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Translate by Tonyamorin Dec.22th:
Shen & Zhao just returned from Russia, and we had an interview with them upon arrival.
Q: You have won three grand prix events this season by a comfortable margin; can we say you are the #1 pair in the world at the moment?
Zhao: We don’t feel that way. Having been athletes for many years, we have always tried doing our best in every competition. For example, throughout 2002, our condition was excellent and we won almost all competitions including three GP events, but the most important Olys, we still lost. This season’s excellent performance, many people did not expect it including ourselves.
Shen: We don’t think that way. We always want to do our best in every competition and challenge our best. We’ll be happy if we are able to achieve that.
Q: Are you saying you are competing against yourselves?
Shen: Figure skating is a sport without direct contest. You mainly skate on your own. To large extent, you compete against yourself.
Q: If you’ve never considered yourselves the #1 pair in the world, how could you win three gold medals in a row this season?
Zhao: I think it’s a show of our strength, a more relaxed and calm attitude also helpes. To be honest, we did not focus a whole lot on (getting) gold medals. No matter who our competitors are, even if Marinin(/Totmianina) and Anton(/Berezhnaya) returned, we would have done the same. We’re now more into the process of putting our entire effort in, gold medal is no longer our only goal.
Shen: We have a more relaxed attitutde toward skating. We no longer consider gold medal is our only goal like in the past. If we can do our best, the final placement is really not that important. We just enjoy skating.
Q: I asked your coach in the past, he acknowledged the importance of reputation/pecking order in figure skating. Do you believe judges take this into account based on your achievements throughout these years?
Zhao: Under the new scoring system, it’s difficult to do so. Every element of your program is graded to different level. In order to get a good result, you have to present both technically difficult elements and artistry. It is more difficult for judges to put their personal preferences in (the scores). In the past, under the old scoring system, judges’ personal preferences could have an impact on the final scores.
Q: Do you have your favourite pair?
Shen: G&G. Sergei Grinkov already passed away.
Zhao: Same.
Q: How do you compare yourselves to G&G?
Zhao: Their achievement was unprecedented. After G&G won the OGM, they retired and had a baby. But they returned and won another OGM. They were the only pair who had done that, their accomplishment is hard to surpass.
Q: How about (comparing) technique and artistry?
Zhao: We have different styles. They had excellent unison, similar to Marinin, very textbook. But unlike Marinin, they put more emotions in their skating. They were husband & wife team and had this natural harmony.
Shen: Yes. A lot of their details, including sbs jumps, are so synchronized; it’s hard to reach that level.
Q: This is your fifth grand prix final gold medal. The first one was 10 years ago, do you still remember your reaction back then?
Shen: (laugh) Yes. It’s also in St. Petersburg. We could hardly believe we won the gold medal at that time.
Q: How about this time?
Zhao: We were very satisfied because we put out our best performance.
If we only scored 180, 190 points, we could be very disappointed even winning a gold medal. Since we cracked 200 points, we were really happy, feeling our efforts having been rewarded.
Shen: As we said, gold medal is no longer our only goal.
Q: In 1998, you skated to music ‘Mulan’, then to ‘Turando’, ‘The Nutcracker’ and ‘The Soong Sisters’, which one is your favourite? | 
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