Car crash, enemies and Tutberidze. Alina Zagitova – sincerely about life

Alina Zagitova is an Olympic champion, the only athlete in Russia who has won all world titles in figure skating. It would seem that fans know everything about their idol, but there’s always a chance to learn something new when two legendary athletes meet for a candid conversation. Alina became a guest of Maxim Trankov in the podcast of the free program on Channel One. And she told a lot of interesting things.

FIGURES SKATE – MOTHER ZAGITOVA’S IDEA

Alina began her journey in a small town – Almetyevsk. Her mother took the girl to sports, but as Zagitova says, she herself did not particularly want to.

“I didn’t like figure skating at all, it was my mother’s idea. She said, “come on, go ride,” and I sobbed by the side, and asked to be taken away from here, she just did me. Then it started working, I joined and realized that I like it.

As a child, I was always close to the pedestal, always lacking a few hundredths of a point to climb the step. First, third, then second, and only Eteri Tutberidze began to take first place. Mom gave motivation in the form of gifts, she asked: “You will get third place, what do you want?”.

First it was a hamster, then a rabbit, then a dog, then a cat. She alina did not think that she would be engaged in figure skating all her life. Coming to such major competitions (in the role of a spectator) as the Grand Prix, it seemed to Zagitova that she would never get there. She always justified herself by saying that she was from a small town and that she loved to pity herself. Later she realized that she was starting to burn with figure skating and she wanted to get to Moscow from Tutberidze.

HOW I GOT TO TUTBERIDZA

“For three years I have been telling my mother:“ let’s go to Moscow, I want to train with Eteri Georgievna. A very serious step was to move for the family. My parents took out a loan to allow me to live in Moscow. I came to the races in the capital, I didn’t do very well, I was in the top twenty. We still had a short gap between the performance and the train. We got together, found out the program, got to the gym where Eteri Georgievna trained, my mother talked to her. He watched the show, in the end we agreed that they would see him on the ice, first a warm-up, and then all the stars, Medvedev, Lipnitskaya, Tarasenko, Voronov … I skated for about 30-40 minutes, they gave a chance and said: “We’ll take you to see after the New Year.” But I’m already so happy! I almost missed the train. We jumped into what was already walking. I remember like yesterday. It was a lucky ticket.

Photo source: Getty Images

Parents play a big role, since they take loans without understanding what for … Now I understand that they always believed in me. There was a moment when Eteri Georgievna kicked me out because I was lazy. But it seemed to me that I was working hard, I was so tired that I fell asleep on the subway, then I already understood what it was like to work one hundred percent!

FIRST TEAM RUSSIA SALARY AND FORM

“It was in juniors, in France, I received the equipment, for me it was something significant, I wore this whole uniform with pride! After this start, he was on pace, received his first salary, but his grandmother took part in it. And so I put it away, saving for something big, now I’m still saving too.”

OLYMPIC MEDAL

“It’s just hanging on a locket. I just touch it. It was at the Olympics that I only talked with coaches, lived with Eteri Georgievna. I didn’t go anywhere but the gym. I was completely into the sport. When they put up the medal, I only knew for a second that I was an Olympic champion.”

Photo source: Getty Images

HOBBY

“Now if there was no training that day, then I feel like a lazy person, even if there were shootings, other things, but when I come in the evening I feel like I didn’t do anything. And if there was training, then appeasement, a sense of accomplishment. In general, I try a lot of activities to find myself, to find my business.

CAR CRASH

“Yes, there was a car accident when we were driving from Izhevsk to Agryz for training. There I jumped on the “fishing rod”, it took an hour to go there, there was a moment when we flew into a ditch, it was raining, my mother was scared, and when the truck flew towards the meeting, it rushed so much that we were overwhelmed. But everything worked out. It turns out I was born with a happy shirt.

HATE AND REACTION TO IT

”Haters often say:“ yes, that’s the one who walks in the brands, the one who allows himself. People don’t understand how difficult it is to make money on all this, but I confess that sometimes it’s even embarrassing to get into brands.

Photo source: RIA Novosti

I don’t like being called a star. We (athletes) are still people, we are the same as everyone else. Yes, we differ in that we got into the kind of business we got into. Yes, and that’s luck, but of course you have to work. Sometimes I don’t understand why they treat me like that, but rather they are offended people, people with complexes, maybe they don’t like me visually, so they write such comments. I like Yagudin, who knows how to respond to all this hatred. There have been times when I have cried because of hurtful comments.