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| Source: http://www.olympic.ru/search/sr_news.asp?id=7004&rub=7 Figure Skating World Championships will be held in Moscow on March 14-20, at Luzhiki Sport Arena. The Russian team will be represented in particular by ice dancing team from Odintsovo: Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin. Alexei Gorshkov's students are currently number two of the national team. - Gorshkov also coaches World silver medalists Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski from Bulgaria. - Are you jealous that you have to share your trainer with them? M.S. - No, Denkova and Stavinski skate on a different level. They are like older friends to us. We learn a lot from them, and it's not like there are so many senior couples in the group to feel left out. It's only three of us... - After the Olympics in Turin and the retirement of world champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, the top place in the Russian team will be vacant. What do you think you need to do in order to fill that spot?
M.S. - Learn to play billiards, if we have to (laughs). Seriously, I think we need to come up with programs that will distinguish us from the others. We haven't developped a particular style yet. Then again, maybe there's a certain fascination about always being different. For example, a couple of years ago we had a lively Brazilian dance. At the same time, we like our new dance to "The Fifth Element", which is completely different.
For the next Olympic season we'll have a fantastic dance, believe me. We already chose the music but it's still a secret. - Your dances seem to be light and ethereal. How hard are they technically?
M.S. - Well, let the judges decide that. Actually, we are doing pretty difficult things without much effort, this is why it may seem that everything is easy for us. But our dances will never be simple. It's our coach's principle to make things as complicated as possible. And he wouldn't have it any other way: otherwise it would not be as interesting. He began to load us with very challanging stuff since we first started as a couple back in the Spring of 2002. - Your coreographer, Sergei Petukhov, former dancer of Igor Moiseev's Folk Dance Company, is a man of great immagination. How can he surprise you? O.D. - He surprises us with his ideas every single day! Where anyone would choose the easy way, he always decides to go down the winding road. And some of his ideas cannot be transferred on ice, so what you see is a mere thirty per cent of what he initially came up with. You see, Petukhov shows us all the movements off-ice, but it's much more difficult to reproduce them on the ice. Recently he was given proof of that when we took him for a practice on the ice. He managed about three metres on his own, then he had to be practically carried out. After that he said "from now on, I will be more indulgent towards you. I didn't know skating was so difficult!" Unfortunately after a week he forgot all about it and everything went back to normal: no mercy on us! - Lifts are considered to be the main elements in ice dancing. But the International Skating Union (ISU) has now introduced some restrictions. Can you tell us more about it? O.D. - Well, for example, during a lift the hand of the supporting arm of the man can never go higher than his shoulder, or it would be considered pairs skating. Yet, nobody seems to be bothered by the fact that sometimes it's easier to lift the partner with the outstretched hand. However, due to the recently introduced rules, everybody tries to do acrobatic lifts, the so-called donuts and splits. In fact, there’s nothing else you can do besides these elements.
O.D. - It's true, but there's a subjective component in it: what do you consider erotic? It's left to the judges' discretion, how they see things. On top of that, it's the USU that pushed us to do erotic lifts by introducing these new rules. Take the splits for exemple. How can you look "decent" when you're upside down, with your skirt rolled up... - Do you think it is right to introduce so many rules in ice dancing? M.S. - Sure there was need for some rules. But I don't think that it's right to introduce so many restrictions. I think thery need to take a step back; maybe they should have three lifts within the rules, and two free lifts. Otherwise it would be impossible to emphasize the couples individuality because the similarity of the elements will destroy all the charm and diversity of the couples and the dances.
- Oksana, there’s a great lack of partners in ice dancing. Aren’t you afraid that someone is going to take Max away from you?
O.D. – Maxim will never leave me! Partners may be stolen during junior age. But our couple has already been formed, and we carry a certain weight in figure skating: we have won Junior Worlds, and we are Russian national champions. - By the way, how did you meet? O.D. – I was born in Kirov. I lived and trained there until I was 15. Then Alexei Gorshkov invited me to Odintsovo. I skated with another partner for two years, then Maksim came along. M.S. – As for me, I’m from Samara. I had quite a few partners until I saw Oksana and I realized that she was the future of Russian figure skating. With my help!!! (laughs). I approached her and suggested: “Let’s skate together”. As she would later confess, she just agreed for fun. That's how it all began… - The top couples work a lot on their look. What about you?
M.S. – We work with a stylist and a hairdresser, as a result, Oksana turned into the dazzling blonde that you see today. We also worked with a psychologist, probably only because that's how things work nowadays. But actually Oksana and I didn’t have any psychological problems. We had been so miserable with our previous partners that when we teamed up, it was like heaven for us. For the first six months we never contradicted eachother once. Then of course some creative differences started to emerge, but we always discussed things peacefully. - There are partners who fight quite a lot while practicing… M.S. – We know, we happened to witness some of those “boxing matches”. I think that's really sad. You should never, never hit a woman! I must confess that there were moments when I was absolutely furious, but I controlled myself. I could kick the barrier or maybe the tape recorder, but I could never hit my partner. - Do you talk about figure skating when you are not practicing?
O.D. – No, I try not to think about work or else I get a headache. I try to run away from our flat (they share a flat but they are not married - Editor's Note) to the movies or to a club with my friends. Without Maksim.
- Maxim, how do you relax? M.S. – I like downhill skiing. Sometimes I take Oksana with me to Yakhroma to ski. - But it’s very dangerous, you can get seriously injured before a competition! M.S. – Yes, that's why we are not allowed to do downhill skiing. PERSONAL FACTS Oksana Domnina Maksim Shabalin | |
| Category: 2004-05 | Date: 10 Mar 2005 | Author: Darya Srebnitskaya, Soviet sports |
