Daria Usacheva: “I was crying not from pain but from resentment. Japan was a dream. If it had been another GP, I suppose, I would have perceived my injury less emotionally.”
Translation of the interview with Daria Usacheva.
source: RSport dd. 27th May 2024 by Anastasiya Panina
Here’s a translation of recent interview with Daria Usacheva posted on RSport. In the interview Daria talks about her injury, try-out with Dario Cirisano and her life after sports.
“Q: Athletes with a fate like yours are usually pitied. It’s a drama – an injury in your prime, a forced end to your career at 15 years old. Did you ever feel sorry for yourself at any stage?
Daria Usacheva: There were moments. Because… Who doesn’t pity themselves?! But generally not at all. My mom was worried, but I had no doubts everything would be okay. And not once in the year after I retired did I regret it. This means the decision was correct. Looking back, I again think that absolutely every event in my life was necessary for something. Even the bad ones.
Q: Even the injury at the Japanese Grand Prix stage?
Daria Usacheva: I found many positives in that as well. I wasn’t especially sad during that period. I cried the first few hours out of resentment. Then Anya (Shcherbakova) and I talked a lot via video call. But in the morning I was already recording some fun videos in a wheelchair and laughing about it. I love dark humor, honestly. And the way my friends joked about it was absolutely hilarious. For example, that now Dasha won’t be able to make the first step.
Q: It’s interesting how an athlete supports another athlete in such a situation? I would probably say something like “Hold on, poor girl” and so on.
Daria Usacheva: Most people did write that. But Anya was supporting me not as an athlete to an athlete, but as a person to a person. As a friend. Because at that moment we were already very close. I don’t remember the exact phrases but for me her words and her participation were lifesaving.
Q: You were formally competitors for an Olympic spot at that time. So, the communication, friendship, and support seem even more valuable.
Daria Usacheva: It may sound very un-sporting, but for me, human relationships are more important than any sports moments. So to do something against communication for the sake of sports, I wouldn’t be able to do so. Sport is part of life, and a person can be your friend for life.
Q: I recall the Olympic season and marvel at the competition. Your strongest competitors in the team were Valieva, Trusova, Shcherbakova, Tuktamysheva, and there were only three spots for the Games. Did you maintain the hope that you could go to the Olympics?
Daria Usacheva: I was doing everything within my power but I didn’t give myself hope. There was no certainty that I would go. There was an understanding that anything could happen, and theoretically, the opportunity to go existed. And I just needed to be ready. As Eteri Georgievna always said: “You just do everything possible, then you won’t regret not trying.” That’s what I was doing.
Q: Was performing at that GP stage important to you? Its results could improve your positions in the team, so some risks with the injury were probably ignored.
Daria Usacheva: I had a dream from childhood to perform in Japan. Naturally, I wanted to skate there. I can’t say there was some striving to go despite all the risks. We simply did not expect such a thing could happen. Like an ordinary situation – everyone has some pain, and that is a fact. But almost never does anything terrible happen.
Q: There were really no precursors to the injury? Reasons to withdraw from the competition?
Daria Usacheva: I had many injuries in my life, even when I was little. I have a high pain threshold, I can tolerate pain. The pain was increasing but I didn’t pay attention to it. During the six-minute warm-up, when my leg hurt a lot, I didn’t think about how I’d skate but how I’d express the character (laughs). Because my face was expressing something different, not what was needed for the program.
Q: What does an athlete feel before a competition for which they’ve been preparing for a long time, when they fall during warm-up and realize they can’t get up? What thoughts were in your head?
Daria Usacheva: I started to analyze my sensations, understood that something terrible had happened, because I had never felt like this before. I tried to get up, realized that I couldn’t. I tried to take my leg with my hand. Somehow I made it to the boards on pain shock and adrenaline because in about ten minutes I couldn’t move my leg even a centimeter. The pain was terrible. And it was only when Eteri Georgievna told me “get off the ice”, I realized that this was it. Then there were desperate thoughts “damn, this is it, I won’t perform”. I was crying, not from pain, but from resentment. Japan was a dream. If it had been another stage, I suppose, it wouldn’t have been perceived as emotionally on my part.
Q: I remember you were almost predicted to win there. Surely this added to the disappointment.
Daria Usacheva: That’s something I analyzed afterwards. If only, I would have, I could have… But there were many strong competitors there anyway. It’s unknown how I would have skated.
Q: How long did it take to recover enough to at least start walking?
Daria Usacheva: Two months in a wheelchair, then closer to the New Year in the Russian Federal Biomedical Agency they took my wheelchair and gave me crutches. They said you needed to walk, and that was a bit scary psychologically – it seemed as though nothing had healed yet. I had physical therapy, exercise therapy – like in a sanatorium. Then I took my first step. Incredible feelings! You start to appreciate everything in your life. For all it’s the norm, but it turns out, it’s very cool. For me, this was a huge joy. I couldn’t stay still – I was walking, walking… My muscles fell asleep for two months, my leg was so thin. All these memories make me smile. I definitely won’t shed a tear, remembering the story in Japan.
Q: To what level were you able to recover?
Daria Usacheva: In July, when the guys were still skating in Novogorsk, I was putting together just the short program. I was doing the free skating in parts, the second half with three combinations. And that was not very easy to do even in a healthy state. Plus, I had grown, my body had changed.
Q: So it turns out that after such a serious injury, you were able to restore all the triples. This is an astounding result.
Daria Usacheva: Kind of no, kind of yes. People can’t be surprised by that anymore. I didn’t invent it – I read it in the comments.
Q: Did your mom worry a lot about what was happening?
Daria Usacheva: A lot, but she’s a generally anxious person. I reassured her, told her that everything was okay with me. Seeing my attitude, she stopped worrying excessively.
Q: Did she dream that you would be a champion?
Daria Usacheva: Of course. Who wouldn’t want that when you’ve spent your whole life at the rink with your child?
Q: And you?
Daria Usacheva: I’ve never had that desire, like kids dream from an early age: “I want to be an Olympic Champion”. It’s probably strange, it was probably a hint of some sort. Mom recently remembered, I once told her that I won’t be an Olympic Champion, but I will be a honored coach of Russia. It’s unclear why they didn’t take me out of the sport at that moment. But I’m kidding, of course.
Q: How closely were you able to get to learning ultra-c?
Daria Usacheva: I was landing to axel at trainings. The video is somewhere in the phone. It was the end of the season, only those who hadn’t yet gone on vacation were training. Artem Punin was training with me, and by the way, I learned all the triples in individual classes with him. I adopted his technique and now teach others with it because it’s convenient. It’s a pity that I went on vacation and forgot everything. Then there was no time for that already.
Q: Did you go for the quads?
Daria Usacheva: I tried toe loop and salchow. The Salchow went well for some time, but I mostly worked on the toe loop. But it was the season when there were competitions, and you didn’t have time for that. I tried the flip on the harness.
Q: Before ending your career, you tried skating in ice dance. Tell us about this experience.
Daria Usacheva: I’ve always liked ice dance, always wanted to try — even just for myself, when I would finish my singles career. So I tried, I really liked it. And although it didn’t develop further, I don’t regret it. The experience of working on glide has given me a lot of useful things as a coach. My own glide has gotten much better. It came naturally — watching the dancers helped, plus interacting with the coaches. From Alexei Gorshkov I learned a lot of theory, and in general, it would be useful for all single skaters to learn this as early as possible, when there is still something you can correct.
Q: How did the try outs with Dario Cirisano go?
Daria Usacheva: I have very warm memories. It was in Abu Dhabi. I’m very grateful to all the participants. Alexei Gorshkov is a great coach, that’s clear, but he’s also a wonderful person. I was looking at him with admiring eyes all the time. The delivery of information, how he behaved outside of training… Just a cool person.
Q: Apart from Dario, did you try skating with anyone else?
Daria Usacheva: A little with Danya Savelyev, but very briefly, less than a week. At that moment I still decided that single skating was better.
Q: Why?
Daria Usacheva: I, as if, felt out of my depth. I thought that I shouldn’t leave it like that, because it won’t lead to anything good. But now in shows, I enjoy practicing with dancers, we try a lot of things.
Q: How quickly did you immerse yourself in a new life without sports?
Daria Usacheva: The main difficulty was the search for work itself, setting up all the processes. Find students, get a place in the show. But morally, I adjusted very quickly, I was comfortable. I have very big desires, and I will do everything to fulfill them. So, in that sense, ending my career was even a plus.
Q: What desires? Material ones?
Daria Usacheva: Well, yes. There is a bit of my youthful maximalism — I want everything at once — an apartment, a car. Of course, it’s difficult to do this, but it’s better to set big goals, to at least achieve something.
Q: And besides the apartment and the car, what do you want?
Daria Usacheva: A financial safety cushion. I want to help my mother, because there’s also a story… Without going into details, I just want her to feel comfortable.
Q: You once said in an interview that in 2021 you gave your prize money to your parents to help them cope with financial difficulties after the pandemic. Can you tell us what these difficulties were?
Daria Usacheva: Like many others who earned money through business, they faced difficulties in the Covid year. The situation was difficult. And I had no problem giving them everything.
Q: What does it feel like at 14 to already be able to help your parents? Probably, it makes you feel very adult, like a queen of the world.
Daria Usacheva: At the time, I didn’t think so. Now I understand that it was cool. I just didn’t mind, I wanted to help, plus I won’t say that I needed that money. If you think about it, what fdoes a 14 year old girl need that not a small sum for? To save – yes, to spend at the moment – no.
Q: For the past ten years, raising a figure skater has become very expensive. So expensive that many now consider figure skating a sport for children from well-off families. Is your family like this?
Daria Usacheva: Generally no, normal. Middle income. We used to live very well in Khabarovsk. After moving to Moscow, everything was like it was for everyone. But parents strived to invest everything in my figure skating. They took risks because only a handful make it to the top but they thought that we had to try. I’m not from a rich family.
Q: More than a year has passed since the end of your career, you turned 18. What does your life consist of now?
Daria Usacheva: I’m preparing for the State Exam soon. Mostly working – training children, performing in shows. Training is not every day, shows are from time to time, but there are also a lot of them.
Q: 18 is a great age. But I get the feeling that you might be a bit older.
Daria Usacheva: A lot of people tell me that. In my life, there were personal circumstances, which I am unlikely to ever tell publicly, because of which I had to become wiser. But I even like it, I feel like I have an additional skill compared to my peers.”
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Really beautiful skater. I’m sorry her career was cut short but I love her maturity. I hope she does become an Honored Coach!