't think there is another skater in the world who skates so freely.
EV: Was skating in Graz painful?
AD: With the excitement of the competition you don't pay the attention. Usually the pain comes during the exhibition.
EV: What is wrong with everyone's boots this season? You are by far not the first who has troubles.
AD: From what I know Edea, whose boots am using changed the last of the Ice Fly model. Hence almost every skater complains that something hurts now. When I started breaking the new boots at the beginning of the season I developed an osteoma (am not 100% sure what did he develop there exactly) Because of that I even missed several practices. I then got back to the previous, much softer model, which usually takes a couple of days to break. But because of the injury on my foot that process took a while as well. When things went more or less ok the boots broke down. So I had to go back to the Ice Fly model, and more or less got used to it, but now that pair starts falling apart. I don't know what will we do from here. Though I do have another pair which I haven't yet broken.
EV: A lot of skaters don't really like skating to the classical music because it's too serious and demanding. You don't only interpret the music, but toy with it.
AD: There is that.
EV: Is it something you can learn?
AD: My current LP is the programme I skated in the juniors last year. First when we first started I did all exactly as my coach and choreographer told me- held the position here, smiled there, did some move. This season when we decided to go back to that programme the coaches offered me to try skating more freely, not be afraid to show my own emotions. And I felt I can skate to that music with much more freedom and enjoy it much more.
EV: Why the new `Gladiator' programme didn't work out?
AD: The initial idea was taking some kind of a very serious character for the programme but... Anyway, am not a plausible gladiator. I had to make some sharper moves, move in a way am not yet really good at. Though I wouldn't write off that programme for the future
EV: When skating do you have time to pay attention to the crowd?
AD: Of course, not only them but the judges as well. We work on that all the time. sometimes I smile to those who sit near the border, I can even wink once the elements are done.
EV: If you had a chance to do the Europeans again what would you change?
AD: I would make that lutz.
EV: But you would still not win the gold medal
AD: So? At least now I wouldn't be eating myself that I got my silver medal with a fall.
