Alina Zagitova: “The goal is for figure skating in Tatarstan to reach the federal level”

Today, a figure skating school opened in Kazan. After the official ceremony, Olympic champion Alina Zagitova answered questions from journalists. She spoke about what lies behind the project, what her role in the school will be, and what directions will be developed there.

— Alina, what are your impressions of the facility?

— Very grand. There are still some nuances that need to be fine-tuned, but they are not significant. The most important thing is that I already trained yesterday, and the ice quality here is excellent. There is absolutely everything needed for athletes to improve their skills.

Yesterday, when I arrived and saw this center fully finished, honestly, I cried. I cried because so much effort was spent, so much time, and time is the most important thing in our lives. When I arrived and saw it in person, not just in pictures as before, of course, it was an overwhelming feeling of pride.

— Could you tell us about the school? When do you plan to launch it, how many students will there be, and who will coach?

— Currently, we have 26 coaching positions. Naturally, we will scale up because figure skating is not just about the ice; it also includes choreography, modern dance, and physical training. We will select athletes because not everyone will train here. Approximately 192 athletes, perhaps more, depending on the building's capacity.

Currently, legal issues related to the school are underway, that is, its registration and the approval of the staffing schedule, which my team and I compiled quite some time ago. So we are moving in the right direction, step by step.

— What will your role be in this school?

— Of course, I plan to visit Kazan much more often. At the moment, we have a fantastic coaching staff that is already showing good results. They just didn't have sufficient facilities; there wasn't enough ice. In principle, this is a basic issue for figure skaters because throughout our lives, for some reason, we have always been somewhat pushed aside by hockey players. Now there is a figure skating center, and we won't let anyone else in here, that's for sure.

The coaching staff will be expanded even further. I plan to bring in coaches from Moscow and St. Petersburg to train here. The main goal for me is for figure skating in Tatarstan to reach the federal level. So that athletes can grow here from a very young age all the way to the highest results and stay in Tatarstan, without leaving for other places.

— Do you plan to develop women's singles, pairs, or ice dance?

— Yes, they are in the plans, but actually, I would really like to see synchronized skating here as well, because it will already be an Olympic sport at the next Olympics. There was no such opportunity before. Boys' singles and girls' singles will also train here, and we'll see from there.

Let us recall that the school opened in the new figure skating center. The sports complex covers an area of over 6,000 square meters. For athletes, it is equipped with a gym, a warm-up hall, two choreography studios, a cardio zone, and a specialized hall for perfecting individual elements of performances.