Evgeni Plushenko: The new judging system is a way to nowhere
Evgeni Plushenko about his son’s first competitions, his students and upcoming changes of the rules.
-I’m satisfied with the performance of my son. Not only his, but all the children’s from the school “Plushenko’s angels” Sasha did the work that coaches prepared with him. Even if he hadn’t won, so what? Did I have only first places? No. The child should not necessarily have only first places.
Do you see him as a professional athlete in the future?
– Of course. But to become not just a professional athlete, but a good athlete, you need to work hard. But we will try.
Your son is giving interviews with you. Do not you worry about him? Star fever and other dangers …
– I don’t worry about my son, because he has a good upbringing. Both from his mother’s side and mine. I also started interviewing very early and did not become spoiled. Sasha is actively involved in sports, goes to kindergarten, school, so he is not a spoiled boy. And I will not ever let him become like that. It is unacceptable.
Do you spend much time with your son at trainings?
– Enough. But he has several coaches who work with him. I do a lot of work at home, I tell him how to perform. Perhaps in the future I will work with them more closely. So far, he has one training a day, no gym, no choreography.
Does Alexander like it?
– Yes, he likes, he likes training.
Is it hard to be both a loving father and an expert in figure skating at the same time?
– My wife and I try to bring up Sasha just as my parents brought me up. Yes, sometimes you have to be tough, especially in training, motivate him, push him. But in general I try not to pressure on Sasha. He is now at such age when you can pressure too much and the child no longer wants to do figure skating. Here you need an individual approach. But Sasha likes to work, he’s persistent.
Recently you have ended cooperation with Serafima Sakhanovich. Will you be working with someone next season?
– Yes, I have Vladimir Samoilov, who last season became the 6th at the Russian Championship and got in to the national team, although before he used to take 15-16 places. I will have more guys in the team, but I can’t reveal all the secrets yet. We plan to get into the top three at the Russian Championships and to be selected for the European and World Championships. As for Serafima, it’s sport, it happens. The athlete is always looking for a stronger coach or more experienced one, well how ot seems to him. Serafima is from St. Petersburg and according to her it was hard for her here (in Moscow -ed). Although, as I think, we have achieved a good result.
You talk about single skating, right?
– Yes, in my school we do not have pair skating or ice dance on ice, only single skating.
In the new season, there will be changes in the rules. How will this affect figure skating, including your work?
– When they are finally approved and this will be in May, then it will be possible to talk about something. Because there are still hesitations. There will be grades of execution from -5 to +5, they want to shorten the free program by 50 seconds. I think this is wrong. Figure skating is developing, growing in terms of technique. I on the contrary would have added time and would have made the program five minutes long, not 4.40. But decisions like this are making.
So you are against changes.
– The new judging system is a way to nowhere. When skaters jump quads, they need more time to recover. And you still need to show music, interpretation, you need to extend the program on the contrary. The new rules won’t be a good thing. We will go back on 10-20 years and we will simply skate and wave beautifully. My manager and I are preparing a letter to the ISU about these rules, we want to explain all this. That it will be just the killing of figure skating.
by Dmitri Girin for sport-express.ru
Related topics: Evgeni Plushenko, interview
Do you think the stories about Sasha and the punishments his mother gives him are true? Because if so that is terrible!!
How can I now? But they didn’t publish any refutation. I think any mother would be furious to read such things about her and her child…but maybe they thought that bad PR is alo a PR?
No. Plushenko is a loving father. You can find hundreds of videos about their relationships. You can find on Youtube and Instagram. You don’t say they do it front of the camera because that is totally meaningless build an image but tell the truth to the media. What you read that was in one of the most famous tabloids. Sasha adores his father,the skating and the training.
Thanks for this interview!