RT: Alina, thank you very much for this opportunity, it is a great honor. You’re 15 and you’re an Olympic champion. Honestly, what’s on your mind?

Alina Zagitova: The most important thing to me has been to just make sure that everyone, my coaches, the audience and myself are satisfied. What’s on my mind? I’m thinking about the next season, and new tournaments. I’m thinking of some things that maybe I should change.

RT: And that’s all? So, you’re thinking about figure skating and nothing else?

AZ: Right now, I just can’t think of other things.

RT: Do you feel ok when people talk about your age? Because this is something everyone is really emphatic about, but my understanding is that you get the same treatment as everyone else when training and you train just like your teammates who are older, is that right?

AZ: Yes, we all get the same treatment, the same requirements, and coaches give everyone absolutely the same amount of work and attention – to myself, to Evgenia [Medvedeva] and others.

RT: And what do you think of it? Because, as reporters, we can’t help asking this question – because you are our youngest Olympic champion, you’re only 15. Does it sound ok to you when people say “only 15?”

AZ: Yes, it’s ok. I don’t really think much of it.

I want to keep figure skating as long as I can’

RT: Cool then. Let me ask you how you were prepping for the Olympics, because, if I understand it right, there have been many cases when – again – a very young age was a factor that led to additional stress in young athletes and affected their performance.

AZ: Well, my strategy now is to just to continue skating very carefully to avoid mistakes, and I want to keep figure skating as long as I can.

RT: And what did you do to help yourself avoid making any mistakes now and win the gold?

AZ: I was very calm. I just tried not to be distracted by the attention from the media and the audience, and not to think much about the fact that this is the Olympics. I tried to think of it as a regular competition, just like any other, that’s the mood I was trying to keep up.

RT: And who taught you how to do this, to stay out of things?

AZ: I just made some conclusions based on my experience, even though it’s not that big yet.

RT: After her performance, Evgenia seemed to have had an emotional reaction – she burst into tears, but then said that she never cries. You, on the other hand, seemed very calm, and, as you said it yourself, had only one tear. What did you do to stay so calm and composed?

AZ: To be honest, I didn’t have any tears, not even one.

RT: Really? Maybe my mistake.

AZ: Well, just a little, my eyes welled up a bit. But overall, it’s probably just because of my character; I tend to keep emotions to myself. But when I come back home, I let them all out, and I share it all with my parents.

RT: And what will it be like this time? I can’t even imagine.

AZ: I don’t know yet. I’m still away from home. I’ll probably run and jump around happy. I really hope that by the time I get home it will kick in.

RT: You mean to say that it really hasn’t yet? And you haven’t been running and jumping around? Honestly.

AZ: Only on ice. I did my jumping there.

RT: Oh yeah. So there was nothing like, maybe, back in your room, you just went like “I did it!” or texted someone a happy audio or video message? The people you talk to.