Evgenia Medvedeva: Silver doesn’t prevent from enjoying Olympic memories

Evgenia Medvedeva became the ambassador of the Russian Olympic team at the summer Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo, she told about her new role and upcoming season at a press conference.

original text by rsport.ria.ru dd. 27th August 2019

Evgenia: It’s a great honor for me to be with the Russian Olympic team. This is a little unusual for me, since I will attend my second Olympics. I know that each Olympics is unique in its own way. I’m really looking forward to getting to the Olympic village, I’m very happy that I will have an opportunity to feel the atmosphere of the Games. It’s a great honor to be with the team, with the guys who will represent our country. It’s really amazing.

True, it was a very difficult time at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, for our entire team it was very difficult to prepare ourselves mentally, because we didn’t have our flag. But at the moment, people don’t think that we competed under the white Olympic flag, everyone knows what country we represent, and this is amazing!

Evgenia, what will be your duties in Tokyo as a team ambassador? And which athletes would you like to meet?

– I’m familiar with many athletes from summer sports, especially gymnasts. We often communicate. I’m very glad that I will be there (in Tokyo) and will be able to feel in what kind of environment they will be performing there. I’m sure at the Games will be absolutely unique and amazing energy. And my main duty is to be there and be with the team. It’s very important for me that I will have the opportunity to support our guys. I understand how difficult it will be for them to perform at the Olympics, but I will try to give them part of my strength, my energy. I will try to invest a part of my soul in this event. This Olympics certainly will be magical.

Was it difficult for you to agree? How will you combine your mission at the Summer Games with the training process?

– It wasn’t difficult to agree, we discussed many times whether this will affect my preparation or not. I can assure you that I remain an active athlete, and this role won’t affect my physical shape. It will take place in the summer, when there will be only initial preparation for the season, the coaches and I decided that my role wouldn’t bring any damage to my preparation.

Have you been able to follow the Summer Olympics before? Which of the athletes, perhaps, inspired you?

– I watched the last Olympics (in Rio de Janeiro), rejoiced the silver medal of our team in gymnastics. I know many girls from the team. I saw how happy they were, how inspired they were. It really was a victory for them. Sometimes we meet, talk at restaurants, talk about the Olympics – they have silver, I have silver … But this doesn’t prevent us from enjoying those memories. For us, the Olympics is something special that we will keep for many years. I realized that the Olympics is something magical just after the last summer Games. Not all people have an opportunity to experience this feeling of pride for the team, for the country.

You train in Canada and feel at home there…

– Regarding the fact that in Canada I feel like at home. Of course, this is about work. I’m used to people surround me, I’m used to Brian, to Tracy, we certainly feel each other, we understand, they can understand what is wrong with me without words. I speak English well, but sometimes I can’t express what exactly I feel.

But they (coaches) understand how I feel and know what needs to be done in such situations. We feel like a sports family. But still, I have the feeling that I’m on a very long business trip. All my friends, relatives and acquaintances are here in Russia. And now I enjoy spending time with my family, with friends and close ones. I really miss Russia, very, very much. But at the same time, I know that in Canada I have a job. My life situation is good, I have the opportunity to spend time in Russia and Canada.

Tell us about your new free program to the music from the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha.” You worked on this program with Canadian choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne. They say that all athletes change after working with her.

– This free program is my dream program. I’ve been prepared myself mentally for this role for two years. I listened to this music in headphones for a very long time, but all this time I felt that I hadn’t grown to this story in order to express myself in the program as much as possible. But the program is so thought out, I haven’t had such in my career before. Brian said that this is the best program in my career. It inspired me. Shae-Lynn, the choreographer of my free program, is an amazing woman, and it is true that athletes change for the better after working with her. This person can work non stop. We had sessions of three, three and a half hours on ice. Her eyes were burning during all this time. Any person working on ice begins to freeze, freak out, and she didn’t show any fatigue. She is an unreal woman, and I hope she improved me for the better.

Can we expect that during the Tokyo Olympics you will be a commentator?

– Commenting is very interesting for me. My first experience was “Ice Age. Children.” I was madly nervous, more than at the Olympics. It was scary for me. But I got used to it, it turned out great, but at first it was very difficult. Of course, standing with a microphone is interesting to me.

Can you comment on football?

– Honestly, no.

Maybe men’s Greco-Roman wrestling?

– That might be interesting.

How are the things going with quad salchow?

– Things are moving forward, I try not to be a person who said and forgot. I really started to do it. I can’t boast of a clean landing from the quad salchow, but I pay attention to this jump at least 40 minutes a day. Learning ultra-c will take time. And we can’t say how much time. But things are moving forward. At the Japanese show, it was probably sixth attempt of the quad salchow, I can not say that it was successful. I don’t promise anything yet, since figure skating is a dangerous sport, but I’m surrounded by excellent people, specialists, and we will master the quad salchow.

Tatiana Tarasova, in a recent interview, expressed the opinion that you “need to finish with doing gala programs yourself.” What is it for you to make a gala program for yourself?

– First of all, I had a choice, to work either with a choreographer, or myself. I wanted to choreograph a gala program myself. I saw a certain image, choreographic movements, costume. I realized that this is the program that I would like to create myself. This is one of my favorite gala programs. And I’m pleased with the result. This absolutely doesn’t mean that I stop working with choreographers.

How are the things going with learning Japanese?

– Honestly, I wouldn’t want to bring this up now. I’m studying the Japanese language actively, but I won’t give any examples in Japanese. I want to start speaking in public when I learn the language at least at the basic level. I learn Japanese with a teacher, with textbooks, everything is as it should. Coming soon.

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