I guess i had to post the interview here but is still not to late
Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski"It is one thing to skate together and another -to live together "And the translation
In the lobby of “Ice age” are whispering rumors that Albena and Maxim's wedding will happened soon .We decided to hear the story of their love straight from their mouth.
The skaters said that they got together by a chance. Albena Denkova and the Russian Maxim Stavisky saw each other at the airport “Sheremetievo-2” 12 years ago in a very cross-roads moment. Before Albena skated with another skater but after they competed not very successfully at some international competitions she decided to try her luck with another partner .She had searched for a whole year before she got an invitation for professional meeting with Maxim.
“Before I met Albena I was competing for Russia as a junior -said Maxim.-There was a moment when because of the age barrier I could not compete any more on junior level and I was looking for a new partner. Everything was solved by a chance :Elena Tchaikovskaya met a Bulgarian judge and after a short conversation ,they decided to connect us. Later my mother went on business trip to Bulgaria and called Albena: ”Please come to Moscow ,my son wants to meet you”
“The first impression was wrong" “
“It was a chance for me-continued Albena-Maxim was among the ten best junior skaters. When I was watching a videos of his performances ,I was very impressed .While i was prepearing myself to go to Moscow I was picturing him as a star and was extremely worried. ”How he is going to accept me”. And there I was ,coming out of the airplane ,going to the waiting room and what I saw was :just a simple boy in a sport outfit .
Albena: I was a little disappointed and kept thinking :I don’t need anything I just want to go home and that’s it. But since I was in Russia to search for a partner I decided :OK let see and try.
Maxim : Actually I am not a very advantageous partner. With my height I should skate with a shorter partner. Let Albena tell us about her first impression but to be honest I wasn’t trilled myself either.
Albena: When I got a chance to know Maxim closer I understood that my first judgment was wrong. Maxim’s family gave me a very warm welcome, and he turned out to be a wonderful partner and a person, something I never dreamed about.
“Everything is going to be fine with us"Q.-Maxim and you left everything and went to train in Bulgaria?
A.-I have to admit ,I didn’t want to because in Bulgaria at that time there were no traditions in this kind of sport .I didn’t have a burning desire to go. Imagine that there was only on skating rink in Sofia and not the very modern one. I decided to go ,I needed to change my life anyway and if nothing could have happened I had to look for another job/activity/.When I saw Albena’s ambition to work and desire to skate ,I understood that we are going to be fine. And we were indeed. After 5 months of training we competed at European Championship and became 17-th.Nobody expected this from Bulgaria .Ten years later we were World Champions.
“Accidents happened even with chess-players”Q.-Albena,is it true ,that when you spent to much time on the rink with someone ,you become so attached to that person so you start thinking : Actually, Why do I need to look for another life partner?
A. Maxim/ a little confused/ -Can I answer this one ,please. Of course, only a habit is not enough .
Albena-I was attracted by Maxim’s human quality .He is a gentleman, he treats me with care and attention. He is very opened, honest, funny , lighthearted ,he never has or gives you dark thoughts and always look with optimism at the life. My world un contrary is in darker colors ,I see things in a more complicated way .
Maxim-Yes ,we are opposite and maybe that’s why we are so attracted to each other. I am more light-minded .Our life is hard enough and if we dig deep in all problems ,we can lose our mind. Albena tries to tech me how to be more responsible, I on the other hand try to relax her. During competitions I am the one who is less nervous , but of course, for 12 years we manage to adjust .
Q.-Did you decided right away to get together or at first you were looking at each other?
Maxim-We were observing each other for 2-3 years ,no less.
Q.-Albena , what will happen ,if he fail to catch you .?Is that going to affect you personal relation?
Albena-It happens very seldom. Max always try to be under me so I won‘t get hurt. Anyway, if you are afraid of wolves-you won’t go in the forest.
Maxim-Well ,even if we fall, is not that high .It is not the worst thing that can happen, is more dangerous to get hurt by the skate or the blade. One time at a competition ,Albena was sliced by accident and was in a cast for a long time.
Albena-This is the sport .It teaches us how to deal with difficulties.
Maxim-Accidents happen even to a chess-players .I remember a case when a chess-player was sitting on a chair but his arms slipped and he was rushed to the hospital to “repair” his meniscus. When you are ready to risk you can achieve your best goals.
“They wrote that we secretly got married ,somewhere in Spain “-It was observed that people who skate in pairs , sooner or later got married to each other
Maxim-It is a wrong opinion. We don’t have many married couples in figure skating .
Albena - It is one thing to skate with someone and another to live together. Sometimes is very hard to live with a person that is your skating partner.
Maxim-Well, yes , it is possible to argue over an certain element and when you live with that person , sometimes you bring this argument at home. When you are just skating partners, you are going home to rest and coming back .With us sometimes the arguments continue in the car or at home.
- No matter what in “Ice Age “ very often people are talking about you wedding.
Albena-In Bulgaria the journalists were asking us the same question for four years.
Maxim-Few years ago they even wrote that we got secretly married somewhere in Spain . My parents called me :”Well, why didn’t you at least let us know?” I had to explain them that there was no wedding or even any plans. We have lived together for a long time but with our working schedule we still don’t have a chance to accomplish such a global project. Wedding is an event that you have to remember for the rest of your life. We didn’t want to do this in a hurry between competitions .
Albena-Yes, there is a time for everything.
Maxim-I of course would marry Albena with a pleasure and as a matter of fact I asked her several times but for now we did not discuss this seriously. Right now we are in a difficult period of our life and that’s why we don’t want to think about it.
“I always get the smiling partners “
Q..-Have you asked yourself what would you do when you stop skating?
Maxim-No, we live day by day. Meanwhile ,I had an offer from Sasha Zhulin to train some of his pairs-four senior and one junior. I take ithis job very seriously and to work with him is a pleasure .But in this sport is very hard to make plans in advance even for a month.
Albena-We live more in short periods. Right now is “Ice Age” - shooting episodes ,resting , then a week work.
Q.-Albena , last year you were participating by yourself in “Ice Age” and this year you decided to bring Maxim along .How did you like teaching actors to skate?
Albena-Actually, Maxim was assigned to participate last year but under the circumstances he wasn’t able to come to Moscow .I am very happy that now we are in it together .This show is like a grasp of fresh air for us. Here you need to be more artistic than you are in sport, we constantly change programs ,it’s amazing. Not to mention , that I get the smiling partners. Last year Igor Vernik , this year -Timur Rodriguez.
Maxim-Oh, yes .Timur is a man who never cries. For two weeks he learned as much as I did for a year when I started .
Q.-Albena, how your smiling partners could capture you?
Albena- It is interesting to teach them. Sometimes we have to secure them, hold them, but they compensate their inability to skate with so much artistry. We also can learn a lot from them even though we have already done this.
Q.-Maxim ,how did you manage to charm Tatiana Arntgolts ,who at that time was training with Alexey Yagudin , and she became your partner?
Maxim- At the end of June when everything was at the beginning, I approached Ilia Averbukh and asked him :” Ilyush ,who is going to be my partner in the project?” And he answered :”Tania Arntgolts I small, she is just for you.” I went on Internet ,look for pictures but then Ilia called me and said :”You know ,Lesha Yagudin is not very tall either so we are going to assigned Tania with him and for you we are going to invite her sister” .I skated for a while with Olga but unfortunately ,she has other movie projects and she couldn’t continue .Lesha ,on the other hand ,was busy in theater and he couldn’t train enough with Tania .She was getting upset and one day Ilia called me and said ; “ Ok, this is it ,you are going to skate with Tania and we are going to give Alexey another partner.”
Q.-You are participating, for second year in the row, in the award ceremony “ Crystal Ice” .This year Ilia Averbukh and FFS are going to held the event is on October 4,2008 at ’Louzhniki” . What is your opinion about this project?
Albena-This is like an “Oscar” for skaters .For now we are only skating at the ceremony but I hope one day we could receive one of the awards. After skaters are done with their career only a few people remember them and I think is great that thanks to “Crystal Ice” they are getting awarded for their contribution for figure skating.
Masha Maximova
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Wed 1 Oct - 21:38