‘I want to be friends with my coach’: Evgenia Medvedeva reveals why she left Eteri Tutberidze
Two-time world figure skating champion Evgenia Medvedeva has spoken out about her split with famed coach Eteri Tutberidze after she failed to win an Olympic gold.
In a Instagram Live broadcast with French skater Florent Amodio, Medvedeva said she doesn’t regret parting ways with Tutberidze. She insisted that she feels comfortable working with Canadian specialist Brian Orser, who ‘can hear her.’
She moved to Canada right after winning silver at the PyeongChang Games in 2018, ending her 11-year partnership with Tutberidze.
“I left Russia not for crazy results, not to come the next season and beat everyone,” the 20-year-old said.
“I did a lot in that sport, I won a lot in figure skating. So I left to work together with a coach like friends. I don’t know if it’s right to say that we are friends with my coach [Orser]. I really feel that we understand each other, we feel each other, and the main thing is that we hear each other. I left for this: to hear and to be heard.”
She also noted that cooperation with Orser had brought her skating to a completely new level, and she now thinks more about delivering a true performance on the ice, not just doing technical elements.
“I totally love jumping, that’s why I’m a single skater. But at the same time, you know, especially when I started to work with Brian and Tracey, I started to love skating. I put my soul into skating, doing performance. Maybe because of this it started [being] a little bit more difficult to concentrate on jumps,” she said.
Tutberidze, who has coached several world and Olympic champions, reacted angrily to Medvedeva’s departure. She said publicly that the skater had asked her to hold Alina Zagitova at junior level for one more year to allow her to win at the Winter Games.
Medvedeva denied Tutberidze’s accusation, stressing that her decision to quit was motivated by her desire to develop.
The skater said that she had chosen between two options – to quit or to continue skating – and that she had preferred to stay in the sport, but with another coach whom she calls a “friend.”
Another Russian talent, Alexandra Trusova, left Tutberidze’s camp earlier this month, citing lack of attention as the main reason for her move.
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