“I want to try a different style”: Zhulin about plans for the pre-Olympic season, innovations in the rules and his memoirs

- You had the opportunity to take your wards to Novogorsk, you refused. Why?

- Honestly? I was afraid to go with the guys to such a large crowd. After all, almost all the teams went to Novogorsk at the first opportunity. And the second thing that I really didn’t like was that all those who came would have to be completely isolated from the outside world for a month: if you arrived, they would shut you down for a month and there’s nowhere to go. And I have two young children - the second daughter was born in April. I’m just not ready to leave my wife alone.

- Does this step mean that you will not see ice for quite some time?

- There is ice on Moskvich, where we have already agreed on training. On Monday, tests passed, if the results are in order, let's start skating. It is clear that there will be some restrictions, but we are ready for them.

- Limitations on the number of people on ice?

- Not only. And by age, too. Only those athletes who are over 18 years old will be allowed to train.

- What is the point of the venture?

- Not a question for me. The point is what is happening in Moscow now, and not too much. The metro works, there are a lot of people in it, but at the same time you need to walk on schedule.

- In what format did you maintain relations with athletes during the pandemic?

- Vika and Nikita (Sinitsina and Katsalapov. - RT ) ran a lot, at home they have a treadmill, worked on a stretch and are in perfectly normal working form. Previously, we usually rode until May 25, and began to prepare for the new season in Moscow on June 15-20. At about the same time, we plan to start work, and now the main thing is to quickly restore the condition on ice. It's a shame, of course, that we will most likely be left without the Grand Prix stages: everything goes to the point that they will be canceled.

- Though do not change the program ...

- We are not going to change the short dance. Arbitrary, I think, will make a new one. Still, they managed to roll this program six times last season. And since the new season is pre-Olympic, I want something new, to try some other style.

- Any ideas on this?

- It is full of ideas, there would be an opportunity to realize them.

- In previous years, you went to other cities for training in the summer, and now, most likely, you will remain in Moscow.

“We didn’t go out so much, by the way.” More often sat in Novogorsk. In general, it seems to me that for two months the athletes missed skiing so much that there is no difference where exactly to ride. The main thing is to smoothly enter the season, without forcing training and injuries.

- Who, in your opinion, is more difficult to enter the season after a long break - dancers or singles?

- Definitely for those who jump. Restoring the quadruple jumps is much more difficult than the Choktau and the Mohawks: I have seen this process many times and I know that even such masters as Daisuke Takahashi just had no jumps at the beginning of the season. Everything has to be developed again, and this is a very difficult coordination. In order to jump on the ice, the exercises that can be done on the floor are completely insufficient.

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- Many athletes admit that after the first month of self-isolation they found it difficult to maintain a normal mood and continue to work, not understanding why to do this. Have you been depressed?

- On the one hand, for me personally, two months passed quickly enough, but I can’t say that I rested - I constantly felt some kind of tension, it killed the monotony of what was happening. According to Vika and Nikita, I did not notice that they were somehow "blown away." The main thing was not to get sick, to preserve the lungs. And most importantly, we succeeded, although I was very afraid for my own. You yourself know, when an athlete gains a high form, his immunity is greatly weakened and a person becomes susceptible to any infections.

- Sinitsina and Katsalapov worked all this time according to their own plans, or did you somehow correct these classes?

- I did not have to control the process much - in terms of work, the guys and the great professionals themselves. I know that they did a very large amount of running work, ran much more than in previous seasons and, I hope, gained very decent functional conditions thanks to this. Now much will no longer depend on Vika and Nikita, but on us, the coaches: what support we will come up with, the track, how effective the program will be.

- I know that American skaters actively used the time of self-isolation for their own development: they attended online dance courses, for example.

- When a dancer does not have the opportunity to ride, in my opinion it is more useful for him to run, rather than dance. Because the main problem at the beginning of the season is not to perform some kind of support or another element, but to get the four-minute program to the end. It has always been like this, back in the days when I rode myself. And this is a functional preparation. Fortunately, this season we were not affected by changes in the rules - they affected only jumps.

- Judging by the intonation, you are very skeptical about this.

- And how can you relate to the fact that Lutz and Rittberger equalized in value?

- In my opinion, this is just understandable, since many skaters jump Lutz in such a way that it becomes almost indistinguishable from the Rittberger.

- You could say that.

But still, Lutz is a different speed, it is the need to keep the outer edge to the very end, this is a counter-jump based on counter-movement. Rittberger does not create such sensations. Ask any skater which jump is harder, almost everyone, I am sure, will be called Lutz. Well, the fact that an athlete knows how to “steal” at the entrance to a jump is an indicator of professionalism.

“Did you seriously say that now?”

- Why not? When I see untwisted jumps, I always perceive this as a technical error, a lack of execution. Still, the jumps must be completed. If the skater “stole” some part of the jump at the very beginning, then one can only admire his ability to gain an advantage without breaking the rules. It’s necessary to think of such a thing, find this loophole.

- In the autobiographical book that you started writing, you recall that many of the exercises that you use in your workouts were spied on by Stanislav Zhuk and Sergey Chetverukhin. Why did you suddenly decide to take up memoirs?

- It seemed that such a book could be interesting. Everything went very well, but as soon as the restrictions began to be lifted and I felt that it would be possible to start training soon, my literary fuse began to decline. Although I really hope that I will return to this again. You just need to find free time.

- Did any of the skaters contact you with requests to put on a program?

- Yes, but I had to refuse - because of the inability to violate self-isolation.

- And if you try to do it online?

“I wouldn't even try.” In my opinion, it is akin to rubber women and non-alcoholic beer. I can’t even imagine how a director can work without feeling a person. I don’t even want to think that such a need in our sport may come.

- What did you suffer most during the pandemic?

- From the inability to play football with friends. At home I tried to move, but I realized that every day laziness more and more gets into the body. Fortunately, he did not recover, but, on the contrary, lost three kilograms. I read an article by a Japanese Nobel laureate that a person should eat once a day, taking daily breaks between meals, and decided to try this method on himself. I liked the result. So the pandemic was for me under the sign of a healthy lifestyle.

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Posted by 𝓝𝓪𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓪 𝓩𝓱𝓾𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓪 (𝓜𝓲𝓴𝓱𝓪𝓲𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓪) (@natalia_zhulina_) Jul 8, 2019 at 10:46 am PDT