Jana说她的第一笔奖金数目很小,她全用来买衣服和化妆品了。她说自己和所有女生一样爱扮靓,最喜欢高跟鞋(这点和Tanith一样),但她不喜欢自己的古典造型。保持身材苗条的诀窍是吃得健康,她不喜欢肉食,最爱各式蔬菜,不仅爱吃,而且爱烹饪。而Sergei却是典型的肉食主义者,最中意的美食是羊肉串。Sergei爱喝果汁,Jana中意茶和咖啡。退役后Sergei的志愿是成为一名企业家,而Jana说她不会考虑太多将来的事情。
在互相评价优缺点时,Sergei说Jana什么都好,尤其很有进取心,唯一的缺点是情绪化。而自己是个固执的金牛座,脾气不好。Jana说Sergei是个好男人,只是脾气暴。自己最大的缺点是没耐心,情绪化。
他们背靠背的回答却是惊人相似,看来‘坏脾气’和‘情绪化’的KN真是一对默契的搭档。
The explosive and the emotional (2)
“I spent my first money on clothes”
Let’s go back to your childhood and adolescence. Do you remember your first serious victory? How did you spend the prize money?
Sergei: I don’t remember how I spent the money, but I remember the crazy emotions after Yanka and I had our first major win. It was the 2002 Universiad in Italy. Universiad is like the Olympics for the students. No one expected such a result from us, especially since we won with a good margin. It was, actually, our first international competition. I was just shocked.
Yana: Yes, but they don’t award money in the Universiad. I can say with certainty, that my first prize money, however small, I surely spent on clothes!
Or make-up?
Yana: Precisely! As a woman, you do understand! (laughs) When you’re young, you so want the expensive make-up. The more the better. It only goes away with it.
What do you prefer clothing-wise?
Yana: I like to look good. Of course, I always wear hills, even in the car. I get enough of athletic gear at practices. Though some of the sportswear they make lately is so nice, it’s hard not to fall in love with it. The only thing I don’t like is the classic look.
Yana, one more “woman” question for you. It was obviously very important in your sport for the girl to be light. Do you have to limit yourself to stay in shape?
Yana: No, I never follow any diets. I general, I don’t burden my body with food too much. During competitive season, I try to eat healthy and nutritional food. I generally don’t like meat. Sometimes, I’ll have chicken. I really like the lighter foods, especially vegetables.
Do you cook?
Yana: Of course! Especially on the weekends; we only have one practice session on Saturday, and don’t even have that on Sunday. That’s when I can fry and steam myself all the vegetables I want, make myself a nice salad. I like the salty, like adding spices.
Sergei: Me, I like the meat. I can do shish-kebab. Especially on a dacha, with friends – it’s our favorite food. The aroma alone is priceless. By the way, I also have no weight issues. At 27 years of age, I weigh 68 kg, and during competitions I always loose a couple of kilograms, so I need the meat to restore myself.
Any favorite drinks?
Sergei: I don’t favor alcohol much. I drink juices, really like punches. Having a beer is rather a rarity for me.
Yana: I mostly drink tea or coffee. I love fresh-squeezed carrot juice with cream. Delicious! Though few agree with me on it.
Where do you prefer to spend your vacations?
Sergei: Our last vacation was in Turkey with friends; it was essentially our first vacation abroad, usually we only go there for competitions, so we don’t have much to compare it to. But it was very nice.
Yana: We went on tours, including yacht tours, raced cars, and even did some rafting.
“Mom doesn’t watch my performances on TV”
Talk a little about your relationships with friends and parents. How do they support you during competitions?
Yana: My mom takes it all so close to heart, and worries so much, that she never even watches live recordings. She doesn’t worry as much when she just watches it pre-recorded. I guess the only time she attended an event was last year at the Russian Nationals in Mytyshi. However, the tension at the Nationals is nothing to the tension at Europeans. Last time she did not even watch it on TV. It’s nice to receive SMS messages before competitions from school teachers, grandparents, friends, or former classmates.
Sergei: I don’t have many friends, and only a few in Russia. Most of them are athletes, so they’re scattered around the world. For example, I have a good friend who always supports me, but he is in a show in London. The parents, of course, put their heart and soul into it.
Sergei, Yana, how do you see yourselves after your athletic career is over? Have you even thought about it?
Sergei: I’d like to try myself as an entrepreneur. I know business is not an easy task, but I’d like to try it. At least that’s what interests me now. If it weren’t for the sport, this is where I’d put all my energy.
Yana: I haven’t seriously considered it; for now, it’s important for me to achieve all I can in what I love, and I have found what I love. I don’t like to think ahead, especially to something like the end of career, as it’s too unpredictable. An injury can take anyone out of contention at any time.
Of getting up early and of personal weaknesses
Can you describe your average day?
Sergei: Today, I got up at six, left home at 6:35, and had the first two-hour practice session at 7:45. Then there’s time to eat, relax, and even nap a bit. After lunch, there’s another two-hour session, and now it’s seven PM, and I’m sitting in traffic, dreaming of getting home.
Yana: Serezha, you forgot to add that we also have choreography lessons separately from regular practice sessions; we sometimes do it off-ice. If I’m not too tired, I can meet up with friends in the evening. By the way, after the success at Europeans, we often meet with journalists, and have had invitations to TV and radio.
Wrapping up this nice conversation, can you distinguish the main fortes and weaknesses in yourself and your partner?
Sergei. Yana has many fortes, but the first one that comes to mind is being very goal-oriented. She is a good person and a good friend, so it’s hard to think of specific weaknesses, except for, perhaps, being over-emotional. I am a Taurus on the zodiac, so I am stubborn in a good sense, but have many weaknesses. The main one is having a temper.
Yana: I guess having a temper is Sergei’s main weakness. The main forte is his kindness. I am very emotional myself; I am impatient, so I want everything right away. Though I understand that you can’t get far in life without hard work. As for my fortes – let others judge those.
Sergei and Yana have been a team for the past 7 years; probably, that’s what made them give such similar answers to the last questions. After all, they were giving their answers from the opposite ends of town.
Ahead of the young and talented ice dancers is the World championship that will take place between March 17 and 23 in the Swedish city of Göteborg. Up until then, the army skaters will do nothing but train, since this is the first time in a while that they have more than a week and a half between competitions.
Author: Umamat Msusalayeva
Phote: Yuri Kuzmin
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