Russian vice champion 2010 Alena Leonova

Kerzhakov, Stone’s white dress and a coach at a hairdresser’s

Q: Alena, women didn’t compete at international tournaments until 1906. But in 1902 the English skater Madge Sayers was allowed to compete with men. Would you do the same if there weren’t women’s competitions in Bern?
A: I wouldn’t get a scare! I feel all right in male company, I’m a boyish girl (laughs). My usual company is two girls, ten boys…

Q: You play a clown in your short program. Is it your favourite image?
A: I love upbeat music! The main thing for me is that I can smile when skating a program. When I was 7 I skated a Charlie Chaplin program wearing trousers and a jacket borrowed from a classmate, a bowler hat and painted moustache. I jumped with a stick in my hand.

Q: At the press conference in Saransk you bemused everybody by saying that the last starting number in the free skating had been lucky for you. But waiting is often a torture...
A: I used to feel down when I had to skate last before. But then our psychologist taught me how to deal with it. Gennady Gorbunov is a former swimmer. He has a lot of clients, from skiers to hockey players. We enter his office in fives and lie on camp-cots. He hypnotizes me before competitions. Once I asked him: "Is it normal that you implant something in my mind while I’m sleeping?” "Don’t worry, Alena” he answered. "It’ll help you in due time”.

Q: What was the reason for Tarasova’s dissatisfaction with your free program by The Witches of Eastwick soundtrack?
A: Tatiana Anatolievna said that the music made me look heavy, that I needed something light and cheerful to skate to. She wanted me to return to my last season’s program Chicago, but I was standing my ground. Not that I am too stubborn, though. For example, if my coach Alla Pitova doesn’t like my haircut, I give in. "Your hair has overgrown” she says. "One can’t see your neck or your face, there’s only hair all around”. After Junior Worlds we went to a hairdresser’s together: while I was changing from a blonde into a brunette, she was having her hair cut sitting in the next chair.

Q: What Russian athlete fits your idea of a nonpareil most of all? I mean outward appearance.
A: I like Sasha Kerzhakov. He’s cute and seems to be a friendly person. Speaking about football, I often play it with skater boys during warm-ups in the gym hall. And when Zenith plays, I always watch it on TV. I wouldn’t mind teaching all the Zenith players to skate after I return from Switzerland.

Q: Are you in love with someone now?
A: My heart is unoccupied.

Q: After the Olympics in Vancouver your name became associated with that of the hockey player Ovechkin. What do the pyjamas that Sasha never signed in that elevator look like?
A: (laughs) It consists of striped pants and a black shirt with a funny zebra application and a bow on the back.

Q: Gloves have become a part of your image on ice. Why?
A: Once when I was skating at a tournament I suddenly noticed there was blood on my dress, on my stockings, everywhere. It took me a while to understand that I’d cut my hands. When doing spins I grasp my skate in such a way that the blade sets right against one of my fingers, and cuts it. So I wear gloves in order not to stain my dresses.

Q: How do your costumes appear?
A: The designer listens to the music and sketches what she is envisioning. Then my coach and choreographer make corrections.

Q: Tatiana Navka once had a new skirt made during the night before a competition. Have you ever met with such an emergency?
A: My short program dress has been re-made for three times. First its peachpuff skirt was replaced by the black one, and now all the upper peachpuff parts are being removed and replaced by green ones, so that the dress looks brighter. The tailor is in a state of shock. And in 2010 my free skating dress turned out to be too heavy. It felt like I was carrying an excess kilogram. So I had to have the velvet skirt cut shorter and some jewels removed.

 
Q: Ilia Kulik once was called "a boy in a yellow shirt who won Olympics”...
A: And I was called a patriot last year, because my Barynya dress was red, blue and white, just like the national flag of Russia. The idea had been suggested by Tarasova, and we agreed. When everybody started complaining that the dress is over-patriotic, she said: "OK then, let’s have a hohloma dress made!”

Q: Kavaguti and Smirnov have got nearly two dozens of costumes for the season, and the decision which ones to put on, according to Yuko, depends on her mood. So, they have to carry the entire wardrobe with them to all the tournaments. Have you ever realised that you have excess baggage in an airport?
A: As for me, I carry only three dresses with me, but once I happened to have excess baggage, indeed. It was in Japan. I had been given a lot of toys, there were five plastic bags of them. I was told I had either pay or leave the toys. But I just couldn’t throw away the toys presented by my fans! Well, I told myself, I will earn the money later...

Q: Which of the three famous dresses do you like the best: the black Givenchy one Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, the long red one Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Woman or Sharon Stone’s white mini from Basic Instinct?
A: The latter. I’m not tall and try to show my legs to look taller. Recently I’ve watched The Tourist and liked Angelina Jolie’s costumes.

Q: Would you be able to do your friend Ksenia Makarova’s face in Bern before the competitions?
A: Surely! But since I do my own face for about an hour, I’m afraid it’ll take me even longer to do hers. I’ve taken lessons from a professional visagiste who once did my face at a photo session. I’d like to go to a driving school in summer. I dream of a small two-door car. But first we, I mean my family, should collect enough money to buy a new flat, because the five of us live in a communal apartment. My father is a builder, namely a crane operator, and my mother is a housewife. My sister has graduated from a music school, my brother is a field hockey player. Both of them still go to school.

Q: If you win a medal in Switzerland, will you and Makarova behave like our hockey players in Buffalo?
A: I don’t really like beer. But I think that I and Ksenia would drink some champagne!