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Photo: Pavel Kashaev/Global Look Press
On March 18, on his birthday, the skater successfully skated the program at the Russian Challenge tournament. However, the victory was not easy for Alexei Yagudin. The athlete admitted that he had serious health problems.
At the performance, the 43-year-old Olympic champion had to jump a triple toe loop. But it was difficult and scary for Alexei to make it because he has practically no knee. In fact, in order to solve it, Yagudin would have to quit figure skating.
The athlete said that doctors do not advise him to be operated on. In ordinary life, not on the ice, Alexei’s knee does not bother, Izvestia writes. But he does not intend to finish the path in the profession. Yagudin admitted that before the performance he was in a deplorable state, so the victory in the show was worth “a lot of painkillers and injections before going out on the ice.”
Yagudin said that for him the main thing in the performance was the triple sheepskin coat, and the choreographer Ilya Averbukh had the idea of the act itself. Because of this, they had constant arguments. It was difficult for Alexei to fulfill the director’s requirements. Due to the fear of failure, the skater’s legs became wadded and completely naughty, but he still managed.
Yagudin maintains his popularity, including through the maintenance of social networks. He is known for his idiosyncratic sense of humor. However, some of the athlete’s and TV presenter’s pranks go too far. So, recently the skater caused a show among the Russians by eating “goat balls” for breakfast.
