Alexei Mishin: “If Tuktamysheva had appeared in a different historical period of world figure skating, her athletic fate might have been different.”
Alexei Mishin commented on his student Elizaveta Tuktamysheva’s decision to retire.
source: RIA Novosti / Sport Express
Renowned coach Alexei Mishin reflected on Elizaveta Tuktamysheva’s retirement, praising her influence on women’s figure skating and noting that her career, though not the most decorated, brought beauty and inspiration to many. Here’s a translation.
“Some events look different from different perspectives. As a coach, I thank fate for having spent a long and interesting period of my coaching life with Elizaveta.
From the standpoint of her contribution to figure skating, at one point in her career, Liza was like the torch of the Statue of Liberty, lighting the way for mature female skaters toward multi-rotation jumps.
Today, I am pleased and interested to come to the rink and see Liza still by my right hand,” Mishin said.
“The wonderful skater Alexander Abt competed at a time when Yagudin was behind him and Plushenko was ahead. Or take the pair Moskvina and Mishin: they skated in an era when the incomparable Belousova and Protopopov were behind, and the legendary Rodnina and her partners were ahead. If Liza had appeared in a different historical period of world figure skating, her athletic fate might have been different.
Liza had an impeccable and truly beautiful sporting life, in which, perhaps, there weren’t the most medals, but there were a great many people to whom she brought beauty and joy,” Mishin said.
Related topics: Alexei Mishin, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
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