Evgenia Medvedeva: “We have a ‘golden list of figure skating’— ‘Carmen,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Swan Lake.’ These always work.”
Evgenia Medvedeva about her goals in figure skating, the need to experiment and trying herself as a journalist.
original source: Championat / Championat
Evgenia Medvedeva spoke about about her goals in figure skating and the need to experiment, she also discussed whether her view on journalism has changed after creating her own show. Here’s a translation of her comments.
“Currently, in our country, there’s a lot of figure skating production: many shows, lots of competitions. Figure skating has gained significant attention in media, promotional videos for competitions are being created, something that never happened before. I look at this now and realize that it’s a serious level-up. Consequently, there’s a desire to do something unique.
We have a ‘golden list of figure skating’— ‘Carmen,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ ‘Swan Lake.’ These always work. But, given that currently our figure skating is not going international, and specifically for me, there’s no task to win the World Championships and choose my strongest side, like being an excellent ‘Black Swan’ and go win the World Championships with it. I don’t have such a goal, so the most important thing is to choose something unique.
The most important thing is to understand the character. You can always experiment but you need to be prepared for the possibility that the experiment might not succeed. For example, the character I choose might not suit me. And yet, it seems, ‘Zhenya, experiment, we want something new, why are you always skating the same things?’ I constantly hear this, but by my nature, I am a lyrical skater. Lyrical music with some deep meaning, with suffering sometimes, suits me. It’s not always about cheerful dances. I have such an image: it’s comfortable for me, it’s beautiful for me.”
Evgenia Medvedeva discussed whether her view on journalism has changed after creating her own show.
“Nothing much has changed. If we are talking about some articles by journalists about my sports career or my skating, nothing has changed. I continue to get on the ice and my set of elements still changes. Usually, it becomes more simplified because time passes, and I’m not getting any younger. Of course, there are people who start to dislike it because they wonder where is the Medvedeva who, when I sat on the couch, won two World championships, where are the sextuple toe loops? I don’t do sextuple toe loops anymore, and some people don’t like that.
Nothing has changed in the world of figure skating, but my attitude towards it has changed. I’ve just grown up and realized what’s more important to me. Is it more important to land sextuple toe loops headfirst in every practice, killing myself to please everyone, or is my health more important? There was criticism. Probably, sport and music are two such toxic environments where a lot is allowed for people to express their, to put it mildly, dissatisfaction. Our discussions are usually conducted without censorship,” Medvedeva said during the “Flow Job” podcast.
“A sports website? Not yet, because, in my understanding, to open a sports media outlet, you at least need to be a sports journalist, which I am not and do not plan to become anytime soon. But it’s essential to do something of your own. When you realize that your career is either at a dead end or you want to try yourself in another role, you start moving in a new direction where you can express yourself. There are many branches in sports. We finish quite early. It would be nice if we could retire, go to a cottage, and grow tomatoes… But we don’t have that possibility. We need to develop further.”
“I am trying myself in the role of an interviewer — this is somewhat my path away from figure skating. But what’s most interesting: why interviews? My whole conscious life, I’ve been interviewed. When I came off the ice after competitions, the first thing I did was go to the mixed zone, where they immediately start asking you questions, not always comfortable ones. I’ve become so adept at answering them that I thought: why do I always answer them if I can start asking them myself. To start asking them, I needed to create my own safe space, to invite guests and ask them all sorts of questions, both good, kind, soft ones, and sometimes prickly but interesting for the broad audience.”
Related topics: Evgenia Medvedeva
“I don’t do sextuple toe loops anymore, and some people don’t like that.” Anymore??? When did she land a sextuple jump? Is this correct? Quintuple jumps haven’t even been landed yet
She was saying it metaphorically, meaning that she is accused of not doing difficult jumping content now, the one she did in her sports career.