Transcripts

"A Couple On The Ice" Petrova/Tikhonov NHK documentary

The following transcript and images are from eight minutes of an hour-long documentary on Maria Petrova and Aleksei Tikhonov that aired on the Japanese network NHK. Elena and Anton are practicing in St. Petersburg just prior to leaving for Trophée Lalique in mid-November, 2001. Thanks to Yuka for this translation!

Elena/Anton is one of the top three pairs in the world. Their performance improved so much after they took the silver medal in Nagano. They skate as close as possible so that they can create the unity of their skating. Their movement is so elegant and graceful on the ice.

Moskvina (saying to Elena/Anton as they are making their final spin): Go to the center...Don't rush. Take your time. Good, good, good. It is getting there.

The coach Moskvina has been coaching them and they make any kinds of movements, even little movements together.

Moskvina: For the jump, you have to make sure your takeoff as the same energy, the same direction, and the same movement with your partner so that you can make the perfect unison, and the performance can get really high quality. A good artistic expression is created in this way.

(Narrator explains Elena's accident) Three months later after her accident, Elena returned to the ice.

Elena: When I returned to the ice there was no word like "win" or "compete" in my mind. I just wanted to skate because I really love to skate.

Anton was the one who came to Elena after her accident. That was right after his split with Masha.

Anton: We just started to skate together rather than we think of it as sport because I thought I can do something for Elena. I wasn't sure that she would skate like before or not, but I tried to do my best for Elena and we worked hard.

It was just two years after her accident when they won their silver medal at Nagano. It was a miracle comeback for Elena. (Narrator explains Anton's arm injury from earlier this season) It has been six years since they started to skate together. There were many hard times, but they have broken through those hard times.

Anton: In practice, I sometimes get very emotional and I feel many ups and downs. It is just four hours for a day, but it is very tense and it brings me a lot of different kinds of emotions.

Elena: It is difficult to explain our relationship. In this world... I think love exists in many different ways... let us put this topic aside, right now... Our relationship is something between family and non-family.

They have learned to be able to sense each other's movement by just listening without looking at each other. For the side-by-side jump, they are also challenging to be close as possible.

Moskvina: Anton, Elena, you couldn't skate well this time? Elena, your takeoff wasn't enough. Also, the direction was off a little bit.

They were too close this time so that when Anton tried to avoid Elena, it caused them to break their unison. They are skating like a magnet. They also will be at Cup of Russia.

Moskvina: There is nobody as rival for Elena and Anton except themselves. Fighting for yourself is the most important thing. Masha and Alyosha could manage good skating. However, there is something missing with their skating. Something like... secret ingredient.