- Tatiana, according to the official version, you missed the entire post-Olympic season due to injury and a long recovery. Why did you keep it a secret for so long that you were expecting a baby?

- Not that I kept it a secret, I just didn't want too much hype, discussions around my condition. I wanted calm, silence, but since I continue to train and appear at the stadium, I communicate there with other athletes and coaches, and I understand that my situation can no longer go unnoticed.

Do you already know the sex of the child?

- Yes, it's a boy. However, Egor and I have not yet chosen a name. Our options don't match, let's put it that way.

- After you became an Olympic champion in Beijing, Egor said in an interview that the family plans include another full-fledged Olympic cycle. At what point was it decided to take a break?

We've planned a second child before. Both wanted it, they just didn't know what year it was going to happen. And after the Games, the situation itself made us think: why not now? The post-Olympic season was very conducive to this, as recovery from a shoulder injury and related surgery did not go as quickly as I would have liked. So we decided to combine the recovery period with the maternity one.

Was the surgery extensive?

- More extensive than arthroscopy. This is the so-called Bristow-Latarge operation (correction of shoulder joint instability. - RT). They made an incision for me, transplanted a piece of tissue to stabilize the joint, after which the problem should have gone completely. The operation itself was done very well, but the nerves were affected, and this entailed a number of other difficulties. It turned out to be not so easy to restore muscle function. Accordingly, it took longer. Now everything is over, the shoulder does not bother me at all. So from June I will be able to start training in full.

- The question immediately arises: when exactly should the child be born?

- Just in June.

- After Sofia was born to you, if I am not mistaken, you began to train almost the day after leaving the hospital.

- No, not right away. Two weeks later only. Actually, we're not making a big deal right now. Egor wants me to be at home for some time after giving birth. He will start working with the group in the second half of May, and I have my first training camp scheduled for July.

How much did the second pregnancy change your life schedule?

- Didn't change it at all. I, as before, go to training camps, throughout the season I was constantly with the team, except that I did not go to Malinovka for the "Championship Heights" - I went to the training camp in the mountains. Compared to the period when we were waiting for Sofia, I was even more at home. Two months, probably. Now I continue to skate as part of the whole group, we even plan to go to Kirovsk after the Russian Championship for two weeks. We will be there until April 11.

— Who will take care of the children when you start serious training?

"The children will be with us. We are now actively trying to find a nanny, and preferably two, so that Yegor and I are as comfortable as possible to work. Accordingly, we are already planning all our movements. The rest will depend on how the season plays out.

- It is believed that after the Olympic victory, every athlete begins to think that the whole world lies at his feet. That from now on everything will work out, and that for this you no longer need to work as hard as before. Did you have such a condition at least for a short time after the Games in Beijing?

- No, absolutely. Maybe it's because I don't consider Olympic gold in the relay to be the limit of my own dreams. Still, I set myself slightly different goals. And they're absolutely not going anywhere.

  • Tatyana Sorina, her husband coach Egor Sorin and their daughter Sofia.
  • RIA Novosti
  • © Alexander Vilf