http://itar-tass.com/opinions/interviews/1877
09.01.2014
Евгений ПЛЮЩЕНКО: в Сочи планирую выступать и в командных, и в индивидуальных соревнованиях
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Evgeni Plushenko: I am planning to compete in both Team event and Men singles in Sochi Olympic Games.
The Olympic champion of 2006 and two-time silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko told ITAR-TASS about his preparations for the Olympics in Sochi, about the family holidays, the farewell tour and his plans to train Yuzuru Hanyu.
- How did you celebrate the New Year?
- In the family circle, following the requirements of sport regime. At two in the morning I was in bed. Before the New Year we were holding the housewarming party, to which my son Sasha invited his friends - Dima Bilan, Nikolai Baskov and other celebrities. The series of events continued on Jan 2 when I congratulated my wife with her birthday, in the family circle too. My team monitor closely that the festive table wouldn't break my diet. The competitive weight must be kept all right.
- When the clock chimes 12 telling us about the start of the Olympic year, athletes usually make wishes that can be easily guessed ...
— I wished everyone be healthy. This is a much more important thing than any titles or money. After having 12 surgeries I know what I am talking about.
— How often do you have to fly to Israel for check-ups with the doctors who did your last surgery?
— The last time I was in Tel Aviv in summer. But I always consult with the surgeon Ilya Pekarskiy who did my last operation. I send him X-rays, get recommendations. In Russia the rehabilitation doctors constantly work with me. Thanks to the golden hands of Alexei Evkov I could get on my feet quickly. The pains that I used to feel in summer are now gone.
- Many people compare your comeback after such an operation with Alexei Maresiev's feat. It is understandable why during the war people had to do such things. But why do you need it now?
— The decision to continue my sports career was made after Vancouver when they put me on the second place. Plus the disqualification imposed on me by the International Skating Union "stired me up". The things looked like they simply wanted to get rid of me. But I didn't want to leave the sport this way. I came back and won the European Championship 2012 in Sheffield. After that I again had to lie down on the operating table and listen to all the talks about the impossibility of returning to the ice. After my surgery in Israel even top athletes started talking like that. I am not going to prove anything to them, I want to prove to myself that at age of 31 you still can not just compete but also win medals at the Olympics.
- At the European Championships 2012 in Sheffield the presence of Evgeni Plushenko on the ice effected even well-prepared athletes, like a boa constrictor to a rabbit. Now it's more like a red rag to a bull ...
— Perhaps somewhere on the subconscious level my rivals can be effected by my name and my previous achievements. But I myself first of all have to go to the ice rink and do my job. At the Russian Nationals, the one that I lost for the first time since 1998, I was too calm. At practice I could succeed in everything, didn't fall on any quad or trixel, I felt like I was 18 again. Today I can say that I know the main reason of my failure there: after the surgery my practices were not tough enough. We could prepare the Short program well, but the Free skating was not ready. I won't go into the professional details but together with my coach Alexei Mishin we changed the system of training, and now I add more and more every day, with each practice.
— Are you planning any changes in your Olympic programs?
— In Sochi at RN I made a big mistake when I set the elements in FS in the wrong order. Now we made some necessary changes. I think that in February at the Olympic Games in Sochi everything will be all right.
- At the championship of Russia you gave the impression that you were not really willing to fight for gold "on aortic rupture" ...
— We took the RN as some training in competitive conditions. That was a mistake.
— Did you expect such a kick-out from Maxim Kovtun?
— He didn't do anything phenomenal. Out of three planned quads he made two. It's a norm nowdays. Figure skating is moving forward, you can't win the Olympics without quads anymore. That's cool! We are not ballet on ice, not "Ice Age", we are sport.
— After getting the silver at RN you stated that you would compete at the Olympics in Team event only, leaving the right to skate in Men singles to the Russian champion ...
— Well, I created the intrigue, raised the interest to figure skating. Had I win one more gold medal in the championship of Russia, they would have written a couple of lines about it and discussed it on fan forums for a while. But here by the end of December everybody was talking about the rivalry of Plushenko and Kovtun. I warmed up the intrigue by my statement even more.
- Are you afraid that the Figure Skating Federation of Russia simply won't give you the Olympic spot?
— I'm not afraid. Moreover, I am going to take part not only in the Team event but in the individual competitions as well. To the adherents of sport principle I wish to remind the following: at the previous championship of Russia Kovtun ranked 5th, but still he was sent to the European Championship and the World Championship too. After his 17th place in London Russia remained with the only spot for 2014 Games. Yes, Kovtun had a great skating at the last national championship, but one needs to have a serious international experience to fight for the Olympic medals.
— The Figure Skating Federation of Russia created a special commission that will monitor your training and at the end of January there will be a test skate ...
— The fact that the Federation established such a commission can be only welcomed. I will be pleased to talk to their representatives. But I think test skates is not the most important thing. It's nonsense to show yourself off 100% there. It's a must to prepare for the Olympcs and bring it up 1,000% at them. The fuss that is reigning now in the Russian figure skating works for me. Even the National ice hockey team for Olympics is discussed less than the participation of Plushenko in Sochi. And it is useful for Kovtun to experience such a psychological attack and to show how he is capable to deal with it at the European Championship.
- You are not afraid that such an authority as Tatiana Tarasova, who did a lot for the progress of Kovtun, will do her best to protect the sport principle?
- Let's not forget that Tarasova is a coach who trains athletes. The same goes about Alexei Mishin, Tamara Moskvina, Oleg Vasiliev and other people who also prepared the Olympic champions. The question who will defend the honor of Russia at the Olympics in Sochi is the prerogative of the President of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia Aleksandr Gorshkov and the General Director Valentin Piseyev.
— The Finnish ice hockey player Saku Koivu, who turned 39, declined the invitation to the Olympic team, giving a lack of proper form after trauma as a reason...
— If I feel that I am not ready for the Olympics or if I have health problems, I will surely say so. I will skate at the Olympics only if I feel ready to fight at the highest level. It's out of question.
- Do you follow how the skaters, who got to the world top while you were absent, skate this season?
— Of course. Patrick Chan, Javier Fernandez, Yuzuru Hanyu are all excellent athletes. The Japanese skater has always been my favorite. When he was a junior who just started mastering his quads, even then you could see his distinctive individuality. Many of today's leaders merely show on the ice studied to the automatism choreographed movements, while Hanyu skates from inside. He does it effortlessly. I predict him a great future.
— Don't you think that Hanyu lacks the male charisma, the one that makes Plushenko looks better on the ice than your opponents?
— He's just a boy! He is eighteen and I'm over thirty. Our skatings are different. He reminds me of myself in 1990s- the same spinning top. He will build some muscles, will come to me to get training and everything will be fine.
— You have already planned out your coaching career?
— With Hanyu we even talked about it. Due to the fact that now we are competing against each other, such cooperation is not possible. But after Sochi it can become quite real.
- So, your next comeback for the 2018 Olympics is not part of your plans?
— After having so many comebacks I won't say anything categorically. I think that Sochi will be my last Olympics as an active athlete. But the technological progress is going on. Who knows, they might invent nano-meniscus, put new inguinal rings in me and I will continue to compete. My nearest plans after Sochi is the organization of the tour "Evgeni Plushenko presents the show of champions." There you will see Stephane Lambiel, Brian Joubert, Johnny Weir and many other outstanding skaters. It will be not just skating to the music, the style to which the viewers of some latest ice shows got used to, but it will be the ice show with an emphasis on sports concept. We are planning to skate in forty cities of Russia and in some European cities as well.
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