International Figure Skating – September-October 2019

14 IFSMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2019

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Russia, Belarus and also in Canada. The
hardest thing is the scheduling. The theatre
wants to book me now for February and
March, but I don’t know if I will have time
since there are tours with Ilia (Averbukh)
and I’d like to commentate at the European
and World Championships.”

EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT
Through his work as a television comment-
ator, Yagudin has kept up with the sport
and has closely watched the evolution that
figure skating has undergone since his era.
“Obviously, the gap is huge between the
time when I competed and now, but there
is development, thank God,“ he said.
“The 2019 World Championships in
Japan impressed me immensely. Not just
the men — everyone.”
Yagudin said he found Worlds to be an
emotional experience and it took him a
long time to recover from it. “I was crying
and it was hard for me to speak during
the coverage — I had to pinch myself to
say something.
“I am a rather dry and calm person,
but emotionally this was something
extraordinary and really cool. The
development of skating is continuing

and I am convinced I’ll live to see

quintuple jumps.”

He is also impressed that female skaters

are now executing quadruple jumps and

said he has no doubt they will do all the

quads within the next 10 to 15 years. “Now,

people are asking how is that possible, but

let’s remember how it was 20 years before

our time. Skaters started to do triples, and

didn’t even yet attempt a triple Axel and

everyone was saying, ‘Wow! Triple jumps —

what else is there to come?’ Before that they

did only doubles, so time is passing and this

is just an absolutely normal development.”

Yagudin is also committed to advancing

the sport in his own way. In June, he opened

an ice skating center in Minsk, Belarus,

and has plans to set up others in Moscow

later this year. The three-time European

champion is focused on organizing and

establishing a system in these schools with

the trusted team he has in place.

“I will work there, too, but I am not

someone who will stand there and do

the same thing day in and day out,” said

Yagudin. “I will build a system together with

people I trust, and where everyone is going

in the same direction. It won’t happen that

one says one thing and when I go there I say

something different. I am always working

with people that think in a similar way as

I do.”

BEYOND SKATING

Yagudin and his wife Tatiana Totmianina,

37 — the 2006 Olympic pairs champion

with Maxim Marinin, with whom she still

performs in shows — are proud parents of

two daughters, Elizaveta, 9, and Michèle,

3. Yagudin said they are planning to have a
   third child in the near future. “And not to
   forget — nobody has cancelled my job as
   a father,” Yagudin said. “Actually, Tatiana,
   for some reason, would like to have twins,
   so we have four kids. I say no. Let’s have
   three for now.”
   Married in 2016, the couple has never
   encouraged their daughters to follow in
   their footsteps. For the girls, skating is
   just a recreational pursuit their parents
   have combined with many other hobbies.
   Ensuring that their daughters are well
   educated is more important to Yagudin
   and Totmianina.
   “The older one is like me — she does not
   want to do anything,” Yagudin said with a
   laugh. “But the younger one is very active,
   she is dancing all the time.”
   When the World Figure Skating Hall
   of Fame called to notify Yagudin of his
   induction in 2017, he said he did not
   feel anything special. “I said, ‘I have two
   daughters, I have dogs, I also have different
   professions that I am doing now and others
   that I am pursuing.’ Figure skating will end
   for me sooner or later — I would rather
   sooner than later.”
   A congenital hip disorder forced Yagudin
   to call an early end to his competitive career
   in the fall of 2002. Although he wanted to
   continue competing and “really loved those
   competitions, I am not disappointed that it
   ended rather early. This is probably a good
   description. It was a very bright chapter
   with victories and defeats, smiles and tears
   — but this is all so far in the past,” the 2002
   Olympic Champion explained.
   When asked about his career highlights,
   Yagudin said that he no longer thinks much
   about that era. “My life, or the life of any
   person, is a book and in every book there are
   chapters. Naturally, the first chapter is school
   and sports. Obviously, the biggest mark was
   probably the victory at the Olympic Games.
   I would hardly say that the victory at the
   World Junior Championships was the most
   important one in my life. Of course, it was
   the Olympic gold medal. And that’s it.