Tracy Wilson: When you have such an athlete as Evgenia Medvedeva, this is an incredible responsibility

Short interview with Tracy Wilson about Evgenia Medvedeva.

by business-gazeta.ru dd. 22, February 2019

Was The Worlds Championships a pressure factor for Evgenia?

– We cannot control this. She trained vewy well. If not, then I would have been just praying and screaming: “Help!”. I had the opportunity to go with Evgenia to St. Petersburg and practice there with Tamara Moskvina. There I saw that Eugenia was ready. She had a clean program. The only thing she had to do was to find the right mindset. If you start thinking: “To win, I need this,” “I must skate cleanly,” then you will lose more than you gain. I saw how people made such mistakes even at the Olympics.

Tracy, honestly, do you agree with the scores?

– As a commentator and as a coach I don’t calculate points. I’m watching Eugenia. Yesterday she asked me: “What do you think about my spin?” I said: “I don’t know, the judges will tell about it. I watch you, how you react.” I’m very glad to see how she fought. She made a show under the incredible pressure. A show. That’s about our sport. About viewers. When I skated myself, and Tatiana Tarasova was a legendary dance coach, she told me: “Tracy! The most important thing is not what you are making the audience think, but what you are making them feel!” This is our duty to convey feelings.

What did you feel when Evgenia fell today?

– Disappointment, of course. But everything is fine. Now we’re in a mood “It’s okay, moving on.” Yes, Evgenia made a mistake. But we understand that there will be ups and downs. If you focus only on the negative, then you will go even lower. This is all can be fixed in training.

What did you think when you find out that Medvedeva would join Orser’s group?

– This is an incredible responsibility. I think our mission is to help figure skating. When you have such an athlete as Evgenia Medvedeva, this is an incredible responsibility. This is what makes us stay awake at night. We knew how hard it would be. We worked with skaters who have gone the path from young athletes to adults, and this is a very difficult transition. Not everyone can cope with it. We knew nothing for sure, but we wanted to try. And Brian immediately told me: “She likes to skate.” This turned out to be true. But she is going through a difficult transition period. Everything has changed. What is the most difficult? In the moments of pressure, old feelings return. When you compete, you return to your old habits. You need at least a year to figure out where to go.

Related topics: Evgenia Medvedeva