Plushenko: “When I left Volgograd, there was no food at all, I had to collect bottles. Sikharulidze helped me”

Double Olympic figure skating champion Evgeny Plushenko said that as a child, after moving to St. Petersburg, he did not even have money for food and was helped Anton Sikharulidze .

Plushenko started figure skating in Volgograd, and at the age of 11 he moved to St. Petersburg.

— How to find your coach?

– My second coach in Volgograd was very tough – he shouted, he could raise his hand somewhere. When I came to Mishin, I was completely different. He said that he would work with me, and if I slackened, they would not work with me. But it was in a calm mode. No kicks, no shouts.

When I left Volgograd, I had no food at all; I had to collect bottles to buy bread. It was a difficult time. At one point, Sikharulidze helped me. He saw my torn sneakers and brought his things. They were four sizes too big for me. He gave me money to buy something to eat. There was not enough money. Now I want to help talented children.

We are now opening a hockey school, it will be headed by Valery Kamensky. Putin said that sports should be developed not only in big cities, but also in villages and villages. I am trying to do this. I am also thinking of creating a kindergarten, right on the territory, in our village, the Olympic Village. I have an idea: let a train come, let teachers come and take us to different objects – hockey, figure skating, skating. They finish their studies and are taken to kindergarten. I also want to create a rehabilitation center for athletes, we have the greatest surgeon, Dzukaev, who works with the spine. I recovered with his rehabilitation specialists, and a month later I was already on the ice. There are people like that now, teachers. I did not have it. I want my athletes to have this. So that children from an early age learn to be correct.

We had one of the strongest schools in Volgograd, Maxim Marinin from Volgograd. And this school was closed and a wine and vodka factory was set up. There were many talented children, but they were ruined. Nowadays, a lot is being done for sports. Many ice rinks have been built in different regions, but there is still a lot to do. You need access for public skating, look at VDNKh, Gorky Park.

In Volgograd, I said: let’s restore the figure skating school. They answered me: you will build it. Now there is already movement, meetings. And I want it to reach (the final). We have a lot of talent, but this region is not developing. “I want to create such schools for the country,” the correspondent reports, based on Plushenko’s words.

Plushenko spoke at Znanie.Conference at VK Fest in Moscow.

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