TAHbKA
Cats and garlic lover
- Messages
- 20,871
Elena Vaytsekhovskaya's interview with Alexandr Samarin for rt.com
EV: It still seems nonsense that you lost a chance to compete at the main competition of the season after the SP in Graz, being 13th. What were you thinking that very moment?
AS: Of course it was not nice. But I learned to deal with those things. I had a similar experience at the Olympic season, when the same way after the Europeans I did not qualify to the Olympic in Korea. In Graz I did not give up, I tried to pull up in the LP, but it was tough.
EV: In the LP you ended up top 10.
AS: Yes. It was not a bad kick an it's timing was good - the next two seasons are very important for me. We talked it through with my coach Svetlana Sokolovskaya, analyzed things and made the goals, which are quite serious. So again, thank my coach and all who supported me and keep supporting even when the things don't turn out as I'd like. It inspires.
EV: How much of the reason for your failure in Graz were the boots? And could you prevent it?
AS: I don't really want to put the blame on the boots. I was not coming unprepared to Graz - I did all my jumps and skated my programmes... Yes, it was harder than skating in the broken boots. Guess you could compare it to getting a new pair of shoes and having to wear them the whole day long. The figure skating boots are much harder, so it takes a while till you break it and it becomes comfortable.
EV: Perhaps you should had taken the risk and skated on the old ones?
AS: I considered it. Perhaps I would have skated better. Or perhaps the boot would just crack in the middle of the LP. What would I do then? We did what we did, it's a moot point now.
EV: You had a similar negative experiences at the nationals in St. Petesrburg when your boot broke in the middle of the LP. Have you considered solving the problem altogether? Changing a model, for example?
AS: Breaking two pairs a season is not an option for me - the process is too tough. If I start breaking two pairs in once I'll be left with no feet. As for the model - Edea are the only ones I tried that suits my foot. I used to skate on a Risport, but then my foot grew and remained thin, hence we ended up with the model I've been skating on for several years. The firm is always asking whether anything needs to be changed to make the boot more comfortable, they always try to fulfill every request.
EV: I know you were never for the easy way in the sports, but when you failed your SP in the Nationals in Krasnoyarsk after failing all your quads, have you considered it's not worth it? Perhaps you should had removed the second quad? After all the Sp is not where a skater of your level can afford a mistake.
AS: Agree. Hence right after the New Years we made the content easier, leaving the 4lz and changing the 4F with a 4T. I was landing that combination quite consistently in the practices. It was not worrying us. And yet at the moment of truth it didn't work.
EV: What prevented you from concentrated? Perhaps the coach should take your mobile devices from you before the competition?
AS: I don't use the social networks during the competitions, if you mean that. I don't read what people write on the internet. I think about the skate, but then I think everyone does. I don't really want to elucidate - my inner mood is private. But we do work with the coach on my concentration all the time. After the Europeans we reconsidered a lot of things.
EV: After Graz were you afraid you'll get to the border and Sokolovskaya will tell you that with all her love and trust she is done, she is tired of all the failures and is tired of working with you?
AS: I never even thought it's possible. Of course I was heading to the border thinking `What have I done?'. But Svetlana Sokolovskaya and I took so long to get out from the bottom we were in, we made so many mistakes, recovered and conitnued... I think she will never walk out on me, just as I wouldn't on her. I always feel the coach is there for me, believes in me and will be a shoulder to lean on. We have the same goal.
EV: Is it hard to keep practicing when you know the season is over?
AS: Yes. A couple of days after Graz I was recovering: I had to calm down, let out the steam, breath and decide on what is next, before going back on the ice. Now I'm very motivated. We have a busy schedule. We learned a lot of new things and at the last competition in Tallinn I tried a new jump - a 4Loop. I learned it quite fast.
EV: So you now have a lutz, flip and loop. Can you explain why several generations of the skaters had only attempted the toeloop? If it is indeed the easiest quad why is it less popular now?
AS: First of all it means everyone wants to win, do something no one else is doing. The toeloop is indeed the easiest. I'd say in the men skating it is no longer considered and ultra c element, it's really like a tripple.
For example I don't even need any special preparations or warm up to land the quad toe loop in the practice. I go out and land it. The other quads demand much more effort and preparations. The 4lz takes so much energy. Hence in the practices I now learn to recover during the skate, to breath correctly, be able to calm down between the elements and let the muscles rest.
EV: The skiers usually claim they rest on the downhills. What are the skater's resting elements? Are there any?
AS: Not really, but then even the hardest jump or an element can be less energy demanding. It's something you learn with an experience. You start to understand how to build the programme, in which order to do the certain moves so you won't run out of breath by the middle of the programme and finish tomatoe-red.
EV: The girls often say the 500 extra gram can stand between them and the quads or 3A. What about you?
AS: 500grm are certainly not a bother. The 1kg changes the feeling, all happens slower. In that case you head to weight yourself.
EV: Hanyu went back to his old programmes this season, which he already skated for 2 seasons. Do you understand why?
AS: I guess he is more comfortable that way - the programmes are ready, he is more used to the elements. But I don't see a reason going back to what you have already done. I think the skater should develop all the time, do something new. When you skate the same programme for the 3rd season I think it will not make the same impact. Of course the crowd's appreciation will not be as it could have been. Though I did have programmes that I wanted to skate for longer.
EV: For example?
AS: Well, take the `Showman'. But going back to that programme as it used to be would be a step back.
EV: Perhaps Hanuy is trying to be the most comfortable so he could make his other idea come true - to be the first to land the 4A. Do you believe in that?
AS: A 4A is the element, but will Hanuy be the one to land it? If he will - it will be cool. But am afraid even if he lands the 4A it will be a one time thing. Landing it with the current system is useless: the clean skating is awarded more than jumps.
EV: Does it disappoint you?
AS: It's not my place to judge. Of course I would love the quads to cost more, so you wouldn't feel that you work for nothing. On the other hand landing 5 quads in your programme which is stroking -stroking -jump is wrong as well.
EV: Why did you change the LP music before your last competition of the season?
AS: I loved Nikolai Morozov's programme - Good News by Apashe. It's cool, but the more I skated it the more I understood I did not deal with that music. Hence for Tallinn we decided to take something I can understand better - Keeping me Alive. Just that before that competition we didn't have enough time to change the elements spread and the choreography, but we are working on it now. And we are searching for the SP music. In May we'll have a short break, after which we'll continue working in the summer camps.
EV: If I ask you to think of the most positive moment of that unsuccessful season what would you say?
AS: That there were many. I started practicing differently, I learned a lot of new things and, most importantly, the failure at the Europeans made our team closer and stronger, gave the coach and me a big boost of energy and, I hope it will hold us for more than one season.
EV: You are now practicing alone because your coach spent the first week of March at the JW in Estonia. Have you ever competed when Sokolovskaya was not at the border?
AS: No, never. The practices are tough, by the way: sometimes it's important to have a person who would push you, get you back fast into the process. As for the competitions - I have no idea how would I feel if I had to skate without the coach. On one hand am mature enough to understand what should I do and how, on the other - it always calms me down knowing there is my person near the border.
EV: What would you be willing to do for your coach?
AS: Anything.
EV: It still seems nonsense that you lost a chance to compete at the main competition of the season after the SP in Graz, being 13th. What were you thinking that very moment?
AS: Of course it was not nice. But I learned to deal with those things. I had a similar experience at the Olympic season, when the same way after the Europeans I did not qualify to the Olympic in Korea. In Graz I did not give up, I tried to pull up in the LP, but it was tough.
EV: In the LP you ended up top 10.
AS: Yes. It was not a bad kick an it's timing was good - the next two seasons are very important for me. We talked it through with my coach Svetlana Sokolovskaya, analyzed things and made the goals, which are quite serious. So again, thank my coach and all who supported me and keep supporting even when the things don't turn out as I'd like. It inspires.
EV: How much of the reason for your failure in Graz were the boots? And could you prevent it?
AS: I don't really want to put the blame on the boots. I was not coming unprepared to Graz - I did all my jumps and skated my programmes... Yes, it was harder than skating in the broken boots. Guess you could compare it to getting a new pair of shoes and having to wear them the whole day long. The figure skating boots are much harder, so it takes a while till you break it and it becomes comfortable.
EV: Perhaps you should had taken the risk and skated on the old ones?
AS: I considered it. Perhaps I would have skated better. Or perhaps the boot would just crack in the middle of the LP. What would I do then? We did what we did, it's a moot point now.
EV: You had a similar negative experiences at the nationals in St. Petesrburg when your boot broke in the middle of the LP. Have you considered solving the problem altogether? Changing a model, for example?
AS: Breaking two pairs a season is not an option for me - the process is too tough. If I start breaking two pairs in once I'll be left with no feet. As for the model - Edea are the only ones I tried that suits my foot. I used to skate on a Risport, but then my foot grew and remained thin, hence we ended up with the model I've been skating on for several years. The firm is always asking whether anything needs to be changed to make the boot more comfortable, they always try to fulfill every request.
EV: I know you were never for the easy way in the sports, but when you failed your SP in the Nationals in Krasnoyarsk after failing all your quads, have you considered it's not worth it? Perhaps you should had removed the second quad? After all the Sp is not where a skater of your level can afford a mistake.
AS: Agree. Hence right after the New Years we made the content easier, leaving the 4lz and changing the 4F with a 4T. I was landing that combination quite consistently in the practices. It was not worrying us. And yet at the moment of truth it didn't work.
EV: What prevented you from concentrated? Perhaps the coach should take your mobile devices from you before the competition?
AS: I don't use the social networks during the competitions, if you mean that. I don't read what people write on the internet. I think about the skate, but then I think everyone does. I don't really want to elucidate - my inner mood is private. But we do work with the coach on my concentration all the time. After the Europeans we reconsidered a lot of things.
EV: After Graz were you afraid you'll get to the border and Sokolovskaya will tell you that with all her love and trust she is done, she is tired of all the failures and is tired of working with you?
AS: I never even thought it's possible. Of course I was heading to the border thinking `What have I done?'. But Svetlana Sokolovskaya and I took so long to get out from the bottom we were in, we made so many mistakes, recovered and conitnued... I think she will never walk out on me, just as I wouldn't on her. I always feel the coach is there for me, believes in me and will be a shoulder to lean on. We have the same goal.
EV: Is it hard to keep practicing when you know the season is over?
AS: Yes. A couple of days after Graz I was recovering: I had to calm down, let out the steam, breath and decide on what is next, before going back on the ice. Now I'm very motivated. We have a busy schedule. We learned a lot of new things and at the last competition in Tallinn I tried a new jump - a 4Loop. I learned it quite fast.
EV: So you now have a lutz, flip and loop. Can you explain why several generations of the skaters had only attempted the toeloop? If it is indeed the easiest quad why is it less popular now?
AS: First of all it means everyone wants to win, do something no one else is doing. The toeloop is indeed the easiest. I'd say in the men skating it is no longer considered and ultra c element, it's really like a tripple.
For example I don't even need any special preparations or warm up to land the quad toe loop in the practice. I go out and land it. The other quads demand much more effort and preparations. The 4lz takes so much energy. Hence in the practices I now learn to recover during the skate, to breath correctly, be able to calm down between the elements and let the muscles rest.
EV: The skiers usually claim they rest on the downhills. What are the skater's resting elements? Are there any?
AS: Not really, but then even the hardest jump or an element can be less energy demanding. It's something you learn with an experience. You start to understand how to build the programme, in which order to do the certain moves so you won't run out of breath by the middle of the programme and finish tomatoe-red.
EV: The girls often say the 500 extra gram can stand between them and the quads or 3A. What about you?
AS: 500grm are certainly not a bother. The 1kg changes the feeling, all happens slower. In that case you head to weight yourself.
EV: Hanyu went back to his old programmes this season, which he already skated for 2 seasons. Do you understand why?
AS: I guess he is more comfortable that way - the programmes are ready, he is more used to the elements. But I don't see a reason going back to what you have already done. I think the skater should develop all the time, do something new. When you skate the same programme for the 3rd season I think it will not make the same impact. Of course the crowd's appreciation will not be as it could have been. Though I did have programmes that I wanted to skate for longer.
EV: For example?
AS: Well, take the `Showman'. But going back to that programme as it used to be would be a step back.
EV: Perhaps Hanuy is trying to be the most comfortable so he could make his other idea come true - to be the first to land the 4A. Do you believe in that?
AS: A 4A is the element, but will Hanuy be the one to land it? If he will - it will be cool. But am afraid even if he lands the 4A it will be a one time thing. Landing it with the current system is useless: the clean skating is awarded more than jumps.
EV: Does it disappoint you?
AS: It's not my place to judge. Of course I would love the quads to cost more, so you wouldn't feel that you work for nothing. On the other hand landing 5 quads in your programme which is stroking -stroking -jump is wrong as well.
EV: Why did you change the LP music before your last competition of the season?
AS: I loved Nikolai Morozov's programme - Good News by Apashe. It's cool, but the more I skated it the more I understood I did not deal with that music. Hence for Tallinn we decided to take something I can understand better - Keeping me Alive. Just that before that competition we didn't have enough time to change the elements spread and the choreography, but we are working on it now. And we are searching for the SP music. In May we'll have a short break, after which we'll continue working in the summer camps.
EV: If I ask you to think of the most positive moment of that unsuccessful season what would you say?
AS: That there were many. I started practicing differently, I learned a lot of new things and, most importantly, the failure at the Europeans made our team closer and stronger, gave the coach and me a big boost of energy and, I hope it will hold us for more than one season.
EV: You are now practicing alone because your coach spent the first week of March at the JW in Estonia. Have you ever competed when Sokolovskaya was not at the border?
AS: No, never. The practices are tough, by the way: sometimes it's important to have a person who would push you, get you back fast into the process. As for the competitions - I have no idea how would I feel if I had to skate without the coach. On one hand am mature enough to understand what should I do and how, on the other - it always calms me down knowing there is my person near the border.
EV: What would you be willing to do for your coach?
AS: Anything.
