src=»/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/94f4e3839d6e97e6adbd6b8a38d6a254.jpg» his new programs, connection with Sergei Yesenin, the fight against his own irascibility and a new wardrobe, where there is a place for the main medal.
— Dmitry, we are talking in Kislovodsk after the completion of the joint meeting of the group of your coach Evgeny Rukavitsyn and figure skaters Svetlana Sokolovskaya. Are the programs ready?
— Fully delivered. Now I’m rolling them in so that they bounce off my teeth and I don’t have to think where to wave which hand.- There will be an unusual experience in the short program. Few people skated under this group, under this artist. This is a Russian composition. In general, in Russia, it seems to me, skaters rarely use Russian songs for programs. Now this has begun to happen more often, because we perform within the country, and earlier on the world stage we were afraid to present something Russian. Now there is such an opportunity, and I think that a person with a Russian soul who loves his Motherland will feel this story.
As for the free program, this is an old topic for me. In the 2016/17 season, I already tried to skate to this piece, but then I didn’t succeed. I passed this composition through myself very much, it captured me and took me somewhere, I couldn’t concentrate on jumps and other elements. And now, it seems to me, the moment has come when I want, I can and I am ready to show this program in the form in which I would like.
— Have you changed internally?
— Yes, I have a different attitude to this work now. Yes, and to the performances on the ice. I understand where you can succumb to emotions, and where it is better to concentrate. And then, seven years ago, I remember, we were at a training camp in America, and when we put on this program, I stopped and felt a lump in my throat. I drove up to Evgeny Vladimirovich (Rukavitsyn, coach — ed.), I said: «Fantastic music, but I don’t bring it out internally.» I found something special in her, which is why she clung to me so much. Now, it seems to me, I am already more pressed to the ground and can control everything.
— Will you reveal the directors?- The short program was staged in our group with choreographers Valentin Nikolaevich Molotov and Olga Germanovna Glinka. The free program was staged with Nikita Mikhailov at the training camp in Kislovodsk. Therefore, in fact, the process of rolling in went only towards the end of the collection. But we still have time.
— I remember very much your performance to the song on poems by Sergei Yesenin performed by Sergei Bezrukov at the Russian Challenge tournament. Any plans to keep this program for next season?
— Yes, there will be shows where I will introduce her. This is generally my topic, I also sunk into the soul of this program. The story of Yesenin himself is close to me and deeply understandable, as if I lived it myself when I watched the series with Sergei Vitalievich Bezrukov in the title role. When I told about my impressions to our choreographer Olga Germanovna Glinka, she offered to put the program under Yesenin's verses. This is all our Russian, understandable to people. Although the judges at the tournament did not like this program, many experts who understand figure skating came up to me and highly appreciated it. Especially if you learn to let yourself go in this program, after all, Yesenin was such a reveler-robber … When I manage to convey this, I myself feel very cool by emotions. So I'll run this program again.
— You are also connected with Yesenin by the fact that you write poetry. Do you continue to do this now?- It takes me to a certain period of time. I can write a poem while sitting in the car and listening to the radio. Especially when I listen to classical music. In general, I am a music lover, I listen to any music, but under the classics there is a state in which thoughts are sometimes formed into verses. But not every day and not every week. Sometimes I just write down my thoughts, and then a poem will be formed from them.
— Do you write only for yourself or read with friends?
— Yes, in different ways. Many guys listen to hip-hop, and we indulge: I give out a line, another person a line, I again a line, another line. But it's more like a joke. And so there were evenings when I read my, as it seems to me, the best poems. And at the training camp in Altai, he sang a song. Nastya Gubanova sang her song, and I sang mine. Evgeny Vladimirovich heard it for the first time, said he liked it (smiles).
— Altai is an unusual place.
— The places are amazing there, I would come to Altai not to spend a gathering, but to relax. There is very good fishing, nature, forest, mountains — I love the whole thing. My element.
— So it turns out that the suspension of Russian athletes, problems with logistics that prevent them from traveling abroad, although deeply sad, but they open up new places in Russia.
— Yes, it's great. And thanks to the shows that we had last season, I also visited many cities in Russia. It's interesting how different our people are. People in St. Petersburg and Moscow are usually compared, but many other cities stand out with their charisma, emotions and mood.
— But soon you will have an international trip — to a show in China. — I look forward to it. It so happened that in my entire sports career I have never been to China. Mark Kondratyuk, Sasha Samarin have been, but it didn’t match for me. So I'm very interested, there will be a new page of impressions in my life.
«We grew up on patriotism»
— Since we have already mentioned the non-admission to international competitions, Russian athletes are now in the same situation as you, and for quite a long time: at first they could not perform normally due to the doping scandal, but now for the same reason as the rest. I talked with world champion Sergei Shubenkov, and he said that his attitude to this situation had reached the stage of some kind of Christian humility.- I have about the same. I have long resigned myself to the fact that we compete within the country. But still, our childhood dreams are to become a European champion, a world champion, an Olympic champion. This is how my parents raised me, my coaches — to strive for these heights. What should the children do now, I don’t know at all how to explain to them what to strive for? But on the other hand, the season that took place in our country, in my opinion, was more enchanting than the international one, for which I would like to thank the federation of our sport. It seems to me that people were much more interested in following him, and it was very interesting for us to perform.
— The case when import substitution worked.
— Yes, one hundred percent. But, of course, we are looking forward to returning to the international arena. We strive for our dreams, goals, titles. And we took it all away. So for now, we just have to wait and accept what we have at the moment. And move forward with this.
— You have not performed in a neutral status in your entire career, have you?— But there the team was called «Olympic Athletes from Russia». And according to the recommendations that are now accepted by the International Olympic Committee, there will be no mention of the country, nor any other hint of the origin of the athletes. It remains only without a surname and a name to force the athletes to perform, such discrimination is going on. Are you ready to compete in the international arena, if they allow it according to the current criteria?
— Complex issue. Of course, as an athlete, I want to see the Russian flag and hear the Russian anthem. But, it seems to me, if there is an opportunity to speak at least on the conditions that are now formulated by the IOC, and if we are not required to make political statements or actions against my country, we must do it. Russian people will still know that this is our athlete — Dima Aliyev or anyone else. And they will still be proud of our athlete. Yes, it will be very disappointing if we are returned under such conditions, but this is still a step forward compared to the current situation.
— In addition, we already have experience — our athletes have already performed in this status at the world championships in judo, taekwondo. And, for example, the same judoka Inal Tasoev thundered all over the world when, only because of a referee's mistake, he did not defeat the titled Frenchman, but then forced the international federation to award him a second gold medal — and this did not even go past our president, who commented on this situation.
— Yes, and even from my own experience I remember how I competed at the Olympics in a neutral status and felt how the Russian people were rooting for me. I am sure that the Russian people will stay with their athletes and understand them. And even if we are without a flag, he will cheer for our guys. After all, we were brought up and grew up on patriotism, in any case we will be with our people.
— Returning to the upcoming season, it is clear that a skater like you can only have the highest goals. To conquer them, are you preparing something new, for example, quads that have not been performed in programs before?
— It's too early to talk about it now. The restoration of the quadruple lutz is not yet in the plans, I'm afraid because of the foot, last season I got injured on this particular jump, and we excluded it from our arsenal. So for the time being I am working on the quad toe loop and salchow, so that I can consistently perform these two jumps cleanly. I think my current content, subject to its high-quality performance, is currently enough to compete with everyone. But then, as the season progresses, anything is possible. After all, as it happens for me, a wave has begun, and I myself will not notice how I will go and do this quadruple lutz in training.
— Last season you had both absolutely outstanding program rentals and failures — that is, it didn’t work out to reach that level of stability that would satisfy you. How do you work to avoid such swings?- There were a lot of clean free programs with which I saved myself. Especially at the end of the season. In the beginning there were also good short programs, then I began to lose a lot on them. But I am very glad that I had enough moral strength to return myself to the battle. It was difficult — when the short program does not work out, thoughts come into my head: well, what will happen in the free program … But then it turned out to go out and save myself. Now I'm trying to remember the feelings with which I went to class skates. I don’t want to save myself anymore and climb up from 11th place. I would like both programs to work together and be such a striking fist.
— You once said that in juniors after an unsuccessful program they broke a smartphone and a laptop out of anger. Why did I remember this — recently I myself lost in tennis with five match points, I really wanted to break something.
— Yes, everything happened. Everyone goes through this, I remember breaking sticks in cross-country skiing. And they played volleyball at the training camp — emotions were also overwhelmed. I am a contrast — I am quick-tempered, I am calm, I am sociable, I am cautious. And of course I'm very emotional. Something can sharply infuriate, I can be glad that others are not happy. But lately, I seem to be getting better control of myself. I realized that failure should not be accompanied by aggression and fill oneself with negativity, but one should step over it, correct it and take from it what can help you in the future.»There is free space in the closet for an Olympic medal»
— Recently, Evgenia Medvedeva, in a documentary about herself, told how her attitude to medals has changed: she used to think that this was a confirmation of the path she had traveled in sports, but now she perceives them as a piece of iron. Have you experienced such a transformation in the course of your career?- I think that Zhenya's attitude to medals has changed due to the fact that she is no longer in competitive sports. And it is probably right and good that this happened. Many guys, by the way, also say that after the end of their career they keep the medals somewhere in a box in the garage and do not remember them. And for me, for example, a different story happened after a disastrous season, when I did not go to the Olympics in Beijing. There was a Cup of Channel One, which I did not compete at, I woke up at home, stood next to the place where my medals lay, looked at them, remembered what happened where I won them — and directly felt how these thoughts charge me. Because at that moment I went out, or something, somehow, as an athlete, I stopped trusting myself. And then I saw the medals and thought: damn it, I won everything, this is my way. And I think it helped me — the next season was more successful. So while I'm in competitive mode, the medals will support me. I look at them, remember what I experienced when they were handed to me, and I really appreciate these moments. Recently I even decided to make a new cupboard for my awards at home.
— Did it work?
— Yes, I bought it, assembled everything myself, arranged all the medals as I like. Such a beautiful cabinet, glass, pleases the eye.
— And yet, probably, I would like the Olympic medal to show off there.
— Of course. This is a childhood dream that never leaves you. I have gold and bronze from the Youth Olympics and those medals look beautiful too. But they lie somewhere at the bottom of the cabinet. And I still have free space on the top shelf.