Hi, all my fans and readers of the Nevskoye Vremya! My Olympic season finally draws to a close. On the 15 of May I’m going to arrange a party on this occasion. Me and my friends will take a limo ride around the city, and then go to a nightclub. And on the 19 of May I will go on holiday to Turkey, to spend 10 days sunbathing and gathering energies. After that I will have another week of rest, this time at our summer cottage, and then will start working again.
As it is, I have two on-ice practices a day breaking in my new skates. I must admit that it’s a painful and lengthy process, sometimes it takes as long as a month before everything’s OK. On first days it even feels like you’ve never stood on the ice before. A week later you get more or less accustomed, but still it’s impossible for you to lace your skates properly. Meanwhile you get a lot of blisters and bruises. Some... Read more »
Hello, my dear fans. Spring is here, but our figure skating life goes on. This season’s last event was World Championships. Frankly speaking, I don’t really want to recall it. I’m not satisfied with my performance in Torino: my short program was a complete failure, and then I couldn’t get myself together for the free one. I had no strength, both physically and mentally. Everything had been given in Vancouver.
A day after the Worlds I took part in Eugenie Plushenko’s show. I was going to skate my exhibition program, the one with a phone, but on the day before the show Ari Zakarian, Plushenko’s agent and the organizer of the gala, came up to me and asked to skate something calm and gentle, because our country was in shock after the terrorist attacks in Moscow… On reflection I chose to skate my last season’s short program, though in a lighter version, with two jumps and two ... Read more »
Hi, everyone! I’ve decided that I shouldn’t break the practice of writing something for you. During the time spent here in Torino I’ve already taken a walk through the center of the city, drawn the last starting number and skated my short program after a manner.
Well, first things first. We got to the center by a common city bus. It took us quite a while, about 20 minutes. There are a lot of old buildings, churches and other places of interest in the center of Torino. We took a stroll around the square and then through a mall, but didn’t linger there, because the prices were sky-high. We saw lots of coffee-bars with tables standing right on the sidewalks – no wonder, the weather is so fine!) At the end of our walk we dropped in a couple of sho... Read more »
So, I think everybody has already read the first part of my story and are waiting for the second one. Well, I’ve promised you to write it, and I always keep my promises.
I think I haven’t told you about the competitions yet. To tell the truth, waiting for them to start was very wearying. Ksenia and I had been quite ready to skate three days before they began, so when the first day came we were just happy. That day we had a rather early practice at the training rink. A morning is never good, they say. I can’t say I skated awfully, I just couldn’t do everything well. And if I could, it was not on the first try. Anyway, I forgot about this practice as soon as I returned to the hotel. There was about 4 hours left before I was to come to the ice, so I had enough time to take a walk and to fix myself up. After the walk Ksenia and I had a great chance to hold Oksana Domnina’s me... Read more »
So, at last I’m ready to share with you the impressions of my first participating in Olympic Games. First of all I’d like to say something about how we were fed. In a word, badly. When I first came into the canteen, my eyes were immediately caught by the tables near the McDonald’s. I was surprised to see athletes in Russian Olympic uniform sitting at these tables, and understood at once that there was nothing much to eat. I walked around the room, looking at the smorgasbords, and, could you believe it, didn’t find anything appetizingly-looking. There was one table with sushi and other Japanese food. The mere look of it made me feel uneasy: everything that was on it appeared to have been made clumsily and in haste. Finally I just took some lettuce and a piece of roast beef, the one that was less burnt.
Well, let’s leave the burnt meat alone, I’d better tell you about the i... Read more »
Hi, my dear fans! Excuse my long silence, please. After returning from Vancouver I had too much to do, including participating in radio and TV shows. Along with that I had to fight acclimatization problems. My whole body was aching so badly that during practices I was just crawling about on the ice. I still cough and when skating sometimes get out of breath. I feel slack. My coach is afraid of making me practice to the maximum, but I cannot lie on oars, as Worlds are close at hand. I will leave for Torino on March, 23. I’m going to recollect all my strength and try to do my best. I will be happy if I can surpass all my European rivals. To tell the truth, I’m a bit surprised by our FS Federation’s attitude. The return tickets they have bought for us are dated the 27 of March. Given that the exhibition gala will be held on the 28 of March, it seems that the officials don’t believe that I can get to the top 5 and win t... Read more »
Hi, everybody! I think it’s time for me to tell you something interesting)
On Tuesday we had a day-off. On the night before Ksenia and I had desided to devote our free hours to a woman’s habitual pastime, shopping.
In the morning we woke up a little later than usual. At breakfast we met my coach and no sooner we did it, our plans for the day went awry. The case was that on seeing us she immediately announced that she had ordered a car to take us to the ocean at 11 o’clock. Ksenia and I exchaned glances and understood that our shopping wasn’t on the cards. So, we hung our heads down and went to our room to prepare for the trip. Of course, we bundled up, because with oce... Read more »
Greetings to all from Vancouver! Yes, I’ve spent here a whole day already, and I’ve got things to tell you ) The way was painful. Besides the two transfers, we arrived late for the flight from Calgary. The flight from St. Petersburg to Frankfurt was maybe the most painful in the straight sense of the word. To begin with, my ears for some reason always got stuffed up when I fly via Frankfurt. To make things worse, this time I had the snuffles, and my poor ears ached so badly that I was about to scream. But I lived through this flight because I managed to fall asleep. From Frankfurt we travelled to Calgary. There was a three hours interval between the two flights. I fell asleep again as soon as we boarded. Then somebody touched me when passing by my chair; I opened my eyes and realized that we hadn’t taken off yet. So, I dropped off again and next time I awoke the plane was taking off. As I learned afterwards, the fli... Read more »
Hi, my dear fans. Now, when you are reading this, I’ve already arrived in Canada. The last days before my departure were quite hectical. The worst thing possible happened to me: I fell ill. You may remember that I was so afraid to catch a disease – and indeed I cought it. On Monday I felt faint as soon as the practice began. My coach asked me what happened, but it was just that my limbs were very numb. In the evening I went to the medical office and got my temperature taken. It was 35,5 C. And my blood pressure was 102/60. In a word, I was nearly a stiff one. On returning home I immediately drank a lot of tea with foxberry and lemon. Next morning I woke up feeling no better, and decided to skip my practice and just sleep off at home. All day long I stayed in bed drinking huge amounts of tea. In the end, I can say that this petty illness even did me good, because it gave me a chance to take a proper rest. And as earl... Read more »
My final countdown to Olympics has begun. On the 11 of February I will leave for Vancouver, and on February, 16 will put up at the Olympic village. Now I am beside myself with anticipation and joy. My friends and acquaintances are beginning to make orders for things they would like me to bring them from Canada. Mostly they want Olympic mascots and T-shirts with the Olympic rings. My sister hasn’t requested anything yet, but I expect a huge list of desired clothes. By the way, I’ve had an unhoped-for piece of good news this week: the Federation sent me and my coach Alla Piatova unlimited baggage clearance coupons. It’s a very good thing, because I often have to pay for excess luggage. For example, when I was going home from Japan after the Grand Prix Final, I carried five bags of hand-luggage with me, and the excess was quite substantial. It was because of the toys fans had thrown on the ice. There were so many of them... Read more »
