Interview with Marika (Euros 2010) NEW!!!

Translation

Interviewer: First of all thanks for joining us in such difficult time (Marika & Federico had to withdraw from the competition as he was sick). Looking at your face we can see all the disappointment...
Marika: Yes I'm very disappointed because we trained hard. We've been training very hard since last March without taking any break just to get here ready for this event and then hard luck struck...
I.: Yes that's how we can call it... but haven't you got any sign or alarm about Federico's health conditions?.
M.: No, I was ok and he just had a cold, nothing to worry about. Then we got here, we trained on Sunday morning and he started to feel very sick at night.
I.: What did you do then?
M.: I tried to stay calm and to calm him down because whenever we talked he'd start crying... I think he felt guilty for all this, we both know this was our last chance for the Olympics...
I.: I bet a lot of people who believed and still believe in you are listening right now... what's up next for you?
M.: I think we'll definitely take a break now and then think about our future.
I.: Do you want to say something else? Something to say on Federico's behalf?
M.: I just want to thank everyone who supported us all this time... And about Federico...well, he's just very disappointed and sad right now...
I.: Good luck to both of you and keep on believing it because I think you can still do something for this sport.
M.: Let's hope so... fingers crossed!
I.: Thank you Marika.
M.: Thanks.

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Interview on Radio2 (25-10-09) 

Translation

Interviewer: Tonight we'll talk to two great people who, thanks to their commitment and sacrifice, managed to win everything they could in their sport and then, to try and fulfill their dream, started a new path... Tonight we welcome a great pair skating team, Marika Zanforlin & Federico Degli Esposti. Hello Marika, hello Federico... welcome!
Marika/Federico: Hi!
I.: Are you in Italy? I know you were abroad to train...
F.: Yes we're in Italy, we got back this morning.
M.: We're home!
I.: M&F you are a great roller pair team and after winning everything in roller skating, euros, worlds you were missing just one competition: the Olympic games. As roller skating is not an olympic sport, you decided to give the Olympics a try by wearing... blades! Is this correct?
M.: Yes, that's right.
I.: And how is everything going? You recently gained a spot for Italy at the 2010 Olympics...
F.: Yes, there was a qualifying competition in Germany about 20 days ago and we managed to get a spot for Italy for the Olympics. Now we have to get this spot as a pair by winning the National competitions
I.: Because there is no guarantee it will be you to go to the Olympics even if you gained the spot?
F.: That's right the qualification is still at stake.
I.: So now what do you have to do, winning many competitions?
F.: We have to win every competition in Italy.
I.: All this takes a lot of commitment and sacrifice not just for the training but also because Marika is from Rovigo and Federico is from Bologna, right?
M/F: right!
I.: And how long you have been skating together?
M.: Since 1996
I.: Have you been travelling back and forth all these years?
M.: When we roller skated we used to train in both Rovigo and Bologna. When we switched to the ice, we skated one year in Milano and then last March we moved to Torino.
I.: So did you relocate in Torino?
M.: We travel to Torino on Wednesday and get back on Sunday; then from Monday till Wednesday morning we work in our hometowns.
I.: It must be really tough though...
F.: Yes it's tough but if you want to achieve results that's what you have to do. Also there were no other available training centers other than in Torino so we had to go there.
I.: Usually a big achievement makes you forget a bit about all the sacrifices you've done, but are there sacrifices you'll never forget?
M.: we gave up many things all these years like going out with friends on Saturdays and Sundays... It was tougher at 15-16 years of age but then you understand sport is more important for you and adjust to this life.
I.: So it was worth of it.
M.: Yes it was.
I. (talking about throws and lifts in skating): Marika, aren't you afraid when you're up there?
M.: Only at the beginning then you get used to it and fearness goes away.
I.: But you're gonna hurt yourself if you fall from up there and he doesn't catch you! Has this ever happened?
M.: Yes it has but luckily, fingers crossed, I've never broken myself anything (Federico in the background: "Marika!!!")... but it's better I don't tell this!!!
I.: No no don't tell this! You just hope for your rivals not to do well... do you do that when they're skating?
M.: No we don't do that, we're sportsmen.
F.: No we don't do that... the important thing is that they place behind us!
I.: You have been skating together for 14 years now, how many hours do you spend together every day?
M.: Many hours, we see each other basically every day like brother and sister...
I.: Or as if you were engaged... but you're not engaged, are you?
M/F: No no.
I.: What do your girl/boyfriend say about this? Are they jealous?
M/F: No they're not.
I.: Not even at the begininng?
M.: Well maybe a bit at the begininng but then they have to accept this because for us this is like a job.
I.: Marika, is it true you were very shy at first? You started skating at a very young age, right?
M.: Yes, I was 4 years old and the first competitions I had troubles getting into the rink; getting out there alone and perform in front of the audience is not so easy to do.
I.: Is it true that once you just got out in the middle of the program?
M.: Yes it's true!
I.: It could have been a "permanent trauma" for you but then everything worked out!
M.: Yes I got over it also because my mom was always there at every competition pushing me in so after a while I got used to it.
I.: What about it now? Do you two encourage each other?
M.: Well now we're grown up and fears are gone. Of course you'll always feel a bit nervous and emotional before a competition.
I.: Talking about your switch to ice figure skating, I bet you experienced different feelings having to start all over again after winning 4 world championships...
F.: In roller skating when we entered the rink we were aware we were among the best and were just thinking about doing our best; when we switched to the ice we had no confidence even on very simple things young kids can do without a problem. So definitely new feelings and obstacles!
I.: What was the most difficult part of this switching?
F.: Basic skating and flowing over the ice was the most difficult thing, while on technical elements we didn't have too much trouble. We really had big problems with basics at the begininng but with time we got over them.
I.: All in all it was not that difficult considering how far you have come in just 2 years...
F.: I wouldn't say it was easy, we spent many many hours working on the ice with people who doubted we could do it and others who believed in us... Going to the Olympics was our last goal; we thought "let's see if it works and if not, at least we gave it a try".
I.: Which one is more difficult roller skating or ice figure skating?
F.: Both are difficult for different reasons.
I.: (reading a text message from M&F club: "M&F we're very proud of you and we want you in the Olympic games!") You have a great club supporting you!
F.: Yes we have. We really have to thank our club president who gives us the chance to continue this adventure and we really hope we'll be able to pay back.
I.: Does it hurt more falling on the ice or on the floor???
M.: It's two different kind of falls you have to get used to. We were used to roller skating falls so they hurted less cause we knew how to fall, how to put our hands down... while on the ice at first we'd fall, put our hands down trying to push ourselves up... and we'd fall backwards hitting our heads!
I.: Is it true that you can do more acrobatic moves on rollers?
F.: That's depends on the rules; speaking about lifts in roller skating the man can do up to 12-13 turns while on the ice it's just 3 and a half turns. If you can be more acrobatic on rollers, on the ice everything is much faster and spectacular because of the speed.
I.: What's up next for you now?
F.: An international competition in Nice on November 6th.
I.: Great! We'll be cheering for you! Thank you and... in bocca al lupo!!!
M/F: Crepi il lupo! Bye!

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Interview after the long program at 2009 Euros

Translation

Interviewer: Marika & Federico you managed to improve your personal best from last year Europeans by 6 points; this alone is a great achievement. Federico: yes, we skated well tonight and managed to climb up 2 spots. Now we need to work more on the short program which is holding us back. Interviewer: what would you like to improve in your skating? How much work is left to be done and how much time you should not spend working "off the ice" (referring to the fact they both work full-time) to improve? Federico: we definitely should work much less (than we do) "off the ice" to improve... on the ice, we still need to improve on the second mark which is still low while the technical mark is on the same level of the top10 teams. The second mark is holding us back. Interviewer: what would you like to have more with Marika if you could take anything you had on rollers? Federico: without a doubt the confidence we had with those skates on as it felt like we were wearing shoes. When we got on the ice, we started all over again from the very beginning, in 2 years you can't do miracles but we are doing our best. Interviewer: what's your goal, your dream? Federico: Our dream would be to compete in the Olympics but it's a long and tough road, we'll see how it progresses... Interviewer: Marika, along with Federico, you perfomed one of the most beautiful and probably the most difficult lift which can be executed in pair skating. Can you tell what's the secret of this lift? Of course it requires a lot of trust on your behalf... Marika: it's the last lift we performed in the long program today; it's a lift we took from roller skating and it's worth almost 8 points. Interviewer: how does it feel to be up there, over 2 meters off the ground? Marika: actually I'm used to it as we have been skating together for 13 years now... I'm used to being lifted in the air... Interviewer: Marika, the dream would be committing yourselft to figure skating only, then Vancouver could definitely become reality... Marika: to achieve good results you need to commit yourself to the sport full-time, right now we have no other choice... it would be too risky to give up our jobs right now... Interviewer: thank you and congratulations on improving your personal best.

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Interview after the short program at 2009 Euros

Translation

Interviewer: Marika, what are your impressions after this short program which wasn't easy? Marika: it was not an easy competition; we tried our best, we are aware that we could have done a bit better though. Interviewer: this is not your "international debut" as you've already competed in Zagreb last year and had a very good result there after such a successful career in roller skating... what was the difference with last year competition? Marika: every competition it's different and you always feel the pressure, whether is the National or the European Championship. It's very difficult to compete and show your best. Interviewer: getting good edges seems to be the most difficult part in switching from roller skating to ice figure skating... Marika: yes, that's definitely our problem... Interviewer: you must spend a lot of hours training, you must do a lot of sacrifices. and we know you can't commit yourself to figure skating full time because you have job... Marika: yes, it's very difficult to train because I live in Rovigo and Federico lives in Bologna. Luckily there is an ice skating rink in Bologna in winter time but we also travel back and forth to Milano... we have little time to rest with all the travelling and our jobs. Interviewer: still you showed you can improve; the marks you got today don't reflect your true value nevertheless they are higher than last year at Europeans. Marika: yes and we hope to skate better tomorrow. Interviewer: Federico, what's for sure is that you have no problems in the lifts at all... Federico: that's a technical element we easely trasferred from rollers on the ice; too bad for the mistake on the spin today and the points we lost there, expecially considering the small gap there is between the pairs in the standings. We hope to do better tomorrow. Interviewer: what was the best part of your program tonight and on the other hand what didn't you like too much about it? Federico: the worst part was definitely the side by side spin, the good thing was that the judges weren't too harsh on giving their marks for our skating skills. As you previously said that's our weakness. Interviewer: but why is it so difficult to achieve good smooth edges? Federico: because that's the biggest difference between ice skating and roller skating. You just need hours and hours of training; we are the only pair competing at this level working full-time and this reduces the time we can spend on the ice. Interviewer: tomorrow you'll compete in the long program and you can definitely count on a good physical condition... Federico: in the long program which lasts 4.40 minutes and includes 3 throws and 3 lifts, the physical condition matters a lot. We've always managed to skate well in the long program so we hope to do the same tomorrow. Interviewer: what music selection will you skate to tomorrow and what are the strongest elements in your program? Federico: we'll skate to the soundtrack of "900" (La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano) and our strenght are throw jumps and lifts. Interviewer: so the best of luck for tomorrow! Federico: thank you!

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Marika & Federico's thoughts after the long program at 2008 Euros

Translation

Marika: We're very happy, it was exciting to take part in these European Championships expecially because it was kind of unexpected. It was exciting to skate in front of so many people because in roller skating, even at important competitions, there has never been such big audience. Everything went well, I think it couldn't have gone better so we're very satisfied.
Federico: We came here with no expectations, just to see "how it looked like" but then the competition went really well. We got very good marks and placement after the short program already, so overall I think we couldn't have hoped for a better result.