Alexei Mishin - News, His coach...............

http://smena.ru/news/2009/01/12/15236/

12 January 2009 @ 12:08 am

Alexei Mishin: “I work in Bethlehem”

Russia’s renowned coach Alexei Mishin has brought up a whole pleiad of great skaters, some of them Olympic champions. However, Alexei Nikolayevich doesn’t stop there. Currently, the master is preparing future stars for the Sochi’s 2014 Games.

“Yubileiny” mission

“Mishin’s group” is a familiar phrase. Who is now a part of it?

The right phrase is “the Mishins’ group”, because I coach alongside my spouse Tatiana Mishina. Svetlana Veretennikova, who came to use from Glazov together with Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, is also helping us. It was Svetlana who discovered this girl for figure skating. Other members of the group are my former student Oleg Tataurov, and choreographers Tatiana Rodionova and Irina Imanuilova.

Why do you continue to work in Yubileiny instead of moving to the figure skating Academy?

We work in Yubileiny, sort of the Bethlehem of our country’s figure skating. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, whereas Yubileiny’s ice was glorified by the skates of such celebrities as Ludmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, Alexei Urmanov, Alexei Yagudin, Evgeny Plushenko, and many others. Those are all Olympic champions whose careers started here, in Yubileiny, where, by the way, the whole of Petersburg coaching school grew up. That’s why both I and Tamara Moskvina decided to stay here. It would be a paramount error to give up this ice, sacred to figure skating, to large scale and essentially commercial skating, or even to other sports altogether. So I see a historical significance in our mission to keep the fire of figure skating burning at the Yubileiny.

Is this mission reasonable in light of preparing new Olympic champions?

Of course it is. Our slogan is “Sochi 2014”. Our students do indeed have good potential. Boys and girls who are now 12 or 13 are showing some of the best results in Petersburg. However, each sports school has very specific and obviously limited resources. Preparing an elite skater doesn’t come cheap to put it mildly. When I trained Urmanov, Yagudin and Plushenko, I paid for most training camps with either my money or my name. Nowadays, you can’t become champion using just one rink.

Why?

Because each champion is the product of international expertise. There are countless examples. Let’s take Lesha Yagudin’s athletic life. He spent three years in Ameica and then won the Olympics. Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, too, forged their “gold” in New Jersey, whereas Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marin did so in Chicago. American figure skating school stands quite apart in today’s stage of development. It combines the best of what it always had with what Russian coaches who went across the ocean brought with them.

Kuznetsov fund

Do you mean that none of them would have won the Olympics without those American sojourns?

No, but without those sojourns as you called them, it would have been much more difficult. In this, I am very glad that our group gets help from the Mikhail Kuznetsov fund. Mikhail himself is an extraordinary person, formerly a member of the USSR fencing team. He has sponsored many competitions in his native sport. However, two years ago at the figure skating Russian Nationals, he spotted the talent of Lisa Tuktamysheva, which others have somehow missed. He called me and offered his help in preparing this athlete. Thanks to Mikhail Kuznetsov, we managed to conduct trainings in Italy, Germany, and Estonia, to make costumes, and to solve issues of additional nutrition. Note, please, that he took under his wing not a ready-made star, but a little girl with unclear potential, as Tuktamysheva only came tenth at the Nationals. Our combined efforts have quickly borne fruit. Lisa went from an ugly duckling to Russia’s silver medalist in Kazan, winning the free program cleanly.

Does the fund only help Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, or your other students as well?

Our whole group can thank Mikhail Vladislavovich. He is someone who doesn’t let die the good traditions of Russian generosity.

Low the age limit

Do you regret that the 12-year-old Tuktamysheva won’t be able to attend, say, the Europeans due to the current age restrictions?

I very much regret it. Though, I guess, we shouldn’t yet rush to senior Europeans and Worlds. However, if she had a legal opportunity go to Junior Worlds, she would have been sure to cause a commotion there.

Perhaps, taking current reality into consideration, age limits for skaters should be reconsidered?

I attended to ISU congress that decided to increase skaters’ age limits. It was a formalistic discussion without any real analysis of the current situation. An American team doctor talked about the negative effects of increased physical strain on the bodies of young girls. However, the content of junior and senior programs hardly differs at all. All the strains are determined by the coach, not the program! He defines the load. At 13, girls show fairly adult skating. However, 19-year-olds can compete as juniors. It’s nonsense.

All right, what would you make the age limit?

In Juniors, it should be 11 or 12 for girls, and 12 or 13 for boys. For seniors, it should be 14.

Forget the shows

Previously, you often talked about the talent of Artur Gachinsky. To what extent has it ultimately shown itself?

There is no “ultimate”! Artur is still very talented. However, he is going through a growth spurt. His bone mass has increased by 10 kilograms in the last year and a half. His muscle mass hasn’t kept up. It will be hard for him to progress further until he achieves a bone/ muscle balance. He is, though, getting close.

Would you agree that Gachinsky’s skating is reminiscent of Plushenko’s?

I don’t see a problem here. Most young skaters imitate the stars. That’s natural.

Speaking of Plushenko. Does he keep in touch?

We have recently talked. He has again reiterated that he is ready to resume his sports career, and compete at the Vancouver Olympics. We agreed to meet in Helsinki at the Europeans to discuss it. I can only say one thing – if Zhenya really wants to come back, he must forget his show business, or at least 90 percent of his projects.

Daniil ORLOVSKY