Eteri Tutberidze: “At the kiss and cry, Medvedeva congratulated us on the gold medal, saying we did everything for Alina to be first. After that, she didn’t want to talk and was already communicating with Orser.”
Translation of Eteri Tutberidze’s comment about Evgenia Medvedeva’s reaction to winning silver at the 2018 Olympics.
original source: Comment Show Youtube Channel
Here’s a translation of Eteri Tutberidze’s comment about Evgenia Medvedeva’s reaction at the 2022 Olympics made in a interview with Leonid Slutsky.
“Q: Alina becomes an Olympic champion. What was happening with Evgenia at that moment?
Eteri Tutberidze: First of all, Evgenia had already started creating some distance from us. Even during the preparation for the Olympics, during the training camp in Japan, she began to distance herself. She became friends with Ekaterina Bobrova. It was as if she had become a different girl.
Suddenly she responded to you differently, intentionally trying to create conflicts. And at this point, there’s no time for conflicts. It was all very strange because it shouldn’t have been like that with Evgenia.
And then, I arranged for us to be placed in an apartment with three rooms. On the day of moving in, Evgenia came to me and said she couldn’t live with us.
I won’t mention the reason because it’s not very pretty. I was worried they might assign someone else to live with us, and it would be Alina Zagitova, me, and one more person. But thankfully, no one else was assigned to live with us.
It was as if she [Medvedeva] was trying to distance herself a bit. I don’t know why, but I think it didn’t have a positive impact on her skating. I felt that her skating lacked purity and sincerity.
I am demanding, I see thoroughly, I see that she could do better. And she could skate much better in the short program.
Q: How did she react to winning the silver medal?
Eteri Tutberidze: At the kiss and cry area, she began to congratulate us on the gold medal, saying we did everything for Alina to be first.
We did everything for Alina to be first, but we also did everything for Zhenya to be first. We can’t control the placements; we can only guide the skaters in their performances.
If we’ve already put a margin in their performance, it’s natural. Of course, my dream is for the athletes to go out and skate their best program. Then the judges will decide the placements.
After that, she didn’t want to talk to us. We approached her in the lounge and tried to talk, but she was already communicating with Orser.
To me, it was somewhat strange. Not that I didn’t care, of course, it was unpleasant, but I couldn’t say for sure that she was leaving.” – said Eteri Tutberidze in the “Comment.Show” broadcast with Leonid Slutsky.
Related topics: Alina Zagitova, Eteri Tutberidze, Evgenia Medvedeva
Eteri, do not slam Medwedjewa. She did a great performance at the Olympics, even with the broken leg before. The Coach was her not loyal. But the best programms Medwedjewa ever had, were with Brian Orser. How beautifully- the Geisha, it was the greatest , what she ever has scated- and the red feather , the black dress. experience- unbeleavable. The best choreographies. In your group nearly always the same. She can be proud of her time in Canada.