Team we're fewer but still good!

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Skating Community Rallies for Ukraine
IFS Magazine
17 March 2022

 

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When asked if they had any update about the Team Event medal ceremony, Chock and Bates had no obvious interest in opining on that particular topic.

 

“I have been thinking about what is going on in Russia and Ukraine, but it has nothing to do with our situation,” Chock said. “What is happening right now is really devastating. I think about our Ukrainian friends who have just had the biggest highlight of their life (at the Olympics) and then they went home to a war in their country. It breaks my heart. It is hard to think about anything else. An Olympic medal seems like really not a big deal in light of all of that.”

 

“It (the war) puts things in perspective,” Bates added. “We have tried to keep in touch with our Ukrainian friends Sasha and Max who we trained with when we were in Michigan. We saw them in Beijing and had never seen them happier.

 

“And then we came home and in trading messages … it is difficult to comprehend and grapple with having a similar experience in Beijing, and then returning to such a different world and life experience. That has been hard for us to digest. It (the medal ceremony) is not of importance to us at this point.”

 

Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue are also friendly with the Ukrainian ice dance team. “We have not had the pleasure — at least myself — of training directly with them, but of course in the skating world you cross paths many times,” said Hubbell.

 

“I have not spoken with them directly but what I heard through the grapevine was that they were finally given permission to leave and they are now safely out of Ukraine and in Poland. I did not speak to them personally but I heard there is a possibility they could attend the World Championships.

 

“I was speaking with Gabriella (Papadakis). I know she is trying to urge them – if at all possible to come and participate at Worlds, even if they do not feel that they are competitive.

 

“Gabriella is definitely doing her part in not only reaching out to them, but also asking all of us at the rink if we would be willing or able to bring supplies to them if they need something. I know they left very abruptly so I can only hope that we see them and surround them with a loving community. What is happening is, in general, just horrible to watch.”

 

Canadian music guru Hugo Chouinard was sitting at his desk one morning earlier this week, wondering what he could do to help. While watching the situation in Ukraine unfold on a TV screen in his Montréal studio, Chouinard decided to reach out to the athletes, coaches and the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation to see if there was anything he could do to help the skaters’ with their music. Nazarova and Nikitin took Chouinard up on his offer.

 

“I was feeling that I had to do something and wondered what I could do for them. Having never worked with any of the skaters before, I reached out on Instagram on Tuesday and told them that if I can do anything to support or to enhance your music before Worlds, it would be a great pleasure to help,” Chouinard explained.

 

“Oleksandra (Nazarova) responded, thanking me for the support and asked if I could take the music for the rhythm dance and change it ‘because we do not want to skate to happy music.’ They want the music of their program to express what they are living through. So, I immediately responded, ‘yes, I will do this for you.’”

 

On Wednesday morning, Nazarova sent Chouinard a video of the new music they want to use for the rhythm dance. Chouinard said he dropped everything to work solely on this project. “We quickly started to match the tempo, the elements, rephrasing the music — to match everything in the structure of the program they currently have to the new music. Everything fit like a glove for the choreography, so they had nothing to change in the program.

 

“I sent them a version at about one in the morning on Thursday and we are now refining everything.

 

“Just working on this and watching the videos and images we are working with, I had tears in my eyes while editing. It is really moving. This program has a meaning that is so deep, so real. It’s life. It is what these people are living and what they want to express to the world.

 

“I feel that this is the most significant program I have made in 30 years.”

 

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Oleksandra's and Maksym's latest Instagram stories 

 

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Severin Kiefer's Instagram stories:

 

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Interview with Oleksandra and Maksym with English subtitles:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbXWz6fljQa/

 

Interview with Maksym:

"Ми боремося за свої життя". Український фігурист Нікітін - про війну та майже зруйнований Харків
Suspilne
21 March 2022

 

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"We are fighting for our lives." Ukrainian figure skater Nikitin - about the war and almost destroyed Kharkiv

 

The athlete found himself in one of the hottest spots of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

 

Maksym Nikitin and Oleksandra Nazarova are a duo that represented Ukraine at the 2022 Olympic Games in ice dancing. On February 14, the Ukrainian tandem performed at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, and in 10 days a full-scale war began in Ukraine after the Russian attack with the support of Belarus.

 

In an interview with Public Sports, Nikitin admitted that despite the alarming news, he and his partner hoped to the last that the invasion would not happen. However, on February 24, at 5 o'clock in the morning, a number of Ukrainian cities began to be bombed. Nikitin and Nazarova live and train in Kharkiv, which is currently under constant fire from Russian troops.

 

"On Wednesday, February 23, life was going smoothly, everything was perfectly normal for us. But even then there were very disturbing reports in the news. The next day there were explosions in Kharkiv. And the first thing they said was, "We were attacked," said the Ukrainian figure skater.

 

That morning, Maxim immediately began to collect the most important things, money and documents. He later contacted all relatives and friends and discussed an action plan for various cases. In particular, if the connection in Kharkiv disappears. Also, according to the athlete, together with friends, they immediately began to prepare shelter: they brought there enough water, warm clothes, arranged sleeping places, because it was unclear how long the war could last.

 

"I know a lot of people who didn't want to and weren't going to go. But then they just drove forward, not even having a place to stop. For example, Sasha, my partner, had a shell fly into a house next door. She lived right in the center. I think you saw what was happening there. The decision to leave was made in 10 minutes," Nikitin said.

 

During the 24 days of the war in Kharkiv, air strikes were heard 134 times, the city and the region are constantly attacked by the Russian occupiers, according to Public Kharkiv. The Ukrainian figure skater admitted that people are already somewhat accustomed to the danger in which they live every day.

 

"Recently I had to go to the store, and I noticed that when shots are heard, few people pay attention to it. I do not mean that people are negligent. I'm saying that now no one looks back too much. he goes to the shelter once and for all, ”says the athlete.

During the day, Maxim tries to keep in touch with friends and relatives. In particular, he has a chat with the coach and his group of skaters. Every day everyone tells how they are doing, whether they are healthy and just in case they indicate their location.

 

At the same time, the Ukrainian part of the coaching staff of Nikitin and Nazarova did not contact the wards. The skaters have long collaborated with Russian experts, including Olympic medalist and world champion Alexander Zhulin. At the time of the interview, on the 14th day of the full-scale war, none of the four Russian staff members had contacted Ukrainian athletes.

 

"Of course, we didn't get in touch personally - we had something to do. But no one on the other side was interested in how we were doing, whether we were alive or healthy. Absolutely nothing that, to be honest, was surprising. as now we will receive a lot of messages. We really had a lot in common before, they did a lot for us professionally. But we did not receive any messages, there was no contact from the coaching staff. They have there [in Russian] now another problem is that Instagram is blocked, "Nikitin said.

 

At the same time, other foreign colleagues actively support the Ukrainian duo - they write from Europe, Canada and the United States, offer shelter, financial and humanitarian aid, and support morally. Maxim admitted that even those with whom he had never even communicated wrote. At the same time, in an interview with the Russian edition of Sport24, Zhulin called for the lifting of sanctions against Russian figure skaters, calling them "a complete violation of the rights of athletes."

 

"I roughly understand his mood, but I haven't read his recent interviews, so I can't comment on those words. There will be no Russian or Belarusian athletes at the World Cup. To be honest, on the one hand, if I were an athlete from the Czech Republic or any other -any other European country that is not at war, I would say: “What are athletes for?” But in our case, I think this is the right decision.

 

I support these restrictions. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared war on us and ordered us to attack Ukraine. But this man was chosen "on paper" by the entire Russian people. Many schools, civilian houses, municipal and historical buildings were bombed in Kharkiv. We have a very beautiful city, its center. Now it is almost gone. This is fascism. At present, all Russian citizens are to blame for what is happening. I'm not saying that some athletes stand and shoot at us - no. But I think it's fair to punish them now so that people in Russia understand that the whole world doesn't agree. The whole world says that this is not possible," the Ukrainian athlete stressed.

 

While there is a full-scale war in Ukraine, most Ukrainian cities do not have sports facilities, and athletes, in turn, do not think about how to keep fit, but how to save themselves and their loved ones from death. Of course, this also affected figure skating - skating rinks do not work, and, for example, in Mariupol, the ice center has been almost destroyed. The skater noted that it is difficult to think about sports in general now:

 

"The whole focus is on the events in Ukraine, because now the question of survival is very acute. What kind of sports career? Everything is closed, we have rockets flying over our heads, explosions, the city is destroyed. "Sport. Unfortunately, the time is not right now. These are not loud words, but we are really fighting for our lives."

 

According to Nikitin, his maternal relatives stayed in Mariupol. They have to be constantly in shelters, living without light and gas. However, there is a connection with the city. In particular, before the interview, he managed to talk to them, but the conversation ended quickly - the athlete's relatives had to flee to the bomb shelter, because the escalation of hostilities began again. "In such cases, sport takes a back seat," says Nikitin.

 

The World Figure Skating Championships are to take place in Montpellier, France at the end of March. However, the participation of Ukrainians was questionable, as it was difficult to take athletes abroad due to hostilities. At the same time, some Ukrainians even refused to go to competitions because they wanted to stay at home with their relatives. Maxim found himself in a similar situation. But the dance duo still decided to perform at the world championships. So Nikitin and his partner went to Poland and resumed training.

 

"We have been thinking for a long time about the timing of our speech. The main factor in making this decision was that we have to show and tell about the events taking place in our country. It is no longer politics, it is genocide, it is murder, it is destruction. peaceful cities. I believe that these are war crimes. Many people have not seen it, or watched it on television or on the Internet. And we have seen it all with our own eyes, "the skater explained.

 

The dancing couple currently lives in the Polish city of Torun, where they train at the Axel Club. In a few days, Maxim and Alexandra will leave for Montpellier, where the World Cup will begin on March 21. The competition of dancing couples will take place on March 26 and 27.

 

"Of course, the war will end only with our victory. And it will be a worthy victory of our military, politicians and citizens of Ukraine, who came out with their bare hands against military equipment. I think no one doubts or hopes for anything else. It's a matter of time." said Maxim at last.

 

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From Miriam Ziegler's Instagram stories   

 

 

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Meet Olga Mikutina
Absolute Skating
23 March 2022

 

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Almost right after that the whole word "closed down" because of the pandemic. How did you spend that period?

 

We even flew to Canada, for the Worlds [before it was cancelled], and we were there for two weeks, training. Then everything was cancelled, and we returned home. We were upset, but, of course, health was the highest priority. During the first wave we had the strictest lockdown. We were not allowed to walk outside, we were sitting at home, the streets were empty. So, for two months we had to train at home, we had online practices, training jumps in parking lots. The school was also online. It was unusual, I even have somewhat positive memories about that time. Of course, ice rinks were closed, but it was something different, a change of routine, I will remember this period forever.
Around mid-May we returned to the ice and then I had summer camps. And so, things got a little bit better. Although when the season started, competitions kept being cancelled which was quite sad.

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And then there were the Games that probably didn't look exactly like you imagined them to be...

 

To tell the truth I haven't really watched any of the previous Olympics. Moreover, only recently I started watching programs or parts of programs, elements from other skaters, when I happen to see them in social media. I haven't watched and wasn't that interested before. I'm more focused on my own skating. But, of course, I had a certain image of the Olympic Games in my mind. This is the biggest competition, the highest point in every athlete's career. I probably imagined them bigger, more unique, something out of this world. In the end, everything was quite usual, just the regular ice, you do what you're usually doing. There were not that many spectators and they were sitting quite high, far from the ice, so when I skated, I didn't really see them; there were only judges and my coach. But, of course, there were Olympic rings everywhere.

 

We came to Beijing after the Opening, but we had a chance to participate in the Closing Ceremony. It was truly magical, very festive, and this will be one of the memories I'll keep in my heart. My favourite Olympic tradition was to exchange pins! The Austrian Olympic Committee gave us pins and we could exchange with athletes from all the other countries. There was even some kind of competition to see who would gather most. And, of course, there were more rare ones, from exotic countries that were more in demand and there was a serious fight for them.

 

Did you manage to buy the Olympic mascot, Bing Dwen Dwen?

 

Yes! That was quite a complicated task as this was the most sought-after souvenir. I went to the shop probably more than ten times, almost every day, because I wanted to buy as many as possible for my relatives and friends and you could buy only one panda a day. There was a long line, so you needed luck to be there at the right time. It happened a few times that we stood in line for an hour and a half and when we were finally inside the shop there was nothing left. This was an unforgettable experience too!

 

So, do you have any plans for the next Olympics? It will be in Europe, close to home next time.

 

It is tempting. It could be amazing. But we'll need to see how it goes, whether I will be able to combine skating with university studies.

 

[yuzuangel]

Welp.

 

 

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10 hours ago, yuzuangel said:

Welp.

 

 

I just read a comment on FSU posted by a person from Ukraine saying that she is still a member of the federation and that she simply will not receive funding as a member of a national team 

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NAZAROVA AND NIKITIN – A COURAGEOUS DANCE
IFS Magazine
25 March 2022

 

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“We saw the tanks, heard the shooting. My house doesn’t have windows anymore,” said Nazarova. “It’s horrible, running to the shelter holding a child in your arms. I would not wish for anyone to live through that.”

 

Due to the number of people trying to escape, Nazarova said it took her eight days to drive 600 kilometres. “A lot of people are running, so that is why it took some time. I left earlier (than Maksym). I could not bring my skates but he brought them for me. Thank you to the people in Poland, in Toruń, the Club Axel, Sylvia Nowak and Natalia Kaliszek and Maksym Spodyriev. They welcomed us like family and we felt enormous support.”

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“All the people, all the teams — here or on Instagram — are texting us with support every day. They make us stronger. This is why we could skate today and we could show all the emotions,” Nazarova explained. “It was my dream. I wanted to perform very clean with the emotions. For us it is so important to tell the whole world what is happening right now in Ukraine. Of course, it’s a competition, but for us it’s not just a competition. For us it is something bigger, especially for Maksym.”

 

“It (the performance) was not just for us, it was for all Ukrainian people; for all the people who are still there who are not safe. I hope the support from all the people will help our country,” Nikitin added. “The bigger point is to tell the truth about what is happening in Ukraine, and I hope this will help people in Ukraine who are now not safe, who are in danger and have lost their homes.

 

“I hope we can help all people in the world to understand what really happens because we saw it. We saw what they (the Russian army) are doing, how they work, and it is disgusting. Just six days ago I was in Kharkiv and our whole families are still in Ukraine.”

 

Hugo Chouinard’s offer to help with their music could not have come at a better time. “At first, I did not know who he was but then I saw all the people he worked with,” said Nazarova. “He said he wanted to help, but he knew it was not a good time to change music at the end of the season, ‘so can I just make it cleaner or louder, or can I work with what you already have?’

 

“Then Maksym and I were talking that maybe we can change our music and our costumes and we decided to choose new music. I asked Hugo if he could work with this and help us. He was in contact with us for about three or four days, working non-stop on our music. We are very thankful for this.”

 

The two pieces they chose for the rhythm dance are very familiar to Ukrainians. The program opens with the haunting words of a song, “1944” with which Ukrainian singer Jamala won the 2016 Eurovision song contest (link below). “The first part is a call to the whole world, telling them and warning them,” Nazarova explained.

 

The second piece in the latter part of the program is a rousing national folk song — that had the audience in Montpelier tapping their feet and clapping to the beat — performed by Ukraine’s Andriy Khlyvnyuk, the lead singer of the band Boombox, who cancelled a tour of the U.S. to help defend his homeland (link below). “He is now fighting against the Russians. He made the music for us all and right now this music is helping all Ukrainians to not give up,” said Nikitin.
 

When asked what they will do after Worlds, Nazarova said “we have no idea. We will go back to Poland for a couple of days and then we will try to decide what we can do.”

 

“One month and one day ago no one could believe someone can attack a country in the 21st century (but it happened),” said Nikitin. “Right now it is such a difficult time, not just for Ukraine. It is a difficult time for the whole world. We want to say to all people who are safe (right now) to be careful because the Russian invasion can reach out and move to other countries. Help Ukraine to stop the war. Just close the sky.”

 

Following the rhythm dance, Nazarova and Nikitin withdrew from the competition. “We were happy to skate today for you. But due to the fact that in the morning there were three days of preparation for the World Championships, we did not have time to change the free dance. In its original form, we consider it inappropriate to dance it while people are dying and hiding in basements in our country. Merci,” Nazarova wrote in an Instagram post. Their withdrawal is understandable given who choreographed their free dance.

It was the strongest, most powerful and emotional performance I've ever seen. Thank you for telling your story and for your incredible bravery and strength 

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Official account of the Parliament of Ukraine tweeted about Oleksandra and Maksym 

 

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Oleksandra and Maksym posted a video of their RD to the original version of the music with a voice over of President Zelenskyy. It's a shame that ISU didn't allow them to use the original one... 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbilNE5oDk8/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbip4TqIozA/

 

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30th day of the war, France, Montpellier, rhythm dance.
Thanks to Ukraine and ISU for giving us the opportunity to represent our country at the World Championships. Thank you for the trust and incredible support of every person present on the podium, on the other side of the screen and those who were mentally with us. Without you, we would not be able to do anything ...
Unfortunately, the ISU did not allow the original version of the music (on which @sk8mixhugo worked), those words that you did not hear from @zelenskiy_official live are important for every Ukrainian. This is a video from the training session on the eve.
We were happy to skate today for you. But due to the fact that in the morning there were 3 days of preparation for the World Championships, we did not have time to change the free dance. In its original form, we consider it inappropriate to dance it while people are dying and hiding in basements in our country.merci❤️🙏🏻

 

 

On his Instagram stories, Maksym shared a video posted by Zelenskyy, asking people to watch until the end:

 

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Warning: It contains graphic and disturbing images.

 

Here is the link to the video:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbfwBx8g0kJ/ 

 

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In a month of the war, 4379 houses were destroyed. 6.5 million Ukrainians left their homes. Thousands were killed, including 121 children.

Stop Russian fascism!

 

 

Severin Kiefer's new Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbkGnN7o7z7/

 

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It’s hard to put into words, how much admiration and respect I have for these athletes. In the midst of an illegal and brutal attack on their country, they managed to not only perform incredibly well but also give hope to those watching at home and around the world. Wonderful ambassadors for the great country of Ukraine and the sport of figure skating. Your country and all of us are lucky and proud to have you as representatives. The strongest skaters I know. With you all the way 💙💛 @sofia_fk @artem_darenskij @v4no__ @aleksandralfs @maxxxnik @skateukraineorg #slavaukraini🇺🇦 #славаукраїні #standwithukraine

 

He has been very vocal and showing support and solidarity since the beginning of Russian invasion. He has even spoken out on his Instagram stories tagging ISU several times