"Otdohni!" N36, September 4, 2003
By Nina Zharkova

The famous skater left no chance for his female fans. He sees his future only with Uljyana.

Zhenya noticed Uljyana absolutely accidentally. That day he drove his car down Nevsky Prospect str. [in St.Petersburg] and stopping at the cross was interested with a pretty girl joyfully chattering with her friends. His feeling said to him that if he didn't come to her now he would regret about it then.

- Did Uljyana know that you're a famous skater?

- Go figure, but she didn't┘ It was two years ago and Uljyana and I try not to separate. I personally take her to her lectures, and she always meets me after my practice. Recently we've been at the show in Switzerland and at training in Spain. Just now we came from Turkey, where enjoyed their baths. Now I'm beginning actively training and in October I'll go to Canada, in November - to France. Hope Uljyana will go with me. At Olympics she sadly wasn't near. But we phoned each other every day.

- How does your mom, Tatiana Vasiljevna, feel about what it's not her who meets you after practice, but your girl-friend?

- Happily my mom often presents at my practice. And Uljyana and I almost for all time live with the parents and just seldom seclude ourselves in my flat. Of course, my mom wasn't delighted with my decision to marry. She believes I'm too young to get family. But my mom is quite busy without it. This year my niece goes to the first form. While my sister is getting the second high education - juristic - in Volgograd, my mom cares about her granddaughter.

- They say, your main contender Alexey Yagudin leaves the sport. Will it be easier for you to win?

- Certainly not. In the sport things change very fast. And I never met an athlete for whom winning was easy.

- There is a rumor, that once your coach, Alexey Mishin, ordering your costume, said to the designer: "I need the costume for a tall blond with a big nose." Does his sparkling humor sense help the monotony of training?

- Of course. He often amuses his pupils, tells jokes and funny stories from his own life.

- You have a wonderful long program with Igor Kornrliuk music. Is the new program ready?

- I liked very much Igor music for "Criminal St.Peterburg", I even bought the CD with the song "The Town That Doesn't Exist". Every day I listened it in my car and imagined the future dance. And now my coach and me are thinking how to astonished the audience again.

- If you meet a magician, who can perform any three wishes of yours, what would you ask?

- First - becoming the Olympic champion, second - health for my coach and all my people, third - making quad jumps. [Probably he meant making all quad jumps.]

- Have you ever feel disappointment, when you want to leave everything?

- Sometimes, especially if I get up early in the morning and despite of the tiredness, I have to go to the practice. But if I overcame it - everything passes away.

- Zhenya, the audience is accustomed to see you as a winner, ever smiling, confident of yourself. But what do you do when you have failures?

- At such moments I'm angry just with myself and trying to do everything for the low spirits come away as soon as possible.

- Do you believe in signs? Do you have an amulet?

- I believe. And I have an amulet, but won't say what!

Translated by Yulya (Pyatatchiok)