Fedor Klimov: Ksenia plans to continue, I also don’t exclude the option of returning

Interview with Fedor Klimov.

for sportsdaily.ru by Kirill Legkov dd. 1st March, 2019

Fedor, how are you? What do you do?

– Thank you, I’m fine. I work, train. I try to keep myself in shape. I try to coach. But perhaps this is hardly the word. There are several athletes with whom I work. I help someone, advise. In addition, I’m engaged in a pub that we opened with Maxim Trankov in the center of Moscow.

The name Kolpak Pub is about Kolpino, where were you born?

– Yes, some of my acquaintances call so Kolpino in slang, I was born there, grew up. So I decided to “glorify” my hometown a bit (smiles). This a new business for me, unfamiliar. I want friends, football fans to gather here, watch the matches, have fun.

And why do you train? To resume a sports career?

– Well, anyway, to keep myself in shape. Sometimes I do elements with someone. Still, almost 25 years have been given to figure skating. You can’t quit it in one moment. As for the resumption of a career, you know, I swore not to give final answers, to give promises – exactly “no” or exactly “yes”. I don’t exclude the option of returning. But I’m not planning it yet.

Can you clarify? Is the pair Stolbova – Klimov no longer exists?

– Yes. This was announced in the summer.

But Ksenia seems to continue. She herself talked about it. She found a new partner – Andrei Novoselov, who changed Russia to France, then France to Russia.

– I know exactly as much as you do. She plans to continue, yes. We do not maintain relations, we are not connected in any way.

Are there any chances that your pair will reunite?

– No, this won’t happen for sure.

Who was the initiator of the break up? Ksenia said that you did not call her when she was injured last year. Knowing your intelligent style, I understand that you will not answer her, but …

– I really don’t want to comment on this. I can only repeat: our pair is no longer exists. As for me, I have not decided on my future in figure skating yet.

In your opinion, why did you fail to continue the “upward movement” after the Olympics in Sochi? Nobody, of course, detracts from your achievements, but still.

– It’s a difficult question. There were many factors. Wrong decisions, injuries, somewhere we lacked some luck. We seemed to had started developing success, but we could not keep it all at the right level.

You changed styles, changed programs. But it was evident that you can do more than you were showing at competitions.

– Well yes. After the Olympics in Sochi, only few times we showed what we were capable of. In other cases, failed. Of course we were capable of more. Let’s not dwell on the past. Many people think that for pairs who have won the Olympics everything is just begins, that they will progress, will win everything easy. In fact, new pairs appear, they are developing, figure skating does not stand still

Maybe the burden of glory? Different level of expectations.

– I can say for myself that it had no effect on me. I was not afraid to make a mistake, to lose, not to meet the expectations. On the contrary, psychologically it was easier after the Olympics. The most difficult thing happened in Sochi. I understood that there won’t be such a tension, which was there. Maybe this affected our pair.

You and Ksenia are too different. Did it help or hinder?

– It’s hard to say that we’re too different. We are just not the same, and we had to work with it. Somewhere it helped, but somewhere it hindered. I can’t give a specific answer to this question.

Ksenia had serious injuries. You also after the Olympics had problems with your arm.

– Yes, there was such a moment. I still can not explain what happened. There was a problem with the shoulder. And it hadn’t a traumatic nature – something happened to the nerve, because of this, I didn’t feel the arm. For two months doctors could not make a diagnosis. We asked manual therapist Jorge Fernandez tp help. He has worked with many Russian athletes. He helped only with hands, without any devices.

Did the decision of the IOC not to allow Stolbova to compete at the Olympics become fatal for your pair?

– It messed up our plans. Initially, we had an agreement on a four-year cycle – from 2014 to 2018. We understood that the Games in Korea are “ours”. Then we did not know whether we would continue to skate after. It was implied that we will retire. After the IOC decision, everyone had his own thoughts and intentions. Well, and in the summer happened what happened.

Of course you still follow figure skating. Why is now the interest of the audience is focused on women’s skating? Where are all these hysterics about Zagitova, Medvedeva, Tuktamysheva from?

– Do you remember how many talks there were after the Olympics in Sochi about Adelina Sotnikova and Julia Lipnitskaya? Although there were other heroes – Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, Evgeni Plushenko, who took his second gold. In PyeongChang girls performed well. Therefore, they talk about them. People like to discuss those who reached the top or stopped near it. The hype around Lipnitskaya and Sotnikova was no smaller. Now – a new reason. Famous figure skaters have no less fans than famous football clubs.

How did you react to the “wars” on the Internet when you competed?

– I read it for a while. Then I stopped. News about our pair I learned from friends, coaches. Generally I did not read the media, the Internet, comments. It really gets in the way and can affect the performance negatively.

What do you think about ladies’ competition in PyeongChang? Medvedeva has been going to gold for several years, but Zagitova won.

– I find it hard to judge. In this duel I didn’t pick the side. Since the judges have decided to give the victory to Alina, it means that she deserved it. It hurts when gold is swiped from under your nose. But in sports someone is always hurt. If there are winners, then there are losers.

Related topics: Ksenia Stolbova Fedor Klimov