“I don’t know how many doctors he went around”: Tatyana Mishina - about her husband’s concern for Tuktamysheva and Samodurova’s “luck”

- Tamara Moskvina once admitted that, starting to work as a coach, for a long time she saw only backs in front of her.

Own husband, Stanislav Zhuk, Elena Chaikovskaya, Tatyana Tarasova.

Their athletes were so far ahead that she did not even think that she would ever stand next to them.

Have you ever had a similar feeling?

- No.

Alex helped me a lot with the start of coaching.

I finished skating at the age of 20, almost immediately after I came second at the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, naturally, I thought about what I could do next.

Oleg Protopopov quite actively invited me to ballet on ice, but when Mishin found out about this, he said: “Anything but not ballet.”

And he invited me to work with him.

Then the tendency to raise women's single skating began, in connection with which a group was formed in Moscow, headed by Eduard Pliner, and Alexei was offered to create such a group in St. Petersburg.

- Were you at that time in the status of an ex-student, or already a wife?

We got married later.

Then it was not as simple and easy as it is now.

It's not even that I had strict parents.

It's just that the manners were different.

Not like now, when people live together without any obligations whatsoever.

- Did Alexey Nikolaevich come to woo your parents?

- Not so to woo, from the series "give me a daughter."

But he often came to our house.

I immediately found a common language with my mother, it was a little more difficult with my dad, he was more wary at first about everything.

Well, then we began to work together, constantly disappeared at the rink.

Then my first students skated - Zhanna Ilyina, Lena Valova, Sveta Frantsuzova, Sveta Startseva.

Very good girls.

Alexey trained Yura Ovchinnikov, Igor Lisovsky, Natasha Strelkova.

- It always seemed to me that Alexei Nikolaevich was a person of such a plan who preferred his wife to stay at home, take care of children, housework, and education.

Fully provided the rear, in other words.

“Perhaps there was.

But I plunged into coaching with such passion, desire, enthusiasm and fanaticism that, probably, my husband understood: if he says “no” to me more sharply and categorically, nothing good will come of it.

Moreover, my parents helped us a lot when our first son was born.

In his warehouse, Alexey is very family and homely.

Loves when everyone gets together.

He had such a family.

Mom, dad, sister, sister's husband, a very strong and well-established home way.

- By the way, have you ever asked your husband why, having started coaching, he focused on single skating, and not on doubles?

— Yes, something like that from the very beginning.

Yura Ovchinnikov came from Igor Borisovich Moskvin as an already established figure skater, but he became the bronze medalist of the European Championship under Mishin.

Igor Lisovsky progressed very much - he jumped all the triples, including the axel.

Probably, the fact is that Alexei was generally engaged in multi-turn jumps a lot, he was interested in it.

And then, Tamara Nikolaevna (Moskvina - RT ) has already taken a place in pair skating.

They have always competed.

I remember Alexei’s mother, no, no, and she’ll say: Tom, they say, has already defended her dissertation, achieved that, that ... In this regard, Moskvina was a kind of guide for the family, especially since she began her coaching career a little earlier.

- At one time, I remember, I was surprised that Artur Gachinsky, Andrei Lutai, Alexander Petrov, Andrei Lazukin, Sofia Samodurova, Evgeny Semenenko are your students, and not Alexei Nikolaevich.

Was there a division between your group and your husband's group at the rink?

- If you are talking about a coaching confrontation, we have never had it.

Just when Zhenya Plushenko appeared, and he skated for a very long period, he absorbed Alexei completely.

Accordingly, I took on some of the work with other skaters.

With the same Semenenko generally worked since childhood.

There was just a period when, due to illness, I stopped going to competitions.

She was chosen only in the "Jubilee" when there were breaks in the course of treatment.

- A few years ago I met with Alexei Nikolaevich in Moscow, and he talked about how he himself faced serious health problems before the Games in Sochi.

And that I was forced to take on any additional projects, seminars, or something else, because you need to earn money, and very big ones.

First - for my treatment in Finland, then for yours.

- All this really cost a lot and took place with Alexei much more extreme.

He came to the Finnish clinic at night for procedures, and returned to St. Petersburg by morning train to catch the group's training.

Then he jumped on the train again and went to Finland again.

- Athletes were aware of what was happening?

- Only Zhenya Plushenko.

Just like Zhenya Semenenko was aware of my problems.

- Didn't despair cover you when you were first diagnosed?

— It was, of course.

At first, in general, it becomes very scary from a misunderstanding: what to do, where to do it.

If not for Alexei with his optimism… Only he could easily and simply say that everything will be fine, that Hodgkin's lymphoma, which was diagnosed in me, is being cured, leaving no consequences.

I believed it right away.

That I will endure everything, I will endure and I will definitely recover.

It was then that I realized how much I wanted to work.

While the treatment was going on, I constantly seemed to cling to everything that happens at the rink.

It helped to feel that you had not dropped out of the profession, but were still involved in it and would return soon.

I had exactly that feeling.

Plus - a house, a family, two sons with their own families.

It so happened that our grandson, little Leshik, lives with us almost constantly, since his mother actively played tennis for a long time.

- Did you think that everything would collapse without you at home?

“I was rather worried that my grandson was losing a lot of things while I was not around.

It is clear that there is a dad who can help with the same tennis, but dad cannot cover the whole life.

This also stimulated my desire to return to the ranks as soon as possible.

- Have you ever wanted to set yourself some kind of point, after which you leave coaching altogether?

Take care of the house, grandchildren, live in the country, grow something ...

- I do not want it yet.

I can’t even imagine, to be honest, that I won’t come to the rink.

Although there was a period when I went to tennis tournaments with my youngest son.

He gave us very high hopes.

And we had access to an excellent tennis specialist - Bob Brett, who, unfortunately, has already died.

He once coached Boris Becker, Goran Ivanishevich, Ukrainian Andrey Medvedev, Marin Cilic.

And we met through his daughter Carolina: she was a figure skater, now lives in Monaco, judges competitions.

I traveled with Nikolai for three years to all tennis tournaments.

That's when I got a suspension in my own coaching work, and everything fell on my husband.

For a long time, we only worked together, there was no tendency to create entire teams, as is done now.

- Did you want to raise a great player from your son?

- He played well.

Until the age of 14, he was in the top ten of the world ranking.

But then it was necessary to leave either for Germany or somewhere else, but we did not dare to do this.

Yes, and Nikolai did not show such an initiative.

- Tennis parents and parents of skaters, are they the same?

- Tennis is cooler.

They know everything.

It is clear that in figure skating parents now also know everything - levels, edges.

But then tennis parents were far ahead of everyone else.

And there were some constant scandals, and attempts to close the entire training process on themselves.

It happened that dads fought on the podium.

The situation, be here, in this regard, in tennis.

• Tatyana and Alexey Mishin

• RIA News

• © Alexander Wilf

- In figure skating, did you have to put your parents in their place?

- Yes.

Before, I was still more afraid that the athlete might leave, and to a greater extent I made compromises, put up with some things.

Over time, she became more categorical.

I realized that if a skater really wants to leave, you can’t hold him back by any force.

Is it good or bad when parents are so immersed in sports?

- There must be a golden mean.

If a child goes in for sports seriously, the training is still, to some extent, to the detriment of the school.

Although a lot of skaters are now switching to home schooling, and this is not so easy if the whole family does not help you.

In the career of the same Plushenko, mom played a very big role.

At every training session, I sat here in the coaching room and looked out the window.

I never got into the training process, but after training I could say: “Zhenya, you made five Biellmanns today, but you had to ten.”

In our time, parents like to discuss: they say, the coach is wrong, and did something wrong, but, on the part of Plushenko's mother, this never happened at all.

Only a feeling of gratitude to Alexei that he cared about Zhenya so much.

Plushenko was the youngest in the group, very small.

This is probably why Alexei immediately developed a feeling of sympathy for him.

Moreover, a year later, my mother left for Volgograd, and Zhenya was left alone.

- At one time, I remember, many perceived as a sensation Mishin's refusal to work with Elizaveta Nugumanova, who was considered perhaps the most talented junior of her generation.

- It was with me.

I can say that I was the first to refuse to deal with her.

Liza's grandfather grew up in figure skating with Alexei, so when he asked to take Liza into our group, this was not even discussed.

The girl is not bad in character, not harmful, incredibly talented.

But I didn't want to exercise.

I found answers all the time.

Do they put undercooks?

It is clear why - condemned.

And I fought with her for a long time, and Tanya Prokofieva, our choreographer.

They explained that it is necessary to develop, that children's cuteness at some point stops working and you need to start showing something more solid.

Alexey surprised me then.

He is rarely able to seriously quarrel with a student.

Even if this happens, it is never harsh or evil.

But, here, Nugumanova then got him well.

He said at once: that's it, we're done.

- I heard that before the Games in Turin, the relationship between Plushenko and Mishin was not too simple.

That your choreographer David Avdysh smoothed them out very much.

And that this is one of the reasons why Zhenya was always very grateful to Avdysh.

- When there is a big load, a lot of responsibility, a lot of stress, some clashes, of course, happen in training, and for everyone.

It's just that David, the kingdom of heaven to him, loved Zhenya very much, idolized him, admired him.

If Alexei, besides Plushenko, always had someone else from his students, then for David there were simply no other skaters.

Therefore, I think Avdysh was a very special person for Zhenya.

Probably everyone needs such a person.

“For so many years, I have watched many outstanding athletes literally fall apart after the Games.

Plushenko managed to live four Olympics.

How did you manage to keep him in the sport for so long?

- In 2002, when Zhenya lost to Yagudin in Salt Lake City, it was morally very difficult for both him and Alexei Nikolayevich.

But I can not say that it was some kind of long period.

Everyone understood that Plushenko would be preparing for the next Olympics.

In those years, he almost did not lose, he went very smoothly to the Games.

Then for some time he didn’t skate at all - the first wife wanted him to go into business and stop leaving home.

- And then Yana Rudkovskaya appeared and inspired Plushenko for two more Olympics?

- Yes.

Before Vancouver, Zhenya had to lose 10 kilograms.

The male body in this regard is easier to train than the female, but it took time, so the preparation turned out to be shorter than usual.

Plus, the rules have changed not in our favor.

That is, having jumped a quadruple jump in both the short program and the free program, Plushenko lost to Evan Lysacek.

It didn’t fit in my head for a long time: after all, with a quadruple jump, you are already, as it were, on a different level.

It's really difficult - to perfectly perform a quadruple in the program.

Of course, the disappointment turned out to be strong: too much effort was made to compete at this Olympics and win.

But even then there was no feeling that Zhenya was ready to end his career.

- At one time I had the impression, perhaps erroneous, that, having begun to actively work before the Games in Pyeongchang with Carolina Kostner, your husband pursued a purely educational goal: to show Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who, in fact, took Plushenko's place in the group, that the world does not converge on it like a wedge.

— I can't agree.

Alexei always treated Lisa very well, always supported her in everything.

When Tuktamysheva, purely for age reasons, began to recover, I don’t even know how many doctors my husband went around.

In my opinion, all endocrinologists and nutritionists in St. Petersburg knew him.

As for Karolina, Alexey has worked with her before.

When Kostner first came to us in St. Petersburg, she was in a very bad state.

And there were questions about weight, and she really couldn’t jump.

But she looked at Alexei with such confidence.

Probably, it also obliged him in a certain sense.

If at the same time there was some kind of competition with Tuktamysheva, this was not accentuated in any way.

Liza, in principle, is not at all aggressive in this regard, she is very friendly towards other girls.

For example, I never allowed myself to say that little ones jump just because they are small.

Therefore, I think that everyone treats her very respectfully.

Kamila Valieva loves her so simply.

- Do you see Lisa as part of your coaching team in the future?

- It seems to me that she is not very set up for coaching yet.

Although Sonya Samodurova and I worked together very quickly.

- When the trend for quadruple jumps began in women's single skating, requiring a certain physique and weight, you had no thought: well, to hell with them, these girls with their problems?

After all, you can only work with guys, as your husband did for a long time.

- Now, probably, it's just the fashion that more girls go into figure skating.

We have approximately equal numbers of boys and girls in our junior group.

As for the trend for quads, it is quite obvious in Russia, but in the same Europe, girls skate calmly, as they always skated.

Nobody jumps even triple axels.

Nastya Gubanova won the European Championship with the same set of jumps as it was in women's skating before, before the era of quads.

- After that, everyone vying with each other began to say that Gubanova was just lucky in view of the absence of Russian women.

- They also said about Sonya Samodurova that she was lucky in 2019.

“Lucky” is the wrong word in my opinion.

Just at the right time at the right time, she got together and did everything.

Did Zagitova fall at that European Championship?

Well, that, as they say, is her problem.

There was also Stasya Konstantinova, who, just like Sonya, could gather herself and shoot.

But she didn't, did she?

And Samodurova worked both character, and willpower, and the situation.

That is, several terms at once.

- Why doesn’t this work for Mikhail Kolyada, who is already being advised to give up quadruple jumps, since they don’t go too well for him, and focus on clean skating?

— I know that Alexey talked to him about it.

That you need to keep in shape one way or another, but you can ride a lightweight version of the program.

Kolyada refused.

He said that he did not want to and did not consider it possible to do so.

It is clear, after all, that now everyone has to jump a quadruple sheepskin coat in a short program, and two sheepskin coats in a free program is a minimum.

I think he has a period that just needs to be endured.

• Tatyana Mishina, Evgeny Semenenko and Alexey Mishin

• RIA News

• © Maxim Bogodvid

- For any single skater, the first quadruple jump is an event that a person remembers all his life.

Do you remember your first "coaching" quad?

- Andrey Lutai performed the quad when I worked very closely with him.

Until a certain period, I also led Semenenko, although now, of course, Alexei plays a much larger role in his preparation.

It's probably normal that we all jump quads, starting with Alexei Urmanov.

There is a system of exercises in training, in leading to jumps.

I also learned to jump like this from Mishin - on the lounge.

Now, probably, in general, everyone is working on Mishinsky twisters, even private schools.

Work out the correct grouping, centering, position in the air.

- Everything that Alexei Nikolayevich invented for figure skating, at least patented?

“Something yes, something, in my opinion, no.

Some ideas were suggested by Viktor Alexandrovich Shapiro, who once worked on submarines as an electronics specialist, and himself came to Alexei with some developments.

So, in fact, the famous “peeping” vest was born, which emits a sound signal if the hands in rotation lie on the body correctly.

Alexei generally has such a mindset that he constantly comes up with something.

Even such simple things as sleds for working out after jumps.

They slide on the ice, and many times you jump from this step onto the ice, jump off.

Although my husband likes to say: the best thing I can do is to put skates on my boots.

— But what about the legends about the famous Mishinsky pilaf?

- He cooks pilaf really well.

According to all canons.

At one time, Uzbeks worked at our dacha, so he learned from them.

He built a tandoor in the country, a special oven, a grill.

I have read various books on the subject.

Alexei has such a tendency: whatever he does, he studies it thoroughly.

When I used to fish, I had these books on fishing at home ... And how to catch what kind of fish, and how to cook buckwheat porridge for bait, and what kind of hooks should be.

Active at one time was a fisherman.

It's the same with cooking and construction.

- For some reason, I remembered how I was returning from some competitions in the mid-90s, and on the plane I saw a headline in the newspaper: “Coach Mishin changes sex.”

— Oh, yes, there was such a story.

We then bought an apartment - a new one, with bare walls, and everything had to be done there.

They lived in Solnechny, in the country, but for some reason Alexei did not have the opportunity to control the repair.

So the parquet was laid so that it was all swollen.

I had to change it... But I remember the title, and I was very impressed then.