Coach Gorbacheva doesn’t believe Plushenko scandal overshadowed figure skater’s win

Sofia Fedchenko, coach Alina Gorbacheva who won the Russian junior championship, told Metaratings.ru that the statement Evgenia Plushenko on officiating at the tournament did not overshadow his pupil’s victory.

Plushenko, after the end of the Russian youth championship, said that many skaters from his academy would most likely compete for other countries due to biased refereeing in domestic competitions. In Perm, Plushenko’s student Veronika Zhilina won silver, and Sofya Titova, who performed two triple axels and a quadruple salchow in the free skate, came fourth. Gorbachev won.

– Unfortunately, Alina’s victory was overshadowed by a resounding scandal involving Plushenko, who accused the judges of bias. Did you notice dishonest refereeing during the tournament?

– I can’t say that this scandal overshadowed Alina’s victory or somehow affected my feelings.

I always teach my athletes to ride in a way that nobody asks questions. If you need to do two rotations to count the position in the rotation, do three. If you have to do eight, do nine. Because it sure will. If you are about to do, it may be different: someone will count, and someone will say that there were not two. Why risk again? Better to stock up.

The same goes for ribs: if an athlete jumps from a deep inside or from a deep outside, he will never receive a rib. And if an athlete jumps flat, from two ribs, then a judge will say it’s more internal or external. And that’s not arrogance or prejudice, just everyone’s personal point of view.

We all look at things differently. And figure skating is a subjective sport in which people’s opinions influence the evaluation. In order for people’s opinion to be influenced as little as possible, you should try to do everything as cleanly as possible.

Metaratings.ru