Maria Butyrskaya: “Malinin is also one of ours. He’s not even an American in the literal sense; he represents this country only by territorial indication.”
Translation of Maria Butyrskaya’s comments about Ilia Malinin.
original source: sport-express.ru
Maria Butyrskaya, the 1999 Russian World champion commented on American skater Ilia Malinin in an interview for Sport-Express. Here’s a translation.
“Q: Can we say that you are against our isolation from the world? Because people like to say that now everything is ours, Russian, and much better. Your acquaintance, Irina Slutskaya, even claims that she is not interested in Malinin’s quad axel because he is American, and one should support their own.
Maria Butyrskaya: We are in the world of figure skating, and it continues to exist. I really hope that we will soon be given the opportunity to compete, there is such hope. We shouldn’t reject Malinin’s axel either; it exists, and it’s just… just amazing, how he does it!
Malinin is also one of ours; we competed together with Tanya Malinina, and now she is also heading towards her goal as a mother and coach. We should be happy for her! She didn’t become a world champion like me or Irina, but she embodies her knowledge and aspirations in her child’s life. That’s cool! I’m very happy for Tanya that such a talented son was born to her. This is how we should approach it.
He’s not even an American in the literal sense; he represents this country only by territorial indication since he was born there. His parents ended up in the USA at that moment probably because they were not very needed in Russia. May God give me such children. I also try to make my children like that —something to be proud of,” said Butyrskaya.
Related topics: Ilia Malinin, Maria Butyrskaya
If you apply her “theory” of “who” Ilia really is to all the American skaters then USA has no skaters. Everyone comes from somewhere in the USA. HELLO. Stop with the jealousy and naivety.