The Champion sobbed violently
February 16th 2002 - rambler.ru
The moment of waiting before stepping on to the ice was the hardest thing for the Olympic Champion Alexei Yagudin. Four and a half minutes - the time FP lasts - divided his life in two pieces. He was an ex-world champion, a talented singles skater, one of the contenders for gold in SLC before. Now, Yagudin is the best skater on the planet. And nobody can doubt that!
Question: Alexei, when the score-board "proclaimed" you an Olympic Champion you cried so hard it seemed you are not happy about it?
Alexei: Really, I was literally violently sobbing and I couldn't calm down. The competition lasted for 5 hours and I was to skate last. Boy, did I languish! Horrible thoughts were going through my head, but I tried to throw them out. I tried to assure myself I'm a good skater but it didn't help, I couldn't feel optimistic. For four years I was working for this gold. The constant hardship and difficulties were chasing me: injuries, changing the coach, losses. At some point, at the end of last season I was in such despair I decided to quit skating. You see, to be second is not for me and I couldn't win anymore. And when the marks were displayed I was like in a fog. I could only feel this was the end of my sorrows and the word "Olympics" won't pressure me anymore, denying my peace. I was crying but inside my heart I understood my dream came true. I was thinking about what would happen to me if I didn't have such a great coach like Tatiana Anatoljevna who made an artist of me on ice, not only a jumper.
Q: It is not a secret this season a psychologist was helping you to cope with the nerves. Will you be working with him in the future?
A: Rudolf Zagainov's help is priceless. He managed to convince me that not everything was lost and everybody has his own hard times. I'm fortunate to work with him and I don't exclude the possibility of future alliance.
Q: Whom do you devote your victory?
A: To those people who helped me. First of all to my mom who was rooting for me so hard she couldn't even watch live broadcast. And of course to Tarasova, to Zagainov, to my choreographer Nikolai Morozov. These people were supporting me at the very hard moments.
Q: And to your girlfriend?
A: I don't have one.
Q: What is the Olympic Champion feeling now?
A: I don't know. I have to realize I won.
Q: Are you going to compete more this season?
A: We're planning to go to the World Championship which will be held in March in Nagano.
Q: You were last to skate in a FP. Did you have any doubts whether to include the second quad or not?
A: I did both jumps at the practice after the SP. We decided to skate although the SP was so hard for me because of the nerves. I knew I couldn't do any mistake. It was very hard. After the skate we went back to the Olympic Village. I couldn't fall asleep for a long time because I was anxious and tired. Before the FP we agreed with Tatiana Anatoljevna she will be following the action on ice and I will be practicing and resting. And then she'd tell me how should I skate. Stepping on to the ice I asked her about what's going on and she said Zhenya did 2 quads but had one mistake, I didn't know what kind of mistake it was. Timothy Goebel did 3 quads. But I knew I still could win with one quad even if I lose to Plushenko. But I wanted to prove myself I'm 3 times World Champion to purpose. I wanted to be first both in SP and FP so I decided to myself I won`t be performing in an easy way.
