2022 Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova is recovering from mononucleosis. The two-time Russian champion Ksenia Doronina was less fortunate, because of this illness she was forced to end her career. The figure skater spoke in an interview with Sport about the insidiousness of a viral disease, lack of money in the 90s, jealousy for Elizaveta Tuktamysheva and the fear of modern children. br>— In 2010, the media wrote that you ended your career after failing to recover from infectious mononucleosis. Is this true?- Yes. Since childhood, I had dreams of skating for at least 25 years. I wanted a long career. Then it was accepted. But at the age of 18, I became seriously ill after successful seasons for me, when my career went uphill. Doctors categorically forbade the load and, in principle, put an end to the fact that I could return to the ice. So I completely missed one year, and then I still tried to return to the competitive mode, to remind myself, but the bad predictions came true. I could not withstand the load that a skater must withstand. But I didn't want to ride just for myself. At the age of 20, I decided that this was my path, it was time to part with sports. How did you get this diagnosis?
— Symptoms lasted for five months before the final diagnosis. I felt that there was no strength for the load. The coach gives a day off, but he does not help me. I tried to train and live a normal life, so I was already in a pretty serious condition. And it’s good that, in principle, she remained a relatively healthy person. The line was really dangerous. It was difficult because the doctors told the coach: “Overwork, let her rest.” They give me a rest, but I'm still the same exhausted.
— Coaches sometimes think in such cases that this is a simulation.
— An unpleasant illness for an athlete. People break their arms and legs, they can then return to the ice as if nothing had happened, if they have the opportunity to train hard. Mononucleosis just deprives this opportunity.
— We are all used to working at the limit of our capabilities, and then you realize that your limit has become minimal. And no one can help you. And in general, everyone says that you need to finish the sport and do something else. The doctors of the national team said: “Go, Ksyusha, finish your studies, you won’t have anything here anymore.” It was hard to realize with my head that physically I was no longer a robot, not a machine that could withstand anything and only get better from it.
«Children are afraid and cry, injured ones come»
— What are you doing now?
— I work as a coach at the figure skating academy at the school of the Olympic reserve. From this season I was again given a set of initial training. Nine years ago I already had such children. Now they are adults. Before that, there were groups of educational training for 9-12 years old.
strong> — Alexander Zhulin said in his autobiography that he had no idea how to teach five-year-olds something. Explain «cross-roll» and «chasse» to those who are not yet able to pronounce these words.
— The hardest work is to put on skates. And at the same time not to have any creative diversity in programs and elements. I bow to the coaches who know how to make it so that the child falls in love with figure skating.
Sometimes small children come to me from other coaches. You have not yet begun to say anything, but they are already afraid and crying. Therefore, you learn from parents that there were situations with the former coach, because of which the child is already psychologically traumatized. It takes time for the child to trust again and understand that nothing terrible threatens him. , how much was it expensive for the family?
— I'm not from a very rich family, but then it was not a condition to succeed. The training itself was free. But my mother told me how in CSKA, in health groups, parents dumped themselves on gasoline so that the car could fill with ice. You started at CSKA, and then ended up in St. Petersburg. How?
— My mother is from St. Petersburg, my grandparents lived there, so I often went on vacation and even went to Yubileiny to train so as not to lose shape. In Moscow, I trained with Elena Germanovna Vodorezova. Dad had to move to St. Petersburg for work, and we decided to combine this with the transition to Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin. He had a super success then, thundered Evgeni Plushenko, so we thought it was a good idea.