“I try to turn off the regime of a loving mother”: Victoria Kozlovskaya about relations with her son and his performances

- You have been watching all the competitions of your son from the very moment that Dmitry and Alexandra began to compete in junior competitions. Do you feel like just a mom or an unofficial member of the coaching staff?

- Rather, the second. While watching competitions, I try to turn off the mode of a loving mother - this is very confusing. It is important for me that Dima and Sasha roll their programs in a certain flow of energy. The way they know how. At the same time, I try to objectively assess the quality of the elements, competitiveness, pairing. It is very important for me that the guys do everything cleanly. To finish the performances with a sense of respect for themselves, with the understanding that they did everything they should. And so that victory, if it happens, is absolutely honest.

- From the side, your son gives the impression of a person for whom it is very important that everything around is correct. With a partner, he does not conflict on this basis?

- Not. When the guys had a grinding period, they both very subtly felt the moment when they needed to give in, not insist on their own right. Even when it came to clarifying the relationship, both tried to find the only right move so that the puzzle worked out. There were no whims.

- In childhood, Kozlovsky could be called moody?

“He was never like that.” Perhaps because even as a child by age, he was always an adult, very economic: he followed some family circumstances, took part in all kinds of discussions. He never had to raise his voice. However, he loved making decisions on his own. I remember that our whole family was vacationing in France, living in some kind of castle, and Dima refused to go for breakfast in shorts - he demanded that they put on a shirt, trousers and a bow tie.

- How did the figure skating classes begin?

- He began to train with Zinaida Ryabinina in St. Petersburg, and neither I nor my mother had any ambitions on the subject of sports achievements. They just thought that it’s good for a child to play sports. Moreover, Dima himself liked to ride.

- From the very beginning he wanted to perform in pairs?

- Of course not. And which of the loners wants? Moreover, after Ryabinina he was taken under his wing by Alexei Mishin, and Dima worked for some time in one of his groups. And only then Tamara Moskvin took her son to her. Together, we somehow managed to explain to him that if he wants to achieve something, we must understand how much more realistic his prospects in pair skating are.

- Why did you adhere to such an opinion?

So I thought Ryabinina. She constantly emphasized that Dima is a born greenhouse. Therefore, she trained him differently than the rest of the solitary. In pair skating, other power loads, you do not need to stretch as much as in single skating, the muscles themselves must also develop differently. Although Mishin says that Dima will jump his quadruple lutz. He never had doubts about that.

- Due to the fact that Dmitry spends most of his time with Alexandra, have friendly relations developed between your families?

- Of course. We constantly call up with both Olga and Igor Boykov, we are discussing something.

- How often do they personally observe the performances of the skaters?

- Igor quite often chooses to compete, and, unlike me, he is a real fan. He even brings posters with him. I know that for Sasha his presence on the podium is very important. It seems to me that these warm family relationships form a potentially successful couple. Although many believe that only the coach is responsible for the outcome of their children.

- Which tournaments of the current season turned out to be the most nervous for you?

- The championship of Russia, of course. It’s not even that this start opens the way to the championships of Europe and the world. It was important for us to honestly and cleanly pass the selection. Show that we not only deserve a place in the team, but also competitive. That is, it was necessary not only to qualify, but also to establish oneself in the best way from the very beginning. It is clear that anything can happen in the competition, which was confirmed by the Grand Prix finals. After all, the guys were perfectly ready for that start.

“That defeat upset you greatly?”

- Not. It was also an experience that gave a certain margin of safety. Ability to withstand circumstances if something suddenly starts to go wrong. I would not want to repeat this, but no one regrets that this happened.

- Did you have the opportunity to attend the duet's training in Graz?

- No, in this regard everything is somehow quite complicated. But I was aware that the first training was not the most successful, plus Sasha had some kind of malfunction with a suit.

- What happened?

Something came off, and it also unsettled the guys. In fact, all this was good. Dima after that training came to my hotel. She looked at him and realized that he was internally assembled. Perhaps it was just those training setbacks that removed the excessive bravado, self-confidence, all the unwanted drive, as it’s fashionable to say now. I even wrote to my mother that I really liked his mood.

- I managed to notice that Boykova and Kozlovsky speak English very well ...

- Dima generally always studied well. Perfectly passed the exams at school. It even seems to me that all this is a consequence of not the simplest life. But no matter how hard it was for us, she always forced her son to work so that his brains worked. He read a lot and continues to do so. He ate in the car between school and training, when he came home and went to rest, every minute was also counted. There was simply no time to be capricious.

- At what point did you realize that for your son sports is very serious?

- When Dima began to complain that the coach does not give him too much time. The group was large, and he wanted Zinaida Alekseevna to deal only with him. When Mishin took him to him, Dima spread his wings. Can you imagine what it meant for a guy to be on the same ice with Evgeni Plushenko, warm up with him, play football?

- Kozlovsky tried to work with other partners?

- At first, he didn’t ride with Sasha. To be honest, I don’t even remember the name of the girl. But then they made some interesting proposal, and she stopped coming to training. Just wrote an SMS: "I'm sorry, I'm leaving." For two months Dima rode alone - along the side. During this time, we never tried to somehow put pressure on Moskvina, so that she could quickly find a partner for her son. They intuitively felt that a specialist of this level should make a decision regarding the couple. That's how Sasha appeared. Although at first she also strongly rested: any single woman wants first of all to win the Olympics, this is the law.

- What helped them to meet each other?

- Sasha and Dima were friends while riding separately. I think that’s only why Sasha finally said: “If I’m paired with Dima, then I’ll try it.”