From RTVi on April 12th 2003. �Vizavi� with Alla Baratta.

Alla: The whole world, the entire planet knows him on the ice. His programs are known by heart, millions watch his every step and only a few people know him in his real life. His path is often called a path of a Gladiator. Right now, probably the Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion Alexei Yagudin himself wouldn�t be able to say how many hardships he had to overcome in order to fulfill his dream, on his way to those beautiful but yet so distant stars.

Alexei: It�s hard to look so far into the past, but� I was born on March 18th, 1980, and was growing up like every ordinary boy. We lived in a communal apartment together with my mother and grandmother. My parents divorced in I don�t remember what year, but I was 4 or 5 years old. About the same time my mother and her brother � my uncle � decided to put me into some sport because I was not a very healthy boy. I was constantly catching colds, or something was hurting. I had a diathesis and a bad allergy � well, everything that there was for Russian people. So when I was 4,5 years old my mom decided to put me into some sport. Walking on the quay of the Neva river my mom and her brother saw an ad that said there was an admission for a figure skating class for young boys and girls. They hesitated a bit whether to put me into figure skating or hockey � those were two most popular sports at that time.

Alla: At that time it�s unlikely Alexei�s mother thought that her son would become an Olympic Champion. Little Lyosha also was dreaming about totally different things.

Alexei: In my childhood I was dreaming about weird things. Everybody laughs at me for some reason. I was so much in love with cars that I wanted to become a taxi driver or a track driver and just go around the world delivering goods. While dreaming about that, I ended up in figure skating (a smirk there).
It�s hard to remember those times as I was very little and I became a skater not at my own will. Not at my own will I was going to the practices every day. Everything was done by my mother, who sacrificed her spare time and was taking me to the open rinks, she was taking me to the country at the weekends � I was skiing there. She was taking me everywhere in order to improve my health.

Alla: Alexei Mishin noticed a talented boy from the every St Petersburg family. Working with Mishin, Lyosha was among the first ones to complete a quadruple jump and for the first time he became a World and European Champion.

Alexei: I was growing up and I understood that in order to move forward � although I already won the Worlds and Europeans � but still, I realized I needed more attention in order to move forward in figure skating, to go to the higher levels. At that time Kulik became an Olympic Champion and suddenly for many left Tatiana Anatoljevna Tarasova. That was yet another turning point for me. For the 99% I was sure I�d leave Alexei Nikolajevich. I was on Tom Collins� tour, Champions on Ice; we were touring around the US. Also on the tour were the dancers, Klimova/Ponomarenko, and they told me � call Tatiana Anatoljevna Tarasova and ask her advice. And there the thought came into my mind � oh! Perhaps she would be coaching me? In a couple of days Kulik left, I called Tatiana Anatoljevna and got neither �no� nor �yes�. She said � Lyosha, I�m so tired now, call me in a week. Let me recover from the tough Olympic season and then I�ll decide if I take you or not. In 1,5-2 weeks � I gave her a bit more time � she agreed to take me.

Alla: Everybody criticized Alexei, called him a traitor. At the same time, Tatiana Anatoljevna�s friends were also shocked. But Tatiana Tarasova didn�t listen to anyone. Together with Lyosha they went to work in America, and that was a beginning of a long and difficult way of rising of the best figure skater on the planet.

Alexei: Oh� To me, it seems like during those 4 years with Tatiana Anatoljevna Tarasova I�ve experienced much more comparing to the experience with Alexei Nikolajevich Mishin, although I had been working with him for 8, or even 10 years. Everything started (a pause)� awfully. I mean, if I look at it now, everything was fine. We came to Italy for the first training session. She was horrified when she first saw me because I looked like a kolobok (something very round, lol). I was at vacation for 2 months, of course I went for a holiday with my mom and she was feeding me well, with grandmother also joining this process. I mean, I ate myself fill so I was quite solid (I�m not sure how it sounds in English, but in Russian it was quite amusing, lol). I came to Moscow, Tatiana looked at me and said � Lyosha, don�t you think� How much do you weigh? I said � Tatiana Anatoljevna, I am in a perfect shape. She said, okay. In a couple of days we went to Italy, to train in ??? (I have no idea what place Alexei was talking about here. Sorry). That was my first training session, the first practices began. That time was awful because she started to work with me in a totally different way � another techniques, another systems of preparation. I had new boots, my sore feet were bleeding. For the unknown reason I began to train in the morning, to do the morning exercises. For the unknown reason she didn�t allow me to eat. For the unknown reason she made me run errands at the rink. Also, I started to run a half an hour races every evening. For the first time in my life, training under such schedule, I was falling asleep in a few seconds and I didn�t understand why I couldn�t sleep myself fill. I was very tired and I think the first month working with Tatiana was the hardest, because I was trying to adjust myself to her and her training system. But she was very calm � well, shouted at me a couple of times � but the training session went smoothly.

Alla: Tarasova is called a tutor of champions and the most titled Russian coach. She is obsessed with her job and above all in figure skating she seeks for the beauty of a flying soul. It was her who discovered artistry in Lyosha and then proudly said: �Lyosha is my favorite work. He is the best.� (they show clips from Overcome at the Olympics)

Alexei: When I left Mishin all I could do were jumps. I didn�t understand� I realize it now that I was skating for no reason. I absolutely didn�t care about the music, I absolutely didn�t care why I was doing a particular move � why do I raise my hand or why do I open it to the side. The main thing to me was to do all my jumps � that was the most important. I didn�t even care about the quality of spins, steps. I mean, my main task was to do all the jumps. With Tatiana, I didn�t understand, for example, why she makes such an emphasis on footwork, on spins or simple stroking; where do I open my eyes or why they are being opened. Why did we choose this music, why do I have to stand� If you remember, my first program, �Clown� � why she was forcing me to play with a small ball in the corridor. I was standing like that for hours, throwing balls, because she didn�t like the way I was imitating the playing with the balls on the ice. There were a lot of things that I never thought an emphasis could be put on.
She gave me a feeling for the music and, of course, it felt totally different. Because I came to realize how to work with music and I was getting pleasure while working on the creation of the programs.

Alla: 1998 European Championships. Alexei Yagudin or Evgeny Plushenko? Tatiana Tarasova or Alexei Mishin?

Alexei: I think, Alexei Nikolajevich was slightly shocked, because I was in such a good shape, I was skating consistently, and I could reveal myself in my programs. I think it was a big shock not only to him, but to the other people too, because they always called me a �flying stool�. But that year they saw that I could perform something on the ice. With Zhenya we first met, I think, at Russian Nationals, which I lost yet again, (smiles) and still haven�t won until today. The relationships are still� We didn�t associate much before I left Mishin, we didn�t associate much after I left. So the relationships are still the same.

Alla: At the 1998 European Championships Lyosha and Zhenya for the first time met to fight for the gold. The world didn�t know it was only a beginning of the amazing rivalry between the two best singles skaters of the modern era.

Alexei: The 2000-2001 season � right? � was all about fear and horror. I won the World Championship before that, but I realized that I lost Europeans, Russian Nationals and GPF � that was all the season before. And going into the next season, the pre-Olympic season, I was skating like 50x50. There were many errors. The jump that I badly struggled with was quad toeloop. So every time I was going onto the ice to skate I was very nervous. Zhenya Plushenko was at the rise that year, he was going through all the competitions very consistently. Of course, like a normal person, I began to fear. I was scared of Mishin, or even more so of Plushenko, because I was competing only with him. I started to follow him, to watch what he was doing at the practices. It was killing me because he practically made no mistakes. I began to made mistakes. During that summer I lost a lot of weight, I ran cross-country races and was occupied with myself (?? Not sure if that is correct). I went to GWG and lost again � not only to him, but also to Michael Weiss. I came in third and skated really bad. I remember, we were sitting with Tatiana Anatoljevna at the river � I don�t remember what river it was, what�s its name, the GWG were in Brisbane. We were sitting, drinking wine and deciding what to do next. I practically resigned myself that I�d lose everything that year. So I said � Tatiana Anatoljevna, let us think out something new. Perhaps I�ll be coaching, or something else. Because I cannot bare this anymore, we should end it somehow. I lost the previous year, and I started losing this year. She said to me that I was a complete idiot, that we had to continue. She said, let us go through the Olympic year and then we will decide whether we�ll be coaching or not. She offered me to work with the psychologist, to which I said � sure, anytime. I have nothing to lose so let�s do that, perhaps it will help. Rudolf Maximovich Zagainov came to the US 1,5 weeks before my second event, which was held in San Diego. It was a pro-am competition. Of course, I won�t tell you what exactly we were doing off the ice, because it�s a secret. Again, it was a turning point. Like, you know, when you are tired of something you need some change, some vacation � and then you appreciate the things you were doing before again.
I was even scared to be with Tatiana Anatoljevna before the Olympic Games, because� Although she didn�t show she was afraid of something, that she was scared, but in her eyes I could see that this was the most important competition of the year, that was something we were waiting for. I literally was putting marks on my calendar � I was waiting for this competition and I knew it would be a result of the 4 years of my work with Tatiana Anatoljevna and that the whole world would see whether leaving Mishin was a right decision. (Clips of Winter from Olympics)
That move, when I pick up the snow � one girl was practicing with us, I don�t remember her name, she was just a little girl � she fell once and I � In figure skating, we really do pick up the snow like that when somebody falls and hurts oneself, to put the snow on the sore place. I picked up the snow like that and Tatiana Anatoljevna was like � o! Repeat it once again! I picked up the snow again. That�s how this move got into my short program, and later we added somewhat like a snowball fight. I think it was a magnificent program. I was always lucky with the short programs: take �Clown�, take �Winter�, take� What else I was skating? I already forgot� (a pause) Take �Revolution Etude� � that was a revolutionary music. I mean, I was always good with the short programs.
We had major problems with the free program. We couldn�t choose the music � we tried classics, we tried modern music. Either Tatiana or me didn�t like it. I remember, we even tried to listen to �Swan Lake�, although I almost immediately said �no�. But still I listened to it. We tried a lot of music and then, we got to watch that movie, �Lawrence of�� duh, �Man in the Iron Mask�. We watched that movie and I said � there is some interesting music in there, let�s buy the CD. We bought that music and agreed to make a program to it. But up to now I love my previous program, �Lawrence of Arabia�. It is my favorite program, probably because it was the first one that we created with Tatiana.

Alla: Nobody ever won at the Olympics in a way Alexei Yagudin did. No Olympic Champion completed a 4-3-2 combination. No Olympic Champion included 2 quads into his program. No Olympic Champion got more than one 6.0 from the judges � Lyosha got four. All we have to do is to remember Tatiana Tarasova�s words: �When Lyosha skates like that, no one can win over him�. (Clips of MITIM from Olympics)

Alexei: That night was so emotional that I don�t even remember what I was doing. Remembering that moment after the free skate, when I was sitting and watching the marks - I couldn�t believe that I really won the Olympic Games. That was the greatest feeling that will stay with me forever. And that feeling when I was sleeping with my medal during the whole week after the free skate. All that will stay with me forever. Standing on the podium, I was thinking about how good I was that I managed to overcome myself and won the Olympics. But even more I was thinking about how to celebrate, and how heavy the medal would be. The celebration was long � we celebrated in Salt Lake City, we celebrated in Connecticut, in New Jersey and in New York. I mean, the celebration was long, but that�s natural � that was the greatest experience of my life, which, of course, can be repeated, but only in a four years time. Unfortunately I couldn�t go to Russia because I began my preparation for the World Championships. The most pleasant thing that happened to me after the free skate was that I began to eat (by expression on Alexei�s face you could tell it was definitely the best thing in the world ). I started to eat, I was so hungry that season. I went to McDonalds, I went everywhere � I was constantly eating. That�s the nicest thing that happened to me.
Right now I am on Stars on Ice tour. We are almost halfway through it. We go around different cities, meet different people, and also girls. So I can say, I�m not complaining about my personal life. I�m spending my best years, 22-23, quite well. I�m on tour; I meet a lot of people, an interesting people. I would like to get married and have children, but not right now. I hope I will hold out for a couple of more years and I�ll find a person I�m looking for. I�d like her to be smart, but (laughs) no smarter than me, so I could have an easy life. Well, as always, a pretty one. As I am often on a road, I want her to wait for me, to take care of me. A lot of different streaks. I think every person would say the same � something that he wants, but� (smiling) I want a pretty person.

Alla: Imagine the huge arena full of people and you are about to come out onto the ice. The air is filled with tension. You are also tense, but your thoughts are already there, on the ice. The music starts to play � it�s your music and your soar above the ice surface. You become a hero for your audience - the master, the idol, the best skater on the planet. This is a kind of the success every athlete dreams about. But as common as it sounds, the ice is slippery and the one who goes out there must firmly stand on one�s feet � both on the ice and on the ground. Exactly like Alexei Yagudin does.
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