At the Olympics in Lake Placid, Marina Cherkasova and Sergey Shakhrai became silver medalists, losing only to Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev. Soon the duet broke up, and many sharp turns happened in the partner's life. In the late 90s, I had a chance to interview Marina in a tent circus on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, where she performed with an original number. In Sochi, at the Velvet Season tournament, Cherkasova took the young Moscow figure skater Irina Migalenya onto the ice, after which she spoke with a Sport correspondent. Olympics, it is worth recalling that this happened in the 80s of the last century.
— Of course, I'm sorry that I had to finish at 18. I wanted to ride for at least another four years. I have my own story. I had to part with my partner Sergei Shakhrai, because he quarreled with Stanislav Alekseevich Zhuk and left. Then he said that he called me too, but I don’t remember that. She would still remain devoted to her mentor. I came to Stanislav Alekseevich as a girl, he became not just a coach for me, but a second father. Zhuk taught me everything that I know and can do in figure skating. .
— I found it, but it didn't work out with Rashid Kadyrkaev. We skated together for a little over a year. Didn't get along.
— The new grading system, according to which judging is carried out now, was invented by Zhuk. Did you observe how it all happened?
— When Stanislav Alekseevich designed his developments, she worked in Italy. I like the current system more than the old «6.0». It corresponds to the changes that have taken place in recent years in figure skating.
— A huge number of views on the video, in which three pairs of Zhuk synchronously demonstrate the most complex elements to the song about bears from the «Prisoner of the Caucasus». Today, someone can repeat such a show? I even saw something similar on some Western shows. Our three couples were very similar. Tall, athletic partner and petite partner. Sometimes I even practiced some elements not with Shakhrai, but with Stanislav Leonovich or Marat Akbarov.
— What wind brought the Olympic medalist to the circus on ice, where he had to work with pigeons?
— After completing her career, like many skaters in those years, she worked in ballet on ice. At first I was in Moscow, then in Kiev. She returned to Moscow from the capital of Ukraine when her son went to school. And one of the acquaintances suggested: «Let's create our own troupe!» On the basis of children's ballet on ice, a circus on ice was formed. I thought that I would just ride, anticipating the circus numbers, but I was offered to work with pigeons. ?
“At first I didn’t understand what it would look like. Well, what kind of trainer am I? The leader of the troupe reassured: «Don't worry, when you throw up the pigeon, it will repeat all the movements after you. Or you follow it.» Feathered artists really turned out to be very trainable. One pigeon just asked for it in our room. When they toured in St. Petersburg, he flew in from the street and sat on a cage with the rest of the artists.
— Would you risk doing a number with bears?
—What are you doing! When she left the arena, sometimes polar bears were already standing nearby, who then played hockey. The smallest is twice the size of Shakhrai!
strong>- When did you realize that you want to train not pigeons? : «I want to train the smallest kids.» Over time, I realized that it is interesting to work with those who are older. I've been working for 23 years now. First in Italy, now in the Moscow school «Umka». Our conditions are quite modest, there is not enough ice. So the most talented people leave.
— The most famous of the most talented was Alena Kostornaya, who started with you. Did she already have a difficult character in childhood?
— When Alena was little, her mother took her out on the ice. And often the little girl ran away with the words: «I don't want to ride!» Mom took her out on the ice again. Slowly forced Alena to work. Although it was immediately obvious to me that Kostornaya would start skating, which she told her mother about. Stubbornness is stubbornness, but Alena always had a sense of purpose. It is very difficult to part with such a student.
— You know Kostornaya well. In your opinion, will she be able to cope with the problems that have piled up now?
— If Alena has a goal, she will cope. I have no doubt that she will show herself again!
— When and by what criteria should singles girls be recommended to switch to pair skating?
>“First of all, you need to ask them yourself. My granddaughter is now mastering jumps, when she didn’t succeed, she asked: “Maybe we’ll go dancing?” It seems that she agreed to try, and then: «No, I don't want to!» And on the offer to go to pair skating, she answered: «A little later.» What is most interesting, now she has begun to get jumps.
— Which of the modern pairs most closely resembles the pupils of Stanislav Zhuk?
— From the leading Russian — Daria Pavlyuchenko and Denis Khodykin. They preach the sporty style that distinguished Beetle couples. Yes, and the difference in height between partners is similar.
— How do you feel about the talk that pair skating is going through a period of stagnation?
— I strongly disagree. In pair skating there are now many new and interesting entries, exits from lifts, lifts themselves are interesting. the last ISU congress, will it somehow affect pair skating?
— I think they will not. Russian couples have now reached such a level that they can adapt to any changes in the rules.
— Will quadruple throws and quadruple twists be banned? br>- Skaters themselves will not take risks with quadruple throws. This is very traumatic. Those who have mastered triples to perfection will do quadruple twists. Although with allowances for a triple, you can get a higher score than for a minus quadruple. But the Chinese won in Beijing precisely due to the fact that they performed a quadruple twist.