AND I AM TELLING YOU I'M NOT GOING

Alexey Yagudin – “I am not coming back to big sport!”

Translation of an article by Raisa Murashkina printed in a Russian Language publication “Komsomolskaya Pravda” on October 6, 2008.

After receiving the Crystal Ice prize for 2008, the figure skater dropped his pants in front of the correspondents and confessed that he had grown up.

Last year, Yagudin also received a Crystal Ice prize for coming back on the ice after a hip replacement operation. This year he received a prize as Mister Congeniality.

Reporters asked the skater if he tripped the alarms of the metal detectors when he passed through airports. Rather than explaining what was going on, Yagudin told reporters to turn off their cameras and then he dropped his pants and showed the reporters his bandaged up right hip.

“The alarms are going off, but I am warning the airport workers,” - confessed Yagudin. And then he added – “I really wanted to come back to sports, I was living that dream, but the recuperation was not as successful as I expected.”

When asked if he would completely transfer his attention to going into business, he replied: “I will never trade creativity for business! I am acting in the movies and in the theater. I became quieter now, I have grown up. I am not planning to get married soon. Why bother? Look, every second couple is splitting these days.”