Eteri Tutberidze: To stay in juniors longer is a huge regress for girls
Another short interview with Eteri Tutberidze. Oh, she’s very very talkative these days.
Sasha Trusova did something incredible. Can you explain what did she do from figure skating point of view?
– She pushed figure skating to the next level. She showed that quadruple jump, by the vay the most difficult one, is possible not for the chosen men only, but also for the girls.
Why did no one try it before her? Or tried?
– I think no. Fear factor. Sasha is fearless. But we have another in the group. So, we are trying to show that this is a certain system. It’s possible. But at the same time, I want to tell people: “Do not try it at home, it’s very dangerous.”
So it turned out that 14-year-old girl is not afraid to try? Did she offered it, or did you come up with the idea to try?
– Well, we went on quadruple together, but the fact that she decided to try a quadruple lutz … Probably, she decided not to stop there, because the American girls are already trying jumps. So she decided to do the jump, that others will not try.
Is this her nature?
– Yes, she said that she wants to do something that no one has ever done.
So she comes to you and says: “Eteri Georgievna, I want to try a quadruple”? And you say: “It’s impossible, only boys do it”?
– No, we tried until some time on the harness, it’s when a coach skates nearby and holds it. This is still very dangerous, but reduces the danger by 50%.
It turns out that you are a coach who has only golden eggs in his nest. Do they come to you like that or do you make them such?
– I hope that we made. Our team.
How do they get along? After all, challenging figure skating, they challenge each other.
– Here everyone decides for himself, either he takes a step forward, or lives in some kind of his hypostasis, because it is not necessary for everyone to jump quadruple.
You have Alina Zagitova in the team who skated brilliantly at the Olympics. Haven’t you thought that she also should try a quad?
– We tried. We did this a year before the Olympics, but then we stopped, because every jump is a risk. Even if the athlete knows how to do it, it’s still a risk.
But can Alina do a quad?
– There was something close, where you can continue to work. But now Alina has grown up, physiological changes have happened, and we do not work on it. She should strengthen first.
So you want to say that Sasha is stronger?
– Yes, Sasha is stronger. And I think it’s very important to start doing these jumps before physiological changes, because then the girls try to keep. At least to keep.
At the Olympics, Sasha will be 17 …
– Let’s not talk about it yet, because it’s not known what they will come up with. They are now trying to raise the age so that these girls can not move to seniors. But to stay in juniors is a huge regress for them, as to stay in one one grade in school for the second year.
Maybe they want to prolong the life in sports? Because young girls leave, like Julia Lipnitskaya, with the words “it’s very hard further.”
– Listen, how many girls constantly leave and leave with the words “that’s enough”? But everyone has their own destiny. It’s their choice to continue or not to continue. There are others, there is Carolina Kostner who is 33, and she skates and has a lot of fans.
But Zhenya Medvedeva says: “I want to do a quadruple, but I haven’t enough musculature. But I will train it. ” Is it possible, because she is also an adult by the standards of figure skating?
– Well, we also trained a quadruple… We’ll see. I know what she will have to overcome.
Does this Canadian man know?
– Look, he’s a good coach, he has merits and he got the most titled athlete.
Well, imagine, you have a basket of excellent apples, and you take one and give it for free?
– This is not an apple, it’s a whole spruce, it has been growing for 11 and a half years. This is a breaking of character. They say: “Tutberidze is a junior coach”. I want to say: “Wait.” There were sinior test skates. At the test skates four of nine girls were mine. What kind of junior skating are they talking about? Four out of nine are forty percent of seniors – mine.
Now you have Sasha, a real rising star. What needs to be done so that the enthusiasm in her eyes does not fade away?
– I don’t think that she will have such situation, because she is a fanatic. I never had to force her or motivate to work. She perfectly knows what she needs and she goes to the goal. What is needed? Train and pray that nothing let her down.
I just want her to a avoid the situation many faced, when in 17 there’s no fire left in their eyes.
– You know, it happenes because it’s such a routine, “hell” work. Every day it seems to you that you have already achieved something, but there’s more work. It’s like a snowball. And it’s very difficult. They feel what it was for, when they stand on the pedestal, but as soon as they leave it, they need to roll this snowball further.
Related topics: Alexandra Trusova, Alina Zagitova, Eteri Tutberidze, Evgenia Medvedeva, interview
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