The Russian figure skater Evgenia Medvedeva for the first time in a long time gave a great interview. But she talked not with one of the journalists, but with her colleague, European champion from France, Florent Amodjo. Live on Instagram, she told a lot of new information about herself and remembered the most difficult moments of her career.
To begin with, Amadio asked how Medvedev decided to do figure skating. It turned out that the doctor advised her to start the training, and her mother influenced the choice of the sport. She also admitted that she was not nervous at her first competitions, since success was not yet expected from her.
“Perhaps I went in for figure skating because of my mother. I started skating at age three. I was born a weak child, was too thin, had health problems. I was observed by a doctor, and he advised me to go in for sports - swimming or figure skating. Since my mother was a skater, the choice fell on the second. Until I became a junior, they did not expect special results from me. I remember my first competitions well. Then I took third place. Everything happened on my own ice. I remember that I was not nervous because I did not understand what was happening. I was told to ride, and I skated, and what competition is, I didn’t even know, ”the skater admitted.
During the interview, Medvedev remembered how she mastered jumping and with which of the elements she had difficulties in childhood. She noted that she loved to jump most of all, but after she began training with Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson, she began to pay more attention to the aesthetic side of figure skating.
“My first triple jump was the Salchow. I remember that I made a double axel in eight years, after which it stopped turning out. At nine, I made salchow, then again I began to make an axel, then there were a sheepskin coat, flip, lutz, and the last I learned the rittberger. I love jumping, so I chose single skating. But at the same time, when I started working with Brian and Tracy, I began to like skiing itself. I began to put my soul into it. Perhaps because of this, it has become more difficult to concentrate on jumping. When I review my best performances, I like to think that here I gave my best. I like it when viewers are charged with my energy, and I, in turn, am charged with their energy, a thousandfold, ”said the two-time world champion.
During the first two adult seasons, Medvedev was distinguished from her rivals by the stability of the results and the almost complete absence of errors during rental. She did not make a secret of how she managed to achieve this.
“First of all, you always need to be healthy so that there are no injuries, even minor ones. In the early stages of the Grand Prix, I had problems with my elbow, but nothing else like that for two seasons. Do not experience any pain. You also need to have a strong psyche. Therefore, the team and I worked in this mode: a six-minute warm-up, then a program, then again a warm-up, and again a program, and so on all day. This is a very hard job with a lot of bone. Once my body simply said “enough”, Medvedev recalled her experience with Eteri Tutberidze.
When it came to the 2017/18 Olympic season, which was crowned for the athlete with the silver medal of the competition in Pyeongchang, she recalled that she had been seriously injured almost all the time.
“I broke my leg at the beginning of the Olympic season. All competitions I held with this injury until my leg broke completely. It was hard to sit on the couch and watch your rivals win. But I already let this situation go, because I have a new life, I'm in Toronto. I would not be myself if it were not for the Olympics. But after her another injury was revealed - the back, ”Medvedev recalled.
After the Olympics, Medvedev decided to leave Tutberidze and go to Canada to Orser. She admitted that she was struggling to adapt to a new country, but she was greatly motivated by the desire to train under the guidance of a new mentor.
“It was hard to get used to because everything around me was new. It was hard for me to speak English all the time, by the end of the day my brain was already exhausted. But I quickly got used to it, after two weeks everything was fine. Sometimes you notice big differences between Russians and Canadians, we are really very different. But I was not up to it, I came to train with Brian and Tracy, ”said the silver medalist of the Olympics.
“I met Orser a long time ago. When I decided to change everything, Brian was the only choice for me. I just felt it. I didn’t leave in order to achieve crazy results, to beat everyone in the next season, to prove something. I have already won a lot for this. I moved to work with a trainer who would be my friend. We understand and feel each other. I moved in order to be able to listen and be heard, ”Medvedev explained her choice.
She also described how the training process has changed since moving from Moscow to Toronto. Medvedev got the opportunity to do less on ice, which she considers an undoubted plus for herself.
“The changes in training were big. The main thing was that I began to study less on ice and more outside it. In my schedule there were more such things as a gym, running, nutrition, rest, recovery, while in Moscow there were only ice training, jumping and programs. No recovery and rest, and when I changed the situation, I realized that perhaps half of the success depends on them, ”said the athlete.
Finally, Medvedev remembered her first season in the Orser team, which was very difficult, but ended with a bronze medal of the World Cup.
“This season was crazy. I had to qualify for the World Cup twice. There was real drama, but I got to the championship and won a medal, which is very important to me. I proved to myself that it is possible in one year to change everything and move on, even despite the injuries. Because of my hip, I then performed an arbitrary program without a warm-up, and I did everything almost cleanly, ”Medvedeva said.