“Making a traumatic quadruple”: a new interview with Zagitova

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However, this story did not begin so rosyly, which the skater managed to tell about in an interview before the announcement of strict quarantine in Moscow and the introduction of a pass system.

“There was not enough money to travel on the bus”

Zagitova started figure skating at age five in the city of Almetyevsk (the fourth largest in Tatarstan), where her father at that time played for the Neftyanik hockey club. A year later, the family moved to Izhevsk, the capital of Udmurtia, and the girl began training at the local children’s and youth sports school, where she spent six whole years.

However, in 2015, a promising skater decided to move to Moscow to try to conquer Khrustalny, who became already quite popular thanks to the successes of Julia Lipnitskaya. Zagitova managed to get into the Tutberidze group, and she began to rent an apartment in the capital with her grandmother (parents and sister decided to stay in Izhevsk). Sometimes a teenager had such a hard time that he wanted to give up everything.

“Then we did not live very well, there was not even enough money to travel by bus.

Every day I went to classes on the other side of Moscow, went out at 7 in the morning, and returned at 11 at night. Once I ran away from training!

But this didn’t happen again, I couldn’t say to myself: “I don’t want, I won’t.” My rivals went to victory and were not going to stop, ”Cosmopolitan quoted the athlete.

Tutberidze also told about this escape from the training: in the summer of 2017, the girl flew into the field near the rink right in the ice skates, so the coaching staff had to catch it and persuade it to continue classes. However, this was not the only obstacle to Olympic gold.

As the figure skater admitted now, already at that period she began a transitional age – the body began to change greatly.

“The Olympic season with all the loads coincided with my transitional age. You go out onto the ice and feel: something is wrong with your legs and arms.

I grew, limbs became longer. And in figure skating, the technical component of the jump is very important, and if the arms become longer, it is difficult to “assemble” them.

But let through pain, it was necessary to work for the sake of a medal, and also to transport the family to Moscow. And with medals came the money, ”

– stated the champion.

It also turned out that the example of his father, a former hockey player, and now coach Ilnaz Zagitov, helped to cope with the difficulties to the athlete. When he was a player, he received many injuries, and once even broke his toe during the match, but continued to play on painkillers.

“If dad saw that I was upset or depressed, he always gave advice and continues to do it,” Zagitova emphasized.

Now the skater is almost 18, the main changes in the body and the associated painful sensations are left behind, and the girl has not yet spoken about returning to the sports arena. However, just in case, she continues to train and even announced that she is performing a jump in four turns!

“I know that the quadruple jump is traumatic, but I still do it and rejoice when it turns out,”

– admitted Zagitova.

True, the skater did not specify which quadruple she performs – a sheepskin coat, salchow, lutz, flip or rittberger – and also did not explain whether she does it with insurance or on her own.

Recall, back in December 2018, a video appeared of the Olympic champion jumping on the “fishing rod” of a quadruple flip. However, after this news of the quad in its execution no longer appeared.

If the skater is really still trying to make a quadruple, then perhaps someday the competitive excitement and desire to resume her career will awaken in her. Moreover, according to Tutberidze, Zagitova in December 2019 wrote to her a touching message about how much she missed the tournaments.

But be that as it may, now the girl has to think more not about returning to the ice, but about passing the Unified State Examination – she is finishing 11th grade.

“I’ll definitely be going to college, probably to sports management, so now my studies have come to the fore. If before that I paid more attention to sports, now I constantly have classes with tutors.

I would even like to be a schoolgirl again, but I haven’t been in class since 10-11 (Zagitova is studying individually according to her schedule. – “Gazeta.Ru”).

Before a break in my professional career, I was completely abstracted: like a horse with blinkers, I looked only ahead. Every day spent at the rink.

Naturally, we talked with other skaters, but I won’t say that we were best friends – we have an individual sport, where everyone is for himself. For the rest there was neither strength nor time. ”

Now, according to the champion, she gradually has new friends, and life begins to play with other colors. However, she is still on her guard: “You never know for sure who wants what from you.”

Zagitova does not like parties and social events, since for 13 years in professional sports she has become accustomed to the regime and discipline. So she seeks entertainment in the absence of competition in creativity – for example, drawing and pottery.

The skater also admitted that she would like to parachute, but for this she was advised to gain weight. Considering that the minimum necessary weight for such jumps is 45-50 kg, it turns out that Zagitova is still in very good shape for figure skating.

And, like any acting star, haters continue to harass her sometimes. The Olympic champion admitted that during her career they became especially active after the failed rentals and pretty freaked out until she came to the conclusion that she should not prove anything to anyone.

“At first I tried to ignore the comments of the haters. But at the moments when there was an unsuccessful start, they skipped anyway. They wrote to me that I “must”! At first it annoyed me very much,

but the trainers and parents reassured, explaining that this is normal, everyone will not like it. And in fact, I do not owe anything to anyone – I myself wanted to speak successfully, ”summed up Zagitova.

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