Tatiana Tarasova: I’m completely in love with Shoma Uno

Elena Vaytsekhovskaya’s interview with Tatiana Tarasova about Skate Canada 2017. About Kaetlyn Osmond, Shoma Uno, Aljona Savchenko and Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir.

Tatiana Anatolievna, of course you’ve watch the competitions.

– I watched all night, though I am in Germany having a medical survey. I must tell you that I don’t share the enthusiasm about Kaetlyn Osmond, even though she won these competitions. Moreover, I consider her free program not successful. It doesn’t have sophistication, that her short program to Edith Piaf has, I nostalgically fell in love with that program a year ago when I saw it for the first time. Now, watching how Osmond skates to “Swan Lake”, I remembered, for example, that Sasha Cohen was much more convincing, skating to this music. But that’s not the reason. You can’t take the great music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composed specifically for the ballet, and make “just a program”. It’s the same if you take Debussy’s “Moonlight” and run on the toe picks the whole program.

Osmond doesn’t feel the ballet style, so for me it’s strange. After all, for the sake of such a program, you can probably watch the ballet – Maya Plisetskaya, Diana Vishneva. While the Canadian looks completely unconvincing for me. What I can’t say, for example, about Zhenya Medvedeva with her “Anna Karenina.” Let the music a little bit not for her age, but we have never seen such a Medvedeva. Therefore, it’s interesting for me to watch it, and Osmond – not.

What about the men’s event?

– You know, when a person is in love, he can’t be objective. I’m completely in love with Shoma Uno.

Given that he is far from the ideal figure skater?

– So what? Every time I see Uno on the ice, I feel absolute admiration for his energy, how he combines the long, almost rapid steps with the wild, insane energy of some movements. You said correctly: his is not perfect. If Yuzuru Hanyu is impeccable in all respects, then from Shoma you do not expect beauty and refinement. I would compare him with Baryshnikov – the way he worked on stage. When people work so selflessly, it’s absolutely impossible not admire this magic. My dad, when he was alive, liked to say: “If you take a weekend, then you do not love your job. Person doesn’t need rest from the job he loves.” That’s Hanyu, that’s Uno, that’s Nathan Chen – they are ready to skate 24 hours a day and get energy out of this. These three have already turned the world of men’s single skating upside down and continue doing this.

Don’t you think that what the debutant of Grand Prix Alexander Samarin did in Canada, your former skater Maxim Kovtun  could have done a few years ago?

– Kovtun could have done much more. I’ll be honest, I did not expect that Samarin would show such a high result. I did not count on him at all this season. Now – after that skate I saw in Canada, I consider him an Olympian. And I want to congratulate sincerely the entire team of Sasha’s coaches. In sportsmen I really love talent. But very often, people forget that sometimes this talent is given from birth, and sometimes it’s work that opens talent and new opportunities.

I want to ask you about pair skating and I know that I will hear one more declaration of love.

– Yes, I love Aljona (Savchenko). She extends the limits of my understanding how long a person can last in a big sport. First of all, it admires that Aljona didn’t stop loving what she’s doing. I don’t want to say that I consider her clearly the strongest, in fact, she and Bruno (Massot) failed to win in Canada, but I sincerely admire this athlete. Just like in ice dance I admire Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir. They have an absolutely amazing free dance, beautifully choreographed and beautifully executed. Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron’s program is completely different, but this what makes the rivalry between them so beautiful. And, of course, I wanted to mention the second Canadian pair (Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje). Kolya Morozov, agreeing to work with them, just returned Weaver / Poje to life.

As a coach do you admire the work of your Canadian colleagues Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon who work with the two strongest pairs in the world?

– I often remember myself at this age, when my head was falling apart from the number of ideas, from the desire to realize them on the ice. It seems to me that Dubreuil and Lauzon are now in the same condition. And the result we see on the ice.

by Elena Vaytsekhovskaya for rsport.ru

Related topics: Alexander Samarin, Aljona Savchenko Bruno Massot, grand-prix, interview, kaetlyn osmond, Kaitlyn Weaver Andrew Poje, Marie-France Dubreuil Patrice Lauzon, Shoma Uno, Skate Canada, Tatiana Tarasova, Tessa Virtue Scott Moir