Alexander Zhulin: "I try to be positive"

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

On the eve of the Olympic Games in Sochi, actions in their support are being held all over Russia, the other day such an event was held in Moscow. On the embankment in Gorky Park, within the framework of the Warmth of Our Support project, residents of the capital gathered to support our athletes and wish them victory. The special guest of the evening was the famous coach, and in the past the figure skater and Olympic medalist (paired with Maya Usova) - Alexander Zhulin

Blitz survey "Cleo":

- Are you friends with the Internet?

- Yes, but I'm not, for example, on Facebook. I am on VKontakte, but only to download music. But so that I conduct dialogues with someone … I am a man of the old school and a supporter of personal communication. I cannot, like others, spend hours surfing the Internet or chatting on the phone - this makes me terrified. And from my wife and eldest daughter, I'm just shocked - they can also communicate with someone for hours, and then they join in a normal conversation and cannot talk normally. The possibility of normal human communication disappears.

- What is an unacceptable luxury for you?

- Probably go on vacation for a year and do nothing. Take an "artistic break", because sport is still pretty fast.

- Where did you spend your last vacation?

- I spent my last vacation in the Emirates. Such a short pastime right after the Russian Championship. I needed to recover a little and gain strength.

We managed to talk to him - of course, about the upcoming games, about what kind of future he is preparing for his children, what can be taken into big sports from television projects and how he spends his free time.

What made you distract yourself from everything in such frost and come to the holiday?

In fact, this event is held by my very close friends, and they asked me to participate. I agreed with pleasure, because any such action in favor of supporting our Olympians is wonderful. The atmosphere was really excellent today and I am very glad I came.

Are you coming with your family?

I came with my wife - it would be hard for the child, since she is only one year old and one month old.

With ex-wife Tatyana Navka and daughter Sasha

- Did you have a nickname as a child?

- Yes. The figure is because the skater.

- Are you an owl or a lark?

- I am a specific owl.

- How do you relieve stress?

- I try to be positive. A positive thought helps a lot: “Everything will be fine,” and even defeat is just a harbinger of victory.

- Do you have a talisman?

- There is such a small one … It's even a shame to speak. A small toy - a bear cub. I found it three or four years ago. I have it in my bag all the time.

- What is your psychological age?

- 29-30 years old.

- What is your favorite aphorism?

- Everything will be fine!

You have two daughters, and the eldest is already actively involved in sports. What are your plans for the younger one? Will you put her on skates?

The eldest is playing tennis, and about the youngest, you know how it will go. I think we will try some directions - from figure skating to ballroom dancing, from acting school to music school. Let's choose three or five directions, and then the child must choose himself.

And if in the future your daughter wants to become, for example, an economist?

Wow, it would be nice! At least one economist will be! (Laughs.)

Have you prepared athletes for this Olympics?

Yes, I have a couple - Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Soloviev - they are going to the Olympic Games.

Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Soloviev

Will you yourself go to Sochi directly to the competition?

Of course I will. I will train them and, naturally, support them in every possible way.

You work a lot on entertainment ice projects on television, where not only skating skills are important, but also artistic abilities. Do you take something from them for your performances, already sports?

There are not so many good ideas, and there are many more in the "Ice Age".

Necessarily! I've done this a number of times and will use it again. Because there are not so many good ideas, and in the "Ice Age" there are much more of them, since we put on a huge number of programs there. Of course, I am not saying that you have to take everything from there, but some reasonable things help a lot. There is more opportunity to create. Naturally, this should be shifted to the sports program very competently, because in the sports program not much is allocated to the acting component due to the limited time.

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In the world of serious dances, for example, big ballet, there is rivalry, and not for life, but to the death. They are tearing up outfits, pouring glass into pointe shoes. Is there anything like that in figure skating?

Naturally there is. As, probably, in any sport. Of course, ballet and sports are not comparable. Still, sports are more honest. A huge number of my friends, and myself, often lost, and won, and were friends with each other. After all, sport, what is it good for ?! You go out and prove that you are stronger, without these intrigues. But it did happen, of course. Everywhere there are rotten people, and we have and have been. But I say it again, sport is more honest than high art.

And the last question: what do you do in your free time from work and training?

At home I like to watch TV. Some good movies. I read more often on airplanes when I am flying somewhere. At home, I will not lie, there is simply no time to read. I really like to play with my youngest daughter - it gives me great pleasure. In general, I like active rest - this is football, tennis, and golf. Recently, however, my back has been very sore, and now I think to focus more on swimming and a relaxed lifestyle. I need to keep my legs at ease so that I can at least still be able to skate.