Interview with 3 time Olympian – Elena Glebova

Hey everyone!👋

Have you ever interviewed your coach? Well I can say that I have. I’ve never interviewed anyone and it was so cool to learn about the person who has been very influential to me and so here goes!

Elena Glebova

Is a former Estonian national team skater, 7-time Estonian champion, 3-time Olympian. More importantly she is one of my closest friends and she is a mom to a gorgeous little princess Mila. Read the interview where we talk about skating, life today and her costumes.

 

How would you describe yourself to someone who doesn’t know who you are and who you’re meeting the first time?

First and foremost I’m a happy woman and a mom. I’m extremely entrepreneurial. My main job is being the director at Tondiraba ice rink, I work as a coach, I’m a board member of Estonian skating federation and also a member of the Tallinn City Council and as a hobby I’m a photo-model.*Elena has modelled for JIV several times and she has been seen also on other brands visuals.

Is that all?

Oh well actually no. I also interview lots of interesting people and athletes for a youtube channel and I’m a TV commentator during the bigger skating competitions.

What about skating? Haven’t you been to the Olympics a bunch of times?

Skating was everything up until 2014. I’m a 7 time Estonian national champion and I’ve been to the Olympic Games 3 times. Skating has shaped my life to what it is today, it’s given me so many opportunities to live a happy life and I’m grateful for that part of my life.

Which Olympic Games did you go to?

I went to Torino 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014

How would you rate your Olympic experiences? From worst to best and why?

Olympic experience is incomparable. It’s like nothing else. It’s so special to be a part of this movement and atmosphere when you’re at the event. Staying at the Olympic village makes you feel special and a part of something big. It feels like a big fun sports camp. I’m really grateful for these experiences. Vancouver was definitely my best event. I was ready to perform amazing also in Sochi as it was my last event. I was perfect in trainings, no mistakes – definitely on top of my game. But when the competition came around, I competed first and I just couldn’t get my focus together. I was all over the place.

Would you say you got nervous?

No, just out of focus. I couldn’t really shut out the audience. It’s a pity. The program was easy for me, but it is what it is.
I felt very disappointed at first, because that’s not how I envisioned my last program, but I also tried not to be too hard on myself. It was my last event, I wanted to enjoy the experience as much as possible and just get over it. I was beating myself up a little for a few months after, but it’s in the past now and so many new things started after the Olympics. I took so many positives from that event and even though I believe I could’ve been top 15, it’s not the most important thing in life.

Which Olympic village hold the best memories for you?

Sochi. It was special. I had been in national team for 10 years by then and I had made so many friends along the way and fellow competitors who I had known for years. It was just so great to be there and share it with my friends. Everyday the sun was shining, the event was well organised and I just have fond memories of it.

It’s been almost 10 years since then. How would you say skating has changed since?

A very positive change is the fact, that we can now use songs with lyrics. It’s would’ve been a really nice thing to experience. And another big change is the fact that so many women now jump quads and that the technical level is so much higher. I never trained quads, because at that time it just wasn’t on the table. Although I do believe that I had it in my physically to be able to land a quad Toe-loop, which would’ve been cool. So in that sense, would’ve been interesting to compete today.

Today- you’re working on many different things. How are you able to manage your time?

Athletes are generally known to have great discipline. As a skater I was always on time, I did two trainings a day, I never had problems in school. I took all that from my childhood to today and manage time so I can make it everywhere. It’s all about self discipline and prioritising.

Which one of your jobs do you love most

I love going to the rink and directing it. I feel that the knowledge I have of sport can help a lot and being a director of such a big arena has been challenging, but has also taught me so much.I love doing this job, it’s very diverse.
h3>Elena was my coach for the last years of my skating career. Was I your first student?

Actually my coaching career goes back to when I was 14. I was teaching young kids that my coach had directed to me. I was also coaching a lot in the States when I was training there at the end of my career(Hackensack). After returning to Estonia after my career I had a small group of young skaters here. But you (Johanna Allik) were definitely my first matured skater I ever worked with and that makes this experience a little different.

Was I your best student? 👩‍🎓😇

I was waiting for this one 😆. I don’t like to pick favourites, but what I greatly appreciated about our partnership was the fact that we both understood our assignments and responsibilities. We worked together and trusted each other. It was a great time in my coaching career, because alongside you there were 3 other Estonian national team members that I coached so it definitely helped along my coaching career.
*J: I would just like to point out that the brightest memories from my career are definitely from the time we trained together. We had a good time and Elena was fair and strict, but never judgmental or emotional and I could be fully transparent and honest with her, even if what i wanted to tell her wasn’t good news. Our dynamic was positive and determined and I’ll never forget that experience.

Have you ever been kicked out of training?

Never.

Have you ever kick out someone from training?

Yes. I have kicked out a student when she was late for practise. After multiple warnings she still didn’t attend on time. Until at one point I didn’t allow her on the ice when she was half an hour late. She quit the day after.. 😬

What was the most challenging for you when you did sports?

My biggest challenge was learning triples. At around the age of 12, I had been learning triples for years and I was just not landing them. I was falling so many times in trainings. They were clean, but I just never landed. I was always falling and it was discouraging. And then out of nowhere I just landed. It was an amazing moment, because afterwards everything went upwards. I just started landing everything. I think it had to do with the amount of times I had to get up. The triple I finally landed was probably the 1001st triple. I was just not willing to give up.
– just as every skater, it was challenging to maintain and lose weight. Thankfully I never experienced anything traumatic, but there was a difficult period, when my body was changing. I did what I could, checked what I was eating and worked out.
– another big challenge for me was to do as well at competitions as I did in trainings. Somehow I just couldn’t always fully realise my potential at the competition. Looking back I learned I should’ve trained more competition trainings in trainings to be able to show my program every day after 6 minutes. That was just something I was lacking a bit.

Your favourite part about sports

My favourite part of sports was winning, it kept me going and motivated me. Losing didn’t discourage me, but made me want to win even more. One of the brightest memories is when I won my first Nationals at the age of 14. I remember looking at my gold medal in disbelief, I couldn’t believe it was mine. I competed with women who were 25+. That gave me a lot of motivation to aim even higher and keep going.

Tell me about your costumes

I always put effort into creating my costumes. Most ideas came from me, but I did work with a designer as well couple times. All my dresses had some interesting little small details and I tried to be creative and stand out in a good way.

The santana dress was one of my faves. It’s a leather dress, with lots of stones. I liked the headband added to my dress.

This was a flamenco program when I was still a junior. Very-very-very old photo.

This purple one is my personal favourite. I worked with a designer Olga Rattik here and I loved the flower details. We put many details, but the dress still remained simple and beautiful.

I also had a period where I decided if I ever want to go blonde, the time is now. It was just something I wanted to try for once in my life. This dress had so many details and was very different from the usual light and airy dresses girls wear. The tassels on the shoulders really added a little extra to it.

Tell me about being a mom to your gorgeous daughter

Being a mom is the most important job I do today. Some say olympic experience can be compared, but I don’t agree. The biggest gift I ever got is my daughter Mila. She is my best friend and a mini me. She is so smart, joyous, talented, calm and lovely. She is only three, but she can already skate, ski and snowboard. She speaks different languages and she is eager to learn and she is the best part of my life. It’s hard to say now if she will become a skater. She’s too young to understand if she actually likes the sport, but she has been coming to practises every week. I think she could definitely do well if she were to start skating more, she has the abilities, but we’re not there yet.

What’s the recipe to becoming an Olympian?

Every athlete that does sports should dream of going to the olympics, it’s a once in a lifetime experience and so worth it.
 Here are things I believe are most important.

– never skip training. You should love the sport so much, so that you never want to skip trainings. My parents never forced me to skate, it was always because I loved it. Not being able to go to training, felt like punishment.
– always do as much as you’re told, or more. If you have to do 30 crunches, do 32. And keep it in secret. Key to success is working hard, always. And not for your coach or parents, but for yourself.
– be patient and believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, don’t give up, because you will get there.
– be independent. No one will do the program for you at the competition. Learn to be able to manage on your own. Get to know yourself, because at the end of the day, you’re all you have.

And lastly – your one self care tip you swear by

Every morning – a glass of warm water. It’s like giving my insides warm hug before we start the day!

Thank you so much to Elena for spending the time with me to answer these questions. I loved hearing about her experience and I hope you all enjoy reading about it. If you want to see more of her, you can follow her on instagram @glebusha 🤍

Elena Glebova interviewed by Johanna Allik
14.June 2023