Interview from the Russian Magazine Sportclub:
We met with Zhenya Plushenko at the Icepalace Yubileini and, along with his mother Tatiana Vasilievna, went for a drive through Petersburg in a roomy dark-green Volkswagen Golf.
Having crossed the Troitski Bridge, and also the small Prachechni bridge over Fontanka, Zhenya parked the car. There was a rather cold wind, so the famous figure skater changed out
of his light coat into a warm one while still in the car. Zhenya is greatly loved in St. Petersburg - people recognize him on the streets, ask for autographs, speak warmly, and wish
him luck and victory. In the Summer Garden the figure skater mused at the statues and remembered walks through the park with his mother, when they just came to Petersburg and rented a room in a communal apartment on the Kamennoostrovski Prospect.
Next, on the Palace Square, we ran into a real crowd of newlywed brides. That day some young couples came to Millionnaya street, in order to drink a bottle of champagne and take pictures next
to the huge statues. One bride in a wedding gown ran up to Zhenya and handed him a piece of paper for an autograph, saying, I thought I was imagining things. Maybe meeting you will bring me happiness!
INTERVIEW:
Q: Do you have constant fans that you always rely on?
Evgeni: Yes, the Japanese. They follow me all around the world. In America, in Canada - everywhere I see their grateful and smiling faces. They like to give gifts of all sorts - gold jewelry, photographs, clothes, flowers They even dedicate some internet sites
to me. One time a group of my fans came from Tokyo to visit St. Petersburg. I spent a whole day with them-we drove around the city, went to museums… They bowed to me all the time and called me Zhenya-san. And, of course, every one of them took turns taking pictures
with me in front of some memorial. In the evening they reserved a table at a restaurant. They invited my coach Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin, my mother, and me. They wanted to spend all three days they were in the city with me, but I couldn’t because of my very busy training
schedule. They went home sad, having decided that they must have offended me somehow.
Q: Many athletes prefer to train abroad. Has that thought ever crossed your mind?
Evgeni: On the contrary, these days many are coming back to Russia. You see, they left only because at home the conditions for training were not very good. Now the picture has changed: we have wonderful ice and a lighted, warm rink. Why leave? Moreover, my house, my parents are here.
Although, if I were a professional, then perhaps I would leave.
Q: A figure skater’s skating lifespan is short. What will you do once you cannot skate any longer?
Evgeni: I probably will become a coach. Also, I think I would like to open my own business - a restaurant or a discotheque. Right now I really don’t have time for that. Although recently I’ve gotten interesting offers from business people.
Q: Do you have a dream?
Evgeni: My main dream is to win the Olympics in February. I also would like to shoot a movie. Perhaps act out some big-shot, racing around on a motorcycle with a gun in his pocket - some sort of Robin Hood of the 21st century.
Q: When you’re abroad, do you have time to go somewhere with your friends, or is all your free time spent on practices?
Evgeni: Not very long ago in Madrid I was able to go with some friends to a soccer match - Real (Madrid) vs. Inter (Milan). It was just unforgettable. When Roberto Carlos would get the ball, the tribunes, where thousands of fans sat, filled with the friendly shouts of joy from emotional
Spaniards. His fellow country people worship him like a God. Whenever a change of players took place, and Carlos had to leave the field, his fans literally fell on their knees! However, at the Goodwill Games in Australia I had two free days to recover my strength before starting practices.
Everyone went to the zoo, but I stayed at the hotel to totally concentrate on my programs.
Q: Are you friends with figure skaters, or are your friends not athletes?
Evgeni: I have many friends - Vakhtang Murvanidze, he lives in Moscow and skates for Georgia, Sasha Abt, Anton Sikharulidze I try to be on good terms with everyone - I’m a friendly type.
Q: Do you have opponents?
Evgeni: Of course. If you start counting, you’ll get over ten of them. Many say that I compete only with Yagudin. Actually, my main opponent is I myself. Every time I go out on the ice I have to fight with emotions and worries that just boil inside. If I can defeat the fear, then I can do everything.
So first and foremost I have to prove to myself that I can skate right, that I can win. But I can’t say about myself that I am the best. I don’t have star fever, even though many accuse me of this. Sometimes, coming home from a long training session, I don’t recognize some acquaintances - and immediately the rumors start, but it’s not like that.
Q: Do you have an idol in figure skating?
Evgeni: I always loved Viktor Petrenko. I even tried to copy him in my childhood. I saw him for the first time in Petersburg, at the Goodwill Games, when I was 11 years old. I remember how much I liked his T-shirt, which had “Petrenko N. 1” written on it in huge black letters. Naturally, got to him for an autograph.
Then, in four years Victor and I met at a competition, where I beat him completely accidentally. I felt so embarrassed in front of my idol, but he came up to me and comforted me, saying, “Zhenya, everything happens in sports. You are younger than me - I am already a veteran.
Q: Have you ever been seriously injured?
Evgeni: One time in Madrid, three years ago, I got really tired during practice, and skated literally on my last bit of strength. In preparation for a simple element - the double axel - my skate slipped and cut right into my leg. I practically crumbled to the ice - it felt as if my toe got cut off. When I took off my skates, a fountain of blood splashed
out on the ice, and I watched the ice turn red. Slowly I walked to the med-center, but it was closed. The ambulance came in half an hour, and we took 20 minutes to get to the hospital. It turned out that I seriously damaged my tendons.
Q: Who is more demanding of you - mom or Mishin?
Evgeni: Alexei Nikolaevich, of course. My mom is not a coach, she can only carefully hint at what she likes and what she doesn’t like. But Mishin is a good coach and a good person. He was my second father when I lived alone for a whole year in Petersburg. Like a “Professor Higgins”, he taught me how to behave in public: in which hand to hold my knife, in which my
fork. He fed me when I had nothing to eat, gave me money. We’ve always been together. He took me with him to competitions in France and Germany. There I observed how famous figure skaters worked, became charged with their energy, with the magic of figure skating. At that time I was still learning, and slowly my skill grew.
Aleksei Mishin:
When Zhenya came to me, I had the Olympic champion Urmanov, Oleg Tataurov, and the very serious athlete of international class Lyosha Yagudin. But it was obvious that Zhenya was talented, in him one could feel motivation. Before, when I would get a new student, I tried to get the athlete out into international competitions as soon as possible. But with Zhenya we
did not hurry. Maybe, because I already had outstanding athletes, and I did not need to prove myself to anyone. So he matured, if one can say, with no fuss.
Q: Zhenya, you went through so much during your childhood! How were you able to overcome the obstacles, not to turn away from your dreams?
Evgeni: I was 11 when my school of figure skating closed in Volgograd. At that point I was already on the 7-year stage of a figure skater. I thought then, that I was capable of winning competitions, of getting rewards (then I did not yet know that athletes can get out of their work not only medals and fame, but also money). So when I stopped training I completely lost interest
in the surrounding world. Figure skating never got in the way of school - I always got A’s on my report cards. Plus, my mother and sister helped me a lot. I did not want to lose so many years of persistent and hard work. We had a family meeting in which I said to my relatives that I could not live without figure skating. My life, however loud that sounded, is the ice! My mom
tried to make me play soccer, or learn karate, and I even agreed at first, but quickly pulled out. But, maybe, I could have been a soccer player, I don’t know.
Q: In Hollywood, if they made a movie about your life, it would be a melodrama with a happy ending?
Evgeni: Yes, if you also go into the conditions in which my mother and I lived, when we came to Petersburg. And when Mom left to Volgograd, I had to do everything myself - laundry, cooking It was hard without money, without my parents. In the morning - train, during the day - school, in the evening - again on the ice. I had to eat wherever I could: either at school or in the Yubileini But I
remember, that I still never ate enough, and went to sleep hungry very often. 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.
Q: But still, why did you choose figure skating?
Evgeni: Better ask my mother.
Tatiana Vasilievna:
Zhenya was born on the BAM, in Urgal, in a trailer-house. We left Volgograd with my husband to work. At first, our family took up half of a trailer-home, but after Zhenya was born we proudly got keys for a “separate apartment.” He was a very strong baby for the first year, but then he got sick very seriously. The poor little one went through pneumonia in both lungs. He stayed sick in Volgograd,
to which we returned when he was 3. And nothing helped - not constant care from me (I got a job in a kindergarten to be near him), not hour-long walks in the fresh air. But one day, while walking with him in the park, I ran into a friend who advised me to take Zhenya to a figure skating school. She gave us Zhenya’s first pair of skates as a gift. And so in a few years the Volgograd coach Makoveev
and I brought him to Petersburg. I tore myself apart between Volgograd and Petersburg. We lived like that, but now, thank God, we’re all together again. One time, I could not bear to be away from my son, and I told my husband, Enough! I am going to Zhenya! He’s still so little!” I even tried to persuade Zhenya to quit the sport, to come home. We actually went a few times to the train station to get
tickets back to Volgograd. But every time, at the last minute, he would decidedly say, No, mama, I know that it’s hard for you, but I am staying here!” That’s how determined he is.
Q: Zhenya, your female fans won’t forgive me if I don’t ask you about what type of girls you like.
Evgeni: All girls are beautiful. I’m trying not to think about that yet though. But it’s cool that my female fans recognize me on the streets. And if they like my skating, I’m happy. I thank them.
