Evgeni Plushenko: "YANA RUDKOVSKAYA BROUGHT ME BACK TO SPORT"In an exclusive interview for "AiF" the famous figure skater told about his comeback to sport and also about why he wanted to quit skating this summer.
Evgeni Plushenko promised to come back to the competitive skating this season. However he wasn't listed for the Cup of Russia. Has he changed his mind? He doesn't want to skate in Sochi anymore?
E.P.: What do you mean by "changed my mind"?! I want to be the first modern figure skater who took part in four Olympic Games. I am dreaming about Sochi. It's true that I had to postpone my first start this season due to some objective reasons. Now I am training in full, polishing my new programs, and I am doing that with the broken hand. So, if everything goes as we are planning, I hope I will compete in the Russian Nationals in Saransk this December.
AiF: This summer you told you almost gave up everything.
E.P.: In the summer camp in Italy I felt so horrible and exhausted that I thought I wouldn't be able to make it through. The traumas, non-stop pain in muscles, tiring training sessions for 5-6- hours... I was on the edge. Yes, I wanted to quit. I didn't believe that I would restore my quads and 3axels. I couldn't land anything successfully. My coach, my choreographer, my wife Yana... they all helpd me to start believing in myself. I don't know what I would do without them.
AiF: How is your leg? Is it healed completely?
E.P.: I think so. Recently I went to Germany again, where they checked my left knee and gave the next injection. Well, I hope everything is and will be fine.
AiF: Do you not trust the domestic medical care?
E.P: Unfortunately, I don't. Once I was treated by a famous professor in Moscow. My knee started hurting. Later in Germany the local doctors told me that the injections to the knee had not been done properly- it missed the joint. Since then I am doing all necessary medical procedures only overseas.
AiF: You are saying Sochi is your main priority. But we can read the stuff like: Plushenko and Rudkovskaya celebrated the second wedding anniversary, they attended Baskov's birthday party, sued a tabloid... Don't you think that the preparation for the Olympics means the full commitment, without some fussy social occasions?
E.P: I have never skipped any single training session. All birthdays and wedding anniversaries were on my days-off. About the lawsuit against the tabloid, well... that's another matter. I made my name thanks to my hard honest work. And if somebody is trying to mix my name with dirt, I can't forgive it. Recently some astrologist on TV foretold the foolish nonsense: that Yana and I will divorce in 4 years and I will date a man. How can people say such things? And why should I forgive them? The tabloid that we sued wrote that I and Yana made a bogus marriage. We won our day at court but unfortunately the compensation of the moral damage in Russia is too small (20,000 roubles- AiF; =about $668-*letsy). If the compensation of the moral distress was the same as they have in the West, mass media would think twice before writing their stuff: is it really worthy writing lies and nonsense if you will have to pay for that and pay a lot.
AiF: Once you were a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St-Petersburg (city parliament-*letsy).
E.P: I am still a deputy.
AiF: Sergej Mironov said somewhere that you are not anymore. (S. Mironov is an ex-representative of St-Petersburg in the upper house of the Russian parliament and its former chairman, currently- a deputy of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament- *letsy)
E.P: Sergej Mikhailovich said that Plushenko won't run for the State Duma and for the Legislative Assembly of St-Petersburg for the second term.
AiF: Why?
E.P: I will be training and preapring for Sochi. It's impossible to do two things at the same time: politics and big sport.
AiF: Then why did you become a deputy in the first place?
E.P: In 2006, when I became a member of the party "Fair Russia", I quit the competitive sport. At that moment I didn't plan to take part in any competitions, only in ice shows. Also I was planning to open a skating school, to train the youth. But at that moment I hadn't met my current wife yet. It was her who brought me back to big sport. I started skating again, won the Russian Nationals, the European championship, got silver in the Olympics.... And I understood- my true mission is figuire skating. Politics is just not mine.
AiF: I read somewhere that when you were a deputy your salary was 500,000 roubles a year (about $16,600- *letsy). What exactly did you do for that money?
E.P: I often took leaves without pay, I was often on sick lists. Well, I am not actually sure I got such money. As a deputy my job was to communicate with citizens of St-Petersburg and deal with their problems.... Also, in the politics there are too many "pitfalls", which I don't really want to discuss. At the same time I can't exclude that I won't return to politics after Sochi, and this time for a really serious work.
AiF: In our last conversation you said that the wound that you got from judges in Vancouver, as well as from Russian FS officials, will never be healed. Do you think the same now too?
E.P: No, I forgot everything because I prefer to live my current life, to live for the future. The main point now is such unjustice shouldn't happen again, in Sochi. That's true, I sometimes rewatch my both SP and LP in Vancouver and I am still proud of how I skated them.
AiF: Also, you said that an American Evan Lysacek didn't deserve to win. Meanwhile, he also said he is going to skate in Sochi. Moreover, he mentioned he is ready to forgive you generously for all your statements about his win. Do you need his forgiveness?
E.P: Forgiveness? Well, I think Lysacek is a good skater. But an average one, he is not unique, not special. And I am not going to change my mind about him. The skaters like Chan, Yagudin, Urmanov, Petrenko, Browning, Boitano, they are unique. And Lysacek... I still think that he won thanks to judges.
AiF: Btw, a Canadian Chan set a new score records on the recent World Championship in Moscow. It seems like while you are treating your traumas, the figure skating took a huge step forward. Are you sure you will be able to reach the right level?
E.P: Let's wait for the competitons and we will see.
AiF: Who do you think is your main competitior now?
E.P: I can give you ten names minimum: Canadian, American, Japanese, Russian... There are a lot of really good skaters around. Still, nobody could land my combos 4T-3T-3L and 3A-0.5-3F.
AiF: Zhenya, come on.. tell us, do you feel scared that you might lose in Sochi?
E.P: I am not afraid to lose. It is sport. I know very well that young skaters grew up seriously in skating. My goal is to skate worthily and to do my best. And to get a medal. If I, at the age of 31yo, get one more Olympic medal, that will be a really great result. Nobody skated at such an age. But I will try.