Brian Orser: They haven’t worked with Medvedeva like with an adult, now we do that

Short interview with Brian Orser by Elena Vaitsekhovskaya. About Russian test skates.

Brian, could you give an assessment of how you spent summer training with Medvedeva?

– I’m completely satisfied. I think, it is enough to say that both Zhenya and I flew to Moscow with a feeling of great anticipation. I want to show the programs, to show what we managed to do over the past months. I won’t say that we are talking about some kind of global changes, but these changes certainly happenes. In my opinion, Zhenya has greatly improved in skating, but this work, as you know, can’t be done from A to Z, it’s an endless process. You can do it for months, years. Now the main thing for me is that Medvedeva is getting better, I see it. I really want to show the public the work of our choreographer David Wilson. Everyone who see the programs liked them very much. Sandra Bezik helped us to do the short program, and David even volunteered to come with us to Moscow.

In your opinion, is Zhenya ready to skate these programs in public?

– It is clear that at this stage performance may be imperfect, but no one expects the figure skater to be perfect in the first days of September. I can see how much Zhenya is worried about this, because she is a perfectionist by nature, but this is a good excitement that makes the skater concentrate on what he does.

Do you plan to show the programs with all the jumps?

– In this respect, I would put the question a little differently: we are going to skate at the maximum that is possible at the moment. With more run-throughs and getting shape, it’s possible that something will look different. This applies not only to jumping, but also to choreography. In principle, our training system has already been well developed – so trained Kim Yuna, Javi (Fernandez). We don’t have such that here we jump, here we skate and here we dance: we work on all aspects of skating at the same time.

Is Zhenya an easy student?

– Yes, very. She is always open to everything new, she knows how to work with very high intensity. The difficulty is that they have never worked with her like with an adult, and this is exactly what we are doing now. Junior work is completely different, so adaptation also takes time.

I know that in her former group a lot was built on the constant competition of a large number of athletes on one ice.

– The competition in our club is also high, but it is different. When there are many athletes around you, each of whom constantly strives to be better than himself a very special atmosphere arises. The competition motivates, but at the same time it is very benevolent and I would say inspiring: no one is afraid to make a mistake, because there are many people around who know how to help and who are always ready to support. I am very pleased with the fact that Medvedeva hasn’t only fitted in, but also likes it very much.

On Thursday, you spent your first training in Novogorsk at an early time. Do you feel the consequences of long flight and acclimatization?

– Taking into account what you said, I think that Zhenya had a crazy training, a stunning one. She didn’t quite successfully make two jumps, and I saw that it upset her. But for me as a coach, it was important that even in not hte best state in terms of freshness she kept very high speed and freshness of the skating, a good presentation on the ice. The peculiarity of Medvedeva’s skating is that she constantly tries to make the audience love her. And she succeeds. As a coach I see it at every training session and I’m absolutely in love with Zhenya.

Did you train in the general group?

– There were no girls from Medvedeva’s former group on the ice, if that’s what you are talking about. As far as I know, they will start training in Novogorsk only on Friday, but that’s good: we have time to warn-up in a calm atmosphere, get used to the atmosphere. When all come together the situation will certainly become more nervous, but it’s good. We are ready for this.

by Elena Vaitsekhovskaya for rsport.ria.ru

Related topics: Brian Orser, Evgenia Medvedeva