“I will ride as long as I have the strength.” Pavel Kovalev on the Olympic Games as motivation and learning French

French skaters Kamil Kovalev And Pavel Kovalevin pair skating, finished seventh at home in the Angers Grand Prix. spoke with Pavel about Olympic motivation, learning French and moving to Angers.

“I think in principle everything went well, given that I suffered a broken ankle and, of course, that required a long recovery. So everything is probably going as it should, and given all these circumstances, I think we can consider this start an asset.

— Injury during training?

– Yes, stupid, offensive, on the floor. But nothing, I recovered little by little, now, I hope, I will only regain strength, in general we will progress.

— What will be the next step?

– In China.

— How do you manage long flights?

“We’ll see how the body perceives this, I’m already thinking about what it’s going to be like with nutrition, they say the guys there have had problems with it.

– According to the classics – in China with your buckwheat. No?

— Yes, but the problem is that we don’t really find buckwheat in France.

— France has received the right to host the 2030 Olympic Games. Is this motivating?

“I always said I would ride as much as I had strength and health. There is still a lot of time until 2030. I would also like to think about family, children, maybe we will take a break – of course, not in this Olympic cycle, but in the next one. But of course, the Olympics are cool. That’s the motivation.

— How is your French? What level have you reached?

— Enough for daily communication. I can’t say that I have reached a high level of language proficiency, but in everyday life I communicate calmly.

— Was it difficult to teach?

— It’s hard, but it’s also because I didn’t speak any language other than Russian. At school I studied pretty much like most Russian athletes, so there was no English at all. When I arrived in France, everything was explained to me almost in detail. I decided to learn the language and started with English.

– Interesting.

– Yes, that’s what I decided. But then I turned to studying French. I didn’t have much experience with communication outside of the rink, because I’m basically not the most outgoing person.

-So where did you train? How many are there at the bakery?

– Yes, I can buy bread at the bakery. At the rink, of course, most communication is done in French, just like at home with my wife. So I gradually gained this level.

— Where are you training now?

– Now – just in Angers. This is our home, you could say, an ice rink.

— A very good city. And the ice rink is also modern.

– Yes, I like that too. In fact, before that, when we lived and trained in Angers, the conditions were worse. Somewhere in the non-Olympic format there were problems with the ice. And here the conditions are really good.

— Have you ever seen the Apocalypse tapestry in Angers?

– No. As I said before, I am not a particularly sociable person and, in principle, a homebody. My wife is more active, so I haven’t made much progress yet and haven’t seen the tapestry.

— Until the Apocalypse?

– Exactly!

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