Alena Kostornaia Interview

[Alex Fedorov]

As for Alena, she did tell the coaches about the things that bothered her, in fact, she explicitly describes it.

"There was a dialogue, but nothing changed. So yes, they talked to me. But no more than that. And they immediately made it clear to me: “We will not change to please you or other athletes. As we worked according to a certain methodology, we will continue to do so, and nothing will change.” Older or younger, no change. But in fact, at some point you realize that you know your body better than a another person."

You made an anachronism. The conversation that Alena told about took place after her return to the Tutberidze team. At this time, she was no longer ridiculed. And the proposals that she tried to discuss with the coaches touched on completely different problems.

I was talking about something else - about the period when she left Tutberidze for the first time. As can be understood from her story, the main reason was ridicule and humiliation. Further quote:

If you just talk, then we talked with her in Novogorsk about it. More precisely, the issue of the transfer was no longer discussed there, there were slightly different conflicts, and they talked to me. Because then it was like this: either you, or we you - there were no other options. There was no other dialogue. Maybe only once, and that was when Daniil Markovich and Sergei Viktorovich (we were all talking together) went away for a while and Eteri Georgievna began to ask: “Why? But as? What can be done to avoid this?" But then five minutes passed, Daniil Markovich and Sergey Viktorovich returned, and the dialogue again went in line with “We made you, and you do this to us.”

That is, Eteri directly asks Alena: "What can I do to make you stay in Khrustalny?" Suppose everything is exactly as you say, and the source of rude ridicule is Tutberidze. Why didn’t Alyona, who, in her own words, always tells the truth when she is asked a question, tell Eteri: “Stop humiliating me, I can’t stand it anymore”? Moreover, it is also said here that the presence of Gleikhengauz and Dudakov somehow interfered with Alena.

As for the proposals that Alena made to the coaches after returning to Tutberidze, it is very similar to the fact that she was simply trying to legalize her "little tricks", which boiled down to facilitating training. At least, Gleichenhaus took it that way. And he really had some kind of persistent dislike for Alena.

 

[Trusova4Ever]

Here is a youtuber's view of the situation. Take her translation and do with it what you will. I never really thought about it like that for Shcherbakova:

 

[withwings]

Here is a youtuber's view of the situation. Take her translation and do with it what you will. I never really thought about it like that for Shcherbakova:

I assume you meant to say for Kostornaya, not Shcherbakova.

Absolutely fantastic. Bravo to whoever was that youtuber. Truth there speaks itself- thank you.
eteri was only a dirty tool in the hands of Putin/the same old soviet system. Kostornaya was too brilliant for eteri.
What eteri did to this girl is no less crime as what Putin's soldiers did at Butcha. Even worse.

Broken arms could be an obstacle for Kostornaya in any profession. Such an injuries stays with us for ever even though we wish to think they don't.

 

[Azikin]

The easiest way, of course, is to simply unconditionally side with Alena and say a few more bad words about the merciless Eteri.

In general, Alena makes, as always, a very good impression - she is cheerful, obviously kind and open. She's just not adult. She is still a mischievous child who may love the word "responsibility", but does not fully understand its meaning.

Yeah, she's a little devil, I love her but I've learned not to take what she says too seriously. Unfortunately it leads to such comments like the one above my reply. Like with Kamila, it's just sad to read some things people can say.

 

[Alex Fedorov]

Here is a youtuber's view of the situation. Take her translation and do with it what you will. I never really thought about it like that for Shcherbakova:

Well, this is such a "usual" point of view of a person who obviously has a negative attitude towards Tutberidze and therefore is not critical of any hypothetically compromising information. However, she uses an incomplete translation of the interview, in which there was no mention that Alena broke her arm trying to win the bet. But even what she quotes should have raised some questions. Well, for example - 16 weeks without training. Here you should immediately ask - when was it?

Alena broke her arm for the first time in December, presumably on December 10th. The message about the second fracture was published on February 16. This second fracture occurred during a training session that was not at all the first after a period of treatment - Kostornaya returned to the ice at the very beginning of the month. At the same time, Alena said that she would continue to train, the second fracture did not interfere with her.

On March 3, a message appeared that Kostornaya was leaving Tutberidze for Buyanova. Thus, 16 weeks without ice is a clear exaggeration.

As for Anna, anyone could independently watch her interviews over the past years. Was it possible to see a humiliated and intimidated girl at least once in these videos? She could only cry after unsuccessful performances.

In the last season, Tutberidze showed a rather cold attitude towards Anna (although this could be an illusion). And better than others, Eteri spoke about Sasha, which, of course, is consistent with what Alena said. But Shcherbakova, it seems, does not carry about it. Perhaps Eteri sees and feels in Anna a kind of rival, and this worries or even frightens her. But this is just guesswork.

 

[Lurker11]

Alena doesn't strike me as particularly credible. She's young and don't judge her for it, there's no malice what she says.

She's clashed with every authority figure in her life whether coach or her mother by the sounds of it. The comment about not recognising the authority of any male tells me everything. She's some what uncoachable if that is the case.

The part about Eteri not bending to her seems fair. Eteri a long line of skaters willing to sacrifice, skaters with a higher tolerance for injury, skaters far more disciplined, skaters that don't cause distractions, skaters that don't want special treatment, so why would Eteri take on this project with Alena when it will consume more of her time and more likely to end up in another argument where she runs off to another coach.

Eteri is coaching Olympic medallists and should only accept those that are willing to train like Olympic medallists do otherwise they can go to another coach who isn't training medallists.

It would set a bad precedent where other skaters ask why does Alena get special treatment when she can barely do quads, can't do a 3A, doesn't put in as much time and effort to her skating.

There's an interview where Alena talks about staying up to 4am watching TV, she seems to gamble on everything (even alluded to breaking her arm to lose a bet). She lacks discipline and is probably a little lazy. Doesn't put enough time into fitness and ends up injuring herself on the ice because she's not in peak condition. Some people are injury prone. Being an Olympic level skater is not for you if you are injury prone or cannot skate through pain.

Eteri trying to get her to skate in the Russian Nationals with her wrist in a cast is Eteri trying to give Alena a last chance of going to the Olympics. That happens in all sports athletes playing through with an injury.

Basically Alena blames every authority figure that has been in her life for not being a competitive skater anymore. She does not take any blame.

Anna came back from a broken leg, COVID, pneumonia to win Russian Nationals, world championship and Olympic gold.

 

[patee]

final part of the interview:

Z: Tell me, it was always unclear to me - why ТЩК? Did you agree with this or not?

A: I hated that acronym.

E: It seems to me that all three girls did not really like this abbreviation.

Z: Why? Is it because the K is the last letter in this abbreviation?

A: No, the problem is not at all in the order in which the letters are arranged. We are just very, very different people. We are so different that in no case should we be lumped together. Well, we just don't have anything common. We have different interests, different hobbies, a different way of building a dialogue - and so on up to thinking. We are just completely different. And how it was possible for us to stick together into something united just because we started performing at the same time in the same season - I don’t understand. This was done by such a narrow-minded person ...

Z: Not smart person...

A: It's just like VUKh - when I'm talking to these three girls...

E: VUKh is...

Z: Valieva, Usacheva, Khromykh.

A: When I talk to these three girls, they are as different from each other as we are. And therefore, an attempt to blind them into one lump just because there was already a ТЩК before is just ... this is insanity.

E: May I ask a question now? I don’t know if you still have questions about figure skating, but I want to talk about Alena. Alena, what do you like to do? We already know that you love quests. Tell us about these quests - they were scary or not scary. Tell us about what movies you like to watch, what movie you watched recently, if you like to read, about books, tell me which ones you like…

Z: About the music...

E: Yes, about music. Come on, tell me all about it.

A: Oh good. Everyone knows about my equestrian sport. I love show jumping. There is no dressage, but I love show jumping. I love jumping over obstacles, it's very interesting, but due to injuries and other circumstances, I have put it on pause for now. Next - about the quests. I was on a quest of horrors once - so I went with friends, with my company - and it was a nightmare. I got adrenaline, a charge of vivacity and energy for two nights in advance, and this was at 9 pm. I was afraid to go to the toilet at night. I have a studio apartment, and I was afraid to go to the toilet.

Z: Yes, you grabbed horror ...

A: We were three girls...

E: I haven't been to such quests and I don't want to.

A: Dasha Usacheva and Anya Frolova, Mark Kondratyuk and Artur Danielyan were with me. In general ... There was a horror quest, someone had to be saved, and we chose the easiest mode. This means that we cannot be touched.

It was scary. Already at the first moment a man with a chainsaw chased us. It was a nightmare. And here we are standing in the corner - Anya and Dasha are at the edges, I am in the center, and we are closed by the boys (laughs). And the boys stand like that and… Well, they have already been there, they have visited such quests many times, they knew what it was. And I went to this quest for the first time. And now I have a panic, I have a hysteria, my hands are shaking like this, I am pounding all over. Well, it was horror, but it was also interesting. It was really interesting, there was a cool actor, which we then found in all social networks (laughs). Moreover, Dasha was looking for this - and she found all the actors - and this despite the fact that we saw the face of only one of them. But she found everyone, she talked to everyone - in a word, the girl did not waste time in vain.

But in general, I prefer logical quests, that is, some ...

E: Some puzzles...

A: Yes. This is what I'm interested in. That is, in fact, there is a theme there ... I went through many quests, but one of those that I could not finish - it seems that it was about ancient Egypt. Yes, it is about Egypt. But it was a very difficult quest - the most difficult tasks had to be solved in the shortest possible time. And I didn't have five minutes. And if there wasn’t another group behind us, then we would still pass this quest. But it was difficult. The theme is Egypt. Well, of course, I passed the quest on the topic of Harry Potter - I passed without any problems at all. In my opinion, I did it then in half an hour, although I was given a whole hour.

The quest about knights also passed. Although it was also a difficult quest on the topic of the Middle Ages. And we passed it just a second before the end of the allotted time, at 59:59.

Z: So you are a gambler, very gambler, aren't you?

A: Yes. I love to play. I get excited during every workout. We often argue with each other during these training sessions. For example, I approach someone and say: “Look, if I don’t complete this element now, then I will owe you something.” I... Every day I lose something. No, then I try to recoup, of course.

E: So you can't visit Las Vegas?

A: Yes, that's right.

Z: Don't let Alyona [in the casino]!

E: Don't let her in!

Z: Can you forbid yourself?

A: Yes, of course.

E: So it's still controlled excitement?

A: Well, yes, it does not turn into fanaticism.

E: It's just that you haven't played for big money yet... So, now about movies.

Z (to Ekaterina): Well, you didn't play for big money either.

A: And I played for a lot of money!

E: Wow!

Z: But you won?

A: I will say this: in order not to lose, I tried so hard that I broke my arm!

E: Horror! That's it... What an interesting life you have. Let's talk about movies now.

A: About movies... It's difficult...

E: What do you like more - series, cartoons or ...

A: Fantasy, constant fantasy. And absolutely different, ranging from (pause) "Game of Thrones" and ending with the animated series "Adventure Time" and "Rick and Morty". I have a kind of love for Rick and Morty and Adventure Time. These are such cartoons, well ... peculiar.

E: So you prefer cartoons, if I understand correctly?

A: No, I love different things, but my father inherited my love for cartoons - he himself loved to draw comics. Therefore, I really like cartoons shot in this style.

E: Do you watch Miyazaki cartoons?

A: This is the one who...

E: Yes, Japanese cartoons, the most famous ones are Howl's Moving Castle for example.

Z: "Totoro"...

E: Yes, Totoro.

A: Yes, I watched several of these cartoons, I probably liked two of them, but not all of them.

Z: Not everything suits you?

A: Well, there was something wrong with that…

Z: What did you like about Miyazaki?

A: As for Harry Potter...

Z: "Totoro"?

A: Of course.

Z: Why "of course"? I liked this cartoon, I watched with my mouth open and said: "this is brilliant." I showed this cartoon to my friends, and they said: "Ugh, this is so primitive." I tell them: “Yes, you don’t understand, there ...”

E: I really like that Miyazaki makes cartoons that are suitable for both adults and children.

Z: It's... Because it's not really cartoons. This is an anime, that is, "Totoro" is ... That is, "Totoro" you liked, but some of his other films - not?

A: Well, for example, I started watching Naruto. It was interesting for the first two seasons (it's kind of an unrealistically long show). And I didn't watch until the end, because it's impossible. It's just impossible! But I watched the series “The Magnificent Century”, probably twice each episode, because at first my mother watched, and I listened, and then I watched it all myself.

Z: Excuse me, but when do you manage to do all this? You have training, study ...

E: Also quests!

A: It was a moment ... Now I will say ...

Z: Maybe it was during quarantine?

A: I think it was before the quarantine. But during the quarantine, I also watched a lot of things. About Harry Potter - this is my mother who loves films about Harry Potter and Twilight ...

E: I just wanted to ask if you love it all, or your mom...

A: These were my favorite films, they taught me from childhood, from about the age of seven. From the age of seven, if a Harry Potter movie was shown on TV channels, my mother and I immediately sat down on the sofa in front of the TV.

Z: Did you enjoy it? And what about "Twilight"?

A: Twilight too, all the time. By the way, I think it was in December, on some channel showed "Twilight". I can even name the exact date - it was from December 24 to 26.

E: Yes, I remember. Tell me, please, but what is more interesting for you ...

Z: Can we move on to the question about the program?

E: Now, wait a second, I just want to continue the topic for now. Did you watch the movie first, or did you read the book, or did it happen at the same time?

A: First I watched "Twilight", and then I got a series of books "Twilight" in English, I read them in order to improve my level of this language. These books were given to me, for which I am very grateful. And the same can be said about Harry Potter. At first I watched films about him, and then Olga Yermolina gave me books, also in English. I don't know where she found these books, but I was very happy. And then I also bought the missing books from this series myself and read them.

E: Was it more interesting for you to read these books in English or in Russian?

A: It's hard to read in the original. Because there I was more focused not on learning the story (which I already knew) and not on fantasizing, but on replenishing my vocabulary. I learned how this or that word is translated, why it was used, and not an approximate synonym. In general, I studied English rather than read.

Z: Do you have a good level of English now?

A: Well, to some extent yes, but to some extent no.

Z: Okay, now about the Twilight program - whose idea was it?

A: One thing is the junior competition. I then went out on the ice with my eyes lined with black mascara and in very thin pantyhose - 5 den. That is, I forgot the usual tights, there were only such, and under them - very white legs. It was winter, it was cold outside, there was no tan on the skin. At the same time, I performed with the Angel program - a white dress, white ice, white legs, black eyes. Daniil Markovich saw me and said: “You look like a vampire.” And I thought: “Exactly!”.

I also remembered that moment from Twilight with baseball - and I have always been delighted with this episode. Well, I said: "Let's...". And so we started staging a demonstration performance - it turned out to be so cool that we decided to make a full-fledged program.

Z: And you shined with this program!

A: I will say more - I still perform this program!

Z: Tell me when the 2020 World Figure Skating Championships were canceled [how did you react]

A: There was such a joke - “I'm at the peak of my decline” (laughs). That is, someone goes to the peak of form, and I was at the peak of my decline. I had an injury, I had an injury before the European Championships. And I had already begun to treat this injury, I was in this incomprehensible floating position. I forced myself as best I could, tried to bring this all to the end. And when the World Figure Skating Championship was cancelled, I didn't suffer from it. I then thought: “Great! Now I will continue to heal."

E: And everyone says: “Alena should have gone there and won gold!”

Z: I don't understand... Yes, everyone was sure that this was your season.

A: I was silent again, I sat and thought: “I am at the peak of my decline”

E: Can you imagine how things are going...

Z: How did you win the European Championship, I can't understand.

A: Everyone is surprised by this. I had a whole week before that… well, maybe not the whole week, I didn’t skate – at a crucial stage of preparation for the European Championships, because I had a problem with my back. I was doing the spins and at one moment I realized that I can’t sit, I can’t walk and I can’t do anything at all, I’m just a lying vegetable. I did not feel pain only when I lay down.

And so I didn’t train for several days, and my mother took me for several days in this lying position for physiological procedures, then the РФК began (Developing Physical Culture - a method for correcting minor curvatures of the spine). At some point, representatives of the federation came - and I walk something near the edge, trying to remember something. And so they come up to me and ask: “Why don’t you do anything?”. I think: “Well, you talked to the coaches, didn’t they really tell you that I had problems with my back.” They say: “Why didn’t you tell us about this? We would have cured you faster, we would have taken you for a special examination.” And I didn't know what to answer.

And at the European Championships, I skated just by some miracle, using my previous experience. Well, I told you that I am a plus start athlete. Here I have it. Adrenaline, drive + old luggage - and go.

Z: Well, you there, like in general in that season, triple axels did just one after the other.

E: Yes, it was very beautiful.

A: In fact, the triple axel is a very comfortable jump for me. I can’t always be sure of it, there may be some doubts, but if you get where you need to, this jump is very comfortable. That is, I can do a triple Axel even if I can't land 3+3 combinations. I'm underrotate these combinations, or fall during their performance, but I calmly do a triple axel.

Z: Maybe it was a result of how carefully you were trained to do the double axel?

A: It's just that I'm very comfortable doing this jump.

E: Well, you know how... Forgive me for the comparison, but now Trusova can't do a triple axel, she just falls, but she does quadruple jumps without any problems.

Z: The triple Axel is a special jump.

E: Yes, and that's why this detail is especially interesting... Look, I have such an important question for you. We talked with you, you opened up to me from a completely different side. It's one thing to listen to your interviews, read Wikipedia, follow the competitions, and another thing is live communication, looking into each other's eyes. You are a very extraordinary person, really very interesting and cool. And now I see: you are a European champion, you already have a name in sports. It is clear that you now have an excellent baggage of experience, it is clear that you can gain more, it is clear that there is still room for development.

But, as you say now, you still have some problems. Maybe it's health issues and so on. You perfectly understand that there are young girls who will now take the lead with quadruple jumps, you are changing coaches. At the same time, you are very smart, you want to study, you are already getting two higher educations, you want to study as a surgeon ...

A: As a neurosurgeon.

E: Yes, neurosurgeon, thanks.

Z: High medicine...

E: So you...

A: I am also studying in two directions at one of the institutes ...

E: So, that is, you already have grandiose plans, you are interested in being a coach, and students will run to your name, believe me - I know what I'm talking about. So what motivates you to keep going?

A: And I love…

E: What do you expect from yourself? What are you waiting for from yourself?

A: I love this sport. I once had an interview during which I said something like: “I will skate for another four years, and then stop.” But now I realized that I was not just wrong then - I'm bored of living without this adrenaline, without this excitement. I need that excitement of ice. That is, I like to go out in public, I like this kind of work. I just enjoy it. It doesn't matter if I succeed or not - I fall, roll on the ice, cry - I still like it.

E: When… Again, I'm not calling for anything, I'm just very interested, because I have already talked with athletes and I have my own experience. When this moment of the end of her career comes up ... Here is the amazing Alena Leonova, who was also at her peak, then her career began to decline a little, she continued to skate, but at some point she decided to stop. How do you imagine - when such a moment can come for you? Or do you not want to think about it at all yet, and will you skate until you break completely?

A: Probably, at some point I will feel one way or another - that's all. And this will not be due to the fact that I can’t get some element, or I don’t have enough strength to complete the program. The reason should be the disappearance of interest in figure skating. Perhaps this is how it should be.

Z: Well, well, now you have this interest. What does it mean - you are interested in making a new program, performing with it ...

E: Or are you interested in returning to the old skating, learning quadruple jumps?

A: It would be interesting for me to enter competitions, major competitions, I am interested in these ice performances that I can convey to the audience. Of course, I'm interested in new programs, working with new people. Well… No, not that the first place was the main motive, but it is still much more pleasant when you work hard and then take one of the places on the podium. At the same time, you understand: here I worked and received just such an award, here I also worked and also received, but here I could not work - and, accordingly, nothing will happen. Here is an interesting thing for me.

Z: You have already worked with different choreographers. Are there other people you would like to work with? Or is it pointless to think about it now?

A: Yes, it is useless to think about it now.

Z: Could you create a program for yourself?

A: Well, to some extent, maybe I did the Harley Quinn program for myself. That is, of course, coaches helped me, but, let's say, the main idea was completely mine. I made several mistakes there - for example, the musical fragments were not mounted correctly. But the main ideas are “here I will do this, and here I will do that, but for this moment such music will do.” They say to me: “but there are indecent expressions here,” and I: “this is muted.” The costume was also my responsibility, I did everything myself. More precisely, I brought a version of this costume, and they helped me develop this version.

I think it was a good experience, but I don't want to create programs for myself.

E: How did you work with Lena Radionova?

A: Oh, very interesting. At some point, the coaches were joking with us, because ... At some point, we are skating together, and if I get into music (and Lena always gets into music), then it seems that we are with her is two clones. At some point, Elena Germanovna came up to us and said: “Lena, do you see her? It's you". I said: “Of course, because I learned from her example when I was young.”

Z: And who else was an example for you?

A: Adeline.

Z: Yes, Sotnikova.

E: Would you like her to put on a program for you? Well, to work together...

Z: Is she doing this?

E: Adelina does it, she creates programs for her students, she already has some experience, and then she is an Olympic champion.

Z (to Ekaterina): You know, we seem to be forcing Alena to give some definite answer ...

E: No, I'm just asking if it's interesting or not.

A: It will be interesting for me to work with everyone…

E: With everyone?

A: Yes. Plus, now, when we were doing a common performance, Adelina noticed that we were somehow ugly standing, and began to tell us how to stand up and what to do. She corrected what had previously been unsuccessfully invented. In general, it was interesting, we all liked it.





I stopped there, because the song performed by Alena was further discussed, as well as the prospects for her training as a neurosurgeon. Nothing was said about figure skating.

Alex, I've been wanting to thank you for your time and effort to translate this really long interview with Aliona ever since I finished reading and watching it part by part. It took quite a long time to do it like that, but I enjoyed every bit of it. So thank you once again!

 

[Trusova4Ever]

I assume you meant to say for Kostornaya, not Shcherbakova.

Absolutely fantastic. Bravo to whoever was that youtuber. Truth there speaks itself- thank you.
eteri was only a dirty tool in the hands of Putin/the same old soviet system. Kostornaya was too brilliant for eteri.
What eteri did to this girl is no less crime as what Putin's soldiers did at Butcha. Even worse.

Broken arms could be an obstacle for Kostornaya in any profession. Such an injuries stays with us for ever even though we wish to think they don't.

Sorry I meant Shcherbakova being the one who went through the most and had to endure the worst and how she sucked it up and became the perfect student. If what Kosto says is true, and don't doubt it isn't, and Eteri & Co. literally humiliate their students into submission then that just adds a whole new dimension to the possible scenarios and experiences the other girls are going through. Think about how Maiia must feel, making mistakes on triples and then having to deal with her after? That sure can't be fun. Think about how they could criticize and ostracize Daria for getting injured and losing her jumps. What we saw with Valieva and Eteri at the Olympics where she literally started reeming her out IMMEDIATELY after her poor performance was probably just a taste of what goes on at that camp. And it must be a weird dynamic at these shows where everyone is getting along and smiling, kids and coaches alike, or when the girls congratulate Eteri on her birthday and such, when she must have made fun of you pretty bad at one point in time or potentially abused you in some way in the past. Like everyone must be in this awkward, passive-aggressive, relationship where you can all get along but at the same time it is with people who have done things like this to you.

Remember when Valieva was talking about one of the things she wanted most was to please Eteri and make her proud of her? Like does Eteri be so stingy in her praise that everyone puts them through all this to make her happy and feel validated, like that is kind of twisted.

 

[Lzbee]

Of course, when it's Aliona, she is not to be believed. And there will be essays on why she shouldn't be believed.

The reasons for breaking her arm are consistent by the way. She said she broke it during training. Then she said she broke it doing the triple Axel. Then she said she broke it during a bet. Therefore, she bet that she could get the triple Axel back and broke her arm training it. Those three statements were not mutually exclusive.

It's not hard to see why she struggles with the patriarchy. The patriarchy never liked having women who speak their minds and Aliona does not sugarcoat.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

It's a sad situation. Alena is one of my all time favorite skaters but we won't see much of her in competition unless she gets back the 3A, whereas she'd be the best skater in most other countries.

 

[Alex Fedorov]

Alex, I've been wanting to thank you for your time and effort to translate this really long interview with Aliona ever since I finished reading and watching it part by part. It took quite a long time to do it like that, but I enjoyed every bit of it. So thank you once again!

Thank you! But I hoped that people would read this translation and understand that the situation is not black and white. Unfortunately, this didn't work. Someone's "blood boils", someone is in a hurry to make accusations of "patriarchy". However, I still did not understand who is the male chauvinist and "patriarch" in this conflict - Eteri or maybe Alena?

It is worth noting that there are no equally ardent supporters of Tutberidze in the thread, whose "blood boils" from what Alena has done over the past two years. Probably because, in general, the failure of the Tutberidze headquarters in this whole story with Kostorna is quite obvious. Yes, they could not cope with it and as a result they lost one of the most talented skaters in the world. Plushenko suffered a no less severe defeat. A year ago, when Alena's return to Tutberidze was discussed on one of the Russian resources, someone even put forward a joking version that Kostornaya was in fact a saboteur, whom Eteri specially sent to the "angels" in order to completely undermine the coach reputation of Plushenko

And one more thing - at the Olympics, Eteri made comments to Kamila after her unsuccessful skating (I think Thomas Bach's indignation about this is ridiculous, because in this case the coach simply did what she had to do, besides, the tone of Tutberidze's words was quite soft). Anna also received her portion of criticism from the coach. But Trusova was not told anything - although Sasha's performance was not clean. Then I attributed this to Trusova's well-known stubbornness, but now, after Alena's interview, I thought - maybe it was another manifestation of favoritism? If so, then this is another Eteri mistake. The skater needs to make critical remarks, otherwise the athlete will no longer understand what was done right and what is wrong. And this is not the first time that Tutberidze has difficulty communicating with skaters who are 17 or older.

 

[kolyadafan2002]

And one more thing - at the Olympics, Eteri made comments to Kamila after her unsuccessful skating (I think Thomas Bach's indignation about this is ridiculous, because in this case the coach simply did what she had to do, besides, the tone of Tutberidze's words was quite soft). Anna also received her portion of criticism from the coach. But Trusova was not told anything - although Sasha's performance was not clean. Then I attributed this to Trusova's well-known stubbornness, but now, after Alena's interview, I thought - maybe it was another manifestation of favoritism? If so, then this is another Eteri mistake. The skater needs to make critical remarks, otherwise the athlete will no longer understand what was done right and what is wrong. And this is not the first time that Tutberidze has difficulty communicating with skaters who are 17 or older.

Off topic, but as a coach you need to treat each skater differently in the kiss-and-cry situation, as it's just as much part of skater psychology as everything else. Sometimes it's better to debrief in the kiss-and-cry (when specific technical mistakes occurred or why they occurred, or teaching important lessons they need to learn in an instant. Sometimes it's better to debrief later when dust has settled, or competition is over. For some skaters, silence works better (Raf and Nathan sometimes), for some its better to continually keep up conversation. Critical remarks are necessary, but during kiss and cry when you should be celebrating skater success/keeping them positive/cheering them up, it is not necessary - and often not the best way for many skaters to learn things, depending on skater and situation.