Evgeni Plushenko: The doors of my school are always open. There will be more sensations.
Evgeni Plushenko about the circumstances of Alena Kostornaia’s transfer to his Academy.
by Anatoli Samokhvalov for rsport.ria.ru
Evgeni, Kostornaia is in your group, following Alexandra Trusova – is this a victory for you or a terrible responsibility?
Evgeni Plushenko: For any coach, such athletes are a great responsibility. Both Trusova and Kostornaia are a big responsibility. We are ready for it. My team, Seryozha Rozanov, we are all glad that athletes are coming to us.
Who is the initiator of this transfer?
Evgeni Plushenko: Alena herself. Two weeks ago, she expressed a desire to join my and Serezha’s group, to which I replied: “Why not, if this is your informed decision. If this is an adult decision, we are ready to take you and work with you.”
Hasn’t the conversation about the transition been going on since May?
Evgeni Plushenko: This is complete nonsense. I don’t know anything about it, Alena came to me with this initiative two weeks ago.
Was there no initiative on your part regarding this transition?
Evgeni Plushenko: Of course not. We didn’t communicate, we didn’t even know each other. I saw Alena on TV, watched her at competitions, but we have never met.
But after Trusova, you talked about the upcoming sensations.
Evgeni Plushenko: And I’m still saying that there will be more sensations.
After Kostornaia?
Evgeni Plushenko: Sure. Even then I meant that very good athletes would come to us.
What sensations?
Evgeni Plushenko: There are a lot of people willing.
If we are talking about those skaters who can be a sensation, then right now we can count them on the fingers of one hand.
Evgeni Plushenko: Exactly.
These are Anna Shcherbakova, Alina Zagitova, Evgenia Medvedeva. And that’s all.
Evgeni Plushenko: Is this not enough? Or do you want twenty people to switch and it will be a sensation? The doors of my school are always open. We are open to dialogue and ready to work with any athlete.
That is, out of the three people I have listed, someone can switch to you?
Evgeni Plushenko: Well, someone might do it. But there will be sensations while this is just the beginning. There are a lot of amazing athletes in the world of figure skating.
Not so much.
Evgeni Plushenko: I think enough. And I’m not talking about foreigners.
Tutberidze posted on Instagram: “And now Alena gave us a list of non grata girls.” That is, those girls with whom Kostornaia did not want to train.
Evgeni Plushenko: This is nonsense, she was ready to train with everyone. She has no problems with it, she is ready to work with everyone, she treats all athletes very positively. She understands that sparring partners are needed, and she is ready to be on the ice with everyone.
Will Kostornaia and Trusova train on the same ice?
Evgeni Plushenko: I think this is right. You see, we have the opportunity to separate them, because I have enough ice. We will analyze this situation, because we have not started the work yet. Let’s see whether we, the coaches, will have time to work with them or not. If we do not, then we will divide them. If we need to, we will bring them together. We are very flexible in this regard.
How will they “tear apart” Rozanov?
Evgeni Plushenko: You are talking some kind of nonsense. Rozanov coaches and coached many athletes, and everything was fine. Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin coaches Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Sofia Samodurova, and now Mikhail Kolyada on the same ice.
Did Trusova have a requirement that she comes to you with Rozanov, who will work with girls from a different age category, but from the older ones only with her?
Evgeni Plushenko: There were no such requirements.
Did Alena say why is she coming to you?
Evgeni Plushenko: She wanted changes, she sees that we are a strong team, she wants to grow further, learn quadruple jumps, wants to have beautiful and interesting programs. She wants to change the team completely. In Russia, we have such an attitude to transitions, as if something incredible had happened. But this is a normal situation. This means that Alena could not work there, something did not suit her there. Maybe an attitude. I would not want to splash the story. The athlete has made a decision to move – he’s welcomed. The Federation does not mind, parents do not mind, Alena agrees, this is her initiative. We supported this initiative and intend to move forward.
Will she financially benefit from this transition?
Evgeni Plushenko: What does finance have to do with it? Was she earning something there? We didn’t even talk about finances with her. Her goal is sport.
Didn’t you talk that she will have sponsors, new shows? …
Evgeni Plushenko: We didn’t discuss it at all. I repeat, her goal is sport, the Olympic Games.
Her programs have already been choreographed. Will you change them?
Evgeni Plushenko: Sure. Of course, we will change and make ours. What I’ve seen on Instagram from her recent programs is just awful. Alena doesn’t like it, she said it herself.
Wow. But her coach-choreographer Daniil Gleikhengauz said that Kostornaia enjoys these programs.
Evgeni Plushenko: Maybe Gleikhengauz would like to see this, but the athlete herself says the opposite.
Related topics: Alena Kostornaia, Alexandra Trusova, Evgeni Plushenko
Good luck to Alena. I’m glad she is being reunited with the coach who helped her the most with the Triple Axel. Hopefully she will her confidence back and to develop herself further.
The part of a programm, what I saw with Gleichengaus – it is an awful music. You cannot enjoy such a factory noise over 4 minutes. And the movements…mmmmh! I don’t know! I beleave, that Aljona, if she had the choice , never would have said “yes” to this. It must be a horror to scate to this loud music every day.
The part of a programm, what I saw with Gleichengaus – it is an awful music. You cannot enjoy such a factory noise over 4 minutes. And the movements…mmmmh! I don’t know! I beleave, that Aljona, if she had the choice , never would have said “yes” to this. It must be a horror to scate to this loud music every day.
Oh thank god she will have new programs. Not sure what the heck Plushenko will bring but this girl deserves a real choreographer like Lori Nichols, David Wilson, JeffreyButtle, Tom Dickson, Stéphane Lambiel, someone from Japan. The girl is a dream skater for any choreographer, she deserves the best.
Yes, she definitely deserves best choreographers. But I’m sure this season her programs will be done by Rozanov. There’s no opportunity to fly to get a foreign choreographer and time is ticking(