"Sovetsky Sport" January 27, 2003
By Darjya Srebnitskaya

THE INTERVIEW NEAR THE PODIUM

That's how Evgeni Plushenko explained to our reporter his refusal to do a quad salchow and the other difficult elements.

- I lost confidence, the form that I had a week ago. Even if to judge by the warm-up that I fell at an elementary, to my mind, jump - a triple flip. And failed a rittberger. It's happiness, that I collected myself, done those elements at the competition.

- Mishin believes that for the nearest years two quads in the long program will be enough for winning. What's your opinion?

- I think, a year or two, and in the programs of skaters there will be several different quads.

- So you burned out waiting for the competition, as the men was the last?

- That surely affected on my skating. For the five days watching how the others skate and doing nothing myself is hard. I needed to come a bit later.

- In other words, the cause of everything is the rest on the tribunes?

- It's in the less degree. At the end of December I caught flu and out of it I had to miss the Russian Nationals. The infection provoked differences of the temperature: in the evening I had 38, next morning - 35. For a week my nose bled. There was the weakness. Before the championship at first my back ached, then the foot. They seem to be not serious injuries, but they prevent skating.

- They say the composer Igor Korneliuk did the arrangement of "Criminal St.Petersburg" soundtrack just for you.

- For Korneliuk it was the first experience of co-operation with skaters. He was just shocked because what he offered didn't fit for steps, rotations, jumps. He re-wrote the arrangement for several times.

- Foreign journalists noticed that you almost don't smile. Isn't it out of the undone jump?

- Please, tell them that if I smile all the time people will think that I'm an idiot.

- Your program is extremely expressive. Do you feel any strong feelings while skating?

- Orgasm, that is, pardon, the top of highest excitement I don't feel. My head should stay cold.

Translated by Yulya (Pyatatchiok)