Interview from Czech radio "Radiozurnal" - in Czech but I will try to translate it as fast as I can ...
download:
http://www4.zippyshare.com/v/13170401/file.htmlEP: After Olympic Games in Torino 2006 I started doing shows, but now I am back in sport. But I don't want to forget the art of being showman, it is interesting, you know ... there are interesting sportsmen who aren't able to be close to people (audience) while skating ... I don't mean physically ... connection with audience is very important, you must look to their eyes. I like doing like this and because of it I like being showman.
Q: Don't you feel bad that if somebody is searching for your name in internet, he (she) will find Russian tabloid messages and photos?
EP: David Beckham, why is he popular? It is not only because of playing football, it is also because of Victoria B. does his PR, advertising. They are very interesting pair, nice, sexy, slim, inteligent ... and now let's think about other footballers ... maybe they play football even better but David B. is professional to all intents and purposes and he is very interesting person. He can do sports but he can also do other things. I would like also to be businessman, I want to organise shows, but none of that can do harm to sport.
Q: Did you meet with David Beckham?
EP: No, but they suggested me to train their children.
Q: You have announced the start of training for OG in Vancouver. Do you really train twice a day?
EP: I train three times a day. In the morning there is training on the ice, in the evening there is also ice training, the third training is physical training. I have big group of coaches for physical training, light athletics, in this group there are dietologists, doctors, masseurs, my coach Alexei Mishin and choreographer David Avdish. I am dealing with great choreographer Cskaridze, everything is going well, we are preparing my short programme. I feel that I have a lot of power and I can fight.
Q: You have mentioned a lot of professions but you didn't talk about psychologist. It means you don't have your psychologist?
EP: I am very strong and I don't need psychologist, Jana Rudkovskaya is my psychologist, she is my future wife. She helps me a lot.
Q: How do you feel about starting with so hard training after three years break?
EP: You are right, it is very hard. One has to lost his (her) weight. I have already lost 4,5 kilos but I need another three or four kilos. Of course, it
isn't easy. In the recent time I had absolutely different life and people said me: "Why are you going to do amateur sport again? You have got what you want." And I said to them: "I want to try my chance in sport." Yes, I have good career, I have what I wish but I want to try more. More for my country, more for me. I want to try my power. I hope I can do it. Trying something from the start again is hard, very hard.
Q: And what about your knees?
EP: Thank to God, everything is allright. When I wanted to go back to amateur sport last year, I had problems with my knees ... I went to Germany for cure many times, I got injections and they cured me also with another methods. It was huge pain. So I skated only in shows, it is not so difficult. Now, thank to God, everything is allright. After three weeks I can do triple jumps in combination and now I train quadruple toeloop and quadruple salchow. So now everything is allright, it is important not to hurry.
Q: Do you like now rules in figure skating?
EP: It is difficult to say, it is difficult to like them. The most important is your programme. I don't understand how one can compare the quadruple
jump with for example combination of two triple jumps. Triple-triple combination is not so hard but the quadruple jump ... you must be concentrated, have right weight, right speed, you must do right turning and swipe ... the quadruple jump is absolutely different style of jumping. Step sequences aren't so important, everybody does the same steps and turnings. New rules have also pluses but I think that there are more minuses.
Q: So you think that new rules aren't fair.
EP: I think they are not ideal.
Q: Who do you consider to be your biggest competitor?
EP: Me ... I am my biggest competitor. I must win over myself, I must defeat my own inner anxiety and do what I can. There are many competitors ... the whole world is my competitor.
Q: Have you already announced what music you will skate to and what elements you will use?
EP: My long programme will be Tango, music from Edvin Marton but we will go through it and it will be a little reworked. For my short programme
I have several pieces of music and I hope Edvin will apply his violin and fiddlestick. And I have one blustering guitar composition from well known Russian guitar player Viktor Zintchuk. I hope that Edvin and Zintchuk will make something good together. You know ... you have the first exklusive information about my short programme.
EP: I lack quadruple jumps in figure skating. Let's see back on OG in 2002 - Yagudin, Plushenko, Goebel and more skaters -, there we could see two quadruple jumps in long programme. But it is difficult with new rules. When you fall on quadruple jump you get minus and no bonus, even if it is clear that you try difficult element. I think that figure skating needs more difficult elements. I suggested that the more difficult jumps you show in long programme, the better your rating will be. I was the first in the world who jumped the combination of three jumps - quadruple+triple+double and also quadruple+triple+triple. We will have more technically difficult figure skating only through these combinations. You have to show also step sequences and step elements but we have to work on more difficult jumps.
Q: Is there any jump which people haven't seen yet?
EP: Yes, certainly. I am always asked when skaters will be able to do quintuple (fivefold) jump. And is it possible to jump it? Of course, it is possible but you need new boots, new type of skates, also new people must come but I think they will come, time goes on and man is still better and better. I remember time when I trained combination of two quadruple jumps and I did it really well but you need the ideal form for it. I also trained the combination of triple axel and quadruple toeloop. Of course, you have to be able to do all quadruple jumps and then you can start with quintuple.
Q: Is something like espionage (spying) in figure skating?
EP: Of course, there are spyes. I also asked my helpers for going abroad, looked and filmed programmes of my competitors and then I watched that programmes and I also "borrowed" some elements from them.
Q: So does it have some effect?
EP: Yes, certainly. It is important to evaluate your competitors, know about their weak and also strong places.
Q: Are you able to think about your competing in Sochi 2014?
EP: Recently I talked with my fiancee and I remembred one joke. I have already said it to Russian journalists, the article was on the internet, in
"Komsomolskaya Truth". I will tell you this joke: "There are no skaters in Russian and Plushenko is asked to compete again. Plushenko skates and wins. Year 2014, no skaters in Russia and Plushenko skates again. And then year 2018 comes, Plushenko is asked to skate again. But Plushenko loses - but with whom? The winner is Plushenko's son and so Plushenko is back." We really laughed about that. In 2014 it is possible that I won't compete, I will be 31 years old but on the other hand - who knows ... I think it will be more interesting if I will come to Sochi with some sportsman like his coach ... it is more real. I have some offers to be a coach - from abroad and from Russia where are very good sportsman. We will se ... Now I have to live only for the year 2010, only for Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Q: What is the difference between competitons and shows?
EP: Of course, these are two different things - competitions versus exhibitions (shows).
Q: And what makes the difference? Trainings, concentration ...
EP: On shows you don't have to be so concentrated, you are more relaxed, you skate for people, but on competitions you fight not to make mistake, you want to take good marks, the way of preparation for it is completely different from shows. Competitions and shows are two completely different things.
Q: For who does Evgeni Plushenko compete? For himself? For Russia? For coach? ...
EP: I compete for all people. Of course, when you go on the ice you don't think about things like what car you will take, what you will choose for lunch or what flat you will buy. You think only about jumps. How to do them well, how to skate well, you skate for the audience, for judges, for your country.
Q: Do you have any ritual before competition?
EP: I have my God and He is the One I appeal on.
Q: Your career is connected with the name of your coach Alexei Mishin. Has he persuaded you to go back to amateur sport?
EP: No, it was my girl who has persuaded me, Jana, she is the unique person and she wants me to be back in amateur sort.
Q: It seems she is also good manager.
EP: She is great manager, the best manager. She works with Dima Bilan who won Eurovision last year. He is number 1 in Russia, he is very talented and popular singer. Jana works with him for a long time and now whe works also with me - she is my girl, my friend, my co-worker, she supports me in life and also in sport - she is the one person who really wanted me to go back to amateur sport. And thanks to her I am back.
Q: Do you remember when you refused listen to your coach and what happened then?
EP: I always listen to my coach. Always.
Q: So from your 10 (or 11) years you have always listened to your coach?
EP: Sure, he sees, he observes what you are doing bad, you cannot see yourself like your coach. You need advice. When you have already achieved something, you know if you can or cannot do something. When your coach is the professional, he listens also to sportsman's thoughts. We (I and Alexei Mishin) don't have any categorical orders between us, you do as you feel it, no categorical orders or bans.
Q: When you were little boy, about 11, 12 years old, and your coach banned you playing football and you didn't follow this ban ... So it wasn't
decline of your coach?
EP: It was the brainlessness. I am not ideal and I think that nobody is ideal. Ideal person doesn't exist. That time I felt hurt in my knees, I couldn't skate but football is my passion, my curse, so it enticed me very much. You needn't to jump in football. When I was playing football, my legs hurt me less. Of course, my coach blistered me very much. But it is the youth. It is the way you are brought up and formed.
Q: You have become engineer of economics last year. You studied hotel business and tourism. How do you think will this profession helpful to you in future?
EP: You know, unfortunately or maybe fortunately I have splitted with my ex-wife. We had our hotel and that was the reason why I studied hotel business. I was interested in it. I have some plans for future, I want to realize them and fulfill my wishes. I travel a lot, I see many hotels and maybe we (I and Jana) will do something in this business.
Q: You are member of St. Petersburg's municipal council. Do you consider yourself as politician?
EP: I have chosen "youth and sport" and it is interesting for me. Another fields are not interesting for me. Of course, politics is theater, it is circus
which many deputies are doing and I don't like many of this. You can come across lie and dissemblance there and that is the reason I don't like the environment there. But I want to say that when one is growing up in sport, it is very similar to politics. You must know how to win and how to procure yourself.
Q: But in sport there is fair play, isn't it?
EP: Yes, but sport is also unclean. There is also envy, scandals and negative aspects. Sport is much more closer to me than politics but political issue "youth and sport" is also close to me. For example, I have just finished the reconstruction of dressing room and ice rink in stadium in St. Petersburg.
Q: You are also member of committee for social aspects. It is difficult function in Russia these days, isn't it?
EP: Every job is difficult but one has to do it completely. I want to say that I have to make a decision now and maybe I will pass my mandate on some of my coleagues. Mabe I will have much to work on, I will have shows, competitions and in summer I have 5 camps in my plan. So if I don't cope with politics I will pass my mandate on my coleague and I won't work on that social aspects of Russian people. In Russia there are many bad things, for example we don't have special ways for disabled people, we don't have traffic possibilities for them, I don't know what our future will be.
Q: So you won't go to politics in future? After 15, 20 years?
EP: Do you think in future? To be honest, I don't know what my future will be.
Q: And what about your friendship with Vladimir Putin? Does it help you?
EP: He is the leader, for me he is one of persones I admire most. He is great person and I consider him as a czar.
Q: But you are the leader too. And if two leaders are together, both of them cannot make the main voice. So who is the leader in dialogue with Vladimir Putin?
EP: Ha, ha, ha, ha .... Vladimir Vladimirovic is the leader, of course.
Q: I think that after your victory in Eurovision with Dima Bilan last year many people thought how to exploit you. Are there also some bizarr suggestions which surprised you?
EP: I don't know, there are many suggestions but you cannot take everything. We have just concluded some sponsor contracts. I want to say that I helped Dima a little but it was the competition of singers and I was only in the background. I don't want to say that it is my victory. It is Dima's victory. If I win in Vancouver next year I will have much more suggestions, it is sure. Of course, there are also some interesting companies now which want to have me as their face and there are about three or four which are wiling to invest on me. We are acting now, we are just before signing of the contract. There is one interesting suggestion for me to be connected with Swiss watches. Maybe I will have my own collection. I am working on the design with designers who work for that Swiss company. But don't be angry with me ... I don't say the name of that company not to abash it.
Q: You and your girl are the most favourite Russian pair for photographers. Don't you mind being so often photographed? Almost being haunted?
EP: I don't ask people to take photos of me but if people want ... I don't mind it. But I must say that now, when I am back in sport and I am training hard, I don't go to parties and such actions.
Q: I saw you and your girl Jana Rudkovskaya in show Star Ice. Whe skated together. Who came with this idea?
EP: We skated together, it was the project Star Ice, there were many interesting people. I was the presenter, moderator with Maxim Galkin, I was also the judge. We decided to skate two programmes. The first we skated on song Sex Bomb, it was funny programme, and the second we skated on Marton's music "Love in Venice". Jana was the part of that project. It seems that she is perspective and she has talent. I skated with her only those two programmes. Her stable partner was Ukrainian Goncharov who was the third on Olympic Games. It was interesting, I skated in pair for the first time. They also aked me to skate on Russian "First channel" but I still refused because of not having the right girl to skate with. And now my girl is Jana.
Q: How often did you quarrel with your fiancee (Jana) during trainings?
EP: There weren't such situations, of course, there were different situations but we don't quarrel. There wasn't any seriou situation that one had to leave and bang with doors. There was only normal change of attitudes and ideas. For example I go and say: "Sorry, I didn't think it like I said it." And she says the same. But it isn't serious.
Q: You announced that your wedding will be on 9.9.2009. It seems that your wedding really will be.
EP: It was me who suggested that date (9.9.2009). It seemed as so nice number but if you turn it, there is really devil number (666). So we have refused it. The wedding will be in July in St. Petersburg, we won't go to Moscow. We will stay in my loved town. Jana also likes St. Petersburg.
Q: I watched several press conferences with you and Edvin Marton. It seems that when you are together then you have irresistible impulsion to humor. Is there also a situation when you are serious?
EP: We like laughing, joking, but when we work together on programmes, on music - I often go to his studio in Hungary, in Budapest -, then we are serious. But we also make jokes, mainly when our work goes well.
Q: What does this co-operation look like? You pick music home and then you skate on it ...?
EP: No, I come to the studio, listen to the music and I say: "... aha, this is interesting, I can do foray here, I can elevate my arms here ...
Q: So you see jumps and elements while listening to music.
EP: Certainly, yes. I go to his studio, listen to the music, I see interesting pieces ... yes ... theoretically I see jumps, I imagine them and then I say:
"These and these step sequences here ... I need faster music here ..." Then Edvin plays it, I prepare for it and this is our working on my programmes.
Q: If I say that you and Edvin are one family, am I right? Is it true?
EP: I think we are like brothers.
Q: Do you think that your humor will be over (go over) when you will skate in Vancouver and Edvin will cheer for you?
EP: I think that in Olympic Games in Vancouver nobody can be humorous.
Q: I think so. The gold medal from Vancouver will be 53rd in a row, won't be? ... Oh, no, you also plan some European competitons ...
EP: I don't know score of my medals. Do you know?
Q: Yes, here it is, 52 gold medals, 14 silver medals and only 4 bronze medals.
EP: I don't need bronze, I prefer gold medals.
Q: Thank you for comming. I wish you successes.
Edited by fialka - 3/4/2009, 15:48
But obviously He 
joked
This is probably the ballet's dancer, that with him was judge's on "Star Ice" show.... 
... if I all mentioned? 
