Few "old" Plushy interviews translated from russian newspapers...
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http://www.gzt.ru/vancouver2010/-plyuschen...ti-/290269.html17.02.2010Interview after SP...... Today I had a completely different feeling than before in Salt Lake City and Turin. Perhaps, with each Olympics, every season, every start is becoming harder and harder. Why? It's not even that I am getting older. Is difficult, because I must constantly prove with my skating, why I can. You all know what a difficult situation now was in Russia's team at the Olympics. According medals we are going badly. In the Olympic village, really attacked me from all sides, not just Russians, with the words: "You can, you can!" I just want to close somewhere, and nothing not hear.
The first part of story is finished. All battle is ahead, in the long program. Once again - I will accept any result. I am a man, and also not from iron. Everything is possible. But, I will try to the maximum...
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translations from EPD forum, by Ximena ...http://vremya.ru/2010/30/11/247954.html25.02.2010- What have you learned after the Games?
- It is necessary to carry out with my work. and jump quadruples. I already have my music for the next season, we'll do the transitiosn, the in-between, much better.
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- If you say that you have chosen the music for the next season, does it mean your return is permanent?
- In the summer I need to do two surgeries. Remove a cyst from my Achilles tendon and heal my knees. I will have surgery in Germany, I already have talked with the doctors there. Then we need to see how it will heal and recover. But I already know who I will be working with in my general physical preparation, I'll pay more attention to it. In short, I know how I need to procede.
- After these Olympic Games will you change someone from your team?
- I won't. We will probably invite some experts, but in general it will remain as it is. Probably I will change my image, nevertheless I believe this season was perfect. I like my programs and my team. ....
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Plushenko will stay away from politics, but he will remain in the sport
People are the most important for meYesterday in the northern capital landed a flight with skaters, the Olympians. The first in the arrivals hall in Pulkovo dressed in red, Zhenya Plushenko wearing training pants and his choreographer, David Avdysh with his shaggy hair.
Skaters immediately were showered with flowers.
- Evgeni, you are the real champion! We are your fans! We are always with you! - cried the most exalted fans.
- I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me. Those who are interested in sports, knows how difficult it is to return. What efforts need to be done for it, - Zhenya spoke franklu - The people for me are the most important thing. There are, of course, a bunch of people who thing and write negatively. They write blogs full with all sorts of abominations. What can I say to them? Only wish them good luck in their difficult task and they may continue to write.
There was not offense in Plushenko's voice, nor any despondency. Apparently, he has coped with the emotions caused by his defeat....
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Plushenko is already making plans for the future. But the sad eyes of his mother, who came to meet her son and quietly stood next to him, eloquently reminded everyone what was the price for this medal. Evgeni skated after a set of injections due his determination to come back and perform.
- For me the season is not finished, - confessed to the athlete. - In late March, we will perform at the World Championship in Turin, as long as my health allowes it. Then we will do a small tour and then I will go see my doctors in Germany. I need to do an operation on the meniscus and remove the cyst in his foot - it prevents me to learn new elements. I should give up being a deputy, I need to focus on the sports. I have an strong desire to perform in Sochi. But it will be difficult to do if the Figure Skating Federation did not revise its methods of work. They did not provide any material and financial support. And pay it from my pocket is fundamentally wrong....
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www.izvestia.ru/sport/article3139336/05.03.10Evgeni Plushenko: I make money to feed three families- Last summer you explain that your return to compete was not about the desire to win an Olympic medal but because you wanted to feel once again the adrenalin when performing. Did you get what you wanted?
- Evgeni Plushenko: I did. In sports you know for sure what will happen tomorrow, next week, a month ... Sometimes, of course, something happens and it's very hard and there are ups and downs. But in general, the outcome has been more than positive.
- There is a saying that those who come back to sports are those who could not find themselves in their everyday life. You were engaged in politics, on shows, hosted TV programs...was that adrenaline not enough?
- Evgeni Plushenko: You know, no athlete wants to lose their best years. Why should I give up a performance at the Games, if I was able to go? Many who rushed to finish their career for sure would like to be in my place. Olympics is a real spectacle, a holiday. It does not compare not even with the World Cup, it's a different set of passions and emotions. So I weighed all the pros and cons and decided that at 27 years I could still skate, set records and to prove that a person can be capable of so much more...
- Your former colleague, Elena Berezhnaya thinks quite differently. In an interview before the Olympics, she said she now follow the competition with great relief: that the people there are under terrible pressure, but she, at home, was watching it on television in cozy slippers.
- Plushenko: I also had that feeling after the Turin Olympics. Back then I needed a break. I needed to rest, recover, and I just wanted to try something else. And then that old excitement came back ... I think I am that kind of man, I can not live without risk and adrenaline. If I'm in a car, I will for sure want to get all the power of the engine to the end. And if I play paintball, I will certainly wan to run ahead and to knock all the opponent out of the game.
- And how fast have you gone in a car?
- Plushenko: 320 kilometers per hour.
- In the city?
- Plushenko: It was during a test drive in one of the automobile clubs. They arrange races on a special ground or runways.
- You are not afraid?
- Plushenko: My life flew in front of my eyes, the first record was in the "Mazeratti", 260 miles per hour! Yes, even on winter tires ... That was...off course I was frightened (he laughs). And then, when the professionals started to teach me extreme driving, the fear disappeared... And while it was not present, it was still terrible, thuogh you go that fast just for a small part of the way, but it is also interesting to feel...that kind of horror.
- Let's go back from racing to figure skating. At what point this season was the hardest for you physically?
- Plushenko: Throughout the season was very difficult. Sometimes, I just got tired of skating. And then with the my coach Mishin and my choreographer Advysh we decided to take a break, then I came back two days later and began to enjoy it again. The beginning of the season, it was all some kind of madness ... My muscles and joints ache horribly. I thought that I would never be able to get ready and that I should forget this ridiculous idea of coming back.
- And what was the most difficult moment psychologically?
- Plushenko: Sometimes I would come in for trainings and I could not perform a basic element. And I just couldn't understand it, why I can't? It was very difficult to do a whole program, I would do just two elements and then the rest I just didn't have the strenght for it. And I began to doublt myself: why I can't do it?
- When were you finally convinced that it was the right decision?
- Plushenko: Once I went to compete. For example, at the Grand Prix in Mosco, I was there to skate with dignity, there were a lot of spectators. After that, many believed finally about the the reality of my comeback.
- Some experts say that you didn't have the time to get in better shape and set your programs in a better way. Do you agree?
- Plushenko: Nonsense, time was enough. And people can say anything ... Here, for example, now that I'm back from Vancouver, due the time difference I can't sleep. So, I start reading internet articles and someone wrote: if Plushenko had done the combination 4+3+2, or simply added to the program another jump, he'd have won and I want to say, it's all nonsense ...
- Why?
- Plushenko: Well, look - in the short program, three judges on "Skating skills" they put me on the 21th and 22th places. Computer for some reason did not eliminated any of those marks; and on the contrary, it eliminated those who placed me first... Under the current system, with the alignment of judicial votes, you can win and with the same success, lose. Don't think that I want to attack the new rules, they are not bad - but they need to be refined.
And I was very surprised by the position of our federation. Its president Piseev said: at the European Championships in Tallinn, Plushenko skated much better than in Vancouver, he especiallu compared the free skate. In Estonia, I missed the triple lutz, I doubled it. And in Vancouver I have fulfilled all the elements clean, and it was better performed from an emotional point of view. Well, what can be said now, it is necessary to forget everything and move on ...
- Your sound resentful.
- Plushenko: Yes. See other athlete's footwork was marked in level 4, but throughout the season they had only level 3 and they didn't make any changed in Vancouver,did they do an extra loop, make twizzles from both sides? And mine were on level 3 and stayed there. Why they gave me in some elements level 3 when throughout the entire season they have put me level 4? Simply because someone said: Plushenko do not make enough turns and have basis transitions.
- Do you think about a judges' conspiracy?
- Plushenko: You know the story of the overseas referee, who sent a letter to his colleagues calling to mark European skaters lowe. There was a whole publicity campaign ... And at the end it has worked. After the short program I was supposed to win at least by five points. And as a result, the same gap was just 0.35. But our federation has not even reacted to that...
- Why would you the ISU (International Skating Union) withhold?
- Plushenko: The fact is that because of the lack of new names, the interest in figure skating has fallen all over the world. Before the ISU sponsors gave $ 22 million for advertising during television broadcasts, and now the amount has dropped to 6 million. The prize-money in other sports are growing, but here have fallen twice. And one of the leading American show - Champions on ice just closed. The ISUis trying to artificially unleash new stars.
- Well, let's change the subject. Eight months that have passed since your return to the sport, what you take from it?
- Plushenko: I proved that I'm still a good athlete. Now on training I do elements that I used to do when I was eighteen. I've started to jump 3ax-4t again and I returned to the elite world of figure skating. Although I've lost a lot, financially. Due my trainings, I gave up exhibitions and while the fderation promised to compensate all the losses, they never did.
- Was it a big amount?
-Plushenko: On the sum of six zeros. At the same time in an airplane while returning from Vancouver, they told me: "How can you complain that we don't help you? The ice time is paid for!"
- You stated that in March you are going to compete at the World Championships in Turin. Were you joking or saying this seriously?
- Plushenko: I am now flying to Switzerland for some exhibitions, I will be there for eight shows.I have to earn money to feed my three families. If I can keep my Olympic form, I will go to Turin. If not, I will cancel my trip...
- Three families?
- Plushenko: I was referring to my current family Yana, my sister with her three daughters plus their parents. And I still have my son whom I have to pay alimony.
. What are your long-term plans?
- Plushenko: I really want to perform at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, and that's not just me talking. But before it is necessary to survive. After the world championship I have planned an extensive tour through Europe and in two Russian cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg. Then it will be necessary to meet with my doctors in Germany. They will examine the meniscus in my left leg and probably remove the cyst on my the right achilles tendon. After that, it would depend on my health.
- Alexei Yagudin, after all the overload, they had to put a metal implant in his leg. Aren't you afraid to follow his example?
- Plushenko: I have a lot of operations already. If I do everything in mind and in time, I can expect a good result. Anyway, I would like to believe that.
