O: Zhenya, why, do you think, the National Championship was the only event you won this year?

Evgeny: Downfalls do happen to athletes. It’s hard to keep winning all the time even if you really want it and everything seems to be in your favor. This season didn’t go well from the very beginning – our first free program wasn’t accepted well by judges and we had to redo it completely. Meanwhile I had to deal with injuries and illnesses that kept bothering me. The inflammation of the tendon forced me to withdraw from Worlds in Japan.

Q: Since the time Alexei Yagudin got a psychologist, Rudolf Zaiganov, by his side ,there are a lot of talks of Zaiganov’s “harmful influence” on you.

Evgeny: I don’t think so. Unlike journalists or fans I don’t think about that. I believe in myself. I just didn’t happen to win. Why should I blame somebody on it or look for it's cause  in others?

Q: Are you thinking about getting a psychologist yourself?

Evgeny: I am fine. If Yagudin needs a psychologist - it’s his business.  I don’t need one!

Q: But then how would you explain your fall on jump combination in  SP at the Olympics? Did you get too nervous?

Evgeny: No, I wasn’t any more nervous then usually. I’ve tried not to think about being at Olympics. But after the third rotation it seemed to me that it’s time to open up and then it all went wrong. Later I thought a lot about that. I still don’t get it – it’s like someone put a spell on me.

Q: Right now your and Yagudin’s dominance in men's field is obvious but what about tomorrow? Are any other skaters able to reach you?

Evgeny: All of them! Practically anyone! In sports you can’t get  relaxed or “fall asleep.”

Q: Now when the season is over, what’s in your plans?

Evgeny: First of all, I want my injury  heal. Then I am going to skate on tour in America.

Q: What about  a shot  for prestige at Yagudin’s goal?

Evgeny: My coach, Alexei Mishin, and I have already begun working on new programs. As I already said, you can’t let yourself  “ fell asleep” in sports.

Q: Do you get into character when performing in ice? 

Evgeny: Of course, I do! This year I had a short program on Michel Jackson music. The first part is lyrical, the other is a fast one.  The lyrical was OK but in a fast… It just didn’t go well…. I have to be playful, and for some reason that didn't work. We invited choreographes, but then I decided to do everything myself, and did. As for Carmen all we had to do is turn on the music and I knew what to do. 

Q: What, in your opinion, makes a program memorable?

Evgeny: Last year Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze’s “Charlie Chaplin” program was an ideal one. But the judges said to them: “You aren’t at  theatre. It’s a competition.” They wanted to make a breakthrough in pair skating but weren’t understood.

Q: Berezhnaya/ Sikharulidze have decided to take a break from amateur sport. Do you think about turning pro?

Evgeny: I’ll stay eligible. I’m 19 years old and feel strong enough to skate and win the Worlds and Olympics. I also have a personal goal - to learn new quads and, perhaps, make history with landing a quad lutz. 

Q: Maybe some  element named after you?

Evgeny: I already do something like this. The 4-3-3 combination, for example. Or Biellmann spin. No other male skater does it. It’s not as simple as it seems.

Q: How did it happen that you learned a lady’s spin?

Evgeny: Once in Volgograd my mom saw a girl doing this spin and asked if I could try that. I was able to do it a week later. 

Q: How do you handle the fame?

Evgeny: Figure skating is now en vogue in Russia. Up to 18000 spectators come to watch competitions in St. Petersburg meanwhile the exhibitions always get a full house. People now recognize me on the streets. I like it. They often say something nice to me but it also happens to hear some other things. At Russian Nationals, for example, a man from the audience yelled to me:” Plushenko, you worse than Yagudin anyway!” I said him back: “If you like Yagudin it’s fine by me. Someone else, maybe, like Plushenko.” The most interesting that later he asked me for an autograph. 

Q: And?

Evgeny: I signed it. I can’t divide the fans into “good” and “bad” ones. 

Q: Does it mean you don’t have “star fever”?

Evgeny: This expression just kills me. Sometimes in Yubileiny you walk after practice feeling so tired that can’t notice anybody around. Just because there’s no strength left…  And not even on the next day but next hour the talks like “That’s it! Plushenko became conceited” already begin.

Q: Do you try to prove that’s not true?

Evgeny: Not actually. Only those who don’t like me can say so. My friends know the real me.

Q: Why do you avoid journalists? Yagudin, on the contrary, loves doing interviews.

Evgeny: There were situations when a reporter came to me saying something like: 
“Zhenya, you are a great guy, you show such a class on ice. Would you give me an interview?” We begin talking. But later in a newspaper I find out a story about how Plushenko ran away from him, Plushenko is this and that and so on. Or they come to talk to me at home and then turn it all into something negative.  That’s why I don’t talk much to reporters. What they write about me is just not true. Not all of them, of course.  There are the decent ones but some are real sellouts. After all, I am not aiming to become a champion in talking, it’s more important for me to be remembered as a good athlete.

Q: What other sports, besides skating, you are interested in?

Evgeny: I’d like to learn alpine skiing.  Other then that, it’s tennis, soccer, going to a shooting range. I adore fishing. At my spare time I go to discotheques but don’t dance there. I like to watch people.

Q: What would you like to do after you end your career in sport?

Evgeny: To continue my education. I’m interested in history.

Q: Have you ever given a thought on your own ice show?

Evgeny: It would be fun but it needs sponsors and takes a lot of time. I wouldn't be able to handle it by myself.