Yana Rudkovskaya: “I still believe that if Trusova hadn’t switched back to Tutberidze, she could have won the Olympic Games because Plushenko was very passionate about her progress.”
Yana Rudkovskaya believes that figure skater Alexandra Trusova could have won Olympic gold if she had remained under the guidance of coach Evgeni Plushenko instead of returning to Eteri Tutberidze’s team.
original source: No Comments Evgenia Medvedeva’s Youtube channel
In an interview with Evgenia Medvedeva, producer Yana Rudkovskaya shared her belief that Alexandra Trusova could have won the Olympics had she stayed with Evgeni Plushenko as her coach. Trusova trained under Plushenko during the 2020–21 season before returning to Eteri Tutberidze. Here’s a translation of her comments.
“It’s very simple. I still believe that if Sasha hadn’t switched back, she could have won the Olympic Games because Evgeni was very passionate about her progress. But at some point, the strength of… Eteri – a very strong woman – became a decisive factor. Eteri possesses qualities that Evgeni doesn’t have and probably never will, as his coaching approach is entirely different.
He approaches coaching like Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin; he does it on his own terms, only when he feels the connection and chemistry with the athlete. If he sees no chemistry, he simply steps back, saying: ‘This athlete won’t progress anymore unless they adapt to my methods.’ He’s very direct with that.”
Rudkovskaya highlighted a pivotal moment of tension between Plushenko and Trusova. “There was a small conflict between Sasha and Evgeni when he advised her not to attempt the triple axel, but she insisted: ‘I want to try.’ You know Sasha – when she decides on something, there’s no stopping her. He told her, ‘Just do two and a half [axel],’ but she continued training her free skate with five quads in it at every session.
Originally, Sasha’s historic free skate with five quads was planned for the World Championships in Stockholm, but things didn’t unfold as planned due to the conflict. Evgeni strategically advised against attempting the axel, while Sasha wanted to push forward with it. This created a rift between them, and in the end, she faltered in the short program and placed twelfth there. Ultimately, she finished in third place overall.
However, as you know, if she had delivered a clean short program… or even just landed three or four quads – things she executed with ease – she would have become the world champion. Instead, she earned bronze, still with Evgeni.
After that, when she returned, I told Evgeni: ‘You need to mend your relationship with her,’ and he replied: ‘There’s no connection with her right now. I won’t press her or insist on anything.’ Evgeni doesn’t chase after his students, telling them, ‘Stay with me.’ That’s just his character. He’s Plushenko.
And that’s how it ended – Sasha left. Why did she come to Plushenko in the first place? Because she always knew how much we cared for her. Our friendship didn’t falter. Evgeni cheered for her at the Olympics, even making his famous comment that Trusova’s physical condition was better than Cristiano Ronaldo’s.
But at the same time, he noted that there would likely be a strategic error in her short program, which indeed happened, and that she would only finish second. Back then, he even placed a significant bet on Anna Shcherbakova. And he won the bet because he always told Sasha that she needed to trust not just her heart but also the tactical guidance of her coach. He predicted that her team might assign a double axel for safety, but she would go for the triple axel instead – and that would cost her the gold. And that’s exactly what happened,” Rudkovskaya explained in her interview with Evgenia Medvedeva.
Related topics: Alexandra Trusova, Eteri Tutberidze, Evgeni Plushenko, Yana Rudkovskaya
No, she wont win it with Plushenko either with that shitty training regiment. She has no other options but to do 3A, at least in SP. Which she did, and somewhat that was what made her lose. But only because the 5 quads is unproven in competition.
Take a look at her competitors:
– There was a IG post where Shcherbakova was doing off ice 3A in Beijing. She was prepared to gamble as well. With crumbling knees, if I may add.
– Valieva did 3Lz+3Lo in earlier competition trainings(I think it was the Euro). She mastered 4S last. And because her 4S and 3A seems to cancel each other, would be riskier for her to do two 3A in FP than one 3A and 3Lz+3Lo. Even harder to think that Valieva took PED willingly if she can still flop jumps even with Rippon stabilizer.
If Eteri or the doc were drug pushers, shouldn’t they all skate flawlessly with endless stamina? So, why the fuck would they put Valieva for 2 programs in team event, if they knew she was in substance withdrawal and would stay in that condition for at least 1 more week with 2 more skates in the individuals? Fifteen year old Valieva was as if Trusova and Shcherbakova fused, turn into a Super Saiyan blue and tap into Kaio Ken mode!!
Anyway, Eteri just squeezed out the most out of her athletes, that’s all. She exploited the rules too, so that Zagi can get optimal points. As time goes by, Medvedeva seems to accept it(lost to Zagi).
It was Rusfed former chief that insists that Zagi go.
Tactics and options!! Russia has the most chess grandmasters in the world. They are winning the war and Europe is going flat broke. Can’t make that shit up.