Eurosport Long interview- January 1997
 
 


 
 How did you start figure skating?

Pasha: In Russia everyone wanted to do something, be a gymnast, an athlete
and I just choose figure skating, just like that.

In 1976 Innsbruck ice dance entered the Olympic Games where the first
Olympic Champions were the Russians Ludmilla Pakhamova and Alexander
Gorshkov. They made a great impression on the current Olympic Champions.

Pasha: They mean a lot to us, really. They were the first Russian Olympic
Champions ( ice dance) and actually they made ice dancing to be in the
Olympic Games, because a couple of years before that they hadn't taken ice
dance into the Olympic Games. They really meant a lot to us, they made us
also wanting to be at the Olympic Games and that was a great feeling, to
also have a dream to get a Olympic gold medal.

How were your first Olympic Games(  1992 Albertville, France)?

Pasha: I was really excited. We were waiting, because it was going to a
surprise, because we had heard so much. People were talking that it was an
amazing competition and it could be just once in your life and never again
and you never know if you are going to compete again or not, because you
have to wait four years.

© Photo by Masaharu Sugawara
The link to japanese magazine "Sports eye":   http://www.sportseye.co.jp
 

In 1992 the stars were yet again another Russian couple Marina Klimova and
Sergei Ponemarenko.

Pasha: They had an amazing program to skate that year and they skated great
and they did the best they could and I actually really enjoyed watching
that program.

1994 Lillehammer. It was ten years after Torvill&Dean won their Olympic
title and Oksana&Evgeny performed a lighter and faster routine than
Torvill& Dean, but on the ice Oksana&Evgeny had to forget all about their
opponents.

Pasha: We weren't thinking during the competition about what great stars
they were. We were thinking that they are just competitors to us and we
just had to do our best and we tried to concentrate on ourselves and skate
our program great.

© Photo by Masaharu Sugawara
The link to japanese magazine "Sports eye":   http://www.sportseye.co.jp
 

Since 1994 Oksana&Evgeny were unbeatable and their opponents fight it out
for second place.

Povilas Vanagas: Their quality of skating is so high, so tremendously high.
None of the couples can be compared with them and my opinion is that they
are strong individual skaters and when they are together it makes so much
difference to other couples, because we have young Russian couples who
skate fast and strong, but they skate on lines and not on edges and then
they aren't even doing what Oksana&Evgeny do, in edges and in curves. It's
really fantastic.

Is it more pressure now?

Pasha: Twice more pressure, because here we are, we are Olympic gold
medallists and here we are again before another Olympic Games. Of course it
will be a lot of pressure and a lot of things which happen inside and I
hope we will be strong enough through everything and to do our best.

What are your aims in life now?

Pasha: To be one.