But more seriously, I think Alexei might've injured himself!. I don't recall any point during the show in which he might've done so, ...but the poor kid was limping MAJORLY during the reception. And he looked to be in pain every time he took a step.And he had to walk super slowly too.
And I found out that Alexei will NOT be teaching Russian on his website. Well,...so he says. I asked him when he was going to, and he said, "I'm not". He noticed the look of confusion/disappointment on my face, and then added, "I think speaking English is far better. Besides,..when are you ever going to go to Russia?". The second sentence was made somewhat harshly. Maybe he's being forced into teaching Russian on his website or something.
それとレセプションでAlexei wore a shiny purple shirt to the reception, and black pants.だそうで。DQN全開!写真見てー!彼女のスキャナーは 壊れてるそうだけどこの投稿でスキャンしてくれる人探しているから その内 どこかに上がるかもしれん。
Q: After all your victories today it looks unbelievable last season was, so to say, such a failure for you. It looked like the beginning of this season didn't forebode any phenomenal achievements as well. What was happening with you back then?
A: A crisis. No matter how hard we worked everything went wrong anyway. Why? Well probably because it can't be that life is always good... I saw that something was wrong, I tried to change myself in summer. To concentrate more on sport, so to say... It's strange but everything went even worse - remember how I skated at GWG in September?
Q: And then you stopped thinking about sport?
A: I'd say I decided to go back to my real self - to go out, to chat with people, to have a little less space of life left to figure skating. Today I think that crisis was inevitable. I had to go through all this.
Q: Did the psychologist Rudolf Zagainov, who was working with you, really help?
A: Of course he helped in some way. At some point he prompted me to the this thought - there are hard moments in everybody's life, nothing is lost yet and I have to go on. Later, he was helping me during the competitions. For example I can't do my warm up with Tatiana Anatoljevna. She is very nervous and her nervousness passes on to me. The same is with Kolya Morozov, our choreographer. During the warm up I sent them to the boards myself... With Rudolf Maximovich it's easier to get in the mood, to despose myself. We don't talk about figure skating, we talk about totally different things, about nonsense. He may ask "So you like sushi?" But the minutes before the skate that's exactly what I need - to cram my head with something. When you are alone you unintentionally start thinking about how you have to come onto the ice... But I'd say in the first place it's me who changed myself. If I couldn't find the inner strength for that no psychologist would save me.
Q: He wasn't near you here in Nagano.
A: He was tired to death after the Olyimpics and we gave him an oppotunity to go home to St Petersburg to have some rest. I think we continue with our collaboration next season.
Q: Since you turn to a psychologist does it mean you are a suggestiable person?
A: All the opposite. I can, so to say, wind myself up, but I don't trust the others. It has to be a very close person for me to trust one. But I think even for that person it will be hard to fight with what's inside my head.
Q: I'll presume your coach is an exception: you must completely trust Tatiana Tarasova for sure.
A: In fact we still argue about a lot of things! But probably it's a good thing that she has her own opinion and I have mine. The main point is that taking something from both our opinions we come to an agreement at the end. It's worse when a person always agrees with the coach and does everything like he says. The coach is not always right.
Q: So it means your relationships with Tatiana Tarasova are not a full idyll like many people think?
A: How can a serious work be an idyll? All the more when two really difficult people come together. Bot me and her have tough characters... But you see, we find our way out. To part because of the characters would be stupid. Noone can create such programs for me like Tatiana Anatoljevna with Nikolai Morozov do.
Q: Let's go back to the fall. In all sincerity tell me, at GWG in Brisbane where you skated not at your best to say the least, did yo believe you'll have such a season ahead of you?
A: No, I was in shock there. Because, like I said, after World Championships in Vancouver I've changed my whole way of life like I thought for the better. But it turned out the opposite, for the worse... The confidence was coming gradually. I remember after the GWG there was a pro am competition. I felt much more nervous there than at the Olympics. But slowly, competition after competition, I was calming down. It's so great I won the GPF in December: I realized then I can win everything. Without that victory I think it would be 50 times harder to win at the Olympics.
Q: Today even people not interested in figure skating know about the this sport's most painfull point: judgement and competitions' regulations. Different variants of reforms were proposed. Do you like any of them?
A: As for the competitions' regulations I wouldn't change anything. Well probably in singles I'd free top ten skaters from qualifications, not to overwork the best. Let it be like at the Olympic Games - the short and free programs. Personally I have nothing against the present judging system. In any case I don't see how these reforms can help. They suggest computer will choose whose votes will count when the marks are given. But there'll be a person, a human being who will make a program for the computer. It means here is the oppotunity for someone who really wants it to have an influence on the situation. Or they suggest to evaluate only jumps. Sure, jumps are important. But figure skating is not only jumps, it's also spins, steps, edges. You see, Timothy Goebel jumps well, bu he raises his hand only twice during the program.
Q: But you agree the present system nearly failed at the Olympics.
A: Scandals are not happenning every year, not even every ten years. There's no perfect system.
Q: Does it really *not* matter what countries are the judges on the panel from? In SLC you were telling something different...
A: I'm really happy when there's no Russian judge on the panel. For some reasons everybody wants there was "his" judge there. But for example Timothy Goebel also doesn't like when americans judge him. There are always favorite and non-faforite skaters and it happened to be that I'm among non-favorites for my countrymen.
Q: Were there any precedends when "your" judge tried to hinder you?
A: GPF. I won there, but Russian judge had me second.
Q: Is it true that a couple of years ago Canadian Skating Federation invited you to skate for Canada?
A: Yes, it's true. I refused. Although I live in America I'm proud to be Russian. Probably I became a good skater only because I grew up in Russia. To fight till the end is our national trait... In fact I really do have problems in my relationships with RF, with Russian judges. But I know if I'm twice better than the others I'm going to win no matter what.
Q: Does it mean last year Evgeny Plushenko, who took away your World title, was "twice better" than you?
A: Not twice, but of course he was better. It is always easier for a runner up. For the one who already owns the title it gets harder and harder with every year to protect it. I know this from my own experience. In Vancouver I saw Plushenko was more stable than me, he was fresher...
Q: Were you annoyed by the fact it's exactly him you had lost to?
A: When you lose it doesn't matter to whom. And my supposedly present conflicts with Plushenko... Believe me, I don't have any negative feelings towards him. It seems to me like Evgeny's coach, Alexei Mishin can't easily take the whole situation with this keen fight, he is completely into it. That's why he makes all these harsh statements. Tatiana Anatoljevna, she just doesn't care - me skating well is the most important thing for her.
Q: But we've got an impression there was some kind of pressure upon the rivals from your side. For example at European Championships in Lausanne (sp?) Rudolf Zagainov openly made hints to the journalists that if Plushenko wants to become an Olympic Champion he must go to Tarasova.
A: Everything I wanted to say about Mishin I said at the press conference after my win in SLC. I repeat once again: Alexei Nikolajevich has done a lot for me. In fact he taught me jumps, I've learned the quad with him. I've never said and I'm not going to say anything bad about Mishin. I asked those who work with me to be more reserved. But it seems, just like Mishin, Rudolf Maximovich takes all this sport fight uneasy.
Q: Do you socialize with Mishin?
A: Yes, we do. Hi, good bye, congratulations on the success.
Q: Plushenko wasn't here, at this championships. Is it easier to skate when you have no rivals?
A: No rivals - why? And what about Takeshi Honda, Timothy Goebel - these are skaters who don't stand at the same point, they are progressing. Believe me, we always have rivals. And to win is not that easy at all. All the more when people watch your every move.
Q: Do you have many friends among skaters? As a rule the best ones are not beloved.
A: I don't associate with skaters much, but not for that reason. When you are in figure skating all the time, it is very tiresome to talk about your work after it. In USA I have a friend who is a doctor, a female friend who works in a bank. They have another problems. We talk about everything besides figure skating.
Q: Do you feel sorry this season has already past? I guess, it will be much more difficult for you in the future, you have almost no incentives left.
A: I guess so... It was difficult to make myself to come here, in Nagano. I remember how I performed here 4 years ago at the Olympics. I was taking it like another ordinary competition where I compete for the medal. But when you know you can win, it's all different feeling, all different nerves. I've spend a lot of it... It's not like it is physically difficult, rather mentaly. My head is tired, it refuses to work. But I've overcame the hardest point, I managed to make myself start skating after the Olympics.
A: I started to write it before the Olympics. What the book will be like? About my life; it'll be very candid. It is more interesting for people to read something they don't know. And they don't know everything I've been through.
Q: There are a lot of rumours about you. Some say for example, that the famous impresario Tom Collins kicked you off his popular professional tour due to a drinking problem...
A: I don't know where it all came from: like I was supposedly drunk, I scuffled... I have one explanation to this - there are rumoura and scandals around those who win. I did have a conflict with Collins and I was forced to leave the tour. I have no idea about the real reason why he decided to break the contract. Last fall Collins called me and invited to the tour again. I told him "Tom, please apologize first".
Q: And?
A: He apologized. Which means it is likely I will be back on tour. I'll be back with pleasure. Professional shows are a part of my job.
Q: Does it mean you are leaving the eligible skating?
A: I'm not turning pro for sure, I'll continue to skate. Btw, professional figure skating in America is not such a profitable business as it used to be. It's an economic recession here and people are not ready to pay much money for the tickets.
Q: Is it really true you don't have any thoughts about leaving the "pure" sport which takes away so much power and strength?
A: At least now I feel much better, more easy, than I used to just recently. It feels like just another season came to it's end... Of course it's not "just another" one - I've done everything I possibly could. Realization of all this sets me free - now that the main goal is accomplished I can allow myself to make some experiments. I'll search for something new. You see, for a long time I wanted to make a program to a modern music. But there'd be no time to skate it during the Olympic season. Probably I will take some dance classes - again, the modern ones... Btw, we have an idea for the SP already. It seems like it can be really interesting - very fast and moving... As for the jumps, I want to do a 4S.
Q: When will you have rest then?
A: I'm busy up to the 20th of August - there are always a lot of shows at the Olympic year (smiles). It's cool to stand on the podium, but I have to earn some money as well.