This interview comes originally from www.itogi.ru Since the time Alexei Yagudin left the amature ice, Evgeni Plushenko lost his main rival. The lack of decent contenders often does no good to even the best masters. If before Plushenko competed mainly against Yagudin, now he is competing against himself. However, Yagudin will come back to the ice, but it a diffrent way: He signed a 2 year coaching contract with the French skater Brian Joubert and now will train the rising star for the Olympic games in Turino. Is Plushenko by any chance afraid that the Olympic gold, that Yagudin won in 2002, might escape him this time? Evgeni: When I found out that Yagudin left it was as though I lost something. You turn around, but there's emptiness behind you, and no one is in sight ahead. Q: Evgeni, in sports life you are the number one figure skater, at 21 your are the 2-time world champion and the role model in world figure skating... Evgeni: I moved towards this since I was 4. At fist I didn't realize it, but from 10 years old and on I have had only one goal: move ahead, only ahead, through fatigue, through "I can't"... Finally I reached my goal, but there's no time to rest, I can't stop, because you can be the first and the best only when you are constantly moving up. So my whole life is a long-long journey up hill, with conquering visible and invisible barriers. Q: One of them, for example, the Olympic gold, you couldn't take... Evgeni: Shocks and misfortunes are very useful things. Like my coach says, swimming in warm milk is not gonna make an athlete into a champion. The Olympic games in Turino are still awaiting me... Q: In which Yagudin will take part as a coach. Evgeni: I'm used to us being thought of as one whole: they say Plushenko-but they mean Yagudin, say Yagudin-see me. And now it's not easy for everyone, the spectators and the journalists, to cope with the fact that there is no more intrigue and sharp rivalry. We'll see what Yagudin can achieve as a coach. Q: When Yagudin left, did you feel like your shadow was gone? Evgeni: Exactly! Even though this doesn't mean that one of us was in the shadow of another. It's just that we went on in our lives following each other. He stimulated me to reach towards perfection, and I did the same for him. And when I found out that Yagudin left, it was as though I lost something. You turn around, and there's no one behind you, and no one is in sight ahead. Q: So it turns out, in figure skating today there's you and everyone else somewhere far behind? You're obviously not gonna die of humility.... Evgeni: There are none that are impossible to replace, but soon we will see new names, and watch how these skaters will storm the top of the podium. And for now my main competitor is Evgeni Plushenko. The fight against yourself is very difficult. The lack of sharp rivalries makes me relax, and making myself move ahead and look for something new, takes a lot of effort. Even when I skate in the CoI tour, I'm still competing. Each night before the show I ask myself "Should I do the 3 axel or try a quad?" However I understand that no one is going to give me marks or a medal. It's a competition, so to say, from the "must go" category-when you go out there and realize that today on the ice is the duel Plushenko vs. Plushenko. Q: In your new long program you opened up as a dramatic actor and very finely conveyed the look of Nijinski, a man who was fragile and strong at the same time. Why was it the look of Nijinski that you decided on with your coach Alexei Mishin? Evgeni: Nijinski was a great dancer. A genius. His story can't not take you in-such insane fame and such a finale... Mishin and I spent many days at the theatre museum at Mariinski Theatre, and I read all the books that they gave me there. Nijinski's diaries, books about him, articles about ballet during that time. This program is the experience of emotions, because everytime going out on the ice I try to connect with Nijinski, and to convey, as much as it is possible on the ice, his appearance, his state of mind, his grace.... Q: By the way, Nijinski was lead by his heart, not by his brain. What about you? Evgeni: I’m an emotional person, a sentimental romantic, and I can feel if there is something false in the relationship. But I’m not angry or scary, I am kind and fuzzy. It is easy for me to tell between the real sincerity and fake praise that you can often encounter when you become famous. I hate betrayal; unfortunately, I had to deal with that too. Moral filth makes me upset. Q: But those accompany the elite sport and come together with fame and money. This is the life in sport. Evgeni: It’s not true. The life in sport is the exact miniature of real life. It’s life inside life where everything happens twice as fast: the youth, rise and down of the skater don’t match his biological age, but happen sooner because everything is put inside the borders of your physical limitations. There are equal parts of good and bad in that life. It’s important who you are in that life, and not how is that life is. Q: Honestly, you scared everyone when you skated in Moscow – we haven’t seen such unconfident Plushenko on ice for a long time. Evgeni: Don’t be afraid, it’s painfully simple – the injury. My toe pick got caught in the trace on ice when I was doing the simplest move. Just like that, my knee was out. Thanks God, the ligament didn’t fell out, it’s ruptured too. I didn’t skate for a long time, even month ago I had a terrible pain and swelling in the leg. I didn’t even train off-ice because as soon as I put some tension on my leg, the pain intensified. When I started to get in shape, I still wasn’t confident before jumping… It was more like extra precaution. It was in my subconciense, very deep inside, I was thinking that if I move wrong, that’s it, say good-bye to my knee, say hello to a surgeon. Q: Maybe in that case, you should’ve missed the season, it’s not like there were Olympics. Evgeni: Me and my coach Alexei Mishin looked at the option and the doctors offered to have surgery. Fortunately, after the additional examinations, we realized that we could postpone surgical interference until summer, and started to train. You see, the new judging system started to work this year, and I wanted to understand its pluses and minuses, and fit into it. To miss a season meant to fall behind a little and fall off the wagon. Q: The experts have very contradicting opinions about the system. Evgeni: I’ll admit – I like it. There is one significant minus - no one, judges, coaches, skaters, had completely understood how to live with that. For example, Mishin and I came up with the difficult footwork sequence. Only that judges didn’t agree with us and assigned level one to that footwork, and that means I won’t get high marks for that. Naturally, after the first competition, when judges didn’t get the footwork, we changed it to the easiest, childish little steps. What is surprising that judges consider it as level two elements? It’s strange and confusing, but everything is not so bad. There are some positive moments. With new system, jumps, spins, and footwork are equally meaningful, so jumping mechanically doesn’t guarantee the win. The system considers everything – edges, choreography, and character interpretation. To win, you must to open up and find new sides of your talent, you have to experiment, get new experience, and raise the limits. Overall, how can the new system mean something, if you came, jumped everything you were supposed to, and didn’t mess up other elements? You will be first with any system. Q: Worries before the competition – does it say that skater is not stable psychologically or is that the part of competing that can’t be taken away? Evgeni: You always worry and there is nothing you can do about that. Of course if you are shaking so much and shivering, that means you’ll miss something. If there are no worries and you are calm like a python – it’s even worse, you are completely burnt out. It’s good if you are a little tense, but right before you go to the ice, everything should stay behind. At the moment, I concentrate, sort everything out, analyze, plan… and realize it one ice. Q: Do you suffer from insomnia before the competition? Evgeni: Not anymore, I had become stronger mentally. Before, I went to bed, and I saw the quads that I have to do. And I jump, and jump, and wind myself up. I would get up in the morning all tired, arms and legs in one place, head somewhere else. Then I came up with the “lifesaving” device – I would call my friends and talk about everything except the upcoming competition. A chat about nothing takes away the tension. Q: It was rumored you tried yourself in pairs? Evgeni: Mishin offered me to make an exhibition program with French skater Carolyn Brett. He persuaded me that it would be a guaranteed success. I can’t say I loved the idea, it was the other way around, but when you are promised a super-program… We danced to rock’n’roll, and spectators liked it, and that’s why we skated that program with Brett many times. Everyone was excited, everything was great, but somehow I was annoyed. I hated that program. Q: You can’t stand pair skating because you are jealous of partner’s success? Evgeni: I’m simply used that the whole ice surface belongs to me and I can do anything I want there. I would call myself an ice single. Q: Off ice, do you also do anything you want? Evgeni: Fortunately, the thought about doing something indecent never crosses my mind. My wishes are pretty acceptable, so I try to fulfill them if I can. Since I was little I dreamt about a dog. Now, my best friend, American bull pit Golden is always with me. He is Smart! And Obedient! About four years ago, I went to the little store and bought a beautiful sword. I started to think about collecting them. Mishin found out, supported me, and started to give me swords as a gift. Then my friends joined in. Now I have a little collection, but the funniest part is that none of the swords I have bear any historical significance. Q: But your medal collection – 38 gold, 12 silver, 4 bronze, is definitely valuable. Evgeni: Every medal has a history. We can talk about it for a long time, so let’s not even start...   Translation by Trinity and Anna