Russian figure skating is flourishing. Its stars often become the most talked about people in world sports. Sport tells about their brightest images.
Alina Zagitova
In addition to the mountain of titles, Zagitova has the most important tool in terms of marketing — attractiveness. His strength cannot be underestimated. For example, Anna Kournikova in singles has never reached the finals of the Grand Slam tournaments and has not won a single WTA title, but she still remains in history as one of the brightest tennis stars. Sports in itself brought her not so much fame and money, but opened the way to the world of show business, where Kournikova felt very at ease.
So, Alina Zagitova is Kournikova squared. Unable to combine sports and celebrity life at the same time, she first became the queen of figure skating, and only then went into gloss with a background that was a multiple of that of her media rivals. Today Zagitova is practically our Katarina Witt, who plays not only with titles, but also with her emphasized sexuality. For example, the stylist Snezhana Darmina, who worked with Alina on the Ice Age, spoke about this. According to her, the Olympic champion asked for shorter dresses to «show her legs».
Surely all the country's men's magazines are fighting for Zagitova — just like for Witt in their time. The one who is the first to convince Alina to hold a photo shoot will hit an unprecedented jackpot. The only thing is that the hypothetical candid shooting looks like the quintessence of the image, its end point, beyond which no further media goals are visible. Directions for the future are definitely worth setting. Examples of athletes with the role of a sex symbol say: either you work for something more, transform your image into something global, or you remain just a face from the cover. Both options, however, are equally good.
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva
An example of such a transformation is Elizaveta Tuktamysheva. Her path is somewhat similar to the path of Zagitova, but in a number of details it still differs. They both started with big wins. By the age of 17-18, Elizabeth was the world and European champion. Yes, these are not all major titles at once, like Alina, but still powerful. And then the differences begin. So, Tuktamysheva stepped into the territory of celebrity, being in sports, and even at the moment when her career began to experience a renaissance.Since 2018, during the entry into the third Olympic cycle, Elizabeth finally sexualized her image. First, with a cheeky showcase Toxic as a flight attendant — one of the most popular erotic fantasies among all men in the world. Then — revelations about his personal life (few people do this in figure skating). And after — and a frank photo shoot for gloss. At first, Tuktamysheva's outrageousness looked like action in a vacuum, sexuality for the sake of sexuality, but in parallel with the resuscitation of her sports career, her frank image began to enrich itself.
Her still high results on the ice are reinforced by the talk that in women's figure skating you can develop and win even after 17-18 years old, when the body changes, and other guidelines and hobbies appear in life. “She is a guiding star for many girls who have left their childhood behind, become girls and want to continue skating,” coach Alexei Mishin said about Elizabeth, voicing, in fact, the thoughts of thousands of people who looked at her from the side.
Tuktamysheva can hardly be called a dominator: she has not won at competitions larger than the Grand Prix for a long time, but nevertheless remains in the top, while almost all of her peers have long left the sport, or even acquired family and children.
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Continuing a career is a conscious, adult choice for Elizabeth. And it is precisely in this awareness of the self-sufficient young woman who has accepted herself that henceforth her image lies. I skate and learn the quadruple, although I am well over 20, because I want and I can. I undress on the ice because I feel confident and I want to show it. Following desires within reasonable limits contrary to public opinion and imposed stereotypes — perhaps this is the feminism of a healthy person, a role model that is necessary not only for athletes, but also for women from other fields.
Alexandra Trusova
A little less «adult», but definitely no less deep image developed by Alexandra Trusova. Over the years of her career, Russian Rocket has gone from a girl — the fifth element to the main rock star of figure skating. And by the age of majority, she developed, perhaps, the most commercially successful model of all possible — and for this it was enough for her to simply live her busy life. >This model is Russian Hannah Montana. The «ordinary girl» who sits at school during the day, arranges rock concerts in the evenings — familiar, isn't it? Trusova seems to be not perfect: impulsiveness and unwillingness to «fit into the frame» more than once went sideways to Alexandra, but look at her phenomenal quads and tell her that she is wrong about something.
A person tends to empathize with someone with whom he can associate himself. In Alexandra, many teenagers can see their own reflection. Misunderstanding on the part of others (a teenage cliché expressed in the notion that Alexandra does not receive high enough marks from the judges), rebellion against established rules (unwillingness to compromise on technical content, loud transitions from Eteri Tutberidze and back) and her character are already not childish, but not yet lost its spontaneity — all this, as it were, makes Trusova related to the teenage world. And her exclusivity in sports gives hope that each of us can succeed.
There were fears that the image would fade over time as Alexandra began to grow up and follow changing guidelines and priorities. However, all the changes from the image point of view have only benefited. Here is her relationship with Mark Kondratyuk, which she quickly stopped hiding. Here she spends time at a variety of events. But she goes to classes at Moscow State University like an ordinary freshman — and now not only teenagers, but also students can associate themselves with her. And in the evenings — all the same rock concerts on ice. There are fewer of them than before, but they have not completely disappeared.To test these theories, one need only look at the crowds eager for Alexandra's autograph during any of her fan meetings. The vast majority are either teenage girls or freshmen/sophomores. The ability to get into your age group and keep it in the future is, in fact, an amazing quality that only Trusova has so far of all our top skaters. And as mentioned above, the more surprising that for this she does not have to make special efforts.
Almost certainly, the image of Alexandra will also require modernization over time, but progress is already visible. And if in the future she manages to replace Tuktamysheva as the flagship of feminism, then perhaps in the person of Trusova we will get the most commercially successful figure skater in history. At least all the prerequisites are available.
Anna Shcherbakova
For a long time it was a mystery how exactly Anna Shcherbakova wants to look in the media space. On the one hand, she was the first of the Tutberidze group — judging by the calculations, a little earlier than Trusova — began to master quadruple jumps, the first since the time of Irina Slutskaya won the Russian championship three times in a row in the most difficult competition, became the Olympic champion and world champion. On the other hand, Anna almost always kept herself calm and tidy: she treated victories modestly, did not give high-profile interviews, and did not make a single change of coach in her conscious career. br>
Refined, infinitely correct, whitewashed image of the Merck champion against the backdrop of Trusova and Alena Kostornaya, side by side with whom she went almost all the way in sports. It seemed that even the gold of the Olympics would not allow her to catch up with her rivals in popularity. So in the end it turned out — in the Russian segment.
And then Anna's team turned their attention to Asia — and made, perhaps, the most competent marketing move of all possible. In contrast to the European and American markets, in Asia, the image of the «unbending warrior» with a thin, elven face is best suited. This is rather paradoxical. Anyone who has been to conditional Japan will say that ordinary Japanese sometimes literally overstep the bounds of normality. But the public figure in their understanding should be different from the crowd. She should be modest about success, not give high-profile interviews … Do you know?
Both externally and behaviorally, Anna was ideally suited to the Chinese-Japanese audience. By the summer of last year, sales of Shcherbakova’s collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in China set a sports industry record. At that time, the amount of 1.6 million yuan (more than 230 thousand dollars) appeared. The Beijing champion has several advertising contracts in the Asian market, one of them with a prestigious Chinese car manufacturer, whose first export market was Russia. Shcherbakova was one of his most famous ambassadors — a testament to how much they stake on her in China.
Anna's huge fan base in Asia justifies such a marketing move. For a long time, Shcherbakova was the sole leader among Russian figure skaters in terms of subscribers in Chinese social networks, and it seems that to this day her Asian audience remains the most active. They follow Anna's life, give her gifts and, if possible, attend her performances. Not so long ago, one of her Chinese fans came to Moscow to attend Tutberidze's show, which is not so easy to do in the face of increased prices for air travel.
Anna's image model resembles the Olympic champion from South Korea Kim Yu On the. And there is a feeling that it will develop in much the same way. In any case, if we ever see Anna in politics or in public activities, there will definitely not be anything strange or inappropriate in this.
Evgenia Medvedeva
How surprising is such a step from the two-time world and European champion Evgenia Medvedeva. Actually, she is already doing it: not so long ago, the Russian Olympic Committee appointed Evgenia as the national team ambassador, and before the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, it was Medvedeva who spoke to the members of the International Olympic Committee, agitating for the admission of Russians at least in a neutral status.
Yevgenia has long learned to give cautious and at the same time informative interviews — an important quality for a competent official. At the same time, she does not hesitate to appear in a frivolous way. In her social networks there is also humorous content, including with notes of self-irony. And last March, Medvedeva took part in the TV show «Mask», where she performed in a costume … shawarma.
This captivates not only fans of figure skating, but also ordinary observers. And there is a feeling that if Evgenia still decides to go into politics or management, she will have every chance to succeed.