World champion, European
Champion, Grand Prix Champion and National Champion. Evgeni has accomplished almost everything
in figure skating at such a young age and he has always pushed figure skating into another level.
He surprised everybody on his
unexpected debut at the 1998 Worlds Championship where he won the bronze medal with just 15 years. Since then,
most of us have followed
his steps closely. However, Evgeni did
not become the great figure skater he is from one day to another, actually the history
on how he became a first class skater is one of the most dramatic that there is, which
proves that dreams can come true but
you need to work hard and make a lot of sacrifices.
Evgeni was born in November 3rd, 1982 in Solnechni, Khabarovsk region in the Russian far east,
He calls his
birthplace also "BAM" (Baikal-Amur Mainline
railroad). He lived next to the
railroad, in what was barely a village, simply one of
the clusters of homes his father helped build. His parents worked for
the railroad. Zhenya (Zhenya is the Russian short name for Evgeni) was a very ill child and the temperatures, where often very cold, caused
him to develop a chronic cough and he spent three months in the hospital with double-side
pneumonia. As a result his parents decided to move to another city where Zhenya could have
a better climate and grow healthy, they moved
to Volgograd.
First steps on ice
"Everything began with a present. As we where for a walk with Evgeni, we met
an aquaintance who brought her daughter at home, the girl cried because she didn't wanted
to skate anymore. My aquaintance saw Zhenya and asked him if he wants the skates. Zhenya
said yes. "Ok, take them" and she gave him the skates of her daughter. "Everything happend
totally by accident. In our family there is no sports traditions, no one of us ever did sports.
Everything was just a coincident." Remembers his mom.
"But the main thing is, what he immediately stopped being ill. And... harden his organism"
said his mom.
That's how Evgeni started to skate, his mother Tatiana Vasilievna was really worry about his
son's health, therefore his parents decided to make him do exercises, they signed him for
skating, dance, they taught him how to ski, they bought him a bicycle and made him train at home with
a ladder, an horizontal bar and a swing. Evgeni excelled at dance and a skating and because
of that, he made one of the most important decision of his life:
"The dance coach said, 'You must dance, not skate, the skate coach said, 'You must skate, not
dance.' His mother said, 'You must choose.'"
And luckily for all us, he choosed to skate.
"However, Zhenya always wanted to be a military man. I somehow always thought he would chose this
career." said his mom. Also he really wanted to play hokey but after he skated a month, he wanted
nothing else but skating.
Tatiana
Nikolaevna Skala was the first teacher Zhenya had, she became his teacher when
he was four years and two month old. Being the youngest of all in the skating group,
it was very hard for him,
he used to cry, hit hard the ice and not be able to get up, but he kept on going. Tatiana
comforted him and she said: "Don't mention they laugh at you,
work hard and you will be first." Maybe when she said it, she was just trying to encourage little
Zhenya not to give up, little
she knew that this advice has stick into his mind 'till today.
Then, Evgeni
was trained by a former weightlifter, Mikhail Makoveyev. Eventhough he was not a figure skating
coach, he felt a lot of passion for the sport and he decided to coach in an ice
rink in Volgograd. He trained Evgeni for seven years (1986-1993) and in those seven years, he
taught him a lot. Evgeni won his first competition at the age of seven at the
Crystal Skate tournament in Samara.
Evgeni was what we can call a unpolished diamond, but at 1993, the rink where
he skated was closed and it became an auto repair facility. His mom thought that that was the end
of figure skating, but Evgeni thought another thing. He wanted to go to St. Petersburg or Moscow
to train but his mom told him that they did not have any money for that. Mikhail Makoveyev saw
in Evgeni a true figure skater and he sent him to St. Petersburg to a friend of his
that would take care of him, and what a friend... no other than one of the finest figure skating
coaches that there are: Alexei Nickolaevich Mishin.
Lonely in St. Petersburg
"I am trying to forget this time in my life now." said Evgeni thinking of his past.
Evgeni's career could have been over in 1993 when his ice rink in Volgograd was closed, however
fate play in favor and brought little Zhenya to train with Alexei Mishin in St Petersburg.
In order to have a first class training with Mishin, he had to pass another test, to live 1,000
miles away from home, to live by his own in St. Petersburg at 11 years old.
Evgeni remembers those times "I was little, I was afraid to be lost, I missed my parents. For
the first time it was very hard, I had to go a lot from one part of the city to another
by train."
Evgeni left his family, his home, his friends, everything, in order to pursue his dream. He left
with his coach to meet Alexei Mishin. At first he lived with his former coach but that did not
last that long, and so with only 11 years of age, he was all alone.
Evgeni had to live by his own for one year, he lived in a room in a communal flat in the
Kamennoostrovski Prospect, where he shared the apartment with five entire families and other
people. It was a scary thing since Evgeni remembers the drunks in the street and a lot of
strangers coming in and out of the apartment. His "home" was composed by a room where he had
a table, a chair and a couch where he slept on. His mom was supposed to live there with
him, but when she arrived to St. Petersburg, she could not find a job there and the family needed
the income from his mother and father in order that Evgeni could keep his training and live in
St. Petersburg, so she had to come back to Volgograd. Before she left, she asked one of the
neighbors to watch out after Evgeni, this neighbor also used to give him food but he
also had to learn to cook his own meals "When my mom went home she used to ask the next door
neighbor to look after me. But I've tried to do everything by myself, even cook, but it wasn't
as good as my mom does"
Since his father work was not enough for Zhenya's needs, because his dad also had to maintain
his older daughter, himself and his wife, Tatiana Vasilievna had to take another job, Evgeni
said "My father tried to feed the family, and still there was not enough money. My mother had
to take a hellish job - she had to cover streets with asphalt."
"No, mama, I know that it's hard for you, but I am staying here!" Tatiana Vasilievna heard that
tons of times from his son, times that she could not take to be apart of him and because of
that she went to St Petersburg, not to stay with him, but to persuade him to come back to
Volgograd with her and his family; and yes, there were times where Zhenya accepted and they
went to the train station to buy tickets to go back to Volgograd, but in that moment Zhenya
remembered why he was there.
All the sacrifices, all the things that Evgeni never had, was worthy, Zhenya was in St.
Petersburg
to train with Alexei Mishin. "We didn’t want to let him off. We even didn’t think about
he might moved somewhere. Then that question became very sharp, because of Zhenya couldn’t
live without ice." said his mom.
Next Chapter...
World champion, European
Champion, Grand Prix Champion and National Champion. Evgeni has accomplished almost everything
in figure skating at such a young age and he has always pushed figure skating into another level.
He surprised everybody on his
unexpected debut at the 1998 Worlds Championship where he won the bronze medal with just 15 years. Since then,
most of us have followed
his steps closely. However, Evgeni did
not become the great figure skater he is from one day to another, actually the history
on how he became a first class skater is one of the most dramatic that there is, which
proves that dreams can come true but
you need to work hard and make a lot of sacrifices.