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Figure skating is one of the few sports in which Russia has dominated for the past 40 years. But the hegemony may soon come to an end. Victories in Turin should not deceive. First, our advantage over...

Figure skating is one of the few sports in which Russia has dominated for the past 40 years. But the hegemony may soon come to an end. Victories in Turin should not deceive. Firstly, our advantage over the rest is no longer so great, and secondly, our main competitors - the Chinese, Japanese and Americans - for obvious reasons missed the European forum.

In 60 percent of the participants in the Italian tournament, Russian coaches kept the defense behind the sides of the ice arena. Examples? Please. Elena Chaikovskaya instructs Sergey Davydov from Belarus, Alexander Zhulin - Vakhtang Murvanidze from Georgia, Nikolai Morozov - Ukrainians Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov (our direct competitors), Natalia Linichuk - Israelis Natalia Gudina and Alexei Beletsky. Tatyana Tarasova supervises other Israeli dancers - Galit Chait and Sergey Sokhnovsky, who also "prevent" ours from getting on the podium. Plus, Tarasova helps Yagudin in training Brian Joubert, who almost took the championship title from Evgeni Plushenko for the second year in a row.

“We train our champions at the expense of the Americans,” Tatiana Tarasova says about this. Yes, but in return we prepare champions for others. And it doesn't come out any other way.

The leaders of the national federation are doing everything to make our coaches leave Russia.

Well, tell me, how else to explain the fact that Tatyana Tarasova and her students - dancers Svetlana Kulikova and Vitaly Novikov - were expelled from the municipal metropolitan skating rink "Central"? Having found out that the federation does not pay money for the ice and they train here for free, although by invitation, the manager of the rink, after conferring with the director (former hockey player Alexander Kozhevnikov), said the following: “Get out of here!”. Tatyana Anatolyevna, pulling a wallet out of her pocket, offered to pay $ 200 for training. But I didn’t hear anything new in response ... Can you imagine such a situation in America?

This is not the first time Tarasova has been treated this way. A few years ago, she and Alexei Yagudin were kicked out of another Moscow skating rink, allegedly for taking ice away from ... subscription groups. Tarasova went with Alexei to America, and in Salt Lake City he became an Olympic champion. But Tarasova, who later was not even awarded for this success, forgot her insults and returned. In vain?

The federation does not answer this question. These people generally only know how to announce the medal plan and drink at banquets in honor of the victories of the skaters. If athletes do not bring medals, then they simply do not remember their existence. When Ilya Klimkin, the world junior champion and bronze medalist of the European Championship, needed an operation, they simply forgot about him. Alexander Abt, who ended his career due to injuries, was a multiple winner of continental championships, despite his difficult living conditions, it was not his native federation who helped with the apartment, but Gennady Zyuganov, to whom the figure skater, who is not a member of any party, accidentally got an appointment.

...But so far, despite the new refereeing rules and domestic problems, our skaters are on horseback. This was proved by Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, who repeated last year's success without any problems. Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin overcame the psychological consequences of a terrible fall and, like Plushenko, tried on the golden crown for the fourth time and became thirty thousand dollars richer.

So, all week Turin applauded the Russian skaters. How will it be a year later in the same Palavela Sports Palace at the Olympic Games?

... Regarding refereeing, Tamara Moskvina answered very clearly: "You have to be a head taller, and that's it ...". That's just to be a head taller, you must also be a head smarter. So do not be offended, gentlemen from the federation, when Shizuka Arakawa will cry in Tatyana Anatolyevna's fur coat at the World Championships in Moscow in March. From happiness…

PS When the issue was made up, it became clear that Irina Slutskaya became the European champion for the sixth time and enriched herself by 20 thousand dollars.