Alexandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii: “People don’t know what we feel after the performance.”
Interview with Alexandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii. About Eteri Tutberidze’s show, difficult season and the very phrase that Sasha said to the coach Tamara Moskvina after the performance in Stockholm.
source: by sport24.ru dd. 20th April by Konstantin Lesik
At the Eteri Georgievna’s show, you presented a new exhibition program to the song “No Time To Die” by Billie Eilish. Tell us how it was created.
Alexandra: We did the program with our choreographer and skating skills specialist Nikolai Moroshkin. We proposed the idea, and Nikolai Yuryevich and the coaches supported it. We wanted something modern. Plus we had cool costumes for the James Bond program. In general, all this could be realized. And I think we showed these images quite well.
Dmitrii: I am not a supporter of usual exhibition programs. If you are start doing something, then there must be some specific story, concept, idea.
We had a successful free program and I personally wanted to keep this idea, the spark of our skating in our future projects. Therefore, the idea came to slightly modify those images from the free program into an exhibition program. We hope that we will skate it for a long time. In general, we want to collect in our arsenal a large number of programs liked by the public, so that we can alternate them depending on the requirements of the organizers or, which is an important factor, the wishes of the audience.
Alexandra: Plus, in this program we are trying to improve ourselves. It’s very dancing. There are many moments where we have to look at each other, skate bigger, smoothly, wider. Of course, now it will be difficult, because the ice is often smaller for the show. But, I think everything will be fine. We really enjoy skating it!
Dmitrii: You do exhibition programs for yourself. You get maximum pleasure, do not fight for the result, but simply try to give something interesting to the public and a unique emotion for yourself. Competitions provides more energy from the audience, but during exhibitions this flow is more positive, relaxed and less stressful.
Any more plans for the show?
Alexandra: No. The final performance in St. Petersburg. Then we will work on new programs and will go on vacation.
Was this invitation a surprise to you?
Alexandra: No. We have known about this since January. Definitely this was not a surprise. Plus, we understand that at the end of the season we should have been invited somewhere (laughs). We were ready.
Dmitrii: But it’s still great that we were invited to participate with such cool, interesting and really strong athletes. Moreover, the show of Eteri Georgievna is distinguished by the high technical level of what is happening on the ice. Girls and guys jumped quadruples, Sasha and I, Tarasova and Morozov performed elements of competitive programs. It’s hard. And it’s cool. It is interesting for the viewer to look at the complexity. And when you manage to combine the artistic image of exhibitions and technical content from competitive programs, it’s cool. The Tutberidze’s show was rich in such content.
What grade would give yourself for the season?
Alexandra: Not higher than B.
Dmitrii: The season is specific. If we consider it as usual, then the grade is unlikely to be high. But if we take into account its non-standard nature, take into account the difficulties that we faced … I’m not exactly satisfied, but I have a certain sense of pride in a number of moments that we have overcome.
For example?
Dmitrii: I was sick with coronavirus. Because of this, our preparation for the Grand Prix in Moscow was disrupted. We had to force the preparation for this competitions. But we managed to perform very successfully there.
Alexandra also had difficulties with her health before the Russian Nationals. Fortunately, it was not a coronavirus. But there were still difficulties and failures in preparation. The lack of normal rest before the last season also affected. And this was successfully overcome. And this despite the fact that the other guys performed very strongly, and the competitions within the country were held at a high level. Competition inside Russia is growing and growing every year. We manage to cope with this, and this is our big plus, my personal and our common pride.
Is the bronze of the World Championships a success?
Alexandra: Look! We took bronze at the Russian Nationals and bronze at the European Championships, next season we had gold medals at these competitions. Following this logic, at the next World Championships we should have gold (smiles). According to our statistics, everything is going as planned.
Dmitrii: I would not like to regret what has already happened. Any athlete wants to win the World Championships. Were we capable of this? Of course we were capable! The only question is what we have not done personally. We got what we deserved. Get upset and think about it? I don’t think about it. Now the offseason is already beginning, when you need to enter the big arc and approach such an event as the Olympics. It is not easy.
Alexandra: Before the World Championships, we said that the one who skate more clean will win. There were no international competitions where Russian, Chinese, Canadian, American pairs could have met… Everything depended on the clean performance. And so it happened in the end.
That is, something like a roulette?
Dmitrii: Roulette is the wrong word. Mishina and Galliamov showed really clean, good skating. I didn’t watch the Chinese even on replays, but I heard that they had some mistakes. We made mistakes. Therefore, talking about roulette is wrong, it is a sport. There will be a chance of mistake in any case because the ice is slippery. We’re just trying to minimize it.
Sasha,…
Dmitrii: I would not like to discuss this.
Alexandra: There is nothing to discuss here.
Dmitrii: Let’s skip this topic. We are all human and …
Alexandra: Everyone has emotions.
Dmitrii: Emotions happen. This is sport, adrenaline. I would not dwell on this.
But now pair skating is being discussed almost on the same level as ladies’ skating.
Dmitrii: Victories are discussed most of all. The ladies’ skating are discussed this much not because there are some scandals, intrigues, but because there have been systematic victories since the Sochi Olympics. They are loved first of all. We can have scandals as much as we want, but no one needs it without results. I do not assess what happened in terms of PR, we work for results and we are focused on it.
Okay, I’ll put it this way. The most viewed article on Sport24 for March among all sports is the one describing the situation in kiss and cry.
Alexandra: This is very strange. How can people reason and discuss a topic that, in principle, is not clear to them? They haven’t been in the same situation that Dima and I were. They didn’t understand what was happening. They have not been at trainings or competitions. They couldn’t understand what was going on in our heads, in our souls. People don’t know what we feel after the performance. Therefore, it is wrong to discuss anything. Condemn – even more so. That’s all I can say.
So that episode is just emotions?
Alexandra: Let’s just say it was anger. But this anger was primarily at myself. As we said, we perfectly understood that everything depended on the cleanliness of our performance.
Did you read the headlines, the comments of the fans later?
Alexandra: I try not to read it. But, unfortunately, there was a lot of negativity. And it sometimes continues to this day.
Dmitrii: Let’s do it this way. This is truly a thing of the past. You said that this is the most popular article for March, but it’s already April. Let’s move forward!
It happened. We don’t want to focus on this, because life goes on. And our career continues. And our preparations for the main competition of the Olympic cycle continue. This is what we focus on. We do not have the opportunity and time to constantly pay attention at this media space. We have study, hobbies, training, health. We do not live on the Internet 24/7, reading all the articles. Otherwise, it’s time for us to take off our skates, join you and do the work of journalists. But we have a slightly different direction.
There was another cool event this season – the Channel One Cup.
Dmitrii: We were glad how everything turned out. We had a great team. We never hid that we wanted to join Evgenia Medvedeva’s team. And we got there. All the athletes from the “The Time of First” complemented each other, formed an integral and unified team. It was wonderful.
For the first time, Sasha and I took part in a team competitions. It was something new for us. We sincerely hope that such a competition will be repeated, modernized, maybe some innovations, adjustments in the rules or something else will be introduced. But I would like this project to live, because it clearly raises interest to figure skating.
Alexandra: Now the emotions from the event are already a little blurry, but I remember that it was very cool. A whole team supported us. That is, not only the coaches stood behind the boards and worried, but also other athletes, who seemed to take part in our performance, shouted: “Come on, come on. Well done”. It was cool.
The only thing is that team events are hard work in the sense that you have to perform yourself and support the others. Or first to support others, and then to skate yourself. You have to be able to …
Dmitrii: It was the hardest part, but actually it’s right to sit and support your people. You approach individual performances in a completely different way: you come to your performance and do your job. And here you have to give energy before your performance and at the same time to keep energy for your high-quality performance.
Wishes to the fans
Dmitrii: Dear fans, we are very glad that you are starting to return to our competitions. We miss you very much. We miss your energy. I have always said and will repeat this: “Figure skating without fans does not have the power, the energy flow that it has when you are sitting in the stands.” Therefore, I sincerely believe that this whole coronavirus story will pass in the near future and we will be with you again.
Alexandra: Dima said the right things. It is true that we really miss you and your real support. We see and read everything you write us on the Internet, but it is still can’t be compared. We love you. And we ask you continue supporting us and watch our sport.
Dmitrii: You don’t have to support exactly us. Support the athletes you like. And this applies not only to our Russian, but also to foreign fans.
Related topics: Alexandra Boikova Dmitri Kozlovski
I read the article several times trying to find any information or indication that they were happy for and congratulated their training mates who had won the 2021 Worlds. But sigh, no, nothing. I mean I understand being competitive is necessary as top-level athletes, but I expect you also be super classy in personal demeanour in order to be world-class stars.
They are an amazing couple BUT they must learn to lose in style and class…