Anna Pogorilaya: “Loena Hendrickx said that Russian girls are stuffed with doping. Well, they are not here and you still don’t win! Polina Edmunds said that she saw how Russians mixed doping. What the heck did you see? It’s like they’re trying to justify their weakness.”
Anna Pogorilaya about Kamila Valieva’s doping case and foreigners’ attitudes towards Russians.
original source: Sport Express dd. 10th December 2024 by Dmitri Kuznetsov.
During the show on Youtube channel Kvaksel, Anna Pogorilaya talks about best skaters of the season, scoring, Kamila Valieva’s doping case, and foreigners’ attitudes towards Russians. Here’s a translation of some of her comments from this interview posted on Sport Express.
“Anna Pogorilaya: Returning after the birth of two children would be a great news hook, but it’s very difficult, I would have to leave the group (of skaters) my husband and I have. You can see me on the ice in shows; that’s what I’m preparing for. I’m getting into shape. A comeback would be nice, but no. Although I still jump doubles. After having Eva, I regained all my triples, now doing doubles — no time to focus on them. But if I set a goal, I think something could come of it.
Q: But you mentioned that you were ready to participate in the “Russian Challenge”. You were even on the start list last time, but then they replaced you with Dmitri Aliev. Why?
Anna Pogorilaya: Yes, I applied, but the organizers specifically state that they can change the lineup. Dmitri Aliev is an active skater. There was a misunderstanding.
Q: Is this related to your comment about the program “I have no ideas”?
Anna Pogorilaya: Maybe that’s an option. But the application was in, the program too, I came, everyone saw that I was preparing with Ilia Averbukh. I think the reason is that they were looking at who is more popular. Maybe I’ll apply again this year.
I learned about the refusal from the media — yes, it was strange, but… so what? It’s not a big deal. It was a pity about the time spent, although, on the other hand, thanks to this, I restored the jumps. I wanted to include them in the program.
Q: Is it realistic to scale up “Russian Challenge” and make some kind of media figure skating similar to football? Pogorilaya, Medvedeva, Zagitova, Trusova — doesn’t that sound more powerful than the current competition lineup?
Anna Pogorilaya: Football is more popular, figure skating is also becoming more widespread, but it’s more of a Russian topic. But the question is in the organizational aspect. It’s not even about finding sponsors, but about setting the rules, what programs, how many jumps, it takes wise people a long time to figure this out. And to call it all “Retirees on Ice”, right? We would skate there, get injured. Not very colorful.
Q: Fun, spectacular.
Anna Pogorilaya: It’s fun when it’s boys, girls are pitiable. (Smiles.) But for me, the current female skaters seem more popular than us. I like that arenas fill up for them. It seems people follow them, even without international competitions. We need to support them.
About scoring
Q: Speaking about support, do Russian judges give a bigger scores now?
Anna Pogorilaya: It seems right to me. If we didn’t set it that way — it would be not nice. We always performed at the Russian “Grand Prix”, and they helped us a little. Because you skate at home. In Japan, they helped Japanese skaters. Boys skate quite well, so I have no questions. Both in terms of complex content and levels of spins. And the components always matched the number of quads. You need to skate like Jason Brown to get components without jumps. It’s interconnected. Like with Sasha Trusova — quads, quads, quads, how can high components not be set for her? First score will be space, the second — low?
Q: Should it not be so? Grigory Fedorov gets 301 points with his choreography, one of the judges gives 9.50 — is that right?
Anna Pogorilaya: Apparently, they love that athlete. There are more technical athletes, there are artistic ones. The choreographer made a program, but the athlete was not so much showing it, but was focused on the jumps. But the program exists. From the stands, I saw a purpose in each program, meaning. I rather can’t understand when components are high with not a clean skate. Even the rules state that the second score should be lowered. I’m already happy that they raised the age and the score is set from -5 to +5.
I’m pleased from my point of view — I want to see more mature athletes and women’s skating. There was a period of only quads, everyone was chasing them like crazy. But now there are many examples where you can win without them. Although now I understand that it didn’t greatly affect, I don’t feel a significant difference. Puberty comes at 17-18 just as well. Loads might slow it down, as well as how the athlete restricts their diet.
I can’t say that I strongly held myself back. Tried not to eat after six pm — yes, but I could eat and drink calmly before skating, grab a candy bar before performing. At the World Championships in Boston, it was like that — I ate 10 minutes before skating. Like in ballet, I couldn’t not eat all day, the body needs building materials.
Q: Right with coffee?
Anna Pogorilaya: If you’re stressed, you don’t need a little coffee, but chamomile. (Laughs.) If you’re sluggish, even a coach might suggest it.
I am against diets, I hate these social networks, those who talk about diets. Never go on them, it’s harmful to your health! It will work against you later.
About starts of the season
Q: If you had to choose three stars of the season, who would you put in that trio?
Anna Pogorilaya: Third — Nikolai Ugozhaev. For me, he’s a revelation, quite a consistent young lad, I want to support him. I really like men’s skating now, I follow it the most. Second place — Adelia Petrosian, there shouldn’t be any questions here. Let her continue in the same direction, I only want to wish her health. She really added a lot to women’s skating this season. Already not childish programs.
I generally lack women’s skating at our competitions, I can only highlight the older generation. Except maybe Kamila Valieva. I could come specifically to watch her skate. Of course, I want her to come back, for girls not to leave. But how possible that is — is a question. The main thing is that it doesn’t kill in terms of health. Could she return? Depends on her desire.
Frolova or Petrosyan? Coming home, I’d turn on Adelia’s program. Petrosyan or Sakamoto? Also Adelia, of course. Kaori is also fantastic, but their elements don’t compare in complexity. Yes, she wins without the Russians, but maintaining form worth a lot.
Q: And she doesn’t talk about Russians.
Anna Pogorilaya: Japanese are generally very cultured. I like that. Loena Hendrickx — she said that Russian girls are stuffed with doping. Well, they are not here and you still don’t win! What’s stopping you? You can say nothing. This is like finding an excuse. I love athletes who do their thing and don’t show off.
The first star I would give to Kavronina and Narizhny. I like them compared to last season, they are a fresh pair, but a year ago they were just settling in. This is a pair that can compete internationally. How I determine favorites — I watch the blade or just the screen. Here I just want to watch the program. And the difficulty of elements exists. It’s not visible that it’s hard for them to skate.
About Valieva’s doping case
Q: In tennis, Iga Swiatek, the world’s top racket, was recently caught on trimetazidine — they gave her a month of disqualification. What do you think?
Anna Pogorilaya: In tennis, everything is organized differently, there Russians travel for competitions, while we, see, are supposed to sit at home. And some are not punished too harshly, while in other cases they make a big deal. Politics. In figure skating, in principle, taking doping is difficult. Why? Because it’s a sport requiring complex coordination, and it can be detrimental. They once gave me regular allowed vitamins, we didn’t check the dose. But it made me so jittery that it was impossible to focus on the ice. You stop feeling your body.
Q: Do you believe in Valieva’s doping?
Anna Pogorilaya: I believe it’s some kind of game to disqualify us, to prevent us from taking the top three places at the Olympics. If everything was known in advance, they could have replaced the athlete. As if they announced everything deliberately after the team event.
Q: But was there doping? Or was it staged?
Anna Pogorilaya: I think it was partly staged. Complicated story — the sample was taken at the Russian Nationals, then it stayed somewhere for a month, they delayed its analysis, what they did with it during this time is unclear. Our girls are not stupid enough to take doping.
Q: Then why the story about the strawberry dessert? Hardly a worthy defense for Kamila.
Anna Pogorilaya: They say rightly: drank something, turned away — that’s it, don’t drink from there anymore. I don’t really know the version about the strawberry dessert, I judge by the facts — the sample from the championships was delayed, and the sample at the Olympics was clean. There should be no more discussion.
I even heard that Kamila deliberately fell, so as not to get on the podium. As she said after the skate: “At least the girls will be awarded.” I think it might have worked on a subconscious level, she was analyzing. I was very upset about the situation and because the girl was not protected. We should have filed a counter-appeal against the lab, put pressure.
Q: Why didn’t they defend?
Anna Pogorilaya: I think our sports jurisprudence is just weak. They couldn’t defend in a situation when everything is not on our side. It was possible to sue because of the disclosure of the name.
Q: But does this negate the fact of doping?
Anna Pogorilaya: But it’s just tiny bits! And four years of disqualification for that? Others get a month. I think everything is against us, it was all done to deny us the entire podium at the Olympics.
Polina Edmunds, it seems, said that she saw how Russians mixed doping. What the heck did you see? It’s like they’re trying to justify their weakness. I’ve seen how much work these girls put in, they just shouldn’t listen to this dirt. I didn’t feel this negative myself. Though, when there was a world championship in Boston, I didn’t understand why I took third place. It felt roughly the same as for Sasha Trusova at the Olympics, although then everything was fair, I think. It’s clear that it was the World Championships in America, and the American was pulled to second place, but there were resentment and devastation. Ashley Wagner was boosted to the podium. As if specifically, so the Russians wouldn’t take the entire podium.”
Related topics: Adeliia Petrosian, Anna Pogorilaya, Kamila Valieva, Kaori Sakamoto, Loena Hendrickx, Polina Edmunds
Big guys dividing the world, normal ordinary people are suffering. All the best to the beautiful and talented Anna!