Athletistic/ Figure Skating. The day before, on August 14, world figure skating star Anna Shcherbakova held an open training session at the Moscow Urban Forum at the Manege.

Within the framework of the event, representatives of the huge army of fans of the figure skater had the opportunity to fulfill their dearest dreams: to train with their favorite on the same mat, to take pictures with Anna and also take a memorable autograph from the Olympic Champion.

Everyone who wanted to get a painting of their favorite skater had to receive a bracelet from the organizers, which in this case served as a kind of ticket for the “closed evening”. The organizers freely distributed this bracelet to everyone, so that Shcherbakova’s meeting with fans took place in the most democratic and accessible format – there was no artificial distance between the star athlete and the fans.

There were plenty of fans of the brightest star in Eteri Tutberidze’s band that night – twenty minutes before Shcherbakova entered the practice mat, there were no empty seats left in the ‘amphitheater.

The atmosphere in the hall, as noted by fans who attended the event, was light and cheerful – the holiday feeling was present throughout the evening. Could it be otherwise, if the backbone of the fans gathered that evening were young skaters and their parents?!

Already at the very beginning of training, Shcherbakova made it clear that she was prepared for the meeting as positively as possible – the skater gladly responded to requests from fans, calmly and methodically explaining why it was necessary to perform this or that exercise.

During the performance, the skater introduced fans to her daily training schedule. First, Shcherbakova performed a working warm-up, then demonstrated a set of exercises, “standing” on the mat, and supplemented the workout with a set of exercises designed for proper stretching.

Note that several times the audience asked Shcherbakova to repeat this or that exercise, to which Anna each time answered with good-natured consent. So, for example, the athlete performed squats with a twist for a booster up to twenty times!

Immediately after the practice session, fans thanked Anna for the encounter by presenting two luxurious bouquets of flowers to their favorite. Then began the autograph session mentioned above, which lasted more than an hour! The organizers of the event have repeatedly told the audience that the skater is a living person and giving everyone autographs is an impossible task, but Anna herself was unwavering – the skater continued to sign autographs for his fans, without forgetting to smile at each one of them.

At some point, Anna decided to cheer up the audience and herself with a positive phrase:

– We are very strong, – the skater said with a smile, addressing the fans.

Sherbakova stopped signing autographs only when the exhibition in the Manezh was already officially closed – at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time. After that, Anna, who did not want to deprive even one of her fans of her attention, began to distribute autographed photographs – no one was left without Shcherbakova’s attention that evening.

A fly in the ointment

Alas, the evening in the amphitheater did not end in the best way, but Anna herself is not at all responsible for this. Distinguished guards, invited to the “Carousel” by the organizers of the event.

At one point, when Shcherbakova had already left the building, the guards didn’t like the fans continuing to besiege Anna with their attention. Above all, the security guards were unhappy with the behavior of journalist Dmitry Kuznetsov, who filmed Shcherbakova walking down the street towards her car.

Without further ado, the guards arrested the journalist and then, in a very rude manner, asked the media representative to stop filming. There was no open conflict, the incident looked extremely wild from the outside, especially since there were a large number of children around – fans of the figure skater. Incident completely unnecessary and unjustified.


The situation was “led”, not surprisingly, by Shcherbakova herself, who cheerfully greeted her fans before getting into the car. The tense atmosphere was dissipated by a welcoming gesture and a smile from the skater, after which the fans saw their star with a loud exclamation: “Anya, you are the best!”.

And here you can’t argue with Anna’s fans – Shcherbakova really is the best! Once again, Anna proved that she is rightly considered the queen of figure skating, both on ice and beyond.