#anyway so i guess her 5-6 cm of growth really did affect her

[antiqua-melia]

Alina’s Interview with Tatjana Flade

Quick points based on article photos posted by paradox_FS on IG.

She struggled with her growth spurt after the Olympics and considered quitting competitive skating. She had a loss of coordination which she and her team are still overcoming.

Because of this, Alina needs to practice for 30-40 minutes before she can jump normally. According to her coach Eteri, her new body doesn’t have the muscle memory yet.

Alina reads what fans and media post about her. She cried after the Russian test skates when people posted negatively about her performance. Eteri felt that the criticism wasn’t justified.

Eteri said that it’s hard to be an Olympic champion because of the expectations, which Alina understands. There is huge pressure coming not only from her coaching team, but the fans as well.

The Russian Federation wanted her coaches to give her an easy program so Alina can jump easily but her coaches didn’t agree.

Apparently Alina didn’t do the triple lutz-triple toe for the past two years, so now that they have her skating it, she’s having a hard time, considering her growth spurt. 

Alina was really the one who wanted to skate to Carmen. Her coach acknowledges that this choice will be criticized, so she worked with her for two weeks to get the character out of her. The first thing Alina did when she found out she was going to do Carmen was to watch Katarina Witt (who did it the best, according to her).

“She is still Alina, a friendly, open-minded girl that has dreams like other teenagers. I like her very much. She is very talented, she is very beautiful, and she has something special. In addition to that, she works hard and understands that it is sometimes difficult. Even though she has fulfilled the biggest dream an athlete can have, she finds the motivation to go on.” -- Eteri (Alina won’t share what her motivation is though.)

She just wants to be with her family, but her mom and sister moved to a new city and her dad started working in Kazakhstan. :(

Her pets are her friends. :D