Anna Frolova | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Anna Frolova

Tokyo Drift

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 6, 2021
Country
France
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💜 Watercolor by 石头小慧慧 ( Shi Xiaohuihui ) ; WEIBO link
 

CrazyKittenLady

Get well soon, Lyosha!
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 2, 2019
Country
Austria
Had to come here to say that while I already liked Anna's skating last year, I am completely blown away by her new programs this season. Her performances at Junior Test Skates were just sublime! When I watched her I was thinking of a quote from TAT (of all people) who once said about another skater that "their soul wants to skate". That's how I feel when watching Anna. 🥰 May she have a lot of success and most importantly joy in her future competitions!
 

Jeanie19

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Country
United-States
Had to come here to say that while I already liked Anna's skating last year, I am completely blown away by her new programs this season. Her performances at Junior Test Skates were just sublime! When I watched her I was thinking of a quote from TAT (of all people) who once said about another skater that "their soul wants to skate". That's how I feel when watching Anna. 🥰 May she have a lot of success and most importantly joy in her future competitions!
I'm a fan. She is so pleasant to watch. I never feel like I'm on edge when I watch her. And her SP is really good.
 

CrazyKittenLady

Get well soon, Lyosha!
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 2, 2019
Country
Austria
It's much too silent in lovely Anna's fan fest lately. She gave her come-back performances at the Russian Cup series this season and skated so well that she qualified for Nationals. :cheer2:

Samara: SP, FS
Perm: SP, FS

In a big interview published today Anna talks about her struggles with injuries, her way back onto the ice, and a surprise she prepared for Russian Nationals.
Good luck and clean skates to Anna this week! 🍀

"I felt helpless": an interview with a figure skater after surviving hell
RIA Novosti 20.12.2022

One of the most talented skaters of the country missed the whole last year due to health problems, many people thought that she was done with the sport altogether. As it turned out, it was partly true. In an interview with RIA Novosti Sport, Anna Frolova told how she went through a series of stress fractures and was almost done with professional sports, but still managed to come back.

- How do you feel being back on the ice?
- Actually, returning to competition was unexpected for me. I had been preparing, but I wasn't at all sure that I would be able to compete. There was a situation where you try several times, it doesn't work, you stumble over something. We wanted to go back to full-time training - to go to the competitions, to learn quads. But somehow it didn't work out again and again, something always happened to my leg. First I had a torn muscle in the foot, and then in the fall, before the Panin Memorial in St. Petersburg, it happened that my tendon was torn.

- Achilles?
- Almost, only in the foot. You know, there is a heel spur, and it went a little further into the foot, although it's the same tendon. There, in the front (of the foot) was a very unpleasant, sharp sensation. And after that, I guess I must have completely melted down. First stress fractures, then something else, a long recovery - and still something is wrong.

- You became disheartened?
- Of course. When my leg hurt very badly, I realized that I could not even push off - only through wild pain. I immediately called to Sergei Dmitrievich (Davydov, the coach - editor's note) and he decided to take me off the ice. Then I talked to the other coaches, too. Everyone tried to explain to me that I must see a doctor, have a look, be examined.
That is, my coaches never said, "That's it, finish it. They took it calmly, without any harsh decisions and words. But since I had something in the spirit of "well, here again," I did not listen to it and did not perceive anything. I called my mom and said: "That's it. I probably can't do it anymore."
- Were you ready to finish your career?
- No, I wasn't. And I didn't want to end it. I think out of desperation, that was the only thing I could say and decide then. Because I was getting ready, I had already bought tickets - and it happens at the last moment. It also happened that at that moment my mother was in another country. I told her I wasn't going to St. Petersburg, I couldn't go, my leg was hurting again. And she, too, of course, didn't know what to do about it.
The next couple of days were heavy thinking. I sat at home, trying to somehow come to terms with the idea that I might have to finish. Then my mom came over, and we decided to go to the doctor. There I was diagnosed with this torn tendon, and they told me how much to rest (without working out) and what procedures to go to. We naturally went to them. But to be honest, from my side it was accompanied by some kind of distrust of what was going on.

- You didn't believe it would help?
- Yes. I thought I would get better and then I would step on the ice and my pain would return. But I went to all the necessary procedures anyway, though they were rather strong. One of them was a shockwave treatment. Shock, painful. There is a strong blow to the pain points. I was told that the shocks go with the force of a bullet - very fast and unpleasant, but they cause a rush of blood to the damaged areas, and the rapid regeneration begins.
During the process my mother tried to encourage me, saying, "Now we're going to heal, everything will be fine. Then we tried on skates, it turned out that they were too small. I had to change them before Samara. Mom went with these old skates to the coaches, we all thought that the problem arose precisely because of the fact that the skate sat on the foot to snuggly.
Somehow, by the way, my mom was very enthusiastic. Then Sergei Dmitrievich sent word that he listed me for the competition in Samara. Everyone somehow believed in me that everything would work out. But I didn't (laughs). I didn't. I just thought that I would try.
To be honest, in Samara I had only one thing in my head - now something will hurt again and I'll let everyone down. I was very afraid of that. I was ready to go out on ice as long as at least one person in the world believes in me, even if it's not me, but the fear of not meeting expectations and trust was there.

- Now your phrase about wanting to beat yourself in Samara has taken on new meaning.
- Of course, I said that in part because of everything that preceded the stage. And in principle, I missed quite a long period of time, stopped figure skating altogether. There was also a situation in the hospital, when I was told that there was a problem with my leg again, some kind of ligament. Doctors put it like this: maybe you will have to have an operation or something, but if the situation is really bad, you won't skate anymore".

- When did this happen?
- January and February of this year. Just during the Olympics.

- So, after the stress fracture.
- There was such a situation - at first I was told that I had an ordinary sprain. The doctors were not entirely accurate in their diagnoses, and we tried this treatment first, then another. You need to know what to treat, but it turned out that every time I was told something different. Of course, because of that I could not think of anything.
At some point we decided to go to the hospital. There, the doctors had already convened a council, looked at my scans and said that in fact I had a certain number of stress fractures in my foot.

- A certain number? You mean more than one?
- There were several.

- And all in the same foot?
- Yes.

- I heard, Sergei Dmitrievich is quite scrupulous in the question of injuries.
- He always goes towards an athlete. Of course, if you are in pain, he won't kick you off the ice right away. First he'll ask what exactly hurts, what kind of pain you have and if you can do something. If you can do something, he will work with you to make sure the problem isn't worse. In this respect there is a permanent agreement with Sergei Dmitrievich, he is very comfortable to work with.

- But we digress from the hospital. So when our team was at the peak of its career in the Olympics, your career was hanging in the balance?
- Exactly. The hospital, quarantine, I was alone in a locked ward.

- Quarantine?
- Yes. At that time they had re-introduced covid measures and I had to take a PCR test before I went to the hospital with my leg. I take it - I have covid (laughs). And they quarantine me for two weeks. I thought - well, what covid, now I will pass negative tests and I will go out. A day later I wake up with a fever of 40°C. It turned out that covid was really there, they caught it right in the initial stages. As a result, first I had covid, then I was already lying with my leg.
It was explained to me that the damage to my foot was severe and it would naturally affect its base - the muscles, the ligaments. I had to undergo procedures. I am glad that now it does not affect the bones in any way. The fractures, fortunately, are gone. They say that it takes 7-8 years for the human body to regenerate, and my leg healed faster - only a year and a half (laughs). But, of course, there will be consequences in any case.

- What goes through your mind when you hear from doctors that you may no longer be able to do what you love?
- At some point, it led to the fact that I really felt figure skating was over for me.

- How does it feel?
- It's difficult. The nurses talked to me a lot, all the staff, everyone was very kind to me, tried to encourage me. You listen to it, of course, but at the same time you realize that "set yourself up for good" is not that effective.
At that time I was constantly in touch with my mother and... Yeah, that's probably it. I didn't even have much contact with my friends. It turned out that 2-3 people knew that I was in the hospital, two of them were at the Olympics. Of course, they didn't care about me, and I didn't want to bother the guys.
At that time I was trying to figure things out for myself. I thought that, okay, the figure skating was over, what should I do? I felt absolutely helpless. You are pressed by circumstances that you cannot influence in any way. And your whole life, career, plans for the future - it's all in the hands of circumstances. Being their hostage is not easy.
For two weeks I was thinking and thinking and I don't think I could see myself outside figure skating. I realized that I wanted to skate. I don't know how I would have taken it if someone had told me that I should definitely quit the sport. Thank God, they didn't say so (laughs). And I decided that I definitely can not leave figure skating now.

- Now, as I understand, you are preparing for the Russian Championships?
- Yes. And we have a surprise.

- A program of triple rittbergers?
- Yes, just of them (laughs). I'm actually going to have a new free program. And, by the way, seriously, I have the rittberger as the first element.

- It makes sense - you have to put the hardest part at the beginning.
- (Laughing). The main thing is not to start the program with this magnificent fall. And I like the staging and the idea very much. I hope that others like it very much too.

- What are you expecting from the Russian Championships?
- To be honest, I don't know how I got there. Everything happened so quickly that I didn't even realize what was going on. I didn't even have time to set a goal. My task was just to enter the competitions, and then suddenly - Samara, Perm, the Championship of Russia. I didn't even think that I would be there. And I got ill during the preparations for it. So, probably, it would be rather unwise to dream up any goals for that time. Because I'm just really happy that I got there. I hope that I will be able to do my best.

- You've got quite a big sports career by modern standards, but your fans don't know that much about you. Let's dive into the basics and tell how you came to figure skating?
- If I'm not mistaken, I started skating at about 4.5-5 years old. My older sister did figure skating with Viktoria Butsaeva at Moskvich, and before that, with Viktor Kudriavtsev. It so happened that my parents started to send all the children in the family to sports after school, and we achieved some level there. The elder one did figure skating, the middle one did gymnastics, and she competed in Russian and Moscow championships.
When I was a kid, my mom would often take me to the rink with her - we would wait until my sister had practiced, then pick her up and go home together. Because of that I spent a lot of time at the rink, with skaters, including grown-ups. So then they decided to let me also take up figure skating, gymnastics, and even ballet.
Gymnastics didn't work out at all. I could not tolerate pain. My mother told me that I would come in and swear at the coach (laughs). "She's hurting me, I won't come here anymore!" I used to run away from stretching. And figure skating went well for me - they put me on the ice, and I ran. The only thing - at first there were difficulties. Back then, the whole novice group of us would skate in circles. Sometimes my father would bring me to the rink, walk with me to the other side of the rink and hold my hand - it was necessary so that kids wouldn't fall down. And when they held me, everything was fine, I was the future Carolina Kostner. But as soon as I let go - I lay down and said that I will not go further (laughs). Had to grab me again and lead me around in circles.
Then I was sent to the group of Irina Strakhova, there we began to fully train for sport. Then I really began to get good at it - I could jump and skate. At some point, the coaches told my mom that I had the talent, and we decided that we would stay in figure skating.

- And until 2019 you were trained by Svetlana Panova.
- Svetlana Vladimirovna is the first coach with whom I started a real professional sport. I came to her at the age of 11 with double jumps, without even a stable double axel. Of course I could have tried to do the triple jump, but it was only a half-finished product. The question was, would they take me or not. As far as I remember, at first Svetlana did not want to take me at all, but we eventually agreed on a trial period.
I was in a group with a lot of strong athletes, I wanted to fit in. Everyone was so great around, Alena Kanysheva was skating with us at the time, she was generally a star among juniors. I used to watch her skating all the time when I was not even with Svetlana and wondered, how could that be? How does she do that?
Of course, I had to adjust. And it so happened that in three months in a new group, I learned all the triple jumps and triple-triple combos, and then they let me stay.

- But you ended up leaving that strong group.
- Yeah, that's what happened. A lot of people left the group at the time. I began, I guess, to some extent, an internal conflict. Svetlana and I could not agree with each other. At a certain point we reached a dead point where we could no longer understand each other.
On the whole it would have been possible to stay, to skate further there, but in the end I decided to go. I didn't want to leave until the last, it took a very long time to make that decision. Then we all came to the boiling point, then we went with my parents to Svetlana Vladimirovna and told her that that was it, we were leaving. And I, by the way, I would very much like to thank her for her work with me, because this coaching staff - Svetlana herself, Tatiana Moiseeva and Ilona Protasena - did a lot for me. Their work does not vanish from my life, and I'm not going to erase it in any way. Just at some point I decided that we should all move on.
And it turned out that I was going nowhere. After I left, I stayed home for a few days, and we tried to figure out where to go next. My mom consulted with acquaintances, and in the end we decided that Sergei Davydov would be our new coach, because his group was the golden mean between success and health.

- In what way?
- Literally - the preservation of health. I didn't have a goal at that time to finish the season with all the gold medals or to learn the quadruple and finish right after that. I somehow always wanted to skate for a long time, take my time, enjoy it. This, if anything, is not a stone in anyone's shoes - I'm just that kind of person. With such goals.
Of course, I want to achieve results, but for me the pleasure of the process and the ability to overpower myself come first. I tried to catch up quickly and start competing successfully; we went to the Russian Championship.

- What was the fundamental difference in Svetlana's and Sergei's approach?
- It would be more correct to say that Sergei is a true admirer of his job. He has a very responsible approach to his work, he knows what needs to be done and what not. He always develops special programs for us, individually selects the training process, looks at what load to add and what load to remove. I think that Sergei Dmitrievich is kind of like a professor. He has a very structured approach.
When I first came to him, I was surprised that here everything is organized, you know, in a good way, like in the army. With Sergei Dmitrievich you can talk, you can express your opinion, but you were given a task, you have to go and do it.

- Roughly speaking, your mind has been made up for you?
- Yes. You have a job to do. And that's all you have to do here. The coaching staff has already taken care of the rest.
And I'm a pretty talkative person, I thought I had to say something here, speak up there, ask something here. Then I joined in and realized - great, I don't even need to talk here! (laughs). Although I still like to, shall we say, talk, but we always come to an agreement with the coaches in this regard. Of course, there were misunderstandings, and most often it was my fault (laughs). But at such moments, I just came and apologized, and we worked as before. There is no, you know, "How dare you, go away!" No. It's quite relaxed.
All you're required to do is concentrate and perform. Because if Sergei completely gives himself to his work, why shouldn't you do the same? Then you just wouldn't be understood here. Although I have, of course, had moments when I didn't give my all, but at such moments, they just say to you, like, "Let's work normally. Please! We're being nice for now."
If that doesn't work, then they might use stricter measures. But even then, what's strict. They just call you to talk. You won't be yelled at and kicked out of the group.

- And they don't kick you out of training, either?
- Yes, they can, but only if they see that you're not working out. There are times when you can't do anything and you start crying. It's actually a dangerous state, it's the easiest place to get injured, because you're not so good at controlling yourself. Sergei Dmitrievich understands this and during such moments can either send you home or leave you until the next practice. Or try to calm you down, if possible. I could have been kicked out for crying during preparations for the start. A big plus of the team of Sergei Dmitrievich is that we are very calm about the mistakes and falls. If you fall during the program, it's OK, you get up and keep going.

- So, there is no practice without falls?
- No, you will probably skate later, it just depends on the situation. If you just went out on the ice after a break and fell down, of course, no one will make you skate five times. You will be told to do a few more attempts, for example.
If you were skating clean for three weeks and suddenly fell down, of course, you will finish skating quietly, and then you will have to deal with the coach, why it happened. And if you're not able to concentrate properly and you fall from the first element, you may be given the task to skate again. If you can't concentrate from the first time - well, then let's do it from the second time.
And I could cry, for example, because I was getting ready for the start, and I skated the program and fell down. And that was it, I got up and didn't finish, I got upset. I didn't know the rules then, that's why I had such a reaction. There was a moment once when I fell down, I cried and quit the program. I came up to Sergei Dmitrievich, my music was playing in the background. He says to me, "Why are you crying?" "Well, I fell down." And he's like, "So what? No one cares that you're upset at this point. Get up and keep skating, earn points on the rest of the elements."
Commitment is very important for us. We all have a lot to learn from Lev Lazarev in this respect. I think we can send him to the Olympics after every training session. He can do all sorts of things.

- How many times I was at your trainings, I was always surprised.
- He's a machine! Just scared with him! (laughs). He always comes out of the training happy, starts talking, laughing, and you have in your head, "Man, you just jumped quadruple loop, triple loop! How do you even do that?" His work capacity is just at a frantic level.

- When the situation with the fractures and everything else happened, how did Davydov react to what was going on?
- You have to understand that there are two completely different positions - the way an athlete sees everything and the coaching staff's point of view. After all, Sergei Dmitrievich has a whole group of athletes to prepare for the competitions. And me - well, it's me and my career. When they told me all that, it was the end of my life. I didn't have any fractures or any serious injuries before that, so it was like a brick was thrown at me from the roof.
The coaches were quite calm about it. I am not the first athlete they have raised. Yes, there is a period when there are injuries, growth, and some other difficulties. The so-called puberty is the most fun part of life (laughs). It divides everything in half.
And coaches understood this perfectly, what can you do, such a period exists. No one rushed me back on the ice, did not kick me out of the sport or the group. On the contrary, Sergei Dmitrievich said, "First you need to heal, and then you will come back and we will work it out. You just have to survive it. Yes, it's hard now, and then, maybe, it will be even harder, but you have to endure this period." And all coaches directly said: "Anna, we do not kick you out, get better and come back, we are always waiting for you".
Everything was quite calm and orderly. There was no such thing as "we have a tournament coming up, and you have an injury, quickly go and train, I don't care about your health". My alarm bells went off for the first time when there was a very strong pain, which, by the way, I did not mention and did not go to the doctor, although my mother repeatedly suggested it to me.

- Explain why athletes do this all the time? Why don't you take care of yourself?
- It happens on some kind of adolescent maximalism. I have to learn the quad, I was announced at the Grand Prix, I need to save my programs for a few months just in case, and it turned out that I had a very large amount of ice time. It was my personal wish, I really wanted to do it all. There were days when I had four ice times of an hour each. I was doing triples, tried to do quads, I was training - can you imagine what a strain on my body that was? Plus I didn't know then that I had open growth plates and that all my landings were on my sore right leg.
It just worked out that way. I just ignored my body signals. Of course, when I told my mother that my leg was hurting, she tried to send me to the doctor, but I said: "No, now I have a start, I'll skate on it - then we'll figure it out. I ended up putting it off for a year and a half.
- Was the quadruple still one of the reasons for the injury?
- I wouldn't blame it on the quads. It was just a coincidence of time and circumstances. It happened so that I was growing, the load, the landing from the jumps - you can say I got "lucky" that way. If I had learned the quadruple earlier, maybe I would not have had any problems.

- Or later. Especially with the current rule changes it seems quite possible.
- Of course, it is possible to learn quads at a later age. I'm going to do it now.

- Just not four hours a day, please.
- Of course not. The main thing for me now is to get out of bed without blacking out (laughs). Then I'll have a good day, I can even do a quadruple.

- You sound as if you are at least as old as Liza Tuktamysheva.
- Oh, Liza Tuktamysheva - here I am silent. I just bow (makes a bow). She is my idol by 200%. Can only admire her, nothing more. At the stage in Perm, I was sitting before practice and I thought: "Wow, I'm sitting in the same locker room with Liza Tuktamysheva, so cool!"
I always liked competing with her very much. In fact, I always did - my favorite skaters were Zhenya Medvedeva and Liza. No, of course, I love and respect all figure skaters and figure skaters in general, but when I experienced certain moments in my life, I wondered, "Liza, how do you even do this?" You come out at 18 with the understanding that it's so difficult, a long way to go, you need to treat yourself responsibly.
You're not just skating beautifully in a costume, it's already your life and your career. And here, at 25, a woman with a trixel, with a quadruple toe loop! This is something beyond reality.
Liza Tuktamysheva is an exception, just an exception. But at the same time, she is a huge motivator for me.

- Would you like a career as long as Liza's?
- Of course. At this point I realize that only some injuries can stop me, and I really hope that in the future I'll do without them. When you're very young, your perception of sports is a little different. You start to think that today, for example, you're not in a good mood and your legs are heavy, and you still have the free skating to do. And it feels like the end of the world.
But what Liza is doing, it would be very difficult for anyone to repeat. It takes a tremendous desire, hard work and patience. She's a unique person, I think. But I will try to live up to the standards she sets. We have a new age limit, we need to change figure skating.

- Davydov, on the other hand, just said that he was glad you chose the path of sport, because "it will be interesting from now on."
- Knowing Sergei Dmitrievich, I'm afraid to even imagine what he would say (laughs). Well, what he says, that's what I will do. Naturally, it will be interesting. It seems to me, that the age limit is the right thing to do from the athlete's point of view. In the sense that you reach the senior level at a mature age, when you understand what you want, what you need and what you don't need. You know your body, your weaknesses, what kind of exercise you need. You can take responsibility for yourself at least in sports due to some experience.
I think now everything will be a little bit more conscious. I'm in no way belittling our young girls, because it's inhuman work. We have Masha Gordeeva at the rink - she works so patiently and enthusiastically every day that it's like wow. She makes so many quads during the training! You should by no means belittle and devalue this by saying, "What is it worth to them, they're just little kids?" I, for example, did not do this at Masha's age, and I am not going to judge them.
I don't want to offend or belittle the girls, who even now take pretty serious, adult themes. They're expressing the image beautifully, they're skating their programs wonderfully. But as you get older, you can even bring some of your own life experience onto the ice, fully convey an idea, a message, put your soul into it. Then a piece of art is added to the program.
Life experience helps you look more interesting on ice. Yes, the young girls are wonderful, but personally, I like it better when a skater skates with heart. I would like to be thought of that way myself. And from about the age of 17, in my opinion, it becomes a little bit easier to do it simply due to the fact that you have lived your life longer and have seen more.
 

alexocfp

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2020
Country
United-States
It's much too silent in lovely Anna's fan fest lately. She gave her come-back performances at the Russian Cup series this season and skated so well that she qualified for Nationals. :cheer2:

Samara: SP, FS
Perm: SP, FS

In a big interview published today Anna talks about her struggles with injuries, her way back onto the ice, and a surprise she prepared for Russian Nationals.
Good luck and clean skates to Anna this week! 🍀
This article was referenced in the news videos I saw today but it’s good to have the original source.

“And I'm a pretty talkative person….”

She wasn’t kidding. Haha

This interview is long, but was well worth the read. Who isn’t happy that she was able to return?

Thanks for sharing @CrazyKittenLady
 

CrazyKittenLady

Get well soon, Lyosha!
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 2, 2019
Country
Austria

Frolova's coach said that the figure skater does not plan to end her career due to injury

MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/. Figure skater Anna Frolova intends to continue her career, despite the pain associated with the consequences of an injury. This was reported to TASS on Tuesday by the coach of the athlete Sergey Davydov.

Frolova did not compete for more than a year due to a leg injury. This season, the figure skater performed at two stages of the Russian Grand Prix, becoming the sixth in Perm and the fourth in Samara. At the national championship in Krasnoyarsk, Frolova took 12th place.

"We went to Krasnoyarsk not for the result, but to get back on our feet after a long pause, after an injury. Anna skated two programs and, most importantly, without falls, there is progress," Davydov said. - "Of course, it was hard for her after such a break, and her leg still bothers her, but she is fighting, this is the most important thing. Her aim is to continue her skating career, the main thing is that her health does not fail."

Frolova is 17 years old, she is a bronze medalist at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games.

Anna at Russian Nationals:

 

MiraiFan

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
It's much too silent in lovely Anna's fan fest lately. She gave her come-back performances at the Russian Cup series this season and skated so well that she qualified for Nationals. :cheer2:

Samara: SP, FS
Perm: SP, FS

In a big interview published today Anna talks about her struggles with injuries, her way back onto the ice, and a surprise she prepared for Russian Nationals.
Good luck and clean skates to Anna this week! 🍀
Wishing her good health and happiness. She really is so wonderful. Happy to see her back on the ice.
 

MiraiFan

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Anna at Russian Nationals:

So cool that she spins in both directions!
 

alexocfp

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2020
Country
United-States
So awesome to see her not only return, but also return to the top step of the podium!

Hopefully this is the end of her injury streak and she can stay healthy and continue to improve. A good comeback story is always welcome.
 
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