br>
Excess weight is like a demon,
He tenaciously keeps our organs under siege,
And it is also visible both in front and behind,
Make it disappear, excess weight!
A comic miniature of Yuri Vizbor came to mind during the days of the Russian Figure Skating Championships in Chelyabinsk. Tatyana Tarasova revealed a sore point on the sidelines of the Traktor arena. The legendary coach Maria Talalaikina and Maya Khromykh received the full program. The master spared only her favorite Kamila Valieva, who today no longer resembles “The Girl on the Ball.” It is worth paying attention to one circumstance that was somehow not taken into account by the master in the comments.
Among the participants in the Russian Championship, 15-year-old girls predominated, the vast majority of whom, in a couple of years, will also not look light and airy. It’s good if they manage to maintain Talalaikina’s condition by the age of 21. Only four participants, including national champion Adelia Petrosyan, turned 16, and five more crossed this threshold and correspond to the age limit established for some time by the ISU to participate in adult competitions. In addition to Talalaikina, Khromykh and Valieva, this category includes 18-year-old Anna Frolova and 19-year-old Ksenia Sinitsyna.
At the press conference preceding the competition, he reminded the leaders of the FFKKR that the federation first experimented with admitting young figure skaters to the adult Russian championship 15 years ago. At that time, women's figure skating in Russia was experiencing a crisis. Only 11 figure skaters competed in Kazan, of which only five could participate in adult international competitions. Adelina Sotnikova became the champion then, and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who were 12 years old, became the vice-champion. They couldn’t even participate in international junior competitions.
Over the course of a decade and a half, women's figure skating in Russia has become the dominant discipline. Only, as before, junior athletes participate in the national championship together with adult athletes, who, for obvious reasons, easily master more complex content. Many athletes who have overcome puberty simply cannot compete with these young talents and, as a result, end their careers before reaching the 20-year mark. And if they overcome it and are selected on the basis of sporting principles for the Russian Championship, they receive a portion of derogatory criticism, like Talalaikina.
Position of the FFKKR
Now the competition among women is such that it makes it possible to calmly gather a full complement of participants for the Russian Championship and prolong the sporting life of many figure skaters. Only FFKKR General Director Alexander Kogan specifically emphasized at the press conference: “We will continue to allow figure skaters who are one year younger than the ISU age limit for adults to participate in the Russian Championship. This will allow us to be one step ahead of our competitors.”
Is there an alternative to “kefir with fiber”? Once I had the opportunity to witness the training of Stanislava Konstantinova. Having completed her training on the ice, she put on a tight tracksuit and ran for about an hour so as not to gain—not even kilograms, but grams.
«
“After such grueling training, my feet and back hurt terribly,” admitted Konstantinova, who had already completed her sports career. “I just understood that there was no other way.” Now that I don’t have to carefully monitor my weight, I feel real happiness. Although I really miss competitions.”
Example of the American Cohen
One can only be happy for those who do not have such problems after going through puberty. In 2019, at the World Championships in Saitam, Elisabeth Tursynbaeva was the first among adult figure skaters to perform a quadruple jump cleanly. Student Eteri Tutberidze was 19 at the time. Not long before this, I had a chance to talk with a Kazakh figure skater at the Universiade in Krasnoyarsk. “Many people accuse Eteri Georgievna of overly tight control over the skaters,” she said. “But the coach never even sent me to the scales.” But 19-year-old Tursynbaeva looked at most 14.
Tarasova must remember well one of her favorite students, American Sasha Cohen. She came to a Russian coach who was then working in the USA at the age of 18, having specifically moved from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast. It was under the leadership of Tarasova that Cohen achieved her most significant victories.
At 18, Sasha, whose mother moved to California from Odessa, looked at best 15. At the same time, she watched her diet so carefully that every 300 grams of weight gain was a disaster for her. It’s just that Cohen couldn’t resist turkey with apples and prunes, which Tatyana Anatolyevna prepared for all her students.
Recently, many coaches have involved nutritionists to work with figure skaters. It was Alexei Mishin’s collaboration with these specialists that made Tuktamysheva’s career so long. Before the Olympics in Sochi, he did not put his student on kefir with fiber.
Only many prefer to follow the path of least resistance. After all, both young athletes and their parents are ready to come to terms with the fact that for the sake of not only a medal, but simply participation in the Russian Championship, they need to make sacrifices. Without thinking about how it all might end.
However, not only for figure skaters, but for many women, the chorus from Vizbor’s song is relevant. Its full title is quite long: “A conversation between two ladies, overheard by the truthful author in a restaurant at the Chelyabinsk airport, at a time when planes from various directions were landing there due to bad weather.”
The correspondent, alas, was not able to overhear what the numerous figure skating fans who flew to the Russian Championship thought about this. Planes from Chelyabinsk this time took off on schedule.
Recent Comments