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Post by nike2010 on Dec 12, 2009 15:13:26 GMT 1
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Post by leana on Dec 17, 2009 11:05:02 GMT 1
freefall, at your request: www.lematin.ch/sports/divers/stephane-lambiel-sens-enrichi-subis-204175Stéphane Lambiel: «Yes, I feel enriched through suffering» Last week-end in Lugano Stéphane Lambiel won his 9th national title in figure skating. It’s been months now that he has to compose with his deficient health. The man shines though. In pain, he grows more in stature J acques Wullschleger – December, 14’09, 21h55 Le Matin -Stéphane, you have come back, but the pain is still there, notably in adductors and it’s permanent. In fact, you have just applied on top a huge ice pocket. -Yes. It’s for soothing the sore place. I also felt pain in hamstrings – thigh muscles enabling to bend knee. And in the left haunch. This problem affects the entire pelvis. When I compensate for that, the pain goes over to the right. -The other day you spoke about an incredible experience to live… -It’s true. It may seem incomprehensible, but it’s true! In order for it to function, in order to withstand it, there’s a route to embark upon, a need to re-discover my body and find solutions due to or caused by this injury. My trainers, physiotherapists, my team and I work at it so that a dream came true. We do all we can to ensure it went well. Anyway, we try our best. I don’t want to regret it later. As I said: regardless of a medal at the Olympics in Vancouver, it’s important to find the route. I am living through an experience that enriches me. It will do me good for my future life. -Now, looking back and taking into account what you are going through, do you still think you took the right decision of coming back to the competition? -Of course! My health condition improved, though somewhat deteriorated again due to my training loads. I focus heavily on recuperation. After each training session I take numerous treatments; physiotherapy, application of ice, stretching, osteopathy. I am under control since last summer. A ritual is installed. If I want to withstand the loads, I must stick to it until the Olympics. -Your suffering seems to enrich you -Yes, it enriches me as a person. Building a dream around an injury is great. You learn to get to know your anatomy and how it all functions. You learn to soothe this or that muscle so that it doesn’t make you suffer too much. It’s wonderful. -Do you train much harder now than before? -Before, I didn’t pose questions to myself. Now, I evade quantity. I privilege quality. Now, given the circumstances, I know myself better, I think about what to do. There are many checks to be done. Today I concede that everything cannot always be perfect. If something doesn’t work this way, there’s a need to find another way, other solutions to ensure it functions. There are always new things to learn. The knowledge of figure skating helps me enormously. -Did you return to competitions because you were lacking them? -I like stress. It’s always around. It has never left me. In show, it is omnipresent. It is part and parcel of performance you make in front of the judges, in front of the public. It’s like anxiety. I have it all the time, and I will have it till the end of my life as a skater. -Where do you normally go looking for motivation? -I don’t go around looking for it. It comes natural, because I have a passion for figure skating. I am in my element and I am free. I’m privileged because I have a chance to live it from inside to the max. And then, people from the entire world encouraged me. They encourage me and it continues. -When announcing your comeback (in July), you declared: I don’t come back to be 4th. Is it still relevant? -Do you know anyone who came back saying something different? (He smiles.) I don’t! -Your adversaries – the Americans and the Japanese – whom you will join at the Olympic Games, have scores superior to yours, even superior to the one you received in Lugano, and it was excellent (244,23 points). Do you find it annoying? -Absolutely Not. We can’t compare performances from different competitions. Every time there are different judges. Different are also skaters’ performances. The shape varies. One performance never resembles another one. The venues are not the same. Hence, I smile when I hear that X or Y got a superior score. If it’s one competition, then it’s possible to say that X did better than Y. Otherwise it’s incomparable. -Is it true that in view of the Euros in Tallinn (January) and the OG in Vancouver (February), you are going to present a new long programme (other than Astor Piazzolla’s tango)? -Nothing is definite yet. The work is going on. It advances gradually. I train it without jumps. It may or may not work out. I will make up my mind after Christmas. At the moment, the tango is still there. -Isn’t it in your temperament to work new music, new choreography in the course of the season? -I like to have more than one tour in my bag. It enables me to bring out my potential, to get enriched. A programme, even if presented 20 times, remains a spectacle, as there’s something new about it all the time. There always emerges an element of improvising, also when mounting a programme. I may skate it 100 times at my training sessions, yet at another contact with it, when skating, I find new energy, and new vibrations. -Besides figure skating, what is it that makes you happy? -Plenty of small things. I love to feed ducks at the lakeside. I love to make Х-mas biscuits, to cook; everything turns around food. When I cook, there’s a delirious atmosphere in the kitchen. ( He laughs.) The other day I made a carrot cake with Kirsch-flavoured syrup. Sublime! My mother didn’t want me to eat it, yet I took two pieces. -What will you be doing after the Olympic Games - in principle, your last competition? -Shows - always. And then I would like to work with children, encourage them to get to know figure skating, which is a beautiful kind of sport, where you can bring out your potential, express yourself in movements, listen to the music, and get moving. On the ice you are free. And the freedom is magnificent. -In March (on the 8th and the on 9th in Lausanne), your name will be on the Art on Ice posters… -For me it has always been one of the most intense moments in a season, representing an opportunity to perform in Switzerland. I will be happy to come back home, to my country, after the Olympics in Vancouver.
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Post by nike2010 on Dec 18, 2009 13:32:53 GMT 1
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Post by Nadin on Dec 18, 2009 14:49:08 GMT 1
Thanks so much leana
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Post by freefall on Dec 18, 2009 19:05:45 GMT 1
Greatest thanks for the translation of the interview, leana Now it's my turn 2009-12-14 Sportlounge with Stephane in Studio Part 1 - without other guests, the first 9 minutes Voice off screen: Sportlounge with Steffi Buchli Steffi Buchli: Good evening! Good evening! Good evening! Welcome to Sportlounge! The best Swiss figure skater Stephane Lambiel has come back to competition with a big goal – he wants to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games 2010 in Vancouver. And the first step in this direction was taken by him last weekend at the Swiss National Championships in Lugano. Fluff about Swiss Nationals: Voice off screen while showing Otono Porteno: he is back with the 9th Swiss National title – Lambiel the Artist, a virtuoso on the ice who likes doing spins and giving himself completely to his passion, to his art Voice off screen while showing Four Seasons in Torino: Lambiel the Athlete, Olympic silver medalist and two time World Champion He has always been torn in between sport and art. (showing Otono Porteno at Art on Ice 2009) In 2008 he retired from the competitive sport due to injury and skated only in shows where he could show his art without having to execute difficult elements, without being limited by the rules of the competitive sport. (showing Otono Porteno at Swiss Nationals 2009) But Lambiel missed something – now he is coming back to competitions with a big goal – the Olympic gold medal in Vancouver. To achieve this goal Lambiel has to do his best – both artistically and technically. Probably he has to pay more attention to his technique – even at the cost of his art. Can he hold it all together – art and sport? If yes, he will fascinate the audience in Vancouver as well. Steffi Buchli (Stephane is entering the studio): Please give a warm welcome to the former and reigning Swiss National Champion – Stephane Lambiel! Stephane (shaking her hand): Bonsoir! Steffi Buchli: Good evening! standing ovation for StephaneStephane (greeting the audience): Hallo! Steffi Buchli: Standing ovation for you! Stephane mumbling something in returnSteffi Buchli: Shall we sit down? Stephane: Yeah They sit downSteffi Buchli: A standing ovation from young fans to your 9th Swiss National title. Are you pleased with this weekend? Stephane: It was a wonderful weekend! These Swiss Nationals were amazing! Maybe it was the last time I could defend my National title. Steffi Buchli: That’s what you’ve just made – defended your title! Stephane: Yeah. This season is very special for me. This road to Vancouver is my dream and I am fulfilling it now. We have been doing everything we can for me to be able to win the gold medal in Vancouver. I am lucky to have my wonderful team with me – they work very hard for me and I’d like to thank them for it. Steffi Buchli: So for you it’s now clear that you will retire after this season ends? Stephane: I don’t have any plans for the time “after Vancouver”. Now my goal, my dream is Vancouver, and after that – we will see how it goes. But I have to say that my health is now very-very important, I have to remain healthy until Vancouver and after it. I have to listen to my body. Steffi Buchli: We read in the papers that you are in pain. How are you doing now? Stephane: I am still in pain. I have been living with this pain for two years already. But figure skating is my life, I can’t live without it and… And I think I still have something to show – and I would like to show it in Vancouver. Steffi Buchli: For us to try to imagine it at least a bit – can you practice spins or jumps when you are in pain or it’s difficult? Stephane: I think I still can practice because I do very much physiotherapy, and we – I and my physical trainer - plan all my practices very well for me not to do too much and to still be able to work on my jumps on the ice. It’s more difficult with the spins, because they last longer – about 20-25 seconds, and as I don’t want to make my pain worse I almost don’t do spins in practices now. Steffi Buchli: So while you are doing a spin it hurts all the time, the whole 20 seconds? Stephane: Exactly. I think it hurts all the time because there is some pressure in the body during the spin. When I do a spin I have to hold my body very tight to… (Steffi Buchli helps to find the right word) to be able to make the rotation. So I can’t just stay relaxed during the spin, and my adductors strain and hurt, and that’s the problem. Steffi Buchli: About this adductor problem: can you please compare your condition before your retirement with your condition today? Is it better now? Stephane: I feel much better now because I spend more time doing physiotherapy than practicing, and it helps. And I think I am now in the situation when I know that I have 2 more months to practice, to get ready… Yeah, it’s an adventure for me, I don’t really know where I am going but I know what I want and why I am here. Steffi Buchli: The technical elements which you have to show in your program are a big challenge. What do you still have to work on leading to Vancouver? Stephane: I know that in Lugano not everything was perfect. I was pleased with my both programs, but I know exactly what I still have to work on. For example my landings on the jumps weren’t clean, and I have to work on the confidence in the jumps – I have to execute every jump in my practice with confidence, with the right feelings in my body. Steffi Buchli: to picture these right feelings in the jump in your mind, so to say Stephane: Yeah, so it can be done automatically then. Now I still can’t feel, think like this – I couldn’t do it in Lugano, but I have one more month before the Europeans in Tallinn, and I will use this time to get this confidence in the jumps, so I can do them automatically. Steffi Buchli: How much patience does it take to train in this situation when you feel “I’d like to do more but I can’t because it hurts”? Stephane (smiling): Yeah, I think I’ve learned a lot of patience this year. I have never been patient in my life and now when I am 24 I think I begin to learn to be patient. Steffi Buchli: With all the difficult elements you have to execute in your program do you think you still have some room for expressing your artistry? Stephane: Yes, it’s clear that in figure skating we have to execute some difficult technical elements, but there is another side in this sport – the side which fascinated me when I was a 7-year-old child – the artistry, the expression. Now it’s difficult to execute all the technical elements and also to express something in you program, to show your feelings, but I think when you skate from with your heart it’s possible. To be continued...
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Post by sigrid on Dec 18, 2009 19:31:13 GMT 1
thanks a lot freefall!!! it's a huge amount of work
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Post by dissim on Dec 18, 2009 21:13:13 GMT 1
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Post by freefall on Dec 18, 2009 22:04:50 GMT 1
2009-12-14 Sportlounge with Stephane in Studio Part 2 - 09.00-16.25
Steffi Buchli: Well, now I want to ask 2 more guests to join us. On the one hand you, Stephane, are an athlete, on the other hand – an artist. We’ve invited two people who can probably in the best way clarify this dilemma between sport and art.
Fluff about the guests[/u] Voice off screen: Figure skating expert Sepp Schoenmetzler, 2 time German National Champion and 4th at the Europeans – he know what Lambiel has to fight. Sepp Schoenmetzler: Since the new scoring system was put in place the harmony between sport and art disappears. And this is Lambiel’s problem. Voice off screen: also invited – Richard Wherlock, the director and main choreographer of the Basel ballet. He admires Lambiel’s ability to unite both art and technique in his programs. Richard Wherlock: It’s wonderful to see this union of art and technique in his skating. And I think that you must have both of it to become a champion. (showing Stephane’s LP in Lugano) Voice off screen: To unite art and technique – it sounds easier than it is.
Steffi Buchli: So now all the guests are here: Sepp Schoenmetzler and on the other side Richard Wherlock. Mister Wherlock, you were a ballet dancer yourself? Richard Wherlock: Curiously enough, yes. Steffi Buchli (laughing): “Curiously enough, yes”. Can you understand this dilemma between being an athlete and being an artist? Richard Wherlock: Absolutely. I mean as Stephane has already said I don’t know any sportsman or any artist who doesn’t ever feel pain practicing. Our body is imperfect but we try to create a perfection with it. And we have to pay for this perfection – it costs you your knees, your shoulders, your back, sometimes even your heart and of course it costs you a lot of work. Our body is our capital, and the capital is very important, it must be very well taken care of. But this is just technique, and there is more in there – art, interpretation, and interpretation is very important. That’s why hats off, Stephane, for what you do, because your skating is not just about technique. There is technique – 1, but there is also some real art in your programs! Stephane: Thank you Steffi Buchli: How much room has a sportsman in his program for showing artistry? Stephane told us a while ago that this room is getting smaller all the time. Sepp Schoenmetzler: I think the problem is that the spins and steps are generally underrated. And we can see it being reflected in the marks. The rules are that the athletes receive much higher marks for the jumps than for difficult, really wonderful spins he can do. I think that the spectrum of scoring standards which the judges have to use in competition is not complete enough to reward Stephane’s great spins. And it’s similar with the steps. When I e.g. watch him doing steps I see so much energy, intensity, expression, speed in it, I mean it’s so hard to do it that I could compare it with training jumps. But beside the fact that it’s hard it also requires flexibility. And this – considering all the aspects – takes very much energy, and after the steps you have to difficult jumps again, sometimes even at the end of your Free Skating, and it’s very-very hard. Richard Wherlock: And what’s important you also have to smile all the time! All laughing Sepp Schoenmetzler: Standing only on one foot! Richard Wherlock: It’s very important in this sport how you look! Sepp Schoenmetzler: I like comparing it with high jumping: a high jumper takes off from both feet, tosses himself above the bar and then lands on his back. A figure skater takes off from one foot and has to land balancing on a thin blade of his skate. So when we compare the 2m high failed high jump and the figure skating jumps we can see it’s almost the same. Plus: all these jumps are built in a program with music, choreography, emotions, with a certain character in it and so on. It’s a completely different category. Steffi Buchli: So the conclusion of what you’ve just said would be: Stephane Lambiel wastes too much energy between technical difficulties? Stephane (exhales smiling): I know. But when I do choreography I also gain energy which I need, which I then use for my jumps. For example, when I don’t do the choreography well in practice because I don’t have the wish to I can’t jump well either. I believe the choreography helps me to do the jumps, helps me to stay motivated through the program. When I do my choreography well I am completely in my program, and I can do it well to the end. But when I don’t do the choreography well, the jumps are not… (Steffi Buchli helps to find the right word) secure either. Richard Wherlock: I think it can be precious boring when you just train, train and train technical elements. There is also music in the program, you need to feel it, to feel the message it has in it, the impulse that it gives to you and to express it in your choreography. It’s important just as well as the rotation of the jumps. Steffi Buchli: The scoring system in figure skating isn’t a too pleasant thing? Are you glad that you don’t have anything like that in ballet? Richard Wherlock: I am very glad. But we also have some “judges” – journalists and critics, and also the audience, and I think Stephane will agree with me - you can fight hard on the stage but what really makes you strong is the feedback from your audience, because it’s something incredible, you can not buy it – these Bravos and so on, you feel that they really want you to be at your best, and this support is very important. Stephane: it’s true. And it’s especially difficult to have to… (Steffi Buchli helps to find the right word) please both audience and judges. It’s not easy. Richard Wherlock: And to please yourself as well. Stephane: Exactly. For example it’s difficult to find a music piece which all will like – I, the audience and also the judges. And as you said (nodding to Richard Wherlock) the music is very important.
To be continued tomorrow...
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Post by jessica1018 on Dec 19, 2009 4:20:16 GMT 1
Thank you lol freefall! lol You're my hero.
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Post by namiki on Dec 19, 2009 5:22:14 GMT 1
Thank you very much , leana and freefall digitus quintus , thank you for your offer
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Post by sha on Dec 19, 2009 9:04:40 GMT 1
wow! girls! thank you SO MUCH for translations!!!! I printed them both already and now I'll try to watch Sportlounge once again with "dictionary"
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Post by pia on Dec 19, 2009 12:33:20 GMT 1
It's a great work freefall! Thank you very much! thank you for french translation, leana!
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Post by freefall on Dec 19, 2009 13:53:09 GMT 1
2009-12-14 Sportlounge with Stephane in Studio Part 3- 16.25-24.05
Steffi Buchli: Well, in competition both technique and artistry are evaluated, and this system is quite complicated. We’ll try to make this process of judging more understandable for you on the example of the last Swiss Nationals.
Fluff about the scoring system Voice off screen: The symbiosis of sport and art is decomposed by the judges into components to be able to compare completely different skaters. When Lambiel skates two different teams work on the marks – the 3 experts of the technical panel and 7 judges. (showing Stephane jumping a quad in his LP in Lugano)When he executes an element - like e.g. here a quad – the technical panel decides what it was and then enters it on their computer in the list of the executed elements. For every jump, every spin, every step sequence you are given some points, for difficult ones – more, for simple ones – less. And to make it impossible for skaters to show their favorite elements x times in their programs to collect points there are some strict rules about which elements must be executed – both in short and long programs, and there is a very exact description of how every element must look to receive the high marks for it. If Lambiel wants to receive the highest marks for his spins he must change the position, feet or edges of his skates while spinning. When he spins one of the experts of the technical panel counts the rotations, another expert watches the changes of the edges and feet, and the third one follows the changes of the positions in the spin. Depending on what was shown they decide which level of difficulty it was. If the experts can’t see the element well from their seats and doubt something they can watch it again on the screen of their computer – every element is filmed and can afterwards be watched as many times as necessary. After it has been identified what was executed it’s time for the judging panel to evaluate how it was done and besides the artistic aspects of the performance.
Steffi Buchli: I once made myself familiar with this scoring system: everything is described very exactly there, all that is so complicated! How do you decide what to execute in your program? Stephane: It’s very complicated. Fortunately I’ve already got used to it at the moment, in the middle of the season, it’s natural for me now. But when I begin to work on a new program it’s very complicated to obey all the rules: you have to check if you change the edges often enough during the step sequences, you have to count the rotations in the spins, the music must be mixed in the right way – there must be found the balance between the slow part and the fast part of the program for you to have time to execute all the elements in the right order. I can’t explain everything because it would last until tomorrow All laughing Steffi Buchli: Do you have a book with the rules in your bag with you in practice? Stephane: I have all the rules in my head. For example, in Lugano I didn’t jump the second guad, I did only a triple, but if I hadn’t executed the first one I would have had the opportunity to try it once again in the 2nd part of the program. You always have in your head this pattern of possible changes in your programs. Steffi Buchli: So you always have some options in your head: if this doesn’t go well, I’ll do that? Stephane: Exactly. There are not many of these options but you can change your program a bit here and there. And during the program you have to think what to do next and what you are still allowed to do and what not. It's like an exam in Maths All laughing Sepp Schoenmetzler: And besides thinking what to do next you have to realize that the closer to the end of the program the more difficult it will be to execute a jump, so you can’t say: I still can do a quad in the last minute – it’s not that easy. Stephane: Yes, and in the new scoring system you get a 10% bonus added to the base value of the quad if you execute it in the 2nd half of your program. Steffi Buchli: Because the later in the program the more difficult it is to jump. Stephane: Exactly. It’s.. Sepp Schoenmetzler(helping him): It’s more risky. Stephane: Exactly. And this risk isn’t … How do you say in German says some words in French? Steffi Buchli(helping him): It’s valued now not as highly as it should be. When an athlete risks he can be even punished for this. Stephane: Exactly. I believe it’s a common tendency in figure skating nowadays: they appreciate a clean, but simple program more than a difficult one with quads and other difficult jumps, and I don’t think it’s good because in this situation skaters prefer to have less choreography and to take less risk in their programs. And I believe exactly these two things are very interesting in figure skating. As for me, I will risk at the Olympics: I want to land 2 quads in my long program and that’s what I have to do to win a medal there. Richard Wherlock: He’ll make it easily! All laughing Stephane: Yeah, easily! Very easily! Audience clapping Steffi Buchli: You see, Stephane Lambiel, the audience believes in you absolutely. Stephane laughing Steffi Buchli to Sepp Schoenmetzler: Do you think too that undervaluing the risk is a common tendency of this new system? Sepp Schoenmetzler: That’s what is being discussed among the top coaches - that this risk isn’t valued as it should be. For example if you jump a triple axel it’s a completely different level of marks than a double axel, it’s not that you just get some more points with every new rotation of this jump - there is not much of difference between a single and a double axel but there is a massive difference between a double and a triple axel. But when you risk a triple axel you also risk a fall, you can never be sure that you will land it. That's what I didn’t have in my time – in the sixties, when we had only double jumps – but these times are gone. Now the skaters have to take some risk trying difficult jumps. And the skaters think: should I risk? I’d rather do a good double axel, get positive grades of execution for it, and it will give me as many points as I would receive for a week triple axel. Richard Wherlock: That’s also important – to accept the modern tendencies, the new technical achievements. We also have something like that in ballet: for example when the Russians came to Europe (I think he means the Russian seasons of Dyagilev’s ballet in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century) and did spins with 5 rotations, everyone said “wow”, but nowadays if you can’t do 12-15 rotations you’ll be somewhere in a medium league. And there are also some tendencies in choreography, because everything has been changing, some development takes place all the time, and not only in technique but also in the choreography: the public is expecting more and more all the time – not just a spin on one foot, but a spin with your foot here, with you foot there, spin with the fingers in your nose (showing these “positions” with his hands, all laughing). The expectations of the audience are very high, and this makes us always try to invent something new in the choreography, not only in the technique.
To be continued...
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Post by meli on Dec 19, 2009 16:45:39 GMT 1
Thank you so much for translations girl
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Post by freefall on Dec 19, 2009 22:39:22 GMT 1
I found some more time for translating while my cake was being baked 2009-12-14 Sportlounge with Stephane in Studio Part 4 - 24.05-29.20Steffi Buchli: Well, Richard Wherlock has just mentioned the spins, so let’s talk more about it! The peculiarity of Stephane Lambiel’s spins is their speed. Some years ago Stephane did for us a spin with a camera in his hand and made some amazing video this way. Stephane smilingthe video from Oberstdorf summer camp 2005 playingStephane: And that was not fast at all! All laughing, the audience clappingSteffi Buchli: Stephane Lambiel is saying that it wasn’t a fast spin Stephane: Yeah, it was not fast at all. Richard Wherlock: It was half-speed All laughingStephane: Yeah Steffi Buchli: You had to slow down in order not to drop the camera Stephane: Exactly. Steffi Buchli: How do you manage not to feel dizzy while spinning? Stephane: I have been doing this since I was 7 – it’s for me like drinking water. All laughingRichard Wherlock: What would have happened if he had tried spinning in a supermarket? Everything would have flown around (showing it with his hands)All laughingSepp Schoenmetzler: The scientists have proved that everyone feels dizziness and even ice skaters can’t suppress it completely but they can control it better than other people. Steffi Buchli to Stephane: But you can easily do other elements after coming out of a spin – do you do anything special to stay that stable - like finding something to focus on during the spin? Stephane sighing: it’s automatic. But when I come back to practices after 3 weeks of vacation and try to spin I feel dizzy and can’t do a jump just after it. But if you practice it constantly it becomes automatic. Richard Wherlock: Talking about the spins we shouldn’t forget about the light. It can be very disturbing when there are many different lamps around the rink. But Stephane handles this perfectly too, and that’s fascinating! Sepp Schoenmetzler: And this is very hard! Comparing spinning on the ice with ballet spinning you can see that the spinning speed in skating in MUCH higher, a skater can not focus on any face, any thing because at that speed all he can see are some blurred lines, so the only thing he can use as a point of balance is the bar which surrounds the rink – he see this line during the spin and holds on to it to keep his balance. But what I consider as completely crazy is his fast stand-spin with his head thrown back. If some normal man tried to do it he would feel awfully dizzy. (Stephane laughing) Sepp Schoenmetzler to the spectators: Try one simple thing once simply standing on the floor: turn round the center of your own body four times in one second and then you’ll maybe understand how it is. Steffi Buchli: And besides the rules require to change positions while spinning and that makes it even more difficult. Sepp Schoenmetzler: And besides not everything what’s difficult looks beautiful. Steffi Buchli laughing And that’s the problem – there remains often not much room for aesthetics if you try to please the judges. My God! For example in pair skating or ice dancing the men sometimes carry their partners like bags with purchases all over the ice. (All laughing) It’s sometimes not beautiful at all but it’s difficult and can even cause an injury. Stephane: I understand Sepp Schoenmetzler: It’s actually not worth doing. Richard Wherlock: You make our life in ballet pretty hard with your spinning ability because all the spectators ask: why can’t you spin as fast as figure skaters do on the ice? All laughingSteffi Buchli: In ballet? Richard Wherlock: Yeah! Of course you try to explain: yeah, you know, it’s a bit more complicated. And you always have to develop yourself – both technically and artistically you have to show something more than was shown before. You plan to skate in Vancouver at the highest level you’ve ever skated, you want to surpass your best past results there, right, Stephane? We artists are always asking ourselves: am I good enough? can I make it? We always challenge ourselves. And to answer to these self-challenges we of course need to have a good team by our side to help us and to support us. Steffi Buchli: How many rotations in the spin have you ever achieved at most? Richard Wherlock: I? Today in the morning I did about 6 rotations Steffi Buchli: Today in the morning? tries asking him a question, but he doesn’t notice or doesn’t understand and keeps talkingRichard Wherlock: Yeah. It’s not so easy at my age just as well as some other things. (some people laughing) But you always have to practice; of course the practice must be organized according to your age: when you are younger you can do more, at my age – less and so on. To be continued tomorrow...
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