| Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek INTERVIEW |
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| This interview is of a big significance because for years everybody has been telling them that they need to improve their presentation and do more difficult throw jumps. Nevertheless Mariusz and Dorota seemed not to care about those opinions and their answers were: "Yes we will, yes of course..." but the improvement didn't come. Prior to the Olympics, the Polish media were stating Zagorska/Siudek as medal contenders while for everybody familiar with figure skating, it was obvious, that at level they skate it is not possible. After the big failure in Salt Lake City it seems that Dorota and Mariusz finally woke up. The admitted that they probably wouldn't place higher anyway and promised to work hard on the throw triple loop and axel. In this interview we could see humble Z/S for the first time. And as we know now, they did start to work harder indeed and hopefully we will see a big improvement this season! Translation Note: This interview has been conducted during the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City after they have already finished performing, finishing down in dissapointing 7th place. It originally appeared on ONET, a Polish internet portal and has been translated by myself. Ziggy |
| After their free program, talking to the journalists, Dorota and Mariusz Siudek have been happy and optimistic in contrary to how they have felt after their disastrous short. Smiling Dorota was the first one to answer the questions. Are you happy with your performance in the free program? It was surely a much better performance than on Saturday (short program). Maybe I am not completely happy with it as I was during the European Championships. There was a one mistake. I did a single axel instead of a double. Were you very nervous before going out onto the ice? Yes. We wanted to show to everybody, especially ourselves, that those 4 years of work haven't been wasted. Before every performance, whether it's Europeans, Worlds or Olympics, I am always very stressed. Maybe this time it was a little worse because surprisingly we failed in the short program. Did you have therapy here with Dr. Blecharz? We always have it, even when he's not with us. We have our sessions recorded and we always listen to them and go through them 3 hours before the start. Here, in Salt Lake City, prior to our performance, we have personally spoken to him. Have you been completely broken after the short program? It has been our worst performance in the last 4 years. We have worked so hard, we didn't have holiday at all, practically no single day of rest. I was really broken, fortunately in our team, there are some wonderful people. Almost everybody from the Polish team has come to me and told me that I shouldn't care so much about this, that there is one more performance left (free program). It really lifted me up. Today I went to fight, to show that we are really good. Weren't your marks too low? There was one group left to go. The judges have to leave some space. Does 7th place satisfy you? I was hoping for a little bit more. Like 5th or 6th. We have 7th. You have to be happy with it. It's better than in Nagano (1998 Olympics when they finished in 10th). Although maybe... I am not completely satisfied with it. Mariusz said after the free program: " We are beginning to prepare for the next Olympics in Turino." I hope that my husband will persuade me. I say no. We surely want to skate for one more season. Probably we will make the decision at the end of each season. If we will do well, we will continue competing. I would really like to compete in Turino. Three Olympic Games, it surely is a dream of each athlete. (Eventually Mariusz did persuade Dorota and they will stay eligible until the next Olympic Games in 2006) What do you think about the American fans? They are wonderful! It's great! I really like to perform here, people know a lot about figure skating. They support all the couples. If you hear applaud after every clean element, it helps, you want to skate. You are coughing all the time. Didn't it bother you during your performances? I've been having health problems here. On the seventh day, I got a fever and I started to cough. It's because the air is very dry, the altitude also plays a role in that. Air conditioning in the rooms also dries the throat. I'm constantly having problems with it, I'm taking pills for sore throat. If you skated both programs perfectly, what place would you be fighting for? I am afraid that it would also have been seventh place. Only seventh? Other teams skated well or very well. It is said that the judges have some particular ideas for setting the results before the competition. For certain it really matters what you have on your back. If it is Russia, USA or Poland. Unfortunately the name "Poland" doesn't seem to help... Your plans for the next days? We're leaving to Chicago on 13th February and we're coming back (to Poland) on 21st. Here we're only able to train four days a week, morover at 7am for half an hour. It's not a training! In Chicago we have a friend who's a coach and rents an ice rink. We will be able to prepare well for the World Championships in Japan there. What are be your hopes regarding them? We want to prepare well in order to fight for a medal! Mariusz Siudek, who has been questioned by a Polish Radio's journalist before, joins the conversation. Just as Dorota, I also think seventh is as high as we could place here. Now you can see that the failed short program didn't matter so much at all. But deep in your hearts, didn't you dream of a medal? I think that it's a normal dream of every athlete and it would be bad if we didn't have such dreams. Dorota said that you want to fight for a medal in Japan... The World Championships after the Olympics is a very specific kind of competition. It's not known who will and who won't come to Japan. Furthermore the teams who placed well here can possibly not try so hard. And we won't to do the best we can now, be prepared as well as possible, that's why we're going to Chicago. And we will try to surprise our rivals! Will there be any more difficult elements in your program? There is not a lot of time for change. A couple of days in Chicago, then 10 days in Poland. We're working on the loop (throw triple loop) all the time but it has to be around 80% consistent and now it is 60%-65%. It is not enough to include it in our program. Dorota says that she is happy with today's program but not entirely. And how about you? Most of all, I am happy that we managed to gather ourselves after an unsuccessful program. It's good that on Sunday Adam (Malysz - Polish ski jumper) won a medal. It has raised the team's morale. So in all honesty which place lied within your reach? If we were 5th, we would be happy. Andrzej Staniowski, Salt Lake City |